I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship, so I Became a Space Mercenary - Chapter 293: Shopping and Countermeasures

[Congratulations! You are the Pioneer of the Mutation Abyss. Brace yourself - The Apocalypse begins now…][Main Quest: Eliminate Fellow Survivors][Description: The strong will thrive, and the weak will perish]Theo was never lucky. Bullied for his appearance and always underestimated, he lived his life as a pushover. But everything changed the night a meteorite struck him. His life takes a drastic turn.Chosen by the Mutation Abyss, he gains access to a mysterious system, granting him an evolutionary advantage.The world is doomed. An infection is spreading, turning the world into a deadly battleground. As the human Infectees mutate and portals to unknown realms open, otherworldly forces threaten humanity’s survival.Theo must harness his new abilities to survive in this brutal world. But in a place where strength is everything, will Theo keep his humanity, or become something worse?

For as long as he could remember, life had always been cruel.A young man in his early twenties—his name now lost to the past—was dealt a life filled with misfortunes.A cold, empty apartment, a soul-crushing job, and, finally, a terminal diagnosis.With nothing left to live for, his only comfort had been escaping into the fictional world of Path of the Elemental Sage, a story of heroes, magic, and survival.But fate had other plans.When death finally came for him, he didn’t fade into nothingness.Instead, he awoke in the world he had only read about—a world of chaos and danger where death lurked around every corner.The air smelled of magic, the sky was filled with possibilities.{«[Status Window]»}[Name: Lyrium Blackwood][Age: 16][Rank: D-][Skills: None][Elements: None}At first, confusion filled his mind.Who was Lyrium Blackwood?Why was he here?And why did this body feel so different?But as his memories returned, so did the realization: this wasn’t some blessing or second chance.He wasn’t reincarnated as the protagonist.No destined savior.No cheat abilities.No grand fate.He was just another mob, a face in the crowd meant to exist and die without leaving a mark.But this young man—the one who had left his old name and life behind—wasn’t the kind of person to roll over and accept his fate.“This world is dangerous. The protagonist isn’t the only one fighting for survival here,”he muttered, his red eyes deep and sharp.Unlike the naïve characters in the story, he knew the stakes.He’d read the web novel.He’d seen the carnage, the betrayals, the disasters that wiped out entire cities.And if there was one thing he refused to be, it was a pawn in someone else’s game.“I don’t care about glory. I don’t care about saving the world. All I care about is surviving—no matter what it takes.”Lyrium Blackwood wasn’t planning to live quietly or avoid danger.The only way to survive in this brutal world was to rise to the top.To be strong enough to stand above both heroes and villains.Using his knowledge of the story’s events and his iron will, Lyrium sets out on a relentless path to surpass the protagonist.Whether through clever manipulation, brutal training, or sheer desperation, he’ll climb higher and higher, leaving nothing to chance.But the deeper he gets, the more he realizes that this isn’t just the story he once read.As fate pushes him closer to the heart of the narrative, Lyrium begins to suspect that his reincarnation wasn’t an accident—and the world itself might be watching him.“I don’t care who or what stands in my way. If the story wants to kill me, I’ll rewrite the ending myself.”----------------------------------I apologize for any mistakes in this story, as it’s my first attempt at writing a novel.

Jason, a young man who died after getting involved in a brutal accident that killed him reincarnated into the exact novel he was reading on the night he died.He was reincarnated into the novel he was reading before his untimely death, as a baby who had just been birthed successfully. From his birth he was shown no love due to his non-existent aptitude in magic.Lucky for him, he awakened the Talent system.A system that allowed him to copy talents; skills that individuals excelled at, the skills that made said individuals the cream of the crop. With the exact same mastery of the person he copied it from.The system when trying to increase his aptitude for mana only managed to decrease it even lower blessed him with nature energy to passively strengthen himself.With no magic and a system that allows him to copy talents, watch Jason climb through the ranks of the world and become the strongest!...[Host can choose a talent to copy: Null eyes, War God's Embrace, 30 Blade movements, Advanced War Tactics]

William Scott, a soldier, returned to the city with the goal to live the rest of his life peacefully. He would practice the lifestyle of a retired person.

However, his mother set him up on blind dates time and again. Unwilling to keep up with her arrangements, he was left with no choice but to pretend to be in a relationship with Yvette Quinn, a female CEO who was also forced by her parents to go on blind dates.

To his surprise, this was only the beginning of many troubles to come. Before he could get to settling those troubles, he first needed to sort out an even more pressing problem.

The girl looked at him and asked, “Take a guess. Am I the elder cousin or the younger cousin? As my boyfriend, you should be able to differentiate between the two of us, right?”

His contract girlfriend was so unprofessional. Although they had an agreement, she was always asking her younger cousin to take her place and pretend to be her around him.

What should he do about that?