End of R Train

Click. Click. Click.

Finally, the lighter blazed to life, its small flame flickering in the cool autumn air. Just as it seemed strong enough to light his cigarette, the train arrived, the air force from its entrance blowing it out.

Damn.

"Now Arriving - Florens Center. Now Arriving - Florens Center."

He stepped onto the train, earning the glare of a woman whose child sat next to her on the bench's clean blue plastic, and apologetically put away his unlit cigarette. Mark Anton Rosen pulled out his phone, scrolling through his webnovel homepage lazily. This earned him a snicker from the child, and a look of pity - though unapologetic - from the mother.

It was no wonder, of course. In the year 2310, phones were relics from before the Grand System era, from when information and data was traded by companies as if it was gold. Now, humans were able to gain powers beyond the past's wildest imaginations through the use of Systems, magical companion consciousnesses capable of granting missions and rewards. Suddenly, simply going to school increased one's numeric skill points, gave magical abilities, and improved one's complexion. Those with the highest tiers of System would go on to lead countries and city-states, conquer worlds, and lead humanity to ever greater heights.

Mark was not one of those people, of course. Our new friend lacks even an F-class system, for he has a rare disease of sorts - he is "Systemless". With no system, he couldn't perform as well in school, wasn't recruited to clubs, never found a girlfriend (let alone a wife). He lived forever off of the government's basic living subsidies, a waste of space and breath. Those with no Systems would never find love, because having Systems were found to be hereditary - those without would never have children that had Systems, after the year 2050, the "Awakening". The infliction was literally one in a million, of course, so they were treated similarly to the disabled.

When he was young, his parents had had high hopes. His father, a minor officer in the Liechten Empire, a one-planet state in the Outer European Territories, and his mother, a daughter of a large trading magnate, both had C+ Tier Systems, which would have been enough to secure him a good job in Imperial Administration. When he was tested and found Systemless, their relationship slowly drifted apart until his parents divorced and he was left with a D- Tier uncle, an average man with an average lifestyle. He lived an essentially solitary life for his eleven remaining years of childhood and later transitioned into a solitary life until the present day.

Back to present day, he stood on the train watching the two. They could not be higher than D tier, he surmised, since they had to take the train, but a system was a system.

"Now arriving - Jimstown. Now arriving - Jimstown."

This was his stop.