Red, vicious pools of shadowy blood. That was all Grey could see in the corner.
There was no sign of Silver aside from her former clothes and the broken jar of peanut butter.
He stared at the puddle for a moment. Something about its very existence put him on edge.
And... he was right.
Fwop!
Fwop!
Several times it bubbled, the pool of red surging violently, as though it were boiling.
Grey took a step back, dagger outstretched and ready to attack, or to flee if worse came to worst.
The pile of blood continued to surge and began to take shape. At first, it was nothing less than a grotesque abomination.
Lumps of flesh, splintered bone and endless blood, twisting over one another.
But soon enough, it settled into a familiar form... From head to toe, it was the woman in the gym outfit.
Grey blinked a few times and stared at the countenance of the fully manifested being.
’How in... How is that possible?’ he whispered to himself, staring at Silver, who sat on the ground in her gym outfit, not a stain of blood on her, nor a single drop on the floorboards to prove the pool had ever existed.
Silver rubbed the back of her head and groaned, her gaze rising to meet Grey’s.
Grey could see it in her deep red eyes: something was different about the Silver before him.
[Ding!]
[Status: unknown]
Grey blinked at the notification and turned back to Silver. ’Unknown? What does this even mean?’
He was clearly confused and unsure what to make of the situation. Could this be part of Silver’s ability? Grey asked himself... He doubted it.
Whatever was happening here, it was more enigmatic than he could imagine.
"What are you?"
In that instant, the entire atmosphere changed in a blink.
Silver sprang forward, her mouth wide open, revealing dozens of horrendous fangs as she aimed to bite into his throat.
Grey’s eyes grew wide with shock, and he jerked back, a loud shout escaping his lips as the fear of an inescapable end flashed before his eyes...
Wham!
His head crashed into something hard, his eyes forcing themselves open. Grey was flustered, glancing down, then up, in dizzy disorientation. A few seconds had to go by before he finally understood what was happening to him.
’I fell asleep. I didn’t realize I was that tired.’ Grey rubbed his eyes, thinking of how much he had gone through since the apocalypse. Everything must have piled up and caught up to him all at once.
He glanced down. ’Especially with that rather interesting meal,’ he thought, nudging the empty jar of peanut butter.
Out of curiosity, he turned to where Silver had gone to change her clothes. Curiosity was hardly the right word, but he did his best to hide his unease and steal a glance in her direction.
She was curled up in a ball, sleeping soundly. Better than he had managed.
He grunted, almost jealous. ’She gets to haunt my sleep, and look at her, dreaming away like a baby.’
[Ding!]
[Your evolution was successful.]
[You have become a Level 1 human.]
Grey’s heart raced at the notification. It was rather unexpected, yet quite fortunate. His hard work had paid off, and by some twisted luck he had become a Level 1 human...
It took a second for the adrenaline to settle in his nerves, and he finally decided to ask, "What’s a Level 1 human?"
He had only whispered it, yet the system hastily sent a few new runes before his sight.
[A Level 1 human is a human who has surpassed the limits of what is humanly possible and ascended to a much greater realm.]
[You are the 2560th person to unlock this title in your world. Congratulations.]
The number wasn’t exactly encouraging on display, but thinking about it more, he changed his mind.
’Twenty-five hundred people in the entire world... that’s a big deal.’
Grey continued reading.
[Bloodline system will now become more accommodating to the user.]
[You now have more access to the system, and to high-level information.]
Grey’s heart thrummed with an unfamiliar feeling, something close to excitement buzzing through his fingertips, tangled with the caution that warned him to think carefully about his next few questions.
He reclined against the wall, resting his body, wanting to be comfortable for the next part of his interrogation.
"If becoming a Level 1 human gets me more access, can you by any chance tell me if someone is alive somewhere in the world?"
[Out of my range of abilities.]
Grey bit his lip slightly, pondering his family’s whereabouts. A wave of regret rippled across his face, but he quickly discarded it.
After all, he hadn’t expected it to work. Still, he had hoped.
He took his time before jumping into the next question he had in mind. In a stern, low voice, he spoke, "In that case, can you at least tell me about the Mana Overload... in detail?"
For the first time, the system took its time, leaving nothing but empty space before Grey’s eyes for more than five seconds.
Before...
[Every survivor can ask three questions about the Mana Overload catastrophe with every level... Ask wisely.]
’Three questions.’ Grey disliked the limit, but for now, that would have to do.
"Years ago, Earth’s weather spiraled out of control. Rain lasted three days nonstop and bred disasters, snow in summer so heavy that doors were blocked halfway up, floods claiming half of cities..." Grey went on, and the list only grew. Each disaster came out in exact detail, down to the dates and the color of the sky that morning, like something he had rehearsed in the dark a thousand times.
Finally, he got to his question. "Was it the Mana Overload that was responsible for all this?"
The moment he paused for a reply, he was already pulling in a long inhale and reaching for his water bottle to quench the dryness in his throat.
[You are quite conservative... Your answer is Yes.]
[Mana has slowly been incorporated into your world, which has been a major reason for Earth’s natural disasters and misplaced weather conditions.]
Grey clicked his tongue. ’It was just a hunch, but I was correct.’
"Why?—"
The system paused.
[Information restricted.]
Grey’s fingers clutched the empty bottle with enough force to cave it in on itself. ’If not that, then what can you tell me?’
[Ding!]
[Nothing, apparently... You have used up your last question.]
Grey blinked, hands stretched out and mouth wide open. "Wh— I didn’t..." He had just realized what he had done, and he facepalmed. "Awww, fuck."
Grey’s pride dwindled, shrinking in his chest. This was a really dumb way to lose vital information.