Chapter 2: Leo and the Gifts
A bright morning that slowly lightens this world, the eyes of a young person slowly opened after the shine of the bright sun hits his slumbering face.
His eyes sparkled as the light reflects upon his wake but nobody would expect that his eyes would suddenly frown…
The light of the sun is too bright…
"What a drag… I just want to sleep but everything just hinders my plans."
This youngster with a grumpy face with his hair full of cowlicks looks at the window like he is facing his nemesis.
"…re you listening?! Hey are you listening, Leo?!"
Leo woke up in his stupor after hearing the shout that is worse than hearing someone scratching the blackboard.
He stood up immediately but he didn't expect that a flying projectile is coming in his way.
At that very second, time seemed like it stopped for a second. He frowned and his mind was actually calculating at high speed on what to do.
His gaze pinpointed the point of distance between his predicted position and the projectile that is currently flying at him in high-speed.
He found out that it will never hit him if he quickly moved his head to the side.
Alas, the heavens were too unfair and jealous of his genius. The time that seemed like it stopped suddenly moved to its normal speed once again.
The flying projectile that was blurred due to extreme speed reached his face with extreme momentum from the distance of the teacher's table to the chair at the back near the window.
He can't do anything but endure the overwhelming force that hit him…
He merely sigh inside that his cultivation is just too low and this mistake can't be blamed to his genius.
His face is smashed by a rectangular object but what his genius didn't expect that this item is actually a weapon with hidden effect. The rectangular object activated at impact and white smoke that suffocated him came out.
He fell to the ground ungracefully and his head is muddled after that great amount of force that hit his head.
After several seconds, he regained his clarity and heard everyone laughing around him. He looked around and saw his classmates gloating at his misfortune.
However, he didn't bother to care for a pair of eyes that seems like it wants to chop him in million pieces is currently glaring at him like there is no tomorrow.
He narrowed his eyes because he didn't expect that such a powerful blood lust and hatred is currently pinpointed in his current location. No… To be exactly, that pair of sharp eyes is looking at him like he was a fish waiting to be slaughtered.
What did he do to achieve this enmity; he could only shake his head inside because he didn't know too.
"LEO!!!"
Ding long dang long….
The school bell that seemed like it was broken but still not repaired until now reverberated in the whole school grounds.
The girl that shouted his name wanted to speak more but her mouth only opened and closed immediately. She took her bag, glared once more at him, and immediately went out of the room.
Leo felt his legs weakened after the constant vicious glare from that seemingly primordial beast. His whole body slumped at the table like it lost its soul.
"What a frightening moment, I didn't expect that an event like that would be coming just in my wake. Too scary!"
Leo could only murmur while his face seems like it wanted to cry but no tears is coming out.
This day is actually the last school day of this semester. Tomorrow, the long vacation is about to start and the girl that keeps glaring at him is actually his best friend… Well his ex-best friend since he never talk at her anymore.
The reason that girl keeps glaring at him is because he actually slept the whole day without planning with everyone about their vacation. However, the main reason is that this boy actually ignores her the whole time and just sleeps in his table without care for her.
Everyone will be having their own fun in this vacation. Some will be going to the beach, some will sleep overnights with their friends, some will go hiking at the mountain, and some will go to good places where they can play around.
However, this lonely and pitiful youngster at the back of the room is actually not participating at their discussion.
Many of them actually know the reason on why he is just sleeping while everyone is having fun discussing with each other.
They could only sneer in disdain because this guy is just an otaku who spends his time reading fantasy novels and playing games.
They actually don't care that much if someone have the hobby of reading novels or playing games to kill time but this pitiful guy is so passionate to his hobby that he use most of his time just to do this stuffs, even his sleep time!
He comes to the school with reddened and droopy eyes. It is obvious that he still hadn't slept at all. He sleeps at the classroom without care and sometimes his snores will distract the students listening to their teacher.
His grades at the lowest and his conduct are at the grade where his classmates don't even know how low it is. Who deserved the gloating and sneers of this students except him?
Well, the person that they kept laughing at didn't care at all. He knows his problem the most and he doesn't have the time to bother resolving these things because he has more important things to spend it to.
"I need to spend my time efficiently, let's start reading the latest chapter!"
He immediately turned on his mobile phone filled with countless novels that is pirated in the internet. The moment he pressed the turn-on button, the mobile phone shined with great white light that devoured his entire vision.
........................................................
Leo woke up in a place of darkness and his body cannot move at all even if he mustered his willpower. He tried to awaken his inner superpowers to unleash his hidden super willpower to do anything but alas he can't move even an inch of his finger.
After panicking for several minutes, he eventually succumbed to despair. He thought of it carefully and he guessed that this is the legendary "comatose" or vegetable state. This is the result of his countless sleepless nights that he used for reading novels until his eyes bleed and playing games until his fingers is full of calluses.
He could only helplessly sigh and look at the eternal darkness. While looking at the nothingness, fragments of memories inside his head appeared out of nowhere.
He remembered the days of happiness while playing games and being all excited about the novels. No, even before those days, he was grinning happily with that girl while walking home from school. He even remembered his cute little sister that was always jumping around him happily every time he went home before that day…
That day where he lost everything because of him being too unfortunate that it almost seems like he betrayed his country in his past life…
His eyes became moist because of the sad memories that suddenly came to him. He tried to forget these things but in this helpless moment, every memory came back to him like a tsunami.
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That day, his parents suddenly disappeared after going in a vacation abroad. Leo knew that his parents always text every day if they are fine but after some few days, the incoming text that he was supposed to receive that morning never came.
His relatives contacted the professionals but alas they also have no traces of where the two couple was last seen. It's like their existence disappeared just after they flew away from his country.
The airlines told them that it is indeed processed that the two couple safely arrived in their destination but it's unclear where they got to after that. That was the last trace that they ever found after many months of investigation.
Her sister that is in junior high school that was always happily jumping around him always like an excited puppy suddenly lost her happiness. She is always in her room and the only moment that Leo sees her sister is in rare times when she goes to take a bath once in a while.
When she sees her sister's face, it was cold and gloomy. She seemed like a stranger because that face was always bursting with smiles every time he sees her. It seems like she still cannot accept that their parents are no longer in this world after this months of investigation.
Leo himself is gloomy at that time because he did not know what to do at all. Currently, his good uncle which is very close to his father in the past helped them in these times of crisis and is supporting the expenses that his and her sister needs. However, he surely does not want to rely to someone that he is not very close to and he does not know when this support will stop.
That day he wanted the encouragement of his best friend to strengthen his will to survive the predicament of his family. This also made him resolve himself to confess his deep feelings to this girl that he spends his time the most.
However, the only thing he received is the cold gaze of this girl while cleanly rejecting him. She also avoided him at that time like they were strangers that never knew each other.
He did not expect that the person he thought that will never leave him will treat him like a stranger. He could accept that he will be rejected because he could try and try again just to achieve the favor of this girl. The thing that he couldn't accept is how she treated him like air when he needed her the most.
His broken heart that was cracking due to losing his parents and losing his little sister's happiness, shattered like a fragile glass dropped in the ground. He didn't expect that no one will share the burden with him. He could only roll and cry in the bed.
His originally gloomy emotions turned into sorrow that he felt like cutting his own wrist to end it all but he don't want to leave his sister to be alone in sorrow.
At that moment he found out that fantasy novels and games are the only way to escape from this sorrowful world.
He drowned himself in this hobby to forget all the sorrowful things and it actually worked. His depression slowly went away and he got more courage to live on now. However, he could only live through drowning himself in this way.
He went all out trying to find the most self-satisfying novels that he could find...
He became the hero in his overflowing imagination…
He grinded for experience points and treasures that wasted his countless nights just to be the most powerful player…
This hobby in turn made him more distant to many people. However, he didn't regret it. At least he didn't take the knife to kill himself even though this life is just too unfair for him. He knew that somewhere out there, there is someone living a worse life than him.
He goes to school for the sake of attendance, he didn't care for the low grades or the worst conduct because he only needed to take the summer class to solve the problem. The school is not too strict about the recognition system; if you can pass your grades above 75% then you can go up your grade.
Leo is actually very intelligent as a student. Prior to his depressing days, he is one of the top achievers in the class. However, after losing everything he cannot find joy on studying. His inspiration which is his best friend disappeared in his heart. He had no motivation at all to do his best in studying.
He did use his mental capacity to be good at playing difficult games and analyzing novels that are difficult to understand with mediocre intelligence. So he thought he is not wasting his genius at all.
If you ask him if he have something to regret in this life is that he was too weak to do anything to resolve his problems. He wanted to be like those powerful protagonists that have their own power to do the things they want. They will slap heavenly beauties like nothing when they don't need them, they will trash the heaven if they experience misfortune.
...................................................….
While Leo is reminiscing about his life, the space seems like it is shaking from the intense emotion and determination coming out of Leo like shockwaves. At this time, he didn't notice these things because he is too dazed in his own business. If he noticed this happening then he would surely imagine that he released his limits as a mortal and awakened his inner power.
The shaking stopped and Leo awakened from his deep emotional reminiscence. He looked around and nothing changed at all. He is about to sigh again but suddenly something popped out in front of him that almost scared him to death.
[ Do you want to tread the path of achieving the Dao? ]
[ YES ] [ NO ]
Leo tried to calm his emotions and he was successful. This thing just pops out of nowhere, truly annoying and disrespectful.
He read the floating bar of light in front of him. It is like he is reading English but it is not at the same time. It made him confused but he is more focused on what the thing is talking about.
"Path of achieving the Dao? Is that a joke? Do you even know what 'Dao' means? Well neither do I because its meaning is too vague even in the novels that I read."
Leo didn't know what is happening and felt very confused if he should choose yes or no. However deep inside him, he felt like choosing yes because the word Dao is commonly used in martial arts novel. It is very mysterious and interesting and he felt that there is nothing wrong choosing yes.
The sentence suddenly disappeared and was replaced by another question…
[ Do you want to receive the special gift: @%$!%#? ]
[ YES ] [ NO ]
Wow, Leo didn't even know what to say right now. The first question was pretty vague already but this one made him even more speechless. Although he is receiving a special gift, he didn't even know what it is. This made him angry and thought of choosing no.
The sentence suddenly disappeared and was replaced by an even more bizarre question…
[ Do you want to receive the extra-special gift: ^&%$!%#^&*(!#? ]
[ YES ] [ NO ]
He immediately felt like this words that kept appearing in front of him is trolling him at its finest. Is he currently in purgatory where he is punished for trolling so much in games? He immediately thought of choosing no again because this gift is just too skeptical. It might be a troll item to make him suffer.
[ Do you want to receive the super-special gift: #%&@&^# ]
[ YES ] [ NO ]
He immediately thought of pressing no because this is just getting too ridiculous.
[ Do you want to receive the super-duper-special gift: $^%&@# ]
[ YES ] [ NO ]
He stopped for a while and considered, if his thoughts are right, this thing will troll him to eternity. However, he is curious on how special the gift will become if he keeps pressing no. Well, he doesn't care at all if he received nothing since he didn't even know what to receive. He just wanted to get out of this abyss. He choose no.
[ Do you want to receive the extremely-special gift: !#%#^&% ]
[ YES ] [ NO ]
No.
[ Do you want to receive the best-special gift: @#^@%#!$% ]
[ YES ] [ NO ]
Nope.
[ Do you want to receive the legendary gift ]
[ YES ] [ NO ]
Leo noticed that there are actually no glitched words anymore in the question. It's a bit surprising but nothing more. It just made the question pleasant to the eye but it's still vague than ever.
[ Do you want to receive the mythical gift ]
[ YES ] [ NO ]
Mythical my ass… Not even close to my goal.
[ Do you want to receive the Godlike gift ]
[ YES ] [ NO ]
After receiving several of these choices, Leo felt a bit numbed but was still a bit surprised when he received this question. He did predict that a 'God' type gift will appear but he never really thought that it will actually happen.
He still pressed no though for the sake of fun…
[ Do you want to receive the special-extra-super-duper-extremely-best-legendary-mythical-godly gift ]
[ YES ] [ NO ]
Leo wanted to laugh so hard when he saw this question. This is really forcing the gift to the receiver. He kept pressing no but the reward is getting better and better when he presses no. This is just like how the devil tempt mortals; he slowly put out the cheap things and then show up the best things later so that they will salivate and greedily get the best stuff without care for his soul.
Of course he choose no.
[]
[ YES ] [ NO ]
Leo's eyes almost popped out when he saw the bar didn't say anything at all. The system finally bugged out. He thought it will disappear without him getting anything at all but it seems like it's still trying hard to tempt him.
He is willing to concede now because he is tired and just want to go sleep. This eternal darkness, his memories, and now these questions, it really makes one exhausted.
However, his brain told him to press yes to end it all but his heart is shouting for no.
The question finally disappeared…
Everything is dark like before, he cannot see anything and he cannot move. He tried to sleep but he remembered that he cannot close his eyes. Well, it is like sleeping anyway when you are looking at nothing but darkness.
Time passed like it went for eternity…
Yes, this is just Leo exaggerating the time. It only passed for one minute and he is too bored watching nothing and doing nothing.
Suddenly, a bright light suddenly appeared in front of him. He didn't even give a damn because it already happened once. However, his eyes were shocked when he read the words in the bar made from light.
[ Do you want to receive all gifts? ]
[ YES ] [ NO ]
Of course, he immediately pressed yes. Who is the idiot who would press no after thinking about receiving all those surprise gifts?
…
That was the day Leo sold his soul to the devil for the "gifts" that he didn't even know.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone