The space has changed from what she remembered. It was five or six times larger. There were shelves and alleys like a supermarket.
The field and fountain of life had also grown five or six times larger. The gray sky had changed. The mist was gone, replaced by dark sky with millions of stars.
[Welcome Back, Host.]
[Rings fusion complete.]
[System binding complete.]
[Reward: Choose an ability.]
[The system has rewarded you with three SSS level abilities to choose from, for being the first in ten thousand years to successfully bind the spatial rings and system.]
Jenna was stunned. She had just entered the space and was bombarded with notifications.
She watched the holographic panel manifest from thin air and spread out in front of her.
Host's stats:
[Name: Jennifer Churchill
Age: 18
Status: Human
Threat Level: F rank
Skills: None (awakening pending)
Ability: None (awakening pending)
Daily Quest: Avoid death
Main Quest: Survive the apocalypse
Side Quest: Bind the system to the space (successful)
Reward: 1 SSS rank skill (upgradable)
Exp: 100/100 (level 1 complete)
Space Rank: Tier 2 (upgradable)
Inventory Slots: Tier 1 (Unlocked)
Strength level: 1/50
Other features: Locked]
[Warning:
Host strength is insufficient to unlock advanced features.]
Her gaze swept the stats, noticing that it had changed slightly from the previous stat before settling on the three gift boxes bouncing softly below the stats.
Teleportation
Invisibility
Telekinesis
She gasped. Those were super duper abilities!
After minutes of excitement and deliberation, Jenna chose invisibility. For what she was about to do, things like… ahem, hoarding supplies in credit, borrowing the ghost form was the best option.
Once she tapped the invisibility icon, other gifts disappeared and the unlocked ability appeared in her ability box.
Host's stats:
[Name: Jennifer Churchill
Age: 18
Status: Human
Threat Level: F rank
Ability: Invisibility (upgradable)
Skills: None (awakening pending)
Daily Quest: Avoid death
Main Quest: Survive the apocalypse
Side Quest:
Reward:
Exp: 100/500 (level 2)
Space Rank: Tier 2 (upgradable)
Inventory Slots: Tier 2 (Unlocked)
Other features: Locked ]
[Congratulations, host, for unlocking an SSS ranked ability. The ability will automatically adapt to the host's current strength and physique. At your present level, Invisibility will function in a limited state of five minutes per hour to prevent bodily collapse or soul backlash.]
[Please Take Note: Excessive usage beyond host tolerance may result in fatigue, dizziness, mental breakdown, temporary loss of consciousness, or worse, death.]
[Recommendation: Strengthen the body and mind and level up to unlock advanced invisibility effects.]
Jenna swallowed hard.
She couldn't believe it. So, this was what De Warden enjoyed?
That greedy motherfucker, she cursed.
Unbeknownst to her, the man she was cursing had been waiting at her school gate since 5 AM and has no intention of leaving anytime soon.
Jenna's lips curled with excitement, eyes blazing with schemes — she could vanish into warehouses and "borrow" their supplies for the apocalypse, right? Right?
She grinned as she robbed her palms together excitedly.
"System, I have a question."
[Anything, host.]
"How do I get the remaining SSS rank abilities?"
[With your current strength, never.]
That was brutal.
"Am I that weak?"
[The weakest host I ever had.]
Jenna sneered, but when De Warden's physique flashed before her eyes, she swallowed hard.
"How do I get stronger?"
[By completing side quests and strengthening the body and mind.]
Jenna nodded, that's doable.
She forgot to ask about the difficulty levels of the side quests. And the system didn't bother telling her.
"About the antiques to upgrade the space, will I get rewarded with an SSS rank ability again if I give the system a large quantity of high-quality antiques at once?"
The holographic panel flickered for a brief second, as if the system itself was thinking…
[Negative.]
Jenna's brows shot up. "What? Why?"
[SSS-rank ability rewards are rewards for helping the system attain its lost parts—a hidden side quest.]
Her shoulders slumped. She'd expected as much, but a girl could hope.
[However—]
Jenna straightened immediately, waiting for the next words.
[High-quality and large-quantity antique offerings will significantly accelerate system evolution.]
[Space Rank increase will unlock additional features, inventory expansion, passive bonuses, and auxiliary rewards.]
"Auxiliary rewards?"
[Affirmative.]
[Examples include: larger sum of exp points, body enhancement, rare consumables, and hidden side quest unlock.]
Her eyes sparkled. Unlocking a hidden side quest meant she had an opportunity to be rewarded with another SSS rank ability if she completed the mission.
That sounded dangerously good. She grinned.
Seeing this, the system felt the need to remind her:
[Quality and historical value directly affect reward tiers.]
[The greater the contribution, the higher the probability of rare outcomes.]
Roger that.
Jenna wanted the remaining two SSS rank abilities, and those, she must get.
She spent a few more minutes in the space before flashing back out, appearing once again in the alleyway.
Jenna didn't see the need to go to school. She should rather be hoarding supplies and breaking into her uncle's warehouse, but it was still morning, and she needed to test her invisibility ability first.
Secondly, it would be best to carry out "borrowing supplies" under the covers of the night.
With that concluded, she made her way back to school, not knowing the dangers awaiting her.
However, her phone suddenly vibrated.
It was her uncle calling.
The mother and daughter must have cried to him already.
Jenna stared at the vibrating phone. The name "Uncle Ben" looked like a stain on the cracked screen.
In her past life, she would have felt a cold pit of dread in her stomach. She would have already been rehearsing how to sound fearless and threatening just so he'd take her seriously.
But now? She just felt annoyed even speaking to him.
She swiped "accept" and held the phone an inch from her ear, expecting his roar. And he didn't disappoint.
"Jennifer!"
His voice was a sandpaper growl, vibrating with that authority he loved to use. "Your aunt called me in hysterics. She says you've lost your mind? That you laid hands on your cousin, and insulted her?"
Jenna kicked a can on her way out of the alleyway, her eyes tracking a stray cat darting between the streets.
She used to be like that cat in the apocalypse, she mused.
"Hazel slipped, Uncle. I told Aunt that already. Maybe the floor wax is too high-quality for a freeloader like her."
There was a stunned silence on the other end. Jenna haven't spoken to Uncle Ben like that before.
"Don't you dare use that tone with me," he hissed. "I am the only thing standing between you and the streets. If it weren't for my generosity, you and those runts would be in an orphanage by now!"
Jenna's grip tightened on her phone until the plastic groaned. Orphanage? In her previous life, he had been the one who sold her for a can of sweet corn.
All thanks to him, Riri didn't last a month into the apocalypse because Uncle Ben refused to extend resources to a sick child, in their words, "it was a waste of resources".
Stanley suddenly went missing one day, when Jenna went to scavenge for supplies. Her uncle's family claimed that the child refused to stay behind and went to search for Jenna.
Mimi died shortly after from heartbreak and loneliness.
His "generosity" was indeed generous.
But in this lifetime, Jenna would be the "generous" one.
"She pushed Riri, Uncle. What grievance does she have with a sick child?"
"It was a mistake!" he barked through the phone, his voice dripping with impatience. "The child is fine. You, on the other hand, have too much time in your hands these days. I heard you don't go home until midnight. You've turned my house into a hotel, where you go in and out whenever you please, haven't you?" Uncle Ben's voice rose an octave, thick with the indignation of a man who felt his 'investment' was losing its grip.
Jenna rolled her eyes, not bothering to take him seriously or feel hurt by his words anymore.
Gone were the days she tried to be heard, to please him, to gravel.
"You aren't saying anything, so it's true?!"
"Uncle, you've already concluded and decided. What am I supposed to say? That your wife and daughter are liars?"
"Shut your mouth!" he yelled.
Then, he went silence.
A few seconds later, he came again. "You know what, starting today, after school, you go straight to the warehouse and start helping Blake with the warehouse inventory. We have a big auction coming up. Be useful for once instead of causing trouble in my absence."
Jenna paused.
Inventory?
Did she hear that correctly?
"You mean I should to go the antique warehouse and start taking stock of new arrivals?"
"Have you gone deaf too?. " he groaned with impatience.
Jenna's eyes gleamed and she beamed.
"Thank you for giving me a job, Uncle Ben. I'll definitely make you proud."
The man felt her excitement but didn't think deep into it. He thought she was only excited because she'd always begged him for a job.
Unbeknownst to him, he just handed her a kingdom in a platter of gold.