The Lupine System

Possible Future

'This is... weird.' Mike thought with some discomfort.

Minus the fact that the only thing he had to hide the fact that he was naked was a blanket, and he was in a ship filled with people, he couldn't help but notice the stares that most of them were giving him.

Which was strange, as he could accurately feel what parts of his body were being stared at, and it was primarily his head, or hair to be specific, and his eyes.

'Why?' He thought as he barely prevented himself from squirming.

"Alright, everyone. Listen up." He was snapped out of his thoughts when one of the soldiers who had ushered him into the ship spoke. The man's face was, understandably, somber.

"This is just one of many evacuation vessels moving around across the planet and moons. This one is full, so it will take us to a satellite station in another star system before returning here to evacuate more people." The ship suddenly shook and some of the evacuees, specifically the children, let out terrified noises as they huddled together. The soldier, though, seemed unperturbed as he continued.

"When you arrive there, you will be required to undergo an identity check. Based on who you are or if you have any family or relations in another star system, you will be shipped off to that location. If you don't have any family or assets you can claim, you will be evaluated and assigned to a location based on your skills." When he explained this, there were a few complaints from the people, but they were half-hearted at best and didn't cause much dissension within the ship.

'Assigned based on our skills, huh? What would a scrapper like me be able to get?' Mike thought to himself with self-mockery. However...

"You, come here." He blinked as he felt the soldier's eyes fall on him.

"Me?" He pointed at himself and the man nodded. Mike hesitated for a moment before pulling the blanket closer around himself and standing up.

He carefully approached the man and was led into a somewhat quiet corner where some other soldiers waited. Judging by how they saluted the one who led Mike over, he was probably their group leader.

When he got close, though, he couldn't help but frown slightly.

He didn't know how... but he could somewhat feel their intentions towards him. There were six soldiers, including the captain, and their emotions ranged from wariness to suspicion.

Before he could think about it, though, the captain turned to him and asked.

"I will cut straight to the chase. Do you have an ability?" Mike was taken aback. How did they know?

"I..." He trailed off, then he asked. "What makes you say that?"

Sensing the non-answer, the soldiers frowned.

"Before our sensors detected you, they detected a collection of mangled Lizardmen corpses. Moreover, you detected us almost as soon as we detected you, though I suppose you can attribute that to the sound of the ship. Lastly..." He gave Mike a one-over.

"Your appearance pretty much sells it." Mike blinked. His appearance?

"Because I'm naked?" He asked incredulously. His response seemed to throw off the soldiers as well as they were rendered speechless for a moment. Then one of the other soldiers said with irritation.

"Don't play dumb! We mean your hair and eyes." Now Mike was even more confused.

"What's wrong with my hair and eyes???" His genuine confusion seemed to get through to the soldiers.

With a sigh, the captain tapped his watch which seemed far more advanced than what Mike had, and activated the camera function. The holographic screen came up and he aimed it in Mike's direction.

Mike was just about to ask what was happening when he froze and took in his appearance.

Mike wasn't the most handsome person in the world. His looks were average at best, and the damage he'd accumulated within his body didn't help matters as he had several scars and a few deformities here and there.

Now though, he stared at a face that had sharp yet appealing features. Each line of his face was clearly defined, but also not overbearing. The asymmetrical parts of his face had fixed themselves, his crooked teeth had straightened and his canines were uncharacteristically sharp.

The most notable things, though, and the things that probably had everyone stare at him, were his hair and eyes.

His hair had been a dirty blonde while his eyes were brown, two fairly common colors. Now, though, his hair was as white as snow and had grown from a simple and crude buzz cut to reach the back of his neck, looking almost wild in its placement. As for his eyes, they'd turned a bright crystal blue, making them extremely eye-catching.

'Holy... It's like that wolf statue from the chamber!' Mike realized with astonishment as his hand moved to grab a lock of his hair.

It was soft.

"I see you now understand. But it's clear you're as surprised as us with all of this." The captain said when Mike finally seemed to understand their skepticism.

Mike regained his bearings and looked at the soldiers before sighing.

"You're right... I do have an ability. But it isn't what you think." He explained. The soldiers perked up at his admission, and the captain gestured for him to continue.

Mike then went on to relay his experiences, from getting shot at by the ship and falling into the ravine before discovering the underground chamber. He left out the parts where the ability orb was in the mouth of a wolf statue and the place was covered in wolf markings, only including the altar.

He then spoke about how he lost consciousness but assumed he managed to absorb the ability orb. Then he spoke of his blurry memories, leaving out many details, and when he came to, he was naked surrounded by the corpses of Lizardmen.

When he finished his story, we watched nervously as the soldiers seemed to digest his story, and after a few seconds, the captain spoke up.

"I remember seeing in the history books that in the past, some ability orbs which were discovered some time after the Bestowal happened were found in chambers and hidden structures, almost like they were kept there for one reason or the other, so finding an ability orb in a hidden chamber isn't something that hasn't happened before." He spoke with a thoughtful tone, and Mike felt a wave of relief as his story was confirmed.

"So... what happens now?" He asked carefully and the soldiers regarded him for a moment before the captain asked.

"Do you have any family anywhere? Any relations? Assets? Anywhere you can go, basically?" He asked and Mike's smile faded a little. He shook his head after a moment.

The captain nodded with understanding and thought for a moment before asking.

"What do you think about joining an academy?" The question made Mike perk up again. Seeing he was interested, the captain continued.

"Academies which center around training people with abilities should still be recruiting around this time of the year. If you truly possess an ability, then after we reach the satellite station and this fact is confirmed, you will automatically be designated as an asset, and seeing as you're still quite young, shipping you off to an academy to receive formal training is the most likely thing to happen." He explained, and Mike's eyes widened.

"Really?" The soldier nodded.

"That's right. Ability users are a sought-after commodity, no matter where they are. Moreover, if you truly gained your ability from an unclaimed ability orb, that means your ability will be unique as it hasn't been recorded anywhere before. Hence, a lot of interest will be directed your way. If your ability is useful in one way or the other, the chances of you getting admitted to an academy are highly likely." The captain tilted his head.

"How old are you, by the way?" Mike blinked at the sudden question.

"17," I replied honestly, and a trace of surprise flashed in the eyes of the captain.

"You're... quite small for your age." The comment made Mike's eye twitch. Even after acquiring the system and receiving all these physical changes, he was still just 5'5. Seems like not even the system could change that.

However, the irritation turned into slight worry as he asked.

"Will... that be an issue? My age, that is." He asked, but to his relief, the captain shook his head.

"As far as I'm aware, the age limit is 19, and even then, it's quite loose." He smiled and patted Mike on the shoulder.

"You're quite lucky, kid. You managed to get a windfall from this messed-up situation." Mike blinked.

'Lucky, huh?' He thought to himself.

"... I guess so." Sensing the change in mood, the captain just offered a small, comforting smile before retracting his hand.

"Right, I'm sure you need some clothes." The captain looked at one of his subordinates who quickly went to retrieve some clothes and came back with a somewhat oversized jumpsuit.

"This is the smallest one we have." He said a bit apologetically and Mike just sighed.

"No, thank you. It's more than enough." He smiled and nodded before looking around.

"Is there somewhere in can change?" He asked and one of the soldiers pointed towards a door. Mike gave his thanks and quickly went over.

The door opened automatically when he got close, which he thought was pretty cool, and when he entered, the lights came on to reveal a pretty small but functional changing room.

Without hesitation, he shed the blanket and gave his body a cursory glance, appreciating the changes, then he put on the jumpsuit.

True to the words of the soldier, it was oversized. He somewhat managed with the pants by pulling them to where his stomach was and tightening them considerably to stop them from falling. The shirt was quite a bit more difficult, though, as the sleeves were oversized and covered his hands, and he had to tuck them in a lot so that they didn't look too ridiculous, it was a losing battle, though.

When he finished, he sighed and looked at himself in the mirror. He looked like a child who decided to wear his older brother's clothes which were way too big for him.

'Not a whole lot I can do about it, I guess.' He shook his head. On the bright side, they were kinda comfortable.

He observed his appearance in the room a bit more before finally stepping out. He immediately felt several gazes fall on him and felt the amusement in most of them, but he schooled is expression and walked towards the soldiers.

However, before he reached them, an announcement suddenly echoed throughout the ship.

"We will be entering FTL in the next 30 seconds. Ready yourselves." The person who Mike assumed was the pilot spoke.

"Alright everyone, please sit down and brace yourselves. FTL travel can get a bit bumpy in the first few seconds." The captain said loudly, and the people once again huddled together.

Mike quickly sat with his back against the wall and grabbed a metallic part sticking out of the wall which looked sturdy enough.

He closed his eyes and took a breath to calm his excitement. He'd never been on a ship before, let alone get to experience FTL, so this should be fun.

Soom enough, there was a ding sound and the ship started to rattled, there were some muffled screams from the others, and Mike felt his excitement begin to grow as his heart sounded. However, he didn't try to fight it this time. As such, he didn't notice his canines become more pronounced a he smiled involuntarily.

Then, the ship and those around it vanished from their incredible speed.