When Jelo woke up, he immediately felt pain. "Argghh," he groaned as a deep ache spread through every bone in his body.
"Ugh… where… am I?" he muttered in a hoarse and dry voice.
The sound of dripping water echoed faintly around him, the air was damp and heavy with the scent of wet earth.
He slowly rolled onto his side and pushed himself upright. This very movement sent sharp spikes of pain through his body, and for a few seconds, all he could do was breathe and blink through the dizziness clouding his vision.
As he turned his head, he noticed something glinting faintly in the dirt beside him. He frowned as he realized it was his contact lens, it must have popped out when he fell. He bent and picked it up carefully.
Thankfully, it was still intact.
"Oh, thank God," he whispered and brought it close to his eyes, ready to pop it back in.
But Jelo suddenly paused, something felt off. His eyes widened as he realized the eye without contacts could see clearly. In fact, the one with contacts was actually blurrier.
Jelo blinked rapidly, rubbing his eyelids, and then switched between closing each eye.
The results were the same, the left eye was blurry and the right eye was crystal clear.
"What the hell?" he murmured, lowering his hand.
He yanked out the remaining contact lens and blinked again.
As he did this, the world seemed to come into full focus and was sharper than it had ever been for him.
"My vision is good now!" he exclaimed.
With his new, clearer vision, he looked around his surroundings. It was then he remembered the carvings he had seen earlier, before passing out, they were no longer there.
"Had I hallucinated them?" he asked himself. He tried to picture them again, they had been about five or six, and the two central ones had a shape.
"They were shaped like a… like a…" he said and trailed off as he tried to remember what shape they had, but it was futile.
He sighed.
Just then, a soft chime echoed in his ears.
Ding.
A panel blinked to life in front of him.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZATION COMPLETE]
His breath caught as the next line appeared, clear and sharp.
Name: Jelon Millon
Rank: Level 1
Species: Human
Speed: 10
Strength: 10
Stamina: 10
Exp: 10
Health: 70/100
"What is this?" Jelo asked as he observed the glowing panel before him.
"A system?" he said. "This looks just like those RPGs, the ones with levels and stats and upgrades.
But this isn't normal," he muttered.
There were humans with abilities in this world but Jelo wasn't sure there was any like this.
Before he could think further, the display flickered. The main status panel slid aside, revealing a new section labeled [Skills].
Jelo leaned closer, he was hoping to see something cool like fire abilities or lightning. But instead, the screen was blank. Just a single line:
"Seriously?" he whispered, frowning.
The panel shifted again. This time it showed [Shop] across the top.
Jelo sighed and rubbed his face. "So what's the point then? I don't have skills, I can't buy anything, I can't even see what I'm supposed to do."
The ravine began to grow darker as the sunlight faded into streaks of orange.
Jelo took a deep breath and looked around. "I have to find a way to leave this place before it gets completely dark."
His mother would be home waiting for him to return with…
There was only one path, a narrow slope that led to God knew where, but Jelo didn't have much of a choice at the moment. He followed the slope.
As he walked on, he kept searching for any areas that looked climbable.
After what felt like hours, he finally found a spot that had enough protruding rocks that he could grab onto.
He jumped and hung on one of the rocks. With a grunt, he reached for another rock and grabbed it. Then he let go of the first rock and reached for a higher one.
He continued this until he was finally close to the top of the ravine. Then, with one last heave, he pulled himself out of the ravine and rolled onto the ground, panting hard.
He got to his feet and started walking home.
By the time he reached home, it was already dark, and the streetlights were glowing.
His mother was standing by the door with a worried look on her face. When she spotted him, she immediately broke into a frown.
"Jelo Millon! Do you have any idea what time it is?" she snapped. "And where's what I sent you to get?"
"I… uh…" He looked down. "I'm sorry, Mom, I lost track of time."
She sighed heavily as she looked him over. Her son seemed tired and dejected this night, besides, he was usually well-behaved. She assumed something must have happened but didn't want to pressure him, he would tell her later when he was up to it.
"That's not a good enough excuse, Jel, but it's fine. Go wash up and come to eat."
Jelo nodded and went up the stairs. He felt guilty lying to his mother, but what would he tell her?
That he fell off a ravine and almost died and woke up with a system? It was unbelievable and too much information to burden her with.
He collapsed on his bed, exhausted, and slept off instantly.
XXXX
The next morning came too fast. As his alarm buzzed, Jelo groaned and sat up, rubbing his eyes. His body still felt a little sore, but the sharp pain was now gone.
He got up and yawned.
The system glowed.
"What? 1700 grams of meat? Is that even possible?" Jelo asked in confusion. He was currently at 10 exp, and he wondered what would happen when he got to 100. Would he level up, or would he gain points, or was the limit even greater than 100? He didn't know.
But he decided to complete the quest anyway.
His mother had left the house already. He went downstairs to the kitchen and headed for the fridge.
There was a container containing about ten pieces of chicken. Jelo didn't know how many pieces of chicken he needed to get 1700 grams, but he ate all ten of them.
It wasn't easy; by the sixth piece of chicken, he felt full and nauseous, but he continued regardless.
Soon he had eaten the ten pieces.
XXXX
As he stepped through the academy gates, the morning chatter buzzed around him. Students were gathering in groups, laughing, gossiping. Then, the laughter died down. The crowd shifted.
As Jelo stepped through the school gates, the noise around the courtyard died down as they noticed him. They remembered how he got rejected by Angie and how Muko chucked him across the yard.
Jelo said nothing, he just continued walking, he had other things on his mind.
Then a voice called out behind him. "Well, well, if it isn't our little loverboy."
Jelo turned to face Muko, smirking at him, looking imposing in his stature. However, this time Jelo wasn't intimidated, instead, he wanted to test what his stats actually meant.
How strong was his ten strength points compared to other humans?
"What, no umbrella to hold today?" Muko sneered.
Jelo smirked. "Are you going to fight me, or will you keep nagging like a woman?"
Muko's smile immediately dropped. "What did you just say?"
Jelo tilted his head slightly. "You heard me. You talk big, but you're just noise. If you're really that strong, prove it."
Muko's face twisted in anger. "You've got a death wish."
He swung a punch at Jelo, but now Jelo could see the movement in detail. The wind from the punch brushed his cheek as he dodged it narrowly.
In the same motion, he sent his own punch to Muko's chest.
The impact had a loud sound that resounded through the courtyard. Muko flew up and flew backward, crashing into a wall. The force caused the wall to crack, and Muko slid to the floor, half-conscious.
The crowd gasped.
"What the hell?
Did you see that?
He actually lifted him!
That wall cracked!"
Jelo observed the scene in mild surprise. He hadn't thought that he could generate that much power. If this was his base stats, then with this system he could grow to be very strong, probably one of the strongest supers on the planet.
The thought made a thrill rush through him.
Teachers quickly rushed to the scene and dispersed the students before taking Muko to the clinic.
In mere minutes, the story spread of how Jelo, who had been weak yesterday, had knocked out Muko and cracked the wall with a single punch.
Meanwhile, inside the principal's office, a teacher walked in. "Sir, there's been a development at the schoolyard." He narrated the event to the principal, who listened thoughtfully, thanked him, and dismissed him.
Now alone, the principal leaned back in his chair, rubbing his cheek thoughtfully. "It seems there are too many supers in school now, it's time to reduce that."
He picked up his phone and dialed a number. When the call connected, he spoke in a serious voice.
"Hello, it's me, we need some offloading."