A beam of light pierced through the clouds.
Chirping birds announced the start of a new day.
In a dormitory in New York, a few students were just waking up, desperately scrambling to get ready for school.
~MC POV~
"Wake up, Dave! You're going to be late for school," a voice called out.
"Five more minutes..." a groggy voice mumbled in reply.
'Ugh... it's so loud. My house wasn't this noisy. Who is yelling?' I grumbled to myself.
I slowly opened my eyes and found myself in the middle of chaos.
'What's going on? Where am I?' I questioned, trying to recall who I was.
'Ohhh, right. I traveled to another universe!' I thought, suddenly remembering everything.
"Enough, Dave! I'm leaving now. I can't deal with you. How many times have I called you?" said the boy—Sam, as far as I could remember.
Sam looked at me when he saw me sit up. "Matt, you're finally up. John tried to wake you earlier but couldn't, so he told me to make sure you got up before he left so you wouldn't be late," he said, sounding exasperated as he glared between me and Dave.
"Oh, thanks, Sammy. Sorry, I didn't sleep well last night," I said, looking a bit embarrassed.
"No problem," Sam grunted.
"Hmm~ I'm tired of this school. We always have to wake up so early," Dave—also known as David—complained.
Sam and Dave had met earlier this year, at least according to my predecessor's memories. They were both good kids. Even though we hadn't spent much time together, we got along well.
"There's nothing we can do about it, Dave. It's the end of the last year anyway, don't worry," Sam said, trying to give Dave some hope.
"Ohhh, thank goodness we'll get out of this damn place soon," Dave said with childish excitement.
'~Sigh~ Is it the same everywhere? Neither the place I came from nor the Marvel world seems to like school. Although, I don't really like it either,' I thought with an internal sigh.
"Okay guys, I'm ready and I'm leaving. You should get ready and go too; it's ten to eight," Sam said with his usual punctuality.
"Okay, Sam. Thanks," I said with a smile and started to get ready.
First, I went to the sink to wash up, then took a quick shower. Afterward, I stood in front of the mirror to examine my new appearance.
Short, blonde, slightly curly hair; deep green eyes; 180 cm tall; and a lean, slightly muscular body. I looked exactly as I had wanted.
'I guess God knew exactly what I asked for,' I grinned, nodding with gratitude.
Satisfied with my appearance, I got dressed and headed out. I realized Dave must have already grabbed his bag and left while I was in the bathroom.
I checked the clock. I still had a little time, so I decided to check that thing.
"System?" I whispered expectantly into the void.
~Ding~
[System is starting...]
[Connecting to the Host...]
[10%]
[30%]
[60%]
[90%]
[100%]
[Installation completed. Connected to the Host.]
[Congratulations to the Host. The Skill Creation System has been successfully connected and is now ready for service.]
I was over the moon. My guess had been correct—it really happened.
'This is the system I dreamed of in my past life!' I shouted internally.
My dream was to have a system that allowed me to create any skill I wanted once a week. Of course, I used to fantasize about this mostly while watching horror movies, imagining how I would crush those demons one by one.
I swallowed hard and called up the system interface in my mind.
'Status.'
[~Status~
Name: Matthew White
World: Marvel (Earth-616)
Skills: None
Power Level: Better than trash; after all, it can move.
Skill Creation Points: 1]
[* You have 1 Skill Creation Point. You can create a skill by thinking about it or by clicking the search button below. *]
[SEARCH] [CREATE]
'Hmm, which skill should I create first? Considering the universe I'm in, I need a skill to protect myself,' I thought deeply.
'I wonder if there's a limit?'
"Hey System, is there a limit to the skills I can create?" I asked.
[In response to the Host: Currently, the Host can only create skills at the Single Universe level.]
I was deeply shaken after hearing this.
"Wh-what?" I stammered. Before I had a chance to process my surprise, I started hearing notification sounds.
[Ding! Congratulations, Host! You have won a Rookie Gift Package.]