Vale wasn't an idiot. These sort of storylines of mages and universal battles were fun and dandy, but they weren't kind to life. He wasn't about to die before he got to experience what this system had to offer.
The teleportation sequence was faster than he thought. Vale merely blinked and was transported to a high tech apartment filled with technology beyond his comprehension. Televisions existed, but there were devices everywhere, stuff he couldn't name if he tried. Sighing, he was thankful to not be placed in the middle of a warzone. "Looks like I'm safe in a cozy apartment. Nothing to worry about yet."
While walking around inspecting the place, the system appeared in front of him once again. And for fun, Vale turned his body in a few directions, but the system followed at his neck height.
It was a blank page, but Vale had a feeling there was much more to this system than an empty holograph. "I guess you're pretty advanced, teleporting me around like it's normal." Vale stood, pondering at the technology that was in place, and the future potentials of what it held.
Wormhole travel at any distance was universe-defying! But he let these worries rest, as he had to figure out the next step in whatever the system had planned.
[Welcome to planet Loral Lane! Your apartment is lavish, but don't get to comfortable.]
[Tutorial Mission - Three parts - Convince Emperor Zeral to stop his war declaration on a neighboring country. If the war commences, both world leading nations are sure to fall, ending in the destruction of Loral Lane. Save this planet at all costs!]
"So, I'm really on another planet?" Completely glossing over the part where he had to stop a war, his mind was trying to stabilize in this new environment. Looking around, the highly advanced apartment he was in made him nerd out like a teenager who just got his hands on a new comic.
Zoning out at the various furniture's and items, he was deep in thought. Vale loved media, as it was the one thing that used to detach him from his boring life.
After looking at the new message, the tutorial mission, he read it in disbelief, his eyes widening in response.
Looking in skepticism, he couldn't believe what it was requesting of him. A worthless introvert had no chance at swaying a planetary leader to halt his war plans! "Look... I don't want to disappoint you, but who do you think I am? I think we're moving too fast, I haven't even learned magic yet. I can't just walk up to their… fort? And do what? Start talking like a fucking hero?! They're going to war, they'll just kill me!" Vale was completely lost at what to do.
[You don't need magic right now]
"Right. Maybe I don't need you also. Actually, maybe I should just make a life for myself here as a cozy citizen."
[I'm sighing right now. Vale, you're acting like a hormonal teenager]
Staggering his hopeless facade, a quick jolt of irritation was sent through his spine.
Looking around, he saw all types of bizarre items. "I'm completely fucked. This flat screen is huge, I wonder what television a planet like this has." As Vale was about to pop a squat on a sofa, the system put out another message. Halfway seated, the next message made him jump up from his now ruined comfort.
[Your fears are justified. But worry not, your battle won't be physical. Emperor Zeral is a frail being with way too much power at his whim. Using the Skinny Warlock Psychologist System and its sublime psychological accessibilities, you can understand him at astronomical measures]
"You think I care?! What's understanding him going to do—" Fighting the system wasn't an option anymore. He utterly stopped talking as the system was about to do something against his will.
[Part 1 - Unlock the system's capabilities and understand humanity like your life depends on it]
[Processing your magical awakening by force. Usually, mages are made by natural causes, but using this system, you can break the shackles of reality! Prepare to obtain a gift that everyone will soon enough covet! By the way, this will hurt... a lot.]
Vale wondered at those words, but stopped at the end in a cold, discouraged stare. One could say, he gave up. "What does that mean... Hey... system, I—"
Vale in pain, dropped to his knees. Every bone in his body began to shiver with the natural lifeforce of life, and since he wasn't used to its contents, the pain in his bones felt like they were being cut at the skin. Nerves were slowly reconstructing themselves, habituating the magical Che like grass to soil. This process lasted a few seconds, and then came the worst of it.
Vale's head felt like it was on the verge of bursting. Strangely, Vale knew of countless ideas and labels, but he couldn't process the knowingness of all these notions right now.
While groaning and gritting his teeth to prevent a roar, Vale quickly grabbed his head with his two hands. Something unreal was sprouting in his mind, and he'd never known of its distorted beauty before. "What the fuck is all this?! These people… and their obsessions from normal to wicked, I see them so vividly!" Vale's brain was suffering a terrible migraine of the likes he'd thought was improbable. Other anomalies aside from the ache were happening that he simply confounded at.
Sensing and acknowledging countless living souls, there existed tears he saw without visualizing. Grief, both in death and losing status denoted the peak of obsession, laying down a new foundation of conscious comprehension in the limitless storage of Vale's increasing intellect.
Eventually, the pain became bearable, and he could at last talk while computing a library of data he couldn't yet grasp. This was when he lowered his hands. Rocking his head sideways, the evolution wasn't complete.
Only realizing now because the pain had pretty much dissipated, Vale's perception, he noticed, had become supremely altered. A living, breathing machine acted as an operator orchestrating sacred knowledge in the core components of his cerebrum. Being manipulated and reconnected at their base, he realized a trend. Just as one captivating development happened, another one was delivering itself just as fast in instantaneous speeds! Stimulation of reality was at a sky high, and he for one witty second, forgot about his shortcomings.
While that might seem insignificant, in a mind like Vale's, that's all he needed.
Discarding those pieces of junk, he brought his hand a few feet away from his nose and spoke to it like it was a person. "All the primates, devolved and evolved races, going up from barely conscious to formulating theories about how the universe was created are slowly being understood by… me of all people? Yes... by me, and that's because... I'm better than them."
In the complex brain of a sentient being, there exists many lobes that enable thought and emotion. Once those forefront foundations are overstimulated or tampered with, it can result in a variety of effects, magic and Savant Syndrome just being a few of them.
Feeling as if a surgeon was operating on his brain, the pain was worse than any injury he'd sustained in the past. But it only lasted thirty seconds, albeit it felt longer in his perception.
[Congratulations, you can now manipulate mana and have unlocked your Magical Specialty! You might've realized now, but you are officially the most paramount primate in the universe! Even those geniuses will soon revere you]
"I have... no words. I mean, I do, but I feel like none of them would define how thankful I am. I feel amazing. Like I've evolved mentally."
[Get used to it, and try not to harp on it so much, you'll go insane.]
Suddenly, a profile slot appeared with a human head without a face. Standing up, Vale shook his neck trying to recover from both mental and physical aspects of the system's transformation.
Immediately, he revoked that weakling thought of wanting to flee from his systems mission.
He knew all too well something bizarrely magnificent was happening in his brain, and for a quick moment, he posed another wicked smile, completely discarding the system's update.
A seed, placed by the system, was growing rapidly in his psyche, and he was beginning to love it.
Vale knew he had to get it together, as whatever was soon to come into fruition wasn't a game. This road he was about to walk down, and all of its eventualities signaled danger in every conceivable direction.
"I can't believe this is happening… I know I'm probably going to die if I keep following this system, but I just don't care." The heavy breathing Vale clicked on the profile had as he had nowhere else to go from here.
"My life is changing, just like I always wanted it to."
[Name: Vale Luckwish]
[Magical Specialty: The Man Who Founded Obsession]
[Title: Skinny Warlock Psychologist]
[Stats]
Mind Points: 0
Intellect- 1
Emotional Comprehension- 23
Agility- 1
Physical Strength- 4
Mental Defiance- 300
Charisma- 0.2
[Mind Talents]
[Empty]
[Empty]
[Systems Comment: You're an incompetent loser who despite wanting purpose, won't do anything useful to obtain it. Keep defying life, and you'll end up dead without anything to show for it]
"I know I was a self deprecating loser, but even I feel insulted reading this. How the hell do I have point two charisma," Vale joked to himself, now realizing he was becoming thankful to the system. He wondered if he could upgrade these stats, but gave the system a break for the meantime.
There was a reason he didn't hesitate when he accepted its otherworldly promises. Despite living a lavish existence, pulling in thousands of dollars in tips on some days, Vale hated his life more than anyone should.
Vale may have been mediocre, believing his life was destined to lead a moderate path, but instead of running away from tedium like the typical, he knew taking pride in those circumstances was his only chance at retribution.
He, accustomed to the despair that was engraved in his DNA, thanked the system as he pressed the back button with his index finger. "I'm not sure if you're a real person, but thank you regardless. My life before this was so bland that I wanted to die."
[Don't fool yourself. You were better than most of earth society in emotion. Now enough pouting, your first day as a cadet is here!]