As his consciousness began to fade, Jaiden started hearing a female voice with a robotic tone.
[Analyzing heir candidate… Name: Jaiden Stadfield…]
'It didn't seem to come from anyone nearby,' his hearing still caught some sounds, but they felt muffled to him. Yet the words of that voice were crystal clear. 'It's like the voice is coming straight into my head.'
[Sex: Male… Age: 20… Height: 1.75m / 5.74ft… Awakening Status: Null… Confirmed. The candidate has been accepted as the heir of the Supreme Lord System. Do you agree to accept the system into your soul?]
'What does all this mean? I've never heard of anything like that.'
Then the monotonous voice spoke again, answering the boy's question.
[The Supreme Lord System is a means that enables you to become an Awakened in a different way from the traditional one. By agreeing, you will become an heir of the Supreme Lord and access all available system functions, such as the interface and user development parameters.]
Jaiden could hardly believe what he was hearing. He thought this must be some kind of near-death delusion, but the voice felt far too real. It was even something he felt interested in accepting.
When he was a child, Jaiden wanted to become an Awakened. Back then, he and his younger sister used to play pretending to be Awakened, acting as if they were fighting dungeon monsters and saving people from creatures running loose in the city.
But people usually awaken their powers—or at least show signs of it—fairly early in puberty, and as the years went by, he realized he simply wasn't one of them.
'That's always been my dream… even now it still is, but…' Jaiden muttered. If it had been at any other time, he would've accepted it, but this invitation appearing now felt like a cruel joke from fate.
'I'm dying. What's the point of awakening now?'
[Damage detected. The system's protocol can restore the heir's body if the Awakening is successfully completed.]
Jaiden's eyes widened at that last spark of hope right before him. "Does that mean I can make it out of this…?"
But for a moment, he had a bad feeling. His instincts were sharp—something he actually took pride in.
Because of his rebellious phase, he'd gotten into more fights than any normal twenty-year-old should, and had dealt with more malicious people than anyone ought to in a lifetime. From all that experience, Jaiden had developed a fairly keen sense for danger—whether in a fight or in reading someone's character. It wasn't like he was always right, but his gut usually told him when something was off.
But there, in that dark alley, no one was coming to save him. Not even the few people who still cared about him knew where he was or what state he was in. For him, there was no other option but to take the risk and say, "Fine… I accept this system."
[The candidate has accepted the system into his soul. Restoration protocol to adapt the host to the system will begin immediately.]
"Yes, yes. Please fix me and make my body good as new…!"
Jaiden's entire body twisted in pain; his body temperature rose, and his head throbbed as if it were being split in two. The process for the system to restore his body involved repairing the damage at a cellular level.
However, Jaiden had lost a lot of blood, and the system calculated that the most efficient way to replenish it was to collect the lost blood, filter out any impurities from the environment, and inject it back into Jaiden's body.
The boy screamed in agony as the blood was returned to his body through the same wound it had exited, as if being sucked in by a vacuum cleaner.
The system controlled his bodily connections to prevent him from collapsing during the restoration. But that didn't mean he didn't feel pain—his gut, which had already anticipated the situation, burned as if on fire.
The restoration was meticulous to ensure the host's body returned to normal, but that also meant the pain coursed through his entire body until the process was complete.
His blood rushed through his veins at full speed, making his heart work faster, to the point where he felt like it might explode.
He was gasping, desperately searching for air as if he were drowning—but there was no water, and even breathing hurt.
His eyes were shut tight, as if glued together, and tears streamed down his face. He was bent over on the ground, struggling to endure the pain.
But everything he felt—from the tips of his toes to the top of his head—screamed one thing: 'I'm going to die!'
The process lasted only twenty seconds, but for Jaiden, they were the longest and most excruciating twenty seconds of his entire life.
[Heir restoration successfully completed. You acquired the Supreme Lord System.]
"What the hell… what kind of idea was that," Jaiden shouted. "That damn restoration hurt way more than the stabbing."
The shock and pain caused by the system brought his consciousness back to normal. Jaiden sat panting against the wall after his body had been fully restored.
He was sweating cold from all the energy the system had used on him, but other than that, his body was as good as new.
There was no trace of the stab wound, and his back, which had been soaked in blood, was clean again. Even the scratches on his hands from punching the delinquents were completely healed.
'Good thing. If I got home covered in blood, Emilia would've worried.'
Once his breathing calmed down, Jaiden began to think about his current situation.
"I was just going to buy some chips at the store, ran into a bunch of good-for-nothings, beat them up, almost died, then came back to life because of some system. Since I'm alive, that means it wasn't a hallucination. But where's this so-called system…?"
Just as he thought that, a dark purple interface appeared before his eyes.
"Looks just like a video game screen."
A floating screen appeared before him, displaying the following information:
[Supreme Lord System]
[Name: Jaiden Stadfield]
[Level: 1]
[Health Points: 10]
[Mana Points: 10]
[Strength: 1]
[Magic: 1]
[Vitality: 1]
[Agility: 1]
[Status Points: 0]
"So it was all real!" Jaiden couldn't hold back the grin spreading across his face. "I actually awakened!"
After all these years, he had pretty much given up on his dream. He had a normal job that helped him and his sister get by each month, but a part of him had never truly wanted to let go of that childhood dream.
At his age, the chances of awakening were next to none. He knew people would just laugh in his face if he ever said anything, so he kept it to himself.
Still, that hope had always lingered somewhere deep in his mind. Holding on to it for so long had only brought him frustration—but now, it wasn't just some fantasy. It was right there, floating in front of him.
"I know everyone has to start somewhere, but damn, these stats are pathetic."
Realizing he was still standing in a dark alley in the middle of the night, with the streets growing quieter by the minute, Jaiden decided to head home. He could study this system properly once he got there.