Awakening

Chapter 55 - Awakening

Claire drove straight to Sam’s luxurious apartment and pulled into the private parking bay. She took the private elevator upstairs and stepped into the large living room. Sam was already there, working out in the training corner. His fists hit the heavy bag again and again, each punch making a deep thud. Near the low table, Danny was about to open a small package that had arrived earlier.

Claire walked in and waved both of them over. Sam stopped punching and grabbed a towel, wiping the sweat from his face as he came toward her. Danny placed the package back on the table and followed.

Sam looked at Claire with concern. One glance at her face was enough to tell him that something was wrong.

“Where were you?” he asked. Then, before she could answer, he added, “Clark woke up.”

Claire looked at him.

“After a whole month in a coma,” Sam continued, “the doctor said it’s really good news. He woke up earlier than they expected. The doctor said they’ve seen worse cases where patients took much longer to wake up.”

Claire said nothing. Her mind was still somewhere else, but Sam's words had caught her attention.

“Clark is awake, that's great news.” she asked quietly.

Claire already knew. The healing potion she had received as a reward, after Danny found Mia and Claire blocked Mike’s system in time, had done its job. She walked over to the long sofa and sat down, her face calm. But Sam couldn't accept that calm. He still remembered how badly she had broken down at the hospital [Claire’s Breakdown reference].

“Where were you?” he asked again.

“I went to Mike’s dorm.”

Sam’s face changed at once. Anger flashed in his eyes. “Why? Do you want to get back with him after what he did to your brother?” He grabbed her wrist, his fingers tightening until she winced.

Claire pulled her arm free. “It’s not like that.”

Sam stared at her, waiting for more. “Then what were you doing there?”

Claire didn't answer right away. She looked down at her wrist, rubbing the spot where his fingers had been. Her mind was already working on what she could say without telling them the truth. Sam kept pressing for more answers, but Claire only sat deeper into the chair and pressed one hand to her forehead. The gesture made it clear the whole conversation was giving her a headache.

In her mind she thought it would be much easier if she could share some of the system features with these two as well.

A black screen suddenly popped up in front of her eyes. Claire’s expression shifted, and a small smile curled at the corner of her lips.

The system spoke.

[You can attempt awakening, but the method is different. Every person will get what he wants the most.]

Claire felt a quick flash of happiness, then her face settled into a suspicious look. “Then Mike would have given all those girls their own systems.”

Another black window appeared.

[It is forbidden art. It is not in the interest of a system to have many hosts around them, because then the host will be just another loser in a world full of people with amazing systems.]

Claire asked the next question out loud in her mind. “So mine is a Doom system because of my hatred and revenge. What is Mike’s?”

[It is a Charm system. He wants girls.]

Claire’s lip curled. “What a pervert.”

The system fired back at once. [Y-you are the one to talk.]

She ignored the remark and pushed forward. “How do I get them to awaken?”

[Mike wants nothing to do with you now. But if you complete the connection quest and meet him once a week, I can swallow his system within a month. You can then give that system to them and help them awaken their own systems. But their emotions must be strong enough. Your love for your brother and hatred for Mike were strong enough to awaken me. Mike’s desire to impress you awakened the Charm system. His circumstances have simply changed how he uses it now.]

Claire frowned. “In order to impress me? It must have awakened after I broke up with him.”

[No. He has had it for a year prior to the breakup. He came to impress you, according to his system’s history. Then the shock made him use it for something else.]

Claire sat back in the chair, the black windows still floating in her vision, while Sam and Danny waited for her to speak again.

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