Johnny didn't hear her chasing after him, so he took it as a sign that he was in the clear. Just in case, he kept walking without looking back. As he was thinking about how to get to the registration office, he groaned as he remembered how his car got totaled. Now he didn't even have a place to sleep. A sudden thought crossed his mind, and he frantically searched his pockets.
He nearly screamed in frustration. His phone was gone. It must have been destroyed in the fight, along with his wallet. That was assuming they hadn't fallen out of his pockets from all the running he did. This was the worst. He literally had nothing to his name except for his clothes. Speaking of clothes, he noticed the stares he was receiving.
Glancing down at his appearance, he could see why. That made why they hadn't taken a second glance at him earlier strange. He looked like he had been put through the wringer. He needed to change, but he didn't exactly have the money to pull that off. Hopefully, no one called the police on him before he got to his destination.
Luck was on his side, as after over an hour of walking, he reached the registration office without anyone stopping him. Of course, that quickly changed when the guards blocked him from entering the building. Staring at the two hulking men blocking his way, he swallowed. They weren't as huge as the giant he faced before, but they were certainly intimidating.
"Sir, I think you're in the wrong place," one of the guards said as he purposely looked him up and down.
Okay, that was rude. Just because he wasn't looking his best didn't mean they could deny him entry. He was still clothed, even if he did look like a mess. Besides, if they were doing it because they didn't think he was a blessed, that was discrimination. At the last part, he took it back. Since the blessed were mostly the wealthy, he could see why they looked down on him.
[What does wealth have anything to do with it?]
Not expecting a message from the quiet system, Johnny jumped. The guards immediately reached for the weapons, probably wary that he would try something. While he wanted to interrogate the system about what it meant, he needed to deal with the current situation first. He raised his arms to show that he meant no harm, but the guards didn't lower their guards.
"I'm just here to register. I just got my power earlier today," he said before allowing a small flame to appear in the palm of his hand.
Unfortunately, it didn't get the desired result as the guards were now pointing their guns at him. That was completely unfair. They were refusing him entry because they didn't think he was a blessed. Then, the moment he showed proof, they were threatening him with their weapons. He simply couldn't win, but he would admit that he would be nervous too if someone summoned flames.
Just as he was thinking that he would be forced into a fight, someone said, "Enough."
The three men jerked as they looked towards the speaker. A beautiful woman stood at the entrance, staring at them with cold eyes. It was like she was staring right into their souls. Johnny wracked his mind trying to figure out who she was. She didn't look like she was from one of the seven families. Each family had a signature appearance, which she didn't possess.
"Let him through," she ordered.
The guards hesitated, but they lowered their weapons and stepped aside to let him pass. He watched them warily as he walked past them before turning his gaze to the imposing woman. She had to be some bigshot if they bowed down to her. However, that didn't exactly narrow it down since all the blessed were bigshots. When he was a few feet away from her, he stopped.
She gave him a once over before turning her back and saying, "Follow me. Let's get you registered."
Seeing no reason not to follow her, he walked after her. As soon as they entered the building, his eyes widened at the fancy interior. It didn't look like a government building. The place looked like it belonged to some wealthy businessman with all the expensive furniture out. He swallowed as he thought about how much it would cost to furnish the whole place.
Wealthy people were sure scary. They could spend money like water on something like this without batting an eye. There weren't actually many people inside. A few people were roaming around, but it was mostly empty. Everyone stared at the duo as they passed. He could tell they were mostly looking at him and judging him with their gazes.
After walking for a while, she stopped in front of a door and said, "Please step inside to complete your registration."
Johnny frowned. This didn't seem like how it should go. He thought all he had to do was fill out some paperwork at the front desk and submit it, and he was free to go. It seemed odd that he had to walk further into the building. Maybe it was because they needed to confirm his power, even though he had shown it earlier in front of the building.
Looking at the woman, he opened the door and stepped inside. The moment he was inside, the door suddenly slammed closed behind him. Startled, he looked back just as he heard the lock click. Grabbing the door knob, he found that he wouldn't budge like he feared. She had just locked him in the room. He seriously couldn't believe this was happening.
Before he had time to process what was happening, men came out of the shadows to grab him by the arms and drag him away. "Hey, what are you doing? Stop. You can't do this."
His words fell on deaf ears as they dragged him to the table and forced him to sit down. In front of him was a rugged looking man with a large scar running down his face. Johnny shuddered and looked away as his mind whirled over what would happen to him now. Possible scenarios passed through his mind, each one worse than the last.
As if reading his thoughts, the scarred man said, "You have nothing to fear, young master. We're not here to harm you."
In an instant, his fear was replaced by confusion. "What?"
"I said we're here to bring you back to your family, young master," the man said.
Staring at the man, Johnny hesitantly asked, "What family?"
The scarred man looked him in the eye and said, "I'm referring to the Burns family."
When the Burns family had been mentioned earlier, Johnny never thought that he would be wrong and that the two women would have been right. Seriously, he never thought he was actually part of the Burns family. Well, that wasn't entirely correct. He had considered it long ago when he was young and wishing for a family, but he had gotten over it.Now he wasn't sure how he felt about this sudden revelation. The reasons he gave Rachel and Dorothy before crossed his mind. It made no sense for them to want to contact him now unless it was because he had developed his power. He frowned at the implication. They had thrown him out because they thought he wasn't deserving to be part of the family and were now doing a one eighty.At the sight of Johnny's frown, the scarred man quickly said, "You must be wondering why we're contacting you now of all times. The reason is simple. We were unable to track you until now."Johnny found that hard to believe, and it showed on his face. The Burns family w
Johnny's mind crashed at the sudden relevation that he was the heir to the Burns family. All his life, he had been treated as scum because he was an orphan with nothing to his name. People sneered at him for having the Burns name, but with seemingly no connection to the family. He had encountered many people who implied he had done it to get attention.Now he was suddenly elevated to the status of one of the most powerful and influential people in the world. As the heir to one of the seven great families, doors that had been previously closed to him were now open. No one would able to dare look down on him ever again unless they wanted to suffer humiliation or death. It was too much for him to process.Covering his face with his hands, he vaguely heard the scarred man say, "I understand this news is very unexpected, but it's the truth. Lord Burns and Lady Burns had been desperately searching for you after your disappearance."That was easy for the scarred man to say. Johnny knew nothi
Johnny tried to ignore the whispers and stares he was receiving as he walked up to the front desk. He kind of expected this to happen. It was hard not to notice the sudden guard that surrounded him as they escorted him. Even though he had wanted them to wait until he finished, they had insisted they stay with him for his protection.The receptionist stared at him with wide eyes before asking, "How may I help you, sir?""I'm here to register," he said as he placed his hands on the counter."Of course," she said before looking at the computer. "Please tell me your name.""It's Johnny Burns," he said as he braced himself.Her hands twitched, and she looked back up at him. "Excuse me?"Before he could repeat himself, one of the guards stepped forward with a menacing look on his face. The receptionist flinched and immediately looked back down at the keyboard. As she typed away, Johnny looked back at the guard to give him an unimpressed look. The man was unphased by his reaction. Seeing no
Johnny immediately took back the words he had thought of earlier. They were as ruthless as the media portrayed them to be. At least his father was. His mother hadn't said anything bloddthirsty, but the look in her eyes made him think that she was thinking the same thing as his father. No one seemed to bat an eye at his father's threat.In fact, the scarred man bowed as he said, "Apologies, sir. We were ordered to follow his orders no matter what, and he insisted on coming here.""You should have known better," his mother snapped. "He's a young man who hasn't been raised with us. Of course he doesn't know any better."Feeling the heat coming off her body, Johnny was extremely uncomfortable with where this was going and stepped in. "No, it's my fault. I told them I wanted to meet my parents right away. I'm sorry for not dressing better."The heat that had been coming from his mother suddenly vanished as she said, "You don't have to apologize. It's not your fault. I'm so relieved that yo
Johnny wasn't sure how he did it, but he was able to talk them down from the idea. All he could recall was his parents insisting they go out to hunt down and kill every single person in his life that had caused him grief. If they actually did that, there were going to be a lot of dead bodies. While he didn't like them, he didn't hate them enough to want them dead.Staring down at the cup of tea that was served to him, he wondered if he could ask for the most expensive alchol in the house to drink. He certainly needed a drink to calm down his nerves, and staying sober was a bit difficult. His parents weren't matching the image he had for them, and all the talk about killing was making him unsettled.As he took a sip, his mother asked, "Are you sure you don't want us to take care of them?"He choked on his tea. "It's fine. You don't need to."His father nodded. "We understand. You want to get revenge yourself."Staring at his father, Johnny wondered where the man got the idea. Well, he
Staring at the room filled with people he didn't know outside of what his parents told him, Johnny vaguely thought that his parents had meant it literally when they told him to do nothing. They hadn't let him even try to do anything to contribute to the party. Everything had been handled by the servants. All he had to do was sit and watch everything unfold.Looking away from the scene in front of him, he stared down at his drink before taking a sip. It was pretty good alcohol, but he had to be careful about how much he drank. He didn't want to make a fool of himself or do anything that would ruin his reputation. It wouldn't be good if he was viewed as an embarrassment, as his parents announced he was the heir."Excuse me," a voice said, drawing his attention away from his drink.A beautiful woman stood in front of him. For a moment, he felt captivated by her beauty before remembering that this was a party consisting of family members. That meant she was likely his cousin. Immediately,
Johnny gasped as he thumped his chest at the sudden revelation. This man in front of him was claiming to be his grandfather. He just couldn't see it. The man looked around his age. It was impossible for him to be his grandfather, even if he had a natural youthful appearance. He could have accepted if the man looked the same age as Johnny's father, but he drew the line at looking Johnny's age.However, the guy, who had been bothering him before, wasn't talking. In fact, he was keeping his head bowed, like he was afraid to even look at the gentleman. If he wasn't going to call out the man for lying, then it seemed that he really was Johnny's grandfather. That was a real doozy, and Johnny wondered how it was possible."Surprised?" Johnny was trying to come up with an excuse for his behavior when his grandfather continued, "I don't mind. I haven't really shown myself in public since my son took over. I presume most people have already forgotten about me."When his grandfather put it like
At least that was what Johnny had intended when the kid suddenly breathed fire into his face just as he picked the kid up. His immediate reaction was to drop the kid and shield his face from the flames. It was only when the kid hit the ground that he realized the mistake he had made. The kid immediately burst into tears, wailing for everyone to hear."Did he just seriously drop a kid?" a person said."Unbelieveable," another person said. "This is going to be our future head? How could he be scared of a little fire?""Where are the parents? I'm sure they're going to come after him for dropping their kid," someone said.Johnny instantly knew he had been set up. Someone purposely sent the kid his way, knowing this would happen. He couldn't believe someone would put a kid in harm's way just to get to him. No, that wasn't right. He should have known this would have happened. If it were his theory that someone from the family tried to get rid of him as a baby, they would have no problem get
Hello everyone. I forgot to add a note in the previous chapter. Anyway, I just want to thank all my readers who have been following along. I really appreciate it. Now for the news you have been waiting for.Johnny's story has ended and turned out shorter than Billy's story like I expected. With its end, I currently have no ongoing stories on this site.I've decided I'll take a break from the site. How long the break will last I'm not quite sure. Hopefully, the break won't be long, and I have a new story up within the year, but we will have to see.Just like with Rise of the Demon King: Caleb Gonzales's Rat Race and Rise of the Desperate: Billy Wood's Save and Restart System, I might do a rewrite or remake of it.If I do go through with this idea, then I'll just immediately go to eBook and paperback, and it would be very different from the one here. We will have to see, and I'll let everyone know.As I stated before, if you want to stay in contact with me, you'll probably have to use F*
"By the way, I don't mean to rush things, but the time limit for the hour is until I return," she said.That certainly caught Johnny's attention as he demanded, "How long is that?""A couple more minutes," she said.A couple minutes wasn't a lot of time to come to a life changing decision. He still needed more time to think. Did he really want to take a chance and accept the offer, which meant leaving everything he knew, or should he stay and weather whatever the system had in store for the world? Weighing the pros and cons of each decision, he could feel sweat forming on his head."I need to go. Have you come to a decision?" she asked.After a brief moment, he said, "Yes.""Well, what's your decision?" she asked."I'll take the offer," he said.She smiled as she said, "Good choice."Suddenly, Katherine slumped over alarming Johnny, who rushed to check up on her. She appeared to be still breathing, and there didn't seem
"Okay, I'm listening," Johnny said."I'm glad to see you can be reasoned with. I've heard of others who aren't so fortunate," the intruder said."Others?" he said."We'll get to that later," she said as she attempted to make a waving motion.Unfortunately, Katherine's missing limbs made that a moot point. It honestly made Johnny uncomfortable seeing Katherine's body attempt to do something an ordinary person could do. He wasn't the only one put off by the situation. The intruder grimaced as she settled back into the wheelchair."Anyway, I'm here to give you a proposal from the system," the intruder said."What?" Johnny snapped."You heard me right. The system would like to offer you a deal, and it's up to you if you want to accept this," the intruder said.Johnny's mind whirled over what she said, scarcely believing what she just said. The system wanted to offer him a deal? This was completely unplanned. He had never heard of t
Johnny blinked. "Wait. EVeryone?"He couldn't believe what Frank was saying. Was he crazy? Did he really want to let the whole world know about the monsters being able to receive messages from the system? It would be complete chaos. Johnny was exactly advocating to tell no one. Far from it, but he couldn't see how it would help anyone to inform the public about this information."Well, not everyone," Frank said. "I'm referring to the authorities as this is a matter of security.""Will they take it seriously?" Johnny asked."It's hard to say. It's possible everyone will think it's a joke, but it's also possible that some will take the warning seriously," Frank said."I see," Johnny simply said."If that's all, I'm going to take my leave and let you get some rest," Frank said as he stood up.Johnny nodded. "Got it."Right as Frank was about to go out the door, he said, "Actually, there are some people who want to talk to you if y
Johnny's eyes snapped open as he sat up abruptly. His mind was moving at several miles per hour as he scanned his surroundings. He had to stop her before she got away. However, the monster was nowhere in sight. He wasn't sure how long he had been out cold, but he supposed it was a bit much to expect the monster to linger just because he told her to stop.More importantly, he was no longer in that place considering the lack of lava. Taking a good look at his surroundings, he deduced that he was back in his own world, which set him on edge. How did he get back? As he wondered who or what had brought him back, the door to the room swung open. He stared at the sight of Frank leading the backs of doctors and unknown men."Johnny, you're awake," Frank said as he rushed over to check on him.A tad bit uncomfortable with how Frank was acting, Johnny asked, "Frank, what happened?"Frank grimaced. "It's a bit of a long story. First, we should make sure you're okay."As soon as he said that, Fra
As Johnny stared at his mother, wondering why he felt uneasy about the whole thing, it finally clicked. "You're not my mother.""What are you talking about? Of course I'm your mother," she said.Johnny shook his head as he took on a relaxed stance. "No, you're not. I don't know why you're pretending to be here, but you should just give up now. It's not going to help you in the long run."The woman also dropped her stance and shrugged her shoulders as she said, "Well, this is unexpected. How did you know?"Rather than admit that it was just his gut instinct, he said, "I have no reason to tell you.""I suppose I should have figured you would say that," she said calmly.She was far too calm for his liking. He knew nothing about it here other than she was a fake, which didn't mean much in the end. It wasn't like he would have gone easier even if she was his mom. However, it did explain why she killed his father without batting an eye, but it begged the question of where his real mother wa
Johnny ignored his father, as he was just relieved that his healing power and fire power helped him survive his father's attack. His fire power apparently gave him some resistance to fire, and his healing power healed whatever managed to get past his fire resistance. He took advantage of his father's shock to lunge at the man and return the favor.He landed several punches before his father recovered from his shock and shielded against the punches. Johnny didn't let up and continued to barrage his father with punches, hoping to get past his defenses and continue his original onslaught. After some time, his father apparently had enough and roared as he unleased a wave of flames. With a grunt, Johnny was forced back, though he was unharmed.His father glared venomously at him as he snarled, "That's enough. I'm going to end this."With a bravo that he didn't completely feel, Johnny said, "Just try it. You're just going to fail again."As his father was about
While Johnny didn't like the idea, he didn't have much of a choice. Sticking around wasn't going to do anything except waste time and put himself in possible danger. With no one else with him, he had no one he could rely on if he was suddenly attacked by a bunch of monsters, which was a serious risk. He didn't want to take that risk."Where do we meet up?" Johnny asked."We'll try to continue with the plan and head for the head of the family's office," Frank said.Just as Johnny was about to protest that idea, he heard a loud animalistic roar. He frantically checked his surroundings and didn't see anything. Before he could feel relieved, he heard screams and shouts on the other side. He placed his hands on the rubble, hoping to at least find a small opening to get a better look at what was happening."Frank? What's going on? Are you okay?" Johnny asked frantically.There was no response except more shouting and fighting. He was completely in the da
Even though Johnny had said he wasn't going to let the matter go, wasn't it a bit much to storm the Burns family's home just days after his decision? He thought it would take a couple weeks to prepare. They couldn't take down such a powerful family in just a few days. What was everyone thinking? He wondered if they all had lost their minds."Johnny, is something the matter?" Frank asked as the car headed for their intended destination. "You don't look good.""I just can't believe we're moving in now," Johnny said."You have nothing to worry about. Everything has already been sorted out," FRank said."Are you really sure we're good to go?" Johnny asked."You have nothing to worry about. The plan was already in motion before you decided to throw your hat in the ring. It's been modified to include your involvement," Frank said.Frank might have said it to reassure Johnny, but it didn't in the slightest. Johnny had been at the meeting discussing