I sat in my office, staring at the wall.
The room was too big. Too empty. I'd known that since we moved into this penthouse, but I'd never had the time to do anything about it. My desk sat in the center like an island in an ocean of unused space. No bookshelves that were full of books. No decorations to lighten the mood. No real personal touches. Just white walls, an expensive desk with some papers, a comfortable chair, and far too much emptiness.
For a moment—just a moment—I was bored.
Actually, genuinely bored.
It was such a strange feeling that I almost didn't recognize it at first. The past three years had been nonstop action. Getting my Job Title. Solving murders. Travelling to Mars. Fighting a legal battle. Building the coalition. Navigating political minefields. Fighting against the World President's network. Brazil. The UN meeting. Gang negotiations. Ecological crises. Brain surgery.
My standards for what constituted "activity" had been raised so high that sitting quietly in my office felt like sensory deprivation.
The irony wasn't lost on me.
I'd just lived through countless lives. Experienced the birth of the System itself. Witnessed thousands—maybe millions—of moments of human awakening across all of history. Been declared clinically dead for three minutes. Had my skull opened and my brain examined.
And now I was sitting here, bored, because I had nothing to do for a few hours.
I almost laughed at the absurdity of it.
Then my System chimed.
Not the subtle background awareness I was used to. This was deliberate. Insistent. Five distinct notifications waiting for my attention.
I straightened in my chair, my boredom evaporating instantly. Five notifications at once wasn't normal. Whatever this was, it was going to be major.
I opened the interface with a thought, and the translucent screen materialized in front of me.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
Achievement Unlocked: Witness to Genesis
You have experienced the creation of the first System. The moment humanity evolved beyond mere instinct and into conscious awareness of capability. This achievement cannot be replicated.
Reward: Minimum Job Rank Threshold Established
All future jobs acquired will be no lower than B-Rank.
I stared at the text, my mind trying to process what I was reading.
All future jobs… B-Rank minimum?
I hadn't even expected to get a reward for witnessing that moment. It had been part of the surgery, part of the memory dive. Not something I'd done intentionally. But the System had recognized it anyway and given me something that would fundamentally change how my abilities worked going forward.
No more D-Rank jobs or C-rank jobs. No more starting from the bottom with new acquisitions. Every single job I got from now on would be at least B-Rank—competent professional level right out of the gate.
Before I could fully absorb that, three more notifications appeared in rapid succession.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
Achievement Unlocked: Thousand Awakenings
You have witnessed 1,000 System awakenings across human history.
Reward: Thermal Regulation Enhancement
Jobs can no longer cause user overheating. Physical and mental strain from excessive job acquirement has been eliminated.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
Achievement Unlocked: Million Awakenings
You have witnessed 1,000,000 System awakenings across human history.
Reward: Job Selection Override
User can now choose any new job acquired. Randomization has been disabled. Job acquisition is now fully under user control.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
Achievement Unlocked: Hundred Million Awakenings
You have witnessed 100,000,000 System awakenings across human history. Follow current novels on ɴovelfire.net
Reward: Emergency Job Protocol
In cases of emergency, user can acquire a new job before reaching A-Rank in previous job. Emergency threshold determined by System analysis of threat level.
I sat there, stunned into complete silence.
One thousand awakenings. One million. One hundred million.
I'd known I'd lived through countless lives during the surgery. Had felt them blur together, each one a flash of consciousness and awakening. But I hadn't known the actual number. Hadn't realized the scale of what I'd experienced.
The thermal regulation fix alone was worth celebrating. I'd had problems with job overheating in the past—times when getting too many jobs too quickly had caused my physical and mental health to spike dangerously. Alexis had needed to intervene more than once, cooling me down and stabilizing my vitals before I got permanently damage.
Now that was just… gone. Eliminated as a problem entirely.
And job selection override? That was massive. A majority of all jobs I'd gotten before had been random—determined by whatever the System thought I needed or whatever circumstances had triggered the acquisition. Now I could choose. Could actively select what I wanted based on the situation.
The emergency protocol was situational but potentially life-saving. Being able to grab a new job in a crisis without having to grind the previous one to A-Rank first? That kind of flexibility could mean the difference between life and death.
But there was still one more notification waiting.
I focused on it, and the screen updated.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
Achievement Unlocked: Billion Awakenings
You have witnessed 1,000,000,000 System awakenings across human history. You have observed the evolutionary development of humanity's greatest advantage. This achievement represents comprehensive understanding of System integration across all cultures, all eras, all variations of human development.
Reward: Temporal Job Title Copy
Any job title encountered can be copied for 24 hours. After 24 hours, that specific job title cannot be copied again. There is no cooldown to copying job titles and there is no limit to how many you can have simultaneously.
I'd witnessed one billion System awakenings.
The number was incomprehensible. I'd experienced more lives in those few minutes of surgery than most people could imagine in their entire existence. And the System had tracked every single one.
Temporal Job Title Copy.
I could copy any job title I encountered. For twenty-four hours. Then never again for that specific job title.
The implications crashed into me like a tidal wave.
If I met someone with a a powerful job title—something unique or specialized—I could copy it. Use it for a full day. Learn from it. And even though I couldn't copy that exact job again, I could keep searching for new ones.
It wasn't permanent like my normal job acquisition, but it was flexible. Adaptive. Perfect for situations where I needed something specific but didn't want to commit to it long-term.
Combined with everything else—the B-Rank minimum, the thermal regulation, the job selection, the emergency protocol—I'd just received a massive upgrade to my entire System.
I was stronger now than I'd been when I walked into Alexis's office for surgery. Significantly stronger. Not in raw power necessarily, but in capability. In options. In flexibility.
I hadn't expected to get this strong just from experiencing something. The surgery had been about gathering information to help Evelyn. About understanding the Cain Protocol. Not about personal power growth.
But the System had other ideas.
I leaned back in my chair, letting out a long breath. The empty office suddenly felt less oppressive. Less boring.
I was grateful for these new abilities. Grateful for the System's recognition of what I'd witnessed. Even if it had nearly killed me in the process.
My father's face flashed through my mind—Hugo Vale, standing in that sterile white room, mocking Subject 3840. Claiming everything was for the benefit of humanity.
Maybe, in some twisted way, he'd been right. The NovaCore experiments had created me. Had made me into something unique. And now that uniqueness was evolving even further.
But that didn't excuse what he'd done. Didn't justify the pain he'd caused. The lives he'd destroyed in pursuit of his research.
If I ever met him again—the real Hugo Vale, not just the memory—I'd make sure he understood that.
I closed the System interface with a thought, satisfied. The notifications disappeared, leaving me alone with my thoughts in the too-empty office.
Then I heard footsteps in the hallway. Quick and light.
"Rey!" Camille's voice called out, energetic and insistent. "Rey, where are you?"
I smiled despite myself. So much for peace and quiet.
"In here," I called back.
The door opened, and Camille appeared in the doorway, her wild energy filling the room instantly. Her dark hair was slightly disheveled, and she had that look in her eyes—the one that meant she'd thought of something and needed to share it immediately.
"There you are," she said, stepping inside. "I've been looking everywhere. Why are you sitting in this depressing empty room by yourself?"
"Thinking," I said simply.
"Well stop thinking and come with me," she said, grabbing my hand and pulling me up from the chair. "Sienna's making dinner, and Alexis just woke up. She's still a bit out of it, but she's asking for you."
I let her pull me toward the door, casting one last glance back at the empty office.
Maybe I'd decorate it eventually. Add some bookshelves. Some personality.
But for now, there were more important things to focus on.
Like dinner with the people I'd nearly died to protect.
That seemed like a much better use of my time than staring at empty walls.