Chapter 01 : A White Choker

He knew he was different from other children. While they learned how to crawl, he had started walking. When they spoke their first word, he formed complex sentences. People regarded him as a genius so he did his best to meet their expectations. While other kids played with their friends, he cooped himself up inside his room, reading. When students shed tears of joy getting 80% marks in their tests, he felt aggrieved in scoring 99%.

His family was proud of him yet he loathed himself. For a genius such as himself to not obtain a perfect score was an extremely shameful matter in his mind. Therefore, he pushed himself harder and harder until the stress finally got to him.

One day, inside his classroom, he suddenly jerked up and yelled at the top of his lungs before dashing outside his university. People were too shocked that they weren’t able to react until he’s quite a distance away. They informed his parents who decided that it’s best if they turned the whole city into a search party. Of course, those who participated would be rewarded properly and the group who found him would be paid more than the others.

While others were searching for him, he madly ran towards a forest and after pausing a while at the edge, he sprinted deeper into it. Not knowing how long he had run, he stumbled when his foot accidentally hit a root that protruded from underground. Falling on his back then breaking his nose, he then rolled and fell further into a pit and finally stopping after his head hit a stone. With gasping breath and sore body, he looked around and saw something shining and blinking. With his curiosity piqued, despite his injuries, he went ahead to look at it.

It was a white, circular object. There were symbols flickering and changing around it giving it a mysterious vibe. Ignoring all danger, he grabbed at it. Before his hand touched it though, the object jumped at him, taking him in surprise. It split at a part then coiled around his neck before locking itself there tightly. He tried pulling it off but the object didn’t budge. It now seemed as if he’s wearing a high-tech choker.

Giving up peeling the choker off his neck, he finally looked around at where he was only to realize that he’s lost so he became a little scared. The fear didn’t last long though since he was surprised by a voice suddenly appearing in his mind. Thinking that he became crazy because of knocking his head, he tried ignoring the voice but it was persistent. Add in the fact that the question the voice asked was quite weird, considering it’s his own mind playing games on him since he thought he turned nuts. He decided to entertain the voice after roaming a few hours in the forest.

[Please provide your name.]

“Ray… Starlight.” He subconsciously replied to the voice.

[Registering Ray Starlight… Obtaining coordinates… Scanning holder’s body…Registration completed.]

[Congratulations! You are now officially a participant of Galactic Showdown!]

[Good luck and may you conquer the vast galaxy!]

[Time left: 3 years 8 months 23 days]

Not knowing what actually just happened, he was in a daze for a few minutes. Waking up, he then tried ascertaining what had just occurred but was unable to produce any result. The voice in his head too had disappeared. This kind of situation was not something that a normal person should experience. Afraid that he really might turn crazy, he forced himself to just forget that part of his life. But Lady Fate for some reason awakened an interest of messing around with him today. Out of the blue, a translucent screen appeared in his vision nearly giving him a heart attack with the earlier voice talking as if reading a script.

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[Scanning completed. Displaying scanned results.]

Status

Name: Ray Starlight

Race: Human

Age: 18

Sex: Male

Faction: N/A

Guild: N/A

Strength: 8

Agility: 9

Intellect: 50

Dexterity: 20

Stamina: 3/70

Mental Energy: 5/250

[Holder’s natural abilities have reached the requirements and will be turned into usable Abilities.]

New Ability Gained

Enhanced Perception (Passive)

[The holder’s perception is increased, making it easier to perceive things that are usually unnoticed.]

New Ability Gained

Enhanced Reaction (Passive)

[The holder’s reaction is increased, making it easier to react during fast-paced actions or sudden changes within self or surroundings.]

New Ability Gained

Eidetic Memory (Passive)

[The holder can vividly recall images from memory after only a few instances of exposure.]

Bombarded with the screens without having to brace himself, he was scared shitless, afraid that there might be some supernatural beings playing pranks on him. It’s in human nature to be scared of the unknown when facing them. Not to mention that he’s currently inside the forest and the day was starting to get darker. The forest was not a place that you should play around.

Though he’d love to go back as soon as possible, with the way things were, he might just get lost deeper into the forest. The least he could do was to wait at one place until helpers arrive lest it made it harder for people to find him. With nothing else to do, he chose a relatively clean spot and sat down. Since he’s going crazy anyway, might as well check out what those screens were saying.

“Name, age, race? Hmm… strength, dexterity, and… mental energy? The hell is that?” The more he read, the more his mind spun. This didn’t seem like a delusion of someone crazy, probably. Ray was someone who was focused in studying so he never had the time to play games, making it hard to understand these terms properly. Nevertheless, with his intelligence, he could still guess them, though it’s not that accurate, “Aren’t I a bit too weak though? The reason my intelligence is that high is obvious but still… what’s the average value for a human anyway?”

From denial to acceptance, he denied the existence of the voice earlier but then accepted the appearance of the screens, this was how his mind worked. If he can’t adapt to this little matter, then he was not able to accept his title as a genius. By now, he had already guessed that the voice and screens appeared because of the choker. He became more and more interested in the object and was somewhat grateful that it was now stuck to him. If not, people might want to steal it from him. He’d have to guard it with his life if he wanted to protect it since for the moment; the only way to take it off was to chop the wearer’s neck.

“Hm? Eidetic memory? Let’s see.” After seeing the last screen, he tried using the ability Eidetic Memory to search his brain for a way out of this forest. After racking his brains for a while, he finally obtained what he wanted. Though it’s not as clear as he expected since he wasn’t really focusing when he was running earlier, he could still find his way back.

Following the images in his mind, he finally walked out of the forest after a few hours of walking. By then, the sky had darkened and his body was covered with mud and grime. There were even a few small sticks stuck in his hair. Walking back to the city, he noticed that there were still people searching for him. He knew that they were hired by his parents so he decided that it would be best for him to evade them for a while.

Using roads which people don’t usually use, he sneaked his way back towards his house. After a slight hill climb, he finally reached a three-storey mansion which was isolated from the rest of the city. Stealthily jumping over the fence and commanding the guard dog to stay silent, he stealthily made his way towards the window of his room. He even brought a laser pointer to make sure the CCTVs won’t spot his figure. Let them think that it’s a burglar or murderer as long as it’s not him. It’s obvious that it’s not his first time doing this.

His room was on the second floor but this was where the huge-ass tree right outside it played an important role in his “mission”. Even with his measly 7 points in strength, that was still enough to climb a tree, to say nothing about his ambidextrousness which helped a lot in the process. Pushing himself off a branch, he finally landed safely on his porch.  Clapping his hands at his marvellous performance this time, he grandly entered his room…

…only to face the scowling faces of a man and a woman.