System Activation Sequence Beginning.

User: Cain Darkgleam

Rating: Four Stars

Title: God-Killer (Hidden)

Beginning Update Sequence: Bonuses have been detected.

Update: 6%/100%

Cain looked at the flashing screens in front of him with curiosity. He was most definitely unconscious, something that he was never warned that would happen.

‘This is probably because I absorbed way too much energy killing that boss,’ he thought, sitting back and looking upwards. Pitch black greeted his eyes, with the occasional twinkling light in the distance. This wasn’t his psyche, or his soul, or whatever people wanted to call it, but instead something outside of that, controlled by whatever had brought the system to Earth.

“System update huh? And a title already...” Cain muttered out loud, poking the screen that had the title listed on it.

Title: God-Killer (Hidden)

Description: Obtained after killing a God. Grants the use of an ability specific to the God killed and an additional bonus.

Gods killed: 1

“Huh, an ability from a god huh? But I didn’t... no way! So that wasn’t just a boss we called Geb, but that was actually Geb itself? What is actually going...” Cain’s stream of questions was quickly interrupted by a flashing red screen.

Warning: Error detected.

Scan in progress.

Scan complete: Anomaly found. Decoding.

Result: Over-System has assigned a new hidden title and ability. Will you accept? Y/N

Cain blinked and felt his entire body freeze with this information. Another new hidden title? Another ability? And the Over-System... what on earth was that? There was too much to ponder and deal with, and he could feel his brain slowly trying to implode on itself as the thoughts increased.

Over-System... Something that stood above the regular System. If one thought about it linearly, it would be like having an employee and a manager. If the System gave the abilities and stats to the individual, then it would make sense that the Over-System was the one that told everything what to assign.

And if it was telling the System what to assign, then the Over-System was the one that started Ground Zero a decade ago.

“Interesting. So, I have been selected huh? Well, I can’t turn down this opportunity,” Cain said softly. Even if there was no one around to actually hear him, it still felt like one of those things that he had to be quiet about at all times. Staring at the screen for a split second longer, he pressed the “Y” option, accepting the new ability and title.

New Title: Double Rating - Creator (Hidden)

Description: A secondary rating system giving the owner access to a unique set of abilities. This title can be transferred to other people, so be careful.

New Ability: Gate Maker

Description: Granted by the Creator title. Allows the creation of Gates. The size and intensity are dependent upon the user’s rating, energy levels, and stat levels.

“Whoa... I can... This is huge. This is....” Cain couldn’t find the words to continue his sentences, the gravity of the situation immediately settling in. The amount of money and research prospects of this new ability were astounding. But there was one major issue with it. Looking back at the new title, he focused on the description aspect.

“Can be transferred to other people. So that means they can take this title from me if they find out I have it. And that means if someone figures out that I can create gates, I am going to be on the run for the rest of my life. Every government agency would want this ability,” he pondered, crossing his arms and thinking. The new title and ability were indeed extremely useful and strong, but the main question was why did the Over-System decide to give it to him in the first place? What was its purpose in giving him these abilities?

Update Resuming: 25%/100%

Assigning Stat Points to User

Applying Bonuses. For more information, please check the status screen.

Accessing Ability Datalog

Adding Abilities

Update: 50%/100%

Cain looked around the screens, reading them as they popped up and dismissing them shortly thereafter. If he remembered what his sister did correctly...

“System. Show Status.”

‘Aha! I got it,’ Cain thought as another screen popped up in front of him.

Health: 100/100

Energy: 100/100

Strength: 10

Vitality: 12

Charisma: 11

Dexterity: 15

Intelligence: 14

“Let’s see... Health, energy, strength, vitality, charisma, dexterity, intelligence... so the basics of the basics huh? I wonder why my dexterity is higher than everything else though. Now how many stat points to I have to distributed?”

Points to be distributed: 38

“Thirty-Eight?? This has to be from getting the final blow on Geb. A slime would at most give two or three points, and there is no way the System would assign so many points to a beginner, even if I was four-stars,” Cain said, hovering his finger over the “Distribute” button. Shaking his head, he pulled it away and pressed the next screen. The distribution would have to wait until he looked at his bonuses and abilities. It wouldn’t make sense to put points in stats that didn’t work with what he had.

Applied Bonuses:

-Slayer: Kill a six-star rating creature or higher with ease. Increases stats by 25% after update.

-Mentalist: Increases efficiency of mental attacks and skills by 25%. Scales with intelligence.

-Communicator: Allows communication with other creatures via mental connection.

-Rock Body: Decreases all damage taken by 25%. Granted by God-Killer title.

-The Watched: Watched by the Over-Seer. Bonuses unknown.

“Am I just overpowered right now? Even if I don’t have any combat experience... this is kind of ridiculous. My stats right now only increase by two and half point with the slayer bonus, but over time that is going to scale hard. Is Mentalist even a registered trait right now? And then there is The Watched... If that isn’t ominous then I don’t know what would be.”

Cain closed the screen and turned his attention to the skill section. As expected, it was smaller than the bonuses, but that was mostly due to the fact that he hadn’t trained or learned anything yet. That would change quite quickly though, especially with the Creator skill.

Accessible Skills:

-Mental Blade: Allows the user to sever the life connection of a willing target. Stat distribution and increases are determined by the level of the creature. Energy consumed determined by the level of the creature.

-Creation (Hidden): Allows the creation of Gates. Level one Gate creation allowed. Energy consumed: 75% for level one.

-Earthquake: Granted by killing God-Killer title. The skill of Geb, God of the Earth. Allows the user to cause an earthquake whose radius is determined by the strength stat and energy expended. Current Radius: 1 meter. Energy Consumption: 50 energy.

“So basically, everything is extremely strong, but basically useless at my level. If I create a Gate, I cannot use Earthquake, and vice versa. Nor do I know how long the Gate will last, or even what damage any of the other skills will do... which means I need to practice. A lot.”

Sighing, Cain turned off the screens and closed his eyes. It was a lot to think about and process, and he also had to figure out what exactly was happening with his physical body. It really would have sucked if he hadn’t managed to make it out of the Gate after he had killed Geb.

Beep.

Cain opened one eye and looked at the new screen that had appeared in front of him.

Update Complete. Returning consciousness to user. Wake up in 3... 2... 1...

----

Bright lights and screams filled air as Cain sucked in a breath of fresh air. His head was distinctively pounding, and the heavy weight on his chest was increasingly uncomfortable. Opening his eyes, a mass of brown hair blocked his view.

“Ari..ana. Can’t... Breathe.”

Ariana sat up straight, turning her head away as she ran her arm over her eyes before glaring at her bedridden brother.

“Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been?! And the first thing you say is you can’t breathe?!!”

“Please... my head. What happened? Where am I?”

Sighing, Ariana grabbed a glass of water from the nearby table and slowly held it to Cain’s lips, letting the water sooth his parched and dehydrated mouth and throat.

“The Gate collapsed for some reason. No one knows exactly what happened to the boss, just that it ceased to exist. They just barely managed to get everyone out before it collapsed, but because of the amount of energy released, some of the people in the trial didn’t make it out. Their Systems overloaded. I thought the same had happened to you... You’ve been in the hospital bed for three days now.”

Cain shut his eyes and let a slight tinge of regret paint his face. Deaths were on his hands now. A tool of the revenge, he had inadvertently killed people in helping grant Geb’s desire. A revenge that was directed at the Over-System, for the pain it had caused all of the Gate creatures.

“I need to get stronger,” he muttered, causing his sister to perk her head up a bit and look at him curiously.

“And you will. I saw your rating, good job by the way. But before you get stronger, you need to first recover. And as you are having trouble keeping your eyes open... Sleep brother, sleep.”

Cain couldn’t refute that request, mostly due to the fact that he was already soundly asleep before she had even finished speaking.