[Welcome, Fighter!] Johannes reads out loud, as the mysterious blue screen seems to greet him.
"What even is a Fighter?", he blurts out as he touches his unusual white hair, that always underlined his body that was closer to death than life. "I mean, it's not like I am in a fighter's state, am I?".
Johannes noticed that he was talking out loud. Did he finally go crazy? Did he actually start to talk to himself after looking at a mysterious blue screen that was seemingly floating in front of his face? Dangling like some sort of augmented reality videogame?
He found his composure again and went to touch the message that showed [Welcome, Fighter!], greeting it back with a sarcastic undertone.
[You have been chosen. Your predecessor did not want to interact with the sytem.]
"What? I am chosen? And who even is my predecessor?", is what he was trying to think to stay humble. But he instinctively knew that his father had to be his predecessor. If not, the initial message would not have made sense.
"Or did the system just assume what I would like to hear, as it is probably able to assess my situation and my needs?" - a looming thought shot up into his brain. What if this is just a dream?
A lot of doubts revolved in his head, almost as if he was trying to set himself up.
He often had dreams in which an unknown force changed his sorry excuse of a life. Thus, this was nothing new for Johannes. One glance at his dry hands, that were glued to arms that looked like they could break any minute, told more than any words. His weak torso was nothing that he was proud of. In addition, his legs sometimes gave out when he had to lay for too long in his bed.
Johannes knew that there was hardly any chance for him to fight a human being at all. He didn't know if he could even win against something like a wasp.
Knowing that could be a dream again, which would crush his hopes of living a normal life, he chose to press the mysterious blue screen again.
"Unbeknownst to him, this would not lead to a normal life. Rather, it would open up a path full of pain, happiness and success. The young man would finally become strong"
...
"Okay, I should stop narrating myself. I am alone."
[Do you want to inherit the system from your predecessor?]
"YES", he accidentally screamed at roughly 2am in his hospital room. He twitched, as he noticed what he just did. Johannes did not want to wake up any of those poor people that were stuck in the hospital, just like he was. Awkwardly he continued to glare at the system, bringing out a silent "... Yes ...".
[Skill Shop commences. You have: 1 POINT(S)]
[...]
There it was. A shop that was at the dismissal of the fragile man. He could barely comprehend the sheer amount of information that he saw. While the skills looked interesting, they were also rather rudimentary. It almost felt like the skills were adapted to his needs.
"[Breathing lvl 1], [Walking lvl 1], [Standing lvl 1]? What are those? Should this not be something completely overpowered?"
A lingering feeling of being scammed rose up into his brain, immediately washed away by the gratefulness of the situation. He felt like an entitled brat, especially as this is probably something his father has given to him.
As the grim thoughts tried to slowly creep up into his mind, he tried to block them off out of fear of losing the system. This fear was not unfounded, as it did diminish the loading status of the system a few minutes earlier.
A blue dazzling screen popped out, asking Johannes if he wants a recommendation.
[Do you want a recommendation for your first skill?]
A nod that was quick enough for his weak neck to hurt was forced out by his body.
[Breathing lvl 1]
It did not say anything else. "Great", Johannes' brain sarcastically came up with as he rolled his eyes. How was he supposed to make anything out of this information? The system was chattier a few seconds ago but that did not stop Johannes from going with the recommendation.
[Do you want to buy [Breathing lvl 1] for 1 POINT(S)?]
Eagerly, he presses the button in anticipation of finally being able to breathe without a machine.