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Jinny was reading a novel on her phone that she got recommended recently. The novel was about a guy that suddenly got his powers taken and transmigrated to a girl's room. This was a romance where the guy would rely on the girl to get his powers back.
" Oh come on, hit him. He's so dumb." She yelled while reading.
"Whooosh…" Suddenly a loud blowing noise came from the room right next to hers. It was a room that has been empty for too long. She would go in there every weekend to remember the times when she was young and they used to play. Her brother, who died 3 years ago in an accident that changed the whole world. She was always proud of her brother who was so smart and also envious that her parents always talked about him. Still, as much as she quarreled with him she loved him even more. She would do anything to get back her brother but the accident took the lives of all 6 people that were there on the day of the accident. Her brother was among them.
" Is mom cleaning the room ?" She thought. She didn't pay any attention to it and started reading the novel where she left off.
*******
"My room, it's exactly as I left it ." After coming here through the cosmic bridge I looked around my room. My family must have maintained it to this day. He was happy that they took the trouble of doing this so they could think if I ever came back I wouldn't have to clean, something like that. I don't know if they felt my presence in my room or they were reminiscent of their memories with me. Whatever the reason, I was happy.
After I took out some clothes from my closet which were a little dusty I went outside the room and approached my sister's room. The light was on as I could see the corners of the door giving faint lights. I knocked on the door not knowing what to say to my sister but to see her after so many years I couldn't wait to meet her.
" I cleaned my room, go away! " She shouted back. I was stunned at her response but it was natural, as I felt so much anticipation to meet her, it was just a normal day for her with nothing to do.
" Open the door, Jinny. "
" Who ?"
" Your brother .."
" .... "
I heard hurried footsteps coming from the room then she opened the door and looked at me. I gave her an awkward smile as no words came from my mouth. I was there standing, just staring at her and she was also staring back at me.
"Are you really my brother, August? "
" In the flesh "
" B...But my brother died in that accident 3 years ago, How can you be him? How can he come back from the dead ?"
" Erm... It's a long story."
" How did you get here though? Are you really my brother and not some shapeshifting ability user."
"Ability user ?"
She looked at my dumbfounded face and fully opened the door.
" Come in, and tell me everything."
I walked inside her room and sat on her bed. She sat beside me with a nervous expression. I knew she had a lot to say to me. I told her about our discovery and how I was running the experiment and suddenly I lost consciousness. I skipped the part when I was in space and all my powers, instead, I told her that after losing consciousness I came back to my room out of nowhere. She was shocked at first but later nodded her head.
" So you were sent back to the future? It's like time travel."
" What kind of stories have you been reading?" I couldn't tell her that I died and got reborn through the quantum field.
"Mmm, Now that everyone has abilities and how things are going on, I doubt I'm the first one to come up with that. So you remember nothing after you lost consciousness ?"
" No, nothing. The last thing I remember is that you asked me to come to the family party."
" So how do you feel right now? Are you okay ?"
" I am feeling fine like I just woke up."
" Uh. Huh...Hmm..do you feel weird in your body ?"
"No, everything seems to be normal."
" I thought since you got sent to the future you should have awakened some abilities."
" Again, I don't know what is this ability you are talking about, Would you elaborate ?"
" After the accident, the world was swept with a wave of unknown radiation, and after that people started awakening system-like abilities with skills and stats. Most people who have a system are ordinary but some have great abilities and skills. We call them Ability users. After the incident, other species also got these powers and they also gained superior intellect and started to invade human-occupied lands. Since then we are in a constant war against them for land and resources.
There are different types of ability users and different regions call them differently. Usually, people who go to war with awakened beasts are called Enhancers and there are corporations and guilds that manage that. People in other regions call them warriors, adventurers, or hunters too.
I have a system but it just shows my stats and that's it. I have no skills. People can acquire skills in two ways, you could awaken a skill inherently or by acquiring it by practicing martial arts or exercising, but honestly, it's negligible. I go to the dojo every day for 4 hours but I haven't awakened a skill, yet. Our sensei has an A rank skill and some students also have B or C level skills. Why am I so unlucky? I even practice at home."
" So people who are ability users are pretty rare huh ?"
" Rarer than diamonds…"
" Where is someone supposed to go to register for this ?"
" The government has a Department for awakened people called DoA, where you have to register as an ability user. Normal people, even those who have a system, do not need to register if they are living normal lives but if you use your ability in public places where people are affected or seen using the ability to do illegal stuff, the DoA will send their people to take you in. They will charge you depending on the severity of your crime. If you have a license they will let you go. So if you have powerful abilities you should register them before you accidentally use them somewhere."
" How do you know if you have system ability ?" I asked as if I didn't know.
" Just say 'system' and it pops up. Also, you can feel the change in your body after you get the system. It feels like you have something attached to you like when you wear a watch but this feels something like a mental attachment. I can't describe it with just words."
I looked at her and silently put my status window.
[ There is a system user nearby, would you like to see their status ?]
[ Yes / No ]
I pressed yes, then there was another prompt asking if I would enable the automatic or manual mode. I chose to put it on the manual for now. I didn't want my vision to be filled with other people's status windows all the time. Imagine in a crowded place like a metro station where my vision will be overwhelmed by all those status windows. So I chose to see the status manually.
[ Name: Jinny Roana Grey ]
[ Level: 10 ]
[ Species: Homo Sapien ]
[ Resonance: none ]
[ Strength: 15 ]
[ Agility : 19 ]
[ Vitality: 14 ]
[ Dexterity: 8 ]
[ Intelligence: 11 ]
[ Wisdom: 13 ]
[ Skills: None ]
[ Status: Healthy, Happy ]
[ Advanced options » ]
I saw her status and it was pretty normal. She was level 10 and has no skills.
" Can people see other people's status ?"
" Normally no, you have to have a skill or purchase an item that can see other people's information. They are typically pretty expensive."
" I see. "
" You should rest. You just time traveled and probably need a lot of rest."
" I told you, I'm fine. I will go out for a walk okay. I need some fresh air."
I stood up and walked off from her room,
" hey... Come back quickly okay ."
" Yeah ..don't worry."
" How can I not worry? You were gone for 3 years. We all thought you were dead."
" Trust me, nothing will happen to me. And I will never leave you like that."
" ….. Promise ? "
" Yes, I promise."
" Don't go around doing stupid stuff okay ?"
" Was I ever stupid? By the way, how did you know it was me ?"
" Isn't it obvious? As smart as you are, If you were here I am sure you would've known everything about ability users and the system. But you didn't even know what ability was."
I went outside my house. Everything was similar as it was before. I walked on the sidewalk and started looking around. I wanted to register as an ability user, there was so much I wanted to find out. What happened after I was gone, the state of the world, and much more.
" System, can you locate the DoA office ?"
[ Yes, after you came back I connected to the internet so I can locate the office through the map.]
" Good, initiate the cosmic bridge to an empty alley near the DoA office. I don't want to waste time walking there. "
[ Located the DoA office, 21 Kilometers away, initiating cosmic bridge ]
I disappeared and came to an empty alley instantly. After using the cosmic bridge two times, I knew it was very fast. After the cosmic bridge is initiated my body instantly phases through space-time fabric and comes to the coordinates that were selected. It had no distance limit and you can go anywhere, anytime instantly.
I walked to the DoA office from the alley. There were two guards wearing black suits guarding the gates. They wore a watch-like device and there was an exoskeleton-like machine right next to them.
" Register your name here before going in ?" said the one on the left.
I wrote my name and walked inside the registration office. There was a desk and a young lady was there writing something. She looked at me and put her pen away.
" Are you here to register ?"
" Yes "
" Come this way."
She took me to a room where there were insulators on each wall and there was a big monolith in the center of the room. It was pitch black and exuding an aura I knew well. 'Quantum field'
It was dense and concentrated.
" Place your hand on the monolith, It will show your status information. We will record it and create an ID for you."
I was nervous, I didn't want others to know my information. It was fine if they knew my stats but my skills are my trump cards. I didn't want them to know these. Still, I placed my hand on the monolith.
[ An artifact is trying to read your status window ]
[ Access denied ]
[ Do you want to show your status ? ]
[ Yes / No]
I just wanted to show my stats and maybe one skill, but my skills are all S class or above, I wish I could change how it was shown.
[ You can edit your status as per your liking to show it publicly. This edited version of the status window won't change your current one. It only masks your current status.]
'Oh, I can even create a fake status window for people to see.' I kept my stats as is and hid all my other skills except Cosmic bridge. I renamed it to blink and changed its rating from Ex to A. Then I changed my name to August and surname to Dalton. I also set my level to 8. 'That should be enough.'
The monolith lit up and showed my status information.
[ Name : August Dalton ]
[ Level : 8 ]
[ Species : Human ]
[ Resonance : 1 ]
[ Strength : 11 ]
[ Agility : 9 ]
[ Vitality : 10 ]
[ Dexterity : 15 ]
[ Intelligence : 31 ]
[ Wisdom : 29 ]
[ Skills : Blink(A) ]
[ Status : Healthy , Curious ]
" Wow, Mr. Dalton has an A rank skill. Would you like to check the skill info? "
I didn't add any info for the skill in my fake status, so I quickly added it. After that, I saved the changes.
" Sure "
[ Blink(A): You can teleport to any place in a radius of 500 meters. ]
" Unbelievable. A teleportation skill with no cooldown time. This should be an S class skill."
" I guess the distance limit is holding it back." I laughed awkwardly.
" No, generally short-range teleportation skills have a 100-meter range and a couple of seconds of cooldown time, Here you have no cooldown option so you can use it indefinitely. This is my first time seeing such a skill. We will give you a proper evaluation Mr. Dalton, rest assured."
She quickly brought her phone and called someone. After 15 minutes a middle-aged man wearing a fine gentleman suit came over. He had some grey hair but he looked quite muscular and gave off an intimidating aura. I checked his status.
[ Name : William Martin]
[ Level : 50 ]
[ Species : Homo Sapien ]
[ Resonance : None ]
[ Strength : 61 ]
[ Agility : 32 ]
[ Vitality : 49 ]
[ Dexterity : 26 ]
[ Intelligence : 18]
[ Wisdom : 23 ]
[ Skills : Aura manipulation (A), Dash(A),Swordsmanship(B),Flash step(B),Slice(B),Quickdraw(B)]
[ Status: Healthy, Excited ]
[ Advanced options » ]
'He had pretty good stats and skills. He should be the one in charge here.'
" Hello Mr. Dalton, my name is William Martin and I am the branch manager here. I was so excited to hear that we got such an ability user in our branch for registration. After discussion, we decided to give you a provisional S class license. Your skill may show the rank of A but we evaluated that this is better than many S class skills."
I was taken aback by the response. I even downgraded my skill rank still they thought it was S class, I should've given some cooldown time.
" I am flattered, Mr. Martin "
" Would you like to join the DoA? We can give you the same treatment as the Guilds and the compensation will also be the best in the industry. What do you think ?."
I was honestly surprised. But I didn't intend to join any guild or corporation. I had my own plans, Also I didn't want to be tied down by anyone. So I refused.
" Sorry, I prefer to work alone. Appreciate the offer by the way. "