Chapter 2 | The Supreme Main Character

Theo woke up an unknown amount of time later, drenched in sweat.

He looked around to see if it all had been a dream of sorts. Alas, he was still restrained to the table, unable to move. So it was a negative on the dream.

The woman was long gone, the lair he was in eerily silent. The purple goop boiled no more, all of it probably somewhere under his skin. He tried getting up, but metal restraints bit into him as a painful reminder.

Theo’s breath quickened. He had died, that was certain. A clean slash to the throat. With the afternoon New York traffic, he would have been six feet under before an ambulance came along. Then what was all this?

Those system panels in the dark… They were real? I have been transmigrated? He tried remembering. He had considered them to be some kind of hallucination, but this went way beyond that. The pain he felt was real, and the purple goop…

His body didn’t seem to have any visible changes. In fact, it was exactly the same as it was back in his old world. Maybe thanks to the system since it had said something about finding a matching host body.

While inspecting his situation, however, he noticed system prompts waiting for his attention at the edge of his vision.

[You have received a body purification.]

[Vitality 0.567 –> 1.567]

[Strength 0.771 –> 1.021]

[Endurance 0.631 –> 0.881]

[Perception 1.17 –> 3.17]

Body purification? Purified from what? Like… Cleansing the impurities type of purification?

The thought made him shiver. What the hell had been done to this body? He decided to search through his system as a distraction.

With a quick mental command, Theo tried bringing up his character sheet.

[Name: Theo Robbins]

[Level: 1]

[Tier: F-Rank]

[Species: Human]

[Type: Transmigrator]

[Class: Supreme Main Character]

[Strength: 1.021]

[Vitality: 1.567]

[Endurance: 0.881]

[Dexterity: 0.981]

[Perception: 3.17]

[Free Points: 0]

What’s a Supreme Main Character? It sounds weird…

Shooing away the panel, he started going through a couple more options.

Store? Nope. Inventory? Nah. Quests? Not that…

After coming out empty-handed, Theo went back to his character sheet and focused on his class, something analogous to long-pressing it, he would guess.

[Supreme Main Character]

[The Supreme Main Character becomes stronger through stealing narrative power from other main characters. The Supreme will gain corresponding steal-quests that will grant rewards related to the target.]

Other main characters? What does that even mean?

Theo’s mind drifted over to those web serials he kept binging. A quick comparison later, and a guess started to form.

Is it one of those kitchen-sink isekai? With a bunch of OP bastards running around?

If that really was the case, wouldn’t this world be an absolute hell hole? Not to mention, this system of his was ambiguous at best; could it really help him survive in a different world?

Clank!

Out of nowhere, the cuffs restraining Theo shot open.

Was it timed or something?

He barely managed to push himself into a sitting position. His hands shot up and rubbed at his throat like he was trying to shave the skin off. The pain hung about his head. He felt weak. Though the system showed him to have become much stronger, physically speaking, he felt nauseous.

Looking around, Theo noticed something he hadn’t before. In the further parts of the room, where he couldn’t have possibly seen them from where he had been restrained, were three more tables just like his, with a person restrained to each one.

Holy shit… Is this some sort of experiment? Is this a cult? This is a cult, right? Where the hell are we?

With a frown, Theo stepped closer to check on them, but noticed they were unmoving. Their chests didn’t rise and fall, at least not visibly.

Ugh… Are they dead?

If they were just unconscious, there was no reason to get any closer. If they were dead, Theo wasn’t interested in seeing corpses close-up. But before he could turn around and look away, a notification popped up on his system.

[New main character found!]

Looking back at the bodies, Theo noted one of them to have a floating nameplate above him.

[Archetype: That Time I Got Transferred to Another World With The Supreme Sword Talent]

“What the fuck…” Theo muttered with a slight frown. This is how my system works? So what, this guy is like, some sort of protagonist?

A bitter, metallic taste assaulted him whenever he looked at the unmoving bodies, a sickly stench emanating from them, so he decided to change his focus. He retraced his few steps and turned around to spot a table.

It seemed to be quite the safety hazard with many vials full of different-colored liquids and half-used herbs lying around. Though being so vibrant and fizzy, they did look pretty tasty.

Before he could inspect any of them further, however, air shifted behind Theo rubbing against his bare back.

He ducked, turned around, and tried stepping back. Curiously, his back slammed against an invisible wall that protected the table.

“I release your shackles and you immediately go for my stash?” a voice snapped him back. It was the purple-haired woman once again. She grabbed Theo by the shoulders and stared deep into his eyes. “I’m surprised you could feel me, though! It was a mere prototype. To think that it would have this much effect! Tell me! How do you feel? Any changes?”

Overwhelmed, Theo didn’t know how to answer. Who was this person anyway?

“I don’t– I don’t know?” he said, half-asking. He wanted to answer truthfully to not anger the woman, but he had no idea what to say.

Assuming this was a fantasy world, this woman would be a mage. And mages were terrifying. What if she made him into a living chair and used him as furniture?

Well, on second thought…

“You don’t?” The woman’s brows rose, then fell. Her mouth widened into a brilliant smile. She reached up and patted Theo on the head, ruffled his hair for a few seconds.

“How about you try harder?” she asked. Although it was a perfectly normal question, there seemed to be something poisonous in her voice.

She raised her hand and snapped her fingers. Many leather-covered, timeworn notebooks appeared out of nowhere and floated behind her. They opened to different pages, and quills were propped against their pages, waiting for the orders to write.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“I…” Theo mumbled. His heart hammered in his chest. She was definitely crazy. “I feel… confused?”

As soon as his answer finished, the quills took action. They slid across the pages, scribbles aplenty. Theo was amazed at the sight. Even a mundane task like taking notes was made impressive when magic was involved.

What is she even noting down? I said nothing of worth.

He was a curious person overall. And, fortunately for him, that curiosity must have piqued the woman’s interest. She raised a brow at him.

“Interested?” she asked. Theo kept his mouth shut and nodded slightly. “Hehehe… Then worry not! I won’t treat you bunch badly with how hard it was to find and prepare the host bodies!” the woman said without bothering to wait for a response.

Before Theo could ruminate on the meaning behind her words, the corners of her mouth fell. Her forehead creased into a frown. She gritted her teeth and stomped on the ground, clenching her fists.

“If not for that bastard… I will kill him! I would kill him. If I could leave. Why can’t I leave? I need to find… Never mind. We don’t have much time until he comes back.”

She suddenly stopped. Her face went blank; as if she were a computer, she rebooted. Then her lips drew a smile on her face. She grabbed Theo by his shoulders and shook him again. She was strong. Disorientingly so. Wasn’t she a mage? What was this absurd strength?

“You will be named… Hmm,” she muttered. Her gaze wandered about Theo’s face, inspecting every nook and crevice, every pore and imperfection she could find. “Subject 1! I’m your master from now on! My name is not master, obviously. But you can call me that.”

This nutjob… I’m in for a fucking treat, aren’t I?

She kept speaking like a particularly poorly trained AI chatbot. Her words jumped all over the place, the topic constantly changing without ever really being expanded upon. It was more of a flow of thought rather than proper dialogue, really.

“He is here again,” she said, her ramblings halting to a stop. She turned around and looked away, seemingly at an empty wall. But Theo knew she was looking beyond that. What were her eyes seeing? She gritted her teeth and bit on her nails. “I won’t hand them the tower! How many times do I have to push him out? I don’t have much strength left…”