Marcus groaned, rolling on his bed trying to ignore the rays of sun, hitting his face that seeped through his thin window curtains. Despite facing the other side, away from invasive sunrays, something in his head kept interrupting his sleep.
At first he ignored it until he realized something bad would happen if he stayed on the bed for too long. Thinking about his punishments, Marcus jumped out of the bed, knocking the tray of medicines.
The tray made a loud clang. Marcud was about to pick it up but abruptly stopped when he saw white walls around him.
Wait, he thought. This is not my room! Where am i?
"You were in the hospital," said a voice in his head.
Marcus almost screamed. Someone has literally answered his question.
"What the!? Who are you! What are you doing in my head!"
"I'm your tactical manager."
"Tactical manager? What the hell is that?"
"You have been chosen among all earthians, Marcus."
"Chosen to what?"
"Go back to the bed. I will start explaining. You don't want the nurses to freak out seeing you already woke up after a year in comatose."
Marcus followed the voice in his head after picking up the medicines and tray, putting them back to its original place on the table.
"What do you mean I was in a one-year coma?" He asked, confused. He thought he went to sleep and woke up the following day.
"Yes, you were. Almost dead. Brain-hemorrhage. The bullies hurt your head pretty bad. It could have been prevented if only I arrived sooner. It took me a lot of time to fix you and every health abnormality inside you."
Marcus head started to have a series of questions. He wanted to know who this tactical manager was and how bad his head injury was.
"Was that bad?"
"Yes. It took me almost a year to fix you, especially the broken skull and the blood in your brain."
There was a long silence.
"Thank you for saving me, but what exactly are you? Where did you come from? Did you also come from the Mana Tree?"
"First of all, Mana Tree has nothing to do with me. I was designed and made specially for you since Mana Tree seemed to have no effect on you. You were 1 in over one million so far. Pretty rare since Mana Tree usually evolves one's body."
"You knew about the Mana Tree?"
"Of course, but I only have limited knowledge as per my creator installed in me."
"Who is your creator?"
"Sorry, your question is invalid. I am not allowed to tell you who was my creator."
"Okay." Marcus didn't push the question anymore. "But why me? What will happen to me?"
"Because you were chosen. You do not possess any traces of Mana coming from the Mana Tree. A system has been bestowed upon you, and it will activate anytime soon. With my help and guidance, you will become stronger in no time."
"Okay, but do you know what exactly happened to the Earth?"
"The question is invalid. Please refrain from asking questions beyond my knowledge."
"S-sorry."
"The participant has already awakened.d"
Marcus was startled when an opaque screen appeared before him.
"Checking the participant's status…"
Name: Marcus Smith
Age: 18
Position: Participant
Checking for any anomalies…
Mana Exposure: Zero
Body: Malnourished
Agility: Weak
Strength: Weak
Dexterity: Weak.
Findings:
The system will provide the necessary training before anything else. You may ask your TacMa for further information.
Time for the first quest:
24 Hours
"What is this supposed to mean?" he asked, confused. He got that he was malnourished for his age, but what does the malnourished thing have to do with the system?
"It means the system will give you astep-by-step quest step by step how to get you in shape."
"Why would I need to be in shape?"
"Because you need to. Your body is too fragile. You need to withstand every quest given to you otherwise…" TacMa trailed…
"Otherwise what?"
"Everything will reset, back to what should have happened. You'll die. You were designated to die."
"You really sound suspicious, but okay. I'll follow what the system wants and get strong."
"I'll be looking forward to guiding you."
Even though the conversation between me and Tacma weren't that clear, I held myself not from asking questions, something I was good at.
"Y-you finally awake!?"
Marcus turned his head towards the door and saw his grandpa. Tears started to fill the old man's eyes seeing his favorite grandson finally wake up. He never gave up and prayed that his grandson would wake up someday. Marcus' parents had given up the moment he was declared in a comatose state.
The old man never lost hope. And he was glad, he never wavered.
He dropped the bouquet of flowers he was holding and ran to hug me.
"Grandpa?"
"Marcus!" He ran and hugged him. "I thought you would never wake up," he added as he pushed a button, connecting to the nurse station.
Marcus smiled. His grandpa was the only one who was never indifferent to him. He was the only family that actually cared for him.
Everything passed by like a whirlwind. The doctor who attended Marcus for a year shook his head after seeing the final result of Marcus' head. The blood clothing, the torn meninges up to the last level that protects the brain, were now repaired. He checked it at least a dozen times, comparing it to the first time he saw his head injury a year ago. The doctor had a doubt if Marcus would be able to wake up again, but now it was possible.
"You're good to go, Marcus," he said. "You really did make the impossible possible. Take good care and please take care of your head," he added, topping his lucky patient.
Marcus thanked him as he carried his duffel bag. His grandfather took care of hospital bills, and together, they got into the old man's old truck.
"Starting today, you'll be living with me, Marcus. Start attending the school year you have missed," his grandpa said as he maneuvered the car out of the hospital's parking lot.
"Thanks, Grandpa," Marcus said and watched the view as he braced himself for a long trip to his grandpa's farm.
When he woke up the following day, he received a notice from the system.
QUEST:
SLEEP SUFFICIENTLY [8 hours]
STATUS: COMPLETE
REWARD: +10 XP
Marcus stared blankly at the menu before him. His Tacma was unusually quiet today. It indeed explained to him about making him strong and that it would assist him in achieving the power I deserved.
There were a lot of questions left unanswered. Tacma's program was limited, and thus Marcus stopped asking. He'll learn it eventually when the time comes.
Getting a complete hour of sleep was new to Marcus, or at least before he was in a coma. He remembered being paranoid that his brothers would come up and beat him again for no reason. He rarely got any sleep. Because of this habit, he developed insomnia.
"The system's agenda for the next few months is to stabilize your health. You need to follow the quests to gain experience and level up," Tacma said, deciding to speak.
"Oh, hello to you," Marcus greeted him as he stretched his hands above his head.
"Good morning. I deeply apologize for my absence. I was organizing your menu."
"Oh? You can do that?"
"Of course. I'm your tactical manager, right?"
"So, what do you actually do?"
"You'll learn enough once you progress."
For the first three months, Marcus followed the System's Quest. He noticed that his body started to gain muscles. He'd run miles without feeling tired for a period of time. He was able to help his grandpa on the farm, making the work easier.
"When I decided to take you in, Marcus, I knew I'd have the best man with me," he said, smiling as they were having dinner.
"Thank you, Grandpa," Marcus smiled. "You're the only family I have who truly understands me," he added.
"And you are the best grandson I wanted, just an ordinary human who knows how to work without relying on power and magic."
That night, when Marcus decided to go to bed. When he was about to sleep, a screen appeared with faded text flickering into his view.
Notification: You leveled up. Accessing your System Menu has been granted.
Name: Marcus Smith
Age: 18
Level: 15
Class: Error: No class
Health: 105/105
Stamina:50/50
Mind Stability: 100%
Power:10
Agility:10
Magic: 5
Luck:0
Subsystem Detected: Tactical Manager [partially activated]
Main Skill: [empty]
Title: [None]
Another screen appears beside the System Menu. The letters flickered in. A warning.
System Quest: [Indefinite]
*Warning: Survival Test.
Requirements: Survive.
Punishment: Death.
The screens disappeared, leaving Marcus confused about the second screen.