Living on his own was nothing like Adam had expected. When he'd moved out from his dad's place 4 years ago he'd thought that he was finally going to be living the good life, but the only job he'd been able to get was working at a local warehouse. Just buying rent and groceries each month took up most of his paycheck. As much as living in his father's household had been repressive and miserable, his basic needs had always been taken care of.
He'd been excited to finally date and get a girlfriend, but even there his expectations had been let down. He'd managed to date a couple different girls, but no relationship had lasted more than six months. He knew he should probably get a second job and save up enough money for school or a better place, but he just never had the motivation.
The day that changed his life came without warning. He was lying in bed on a Saturday morning when his vision suddenly flashed with a bright light. When his sight returned, Adam blinked in confusion as he stared up at the screen above him.
[Greetings! You have been selected to participate in the Galactic Enhancement Program.]
[Confirm: Yes/No]
Galactic what program? Adam sat up groggily, the screen hovered in front of his vision like some kind of virtual reality animation. Was this some kind of VR thing a friend had set up to prank him with. He tried to touch the screen with his hand, but it just passed straight through it. He focused on the "yes" selection and the screen suddenly disappeared.
[Congratulations! You've accepted placement as a candidate for Galactic Enhancement. You have three basic enhancements and one advanced enhancement remaining. Make your selections from the list below.
Pick three:
Increased height (3%)
Instant money (20000$)
Increased athleticism (10%)
Increased strength (10%)
Increase penis size (20%)]
Adam laughed, if this was a game, it had options centered around wish fulfillment. Who wouldn't want to be taller, richer, and more athletic with a bigger dick if they had the power. The game said he could only pick three options though. He laughed and selected Increased height, instant money and the "increase penis size" option. The screen flashed and disappeared. He chuckled again, he'd never thought of himself as having a small dick, but at just under 6'' he'd always just wished he'd had a bit more.
He felt a weird jolt running through his body, and had a moment of terror as he reached down to his crotch. He was shocked by what he felt. His dick was definitely bigger, girthier, not doubled in size or anything, but maybe around... 20% larger? He stood up and looked in the mirror, he couldn't be sure, but he did maybe look a bit taller. He was maybe 5'10'' before, but looked like he was almost 6' now. He was almost certainly taller. Did that selection thing really work? One more thing to test. He pulled out his phone to look at his bank account. He had barely enough to cover rent last month and he knew that he maybe had two-hundred bucks in there.
The screen loaded and 20,180$ popped on to the display. Did he really get that money? Maybe this was a scam, he knew scammers sometimes sent you money then got you to send it back.
He had no time to ponder this further because the screen flashed again.
[Advanced enhancement, pick one:
Super speed
Super strength
Hypnotic suggestion (5x day)
Mind reading
Telekinesis]
This was wild, these were superpowers now. He would have thought this was some kind of trick, but based on the last selections he might actually get some kind of ability. He considered the options, and to be honest they were all tempting. In the end however, the right choice for him was clear. He'd always thought the characters with this power should be the strongest in comics and movies, but somehow they never quite lived up to his expectations. He selected Hypnotic Suggestion. As soon as he made the selection a new window box opened in his vision.
[Hypnotic Suggestion: The user can empower a spoken suggestion to make the listener think it is their own belief. Can be used to compel actions and behaviors, but actions that deviate too far from the target's current mental state can be resisted. Successful suggestions will be incorporated naturally into the target's personality. No one will consciously remember anything you say when you are making the suggestion. This ability can only be used a limited number of times daily, refreshing at midnight. All unused charges are lost.]
This was incredible. Based on that description it sounded as if you couldn't just command someone to walk off a bridge unless they already wanted to do it, but Adam was already thinking about all the possibilities. Not that he thought any of this was real, but it was fun to imagine.
[Based on your selections, and an analysis of your being, a quest will be generated to allow you to reach your true potential]
Well that's a little weird, I wonder what that's about? Adam thought to himself. Was this galactic enhancement thing developing some type of self-help program for him?
[Waiting]
[Quest generated: you must find a woman aged 18 years or older and have an orgasm with your penis inside her vagina. WARNING! You have 12hrs to complete this quest. Failure to complete the quest will result in the immediate destruction of your world.]
What was this?! Adam's heart immediately sank from the high he'd been riding only moments ago. Obviously there had to have been a catch. He'd unthinkingly jumped into some alien death game. Was this a joke? Some VR prank?
First things first, he needed to figure out if this superpower actually worked. He composed himself and walked out into the living room to see his roommate.
"Hey Alan, what are your plans for the weekend?"
Alan had been Adam's roommate for the past two years, he was a bit of a hippy, but cleaned up after himself and paid the rent on time. The man blinked a couple times before responding, "Oh not a lot to be honest man, I actually think I'm gonna try and catch up on some shows." Alan would sometimes leave for the whole weekend to camp out of his van. Having the apartment to himself every other weekend was one perk of having Alan as a roommate. Unfortunately when he was around he generally parked himself in the living room and didn't move a whole lot.
Well time to test it out. Focusing on the ability, he could sense the likelihood of different prompts to take effect. Something like "sit on the couch and watch movies all weekend," would be very likely to take effect, and something like "jump out the window face first" would be much more likely to be resisted. Certain commands like "kill yourself" seemed completely impossible. If the command was too long or complicated it also looked like it wouldn't work.