Ch 1 - Reborn After Lightning

"Ouch..."

Farouk cried out softly, trying to move his hand to his head, but his body wouldn’t cooperate; a mix of pain, itching, and numbness left it still. It felt like his arms and legs belonged to someone else, lying on the ground like stiff sticks.

"Am I dead?" His mind was still all over the place. He remembered being out during a thunderstorm subsequently getting struck by lightning, a big shock of blue electricity, and then everything went dark.

His thoughts were all mixed up; it felt like his memories were all messed up.

Trying hard to open his eyes wider, Farouk tried to understand what was happening around him.

"Thud!"

Another loud noise and his head hit the bed's headboard, causing more pain before he blacked out again.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed, maybe a day or a few days, when he finally woke up and started feeling his body again.

He heard a soft sound of a door closing.

"Did Mom leave already?" A girl's voice asked.

"Yes, she had breakfast before us and went out to buy groceries. I'm going to visit your aunt soon," a man's voice replied, followed by silence.

Farouk found himself in a small bedroom, facing a desk with a pen in hand, writing on a piece of paper. 

A bright light came through the window, rain falling outside, soaking the roof of the neighboring building.

Then, like a big flood, a lot of different thoughts rushed into his mind.

He groaned without thinking, holding his head. A bunch of new memories came into his mind all at once.

"Spectra? My... my name is Spectra. Did I go to another reality?"

Unable to think about anything else, he started to look through the memories that had just come into his mind, his head still hurting.

This world looked like Europe before there were big weapons. Spectra was from a middle-class family, 16 years old, with parents who worked for a rubber company. 

His sister, Mira, was part of the family too. Even though life here was like in 20th-century Europe, their purple hair and wine-colored eyes made them stand out. 

The powerful countries were not Japan or the United States, but places like the Grunade Federation and the Jampire Empire.

Even though things had different names here, they were a lot like Earth. People went to school and everything. 

Spectra went to Prime Nobles Academy, but he struggled in school, even though his family sacrificed a lot for him.

"You'll go to school soon. Be good, study hard, and try to get into college," Mr. Fabiano said at breakfast. "And Mira, focus on school, not fiction."

"Yes, Daddy," Mira said quietly, showing she was a student at the academy.

As they cleaned up, Farouk thought about their lives and what lay ahead.

"Have you seen my history book?" Mira asked from her room.

"Nope," Farouk, or Spectra, said without really thinking, getting ready for school.

Feeling relieved, Spectra opened the window, feeling the cool breeze and looking at the strange new world below.

He realized he was really in a different world, very different from what he knew.

Most people here had blond or silver hair and spoke a language like English. 

Spectra, now a teenager, faced a simple future of exams and hoping for a good job.

"If I wasn't sick, maybe I wouldn't be here," he thought sadly. This wasn't the exciting adventure he had hoped for.

With a small smile, he decided to focus on getting better.

With their backpacks, the siblings left for school, joining the fast pace of life in this new world.

Spectra found a seat at the back of the bus with his sister. He looked at the students sitting in front of them and saw that they all wore Prime Academy’s uniforms. The girls dressed like his sister, wearing white t-shirts, black miniskirts, and black leggings.

On the other hand, the boys wore stylish slim-fit white shirts, black trousers, and black shoes. They looked neat.

The students chatted in groups, laughter filling the air.

Before long, the bus stopped again, and two more academy students boarded. This pattern repeated at several stops, until two handsome boys hopped on, chatting animatedly; one tall and slim, the other sturdy. They exuded confidence and charm, catching the girls' attention.

Spectra sat next to his sister and noticed her glancing at the newcomers. He compared himself to them but sighed, feeling ordinary compared to their allure. He glanced at them once more before turning away.

There were many ordinary guys like him scattered around the bus, overshadowed by those two; they were just background characters.

Spectra watched as the scenery flew past outside the window. Street lamps lined the tidy streets, with mostly ordinary concrete houses, occasionally interspersed with white marble buildings. The architecture resembled Europe's. Cars sped by from time to time.

"Mom and Dad said we can't go home next week, so we'll have to stay at school over the weekend. They're going on a business trip and might not be back this week," Mira whispered.

"Got it," he nodded. "Oh, and Dad got you a teddy bear for your improved grades, right?"

"So what?" Mira turned to him. "If your grades went up, Mom would get you something too."

Spectra smiled and stopped talking. Suddenly, he noticed five red transparent numbers slowly appearing at the bottom of his vision.

Spectra restrained his smile, shocked for a moment. He glanced around, but no one seemed to notice. Those laughing continued, and those chatting carried on. Beside him, Mira pulled out a history textbook and started studying quietly.

"What's this, a perk of traveling to another reality?" Spectra had read about it in web novels before. He thought he hadn't received any, but then these strange numbers appeared. They were red symbols that only he could see.

He focused on the five symbols: "Strength 0.31, Agility 0.22, Vitality 0.27, Intelligence 0.32, Potential 25%."

After reading them, a short memory suddenly flooded into his mind.

Spectra closed his eyes, standing still in his seat. When he reopened them, he felt enlightened. "Did I gain superpowers from electrocution and transmigration?" He remembered the whole process clearly, from the mutation to the development of his ability.

"When the Potential attribute reaches 100%, I can increase one of the other four attributes?" Spectra puzzled over the 25% Potential, finding it hard to believe. "Isn’t this like playing RPG games in real life?"

He knew this world was behind in technology, still using melee weapons alongside firearms. If this ability could improve his attributes, his future would be extraordinary compared to ordinary people.

"But this can't be just a dream…" Spectra thought with a wry smile. "Maybe I'm going crazy thinking about having superpowers."

The bus suddenly stopped.

"We’re here, everyone off the bus," the driver announced gruffly.

The students began to disembark one by one. Mira nudged Spectra, bringing him back from his thoughts, and got off first, carrying her backpack.

A line of black school buses was parked near a huge green lawn, while Prime Academy students moved toward a group of buildings on the other side, all dressed alike.

At the far end of the lawn stood a cluster of buildings. The main one had a white dome with yellow patterns, surrounded by towering buildings with white domes and dark yellow patterns. In the distance, similar buildings loomed. Many students and some teachers moved between them.

On the edge of the lawn, a skinny boy left one of the buses. He had purple hair, and red eyes, and looked listless.

Spectra took in the academy’s facilities, noting the tall white fences surrounding it. The buses entered through a white arched gate and exited after dropping off the students.

"This is a lot like Earth's schools." Spectra followed the others toward the buildings across the lawn.

"Spectra is from Grade 9, class 2…" He moved based on his memories, quickly finding his way to the left side of the vast campus. Stopping in front of a trapezoidal building, he climbed the stairs.