Jack felt like his head was going to be split open, but the next moment he opened his eyes the pain was gone.
What was that?
Without realizing, Jack had ended up in the library, making him frown. In truth, Jack used to go here all the time hours before class to review his materials along with his friends.
Now, the sight of students hunched over desks, studying with genuine focus scared him. Negative emotions swirled inside him without warning.
He felt like a sinner.
Wasn't he just wasting his parents' money, planting false hopes in their hearts, fooling everyone around him—including himself?
Jack sat by the window, rubbing his eyes as sunlight filtered through the curtains.
"Strange… why do I feel so weak today?" he murmured. "And that earlier—what was that?"
The words hung in the air, unanswered. The world seemed to sway gently around him. His head drooped forward, then lifted—again and again—each motion slower than the last.
"Jack, Jack, Jack."
In his daze, Jack heard a girl's voice.
'Am I dreaming again?' He opened his eyes and winced as another sharp pang stabbed through his skull—worse than before.
"Are you okay? You look… tired."
The one who disturbed his rest was a black-haired girl, her ponytail swaying lightly behind her.
"…What are you staring at?" she said suddenly, a hint of accusation in her tone.
Cindy Loffert.
She had large brown eyes, pale skin, and a neutral expression that gave her an almost unapproachable presence. She wasn't exactly his idea of "pretty," but there was something undeniably appealing about her.
Jack closed his eyes, feeling like his energy was leaking out of him.
"Cindy," he said, rubbing his forehead, "don't worry. I wasn't exactly looking at you."
As always, Cindy raised a brow, slightly annoyed. "I see you in the library for the first time in decades, and you're sleeping instead of studying. Stand up. Class is about to start."
"Decades—you're exaggerating."
"It's a figure of speech," she shot back flatly.
Cindy was one of the few people Jack considered a true friend. They had started as simple classmates in sixth grade, classmates in high school, grew even closer in college, and remained friends now in law school.
She was what you'd call an honor student. She was passionate about learning, usually timid, and often mistaken as unapproachable. But once she got comfortable, she could be quite the loudmouth.
"I haven't reviewed yet…" Jack lamented, remembering that they will be having an exam that very night.
"That's obvious. You went to the library for no reason," Cindy laughed, before shaking her head. "You, of all people, really need to do better. Otherwise, I might not see you next year. I don't want that."
Jack laughed in return and turned silent. He only could.
In law school, students fall into two categories: working and full-time. Naturally, more were expected from full-time students due to the amount of time they have compared to working students. Cindy have always met those expectations.
Jack? Jack never cared to meet someone else's expectations in all his life. He was a tout believer of himself. He knew what he was capable of so why bother trying to meet someone else's expectations of him? At least, that's how he used to feel. Lately though he wasn't so sure anymore.
When they arrived in the classroom Jack set down his bag and fumbled for whatever study materials he could find, much to the disbelief and quiet disappointment of his seatmate, Cindy.
'It's too late, stupid.' She thought.
Soon the professor arrived, and the exam papers were handed out.
There were twenty bar exam essay questions to be completed within three hours.
After an hour, however, Jack's head were about to explode and his eyes had turned red and veiny. He stared down at the test paper again and again but the dull throbbing had started pulsing at his temples again. Normally, exams left him a nervous wreck and couldn't perform as he usually thought he could. He usually wasn't a top scorer, but he could always scrape by.
But today, that confidence felt the most distant.
The letters were swimming in and out of his sight every time as if he was shaking. He tried to concentrate but his head was really about to split open.
"Are you all right, Mr. Crawluster? You look pale," the professor who had been watching him the entire hour couldn't help but ask.
"I'm alright, Attorney." Jack replied groggily.
But the obvious could not be more obvious.
"You should get yourself checked after you finish. You don't need to stay."
"Yes, Attorney, thank you."
Jack wgas trying his best to ease and ignore the pain. Talking even made it worse. Then the poundisng only grew sharper with each tick of the clock, making his pupils dart back and forth in panic. It had reacghed the point where the sound of the pen, people drinksing, and the shuffling of papers were echoing in his mind, soundsing likge annoying bells.
He started wheezing, making even Cindy normally so focused on an exam look at him with worry.
Unable to endure it any longer, Jack suddenly stood up and wore his backpack, startling almost everyone. Whistles, sarcastic and sincere praises, echoed around the room.
But when he passed his exam notebook forward, the professor's brows furrowed in concern.
"Are you sure about this, Mr. Crawluster?"
However, Jack was already getting ready to leave. Outside, the professor noticed him leaning against the wall for support and was about to approach, but before he could, Jack suddenly bolted away.
Moments later, in the restroom, Jack gripped the edge of the sink and began to vomit.
[Finished: 180 minutes]
[The Urban System has been finally calibrated.]
[Congratulations!]
[Updating system…]
[Updated.]
…]
'what the hell is happening to me?!' Jack internally screamed.
Floating holo-panels were flickering violently in the air one after another, overlapping, spinning, flashing, and making his vision turn white. His world was twisting like jelly, jerking across his vision and the fluorescent lights above were stabbing at his eyes like countless knives.
"Ugh—bleeghhh!" He doubled over, retching hard.
"You okay?" someone outside the door asked.
"I'm fine…real--" Jack croaked, vomiting again.
The guy waited outside watching him for a few seconds, but Jack eventually heard fading footsteps.
Jack started speed-walking out of the building. His head was down and his body was even trembling.
At that time, there was still sunlight. Although the sun already hung low, ready to vanish into night at any moment.
When he was outside the gates he didn't think about catching a ride.
He just started running, barely noticing where he was going.
'What is this!!'
Beep…Beep…BEEP!!
"Hey! You wanna die??!" a truck driver yelled at him as Jack darted across the street without looking.
Jack could hear the car horns and tires screeching. Unknown t him, a motorcycle even swerved violently to avoid him, the driver cursing as it skidded past him, before crashing into an electric post. But Jack didn't stop nor looked back.
Angry people shouted at him as he bumped into them through intersections without knowing.
'What is this?!'
Jack's legs soon gave up, unable to run any longer. He tried to walk again but then he suddenly lost his balance and fell down a flight of stairs.
everything went black for a moment.
When he opened his eyes, pain was exploding throughout his body, and stars spun around his head. His head was even bleeding and blood trickled down his face.
"Ugh!"
But suddenly, his white vision slowly returned to normal.
Right there and then, he finally saw the panels floating across him.
[User: Jack Crawlluster]
[Age: 24]
[Occupation: Socially Dysfunctional]
[Level 1]
[Race: Human.]
[0/100 exp]
[HP: 10]
[MP: --- ]
[Strength: 8]
[Speed: 6]
[Stamina: 4]
[Skills: Speed reading, basic fighting, Appraisal]
Jack blinked .at the floating windows, mouth half-open. He rubbed his eyes—once, twice, then yanked at his hair—but the panels didn't vanish. He raised his hand slightly and attempted to touch the glowing panels..
Yet it only passed right through them like mist.
'This is a…'
He chuckled nervously and rubbed his eyes.
"Who am I kidding," he chuckled, but in doing so, he decided to entertain his hallucinations.
"According to this, I'm Level 1 and socially dysfunctional?"
A mix of disbelief and various emotions swept over him.
Then, he looked at his stats.
The numbers made his eyes widen and his mouth chuckle weakly for a few seconds.
"Single digits are wild. HP ten? Stamina four? These numbers seem puny."
Looking at the last panel, Jack tilted his head.
"Speed reading, basic fighting and Appraisal? What the hell do I even—"
Jack focused his eyes on a random rock near the steps and as if instinct took over, he thought of doing that and his mouth moved on its own. "Appraise."
[Small Stone. Weight: 14g. No special properties.]
Jack froze.
"PFFFT—hahaha! Oh my god…"
"What the hell…"
For a while, Jack stayed in one area as he started using the appraise skill on other objects, still amazed. But then, the panels in front of him suddenly glitched like a tv screen with bad reception and the neutral voice in his head sounded.
A new panel appeared, but this time, instead of shimmering blue, it flickered red.
[Warning. Warning.]