[Welcome, Fighter!] Johannes read out loud, as the mysterious blue screen seemed to greet him.
What even is a Fighter?, he wondered about as he touched 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 actually in acceptance of what happened. Did he finally go crazy? Did he actually start to roll with this after looking at a mysterious blue screen that was seemingly floating in front of his face? Dangling like some sort of augmented reality videogame?
A burning tinge of heat shot into his forehead. It went almost red, betraying the awkwardness he felt. A deep rooted mix of excitement but also grief impaired his thinking. He started to wonder.
I mean, what if I could really be a fighter?
His dark stare remained blank for a second, unsure whether he could give his thoughts any credibility. The last week had already weighed on Johannes enough for a lifetime, what would it change if he just went with the flow?
If one could see Johannes, they would see a broken man. One that was bony and as tall as 1,75 metres. He was covered with dark eyebags that gave a rough estimate of how much he cried in the last few days. Furthermore, his face was pale as a vampire. People could have guessed he suffered from malnutrition, if they did not know the hospital took care of his culinary desires. Even though those amounted to half of what a man of his age would eat in a day.
As he looked at the screen again, he slowly found his composure and his nimble, yet fragile fingers aimed to touch the message that showed [Welcome, Fighter!].
Welcome, Mr. or Mrs. Blue Screen.
[You Have Been Chosen. Your Predecessor Did Not Want To Interact With The System]
What? I am chosen? And who even is my predecessor? Was it... Dad?
He attempted to stay calm after his eyes glanced at the mysterious message, his breathing was slightly out of control now. For a normal person this would be nothing unusual. However, for Johannes too much excitement could be dangerous. His electrocardiogram started to become louder, announcing the increase in his heartrate for the whole world to know.
A shallow breath attempted to make its way through his slightly opened mouth. This was a futile attempt to stabilize both breathing and heartbeat. Knowing that he would have to hurry as the nurses will come as soon as they notice something unusual, a last effort left his mouth. Only because that was in assistance with the breathing machine, he was able to produce what felt like a small gust of a wind to him. Breathe after breathe he started to fall back into his usual rhythm.
A lot of doubts revolved in his head, almost as if he was trying to set himself up. Yet, he did not want to get himself as excited as before.
Several months ago, he often had dreams in which an unknown force changed his sorry excuse of a life. But his current state was far away from being salvageable. 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 currently there was hardly any chance for him to fight a human being. No, not even a small wasp would be defeated by his frail body.
Knowing this 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, thinking ... 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 amidst his field of view.
[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]
Wow. That's a low blow. He rolled his eyes but knew this could be worth it. But 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.