[Null Sequence requesting your permission to install!]
A blue panel with an exclamation mark pulsated before him, following the rhythm of his slowly accelerating heart rate.
Cain blinked several times, then straightened his hunched posture while swallowing.
The surrounding noise muted. Cain's mind was a mixture of turbulent, confused, shocked, and most of all, delighted because the moment had finally arrived.
Cain's lips parted, trying not to grin like an idiot.
'Whoever kidnapped me here, thank you for the cheat-help!'
The boy clasped his palms together in prayer, bowing his head slightly as he rubbed his joined palms furiously.
"Finally!"
As the widespread trope of a power status system in every transmigration novel, Cain initially hoped that he would receive it, so as not to die foolishly at the start.
Yet he lost his hope because the expected system never arrived until it finally popped out in front of him.
It gave him a glimmer of divine light that pierced the endless sea of darkness in his heart. Cain raised his eyebrows when he saw a small panel appear, offering him a choice:
[Y / N]
"Are you kidding me!? Of course, the best course is this!"
Without mercy, his finger stabbed the panel, which he thought was intangible, but it could surprisingly resist his index finger with a flat-cold sensation seeping into his skin.
[Installation in the process...]
Cain licked his dry lips, smiling happily as he saw a new additional panel appear with a running ellipsis.
Reflected in his black eyes was a dazzling blue light, along with the emergence of a new panel notification.
[To install the system! The system needs an equivalent sacrifice!]
Cain's lungs seized, his body stiffening like a statue with wide eyes. A few seconds passed without movement until he gasped, inhaling a large amount of oxygen to clear his lagging mind.
"W-What is this?"
Different from all the tropes about getting a system, most of them receive it for free as an apology from the entity that kidnapped them.
But once again, Cain received another misfortune, and he must sacrifice something to gain that extraordinary power.
The phrase, 'There's no free lunch in the world,' was perfectly apt to describe his current situation.
"Are you serious?!"
Cain leaned back in the chair, letting out a long sigh. His black eyes glared at the floating panel.
'Sacrifice, huh!?'
Sacrifice, the word appeared like a corrupting glitch that crackled around his body as if wanting to erase his existence.
A chill crept down his spine; Cain's fingertips froze as it spread through his veins and reached his heart, which gradually lost its vigour.
Time passed without him realizing that Cain had been sitting in the same position for over ten minutes. Every breath felt heavy while his clothes clung to his skin.
After calculating all the risks, the cause and effect of what Cain would receive in the future, he opened his mouth.
"I will give half of my memories from the previous world and from this world!"
Cain said that while biting his lip, he tightly clenched both hands into fists, watching the change on the blue panel.
[Acknowledged. The system will select memory sectors from World-01 and World-02 for deletion.]
[Calculating the data...]
His eyes almost rolled back when he saw the announcement. Cain couldn't stand it and cursed the machine in his heart.
'What else do you want, damn it! I've already sacrificed a lot!'
In this exchange, Cain would not only lose his old identity but also part of his identity in this world.
In addition, Cain would forget some of the story direction he knew about the world he was currently inhabiting.
The boy dared to risk everything to gain the power to survive in a grim world with no future.
Cain couldn't decide if it was a foolish decision or the best; he could only pray.
[The Memory reached the required quota. Begin deletion.]
[10%... 30%...]
Cain sat in silence, the light in his eyes slowly fading. He felt something crack inside him, shattering into small fragments that crumbled like tiny dust, disappearing and swallowed by emptiness.
"...!"
Although seemingly silent, inside, he could see two monitors of his life displaying his deepest memories.
In the old world, where Cain was with his parents, laughing together, wearing animal-eared headbands at an amusement park.
A small house on the outskirts of the city, where an adult woman, hugging a little boy with gray hair like his, sang a comforting lullaby while smiling warmly.
All of that began to fade, replaced by an emptiness that started to gnaw at his consciousness.
[Deletion Complete]
[Beginning Null Sequence Installation...]
Cain's vision blurred, and tears began to flow down his cheeks once more. Both his fists were shaking, wetting his hands and the chair he was sitting on with blood.
His head drooped limply, looking down while being unable to hold back the sobs that echoed in the narrow, cold room.
However, the panel before him cruelly kept flashing until it brought up a final notification.
[Null Sequence Installation Succeeded]
[Display Status. Y/N]
After a few minutes in silence, Cain finally raised his face and lazily nodded.
The blue panel appeared and flooded Cain's sight with information that made his eyebrows furrow.
[Skill Scan Protocol Acquired]
[Skill Data Reconstruction Acquired]
[Skill Limit Break Acquired]
[NULL SEQUENCE v0.1.0]
USER ID: Cain (M)
CLASS: Undefined Entity
LEVEL: 0.0
INTEGRITY: 0%
> Core Parameters:
- Vitality: 10
- Mind: 12
- Physique: 10
- Agility: 15
- Sense: 10
- Corruption: 0%
> Bonus Point: 0
> Skill: [Scan Protocol], [Data Reconstruction], [Limit Break]
> Acquired Data: -
> Attribute: -
Presented with that much information, the boy let out a sharp sigh while touching his chin.
"...So this is my status!"
Cain glared at the system floating before him. He had no choice but to move forward despite the substantial loss.
"Let's see! These are my base status, they painfully look average, maybe. I don't know, next!"
His eyes swept through the Core Parameters before stopping at the skills.
"Scan Protocol? Is that like an analysis skill, but what about the other skills?"
As if answering his thoughts, a small blue panel popped out, containing the details of the skills he possessed.
> [Scan Protocol: Analyze digital or biological entities and show them in the form of information. Can deconstruct the genetic code and mechanical components into structured data.]
> [Data Reconstruction: Absorbs, copies, or reinstalls abilities from the analyzed code.]
> [Limit Break: Uses Corruption as fuel to multiply strength (5X), but with the risk of rebound after use. Cooldown: 1 day]
"Whoa!?"
The boy's jaw dropped to the floor as he read the skills. Although he only understood a few parts, that didn't diminish his potential.
Cain waved his hand, making the blue panel that was blocking his view disappear. He glanced left and right until he found the terminal lying on the floor.
'I can try with it.'
His hand reached for the electronic board. For a moment, his expression tensed when the metallic smell stung his nose.
However, the boy gritted his teeth because of the sharp sting that began to spread from his hand and spoke of his skill. "Scan Protocol"
[Terminal Database: A low-grade military electronic device that can store large amounts of personal data. Usually used by the Babylonia military training Cadets for learning and... ...Made with the latest technology... ...Can be accessed by the highest authority in Babylonia]
Cain looked up, his searing eyes immediately blinking because of the amount of information that entered his brain all at once.
Not only usage details and its creation, but it also lists the hidden secret behind it. Cain shook his head, causing the panel to disappear, yet one sentence stuck in his mind.
"Highest authority?"
It happened briefly, like a high-speed light passing on a dark road and then disappearing, leaving Cain in a void.
In that glimpse, he almost grasped the meaning of the sentence, but no matter how hard he tried, the result was still zero.
He couldn't remember it, even though, from the bottom of his heart, Cain felt familiar with the sentence.
"So this is the effect of my memory deletion, huh?"
Cain clicked his tongue. He never thought it would leave such a bad aftertaste in his mouth.
"It's disgustingly frustrating!"
In the ensuing silence, an alarm rang throughout the room, causing Cain's body to jolt from his seat, followed by the voice of the cute and cheerful female android screaming.
{Hey, get ready! It's time for you to undergo training. You don't want to become a joke on your first day because you're late, do you? Hurry up and get ready, I'll give you ten seconds 1, 2, 3, ...}
"Ten seconds!? How absurd of you!"
Although grumbling, Cain's expression loosened with a thin smile on his lips because, for some reason, the talkative girl's voice made his mood better.
"I wonder what kind of regimen they have prepared."
Cain brought the terminal over to the wall next to the bed, and as he stood in front of it, a 'click' mechanism sounded, displaying the steel wall opening like a closet with clothes hanging in a row.
He took off and tossed his clothes onto the bed. In the closet were dozens of pairs of tight full suits, plus a loose suit with short sleeves and shorts.
Seeing all that, the first thing that came to mind was not a military barracks but a school sports uniform for physical education class.
After changing, Cain gripped both his wrists while rotating his fist.
"Good, I'm ready."
Before leaving and standing in front of the door, Cain paused for a moment and said.
"I'm leaving now!"
And the female android answered with a sweet voice.
{See you later, and good luck on your first day. I will be waiting for your arrival.}
Cain stepped out and unconsciously slammed his own room door, feeling his heart rate increase.
"Man, that's embarrassing as hell!"