The Bodyguard System

Jaden was silent for a while after hearing what the system

had said. It was clear that currently, the system wanted to join with the

missing part, which would lead to an upgrade of the system.

This was going to be the second time that the system was

going to undergo an upgrade. Previously, Jaden was not really sure about the

upgrade that the system had undergone. Maybe it had already experienced many

things, and decided to change?

In any case, he was quite curious about the change that was

going to happen this time round. So, without hesitation, he immediately

consented, allowing the system to continue with the upgrade.

[System upgrade under progress. The upgrade will take 2

hours to complete.]

That was the prompt that Jaden received, just a moment

before the stone that he was holding in his hand suddenly crumbled.

It crumbled Into several small pieces, but at least, they

were not that small but they could fall from his hands. And, having reacted

quickly, Jaden managed to catch all the pieces of the stone, before they fell

onto the ground.

At this moment, Jaden understood the origin of not only the

system, but even the stone that he was currently holding. It was obviously a

mixture of different chemicals and elements from outer space.

It was a good thing that It was not harmful to humans, at

least if taken in small amounts. But still, Jaden remembered the fact that even

Discover exclusive content at empire

though many people had decided to join the experiment that was being carried

out by his parents, only a few of them had managed to come out alive.

Jaden was not really sure about the criteria that was being

followed, which would then lead to the successful mutation. If he knew about

it, he would go ahead and use it on John, so that he could guarantee that even

if John went through the procedure, he would be able to come out alive.

Just then, Jaden suddenly thought of something. Was there a

possibility of using a method that could improve John's success rate, and use

the upgraded rebate card?

If he did something like that, then, was there a possibility

of him getting something better? After all, currently, the rebate card was not

only going to be applicable to money, but instead, it could be used on other

items as well. As long as it was an investment, or income.

But suddenly, Jaden thought of something. Was it possible

that the stone that he was currently having, for it to be considered as income?

After all, income did not simply imply that he would have to actively do jobs

so that he could be paid.

Instead, income could also refer to something that could be

earned by doing something else. By coming over, he had managed to get something

that had been left for him by his parents. To him, Jaden thought that this was

also supposed to be considered as income.

'System, can I use the rebate card on this stone?' Jaden

suddenly asked.

This was a crazy idea that he has gotten. The origin of this

stone had already been verified. But, the components contained within the stone

could not be explained, considering that they could not be found within this

world.

It was due to that reason that his parents had not managed

to find a method of ensuring 100% success rate in the mutation, when it came to

the usage of the solution that was formed from dissolving the stone.

The success rate could not be measured, at least, it was

quite difficult to be able to get the accurate figure. Even the figures that

had been given were just estimates from the number of successes and failures in

the past few years.

Jaden believed that his parents had already done

investigation about those people that had managed to live on after being

injected with the solution.

They would have definitely tried to find what was unique or

common among this group of people that had survived. But considering that there

was no information if there was any success in this or not, Jaden believed that

there was a possibility that they did not find out what really set apart this

group of people.

This time, even though the system was currently under

upgrade, it did not go offline like it did during the first upgrade. Instead,

it was capable of functioning even during the time of the upgrade.

[The host is right. The stone can be considered as income,

considering that it is a form of a gift that the host has received from his

late parents.]

Upon receiving the system prompt, Jaden finally took a deep

breath. This was going to be a hard decision to make. Yes, there was a lot of

mystery surrounding this stone, but Jaden was willing to bet on it.

There was a possibility that what he was going to receive

next was something that would be completely useless to him, but Jaden was

willing to risk it. In the current situation that he was in, and considering

that there was already a group of mutants above them, he had to do this.

If it really worked, and he gained something that was going

to help him, then, that would be something that would be exciting. He would be

able to deal with that group of mutants quite easily, and maybe, he would be

even capable of avoiding the detection of the mutants within the city.

Yes, he already believed that the mutants were going to look

for him sooner, but still, it was better if he could avoid them for the time

being. He had yet to stabilize himself, and considering that he had just found

the location of the laboratory, it would be better if he could avoid

unnecessary troubles.

Jaden had the rebate card in his pocket. So, he took it out,

and stared at it. It was just as it was after it had been upgraded. It was

plain, and blue in color.

Jaden took a deep her breath. He understood that this was

going to be a big decision that he was going to make. But, having already made

his mind up, he immediately thought of using the rebate card.

The moment that he thought about that, a prompt from then/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

system appeared in front of him.

[Would you like to use the 1000 times rebate card on the

stone?]

Jaden raised his brows slightly when he heard that. From the

looks of it, there was no name of the stone that he was currently having. Maybe

that was due to the fact that it was formed out there while the system was

traveling.

Maybe it had not been recognized by any form of

civilization, thus leading to the stone not having a name. Regardless, Jaden

immediately agreed, accepting that the card should be used on the stone.

The moment that Jaden accepted, the blue card in his hand

suddenly flashed, disappearing from his hand. In the next moment, a blue light

suddenly enveloped the stone in his other hand.

Just as Jaden was surprised, another prompt from the system

appeared in front of his vision.

[Would you like the stone to be enhanced in terms of quality

or quantity?]

Without a doubt, Jaden immediately selected quality. There

was no need for him to improve the stone in terms of quantity for the time

being. After all, the mystery surrounding the stone had yet to be unraveled.

Additionally, there was a great possibility that after

improving this stone in terms of quality, it would be more efficient as

compared to 100 of the original stones.

The moment that Jaden made a selection, the stone in his

other hand that was currently enveloped in a blue light rose into the air.

This was a phenomenon that Jaden had already experienced two

times by now. That was when he was using the technology upgrade card, and

during the time that he was upgrading the rebate card.

As expected, just like the previous times, the blue light

suddenly erupted, nearly blinding Jaden. Jaden had no other choice but to

squint his eyes, as he continued observing.

It was just that due to the intense light, it was impossible

for him to be able to see what was going on inside the blue light. But he was

not anxious at all. He just waited, waiting for the upgrade to be completed.

About an entire minute later, finally, the upgrade was

completed. The blue light receded, and finally, a stone was revealed.

It was just that what was exposed left Jaden a little

speechless. The reason behind that being a fact that even after the upgrade,

which was a thousand times in terms of quality, the stone did not actually

change at all in terms of appearance.

It would be a lie to say that Jaden had not anticipated that

the stone was going to change from being half, to being completed. But looking

at the stone that was the same in every possible means as it was before the

upgrade, Jaden could only shake his head.

He caught the stone that was falling from its previous

suspension, and carefully scrutinized it. It was just that he realized that it

actually seemed as if it had not changed at all. Well, no matter how much he

observed it, he realized that there was actually nothing that had changed about

this stone.

'System, has the rebate card failed?' Jaden asked with a

small frown on his face.

[The upgrade has been completed. The quality of the stone

that the host currently holds is 1,000 times better as compared to the one that

the host possessed before.]