"Why are you not sleeping?"
"I was! Suddenly I heard a boom-boom sound, which scared awake."
"Here, see for yourself." She showed him the phone with a news article about the portal breakdown.
"You don’t know how scary it was."
Zac looked behind her. Multiple chips packets and soft drinks were clumsily lying on the bed.
Carrie saw where her brother was looking and beca flustered. "That’s... yeah, I got so scared, so I started eating."
"What type of logic is that?"
She instantly changed the topic by asking, "Brother, did you see the big snake? It wouldn’t co here, right?"
"I don’t think so. The portal is a long way from our ho; before it could get here, the variants will have defeated it."
She suddenly rembered sothing. "Then what about Mother?"
"The hospital is in the opposite direction, so she should be safe." He said while patting her head.
After confirming her doubts, she distanced herself from Zac, her eyes scanning him from head to toe.
With a suspicious look and hesitant voice, "Brother...can I ask you sothing?"
"Go ahead."
She tilted her head, brows knitting together. "Why do you look like a beggar? Aiyoo... you even sll like one."
[Pth...Ahaa...Ahaa...]
"Did you perhaps fall into a drainage?"
[Ahaa...Ahaa... So much for rising above all talk. Ahaa...haa...]
"Go to sleep, Carrie."
"But brother, yo—"
"Stop. I’ll go wash up. You go and sleep."
Carrie hesitated for a second, then quietly retreated to her room. The mont the door closed, Zac stripped off his clothes and headed straight for the bathroom.
"God... what the hell is this sll? Why won’t it go away?"
He finally stepped out with dripping hair and red skin. "I’ve been washing for an hour till my skin turned red... and it’s still not coming off."
He dropped onto the bed with the Edge-Bloom seed in his palm.
"It looks just like a cashew nut. So, system, tell how I should use this?"
[Stop asking everything and just eat it.]
"That’s it? Is there no warning or thod?"
[None, though it might sting a little.]
Zac’s expression darkened. "Why am I getting a bad feeling about this? Well, whatever, here goes nothing."
He swallowed the seed and waited for the result. For the first few minutes, noting happened. Just as he was about to question the system, a strange heat stirred within him.
The heat slowly increased until his skin turned deep red and steam started coming off him like a pressure cooker. He sweated like crazy until the bedsheets were completely drenched.
Black blood mixed with body waste started leaking from his nine orifices. His throat dried up, stopping him from screaming from the pain.
Even with all his effort and willpower, he couldn’t withstand the pain and passed out.
The last thing he wanted to say is, "System, you motherf**ker, is this what you call a little sting?"
But the process still continued even with him being unconscious. One by one his organs started getting destroyed.
His muscles tore apart, nerves and blood vessels ruptured, and bones crushed.
When he was on the verge of dying, the system panel opened in front of his body with an emoji blinking its eyes.
("...")
[He withstood it longer than I expected.]
[How lucky you are to get a mutated edge-bloom this early in awakening.]
[Might this be the first and last ti I’m helping you.]
A soft golden light flowed out from the panel and settled over Zac’s broken body.
His torn muscles began knitting themselves back together. Ruptured nerves and blood vessels reconnected, pulsing with renewed vitality. His shattered bones reford harder and stronger as if they had been reforged in a furnace.
His failing organs stirred back to life with his heart pumping fresh blood to them. Like a phoenix, Zac’s body reconstructed itself to be better than before.
Yet through it all—
Zac remained unconscious, completely unaware of the transformation he was going through.
***
The next morning, Zac woke up feeling completely drained. He slowly sat up, scratching his head, while trying to rember what happened last night.
"That’s right, I ate the Edge-Bloom seed."
"System, you bastard. Didn’t you say it would just sting a little? I felt like I was dying."
[You would have.]
Zac’s body froze hearing it.
[Once again... you should be thanking .]
"For what? For trying to kill ?"
[No. For saving your life.]
[If I hadn’t intervened, you’d already be a corpse.]
Zac’s anger wavered a little, replaced by confusion. "Why are you doing this? Maybe I was gullible before, but now I know there is no free al in this world."
[I have my own agenda and you are not strong enough to know it.]
He beca even more confused and alerted towards the system.
[Relax. I have no intentions of harming you... at least for now.]
"For now..."
He didn’t press further. Instead, start thinking about it. One thing is clear: he needed the system if he wanted to grow stronger. So he decided to wait till the ti cos.
"System, now can you tell what exactly happened to last night?"
[Why don’t you see for yourself.]
A flicker of anticipation lit up in Zac’s eyes. "Status."
⟦ STATUS ⟧
Na: Zac Godson
Level: 0 (E)
Age: 19
Race: Human
Title: -
Bloodline: -
Traits: Divine Aura, Unmatched Charisma.
Talents: System(Unknown), Swordsmanship(SS), Lightning(S)
Skills: -
Info points: -
Attributes
Strength: 22
Agility: 18
Physique: 20
Wisdom: 21
Un-allotted points: 0
Zac let out a low whistle, leaning back slightly. "Whoo... so much changes."
His eyes lingered on the talent section, narrowing with interest. "S and SS level talents—that’s dope. But system, what’s with these traits? How did I awaken them?"
Divine Aura: A natural pressure surrounds the user, causing others to instinctively feel inferior, including non-sentient beings.
Unmatched Charisma: The user possesses an exceptional presence that naturally attracts attention and admiration. The opposite sex finds it difficult to resist the user’s charm. (Applicable only for beings, weaker or having a soft spot for the user.)
[Didn’t I tell you Edge-Blooms are rare even in the upper realms? They are considered to be on the sa level as so divine treasures.]
[Being a mortal and eating a divine item naturally upgraded your body. The increase in attributes is just a side effect.]
A small grin tugged at his lips.
"Side effect, huh..." He clenched his fist and felt the increased strength behind it.
"Then I can’t wait to see the main effect."
Suddenly he rembered sothing. "Wait, where is my reward?"
[Are you delusional? You didn’t clear or close the portal. As for surviving... yes, there was a reward.]
Zac’s face lit up instantly, a grin stretching from ear to ear, thinking, what could the reward be? Then his smile froze. "Wait, what do you an there was?"
[I took it as compensation for saving your life.]
A vein throbbed on Zac’s forehead. "You bastard system! I risked my life in there."
[So what? Didn’t you just say there is no free al in this world?]
"...You’re seriously robbing using my own philosophy?"
After going back and forth with the system, Zac finally gave up and stood up from the bed, only to notice the sheets still soaked in dried, blackened blood.
"...Yeah, I’m not explaining this to Carrie."
He tossed them into the dustbin before heading straight for another bath. "Last night it took an hour... I don’t even want to know how long this is going to take."
...
After two long hours of relentless scrubbing, Zac finally stepped out and stood in front of the mirror.
"Damn...the system really didn’t lie. I look like a complete stud now."
His height increased to a solid 6’3". Muscles sat perfectly on his fra with sharp and defined shape. His light brown skin beca softer than a baby’s butt. His jawline is straight, and his eyes are deep and abyss-like. Not a single scar or flaw could be seen in his body.
A grin spread across his face. "Maybe I should forget getting stronger and just beco a model."
He struck a couple of exaggerated poses, clearly enjoying his own transformation.
[Are you a narcissist?]
"No."
[Then move your ass. I’m getting sick of this.]
Zac scoffed, brushing his hair back. "You’re just jealous about not having a body like this."
[Yeah, sure. Now move, or I’ll vomit on you.]
Zac paused mid-step, one brow raising slightly. "Can systems even vomit?"
He ca out of his room ready to venture out. "It’s ti to go visit the Variant Association."
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