Inside the warehouse.

SPLASH!

The first man with the black coat saw Liam fell over the glass box and couldn't help himself but chuckle at the embarrassing sight.

"Ha... This ridiculous kid. Hey, quiet dude! Press every button that you'll see there, will ya'. Let's see what will happen to this brat."

The second man, who seemed a bit annoyed after being ordered by the other guy, eventually decided to press all the buttons he saw that are connected to the glass box.

On the other hand, Liam managed to swim up the pool of liquid, but he couldn't escape since the pool doesn't reach the top of the glass. Not a second later, he took a glimpse of what was below him and he panicked when he realized what the guy in front of the glass was trying to do.

"H-Hey! You bastards! Get me out of here! Why are you doing this?!"

Flick!

One by one, the thin metals covering several test tubes were being pulled up and lights began to glimmer from the ceiling of the warehouse directly into the glass box.

Liam, who was struggling to escape, saw the things inside the test tube and was startled.

"Wha... What the hell am I looking at right now...?" He thought as he gazed at every test tubes which contains what seem to be human brains, floating in the middle of another unusually large tube with another strange liquid.

A moment later, every part of the brain inside suddenly scattered throughout the test tube and stuck to an electrical wire and a small flexible tube that was connected to the big glass box.

Liam panted heavily as he finally stopped struggling, but a moment later his eyes widened when he looked at what was happening behind him.

The last one to be uncovered was the big test tube behind the glass cube.

It was different from the other test tube, as its content contains a thick fluid with a two hue of gold and blue. It was like an abstract painting where the colors were touching each other, but never getting mixed as if it was water and oil.

FLICKER!

And as if the sudden events weren't enough, the huge monitor suddenly opened and an image of a red warning sign showed up.

Then a monotone and robotic-like voice with a faint tone of a female can be heard echoing from it.

[Warning! The glass box will get overdone by the project-x.]

[Warning! The glass box contains a metal object that will cause an electrocution and a probability of a random side-effect in the archetype project.]

[Warning! The subject inside the glass box will get overdose by an amplified nucleus, electron, and all of the secret elements that are needed in the archetype project.]

[In thirty seconds, the Project-x will be used in the subject with great efficiency. please be prepared.]

[Thirty seconds remaining.]

"Ah, shit. Well, this is looking bad. Hey, it's time to leave now!" The first man said before he ran down the staircase.

"H-Hey... Wait. You bastards! I'll kill you two! Hey, ugly-faces! AARGH! I WILL KILL YOU TWO!" Liam shouted in frustration inside the glass box.

The second man, who was just about to leave the place, heard Liam's threat and decided to do something. A moment later, he walked in front of the glass and stuck a piece of paper with a message written on it before leaving the warehouse afterward.

Liam saw the man put something in the glass so he dove down the pool of liquid to see what was it exactly. Filling his curiosity, he saw the paper and the text written in it.

'This...'

His grim face just changed into a furious one like that of a beast, and tempt for vengeance crept inside his heart like a raging fire.

He knew that after today he would never forget the message that he wrote, even after death.

'Dark Society. Find it and destroy it if you want to... If you're still alive that is.'

[Sixteen seconds remaining.]

"T-These guys... I'll shred them to pieces and destroy that society..."

Liam swam back to the top of the liquid pool again but still had yet to find a way to escape. The gap between his hands and the top of the glass box was huge so he couldn't even think of escaping the glass box from the top.

It was hopeless.

A few seconds later, the warehouse started to rumble, and the cause of it was the said processing of the "Project-X".

BOOOM!

One of the Electrical Equipment caused a big explosion.

"Haha... Shit. If I couldn't even get out of this mess, how could I think of slaughtering them...?"

"This... This is just a fucking overkill-!" Liam shouted from the bottom of his raging heart.

"Argh!"

'What's this extreme frustration I'm feeling... Am I frustrated because I'll die without being able to do anything?'

[Five seconds remaining.]

"After all that stuff about revenge, is this going to be my end...?"

[Three!]

"...no, I."

[Two!]

"I still..."

[One!]

"I still want to live..."

"The Electrocution will end in five seconds."

"I WANT TO LIVE!"

BZZT!

"WRAAAAARGHH!!!!!!"

An electric shock formed from below the glass box and stirred through the entire pool of liquid.

Liam screamed in agony as he suffered from the unimaginable pain caused by the strong electric current constantly surging through his body. He couldn't take the five seconds of an intense electrocution and his consciousness soon faded away.

At the same time, the Project-X's elements from the other glass behind made their way to the main glass and began to spread throughout the entire pool of the still unknown liquid. While Liam was currently unconscious, the elements scattered and slowly but surely, shifted towards the direction of his body.

The warehouse rumbled greatly because of the so-called overdose of the current process. One by one, the Electrical Equipment inside the warehouse collapsed or exploded quickly like wildfire because of the overheat and electric overkill progressing inside them.

Om the other hand, almost all of Project-X's elements were consumed by Liam, and the pool of liquid, which used to have different types of colors, started to dissipate while it slowly became like normal water.

After a while, the biggest Electrical Equipment began shaking violently as it showed a sign of exploding.

[The process is completed.]

The monitor once again let out a voice.

[The Project-X is currently inside the main subject. Until a certain condition is met, only the initial stage of the system will be assigned to the host.]

As the AI finished its words, suddenly...

BOOOOM!!!

_____

Inside a news studio.

"Breaking News!"

"Just an hour ago, inside of a town from the city of Tala, a massive explosion occurred in one of the warehouses of an abandoned factory..."

A female host in a studio said with a serious expression while being live on air.

"One of the townsfolk living near the abandoned factory said that he saw a teenager who ran inside the factory alone with a hurried look on his face. For now, the rescue team is..."

_____

1 day later after the explosion.

Inside the ruins of the factory.

A naked body can be seen inside the corrupted rocks. The lower part of his body was covered with rocks and tiny pieces of metal from the ruins.

Rumble!

It was Liam. He finally woke up from his deep slumber. He unconsciously moved his torso upwards and turned his head left and right with a confused expression that suddenly formed in his face.

"Huh...?"

Liam regained his senses as he realized he was still in the factory, and for a few moments, he couldn't believe it.

"I'm, I'm alive? I didn't die... Ha, Hahaha..." He laughed awkwardly.

He didn't know what to feel. Should he feel relief or should he feel anguish? He spent his time calming himself down before eventually getting up from his position.

Tap, tap.

He stood up and looked all around his naked body.

"I, I don't have any wounds... bruises or scratches... There is no damage to my body? Not like I wanted to have some but... It's strange." Liam questioned this strange phenomenon, quite confused as to what he was seeing.

He was about to step away when, suddenly, a small rock fell on his head.

"Ow! What the hell... Holy shit-!" Liam screamed in shock the moment he saw a long steel bar falling from the corrupted ceiling.

He was frozen for a moment before reflexively jumping sidewards. After barely saving himself, he let out a sigh of relief.

"...that woke me up. Although I already said that I wouldn't want to have damaged in my body, this warehouse want me to die, huh."

Liam, who's a bit frustrated, spoke into the empty air.

'But still, it's strange... It's possible that the liquid inside the glass box reduced the damage and protected me from the explosions. I didn't get to see what happened because I fainted...'

His body trembled just recalling the unimaginable pain he received from the electric shock. As he looked around the area again, he suddenly wondered why the rescue operation or even anyone didn't saw him here.

"Hah..."

But he decided to forget it since he was still well and alive.

A moment later, Liam went to another factory near him to find some clothes to wear for himself.

Flick.

"Huh...?"

The lights opened and he didn't expect what he saw inside the warehouse.

"The interior... It's ugly?"

At the very least, the interior of the second warehouse looked normal compared to the laboratory-like cellar he went just recently. It was empty inside, like an abandoned storage house. It's what you will expect from an abandoned factory.

"This factory just makes me confuse." He was surprised and thought before eventually wandered around the warehouse.

Liam soon found a stack of cardboard boxes near the corner and in one of those, he grabbed a ripped pants, an old brown coat, and leather boots.

"I'm looking like an old beggar with these, but who cares." He said inwardly after looking at himself with the clothes he wore.

Liam stealthily went out of the factory so that no one can see him as he was trying to avoid being questioned by the people.

After successfully escaping the factory, he went towards the direction of their house, while now having a swollen look on his face.

'Rest in Peace, Mom, and Dad. I... It will be more peaceful sooner or later when I do what I have to do...'

_____

Yesterday, 40 minutes after the explosion.

Outside of the factory.

The police already gave up finding the said teenager's body, even though they only started searching 10 minutes ago when the fire was extinguished by the firemen. Although they didn't even try hard as they fussed that there was only one person.

They imagined how bad the explosion was just by seeing the damage it caused so they came up with a brief conclusion that the said teenager was dead and his body was already burnt to ashes.

Unless the relative of the one who died requested an investigation for the body, they wouldn't bother with it anymore.

Inside the exploded warehouse.

Thud.

A boulder was eventually pushed by another fallen rock and the body of a man could be seen lying flat where it was positioned earlier.

It was, of course, Liam.

Almost half of his body was burnt to a crisp with the torso as an exception, but besides the burn, half of his right arm was already crushed by one of the huge rocks and his left shoulder was pierced by a long steel bar. The rest of his body was colored of a brown and red hue because of the electrocution and the raging fires earlier. His face was full of cuts because of the shattered glass that pierced it earlier.

However, either because his body wasn't damaged enough to overthrow his strong will of living or either an undefinable occurrence, something beyond science has happened to him, he was still alive and breathing and was somehow only unconscious.

DING!

A sound of a bell rang through Liam's mind but because he was basically in a coma right now, he wouldn't be able to hear it. After that, a monotonic, mechanical female voice echoed through Liam's mind.

'The side-effect of the Project-X is starting to be ineffective as the host's body currently has severe damage that can not easily be healed.'

'The Project-X is now 100% engrave into your body.'

'Functioning the Time Limit of The System...'

'Permanent.'

'Congratulation! You are the first host of Project X's System but until a certain condition has been met, only a voice will be the one to function inside the host's mind.'

'The System has given the host three bonus skills that will activate when they got themselves in a grievous state or a dangerous situation.'

'Your current state is exceedingly severe. Your life is in danger.'

'The first bonus skill has been activated automatically.'

'Granting you a skill that is needed for your current situation.'

'The skill 'Regeneration' has been given to you by the system.'

'The host is currently unconscious.'

'The skill 'Regeneration' was activated.'

Shrr...

Every time a minute pass, Liam's body gradually returned to its old self like nothing has ever happened.

He has yet to learn this, but the skill he received from the 'Project X's System' was heaven-defying.

Almost 10 minutes have passed, and now Liam's body was perfectly fine and was completely healed and recovered.