Free Web NovelChapter 1: Awakening
Ash Rowan died as a loner.
I know because I got his memories dumped into my skull the moment I entered his body.
"This kid...he was such a loser." I muttered in pity.
Eighteen years and the kid never raised his voice once.
"This is a supernatural world...huh?"
After sorting the memories I gained, I realised that I was in some sort of parallel world of earth. Where technology and magic co-existed, and humans awakened powers like pyromancy, telekineses and others.
Ash had previously awakened an f-rank power, which improved his physical strength a little above the human limit. Basically useless against the beasts that flooded this world from the gates.
Meanwhile, his cold and aloof step-sister awakened an S-rank power the same afternoon.
I lay there in the darkness of his room sorting through his memories, and the longer I sorted, the angrier I got.
"Sorry, kid," I said to the ceiling. "Your body’s under new management."
A blue screen lit up in the dark. Startling me for a moment.
[CHOICE SYSTEM ONLINE]
[Soul transfer confirmed. Host vitals stable. Host attitude: notably improved.]
[Your life is now a series of choices. The previous occupant made none. You’ll be making all of them.]
"Any rewards?"
[Yes.]
I grinned at the ceiling.
"Show me."
[BREAKFAST WITH A NATURAL DISASTER]
[Your step-sister, Cecilia Frost, Rank S, is in the kitchen. In the refrigerator sits the final slice of Reine Patisserie strawberry cake that she loves.]
[CHOICE A: Eat the cake in front of her. Reward: Mana Core Reconstruction (Rank F → Rank D)]
[CHOICE B: Ask her politely how her morning is going. Reward: +1 Stamina]
[CHOICE C: Eat breakfast in your room. Reward: None]
Old Ash’s memories were very clear about the consequences that followed Choice A.
To Cecilia, the cake was something she never shared.
Our parents married two years ago. Her father, and my mother.
In two years she’d spoken maybe one hundred words to the previous Ash, and a hundred of those were "move."
[Risk assessment: Severe. Probability of hospitalization: 74%. Probability of Host being interred in the garden next to the dog: 11%.]
"And the other fifteen percent?"
[Survival with dignity loss.] freēwēbnovel.com
A core reconstruction increasing his core rank from F to D. The old Ash would’ve stared at that reward for an hour and picked B, because B was safe and B was polite.
The current Ash couldn’t care less. The first choice was his only choice. An F-Rank was a nobody, and whilst D-Rank wasn’t great, it was still much better than the bottom of the food chain.
I fixed my shirt and went downstairs whistling happily.
Cecilia sat at the kitchen table with her back straight.
’Wearing a hello kitty pajamas with that figure...’ I thought to myself, taking a brief moment to gulp the lump of saliva building at the back of my throat.
I pulled the fridge open and let it bang against the counter.
Cecilia ignored it, unbothered.
The cake sat on the middle shelf in its white box, lid taped, the tape labeled CECILIA in handwriting sharp enough to draw blood.
"It’s time," I said, taking the box out.
Finally, her head came up. I could feel her eyes locked onto my back like a target.
The kitchen temperature dropped several degrees in a breath. And I felt a chill run down my spine.
Frost crept out from under her chair in slow ferns.
The center of her grey eyes turned pale, that meant she was not in a good mood.
"Put it back."
I set the box on the counter, peeled the tape, and took my time about it.
"I...said...put that back."
I ignored her words completely. Although I hated to say it, the aura she was releasing was scary, I just wanted to get the choice done with.
"Three seconds to put it down, or I freeze both your hands and tell Mother and Father it was an accident."
"One."
"Two."
I ate the entire slice in one bite, swallowing it immediately. I didn’t even enjoy its taste from the tension.
The window glazed white instantly, and my orange juice froze solid in the glass with a crack like a knuckle popping.
Cecilia stood so fast her chair became embedded in the wall, and then she had my collar in her fist.
Frost stitched up my sleeve in delicate white thread.
My breath fogged between us.
Most people, the memories told me, look away from her.
Even instructors. Even her father.
I smiled at her with cream on my lip. freewёbnoνel.com
"You are the single most suicidal trashbag in this city."
"Top of one ranking already. They said it couldn’t be done." I grinned.
Her grip tightened. The frost reached my shoulder. And here’s the truth, the part I’d never say out loud: it hurt, the cold was already burning.
Her power could fold me into the wall next to the chair without her pulse moving.
I held her eyes anyway.
[CHOICE A FULFILLED]
The heat hit my chest like a dropped sun.
My knees buckled. Her grip on my collar went from a threat to the only thing holding me up, and her expression changed, just for an instant.
Alarm. Interest. Hard to say. I was busy being set on fire from the inside.
"What did you do," she said. Not to me. At me. "What is this? Your power is—"
The light swallowed my vision before she finished.
Last thing I heard was the System, smug as a cat.
[The Host has chosen well. The Host is also unconscious in his step-sister’s arms on the first day of school.]
