John tried to touch the floating window but his finger went through.

A hologram? Or am I hallucinating?

User is not hallucinating.

Oh it replied, didn’t think it was possible.

John didn’t know what to say about this. First, he time-traveled back into the past in his old teenager self and now he had to deal with a hallucination.

I repeat this is not a hallucination.

Oh yes, how I can forget. It can read my mind. But on second thought, it did alert me from that danger.

True to his assumption the alert from before was due to the chad-like teenager attacking John from behind. If he had heeded the warning, he would have been able to dodge it.

What are you exactly? Alien? or angel perhaps?

Negative, User can simply call me as Sistema.

It sounds definitely like system. You really want to sound fancy and all that?

Negative, User’s sarcasm will be ignored.

That’s a first, didn’t think an A.I can understand sarcasm.

John waited for another response and the floating text window didn’t show up. He waited for a while and yet no more floating window popping up.

Did I hurt its feeling? Hey system, I mean Sistema, are you there?

Sistema didn’t reply and John was forced to pay attention to class. Reliving his school life was boring him to death. Experiencing school the second time was definitely a torture for him. He barely paid any attention on the first period, since history was rather boring. John of all people knew that the things he learned back in school would barely be used in the adult world.

Then the second period came and the dreaded subject, math had arrived.

This time he didn’t have a choice. He paid attention to the class as he remembered that this particular teacher was prone to asking questions. Although he aced math back in the days, those calculating abilities he once had gone down the drain when he started working. Who the hell would use calculus in a normal office work?

But something caught him off guard as he was writing down the numbers on his book.

Skill: Math acquired

What?

Confusion struck him, his pen stopped moving as his eyes stared at the floating window.

Re-calibrating Math skill to user

What did it mean by re-calibrating?

Re-calibrating finished

Math skill is currently at level 8

Shit.

John was processing the thing that was currently happening. Out of sudden, his sight was bombed by these floating blue windows and the text all pointed out to something.

A game huh? So, Sistema is a game system.

Game was definitely something that John was fond of. One of his favorite games was none other than the classic Final Fantasy series and seventh was the best of all. Then he thought of something.

Open menu?

John Lee

Level : 1

HP : 50

MP : Lock

Strength : 3

Agility : 4

Vitality : 4

Dexterity : 6

Spirit : 1

Intelligence : 7

Points : 0

Skills : Math Lv.8

This is a pretty normal but weird status screen. No bar for any class, no bar for titles, and the MP is locked even though my Intelligence is the highest. I’m quite surprised myself seeing Intelligence the highest, do I have a high I.Q or something.

John turned his attention to one particular bar. The MP being locked bothered John.

Hey Sistema, why the MP is locked?

He waited but there was no answer. He tried calling out to Sistema and even said sorry because of his sarcasm but the system still didn’t respond to him. It was either Sistema was sulking or it wasn’t programmed to tell him that easily.

Never mind, I’ll see what I can do later.

John concentrated on his class and much to his ease, math turned out not to be that torturous compared to back then. Easily, his Math skill went up to level ten by the end of the class.

He went through a couple of classes before the lunch bell rang. All of the students burst out from their classroom heading to the cafeteria. Meanwhile, John went the other way around as he headed for the gym.

John didn’t waste any time as he went straight for the dumbbell. He picked one up and started curling it up and down. Yet as he repeated the same thing over and over again until he was finally exhausted, nothing came alight.

He didn’t give up and tried the other machines around. From back to his hamstring, he tried everything and not a single point was gain in strength. He was bathing in his own sweat as he stared at the unchanged number on strength.

Then a voice echoed in the gym.

“What do we have here, a nerd in the gym,” it was the chad-like teenager along with the other two.

John’s eyes narrowed down. In his mind, these teenagers were just a bunch of kids acting high and mighty.

“What are you trying to do nerd? Try to build up some muscle and wanting to fight back?” asked the chad-like teenager.

“Fuck off kid,” said John as he was already annoyed by his efforts being fruitless.

That single word was enough to make the chad-like teenager frowned.

“What did you just say to me?” the chad-like teenager walked up straight to John staring him down like a bully. The chad-like teenager came closer until he was an inch away from John. He watched a lot of UFC matches and he pretty much copied those aggressive mannerless fighters attitude during the weight-in confrontation.

“You scared nerd?” asked the chad-like teenager as his friends riled him up from the back.

John looked at him as his patience was running thin. Then he decided.

“I’m gonna show y…” the chad-like teenager words were cut off as pain erupted from below.

John did the unthinkable, he kicked the teenager right at the crotch at full strength. The chad-like teenager bent forward as his hands clutched his crotch. His face turned red as he was screaming without a voice.

But that wasn’t the end. With chad-like teenager bending forward exposing his head at a lower height, John didn’t waste his chance.

John punched him at the face bringing the chad-like teenager down on the floor. John could see the chad-like teenager going into a daze inches away from going unconscious.

For once, his company free kickboxing class turned out to be useful.

“Chad!” ironically the name of the down teenager was Chad as his friends rushed out to him seeing if he was okay.

Meanwhile, something else surprised John.

Skill: Cheap Shot acquired

John smiled seeing he earned another skill which only broadened his vision regarding Sistema. But then something happened.

BOOM.

The wall of the gym exploded as the debris went flying in the air. John indistinctly squatted down and covered his face. His eyes glanced at the sight of the hole in the gym and the moment he saw those two people, his eyes started quivering.

“Hahaha, is that the best you can do Rock Knuckle?” from outside the hole, a big silhouette emerged.

John saw it.

A huge muscular bulking ape wearing a worn-out camo pants and down on the floor was a man dressed in tights along with a domino mask that covered half of his face.

Okay, I'm confused. What the hell is going on here?