Your mind is now fully synced with the System.
You now have access to the following sections: [Notifications], [Statistics], and [Achievements]
That was the first thing that Theo saw when he woke up, and unlike before, there came the familiar and soothing voice of the Goddess inside his head, reading the Status Screen out loud. As comforting as her voice was, hearing someone else inside his own head was uncomfortable.
It was the kind of uncomfortable that you felt when you had to let a tube enter your stomach through your throat for an endoscopy.
The moment that he thought about the Statistics section, the window extended and the text formed upon it. It was a simple interface with how many points he’d used, how many points he had, and what powers he had, along with their levels.
Used Points
50 Points
Accumulated Points
57 Points
Super Strength
Level II
Regeneration
Level I
Super Durability
Level II
Flight
Level I
So far, he somehow had 57 Points. Saving the kids added 2 Points, which was obvious but where the other 5 Points came was a mystery. He just had to look for them, and Theo knew exactly where to look: in the Achievement section.
Saved Humans
2
Debut as Superhero
Complete
It was a simple interface that only had two Achievements at the moment. It was bare for now due to the lack of tasks he’d completed. With that said, he hadn’t finished surfing through all the Tasks pages and if he was to be stuck in this black void for a while, he might as well spend the time with productivity.
Task
Reward
Task
Reward
Participate in a War
50 Points
Planetary Domination
50000 Points
Start a War
100 Points
Galactic Domination
100000 Points
Lose a War
100 Points
Universal Domination
500000 Points
Win a War
250 Points
Defeat an Avatar
1000000 Points
[Previous]
The points from a war sounded decent. Just participating in a war yielded so many points and starting yielded a lot of points as well. Even losing gave a bunch. That was an easy way to milk points if he felt like it but wars hurt people.
It wasn’t something a hero would do.
“I should’ve become a villain,” Theo mumbled underneath his breath. Despite the fact that it’d make him feel horrible, it was far more rewarding to start wars or try to go for world domination. Simpler, too.
“You’re awake,” said Colt, and that was when Theo realized that he wasn’t stuck in a black void.
Rather, he was simply lying on a bed and he hadn’t opened his eyes.
This time, he almost consciously slammed his head into a wall to save himself from the embarrassment. At least then, he’d have the excuse of being dizzy. Of course, like anyone that had messed up enough times, he refrained from doing that.
“That got me a bit worried over there, buddy. Don’t do it again,” said Colt as Theo sat up on the bed, rubbing his eyes.
That was the best sleep he’d had in a while.
“I’ll try not to,” said Theo and climbed up to his feet. He took a look around the room. There was a map of the city hanging on a wall but everything else was what you’d expect from a teen’s room.
Except, Colt was in his early twenties. Then again, college students weren’t all that different from teens. At least in terms of design. There was a wardrobe, a 32 inch TV hanging from the wall, and a bookshelf with three levels, all of them full of thick books.
Theo took a look at them and realized that they were about physics, and that was also when he noticed that he didn’t recognize the language.
At all.
The letters and the numbers were strange. They were round, with no edges at all. There were dots and curves and circles, but not a single square. And the weirdest of them all, he could somehow read it just fine and understand its meaning, just like he was reading English.
Was it a side-benefit of being thrown into another world? Understanding its language without even knowing it.
There was also his desk, which he was sitting behind with a laptop that looked a bit odd. It was gray and was made of a sort of steel, yet its shape was something he hadn’t seen even once in his life: a rounded rectangle that was slightly fat toward the middle. If closed, it’d look like it had a bulge around the middle.
It made this world feel futuristic for some reason, but Theo knew for a fact that there were no rockets nor guns in this world. Maybe it was just in terms of weapons? There were TVs and smartphones, not to mention fridges. Even Doc Burgalicious.
Aside from a few things, Terra was basically Earth.
The slight differences were jarring, though. If it was completely identical to Earth, it’d be alright and if it was completely alien, it’d be understandable. However, when the similarities were numerous and there were only a few differences, it made up for a confusing ride in which Theo couldn’t know what was right and what was wrong.
“Don’t you have classes?” asked Theo.
“Umm, it’s a Saturday,” said Colt, and Theo nodded along.
Yesterday was a Friday back on Earth. So the dates were in line, at least. Accidentally, he’d managed to extract yet another tidbit of information.
“You have any assignments to do?” he asked, “What I mean is, are you busy today? We should train before any new Superhumans pop up.”
“Too late. There’s already been a case,” said Colt, and that made Theo groan.
There was another Superhuman.
Whether that was a good thing or a bad one, Theo did not know.
“Apparently, they decided it’s the time to make an appearance after they saw Valiant’s sidekick make an appearance,” said Colt.
Theo closed his eyes, bit his lips, and turned to Colt.
“Who again?” he asked.
“They totally think you’re my sidekick. Look,” said Colt and typed a bunch of letters into his world’s version of a search engine, but Theo couldn’t make out anything beyond the green and pink color scheme before the next page loaded.
At least the browser seemed similar enough, but with an unfamiliar logo of a black bull. The operating system of the computer also seemed a bit odd. Like some sort of Linux system with a sidebar, but not at the same time.
Theo saw an article with a video clip of his initial flight test and him saving the two kids before Valiant came to the rescue. It had a headline that made him want to punch something: Valiant’s First Sidekick?!
“And here’s the other Super,” said Colt and scrolled down to the bottom of the page where there were a few other links, but all of them were about the same guy.
When he clicked on one of the links, the embedded video showed an everyday Joe standing around in a grocery store. Only a few seconds later, the guy erupted in flames and his hair fully turned into fire. His clothes disappeared, now replaced with a massive body that’d make bodybuilders scream in frustration.
“Oh, shit. It’s a guy on fire,” said Theo.
“It’s a Superhuman,” said Colt with the biggest grin of his life.
“Yeah, this guy looks like bad news,” said Theo and put his hands on Colt’s shoulders, “I don’t think you’re up for it yet.”
“I’ve been at it for six months,” argued Colt, “And I used to fight a lot back in high school.”
“Well, that’s sweet and all, but have you fought a Super before?” asked Theo and Colt had no answers for that, “Fights in high school are fine. You won’t go too far and even if you do, the cops are there to stop you. But against a guy like that? You’ll be burnt to a crisp if you aren’t careful. You might even die.”
“Then what? We just let him walk around and rob stores?” asked Colt, quieter than normal.
Theo could see why he was a hero.
The boy wasn’t afraid of fighting a man that was literally on fire and was built like a monster truck that had taken the shape of a human. He didn’t want the stores to be robbed and Theo could see anger in his eyes.
Colt didn’t lash out when he was flicked in the forehead without a warning yesterday but he was angry now.
“I’m not trying to prevent you from fighting him. I want you to be prepared before you do that,” reasoned Theo and shook his head, “Fight me. If you can beat me, then you’re free to challenge him. How about that?”
Theo had 7 Points that hadn’t been invested at the moment and he could purchase [Super Speed] to have a better chance against Valiant but he also needed something that’d let him mitigate the drain from flying at all.
Even if he became fast, Theo had a feeling that he wouldn’t be as fast as Colt with simply the first level of [Super Speed].
Colt stared at him for a while with sealed lips and after almost thirty seconds, he nodded.
“I’ll be waiting in the mountains,” said Valiant while pointing out the window and in a flash, he got to his wardrobe and changed before leaving.
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The mountain was close enough.
Theo would say that it was around five kilometers away at most. Living in the suburbs meant that you were close to one or two ends of the city, and at one end, there was a convenient mountain that seemed to have a height of around a thousand feet with a length of trees that resembled hair.
Colt locked the door of his room and left through the window, flying out as a streak of purple, and made his way to the mountains. Colt would get there in a minute or two while Theo would take around five if he estimated his speed to be on the level of the top athletes.
Before he left, though, Theo had to find something.
Power
Cost
Powers
Cost
Super Strength III
25 Points
Flight II
25 Points
Super Speed I
5 Points
Telekinesis I
10 Points
Super Durability III
25 Points
Telepathy I
10 Points
Energy Potency I
5 Points
Regeneration II
25 Points
[Next]
Just like the Tasks section, the Store Section seemed to have a [Next] button as well, meaning there were several pages of it as well.
Power
Cost
Powers
Cost
Enhanced Stamina I
5 Points
Enhanced Hearing I
5 Points
Enhanced Willpower I
5 Points
Enhanced Touch I
5 Points
Enhanced Sight I
5 Points
Enhanced Acrobatics I
5 Points
Enhanced Smelling I
5 Points
Enhanced Intelligence I
5 Points
[Previous]
[Next]
As interesting as [Enhanced Senses] sounded, he’d found his objective: [Enhanced Stamina]. It only cost 5 Points, which was like scoring a jackpot.
Enhanced Stamina I
Your Stamina is enhanced to the degree of a Superhuman, making Superhuman abilities less taxing. It is possible to sprint for hours on end without tiring and some taxing abilities are only as difficult as sprinting to you.
Cost: 5 Points
Theo sprinted after coming to this world and that seemed manageable. Maybe because he hadn’t been sprinting for more than five minutes at a time, but if it could mitigate the exhaustion from [Flight], then it was a treasure trove.
After this, he’d definitely get the first two levels of [Super Speed].
What use was [Flight] if he couldn’t run away from anyone due to being too slow? Especially if they could also fly. While [Telekinesis] and [Telepathy] were interesting, he wasn’t too interested in them yet. He needed a base for his physique for now, and that meant he needed the basic superpowers that you’d see on anyone.
His case was different from others in that he couldn’t naturally grow his powers through training but only through Points, unless he could, in which case it’d be a lot more convenient.
Theo couldn’t refrain from peeking at the next page as he flew through the air, the drain on his stamina significantly reduced thanks to the newly attained [Enhanced Stamina I] power. It was like he was sprinting, as it said, and that meant it was manageable to keep it up for the entirety of the five-minute flight. He wasn’t even tired by the time he got there.
Power
Cost
Powers
Cost
Energy Manipulation I
10 Points
Substance Manipulation I
5 Points
Energy Medium
5 Points
Substance Generation I
5 Points
Energy Resistance I
5 Points
Substance Control I
5 Points
Energy Control I
10 Points
Shapeshifting I
10 Points
[Previous]
There were two different sections for Energy and Substance, meaning they were different. The former was more expensive. Theo wagered that it had something to do with the fact that Energy was a much broader term than Substance, which he assumed wouldn’t give him control over all substances, but only a single one.
Or maybe he was just overthinking it.
There was no [Next] button so that was the end of the list so far. However, what interested him was [Energy Medium], which didn’t have levels. This was the first and only power that didn’t have a level at all.
Energy Medium
Bodies do not naturally have a means of generating energy or ejecting it. This power grants you the ability to do so through a single medium from the following: Eyes, Hands, Chest, and in a Radius through the entirety of the body.
Cost: 5 Points
That seemed interesting.
So even if he had Energy Manipulation, he’d have to choose Energy Medium to use it at all. That meant he’d have to need a lot more Points to make use of it than anything physical, like [Shapeshifting] or the various Enhanced powers, among which [Enhanced Intelligence] and [Enhanced Acrobatics] seemed the most interesting.
The enhanced senses weren’t to be trifled with either.
He had access to simple but effective abilities at the moment and this was only the [Beginner Store]. It made it apparent that more would be unlocked the more Points he spent, probably to make sure that he’d have a repertoire of basic abilities until he started saving up for an extremely expensive one while getting nothing done.
That reminded him of the [Energy Potency] power back on the first page, which he assumed to be the power that decided how powerful his energy blasts or attacks could be.
Then there was the issue of [Energy Resistance], which implied he wouldn’t be immune to fire just because he had decent durability, and the explanation window proved his worst fears true.
Energy Resistance I
How resistant your body is to extreme temperatures and various other forces that may harm you, such as radioactivity, electricity, and magnetism. You are able to endure temperatures that could cause first-degree burns and frostbites without being fazed and further damage is also reduced by one degree.
Cost: 5 Points
That seemed interesting.
So with it, he could potentially make it so that he could only attain second-degree burns? But that was skewed logic when some things could turn him into ashes, which was much worse than third-degree burns.
At least he assumed so.
At some point, though, Theo was sure that by investing in it enough, he’d be completely immune to the heat and cold of space as well as some pesky effects like radiation. Magnetism could matter if he ever got an organic metal body or had a bone replaced with a metal one.
Almost on the dot after five minutes, Adrian was near the mountains, floating above it.
Flying was as natural to him as walking now, or rather, running, but that was as natural as it could get. While draining, it let him do it for extended periods of time without feeling like he was about to die. Between having the first level of [Enhanced Stamina] and not having it, the former was far more advantageous.
“You can fly,” said Colt, now in his purple hoodie and bandana, but it was apparent that if the bandana was down, his mouth would be wide open.
“Yes, I tend to learn quickly,” said Theo, which was a half-truth. On one hand, he did learn how to fly in the timespan of a single evening but on the other hand, this growth wasn’t due to his mastery of [Flight] but the benefits of [Enhanced Stamina].
“That’s bullshit,” said Colt.
“Come. The deal is that you won’t fight that pyromaniac if you lose,” said Theo as he descended onto the ground in a clearing in the forest. The grass was soft and it looked like a perfect place to lie in if you weren’t Theo, but after he ran into a large spider while lying in the tall grass, he’d never look at grass like that.
Never again.
“Are you really sure?” asked Colt after descending to the ground.
“It’s fine. I can take a punch,” said Theo and beckoned him with four fingers, his thumb folded into the palm of his hand, “I just want to know how strong you are.”
“I’m fast as hell and I can fly. That’s already good enough,” countered Colt.
“Stronger than me?” asked Theo.
“Look, there are people in need of saving. We can’t afford to be fighting each other, buddy,” said Colt and pulled off his bandana, gritting his teeth underneath, “Hell, we can gang up on the guy and take him down.”
“That’s the other issue. Where do we put him? This place doesn’t even have guns. How do you expect them to keep him in line?” asked Theo and narrowed his eyes, “We need to get a feel for his limits first. Whether his fire can melt or bend metal with enough time. How strong he is and whether he can fly.”
“I-I don’t know,” said Colt and took a breath, “But we have to stop him. The cops can’t.”
“They would have if they had guns,” mumbled Theo quietly.
“Guns this, guns that. What’s your deal with them?” asked Colt.
“How’d you hear that?” he asked, once again quiet.
“I can hear and see well as well. It’d be hard to fly fast without either of them,” said Colt with arms crossed.
Auxiliary powers were a thing.
“Alright, so you don’t want to fight. Fine, fine. Go on and fight the guy. I’ll be watching,” said Theo and stepped back, arms raised.
His duty wasn’t to fight the Avatars but to prepare the world for them. That meant Valiant had to be trained properly. Sadly, his plan wasn’t going as expected. If Valiant wasn’t good enough, then he’d just have to find another Super. That [Super Speed] and [Flight] combo was good enough, but he couldn’t get a feel for how hard he hit.
“Before that, we need to find a name,” said Theo.
He wanted more Points and he knew how to get a lot of it at once: by recruiting someone. If starting a team and adding Valiant into the team counted as recruiting, then he’d get a decent enough boost to get up to the second level of [Super Speed].
“Great, so we came over here for nothing,” said Colt and rigorously scratched his head.
“I’m always open to a spar,” said Theo.
He’d probably get beaten up if their strength and durability were relative, but if he overpowered Valiant, then it’d obviously be his win. Which he wasn’t counting on, because this world’s version of Superman couldn’t be as weak.
Then again, there were no guns or any sophisticated weaponry in this world. Hell, even rockets didn’t exist so they didn’t even get to the moon. Anytime he thought about parallel worlds, Theo imagined a futuristic paradise where things were more advanced, complete with sufficiently advanced technology that may as well be magic.
What met him was a shabby world that required him to reinvent the wheel and teach Superhumans common sense, like not picking a fight with people that are beyond you. If guns were there to make the transition easier by using normal people with guns as a stand-in, then it’d be far less complicated.
As far as Valiant knew, he wasn’t strong. He was the Strongest, with a capital ’S’ and ‘the’ in front of it. Flying was actually impressive in this place, which made him wonder if there were planes.
“What name?” hissed Colt.
He was angry and that was good, somewhat. If he was about to fight another Super for the first time, it could be useful. Theo wasn’t a fighter so even if he was more durable and stronger than Valiant, he would rather not be on the frontlines. If he could manage a backseat position where he could reliably direct people from afar and abuse his useless knowledge of pop culture, he’d be perfectly comfortable there.
“A name for a team. Since that’s what we’ll be. Some sort of team,” said Theo.
He could get notifications now, allegedly, but he hadn’t gotten one yet. Those 5 Points from before let him make [Flight] more manageable. 50 Points that came from recruiting a Superhuman would be a massive boon.
“How about Heroes?” offered Colt.
“Too basic,” said Theo and floated up a few inches into the air, “Since I can properly fly now, we should talk about that on the way. You’re clearly itching to beat him up. Or get beaten up.”
“I’ll win,” said Colt.
“You do you, then,” said Theo and let out the deepest sigh he’d ever released in his life. This guy was far too stubborn, but at least he had the hospitality going for him, “Meanwhile, I’ll do me and come up with a proper name.”
“It’s up to you, then,” said Colt.
You have successfully accomplished Task [Recruit Superhuman].
Reward: 50 Points
Bingo.
Theo wondered if the Goddess’s narration could be turned off, as hearing someone’s voice inside his head wasn’t the most comfortable feeling. As intuitive as it was, Theo hoped that it came with a user’s manual. He might be missing out on some of its functions, after all. Namely, turning off the narration.
“By the way, how are you thinking of tracking him down? He’s keeping a low profile if he hasn’t already declared himself the ruler of the town. Even if the only one that could possibly stop him in this world is you as far as he’s aware,” said Theo.
That’s when Valiant stopped and shook his head.
Theo rubbed his forehead.
This would be difficult. It’s not like he could hack into cameras and track them down like in the movies. It was far harder to do it in real life. Unless it was easy in this world, in which case he could try his hand at it but was pretty sure that it would be just as difficult.
Then again, this was a world where there were no guns and rockets, which made him wonder about the existence of any explosives. That also made him wonder about nuclear bombs and any weapon of mass destruction.
“Do you even know what he looks like?” asked Theo.
“Yeah. He’s a big muscular, burning man with hair made out of fire,” said Colt and stared at him, floating a few meters above Theo up in the air, “Okay?”
“No, it’s a guy that loves wearing black leather and has hair that’s combed back. There’s only one burning guy in town at the moment and I suppose a thousand or so who love leather as much as he does. Now then, if we take the ones that have hair that’s slicked back like his, then we’re sure to narrow down our search to a point where only a dozen or so people apply,” said Theo and shrugged, “But the issue is that we can’t possibly look for him throughout the entire city. It’s just dumb.”
“I’ll do it,” said Colt, “I’m fast and I’m supposed to protect everyone. Makes sense that I’ll have to search the entire city.”
“The city. You’ll be searching everywhere,” said Theo and shook his head, “That’s impossible.”
“Until yesterday, I thought that someone like me appearing was impossible. You proved it wrong, so I’ll keep the streak going and prove you wrong too, buddy. Just you watch,” said Colt and he blitzed away after giving him a quick wave.
Yep, total hero material.