Chapter 3: 3. Activating (1)
I took a deep breath as soon as I read the system message and held it in as I walked through the dust and mist to the middle of my... not-my-anymore room. Everything was in pieces and smithereens. Just like my existence. Pfft.
Oh, shit. I breathed.
[Warning: Inhaled a tiny amount of poison]
A tiny amount is fine, right? The Apocalypse can't start off at max level right off the bat, right? If it does, I'm better off dead. As my thoughts progressed, I realised I couldn't die in this world. Dying meant getting yeeted off to another parallel world where I wouldn't know if the system exists. I can't die. Out of slight fear penetrating through my bones, I covered my mouth and nose with my hands and tried my best to not breathe the poison mist anymore than I already have.
The rock that fell on the ground was dully glowing with a light, the tiny pores each looked like dark abysses on their own. With a sword hilt stuck on the side of the rock, it faintly glowed from the cracks made by the forcefully struck sword. The sword is the one that's faintly glowing. The first item, is it?
I grabbed the hilt and pulled but it seems like it's stuck quite deep in the rock. I pulled and pulled until it slightly moved. I pulled once more and it came out as I fell on my back. I'm not that old but it hurts.
[Title gained: The First Apostle of Apocalypse]
[Item gained: Meteorite Sword]
[Item rank: Star Relic]
[Description: A sword made of meteor ore utilising dark energy and the heaviest neutron cores in existence. Equip to gain extra attack power.]
[Reward: 1000c]
I rubbed my back with my hand, using the sword like a walking stick and stretching a bit to feel the cracks in my spine. I need to do something about this body first. Poison resistance, Recovery speed and raw strength is what I need the most right now. A power that won't falter nor be pushed back. The power to hold my own ground against odds.
The dust on the outer layer had already settled, the noises were getting louder. I needed to leave and right now. How do I carry this sword around?
Storage!?
Item storage!?
Inventory!
A blank window opened. There was nothing in the inventory. It was completely empty.
Store item!
[Item: Meteorite Sword cannot be stored due to low inventory level.]
What the heck?
This is a little hard to figure out, having to use my own imagination and try out different system command words to figure out if this function is available or not. To top that off, it won't go in because I'm low level. I'll get out of this place first.
Walking through the settling dust with the sword in my hand, the land surface had become like a crater.
[Warning: Considerable amount of poison inhaled]
This was bound to happen.
[Damage offset commencing]
Damage offset?
My neck started to hurt as if someone was choking me. The suicide methods I experimented and used were all combining together to torture me. I jumped off the building, stabbed myself, slit my wrists, pierced my neck, used poison, alcohol poisoning, drug overdose and stopping my breath to die. All the pain that was delayed was looming over me and soon I wouldn't be able to move. I need to leave here without this sword being in plain sight. The poison mist was starting to affect me as my vision felt dizzy.
[Corrosion due to Poison mist. Progression: 2%]
Move, move, move.
I threw out random words to get something out of it. The sword changed into a pendant from one of my words that looked like a cross as I got out of the mist and collapsed in pain. My nerves were chilling to the bone and heating up as if they were about to melt all my joints and disable any co-ordination in my limbs. The numbness wasn't kicking in at all as the pain elevated to the point I couldn't stop myself from gasping heavily and begging the pain to stop.
The nausea was making the acids in my stomach to misbehave until all I could throw up was some fluid. The cops were starting to barricade this side too and one of the blockers saw me at the edge of the crater writhing in agony.
"GET THE STRETCHER HERE, WE HAVE ANOTHER SURVIVOR," He called for the others to pass on his message so that it reaches the medical team.
I closed my eyes and lost consciousness, floating in the dark. The mental pain that followed after did not let me rest for even a second. For how long is it going to be like this?
***
"He's waking up, hey," said a voice followed by an authoritative voice that rebuked him for being too loud.
"It doesn't hurt anymore," I said when I couldn't feel any pain in my body but profound strength as if I had been working out.
"How are you feeling?" Asked the detective.
"What about the poison?" I asked.
"We tried our best and thought you wouldn't be waking up again. There were two more survivors alongside you who haven't woken up yet," he told me.
[Poison neutralised]
I stared at the system message but I seemed dazed staring at nothing in particular to the men seated beside my hospital bed.
The apocalypse has yet to hit the world and the stage for the system to be installed is still in preparation. Only a few people sensitive to the system may have access to it at this point in time.
Where is that information coming from? I feel like there's something missing in my existence as a whole.
[Soul restored: 30%]
[Memory restored: 10.95%]
[Recovery rate: Extremely slow]
[Recovery quality: Accurate]
So losing my soul means I lose my emotions, expressions, and majority of whatever makes me human and the memory is probably the missing piece of my existence right now. I feel like I still retain quite a lot of my soul and memory.
"Are you feeling okay?" Asked the men.
"How long was I asleep?" I asked.
"2 days," they answered.
I slowly pulled the curtains and was shocked to see multiple areas covered in poison mist. I looked back at the detectives who are probably useless in such a world, "Wha—?"
"Your reaction is justified. There wasn't just one meteor but multiple meteors around the same size as the one you were found beside. They all emitted poison mist. At first it was assumed they were caused by the asteroid belt losing a few stones but these did not come out of that belt. Stray rocks as what the prophet claims and the poison mist is unidentified," they informed me.
"A prophet?" I stared at them utterly dumbfounded. It's only been 2 days and people have already started acquiring the power inside the meteors? They might be random but I can't rule out the possibility of another star relic item or skill existing among those meteors. Maybe I was lucky, maybe I wasn't.
"This is one of the safe areas which are unaffected," said the man.
"A high-rise hospital in this situation is the worst choice you people could've made," I said while staring outside the window, "There could be anything to shake this place up and you never know what and when it will hit," I clenched the sword in the form of a pendant around my neck.
The reflections of the men behind me looked anxious, "We are aware and we want to maximize the number of survivors before every modern science medicine either expires or ceases to exist. We are aware of the dangers," They looked at me grimly as if losing hope but hanging on.
The police department, fire department, detectives, lawyers and every other law, constitution, all of it was useless in a world like this. Here, the strong rule. That's what they need to understand to enforce order in such a chaotic world.
I felt elated. Not because of their suffering but because I was finally in a world that makes me feel like everything revolves around me, like I was living and breathing. Every pore on me was absorbing the environment and observing. Looking at the cityscape burning and faded in poison mist, all I could think of was using the sword and my body that felt lighter than ever.
Status!
[Name: Yohan Wan]
[Age: 24]
[Attribute: Main Character(lv.4), ???]
[Exclusive skills: World warp(lv.4), ???]
[Overall stats: Strength (lv.4), Agility (lv.4), Physique (lv.4), Magic (lv.3), Dexterity (lv. 2)]
[Overall Rating: A+]
[Estimated potential: S]
[Remarks: An amnesiac wandering the worlds for tragedy and a chance at life.]
I suppressed my urge to smile at the new field available and a new overall stat. There were no more question marks there but the exclusive skills and attribute still had one. I am curious as to what those might be but the remarks were suspicious. An amnesiac? Me? It might be because of the memory loss while warping here. I remember the most important parts so it's fine and I still retain my sense of self.
"The prophet you mentioned could be a fraud. Stray rocks? Don't joke with me. Those were engineered to be that way. Just like how nuclear bombs work in general," I said. The men started to get suspicious of me.
I see. That prophet has this place under their thumb in a mere 2 days. Despite pretending to not trust the prophet, they'll still believe the first person with unimaginable power over someone who woke up later and knows nothing of what happened in the 2 days.
The private hospital room opened and a nurse entered the room with a trolley equiped with multiple medical needs followed by the doctor who was assigned to find a cure for these unidentified dangers from the poison mist.
"The others haven't woken up yet. You, however, seem to have developed antibodies to whatever that poison mist is and I want you to volunteer for blood test," he said looking at me who was standing with the support of the saline stand near the window.
"I refuse," I looked at him straight in the eye. I don't know if my skills and attributes can be passed onto someone else through blood or not and I am not going to risk losing my only perfect world to mere two vegetable people.
"I am a crazy doctor as people say. I have no qualms about forcing you to do so," he said and I could feel a bit of his presence emitting very faintly.
"Why don't you suck out blood from the prophet instead? As you can see, I am still recovering. If the prophet is the first to wake up after surviving the meteors poison mist, his blood should be richer than mine," I shrugged.
"About that," the nurse hesitated to speak and looked at the doctor.
"We tried injecting the prophet's blood in an attempt to save the survivors in coma. But they all exploded and died," he bluntly put it as it was. The gore detail made my stomach churn, "It works if the person who receives the prophet's blood has those unknown powers. It doesn't work if it's a normal human unable to manifest any powers," he finished.
"You seem to be normal given how you haven't materialised any of the powers the prophet showed. Your blood should work," said the nurse completely unaware of my power.
"I could maybe give a little," I smiled.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone