Chapter 1

Ethan laid on the cold, hard ground and watched the dark clouds above gather, getting ready to burst. Apart from the pain he felt in his chest, everything else was numb. The metal rod that pierced through his faint, slow pumping heart, draining the life out of him, flooding his lungs with blood making it hard to breathe. 

He coughed out the crimson red liquid from his mouth and it flowed from his fatal wound all over the brown sand drenching his blue work shirt bright red. How did he get here? Why was his life so miserable? He always wanted the blessing of an ability, but the one he got was more of a curse, and now it had turned on him. The seals of the clouds had started to break and the drops or ran started to fall free from them. 

A cold, icy, drop of water fell against his face, then another and then suddenly the floodgates were broken. Such beautiful scenery. His last memory would be that of him watching the rain escape from the clouds and return to the earth where they had come from. The smell of wet sand mixed with the pungent smell of blood in his nose. The light was slowly fading from his eyes. At least now he got to be with his parents again. Suddenly he saw a bright light shine in front of him like the one similar to when you switch on an old tv, then a message displayed before his eyes.

[ Congratulations, user has unlocked system functions]

He stared at it and thought of how pitiful his life was. He spent most of his days escaping reality through gaming that even in his last moments instead of a short film of his life with his family, he's faced with a system notification similar to one from the countless games he played.

"Damnit. Can't I even get a nice ending?" Tears started running down his face. He regretted every moment he even lived and even regretted this last moment as his life faded from his eyes and he took his last breath.

Ethan's eyes burst open widely. His torso jolted up making him sit up. The white cloth that covered his body floated off him. He felt the cold metallic touch of the gurney on his buttocks. He sat there panting desperately trying to catch his breath. 

He was disoriented. He couldn't quite make sense of what was going on. His eyes scanned the dimly lit room. He was able to make out where he was; The morgue.He suddenly felt a sharp pain in his head like an ax was used to split his skull and it was left there like on a chopping block.

A year ago Ethan was living a normal life. Like everyone his age he was adventurous and filled with the joy of his youth. He had friends and family who loved him and cherished him. Everything was normal like it should be. But things weren't all rainbows and sunshine. Deep down Ethan longed for something he didn't have, an ability.

He felt nauseous and he could feel the vomit coming up his throat. He gagged and vomit filled his mouth as he tried to hold it in but it overflowed and spilled on the floor. Suddenly a notification flashed in front of him. 

[System synchronization complete]

[System functions unlocked]

[Quest (First Death) accomplished]

[Calculating rewards...]

Adding points to stats]

[Stats

Xp 10\100

 Host: Ethan Grayson Lv 1

Hp 50/50

Strength 2+1=3

Agility 0+1=1

Durability 2+1=3

Speed 1+1=2

Intelligence 3+1=4

Stamina 2

Deaths 1]

He stared at the notification as he wiped his mouth. "What is this?", he said out of curiosity. This was the last thing he saw before he died and now, it's appearing before him again. He eyed his screen looking at what appeared to be his stats. He was familiar with things like this since he played games a lot. The stats all looked familiar but there was something he had seen before. The stat titled "Death" was quite peculiar. 

"Well that's a new one," then suddenly a notification displayed on top of the first one.

 [To check skills and stats just user should call out the command "skills" or "stats"] 

He was skeptical but also curious and decided to give it a try. "Skills he said and the status screen changed and displayed something different. 

[Skills 

Regeneration: LV 1

Immunity: LV 1

Revival: LV 1]

Ethan analyzed the system info. He was in disbelief and he thought he was going mad. Maybe those all nighters he pulled to play videogames were coming back to haunt him. He snickered trying to keep himself from laughing. Maybe someone was playing a prank on him,But it felt too real. His train of thought was suddenly interrupted by the rattle of the door knob on the other side. 

Then the door opened and a young, slim nurse came in, her eyes caught Ethan sitting on the gurney with the cloth covering the lower half of his naked body. Her mouth gaped open and she dropped the files she had in her hand. She stood there frozen for a while. Ethan also stared at her and before he could ask if she was alright she let out a scream and frantically ran out of the morgue.

Ethan couldn't really blame her for the reaction he had been dead a little while ago. Then suddenly the nurse came back with a couple of doctors. Seeing him all the doctors had the same shocked expression on their faces . "He's alive," one said , "How's this possible?" said another. They all started mumbling and talking over each other. Their voices were filled with both shock and excitement. Ethan just stared at them, 'what a bunch of nerds' he thought to himself.

"Interesting" seductive, feminine voice said from behind Ethan's ear. Instinctively he leaped out of fear and fell off the gurney creating a loud clattering-thud sound making the doctors standing at the doorway pause their conversation. Their eyes first went to Ethan who was groaning in pain, then their eyes shifted to the woman in the room. She had a slim stature that was clad in her white coat. Underneath she wore a gray shirt and a pair of black baggy trousers. She had dark circles under her hazel brown eyes but her pale skin and pink, full lips and golden brown hair that she tied in a loose bun, accentuated her beauty.

She started down at Ethan with tired eyes and he stared back at her. They were having a little staring contest and she was winning, then her eyes shifted to the lower part of his body, first he wondered what she was staring at then Ethan realized the cloth that covered him was gone and he was completely naked. His face turned as red as a tomato with embarrassment as he used his hands to cover his member. The woman looked at him one last time then turned around. "Prepare this young man for examination," she said, her feminine voice cutting through the silence in the room. 

"Yes Miss Hartley" one of the doctors said and they made their way as she walked past them and out of the morgue. They all silently watched her walk out and as soon as she did they started their chattering again but this time the topic was different. 

"She always thinks she can push us around," one doctor said. "Just because she's special". "I didn't go to med school for eight years and have three PhDs to have some wet behind the ears bitch to come and boss me around." one of the doctors who looked the oldest out of the bunch said, the frustrating clear in his voice. The others tried to calm him down but he stormed out. The others there decided to attend to Ethan, who had been standing there the whole time clinging to the white cloth he was using to cover his nudity.

"First let's get you some clothes," the nurse from earlier said and left to do just that.

Ethan had been moved to a ward. He had been given a blue patient's gown to wear. They had taken blood samples from him and conducted various tests on him and now he waited for the results. He was sure his revival was the work of the system but he hoped that the test might prove him wrong and maybe he needed to get his head checked.

He opened up the system window again and checked it. 

He was getting a hang of the system and that was what scared him because the fact that he's adapting to it makes it more and more real. He tried to see if he got info on the system but he couldn't. He tried to find out more about how the system operates. He decided to check his skills first. He gave out the command "skills" and the system window popped up once more displaying his skills and he said "info" and it brought out the information for the skills he had . 

[Regeneration LV 1

Info: This ability allows users to grow back lost limbs and heal wounds and restore stamina. Skill Drains 5 HP .This is a passive skill. Cannot be used when HP is below 10]

This was just like the ability he already had, but now he could restore his stamina And now it has a sort of price tag on it. 

[Immunity LV 1

Info: This skill makes user immune to certain poisons and toxins. This is a passive skill. ]

"This skill doesn't seem to have any cost and it seems really handy" Ethan said to himself.

[Revival LV 1]

This was the skill that interested Ethan the most 

[Info: user can be revived after death. It will take approximately 3 days. Passive skill.

Caution: User will slowly lose ability to feel certain emotions each time skill is used]

Ethan's eyes narrowed. Now he knows how he's still alive. The thought of such power was just too much for him to fathom. It felt surreal. This means that he could basically be immortal. But what worried him was the warning attached to the skill. Losing emotions. He didn't really feel like he had lost any emotions but it was still something to be cautious about.He could live forever. He decided not to think too much about it and check out the system's functions some more. He noticed that his current level was 1. And as the system stated,

[User can level up by completing quests, fighting enemies and gaining XP points]

"Does that mean I can level up skills too?" He asked himself the rhetorical question and a notice popped up

[Yes, you can]

This took him by surprise. So the system might be capable of answering questions he had that didn't quite relate to the system interface. He moved on and decided to check if he had any quests.

[No quests available]

"Nothing yet huh?" He said to himself. "Close window", the window laid back in the bed and tried to process everything. From what he could understand he had been dead for three days and the system had brought him back to life. That much he knew but what he really wanted to know was how he got the system in the first place. He was still deep in thought when he heard a deep voice call out his name.

"Ethan Grayson," he turned his head toward the doorway of the ward and saw two tall men dressed in black suits staring at him then they walked over to his bed and then the one who spoke e

arlier brought out his badge and said, "Zeke O'Neill, special safety officers. We're here to ask you some questions".