Adam stepped out of his apartment building, leaving the echoes of the first Fire Corporation team meeting behind him. The morning air felt crisp and cool against his skin, carrying the faint sounds of the city waking up around his quiet, remote neighborhood. He felt a renewed sense of purpose, a powerful drive fueled by the commitment of his new team – Kim, Monica, Lee, Lisa, and Raven.
Their decision to take shares instead of high salaries, their immediate focus on tasks, their shared belief in his vision… it felt solid, real. The empire he dreamed of building no longer felt like a solitary fantasy; it felt like a tangible possibility they would create together.
His mind was already busy processing the tasks ahead. Lee handling the legal paperwork for Red Fire Refinery. Lisa discreetly scouting potential buyers using the 'free first batch' strategy.
Raven quietly recruiting essential personnel. Monica overseeing the operational structure and budget. Kim leading the charge, ensuring the refinery itself became functional. And Adam… Adam had volunteered to handle the 'procurement' of necessary equipment, both for the office and the refinery support systems, promising to do so under an incredibly tight budget, relying on his secret Copy & Paste ability.
He started walking towards the nearest bus stop, his steps lighter than they had been in days, despite the lingering aches from his beating. The weight of responsibility felt heavy, yes, but it was now shared. He wasn't alone anymore. As he walked along the familiar, slightly worn street, his thoughts churned with plans.
He needed to figure out the best way to 'procure' that equipment. Copying the computers in his apartment seemed like a good start for the office needs. But the refinery support systems… that might require another trip back to Green Refinery, or finding detailed schematics or images he could copy from.
He reached the bus stop and waited, his mind still deep in strategic planning. The bus arrived after a few minutes, its brakes hissing as it pulled over. Adam climbed aboard, paid his fare with some loose change (saving his larger bills), and found an empty seat by the window. He needed to head towards a business district closer to the city center, maybe visit a library for research, or scout potential locations for a small, discreet office space Kim could use temporarily.
As the bus rumbled along its route, gradually picking up more passengers, Adam gazed absently out the window. The familiar streets of his neighborhood gave way to busier roads, warehouses, small factories, and then more commercial areas. His mind was still half-focused on Fire Corporation, on equipment lists, on budgets, on the need for secrecy…
Suddenly, his train of thought was violently interrupted. As the bus rounded a busy intersection, Adam's eyes were drawn to a chaotic scene on the side of the road ahead.
A severe car accident. Two cars had collided, and the front end of one was completely mangled, twisted metal gleaming jaggedly in the sun, shattered glass sparkling across the pavement like deadly confetti. Smoke or steam drifted up from the wreckage. People were gathering on the sidewalk, pointing, murmuring.
Emergency sirens wailed in the distance, growing closer. Police cars and an ambulance were already arriving, lights flashing, officers rushing to secure the scene and paramedics hurrying towards the damaged vehicles.
It was a shocking, jarring sight, a sudden intrusion of chaos and potential tragedy into the ordinary morning commute. Adam watched, momentarily forgetting his own plans, caught up in the immediate drama of the accident. He saw the strength of the impact in the crushed metal, the fragility of life highlighted by the sudden violence.
And then, in that split second, watching the aftermath of the crash, a completely new, electrifying thought sparked in Adam’s mind, seemingly out of nowhere. It was triggered, perhaps, by the thought of physical force, of impact, of the difference between the crushed car and the unharmed bystanders.
"Wait a minute…" the thought flashed, bright and startling. "My power… Copy & Paste… I've copied objects. Water bottles, money, gold bars, pictures of machines, even an entire factory building. Physical things. But… what else can it copy?" His mind raced, connecting dots in a new way. "Could I copy… intangible things? Like… skills? Knowledge from a book instantly? Or even… someone's physical abilities? Their strength? Their speed?"
The idea felt both thrilling and incredibly dangerous. Copying physical attributes? Like downloading superpowers? It sounded like something straight out of a comic book. His ability had already transformed his world, giving him resources and capabilities far beyond normal means.
But the possibility of copying personal traits – skill, strength, speed, endurance – opened up an entirely new dimension of potential. Could he make himself stronger? Faster? Could he copy the skills of an expert engineer to help with the refinery? Could he copy the fighting skills of a martial artist to protect himself from John Walker?
His heart began to pound with excitement at the mere possibility. He needed to test it. Right now.
He quickly scanned the other passengers on the bus, then looked out the window again, searching for a suitable 'target' – not a person directly, that felt too invasive, too risky, maybe even impossible. But an image of a person? He had copied the pumpjack from a magazine photo… could he copy attributes from a picture too?
His eyes caught sight of a man standing near the bus stop they were just passing. A typical office worker – mid-thirties maybe, wearing a crisp white shirt, neat trousers, glasses perched on his nose. Nothing remarkable about him, except for the magazine clutched tightly in his hand as he waited. Adam’s focus zoomed in on the magazine cover.
It featured a striking, dynamic photograph of a famous athlete – maybe a sprinter or a decathlete – caught mid-motion. The athlete’s muscles were sharply defined, coiled with power, their body a perfect specimen of peak physical condition. The image radiated strength, speed, agility, endurance. It was a symbol of human physical excellence. Perfect.
Taking a deep breath, Adam quickly closed his eyes, blocking out the bus interior, the street scenes. He focused his entire mind on the image he had just seen, picturing the athlete on the magazine cover, concentrating on the idea of their physical prowess, their attributes. With clear, deliberate mental intent, he issued the command:
"Copy the physical attributes of the athlete in that photo."
He wasn't sure if it would work, if the system could interpret such an abstract command based on a fleeting visual memory of a picture. But almost immediately, he felt the familiar subtle shift in his perception. A system scan seemed to activate, focused on his mental image of the magazine cover. He could almost 'see' faint blue lines and digital icons overlaying the athlete's form in his mind's eye, highlighting muscles, limbs, capturing data. A moment later, a blue notification window appeared clearly in his vision, even with his eyes closed:
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
[Analyzing target image...
Identifying physical attribute data...
Copying target's physical attributes...]
His heart leaped. It was working! The system understood! It was actually scanning and copying the attributes represented by the image! He waited, barely breathing, as the process completed, which took only a second or two. Then, a new window flashed:
[Congratulations! The host has successfully copied the target's physical attributes. Data stored temporarily.]
Below that message, a detailed list appeared, breaking down the copied stats into quantifiable numbers, like something from a video game character sheet:
Copied Athlete Stats:
Speed: 7 points
Strength: 5 points
Intelligence: 5 points (Likely a default or estimated value)
Endurance: 8 points
Flexibility: 9 points
Wisdom: 3 points (Likely another default value)
Adam’s eyes flew open, scanning the numbers displayed in the translucent blue window hovering before him. His heart pounded with excitement. Seven points for speed! Eight for endurance! Nine for flexibility! These numbers felt intuitively high, representing the elite level of the athlete in the picture. Even the strength score of 5 seemed decent. The intelligence and wisdom scores were lower than his own, suggesting the system either made assumptions or focused purely on the physical.
'This is incredible!' Adam thought, a wide grin spreading across his face. 'It actually worked! I copied his stats just from a picture!' The implications were staggering. He could potentially find images of experts in any field – martial artists, sprinters, engineers, scientists – and copy their key attributes! His mind raced with the possibilities. Could he mix and match? Could he add these copied points to his own stats? Imagine his intelligence combined with this athlete's speed and endurance!
But just as his imagination began to soar, another system window popped up abruptly, overlaying the stats list:
[Paste Attributes? Would the host like to paste these copied stat points into their own body?]
[Yes - Replace Current Stats] [No - Discard Copied Stats]
Below this prompt, highlighted in cautionary red text, was a critical warning message:
[Warning! Pasting will completely overwrite host's existing physical attributes. The newly pasted stats will become the host's new base stats. This process is irreversible. Proceed with extreme caution.]
Adam froze, his excitement instantly tempered by the stark warning. Overwrite? Replace? So, it wasn't additive. He couldn't just add the athlete's speed to his own. Pasting these stats would completely replace his current physical profile with the athlete's profile.
"Whoa," he breathed out loud, startling the passenger next to him slightly. "Okay, knew there had to be a catch. A limitation." He had suspected his power wasn't completely limitless, that there would be rules, consequences. This confirmed it. "If I could just stack stats infinitely," he muttered to himself, "I'd become some kind of unbeatable god instantly. Makes sense there's a trade-off."
The trade-off here was huge. To gain the athlete's impressive physical stats, he would have to sacrifice his own. He needed to see what he currently had. With a quick mental command, he brought up his own status window, which appeared helpfully alongside the copied athlete stats:
Host Status:
Name: Adam
Species: Human
Strength: 3 points
Speed: 1.5 points
Endurance: 1 point
Intelligence: 10 points
Flexibility: 0.5 points
Wisdom: 8 points
Adam stared at his own stats, a feeling of disbelief washing over him. Three strength? One point five speed? One endurance? Zero point five flexibility? "Seriously?!" he thought, almost laughing bitterly.
"No wonder I got beaten up so easily! Aside from my brain stats – Intelligence 10 and Wisdom 8, which seem pretty high – my physical stats are absolutely terrible! Like, below average!" The numbers were a stark, objective reminder of his physical weaknesses, the body that had always felt slightly frail compared to others, the body that had failed him against John's thugs.
But then the dilemma became crystal clear. "If I paste the athlete's stats," he realized with a sinking feeling, "I get way better Strength, Speed, Endurance, and Flexibility. But my Intelligence would drop from 10 to 5, and my Wisdom would drop from 8 to 3! That's a massive hit!" His intelligence, his ability to think, plan, strategize, learn quickly – that felt like his real superpower, even more so than the Copy & Paste ability itself sometimes.
And his wisdom, his intuition, his judgment – losing those felt equally dangerous. He couldn't afford to become physically strong if it meant becoming mentally weaker, less capable of outthinking his enemies. He needed a different approach.
A new question, born from desperate hope, popped into his mind. The system allowed him to copy the entire set of attributes. But could he paste them selectively? Could he take just one stat, like strength, and paste only that, adding it to his existing profile or maybe replacing just that one attribute?
It seemed like a long shot, maybe violating the 'overwrite' warning. But he had to try. The potential payoff – enhancing his body without sacrificing his mind – was too great to ignore.
He focused his mind again, concentrating on the copied athlete stats displayed before him. He zeroed in on the Strength: 5 points line. Taking a deep breath, hoping this wouldn't somehow glitch the system or have unintended consequences, he issued a clear, deliberate mental command:
"Paste Strength."
He waited, his heart pounding, half expecting an error message or nothing at all. Instead, instantly, another blue system window flashed:
[Congratulations! The host has successfully pasted the Strength stat (5 points) from the copied data. Host's previous Strength stat (3 points) has been overwritten.]
A moment later, his own status window updated automatically, reflecting the change:
Updated Host Status:
Strength: 5 points (Previously 3)
Speed: 1.5 points
Endurance: 1 point
Intelligence: 10 points
Flexibility: 0.5 points
Wisdom: 8 points
A huge grin broke across Adam’s face. "YES!" he whispered fiercely under his breath.
"It worked! It actually worked!" He could paste individual stats! He could overwrite specific attributes without losing his core mental strengths! The implications were enormous! He could become a physical powerhouse and keep his high intelligence and wisdom! This changed everything!
Feeling emboldened, incredibly curious, and eager to feel the difference, Adam didn't hesitate. He immediately focused on the other physical stats from the copied athlete data. "Okay, let's do the rest," he thought excitedly. He issued another swift mental command:
"Paste Speed, Endurance, and Flexibility."
Again, the system responded instantly. A confirmation window flashed, followed by a rapid flicker in his own status window as the numbers updated one by one:
Final Host Status:
Strength: 5 points
Speed: 7 points (Previously 1.5)
Endurance: 8 points (Previously 1)
Flexibility: 9 points (Previously 0.5)
Intelligence: 10 points (Unchanged)
Wisdom: 8 points (Unchanged)
The moment the final stat updated, Adam felt it. A powerful, undeniable rush of energy surged through his entire body. It wasn't painful; it felt… electric. He felt lighter, stronger, more balanced. His muscles seemed to thrum with newfound potential. His senses felt sharper.
The lingering aches and pains from the beating seemed to fade significantly, overshadowed by this incredible feeling of vitality. He clenched his fists, feeling a raw, unfamiliar strength humming in his arms. He felt like he could run faster, jump higher, endure more than he ever thought possible. His body felt… reborn. Upgraded.
Overwhelmed by the new sensations, the sheer exhilaration of his instantly enhanced physique, Adam acted purely on instinct. Without really thinking, fueled by the sudden surge of power and excitement, he stood up abruptly from his seat on the moving bus. And then, in a moment of unintentional, joyous exuberance, he jumped. Straight up.
His body lifted off the floor of the bus with an ease, a lightness, that felt completely unnatural, almost like flying. He soared slightly higher than he intended, his head nearly brushing the low ceiling of the bus, before landing softly, silently back on his feet, perfectly balanced.
It wasn't a huge jump, maybe only a foot or so off the ground, but the feeling of it – the lack of effort, the surprising buoyancy – was astonishing. It was as if gravity's hold on him had momentarily weakened, a direct result of his dramatically improved physical stats.
Startled by his own spontaneous action and the unexpected result, Adam froze, his eyes wide. He instantly looked around the bus, his cheeks flushing with embarrassment. Had anyone seen that?
Oh, yes. Several people had. The elderly passenger across the aisle was staring at him with wide, bewildered eyes. A couple of teenagers in the seat behind him had stopped talking and were openly gawking, their mouths slightly open.
Even the bus driver glanced back in the rearview mirror, his brow furrowed in confusion at the sudden movement. A few people standing on the sidewalk outside, waiting for the bus to pass, had also clearly seen the strange, sudden jump through the window and were now pointing, looking astonished.
For a brief, awkward moment, Adam felt like a complete idiot, like he had just exposed himself, broken some unspoken rule separating the ordinary from the extraordinary. He quickly sat back down, trying to look nonchalant, pretending nothing unusual had happened, even though his heart was racing with a mixture of leftover excitement and sudden nervousness.
But beneath the embarrassment, the thrill remained. The power to copy and paste physical attributes – selectively, enhancing himself without sacrificing his mind – was now undeniably his.
The possibilities felt limitless. The thrill of his newfound physical prowess, combined with his already sharp intellect and secret copying ability, made his heart race not just with excitement, but with a growing sense of real, tangible power. He wasn't just a schemer with a secret anymore; he was becoming something more.
Something stronger. Something potentially dangerous to those who had wronged him. The game, he realized with a jolt, had just leveled up significantly.
