System.
"Huh?" Xarks opened his eyes noticing he was in a hospital.
"ugh... my head" He didn't remember what happened in the trial at all.
"XAAARKS!!!" Aria jumped in the room with frightened face...
"Mom??!! UGH" Xarks felt like cannon jumped to crush him.
"You absolute moron!!! Hiw could you push yourself so much that you almost broke your entire body i... i... i... don't know what to say you... you..." Aria was absolutely speechless.
BANG!!!
"Xarks... gah... gah..." Albert also jumped in and looked at him.
"Are you... so... stupid..." He was breathing hard.
"Calm down two of you... i am alright..." Xarks chuckled at this scene... he listened to grievences his parents gave him.
"W... ugh... looks like i pushed myself too much." Xarks laughed but then looked up to notice something... particular.
Xarks blinked. A faint blue glow danced in his vision, then—ding—a holographic screen floated in the air, pulsing like it had something important to say.
[User: Xarks]
Status: Stable – 75% Vitality
RemainingRestoration in Progress…
Primary Attributes:Physical Strength: [F]Endurance: [F]Reflexes: [F]Spatial Sensitivity: [N/A] (Locked – Insufficient Data)Cognitive Processing: [E] (Slightly Above Average)
Biometric Enhancements: (Pending Activation)Adaptive Muscle Growth: LockedNeural Acceleration: LockedGravity Resistance: Locked
Replenishment Required…
"Okay... what in the nine moons of Mithrax is this?"
Xarks waved his hand through the glowing panel. Nothing happened.
Aria tilted her head. "You good? You're making weird faces again."
"Uhh, yeah. Just... hallucinating. The normal kind," he said, trying not to look insane.
(They can't see it? Great. I'm either special… or completely losing my mind.)
Suddenly—
"YOU ABSOLUTE MORON!"
Albert stomped in, dropping a case on the floor with dramatic flair. "Were you trying to DIE?! Do you want your bones to liquefy?!"
Xarks gave a tired grin. "I mean... a little? Just for the aesthetic?"
Albert threw his hands up. "HE THINKS HE'S FUNNY."
Aria crossed her arms. "He gets it from your side."
Xarks snorted. "You both sound the same."He smirked. "Kinda cute, honestly."
"C-CUTE?!" Aria turned beet red.
Albert howled with laughter. "HA! Well, of course we are! That's why she proposed to me!"
"I did not!" Aria fired back, pointing a threatening finger. "Lies!"
Xarks watched them bicker like a tennis match."Man, I love this soap opera. All I need is popcorn."
Just as Albert sat down—
"WAIT—MARKUS!"
Xarks jolted upright, nearly flipping his blanket.
Aria shoved him back into bed. "Calm down, drama queen. He's fine. Next room over. Unconscious, like a smart person."
"Unlike someone," Albert muttered.
"You're one to talk," Xarks grumbled, pulling the blanket over his face. "You faint when you get blood drawn."
Albert stood up. "That's a biological reflex! It's science!"
"Sure, science... and you screaming like a little girl when they disinfect your arm?"
Before Albert could retaliate, the door suddenly whooshed open.
BANG!
"AAAAAHH!" Albert shrieked like a banshee, grabbing his chest.
Xarks burst out laughing. "I opened the door with the remote. Classic."
"You little—!" Albert lunged forward and knocked on his forehead. "You're lucky you're injured."
Once they left, the room settled into a quiet hum. Xarks lay back and sighed, bringing the screen up again.
--
[User: Xarks]Status: Stable – 75% Vitality RemainingRestoration in Progress…
Primary Attributes:Physical Strength: [F]Endurance: [F]Reflexes: [F]Spatial Sensitivity: [N/A] (Locked – Insufficient Data)Cognitive Processing: [E] (Slightly Above Average)
Biometric Enhancements: (Pending Activation)Adaptive Muscle Growth: LockedNeural Acceleration: LockedGravity Resistance: Locked
Replenishment Required…
--
"Right. Let's see what this thing actually does…"
He tapped on the Physical Strength stat.
---
[Physical Strength – F]You have below-average physical strength.To rank up:• Push-ups: 0 / 300• Pull-ups: 0 / 600• Cardio: 0 / 10 km• Dumbbells (10kg): 0 / 100 lifts]
---
"Wha...." Xarks couldn't understand this, he could recognize this was a game-like UI, but what was it for?
"Did I hit my head too hard?" Magic or something sort didn't exist in this world, or he never heard of it, the main way they strengthened their bodies was special spacesuits and exoskeletons that gave them borderline superhuman abilities.
Their race and pretty much other races in the galaxy except for ones in different environments were pretty normal, some had weird abilities they could use, for example swimming faster, digesting more things, and jumping higher, but that didn't translate into super powers at all, so what was this.
"If i do this will i get stronger? like physically stronger? how is that possible..." Xarks opened his eyes and pulled his back.
He looked at the endurance.
"...Below average?"Xarks narrowed his eyes. "Rude."
He checked Endurance next.
--
[Endurance – F]You have below-average endurance.To rank up:• Push-ups: 0 / 300• Pull-ups: 0 / 600• Swimming: 0 / 100 km
--
"Okay, yeah, we get it—I suck. You don't have to rub it in, screen."
He looked around the room. Still alone.
"So this thing wants me to do extreme training... to 'level up'? Who programmed this? A drill sergeant with a grudge?"
He blinked.
"Wait—what if I actually can get stronger through this...?"
A pause.
"...I'm gonna turn into an alien anime protagonist."
A wave of fatigue hit him.
"Ughhh, i feel like a baby right now... i need to rest... but... okay, maybe after a nap." Xarks wantee to explore the system now but he was so tired the migrane was like a electricity going through his mind.
He dismissed the screen with a swipe, turned on the TV, and let the static lull him into unconsciousness.
--
Elsewhere – Far, Far Away
In the depths of space millions of light ears in the distance from blue planet.
There was an enormous space station, moving around in space.
On the top of the station, there was a window where a man, a very tall man with two enormous eyes and a stretched face with a big top hat was looking out from the space.
"Cardinal, we got the message; it was detected somewhere in the Axios Galaxy Star System, sir..." A blue-skinned person went next to him and gave him a holographic tablet.
"Hmmm... the energy was detected so far away but even here we felt it... Ran, do you know what this means?" He looked down at his advisor. they reached a close by nebula which was so vast it encompassed the entire space with shining colorful twinkles that would fascinate any beautiful scenery enjoyer, it was so beautiful it would be a great painting.
This was what most of these people did, this was the glorious painting they were seeing every single day.
But for some reason nobody said anything.
This was what beautiful painting they were painting with their engines, but neither of two people even reacted to this, Cardinal with his eyes looked around.
He waited for his advisor to answer as he opened his enormous eyes that had extremely beautiful blue pupil in it, enormous one.
and the power that eminted from it, it was incredibly, Ran didn't seem to care. smiling.
"Yes, sir, this means that the galactic alliance will be in chaos once again," Ran said, looking out.
"Yes... and... that is..." Smiling Cardinal opened the tablet "The best thing we could have wished for."
The space was vast, and many powers started moving around.