Eric’s brain, still heavy and groggy from the sweet embrace of sleep, suddenly jolted wide awake.
It wasn’t the sound of an alarm or the smell of breakfast that did it.
Instead, an unfamiliar yet strangely familiar voice echoed directly inside the caverns of his mind.
[System has been upgraded.]
At first, Eric lay frozen under his blankets, desperately hoping he was just experiencing a particularly vivid hallucination.
But as he took a moment to review the sheer, unadulterated absurdity of his life up to this point, he quickly discarded that comforting notion.
No, this was real.
And because it was real, his absolute first instinct was to curse.
“What the hell?!” he blurted out to the empty room, his tone laced with equal parts irritation and pure disbelief.
“Is that you, useless system?!”
For a long moment, there was a heavy silence.
Then, the voice responded, sounding distinctly and mechanically offended.
[System has been upgraded.]
It was the exact same phrase, but the mental vibration carried a subtle hint of a pout.
Eric narrowed his eyes, sitting up in bed and crossing his arms.
“Oh, I get it.
So you just magically ‘leveled up’ at the exact same time as me?
Wait a minute… don’t tell me… did you steal some of my hard-earned power?!”
His eyes hardened, and his voice turned ice-cold.
“Are you some kind of cosmic parasite?!”
A brief pause ensued, as if the entity inside his head was frantically searching its database for a politically correct defense.
Finally, the text hovering in his mind shifted.
[It is a…
symbiotic relationship.]
“Oh, great.
So you can talk normally,” Eric scoffed, rolling his eyes.
“And yeah, ‘symbiotic relationship’ totally sounds like something a parasite trying to dodge taxes on my power level would say.”
[Negative.
The System is not sentient.
Many question-and-answer templates have been pre-recorded, which now include responses to the Host’s current inquiries.]
[Furthermore, without this System, the Host would be unable to access or utilize his current power.]
[This System provides the opportunity, the Host seizes it, and as a natural result, this System grows alongside you.
It is a fair trade!]
Eric sighed deeply, rubbing his temples to soothe the oncoming headache.
He hated to admit it, but the explanation actually made a twisted kind of sense.
The System acted as the catalyst, and he was the engine.
If the engine got bigger, the catalyst had to adapt to handle the output.
Not that he particularly liked the idea of sharing his achievements with a celestial operating software, but he couldn’t argue with the results.
“Fine, whatever.
Let’s move past the parasitic boundary issues,” Eric muttered, swinging his legs out of bed. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
“But where exactly did you come from anyway?
You sound suspicious as hell.”
[Negative.
Unknown.
No answer found in the database.]
“Right.
As expected,” Eric grumbled.
He tried phrasing the question three different ways, but each time, the exact same generic, unhelpful error message popped up in his vision.
Realizing he was arguing with what amounted to a highly advanced, stubborn cosmic answering machine, he decided to give up for now.
It wasn’t like he could forcibly eject the thing from his soul anyway.
“Anyway, System,” Eric said, shifting his focus to more practical matters.
“What kind of abilities did you actually get after this upgrade?
Show me the goods.”
The System didn’t disappoint.
A glowing, translucent blue screen materialized before his eyes, displaying two distinct options.
[There are two paths available for the System upgrade.
Please choose, Host:]
1.
Strengthen Host’s Body and Soul: Promotes the evolution of the Host’s dimensionality.
Example of peak evolution: The Living Tribunal.
2.
Strengthen Host’s Dimension: Promotes the evolution and expansion of the Host’s personal domain.
Example of peak evolution: The One Above All (OAA).
Eric stared at the text, his mind racing.
He only needed a few moments of contemplation before the answer crystallized in his mind.
“I choose option two.
Strengthen the dimension.”
It was a no-brainer, really.
Anyone who knew anything about cosmic hierarchies understood that the power ceiling for the second option was astronomically higher.
On one hand, you had the Living Tribunal—essentially the ultimate multiversal middle manager.
Sure, he was staggeringly powerful, but at the end of the day, he was still just a servant, a creation that could be blinked out of existence with a casual snap of the fingers by the true supreme being.
On the other hand, you had the One Above All.
There was simply no competition.
Eric could easily guess the underlying mechanics; even if the initial power difference between the two options didn’t seem massive right now, the ultimate limits were like comparing an ant to the sun.
It was highly likely that the entire Marvel Omniverse could be considered the personal dimension of the One Above All, or that the OAA was the literal living embodiment of that ultimate dimension.
As long as Eric lived within this reality, choosing option one meant he could never truly surpass the Living Tribunal.
It would place a permanent, hard ceiling on his growth.
But beyond the sheer pursuit of absolute power, there was another, far more personal reason holding weight in his heart.
If he chose to evolve his own personal dimension, he wouldn’t just be accumulating raw, selfish power for his own body and soul. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
He would possess an entire realm that he controlled completely.
Within that realm, he could share his power, extend his protection, and grant immortality to the people he chose.
People like his mother.
“Definitely option two,” Eric reaffirmed, a firm smile playing on his lips.
“Let’s go with the dimension track.”
[Affirmative.]
[New passive and active abilities have been added: Merge and Adaptation.]
[From this moment forward, after the Host conquers a dimension, you can integrate it into your own personal dimension, permanently expanding its size, authority, and energy density.]
Eric blinked, processing the information.
“Conquer and integrate, huh?
How exactly do I go about doing that?
Should I just turn myself into a giant, floating rainbow head, manifest in the sky, and start my own cosmic cult to invade other worlds?” He chuckled at the mental image of himself acting like some bargain-bin cosmic entity.
The System, completely missing the sarcasm, responded with its usual stoic gravity.
[There are two established methods to conquer a dimension:]
[First: If it is an unowned, wild dimension, the Host can directly assimilate its core.]
[Second: If native life forms exist within the dimension, the Host must either completely eliminate 100% of all life forms in that dimension, OR ensure that at least 90% of the native intelligent life forms recognize and accept that the dimension belongs to you.]
Eric rubbed his chin, nodding to himself.
“Well, option B sounds way less genocidal.
Ninety percent approval rating?
It doesn’t sound too difficult if I play my cards right.
Basically, I just need to become a universally beloved savior or an undisputed god-king.
Quite doable.”
An exciting thought suddenly struck him.
He looked up, his eyes sparkling with ambition.
“So, what if I conquer this entire universe?
Can I integrate this whole universe into my personal dimension?”
[Negative.
The Host does not need to conquer the entire universe.
To claim a domain, you only need to conquer the ‘Core’ of the dimension.
In this specific case, conquering Earth is sufficient.]
“Wait, just Earth?
Earth is the core of the whole—”
BONG!
Before Eric could finish his grand, cosmic train of thought, a heavy, cast-iron frying pan came flying out of nowhere, cutting through the air with terrifying speed and smacking him squarely in the face.
“Ow!
What the—!” Eric yelped, tumbling backward onto his bed, clutching his nose as cartoonish stars danced visual laps around his vision.
A loud, furious voice echoed from the doorway, completely shattering the epic, multiversal atmosphere.
“You lazy bum!
How long do you plan on lazing around in bed today?!
Get up quickly and clean your room!” his mother yelled, standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips, looking far more terrifying than the Living Tribunal ever could.