["Congratulations. Activation complete. Welcome to the Supreme Upgrade System. The tool is ready for the user."]
The voice didn't fade. It hung in the silent, dark space of his mind, a statement of fact as immutable as gravity. Arjun lay frozen on his mattress, every muscle locked tight. His breath hitched in his throat, a small, pathetic sound in the overwhelming silence of the room.
He was awake. He was certain of it. The rough texture of the mattress cover against his skin, the faint, musty smell of the unused room, the distant wail of a police siren—it was all too vivid, too concrete to be a dream. But the voice… the voice was a diamond drill boring into the fabric of his reality.
"Hello?" he whispered into the darkness, his voice hoarse with sleep and fear. It was a stupid thing to do, but the human instinct to vocalize was powerful.
There was no response. No echo. Just the same profound silence.
I've finally cracked, he thought, a wave of cold dread washing over him. The stress, the loneliness, the lightning… it's broken me. This is it. Schizophrenia.
He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to will the voice away. He recited prime numbers in his head, a trick he used to focus during panic attacks. 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13…
["Would the user like to access the primary interface?"]
The voice again. Calm. Robotic. Unwavering.
This wasn't a hallucination. Hallucinations weren't this… polite. This structured. This was something else. The memory of the lightning strike roared back to him—the feeling of being a conduit, of every cell buzzing with impossible energy. It hadn't just been a shock. It had… changed something.
Tentatively, fearfully, he formed a thought in his mind, directing it at the presence. Who are you?
["I am the Supreme Upgrade System. A manifestation of fundamental universal principles, reconfigured into an operable interface based on user subconscious desire parameters."]
The words were complex, but their meaning slammed into him with the force of a physical blow. Subconscious desire. A lifetime of wanting to be more, to have control, to change his circumstances. The lightning hadn't just struck near him. It had acted as a catalyst, a key turning in a lock he never knew existed.
His fear began to curdle, transforming into a terrifying, exhilarating sliver of curiosity. Interface? he thought. Show me.
The moment he formed the command, the darkness behind his eyelids vanished.
It was replaced by a sleek, semi-transparent blue holographic display, floating in his mind's eye. It was clean, intuitive, and utterly alien. There were no fancy graphics, just minimalist text and progress bars. At the top, in a simple font, it read:
SUPREME UPGRADE SYSTEM v1.0
Beneath it were three primary options, glowing softly:
[Status] [Upgrade] [Function Creation]
His heart was hammering again, but now it was with a wild, disbelieving excitement. This was… a UI. A user interface. In his head. He was a programmer; he understood interfaces. This was something he could work with.
Cautiously, he focused on the [Status] option.
The display changed instantly.
USER STATUS Name:Arjun Mishra Level:0 System Points (SP):10/10 (Regen: 1 SP/Hr)
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Physicality Strength (STR):4 (Below Average) Agility (AGI):5 (Average) Stamina (STA):3 (Poor) Vitality (VIT):4 (Below Average)
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Cognition Intelligence (INT):15 (Gifted) Perception (PER):7 (Average) Willpower (WIL):9 (Resilient)
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Talents: None Abilities:None Skills:Software Engineering (Proficient), Frugality (Master)
---
Inventory: Empty
Arjun stared, his mouth agape. It was a character sheet straight out of the video games he could never afford to play. And it was him. Devastatingly, embarrassingly accurate. His Strength and Stamina were pathetic, a result of years of poor nutrition and no exercise. But his Intelligence was high. And Willpower… he supposed you had to have some willpower to survive on boiled eggs and hope every day. And Frugality (Master)? The system had a sense of humor. A cruel one.
He focused back on the main menu. His eyes, or rather his mind's eye, drifted to the [Upgrade] option. He selected it.
A new prompt appeared.
["Select target for upgrade."]
It was followed by a strange sensation, like a mental lens zooming in. He instinctively knew he could now "look" at anything and the system would analyze it. His gaze, panning around the dark room, fell upon the half-empty glass of water on the floor next to his mattress.
["Target identified: 300ml of Water (H2O). Impurities detected: Chlorine, Trace Minerals, Dust Particles. Upgrade Cost: 1 SP. Upgrade to: Purified Water (99.99% purity). Proceed? Y/N"]
His breath caught. It was real. It was actually real. He could upgrade water.
With a thought that was equal parts terror and wonder, he selected Y.
A faint, almost invisible shimmer seemed to pass over the water in the glass. The System Points in his status bar dropped to 9/10. A new notifcation popped up.
["Upgrade Complete. Absolute Loyalty and Absolute Perfection protocols engaged. Target is now perfected and irrevocably loyal to the user."]
He almost laughed. Loyal water? What was it going to do, jump into his mouth when he was thirsty? He reached out a trembling hand and picked up the glass. He took a sip.
It was… water. But perfect water. It was cool and clear, with a crispness he had never experienced. It had no metallic aftertaste, no hint of chlorine. It was, without a doubt, the best water he had ever tasted. A simple, mundane thing, made miraculous.
The shock began to recede, burned away by a rising, white-hot fever of possibility. He looked around his room like a man seeing it for the first time. Everything was a potential target. His ragged blanket. His broken phone. His worn-out shoes.
His eyes landed on the small pile of discarded clothes from last night, still damp and smelling of rain and pavement. His shirt. The one with the fraying collar.
He focused on the [Upgrade] function again and "selected" the shirt.
["Target identified: Cotton Shirt (Poor Condition). Damage: Fraying, Fading, Weak fibers. Upgrade Cost: 5 SP. Upgrade to: Reinforced Cotton Shirt (Excellent Condition, Stain-Resistant, Temperature Regulating). Proceed? Y/N"]
Five points. Half his entire reserve. It was a huge cost. But Temperature Regulating? In the oppressive Lucknow heat? The value was insane. Gritting his teeth, he selected Y.
This time, the effect was visible even in the dim light. The shirt seemed to… snap into focus. The wrinkles smoothed out. The faded grey color deepened into a rich, dark charcoal. The frayed threads along the collar seemed to weave themselves back together. It looked brand new, but different. Better.
He picked it up. The fabric felt incredible against his skin—soft, strong, and surprisingly cool. It was no longer just a shirt; it was a tool. A perfect tool.
He was buzzing now, the exhaustion completely forgotten. This was power. Real, tangible power. The power to change things. To make them better. To make himself better.
His gaze fell on the remains of his late-night meal. A single boiled egg, still sitting on the plate. He focused the upgrade function on it.
["Target identified: Hard-Boiled Egg (Cooled). Nutrient Density: Standard. Upgrade Cost: 2 SP. Upgrade to: Nutrient-Dense Superfood Egg (Maximized Protein, Vitamins, Minerals). Proceed? Y/N"]
Two points. He had seven left. Y.
The egg glowed with a faint, golden light for a nanosecond. It now looked plumper, its shell slightly iridescent. He picked it up and ate it in one bite.
It was… profound. The taste was rich and savory, unlike any egg he'd ever eaten. But more than that, he felt a wave of warmth and energy spread through his body almost immediately. The gnawing hunger in his stomach vanished, replaced by a deep sense of satiety. The lingering ache in his muscles from the long walk and the lightning strike faded away. It was more satisfying than a three-course meal.
He felt amazing. Better than he had in years.
He looked at his hands. Then, slowly, deliberately, he turned the Upgrade function inward. He focused on himself.
The display changed.
["Target identified: User (Arjun Mishra). Current Level: 0. Upgrade Path Available: Increase Base Attributes. Select Attribute to Upgrade."]
A list of his stats appeared. STR, AGI, STA, VIT, INT, PER, WIL. Upgrading any of them cost 10 SP per point. He only had 7 points left. He couldn't afford a single point.
But there was another tab. Talents.
He selected it. A single option was available, greyed out and inaccessible.
["Minor Regeneration (Passive). Cost: 100 SP. Allows the user's body to heal minor wounds and recover from fatigue at an accelerated rate. Insufficient System Points."]
A hundred points. It would take over four days of passive regeneration to get that many. But the description… accelerated healing. No more fear of getting sick and not being able to afford medicine. It was a dream.
He closed the interface, the blue screen vanishing from his mind. The room was dark again, but it was no longer the dark room of a lonely orphan. It was a laboratory. A workshop. A launchpad.
He sat on the edge of his mattress, the perfect shirt in his hands, the taste of the perfect egg on his tongue, the feeling of perfect water hydrating him. The arithmetic of survival that had dominated his entire existence had just been completely rewritten.
A slow smile spread across his face for the first time in five years. It wasn't a smile of joy, but of sheer, unadulterated potential.
The system's final words echoed in his mind. "A tool is ready for the user."
Arjun Mishra, the ghost, the statistic, the man nobody saw, looked out the window at the first light of dawn painting the sky.
"Okay," he said softly to the empty room, to the system in his head, to the world that had shown him no mercy. "Let's get to work."