The System Gave Everyone Superpowers

I woke up the next morning feeling great.

Mai was standing by the wall Koda had drawn, peering out of the window.

"We have a problem," she said.

"Did the fire go out?" I asked.

"No. Look at the scoreboard."

I tapped my wrist communicator and pulled up the live holographic screen.

[Outpost 7 Live Scoreboard]

[Rank 1: Team 5 - 2,500 Points]

[Rank 2: Team 3 - 1,600 Points]

[Rank 3: Team 1 - 1,100 Points]

"Who the hell is Team Five?" I asked.

"A team led by a Level 108 brawler named Brock," Mai said. "His Blessing is Titan Muscle. He’s a transformation type. He’s likely been out in the storm all night, actively hunting constructs and stacking points."

Koda walked over. "How dreadfully boring. He just runs around punching shit in the dark. No style at all."

"If we get second place, do we still get a bonus?" I asked.

"No," Mai said. "Brand only a bonus to the top spot. Second place just gets a pat on the back."

"A pat on the back doesn't buy silk sheets," I muttered. "We need those points. But I am absolutely not walking around in ten feet of snow to get them."

Mai crossed her arms. "Then what do you propose, Seasons? We can't hunt from inside a sealed cave."

"We don't have to walk," I said, pointing to the window. "The storm has cleared up a bit, right?"

"Yes," she said. "The valley floor is visible now."

"Perfect. Here’s the plan, Portal. You open a gate from inside this cave directly to the valley floor where the constructs are spawning. We drop through, blast a few waves, and then you warp us right back here to our warm seats. We just portal in, do the work, and portal out."

Mai stared at me, her mouth slightly open. A slow smile began to spread across her face.

"You really are a lazy bastard, Seasons," she said, shaking her head. "But... that actually works. It would save our stamina and keep us completely safe between spawns."

Koda let out a sharp chuckle, his eyes gleaming with delight. "Splendid. Commuter-style combat. I love it."

Koda waved his hand, and a section of the wall he had drawn dissolved back into a cloud of smoke, giving Mai a clear line of sight to the valley below.

Mai stepped up to the opening. Her hands flared with energy as she targeted a clearing on the valley floor.

A spatial ring opened in the middle of our cave. On the other side of the ring, I could see the valley, where several constructs were already wandering around.

"After you, leader," I said, bowing slightly to Koda.

Koda grinned, his finger glowing with light as he stepped through the portal. I followed right behind him.

The wind in the valley was howling, throwing icy needles against my face, but I quickly adjusted my elemental bubble to keep myself perfectly warm.

Behind us, the spatial ring floated in the air.

"I'm holding the gate open!" Mai yelled. She was standing just inside the portal, her hands glowing as she fought to keep the connection stable. "I can only hold it against the wind pressure for three minutes! Make it quick!"

"Three minutes is plenty of time," Koda smiled.

Four Glacial Raptors burst out of the trees.

They charged at us with terrifying speed.

"Let's make some art," Koda said.

He raised his right hand, his finger tracing a spinning circular saw blade in the air. Koda flicked his hand, and the saw blade flung through the air, slicing the lead raptor clean in half. It dissolved into a shower of pixels before it hit the snow.

The second and third raptors leaped directly at me, their claws extended.

Wings.

I shot twenty feet straight up, hovering near the tree branches just as the two raptors collided below me, missing their lunges completely.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

While hovering, I looked down at them.

Freeze.

Both lizards were instantly frozen solid mid-squat, their bodies turning into blocks of ice. They fell back to the ground. The impact shattered both constructs into a million tiny shards.

[Construct Defeated. +300 XP]

[Construct Defeated. +300 XP]

Koda finished off the last raptor by drawing a stone anvil directly above it, crushing it into the snow.

"Two minutes!" Mai screamed from the portal. "The connection is starting to drift! Get back in!"

I deactivated my Wings and glided back through the spatial ring, landing softly on my feet on the floor of the cave. Koda jumped in right behind me, and Mai immediately closed the portal.

Koda waved his hand, drawing a quick patch of stone to reseal the opening in our wall.

I sat down on my rock and pulled up the live scoreboard.

[Outpost 7 Live Scoreboard]

[Rank 1: Team 3 - 2,500 Points]

[Rank 2: Team 5 - 2,500 Points]

[Rank 3: Team 1 - 1,150 Points]

"We're tied for first," I said. "And we were only out there for ninety seconds. We should do this every half hour."

Mai sat back down by the fire, letting out a breath. "You really are a genius, Seasons."

"I try my best," I said, turning on my fake smile. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to rest. Commuting is exhausting."

Over the next twenty-four hours, we perfected the routine.

Every forty-five minutes, Mai would open a portal directly above a fresh wave of constructs on the valley floor. Koda and I would drop through, freeze them, melt them, or crush them, and then Mai would warp us right back to our cave.

I didn't get a single scratch on my suit.

By the morning of the third and final day of the evaluation, we had a massive lead on the scoreboard.

[Outpost 7 Live Scoreboard]

[Rank 1: Team 3 - 12,400 Points]

[Rank 2: Team 5 - 10,100 Points]

[Rank 3: Team 1 - 4,800 Points]

There were only six hours left on the clock.

"Almost done," I said. "A few more hours of lying here, and we get our million-dollar check."

"Don't celebrate yet," Mai said, peering through the window in our door. "The System always has a final phase. It won't let us walk away that easily."

As if the System heard her, a massive tremor shook the entire mountain.

The floor vibrated, nearly throwing me off my rock. The wall Koda had drawn split right down the middle. Dust and loose gravel rained down from the ceiling.

I scrambled to my feet.

[Alert: Outpost 7 Zone Boss Active]

[Target: Glacial Hydra (Level 120)]

[Location: Valley Center]

[Bounty: 5,000 Points]

"Five thousand points," Mai whispered. "A Level 120 Glacial Hydra. It has five heads made of unbreakable permafrost."

"Five heads?" I sighed. "That is five times the amount of work."

"If Team 5 wakes up and gets to it first," Mai said, "he’ll take the five thousand points. He'll jump to over fifteen thousand and steal first place. We lose the million-dollar bonus."

I clenched my jaw. I had spent the last two days putting up with a controlling teleporter and a creepy painter just to secure my comfortable lifestyle. I was not going to let some team steal my money at the last second.

"Fine," I said. "Looks like we have to go down there for real this time."

Koda stood up, cracking his knuckles.

"A five-headed snake," Koda said. "What a beautiful subject. I think I'll paint a masterpiece today."

Mai waved her hand, her spatial energy flaring brighter than ever before. She ripped open a ten-foot-wide spatial gateway right in the middle of the cave.

"No more commuting," Mai said. "Let's go end this."

I took a deep breath, stepped through the gateway, and plunged straight into the final battle.

We landed in a crater at the center of the valley. The sky above had storm clouds.

In the middle of the crater stood the Glacial Hydra.

We ran toward a cluster of frozen boulders for cover and I realized we weren't the only ones there.

"Wait," Mai said, stopping behind a rock and squinted. "Brock is already fighting it! But... who the hell are those other people?"

I looked closely at the battlefield.

Brock was currently leaping through the air to punch one of the hydra’s necks. But he wasn't alone. Behind him, a female rookie was raising stone walls to block the hydra’s tail, while another guy was using wind to redirect the mist.

Further to the left, Team One was also fully deployed. A team of three rookies were working together. One was firing bolts of lightning, another was using gravity to weigh down one of the hydra's heads, and a third was a swordsman trying to slice at its legs.

"I thought he led!" Mai gasped, her jaw dropping.

"Ah, the illusion of the lone warrior," Koda chuckled, his finger tracing a circle in the air. "How tragic. But honestly? This is much better. Look at them—they are doing all the hard work for us."

On the battlefield, the fight was going terribly for our peers.

Brock reached the apex of his leap and slammed both of his fists into the side of the hydra's middle neck.

The permafrost neck barely dented. The Hydra whipped its head forward, slamming its snout into Brock's chest. The brawler was sent flying backward like a ragdoll, crashing deep into a snowbank. His teammate rushed forward to drag his unconscious body out of the line of fire.

Meanwhile, Team One’s swordsman managed to slice at the hydra’s leg. But the moment his steel blade touched the permafrost, the cold ran up the metal, freezing the sword instantly. He pulled back, but the blade shattered into a thousand tiny pieces.

"They're getting absolutely wrecked," I noted. "Their physical attacks can't pierce permafrost armor that thick."

"We have to go in!" Mai said. "If they manage to crack it by some miracle, they'll steal our first-place points!"

"They won't crack it," I said, sliding down to sit in the snow. "They're just going to exhaust themselves and drain their BP. We wait."

Koda smiled. "I agree with Seasons. Let’s sit back, enjoy the show, and paint the final stroke when they’re too tired to fight back. It’s much more... efficient."

Mai let out a frustrated growl, but she slowly lowered her hands. We hunkered down behind the frozen boulders, watching the two other full teams throw themselves against the monster.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!