Chapter 3 - System Interface
One of the people suited in a medical garment with a spectacle on his face walked towards the man in an azure-colored suit.
"Apart from the point of impact, nothing else can be found here. This is a waste of time," He reported in a low voice.
"You're telling me that nothing can be found here after the large energy surge detected in this area?... That's impossible!" The man in the azure-colored suit spat.
"It may seem impossible, but that is the current situation," The medical man replied, "No form of energy whatsoever can be found here since we've been searching for an entire night," he added.
The man in an azure-colored suit had a look of contemplation as he walked forward slowly, "Lock down this forest and do a clean sweep of the entire surrounding!" He commanded, "No one is allowed to come in or go out of this forest! Anyone found within this vicinity must be brought in for observation and questioning!"
Immediately he finished giving out this set of instructions, the four guards behind dashed off in separate directions, heading deep into the forest.
"I need every ounce of resource and power I can lay my hands on right now!" The man on azure-colored suit stated with a solemn face as he placed his hands behind his back, interlocking his fingers
The medical man behind shook his head and sighed after hearing his last statement.
This same event led to the situation Gustav experienced.
----
In a dimly lit room, a teenage boy in a maroon school uniform could be seen lying in a small tub placed in the middle of the room. He was currently in deep sleep as his hair kept changing color repeatedly, and his eyes trembled slightly from time to time like something was making him feel uncomfortable.
[Completion of system update into host - 12%]
[Host has received BLESSINGS OF THE RESTORATION!]
[Host has received RECREATION!]
[Host has received TOXIN IMMUNITY!]
--
[Completion of system update into host - 24%]
[Host has received the function BLOODLINE UPGRADE!]
[Host has received the function BLOODLINE DOWNGRADE!&125;
---
Gustav could hear the ringing of notifications in his ear as he slept. If he was awake, he would have seen this process.
---
-Twelve hours later
[Completion of system update into host - 97%]
[Host has received the function QUESTS!]
[Host has received the function DAILY TASKS!]
[Completion to system update - 99.9%]
-
[Completion to system update - 100%]
[System update completed!]
Immediately after Gustav opened his eyes, this was the first thing that popped up in his line of sight.
At first, he tried backing away before hitting his head on the side of the tub he was lying in.
"Ouch! so that wasn't a dream?" He asked rhetorically as he recollected the events that happened in the last twenty-four hours.
[Congratulations, host, you have now received this power completely!]
Gustav stared at the characters with a dumbfounded look still.
"What power does this character keep talking about?"
[To check out what this power entails, call out; System Interface!]
Gustav stared at the characters' change again. He looked around his small room to be sure no one was in the vicinity, which was obviously stupid since he was in his room.
"System interface," He muttered with a low and partially sleepy voice.
Immediately after saying that, he saw the characters change form again and table out a list before him.
[Host Attributes] [Skills and Abilities] [Bloodlines] [Quests] [Shop]
"Hmm?" Seeing the outline before his eyes, Gustav felt this looked a bit familiar.
"Host attributes," He seemed to have started getting the way it worked, so he called out.
After saying that, the rest of the characters disappeared except for the host attributes.
-----------------------------
[Host Attributes]
-Name: Gustav Oslov
-Level: 1
-Class: ?
-Exp: 0/100
-Hp: 100/100
-Energy: 30/30
&123;Attributes&125;
»Strength: 1
»Perception: 1
»Agility: null
»Speed: 1
»Bravery: null
»Intelligence: 4
»Charm: null
&123;Attributes point: 0&125;
---------------------------
Gustav had a dark face on as he stared at some of the information displayed.
"Agility, Bravery, Charm, null? These damn characters!" He was having a hard time digesting the information displayed.
As if to answer his grudge, a piece of information appeared above the table of information.
[These attributes have been properly calculated, and it would seem the host lacks in various aspects, especially charm and bravery!]
Gustav; "..."
Gustav had the urge to curse upon seeing the bluntness of the system.
"I have brav..." He wanted to shout out that he had bravery when he remembered everything that happened last night, he stopped himself. He recalled himself wanting to commit suicide again but running for his life upon noticing a life-threatening projectile headed towards him.
"OK, I get your point," He admitted with a voice of defeat, "But I have ch..."
"Never mind," Remembering his sad life up to this point, he knew he truly lacked in both these aspects.
"But why does this thing look like an old age gaming system? Levels? Points?" He recognized this from ancient games that humans used to play long before the slarkovs descended upon the earth. He knew about this since he read books a lot.
"Skills and abilities!" Gustav called out.
The Host attributes panel disappeared only to be replaced by skills and attributes.
-------------------------
&123;Skills and Abilities]
»Dash - Level 1
»Regeneration - Level 1
»Morph - Level 1
»Toxin immunity - Level 1
»Recreation - Level 1
»Bloodline acquisition level 1
»(Locked)
»(Locked)
»(Locked)
»(Locked)
...
--------------------------
Gustav could see a large number of locked skills and abilities extending downwards.
"It truly is like those old games," Gustav held his chin as he spoke. "Everything seems to be on level one, but does it increase with leveling up?"
"I have a general idea of what dash, toxin immunity, and regeneration are supposed to do, but what about to others... Recreation, Bloodline acquisition, and morph? what are those?" Just as he was wondering, some hidden information suddenly appeared below the skills.
----------------------------
»Dash - level 1
(Ability to increase current speed by 20 for ten seconds)
»Regeneration - level 1
(Recover from injuries ten times as fast)
»Morph - level 1
(Bloodline ability - change hair color and skin tone at level 1)
»Toxin immunity - level 1
(Protection against not so serious toxins)
»Recreation - Level 1
»Bloodline acquisition - level 1
(Ability to steal bloodlines and pair them with a host if the right requirements are met. &123;D - F rank&125;)
------------------------------
"Ability to change skin tone seems to have been added to my bloodline, but why is it named morph? Still, is there any difference between that and the same useless changing hair color?" Gustav sighed in disappointment upon seeing the information beneath morph and his eyes moved down.
Gustav's sight got to the Recreation part and squinted his eyes in suspicion.
Apart from the rest, this was the only ability without a piece of information beneath.
He stared at it, his sight traveling from the top to bottom and from the bottom to top.
"Could this be a glitch? Why won't this one show anything?" Gustav stared at it with his eyes squinted, but no matter how long he did, nothing popped up beneath it.
"Hmm? I guess I will just have to find out later," His left palm was still holding onto his chin as he inspected, "I still don't know if this is all tricks playing in my head,"
Gustav decided to move to the next ability after seeing that this one wouldn't show any information.
His eyes narrowed down on the last one, Bloodline acquisition!
On reading the information beneath, his eyes widened.
"What?" Gustav couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"A bloodline stealing ability?" His eyes widened with disbelief.
"This must be a joke, right?" He asked rhetorically as he gave a light ridiculing chuckle, "My bloodline has always been useless, and now this thing says I can steal bloodlines?" Gustav subconsciously stood up and started prancing around the room.
He remembered all those years of bullying. All his mates showing off their cool and powerful bloodlines. Him always having to hide due to the shame of only being able to change his hair color.
"If this is legit, then..." Gustav paused as his eyes became fierce.
"I will become the number one bloodline robber in the world!"