The Allbright System - A Sci-Fi Progression LitRPG Story

The world around Thea seemed to freeze, as if time itself had simply stopped; as if the very idea of it had ceased to exist.

The signals sent by her body had no way of reaching her brain, for in a place without time, nothing could progress—no thought, no feelings, nothing.

An eternity, yet only an instant, passed.

THUMP

Suddenly, a forceful jolt pushed her away from Karania, as if an unseen barrier had violently repelled her.

Panicking thoughts swirled as her mind was inundated with a deluge of sensations, causing her vision to blur and a piercing headache to throb mercilessly.

One thing was abundantly clear amid the chaos—something was grotesquely wrong. The marines around her, including Karania, seemed ensnared in time's embrace—or lack thereof, frozen and lifeless.

THUMP

“Fuck me, what is happening?!” she whispered, her voice quaking with dread, as she trudged towards Karania. The air around her felt viscous, like moving through a morass of thick gel, each step an agonising struggle. Slowly, she inched her way, bridging the seemingly endless space between her and her friend.

But as she neared her destination, another wave of change pulsed through.

THUMP

Thea found herself standing five metres away from Karania, sweating profusely from the intense effort she had just exerted to get closer, but this time around, the marines and Karania herself seemed to be back to normal.

She observed as Karania continued her focused medical treatment on the patient in front of her, as if nothing had changed. She saw how the marines around her continued their conversations, previously frozen mid-sentence, as if they had never stopped speaking.

THUMP

Dread gnawed at the edges of her mind.

‘Why does everything feel so...disconnected?’

The world around her felt like a distorted reflection, the gulf between her consciousness and her surroundings ever-widening.

It was as though she was trapped in a nightmarish echo, watching her own actions unfold from a distant vantage point. Determined to breach this chasm, she willed herself forward, one step at a time, trying desperately to reach Karania, trying to get answers that she knew Karania wouldn’t be able to provide.

THUMP

A baritone, chilling rhythm echoed in Thea's ears, momentarily interrupting her thoughts. As she tried to comprehend her sudden shift in location, a marine's voice, laced with clear annoyance, reached her ears. "What's the matter with you, Cyan?"

‘When did I get here?’ She thought to herself, as she realised she was now less than two metres away from Karania.

She turned to face him, taking in his posture of impatience. From his perspective, she probably appeared lost, or maybe even suspicious. While she could understand his irritation, the cold, dismissive way he addressed her by “Cyan” set her teeth on edge.

THUMP

Wait, how did that random marine even know she was one…?

Scrutinising the marine, who was simply sitting on his assigned seat and waiting for her to reply, Thea couldn’t find anything off about him. He looked like a normal UHF marine to her.

‘I could kill him before anyone could stop me,’ Thea thought to herself, feeling the familiar weight of her Icicle inside the holster at her side.

‘Wait… what? Why would I even think ab—’

THUMP THUMP

A barrage of voices erupted around her, creating a maelstrom of sound.

Karania's voice pierced through the clamor, laced with alarm, “Thea, what the fuck are you doing?!”

“Put the weapon down, Private!”

“Stand down, now!”

“Damn it!”

“Are we under attack?!”

Thea felt as though she was submerged in water, the voices muffled and distant.

‘What weapon? What the fuck are they talking about…?’

THUMP

Thea’s awareness sharpened with chilling clarity, and she found herself gripping her Icicle tightly.

Its low hum vibrated in her hand, suggesting a recent discharge.

She followed its aim and was confronted by the horrifying sight of a gaping hole in the head of the marine who had previously spoken to her.

“What... What did I do?!” she gasped, a tremor of shock overtaking her voice.

The atmosphere in the transport was electric. Marines had sprung to their feet, weapons trained squarely on Thea, their eyes filled with a mix of fear, confusion, and anger.

Amidst the tension, Karania lunged in front of Thea, positioning herself as a protective barrier between her friend and the marines, her voice sharp and frantic as she attempted to defuse the escalating situation.

“Everyone, calm the fuck down! I’m a medic, let me see what's wrong with her! I will—”

THUMP

‘...that noise?’ Thea heard herself think, which confused her even more.

Why was she hearing herself think, without being able to actually know what she thought…? Was that even possible…?

Karania's desperate voice cleaved through the dissonance, “Thea! Why?! Why did you shoot him?!”

THUMP

Bewilderment clouded Thea’s understanding.

‘I shot a marine... But why?’

Attempting to respond to Karania, her words came out distorted, sounding distant and fractured as if spoken through a shattered mirror, “I... I can’t... Something’s... not right, Kara.”

THUMP

'That sensation... Why does it keep happening?' Thea's thoughts seemed amplified in her own ears.

"Private, drop the weapon NOW!" The urgent command from a marine behind her resonated, underscored by the unmistakable presence of a rifle's muzzle aimed directly at her.

‘He’s annoying. I could take out half this transport before anyone could fire off a shot…’ Thea thought, with a confidence in it that spoke of knowing the truth.

THUMP

With a jerking motion, Thea forced herself to lower the Icicle that she'd been pointing at the now lifeless marine.

"Kara... my mind is... Something in my chest, I can't..."

‘No. Not half. I could kill them all.’

THUMP THUMP

"Thea!" Karania's voice cut through the fog enveloping Thea's mind, a beacon of clarity in her confusion.

"What’s up, Kara?" She replied nonchalantly, feeling slightly more in control than before.

Looking into Karania's eyes, a mix of disbelief, shock, and a trace of genuine terror stared back—a terror Thea never imagined her steadfast friend could display.

Despite the chaos around her, Thea felt an unsettling, icy calm settle within.

THUMP

‘Huh?’

Thea realised she was in pain. Looking down at herself to check for the reason, she realised with abject horror that she was riddled with holes, her left arm torn off, her legs perforated.

Her legs…?

THUMP

She found herself collapsed on the cold metal floor, a scant metre separating her from a petrified Karania.

"Kara, what is happening?! Help me, please!" Thea implored her friend, her words trembling in the inexplicable chaos enveloping them.

As Thea's vision slowly sharpened, the sight before her was beyond belief.

The interior of the transport was once again frozen—this time quite literally.

It was as though space and time had paused, plunging everything to a temperature nearing absolute zero in a heartbeat, with ice crystals adorning every available surface.

The marines, who had previously pointed their weapons menacingly at her, had been reduced to fragile ice sculptures — and then shattered. Their remnants lay scattered, transformed into minute, icy fragments littering the frozen floor of the transport.

THUMP

“I… I don’t know what’s going on with you… I’m sorry, Thea.”

THUMP

She found herself looking up at Karania, who was pointing a gun at her face.

‘Why is Kara threatening me…?’

Karania’s voice was laced with confusion and emotional torment as she muttered, “I don’t know how else…”

THUMP THUMP

"Kara, wait! I… I can—"

THUMP THUMP THUMP

Karania tightened her grip on the trigger, the bullet from the pistol she had retrieved from a nearby marine, obliterating Thea’s brain within a fraction of a second, causing her friend's body to slump lifelessly onto the cold, hard ground.

Tears cascaded down Karania's cheeks, the emotional burden of her actions and the sheer confusion of what had just transpired too immense to bear. With a grim determination, she angled the weapon at her own temple and squeezed the trigger.

THUMP

From somewhere, two cyan-coloured eyes watched the moment unfold.

THUMP

- POV: Private Ryan Ocart -

With the night vision mode activated in his helmet’s visor, the azure trees around him took on a shimmering, silvery hue, bathed in the soft light of dawn. This fleeting blend of colours never failed to bring a smile to Ryan's face.

‘Could be worse gigs than shuttling marines to the frontlines—especially during the mesmerising shifts between dusk and dawn in this T1 material zone,’ he mused, appreciating the small moments of serenity.

His heart had nearly stopped when he first learned his assigned assessment was of Platinum-ranked difficulty.

“Why do I always get the short end of the stick?” He had lamented. However, the universe had other plans. He found himself in a comfortable role, and he was certain he was racking up substantial Credits and Merit.

After all, ferrying troops efficiently contributed significantly to the UHF war machinery.

Driving the hover-transporter, particularly the coveted "Sidoreno Mk3" variant, was the cherry on top. It was a model he'd dreamt of piloting, but his position in the lower rungs of the UHF AD didn’t provide him the privilege of choice. Owning one was out of the question as well; their licensing fees were astronomical.

But fate had a way of evening the scales, and in this assessment, luck seemed to be on Ryan's side for once.

As he smoothly navigated the Sidoreno, adjusting the wheel minutely to bypass an uncleared section of the forest track the UHF carved out, the world around him abruptly changed.

The familiar palette of his night vision transformed into an overwhelming wash of violet, as though every other hue had been erased from existence.

Only years of rigorous training, which included an intensive month-long session of maintaining vehicular control amidst sudden environmental anomalies, kept the Sidoreno from veering off course.

"What in the... Jona, are you seeing this?" he exclaimed.

"Yeah, just toggled off my night-vision, and everything's still bathed in the same shade. Why's everything looking... pink?"

"It's more violet than pink, Jona, pink is more—" Ryan started, attempting to inject some levity, his usual coping mechanism when things didn’t go quite as planned.

However, before he could dive into nuances of colour, a shrill emergency chime sounded in his head, making Ryan's heart jump to his throat.

'Not now,' he internally groaned, deftly navigating his interface to pinpoint the source of the alarm. His seasoned navigation quickly pulled up the corresponding message, leading him straight to the [Mission] tab inside his interface.

His pulse quickened; he had never been directly assigned a mission from the UHF, especially not a critical one.

But the directive staring back at him was clear—and gravely serious.