I got up from the sofa and walked down the narrow hall to where the exit was. Himeko was still seated while keeping a close eye on me as I prepared to showcase my newfound powers. She had her phone camera aimed at me but I told her sternly to get rid of it.

“Alright, I won’t record.”

I waited until she placed her phone face down on the coffee table before I started the show. ‘Alright Rubik’s power, open the main menu and show me a list of my abilities.’

This intelligent System understood perfectly what I meant. My mental commands created a visual as well as an audible response that only I alone could view.

--Ability Menu--

Smoke Dash Lv1

Rigid Body Lv1

Smoke Walker Lv1

‘Now, which one of these should I use first?’ Given the restriction of my environment, I decided to no longer utilize Smoke Dash for it would cause too much trouble. So I went into the kitchen and took up the sharpest knife I could find.

Himeko became curious when she saw me with the knife. “Smoke Pac, what are you doing with that. Don’t tell me that you are going to cook for me?”

“I’m not a chef. Of course, I’m not going to cook. Get your skinny ass over here!” I had to get rough on this woman for temporarily throwing me off balance. Because of her damn interruption, I accidentally activated the Rigid Body skill without being fully prepared.

While coming towards the kitchen counter, Himeko shared with me the nature of her physique. “You don’t have to shout at me, Smoke Pac and just to clarify, I’m not that skinny. It’s rude to keep calling me that. My body is above the average poll for sexiness. Do you know how many men fawn over me nightly?”

I ignored her yet she answered her own question. “Let me tell you, the number is way up there in the double digits. If Madam Plastic gave me a bigger booth then I would attract even the triple digits. I’m one of Crystal Nightclub's sensational dancers. Do you know how many jealous bitches are there trying their best to surpass me?”

“I don’t give a shit. Now shut up and observe!” I couldn’t stand her squeaking voice anymore. She made me had to shout again to get her full attention. Before the active Rigid Body skill was deactivated, I used the knife to stab at my abdomen. The blade instantly snapped in half.

“Wow! Your abs are rock solid, Smoke Pac.” Himeko was fondling my unfazed abs while occasionally inspecting the broken knife. “What kind of workout have you been doing for the past months?”

I became annoyed when I heard her remark. “Are you stupid are something? No amount of cardio exercises can make anyone’s abs this fucking hard.”

“Then how are yours so hard?” Himeko looked puzzled.

“As I’ve been trying to tell you for the last several minutes. I have phenomenal powers. One of them is making my body as hard as steel for a limited time.”

“Oh really…?” Himeko thought that I was playing around. She poked her head over the counter and started staring at my junk with sensual intent. “Can you also make it hard as your abs?”

“For fuck sake Himeko! What do I need to do to convince you? Since this exhibition isn’t enough to make you a believer, I know what will open your damn eyes. Come with me.” I grabbed her wrist and began dragging her ass to the exit.

“Hey, not so tight.” She complained about my grip on her hand but I could care less about her mediocre agony. “Why are we going outside?”

“For the space.” As soon as I swung the door wide open, I carried Himeko to the edge of the balcony and didn’t hesitate to throw her ass over there. “Go and fly bitch.”

‘Whoosh!’

“Smoke Pac! Why?” Himeko was scared shitless as she was falling from a height of 13 floors from the ground. I bet she was already envisioning how far her body would splatter when it hit the ground.

“Smoke Pac!”

She kept on hollering my name with resentment spitting off her tongue. I just smiled sinisterly and whispered, “That is what you get for not taking me seriously.”

“No! I don’t want to die! Oh God no!” Himeko was only a couple of metres away from becoming asphalt food. Luckily she still had use to me, otherwise, I would have let her splatter.

‘Whoosh!’

As I jumped over the rail to rescue Himeko from her death, my figure partially became blurry like fog. The faster I sored through the air the longer my smoke trails became. It wasn’t entirely vapour. It had traces of minuscule colour cubes flashing in and out of existence for dramatic effect.

‘Whoosh!’

“No!” While screaming out for help, Himeko was twirling throughout the air repeatedly until her head was aimed downward to the ground moments away from impact.

‘Thud!’

I flew past Himeko and landed directly below her waiting for her descent. The force that I landed with caused a few cracks to form on the ground. To prevent Himeko from getting injured, I manipulated the remaining element of smoke to cushion her landing.

“No! No! I’m going to die! Smoke Pac, I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!” Himeko had her eyes fastened shut as she kept mouthing off without realizing that she was already safe and soundly secured in my arms. I let her continue for another minute before I made her aware that she wasn’t going to die.

“Shut up Himeko and opened your eyes.”

“Huh! Smoke Pac?” Himeko stopped screaming; opened her eyes and saw my face over hers. “How are you here and what am I doing in your arms?”

After I set Himeko down she glanced around her surroundings a couple of times with a bewildered expression painted all over her face. “I’m on the ground?” She looked above at where her apartment was situated then back at me. “What the hell just happened? Didn’t you toss me over the ledge so how am I still alive and how did you get down here so quickly? Tell me what’s going on Smoke Pac. Was this due to the unbelievable power you spoke of?”

“Now do you believe me? I told you before that I’ve changed. I can kill you without even lifting a finger.” This wasn’t entirely true at the time but I said it to look more badass.

“Is this for real?” Himeko was stunned when she finally accepted the truth for what it simply was. Seconds later, her frightened demeanour completely shifted to an inquisitive persona. “You got to show me more Smoke Pac. What else can you do?”

“I’m not entirely sure yet. All this is new to me. I only have 3 abilities in the Ability Menu; 2 of them I’ve shown to you and the 3rd one cannot be demonstrated without a corpse being close by.”

“If you need my help I will be more than willing.” Himeko clung tightly to my arm with enthusiasm permeating her entire body. She was so small compare to me, I could easily snap her in half like a toothpick. Fearing that this might actually happen, I told her to keep her distance until the Rigid Body loses its effect.

“I can’t control my strength yet. The last person I barely shoved got her head exploded.” That lady that I possessed back at the morgue I did indeed kill her accidentally.

After brainstorming briefly, Himeko told me, “That could mean that the System boosted your physical attribute beyond normalcy. Can you take a look at your physical stats? Maybe you’re able to calibrate the output.”

“What do you mean?”

Himeko explained, “It’s a list of attributes that represents particular aspects of your character, like your strength, your dexterity and so on. If your system is similar to the novels that I’ve read then you should be able to access it. Try communicating with the System like you would to me.”

“Ok, I’ll do it.” I tried what Himeko suggested and it turned out she was correct. I did locate a window that showcased the stats of my character.

--Status Window--

Strength: 27

Attack: 15

Defence: 25

Agility: 13

Dexterity: 9

Intelligence: 12

Stamina: 9

Charisma: 8

Vapour: 14

Permutation Key: Lv1

“My strength is 27% above average,” I told Himeko.

“Wow! 27% above average?” Himeko was surprised by this information. “That means that you can probably punch through walls, Smoke Pac.”

“Do you think so?” I became curious to find out the extent of my strength.

“There is only one way to find out.” Himeko had a suspicious grin on her face as she grabbed my hand and started leading me somewhere. “I know just the perfect place to test my theory.”

I followed along willing like some leash dog trailing its master. At the time, she had more knowledge about Systems than I did or so I thought. The Rubik’s Cube System was more complicated than either of us understood.