Speed Is King

"What's wrong brother?" Jessica called out from behind him.

"Nothing! In fact everything is fine. You can come over and take a look." Elliot said.

Jessica made her way slowly towards Elliot and the drones.

"Wow… Food, machines and weapons. Pretty good. What are those pills you're holding?" Jessica asked curiously.

"Here, you should eat them and feel the effects for yourself." Elliot smiled as he gave Jessica six speed pills and three strength pills.

"Okay." Jessica took the pills from Elliot without hesitation. She had complete trust in Elliot and had no issues eating a bunch of pills he offered without even knowing what they did.

The pills were so small that Jessica had no problems eating all nine of them at one go.

Gulp.

Elliot ate his own six speed pills and two strength pills as well.

Gulp.

[Received 6 Reflexes from Speed Pill.]

[Received 2 Strength from Strength Pill.]

"How do you feel?" Elliot asked Jessica.

"I feel much stronger! And everything seems to be much… slower?" Jessica blinked in confusion. She raised her right hand and waved it in front of her.

Slowly at first, and then her hands moved so fast that it was a blur.

"They're not slower. You're just much faster now." Elliot smiled in satisfaction. "Those pills you just ate add to your strength and speed. You should be as strong as six grown men and six times faster than them now."

Jessica was much stronger after eating the Speed and Strength pills. With the 2.9 Strength she got from Elliot's Bestow and the 3 strength pills and her own basic strength which was probably at around 0.5, she had a new total of 6.4 strength.

Her Reflexes should be at 6.4 as well, assuming her starting reflexes was a reasonable 0.4 points.

"Good." Jessica simply said as she clenched her fist tightly.

Elliot had no need to ask her what she meant by it. He felt the exact same way.

"Let's open the final Resource Box together. It's a Triple S Resource Box. The rarest and highest grade Resource Box." Elliot made his way to the final and purple-coated drone and beckoned Jessica over.

"Wow." Jessica said with the slightest tinge of excitement showing through her sadness.

"Let's see. Energy bars! Twenty of them. Excellent!" Elliot exclaimed happily.

"What are energy bars?"

"Energy bars immediately refill our energy. Each bar will refill our body's energy back to the full no matter how depleted our energies were. It is crucial for us, as we would need to move around often to get to Resource Boxes and Car drops." Elliot explained.

"Car drops huh." Jessica remarked and the glint of excitement finally pierced through the cloud of grief which had dominated her eyes for the past few minutes.

"With your strength and reflexes, you will definitely have no problems participating in the races." Elliot told her. "We'll secure two cars for next month's race and I'll teach you how to drive them.

The first race wouldn't be very dangerous as most of the participants wouldn't have secured many weapons. The worst they could do is probably crash their car into yours. You'll be fine with this armor and your great strength."

"Okay brother." Jessica nodded grimly but also in great determination.

"Okay. Next… 20 Stealth Communicators! Excellent!! This truly is worthy of being a Triple S Resource Box. The Stealth Communicator will allow you to enter and exit stealth mode at will and to communicate MENTALLY with the other 19 Stealth Communicators within the Box regardless of distance and location. With this, We'll always know where each other is." Elliot beamed happily and quickly installed it on Jessica's wrist before installing one on himself.

"And finally… … …"

"What is it brother? Is it good?" Jessica asked rather impatiently when he saw his brother gawk at the final item silently.

"It's…" Elliot rubbed his eyes as though he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"It's an S-Grade Phoenix System…" Elliot finally mumbled as he gingerly lifted the little box which contained a single large red pill.

"Phoenix… System?" The excitement in Jessica's eyes was palpable at that moment.

Elliot passed the pill silently to Jessica, who took it gingerly with both hands.

She studied the pill for a few moments and then looked up at Elliot.

Elliot nodded.

Jessica nodded as well and plopped the pill into her mouth. It instantly melted in her mouth and entered her body very rapidly.

She blinked once.

Then twice.

She nodded slightly but her face frowned a little bit.

And then her eyes opened wide in surprise.

A red mist appeared from her body and began to swirl around her.

Whooooshhh!!!

After one full minute, the mist disappeared, leaving behind a slightly bewildered looking but otherwise outwardly unchanged Jessica.

"How do you feel?" Elliot asked her quietly.

"I… I feel fine. I have a weird little AI in my head now. She's telling me all sorts of information about the System." Jessica said and blinked again as she processed the information her AI was giving her.

"And a bunch of stats. And several missions to accomplish. But most importantly, I just gained thirty levels because I had gone through "death and rebirth" which gave me alot of XP. Now I have a bunch of points to use and a bunch of skills to learn and a bunch of items to buy…" Jessica answered her brother whose jaw immediately dropped once more when he heard his sister's answer.

"And not only that, my "death and rebirth" had triggered a System Upgrade quest."

"Level thirty AND a System Upgrade quest already? Wow, Jessica. Well done! This is it! This is your chance to get strong! You must make good use of this opportunity and get stronger!" Elliot placed his hands on Jessica's shoulders and congratulated her warmly.

"Yes, but…" Jessica hesitated and frowned.

"What is it? You can tell me." Elliot said to Jessica seriously.

"The System Upgrade quest is called Cry of the Black Phoenix.. And in the description it says…" Jessica took a deep breath.