Jason wasn't the most handsome guy around but he was still pretty handsome and had a nice temperament, which made him much more appealing than the other arrogant guys. In fact, his girlfriend who was currently with him was one of the top 5 beauties in his high school. Her name was Angela. It was a more unique name but not completely unused.
Angela and I were currently shopping in a jewelry store, as he was looking for a bracelet to give her for her birthday. We were in the bracelet section which was at the back of the store when we suddenly heard a scream. We ran over to check it out and found three men with guns pointing them at the store clerk.
"Give us all the money you have!" They all yelled at the store clerk.
One of them looked over and saw us standing still with scared looks on our faces. "Get down on your knees!" He yelled at us. We instantly got down on our knees like he told us to. He suddenly saw the necklace with a bunch of diamonds on my girlfriend's neck. "Toss over that necklace!"
"B-but my g-g-grandma g-gave this to m-me." She stated in a trembling voice.
"I don't care!" he yelled, "Give it to me now!"
"B-b-but..." she tried to say something but couldn't finish her sentence. When the man started raising his pistol up I knew something bad was going to happen. I leaped over to my girlfriend pushing her to the side. I heard a bang and everything went dark.
I suddenly woke up and I suddenly realized that I was in a long line of ghost looking figures. No, they probably were ghosts, I thought to myself. I tried to move from the never-ending line of white figures but realized I could only move around a little bit as there was a strange force keeping me in line.
I looked closer at the other ghosts and realized something weird. Some of them looked way different than what I had seen on Earth. There were people that looked like kings and queens, there were people that looked like people did 40,000 years ago, there were even some people that looked like they came from the future.
I noticed something else too. There were people who were bigger than the biggest and strongest people back on earth, and there were also people who looked not very strong but had a mysterious aura surrounding them. None of the people seemed like they could move like he could. They all looked like mindless zombies.
"Why am I able to move well then?" I thought. "I don't think I'm special in any way." All the while I was doing this the line was constantly moving forwards. Soon I started to see something different than the endless wasteland that I was in.
There was a huge river in front of me. The river was dark black and when you looked at it, it was like you could physically feel the depression and pain. It was probably at least 100 meters wide, and it stretched on as far as I could see. There was a giant bridge made of a dark red material that shined like metal.
In the middle of the bridge, the ghosts stopped near a beautiful woman who looked to be only 25 and disappeared. It seemed weird to me that someone as breathtaking as her would be in a wasteland like this. As beautiful as she was I didn't feel any sort of lust for her. I was only faithful to Angela.
It was finally my turn to see her, and so I asked "Who are you?" She seemed surprised that I could speak.
"One that is conscious, that's rare." She said to herself. "I'm Celeste, the gatekeeper of the bridge of hope."
"The bridge of hope?" I asked.
"It's called that because it crosses over the river of depression." She said, "That's the name of the river down there." She said pointing towards the giant river.
"So where even is this?" I ask questioningly.
"This is Hell." She replied, "Everybody goes to Hell. You usually wouldn't be conscious when this is all happening, but you usually would reincarnate into a different world. Seeing as you are still conscious, I will give you a wish. It will affect your next life so be careful about what you choose."
"I wish to retain my memories of this life in my next life."
"That's it? You don't want to have superpowers, or be the strongest in the world? Are you sure?" she asked.
"Yes, I'm sure," I stated calmly. She started to make hand signs and was mumbling something when I suddenly felt something enter my head. I didn't know what it was because I was paying attention to Celeste, but it didn't feel like something bad. Then I heard Celeste saying "Have fun in your next life!" and then everything turned black.
I woke up in a comfortable bed with soft blankets, and it was really bright in the room. "Was it all just a dream?" I asked myself. Suddenly I had a huge headache. It felt like something was unlocked in my brain, and suddenly memories started flowing in. They definitely weren't mine. I mentally grabbed a memory and looked at what it was, and I saw a kid that looked just like me when I was little. "These aren't my memories," I said to myself. "What's going on?"
Ding... Talent Upgrade System finished merging with host
Ding... "Welcome host to the talent upgrade system, would you like a tutorial?"
"What the hell?!" I yelled. "What's a system!"
Ding... Tutorial Started "The Talent Upgrade System will upgrade your talent when you kill something that has talent. When you have higher talent levels than the thing that you killed, you will get a fraction of the amount of talent needed for the next level of talent. There are also other features in the system, but they are hidden right now because you are as weak as a cockroach.
"Wow thanks for pointing that out, but I still don't know where the hell I am!"
Ding... "Host is in the Azure Dragon City of the Azure Dragon Continent, the smallest continent of the 18 continents that are owned by humans."
"What do you mean owned by humans?"
Ding... "Host's level is too low to know such information. Also, host, if you don't want to look like a retard then you can speak to me through your mind."
'You should have told me earlier!'
Ding... "Your family from this world is coming into your room so you should pay attention to them, or they might feed you a bunch of medicine, and that's never fun."
'Ok then, I'll figure out more about you later.'
Suddenly the door opened and a man rushed in. "Jason are you ok?!" he yelled. I soon realized that this was my father from the memories I had gotten when I crossed over here. "How is your injury?! Does it hurt?"
"I'm fine, father," I responded.
"Ok, but don't start yelling randomly like that, it scared me!"
"Ok, I won't."
"Alright, remember to get lots of rest."
"Ok, I will." He then proceeded to close the door. 'Phew, that was close!'
Ding... "Would host like to explore the system?"
'Sure!'
Ding... "The unlocked features are Talent and Status."
'Talent!'
Ding... Showing Status
Name: Jason
Health: 130/130
Level: 1 0/100 Exp
Cultivation: None
Strength: 7
Vitality: 3
Potential: 1
Skills: None
Inventory: None
'Are those stats good or bad?'
Ding... "According to the average level of people your age in this city, you are considered trash."
'Wow ok then. Also, why do I have stats like strength and vitality, when I can cultivate?'
Ding... "The stats are there to give you a boost on top of your cultivation so that you can fight people above your level."
'Awesome! Another thing though. Why do I have a level and a cultivation section?'
Ding... "The level is upgraded by killing things to get exp, and the cultivation section is upgraded by cultivating normally. Leveling up will get you stat points, and cultivation will get you stronger and it will give you the ability to learn and use higher-level skills."
'Great, let's open the Talent section now.'
Ding... Showing Talent
Talent: Trash
Complete and utter trash. You can't even beat a cockroach's talent!
'Seriously! And how the hell am I supposed to cultivate with this kind of talent!'
Ding... "Host should look at the title of this system."
'Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Phew, that could have been bad.'
Ding... "Host is still trash right now."
If anyone could see him right now they would see him clenching his fists and having killing intent directed towards his forehead.
'Wait. If the system said that I could basically absorb any talent and that my talent is worse than a cockroach...' Suddenly a cockroach that was in his room felt a huge amount of killing intent and tried to run away, but it was too late. Splat! The cockroach died instantly and spilled its bug juice all over Jason's hand.
Ding... "Host's Talent has been upgraded to tier 1 Talent, and received 1 exp"
"Yes!" He then proceeded to go all around his room slapping all the bugs he could see.