[To my son...] is the message that was still lingering in front of Johannes' face. Unable to decide whether this is a sick prank or just a dream, he blankly stares at the words.
In the corner of his eyes, he was able to get a glimpse of the moonlight that illuminated both the starry sky and his hospital room. Johannes had trouble to focus on the words that were displayed in front of him, as his sight was unable to focus properly.
"How is this even possible? It feels like those videogames that are based on augmented reality", Johannes thought to himself. His curiosity forced him to touch the box, that was not connected to any physical objects he saw.
As soon as his nimble but frail fingers touched the words, something that resembled the beginning of a letter appeared out of thin air.
[Never forget. You are a fighter and you always have been], is what Johannes barely read as his sight was temporarily impaired by the stream of tears flowing out of his eyes.
It was not like Johannes to cry from the words of some floating box that he has never seen before. But the death of his father has shaped Johannes in more than one way. Now he started to make himself believe that those are his actual father's words, Johannes thought.
[Do you want to be a Fighter]
[?]
[Yes / No]
The fragile man did not understand the significance of those words. He thought that of course he wanted to be a fighter. But why would something that resembles a screen ask him out of nowhere? It reminded him of the Webnovels and Manhwa he has read throughout his life.
Hesitantly Johannes moved his fingers towards [Yes].
A growing suspension has been rumoring inside of Johannes. The mysterious blue screen, as he started to call it in his head, has come when his mental health has hit rock bottom. This was the first time in the last few days, that he felt something other than despair and sorrow.
A sense of guilt has stopped the flow of tension, that almost became excitement. Did he even deserve to feel joy so soon after losing his father?
"This is not what I should be thinking right now. If those are really my father's words, it would be impertinent to ruin this attempt to relay his message", is what Johannes tried to tell himself in order to keep his thoughts in check. It was one of the abilities that he has learned over the course of time, that regularly kept him sane in his fragile body.
With his newfound certainty, he closed the gap between his finger and [Yes] faster than he thought he was able to.
[System loading...]
[1%]
Johannes had nothing else to do than watching the progress of what seemed to resemble the events of Manhwas and Webnovels he has read. But for some obvious reason Johannes had trouble to feel anything but indifference.
...
[4%]
It barely made any progress during the last few minutes. "Come on, hurry up.", is what Johannes wanted to scream out of his lungs, now with growing excitement. But he caught himself in a moment of forgetting what happened, that immediately tempered down his excitement to a mere sadness.
[2%]
"What? Why did it go down? Should something that loads not have increasing numbers?". The weak man resented the system for not booting up quicker. His emotions seemed to get the better of him lately, which was not really his stoic self.
[10%]
Johannes started to have a guess about what was happening. The system was not purely booting up, it was tied to his emotions. And whether he felt ready for what was about to occure or not, would influence the progress.
[43%]
...
"This just went up by a lot, didn't it? Does this mean I am right?", is what he asked himself. Not that he would have been able to answer himself on a profound base, yet he took that as a yes. It was not easy but Johannes attempted to let his enthusiasm grow even further, which eventually led to the end of his wait.
...
[100%]
Johannes could not believe his eyes. It is finally done. It took at least half an hour for him to keep his miserable emotions in check but he managed to not succumb to those eventually. At least not for today. Eagerly, he glanced at the mysterious blue screen.
[Welcome, Fighter]