Sounds of laughter and long conversations beyond the hallway, coming from the living room area next to the elevator. Daniel thought they had departed the entire building, leaving him alone. Either way, the desperation for answers had not been so high. As he was about to walk out to the living room, another set of visuals popped into his view.
--
Reading the user’s memory for initiations.
↓
0.001% Raal discovered.
General Class (LV.1) Meter: [1%] +1% ↑
--
Interesting. Daniel thought while theorizing what the meter and the discovery progress could potentially be for in the long run. No human could be able to craft this technology. He doubted David could craft the “system” software as there was no indication of such devices existing for all he knew upon arriving. However, the mechanical part as evident from his hand was more believable.
--
Initiation preparations completed…
Height: 6.284市尺, 208.28 cm, 6’10”
Weight: 240.4市斤, 120.202 kg, 265 lbs.
Daily Necessity Calorie Count unchanged: ~4000 Cal required.
* ***Recommended*** diet:
* Protein, 315 grams
* Carbohydrates, 300 grams
* Fat, 120 grams
* Calcium, 2000 mg
* Choline, 750 mg.
--
He read the diet and calorie count, finding the recommendations were way beyond his typical diet. 4000 for all of this seems off. I mean would it matter if it goes over?
Suddenly, he heard a rumbling noise in his stomach. He held it and another one came immediately.
--
Hunger in effect.
--
Shit. The third grumbling was more aggressive, signaling Daniel needed to find food. He sprinted out of the hallway and went through the living space, finding the three all sat on the couch conversing with a glass of assumingly wine in their hands. Funny, they didn’t notice him walking past, and the kitchen was right on the opposite side, so Daniel had to sprint across the floor. It was only when he reached the end, prompting him to turn left into the kitchen, was when he heard a yelp.
He turned around to see Thora stand from her couch, nearly tipping her glass, and looked at him. The hunger prevented him from responding but barging into the kitchen. The kitchen was fairly a mess. Pans and plates are scattered everywhere on the kitchen counter.
No decency. Daniel grabbed the large pan on the counter and hovered it right near his face. Perfect. He placed it on the stove. Behind the stove was the refrigerator about the size of two cabinets wide and around at least seven feet tall. He pulled it open, only to be confronted with an absolute mess.
Could he at least organize it rather than leaving it like a toy box?! Daniel ranted and was annoyed that he had to organize while finding the right foods to satisfy his hunger.
“You’re alive!” Thora yelled, prompting Daniel to turn behind from the refrigerator.
“Uh, yeah. I was in pain but nothing else.”
David appeared beside Thora and Victoria from behind him.
“How are you feeling?” David asked, removing the joyful face he had earlier on the couch.
“Ok, but you owe me. So, I’m taking some of your food stash as payment,” Daniel replied. He took out two trays of steak, a plate of cooked rice, and a tray filled with two cuts of fish filet.
“Any symptoms?” Thora asked.
Daniel shook his head. He grabbed the bottle of oil, pouring it onto the entire surface of the pan. “I’m hungry.” He tore the wrap around the tray containing two pieces of steak and seasoned it with salt and pepper. Next, he toggled up the stove for the oil to sizzle. He opened the second tray and applied the same seasonings before using the tongs to put all four on the pan.
As the four pieces of steak began to feel the heat generated from the stove, the visual system was operating an ongoing programming and luckily the automatic scrolling of multiple lines didn’t interfere with his vision and remained on the far edges. Quickly, it reached the end and the few last lines moved right at the direct center. In reaction, Daniel glanced up, blankly staring in the direction of David, Thora, and Victoria.
Each letter transformed into a straight line and scattered around the border of his point of view, connecting each other to form a thin frame. This reminds me of a video game I saw one of my interns play on a flat TV screen. The newly established frame went teal blue.
--
Created by [Redacted]
Loading world clock…
--
The world clock slid up to the right corner, prompting him to roll his eyes upright.
--
03:15
--
Damn, and I’m not even sleepy from all of this. Daniel refocused back at the steak where he could smell the oil flowing up and away from the pan. Using the tongs, he flipped the four pieces to the opposite side, bringing out the whiff of white vapory smoke, exerting from the pan.
“Now I’m hungry all over again,” Thora mumbled, disregarding him, and focusing on his culinary performance of the steak.
“I thought you guys ate,” Daniel replied, pointing at all the mess in the sink. “There are a couple unwashed plates in here.”
“The smell makes me starve…”
David leaned up to the counter. “Are you supposed to ask me questions?”
Daniel reacted to his random upfront manner, “I’m cooking, and yes, I will ask you questions. However, not when my whole body is in a state of crisis, demanding food supply. So, please be patient.”
He knew David or the two would not react well to being patient, but they had to oblige without a choice.
“You guys have fun back there, I’ll come over when I’m done.”
Thora appeared stubborn while Victoria seemed offended because of her. While David let out a deep sigh, heading off first.
“Is there butter?”
“Of course there is,” Victoria nodded, leaving her spot, and tapped on Thora’s shoulders for her to leave.
Victoria opened the fridge and tossed a thinly sliced butter right into Daniel’s hand. “Ok, now we are good. Thanks.”
Sizzle!
The butter reacted upon contact with the oil and the hot surface of the pan. Once the pan dissolved and seeped into the steak, Daniel turned down the heat to a minimum.
--
03:18
--
Time’s up! He went for the empty plate in one of the cabinets. Victoria pointed one and he followed her direction, opening the cabinet drawer next to the fridge. He then took it next to the stove, and Daniel poured a bit of the juicy cooked oil onto the plate followed by all four pieces of steak.
Taking the knife and fork, he cut up each of the four pieces, checking the color. If the center is warm red, we are set. He turned a piece right to the side and placed it back down. Adding the last bits of butter basting before he took the plate of rice and dumped it into the pan, hiking up the heat.
As he let the heat resurface, Daniel turned to the two cuts of fish filet. This one appeared strange as he knew the texture to be a fish but never white with a tint of red stripes. He found Victoria to be the only one at the counter watching him and asked her about the type of fish.
“Karminlachs.”
The rice was about to defrost, and the remaining oil seeped and overwhelmed the white rice. That was the time when he went on taking the rice out. It might be just him, but the stoves here seemed much more powerful than back on Earth despite the burner expelling gas just as normal.
“Karminlachs. That’s new, crimson salmon. I bet it tastes as good as the salmon back on Earth.”
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
Victoria’s eyes raised. “Ooh, you gonna like it then. It’s one of those where you must taste it to understand the full picture. The written description is just the persuasive part of the equation.”
“I’m about to find out,” Daniel mumbled while keeping his mouth closed. He felt his salvia was raised to a near drool.
Victoria chuckled as Daniel mixed the rice a little before bringing it to the plate. “What?”
“You’re becoming like us. We naturally drool in response to cooking any type of food. Meat makes us the most vulnerable while fruits are the least reactive.”
“Wow, I didn’t know gluttonous society was a thing.”
Once again, Victoria looked offended.
“Is that a problem?”
Oh. I didn’t know they hold such pride over what food they eat. Daniel shook his head, and he slid the two filets of Karminlachs into the pan, giving it a minute.
--
***Records of Raal created***
Karminlachs discovered.
--
(1) skill gained.
Cooking LV.1
--
The heck. All that cooking was just level 1. Get the hell out of here. Daniel mentally exclaimed.
Not even a full minute and the Karminlachs are already cooked based on the coloring of the meat and Victoria who was watching, telling him about the timing like a timer countdown.
On the plate almost entirely filled with the four pieces of steak and a plate of rice, he carefully took the two Karminlachs filets and let them lay on the plate, hearing a slight texture from the crispy skin.
Daniel turned off the stove, leaving the pan. He took the plate and went to the couch where Thora and David were conversing and laughing like prior. Victoria walked past him to sit down first.
He put his plate down on the glass table. The knife, spoon, and fork were placed beside the plate.
“He’s really good,” Victoria commented on his appetite and the cooking.
Time to eat before my stomach kills me. Daniel took the knife and fork, eating the first piece of steak. He then gave a thumbs up. “I do say, the taste and texture of the steak. I expected it to exactly be the same as back on Earth, but the outcome revealed it entirely differently.”
“In what relations?” David asked, looking happier at finally talking to him.
“It’s softer like I don’t get any chewy tender as I would have thought.”
David nodded. He leaned back on the couch, not insisting on disturbing him savoring the meal.
--
180/4000 Cal (+180)
--
God lee. Daniel looked at the visuals, finding half of one steak piece was worth that much. Add the other half and it would be almost four hundred calories ingested. That’s about a breakfast of scrambled eggs with two strips of turkey bacon and a piece of toast patted with butter.
I might finish at almost two thousand by the time I’m finished with this plate. Daniel predicted as he could only assume without any further information.
Empty plate. No crumbs or bits remain on the white canvas of a plate. It was clean as if it had never been used.
--
1956/4000 Cal
--
Close enough. Daniel looked right at David, getting right into the subject. “It might be strange to see me waking up only to feel angrily hungry. And when I said, ‘I’m hungry’, I meant it. This was one of the symptoms of the so-called system you injected into me.”
“I see, so that’s why you were in that mood,” David muttered, holding his chin.
“You didn’t make this, did you? It appeared redacted as the word hovered in my face.”
Thora seemed curious, wondering what the experience was. “How was it, going through it?”
“Horrible, very horrible. The pain was the worst I’ve ever had to experience hence I’ll never forget it. So, thanks a lot for that. But at least this system is benefiting me currently.”
Daniel kept his reveal carefully. As he doesn’t want to fully tell the truth about his katana’s sentience, and how it saved him twice. He can feel it listening to the conversation.
18.2
“Umph!” Daniel lay down on his bed, staring up high at the ceiling. Today was a chaotic day. Nearly dying, suffering pain twice, receiving his katana, and having such exquisite food.
The tournament doesn’t start until noon tomorrow. Currently, it’s already twenty past five, as shown from his heads-up display. Way more than twenty-four hours left. He doesn’t want to leave the hotel room until lunchtime. His stomach was still full of the loaded meal of around two thousand calories.
Daniel swiftly remembered, almost forgetting. Pulling out his katana from the tactical belt, he let the sheathed blade lay on the remaining open space of the bed.
< You up? > Daniel called.
<< I always am. Sleeping is not a natural activity. >>
< Lucky. Well, I might not even sleep that much either today. Having this new unknown system that was supposed to keep me alive, and the power of the Kampfyin made it even more difficult. >
<< Do you miss it? >>
Daniel processed for a moment. << I don’t think as much. From a health perspective, probably. Speaking of. How come you and the other two katanas were on earth? And to be in a dojo that I have a bad history with. Do you know yourself what could be the reason for that to happen? >>
<< I wondered myself, >> His katana paused. << The only thing I could remember was right before it. Only a fragment of it, I was being wielded by the previous owner, and in a flash, I was wielded by you. >>
Daniel pulled out his phone, revealing the unmoving battery life. He swiped through to the empty notepad and typed a record of the day. Something he had never done before. Listing the hidden trauma that almost mentally screwed him, and adding the mistrust he slowly develops after going through the injections. Intracerebral injection right from the eye socket was horrific. The conversation with Thora, Victoria, and David does ease some of his doubts and concerns, but the new bags of information only gave him new questions like a word bank constantly expanding.
< What did I do to deserve this? >> Daniel said in a questionable tone.
<< Pardon? >> His katana doesn't know his time before they met.
< Oh right, you don't know my history. >
<< Give me a short summary. >>
< A party I don't want to be and being forced to attend led me to get attacked. Hence, I became wild and exerted too much for the next couple of days. Xavier's arrival proved how much of an interest I am, which made me grow rapidly like a spec of a bacteria. That bacterium so far became an unintentional catalyst for future events to come, and that led to our first encounter and what transpired after. > Daniel's mind became a little fuzzy after unnecessary trying.
<< You need to get some rest. Training is tomorrow. >>
Daniel sighed loudly as he rolled around the bed with the lights still on. He wanted his mind to be the first to have the proper sleep, but the virtual system in his head is preventing that.
Skoltor shows Daniel's stats under his request:
--
Displaying stats ↓
Stamina: 92%
Endurance: Level 1
Durability: Level 1
Power: Level 1
Qi containment: Level 1
Electric Charge: Level 1
Class: General
0.0015% Raal discovered.
General Class (LV.1) Meter: [1.2%] +.2% ↑
--
Yeah, ninety-two percent. Daniel, with nothing to do, focused on the desk. Specifically, the book he swiftly closed upon opening the cover. As he lifted his head from the comfy bed, a tingly swoosh of air blew right at his left ear. Jolting his head back down, only to find a big arrow struck on the wall next to the bathroom door.
Swoosh!
More. Daniel felt company at the door, prompting him to roll off the bed, tumbling to the hard carpet. He jolted his hand up to the bed to grab his katana before crawling to the kitchen wall. Leaning right on the wall, Daniel hovered his head to peek at the door to be bombarded by holes and damage from the barrage of arrows.
Paying attention to where the arrows strike, it was almost a completely accurate bullseye. Minus a few outliers, a volley of arrows was enough that if he was still on that bed asleep, it might be the coffin for him.
Who on earth is interrupting my peace?! Daniel returned focus to the door, attempting to squint through the hollow parts of the door. The hallway light seeped through but felt movement.
He tied back the scabbard to his tactical belt and held the katana by its hilt.
< I guess I'm not getting a nap today. >
<< What a bummer. >> His katana disappointedly grunted.
Voices came behind the door:
“Was that enough?” An anonymous male one voice asked.
“That would teach them,” an anonymous male two voice responded.
Grhh. You aren’t getting away! Daniel’s right knuckle popped as he strengthened the grip around the hilt, pulling it out of the scabbard.
He barged from the kitchen wall, twisting one-eighty to the front door with both of his hands on the hilt. An upward lift of the katana with a heavy load of sky-blue qi. Bright blue light exerted from the surface and tip of the blade, striking towards the damaged door.
Boom!
The havoc reached beyond the walls, leaving a crater hole with a view of the outside. Smoke debris flooded the part of Daniel’s room, reaching higher than his ankle. He plodded through while on guard, carefully peeking out for any more company.
Leaving the door, he heard a thump after hitting something solid on the sole of his boot. He exerted his qi, dispersing the smoke. It revealed a tattered body of two, lying on the floor. Each carried a bow and a sack of arrows which Daniel took one.
The arrowhead was the freakiest. The protrusions around the grain made it look jagged and more savage. He decided to grab a couple more and brought it into the room, placing it at the writing desk. Walking back out, and the entire row of room’s doors opened.
Mother Elaine and Xavier appeared first before the rest of the group walked out in their sleepwear. Daniel leaned right out over the wall, finding traces of his qi having struck and scarred a couple roofs ahead.
Pedestrians and witnesses down below stared back at Daniel, who called out for assistance.
“I was having some good sleep, what the hell happened?!" Zarlise complained before fully opening her eyes, finding the devastating mess.
Daniel pivoted over, revealing the two archers lying on the floor. He took measures around their necks. “Still alive,” he muttered.
“Thank god,” Xavier breathed.
“Can you please not cause another havoc for at least a day.” Mother Elaine berated.
If they only knew. Daniel silently reflected on their vocal statements and stared at them silently.
Thump! Thump!
He turned to find Thora standing on the opposite side of the site with a few individuals in full uniform like the marines’ dress blues. All had blue trousers with a black five-button coat and a leather belt fastened around mid-torso. Black campaign hats covered the upper portion of their faces, leaving them mysterious and menacing despite Daniel sensing no qi from them.
Daniel stepped aside and they grabbed the two archers away, swiftly departing the hallway in a quiet stealthy manner.
--
Der Schurkische Bogenschütze (Villainous/Rouge Archer) discovered.
Kriegshan Police discovered.
General Class (LV.1) Meter: [1.5%] +.3% ↑
0.0015% -> 0.0017% Raal discovered.
--