The bright rays of sunshine illuminated the once dark room, as it cast its gaze on the sleeping boy.
Wind rushed into the room, flowing around as the light cast away any semblance of shadows.
Jace awoke with a start as he surveyed his surroundings.
Feeling himself all over, he arose or at least tried to.
He collapsed back on the floor, closing his eyes as his back lay on the floor.
His back hurt from sleeping on the floor all night and Jace still felt his mind ache.
Wait a minute. All night.
Jace's eyes cracked open as he struggled up. The sun shone in his eyes, causing him to instinctively cover them.
Memories of the night before rushed in as Jace struggled to compose them.
He had walked into his room, folded his clothes and had fallen asleep after eating the heart.
The Heart!
Jace felt himself over for any change. He hadn't magically grown taller or buffer and he didn't really feel anything much about him.
The only thing that warned him that something was different was the overwhelming energy that seemed trapped in his body, waiting for a release.
Jace stood up as he noticed the small puddle, no, not a puddle, it was more like a stain. A reddish brown stain slowly turning into a mix of Grey and brown.
In the middle of the stain was the box, a bit of dried blood now clinging to its side.
Jace gazed at him unsure of what to feel, if he should even feel anything.
The thought that the heart belonged to someone in the past had never crossed his mind.
Hell, the thought that he was probably committing cannibalism by eating the organ never really seemed to faze Jace.
No.
It had fazed Jace, he had just kept it down. He had pushed those sinking, disgusting feelings down and had hypnotized himself into seeing the heart as nothing but a tool.
A feeling of shame rose up in Jace as he squashed it down.
In the world he lived in, kindness was a luxury the weak could not afford but the strong could give in droves.
Jace would do anything, bath himself in rivers of blood, anything to be able to afford to give that kindness.
But for now, he couldn't afford it.
Even then. A weak yet persistent feeling troubled Jace. The feeling that if he stuck to this new mindset, he might become strong.
Strong enough to afford that kindness. Maybe even strong enough to bestow it on everyone he met.
But he would lose that tiny little bit of humanity.
Jace shook his head as he called out mentally 'Status'
[Name: Jace Vicea] Level 2[150/200]
[Age: 17]
[Abilities: None]
[Bloodline: Vicea ( Partially locked)]
[Titles : Invisible to Fate, Marked by Fate, Masochist ]
[Stats] [Skills] [Quests-3] [Inventory]
Jace examined the status window as his eyes fell on the 'masochist' title.
His eyes twitched slightly as he tapped on it to reveal the description.
[Masochist : Twice in three days. You've suffered enough pain for a hundred peoples lifetime. You're either addicted to pain or you are. No other option.]
Jace closed his eyes as he took a deep breath. The image of him punching the system came to mind and a smile came to his face.
Though, Jace didn't even know if he could punch the system. Still, that didn't stop Jace from imagining beating the system up over and over and over.
Finally, after a few seconds Jace went back to scanning the status window.
He gazed at the abilities column as a frown came to his face.
None. Jace had eaten a human heart, almost died in pain for nothing.
The only thing that stopped him from cursing out was the bloodline.
According to the system, eating the heart had somehow released the seal even if partially.
Jace tapped on it as nothing happened. No description about the bloodline and what it was came up.
Jace sighed as he gazed at the bloodline. It would do him well to ignore it, at least for now.
The Vicea Surname though, was something Jace was planning to investigate.
Another reason Jace had struggled to come to the Academy was the wealth of information the military possessed.
Jace was sure that using the information, he could at least find clues on his mothers family.
All Jace knew about it was they were a famous and powerful family before the Rache attacked.
Any other information concerning his mother and her extended family had been wiped out from the Black Stars.
Anyways, The only real change in his status was his level increasing from 1 to 2.
The last time Jace had opened his status window, there had been no such levels or anything like that.
Jace considered it before settling on the fact that it had originally been hidden.
Maybe the system had assumed he would never reach that level and so had not bothered to even show it.
Jace pondered on it as he called out mentally once more "Stats"
[Strength: 8]
[Speed: 11]
[Resistance: 7]
[Stamina: 8]
[Reflexes: 13]
[Perception: 5]
[Free Stat points: 3]
At least the heart had clearly affected his stats. Both his speed and reflex stat had shot up, the rest increasing by one.
Additionally, Jace noticed a new stat, if it was a stat.
The free stat point.
Jace had no idea what it was, but he guessed that if the heart was responsible for the increase in his stats, then the appearance of a level 2 should be responsible for it.
Of course this was just a theory with no real basis, but a plus sign beside all the stats seed to tell him something.
That Jace could use the points to increase any one of his stats.
To test it, Jace tapped on the plus button beside his weakest stat, Resistance.
As he did, a small rush of foreign energy seemed to surround his body and then, it was gone.
The foreign energy had simply appeared and disappeared and for a second Jace couldn't tell if there was a difference.
But looking at his stats, there was a difference. His resistance had increased by one.
For a second Jace took a deep breath and contemplated what this meant.
With the system, it seemed he could continually increase his Physique as long as he was able to reach a higher level.
The negatives, though, were that the foreign energy that had appeared was extremely addictive.
That and the question of whether his stats would still remain if the system disappeared.
Jace hated the idea of borrowed strength and the image of a system taking away his strength was a nightmare.
'One step at a time' Jace thought as he ran his hands through his hair and added the other stats to his speed and reflexes. What he needed to do now, was to find a way he could increase his stats.
Good thing Jace had an idea of where to search.
Jace moved back to the original screen before tapping on the quests screen.
As he did, another screen opened up
[Daily Tasks-3]
[Weekly Quests-1]
[Missions]
Jace analyzed it before checking what seemed to be the easiest. The contents were simple
[Do ten push-ups- 10xp]
[Do ten sit-ups- 10xp]
[Drink a bottle of water- 10xp]
Jace gazed blankly at the tasks laid in front of him. The tasks weren't just easy, they were mind numbingly so.
Jace had expected a certain level of trial or effort it might take to complete the quests but now, it seemed even a mundane human could very clearly complete it.
Thinking about it, maybe the system in itself was designed so it would be easy for a normal human to advance using it.
Jace focused on the tasks as he sighed and dropped to the floor.
Within minutes he was done, a ding telling him that two out of the three tasks were completed.
[+20xp gained. Lvl. 2 170/200 xp]
Jace walked towards his new mini fridge as he opened it where dozens of bottles of water were stacked.
Since the ranking system meant that the lowest ranked would only be able to afford one meal everyday, it appeared they were worried about how it might look on the school if a student died of thirst simply for not having enough tokens.
Jace grabbed one as he gulped it down. As he did, his eyes strayed to the bed where a small card lay.
Jace put the now empty bottle down as he scrutinized the card. The contents on it were simple 'All ability users were to report to the field'.
The reasoning was simple, the government wanted to know who among them had been blessed with a rank 2 ability.
As Jace read the card, a thought crossed his mind. Looking down at his wrist, two numbers shone '393/486'.
Jace took a deep breath as the image of others like that boy in the hall came to mind.
15 people had died. Potential warriors, potential pillars of humanity. 15 people who could have possibly made a difference to the world were dead.
But the more Jace thought, the more it became apparent that his thinking was flawed.
None of those people could have ability ranks higher than 2. None of those people could fight hundreds of wars at the same time.
So even with them gone, there would be no difference. The sky would continually twinkle at the sky, planets would continue the same as it had always done.
And the war.
The war would continually be a stalemate, like always. That realization was a bitter pill to swallow.
It turned even bitter when Jace realized that he could have been a part of those people.
He could have died and there would be no difference. His father would mourn, Sure. His cousin would take the throne as the Leader of the Black Stars, a position he was far well suited for than Jace.
And the sun would keep on shining, like it had always been.
And so, a new anger rose up in Jace. A conviction that no matter what happened, he would never be a statistic.