Sunlight blazed down upon the secluded beach of the small island. The calls of nature and crashing waves were the only sounds to be heard. The beach was a rather serene and relaxing place to be. At least, it should have been.
“Can someone please shut off those damn birds?!” Groaned the man that seemed to have washed up on the shore. The man was lying in the wet sand, wearing nothing but a pair of tattered white pants. His bedraggled appearance, with his unruly mop of brown hair and emaciated body, would have anyone who saw him believing he was a corpse rather than a living, breathing person. He had a pounding headache, which isn’t too much of a surprise when one had just awakened from unconsciousness. The bright light blazing in his still closed eyes didn’t help matters either.
Slowly opening his eyes, the man was surprised to find that he was face down in sand with waves lapping at his bare feet. If finding himself collapsed on a beach wasn't surprising enough, the blue boxes floating in front of his face sure gave the man a shock.
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Quest Alert!
New Quest Chain: [System Initialization Part I]
Welcome and congratulations! You are now a part of the System. Familiarize yourself with the System and discover all that you can do!
* Objective: Open your Character Sheet.
* Reward: System Initialization Part II.
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“What is going on?!” The man yelled, clearly confused. “Where am I, what are these floating boxes, what am I doing here, and more importantly… Who the hell am I?” The man tried to recall anything he could to try and explain the situation he found himself in, but his mind was completely blank. He had no memories of how he got here or who he was.
Right now, you’re acting like a raving lunatic. Get a hold of yourself before some men in white coats come for you.
“Who said that? Show yourself!” The man screamed, frantically searching for the source of the voice.
Fix yourself first before worrying about others.
Clutching his aching head the man curled his body into the fetal position as if it would protect him from his racing thoughts. After what felt like hours of being alone with his tortured thoughts, but was only a few minutes, the man slowly uncurled his body and regained control of himself.
“Okay let's calm down and take stock of the situation. My head is killing me, and I can’t seem to remember anything. I seem to be on some beach somewhere, with no idea how I got here or who I am. However, since I'm talking to myself out loud, more evidence for my lack of sanity, I do seem to remember how to speak as well as perform other normal motor functions. If that’s the case, then only my memories of myself seem to be affected? Well, that sucks.”
Could be worse, you could have woken up in a maze or forest completely naked.
“Wow, I really am going insane. I'm not only talking to myself but now I seem to be sarcastically replying in my mind as well.” The man said after working out that the voice was all in his head and not physically present.
Hey! I resemble that remark! But seriously, you should be more concerned with your current situation rather than the voice in your head giving sage advice.
The voice was right, the man’s situation was not the best with nothing on his person but a pair of pants.
No shirt, no shoes, no sanity!
“Guess I’m not worthy of the dignity that is underwear.”
Not sure underwear would be enough to save your dignity at this point, you’re wearing white pants that have been soaked in water.
The man looked down to confirm that what the voice had said was true, those pants were useless at hiding anything at the moment. Shaking his head at the helplessness of the situation, he chose to just press on and ignore what he could not change for now.
Slowly getting to his feet, the man slowly spun around taking in his surroundings. There was not much to see except for the stretch of rocky and sandy shore he was currently on with a tropical jungle to one side and an endless stretch of water to the other. The island, or at least he assumed it was an island, seemed fairly small, with the shoreline on this side stretching for barely a kilometer. Far off in the distance out over the water dark clouds gathered, looking thick enough to cut with a knife. There were no signs of any other beach dwellers, only the loud birds in the sky and flashes of brightly colored fish in the sea.
After having a good look around and finding nothing of immediate interest, the man decided to finally take a good look at the semi-transparent box of text in front of him. After reading the text once again, he tried to reach out to touch it to see if he could move it out of his line of sight. Unfortunately, the only thing trying to touch it did was make him look like an idiot, pawing at nothing in the air. As if he didn't look insane enough by talking to himself, now he’s batting at the air like a cat with a toy.
“Okay, so how do I get rid of this thing, it's blocking my sight enough for it to be annoying. It says to open my Character Sheet, so how do I....” The man jumped as a new window appeared in his view.
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Character Sheet
* Name: J
* Race: ???
* Level: 0
Attributes
* [Body] (Core Locked): 0
* [Mind] (Core Locked): 0
* [Spirit] (Core Locked): 0
Racial Traits (???)
* ??? (Locked)
* ??? (Locked)
* ??? (Locked)
* ??? (Locked)
Mana Cores (0/4)
No Core [No Attribute] (0/4)
No Core [No Attribute] (0/4)
No Core [No Attribute] (0/4)
No Core [No Attribute] (0/4)
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“Okay, so it seems to be voice-activated. There seems to be a few things wrong with that Character Sheet. What the hell kind of name is J?”
J? Are you an Agent? Ooh, ooh! Can I be Agent K?
“Who has a single letter as a name. Shouldn’t it be Jay? Guess I’ll stick with that then.” said the newly named Jay, blatantly ignoring the inner voice's nonsensical chatter.
Guess you can call me Kay then.
“And why is it that most of the stuff is either locked or question marks? How can I see that information or unlock it? Guess, I won’t be able to answer that for a while. So, how do I go about closing it?” The blue box closed. “Okay, that worked. I wonder, does it have to be said out loud?”
“Character Sheet.” Jay thought.
The System window once more opened and filled his vision.
“Close.” Jay thought and once again the window disappeared.
“Well, that answers that question. Now, will it open every time I say or think about my character sheet....” Nothing happened. “Oh, that’s good, it would just be annoying otherwise. It seems to work on intent rather than just thought alone. So I have to want the window to open before it will open.
Your mind astounds me. You know I can help you with all this, you only have to ask.
“Okay,” said Jay, once again ignoring Kay, still not convinced that he wasn’t going insane and imagining the voice. “Now that I’ve opened the Character Sheet, I should be done with that quest that appeared. How do I check that…?”
This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
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Quest Alert!
Quest Complete: [System Initialization Part I]
Good job. You have discovered the most basic function of the System. You are now registered as a semi-competent user.
* Objective: Open your Character Sheet.
* Reward: System Initialization Part II.
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Quest Alert!
Quest Chain: [System Initialization Part II]
Now that you have learned how to access the Character Sheet, the next step is to learn how to focus and bring up a new System window containing a brief description of the object being focused upon.
* Objective: Bring up 3 descriptions 0/3.
* Reward: System Initialization Part III
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“Wow, semi-competent. Not sure how I should take that.”
Are you trying to tell me you think the description is wrong? I find it quite apt considering how long it took you just to figure out how to close the windows. Thought I would die of old age before you figured that out.
After taking a moment to feel insulted, Jay decided to take a break from the System windows now that they were no longer blocking his vision and really take in his surroundings.
With his vision clear, he was able to notice some things that he wasn't able to before. What first drew his eye was the path that was cut leading into the forest. Taking a step towards the treeline, Jay’s barefoot came painfully down upon a sharp object buried in the sand where he lay before.
“OW! What the hell is this?” Jay said, hopping on one foot while clutching his injured one to see how badly he was hurt. He relaxed when he saw that no real damage was done and gingerly set his foot back on the sand. Bending down, he sifted through the sand searching for whatever had stabbed his foot. After brushing off some of the sand, Jay was able to grasp the object and pull it free. Standing up, he looked at the object in his hand only to discover it was a strangely large key. The key was rather ornate and roughly 8 inches in total. It had a beautifully designed filigree bow with the image of a keyhole set into it, as well as an oddly sharp and pointed tip. Judging by how wickedly sharp the key was, it would make a fine cutting implement so Jay decided to hold onto it just in case.
Jay stood there examining the odd key in its entirety, wondering how something like that could turn up on a seemingly deserted island. Unknowingly, his intense focus on the key brought up another system window.
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Item:
[Ornate Key]
(??? Grade)
0/10 Charge
A large, ornate key with a sharpened point.
* Use: Unlocks things.
I am the Keymaster... Are you the Gatekeeper?
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“Well, I guess that was the focus thing the other quest had mentioned. And there are those question marks again. Why can’t anything be simple? What is a grade? Why is it unknown? This can’t be an ordinary key.”
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Quest Alert!
Quest Chain: [System Initialization Part II]
Now that you have learned how to access the Character Sheet, the next step is to learn how to focus and bring up a new System window containing a brief description of the item being focused upon.
* Objective: Bring up 3 descriptions 1/3.
* Reward: System Initialization Part III
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“And there it is! These pop-ups are rather annoying. Blocking my sight every time is going to cause an accident. I wish there was some way to turn these notifications off.”
I'm still here you know. Happy to help.
Ignoring the voice again, he stashed the key in the waistband of his pants, being extra careful due to the sensitive and rather unprotected location. Jay continued on his mission to reach the path leading into the jungle. Unfortunately the discovery of the key had distracted Jay enough that he failed to notice that the loud birds he was complaining about before had gone silent.
Far out to sea, the water started to churn as if something massive moved beneath the surface. All marine life fled in fear of whatever was causing the turbulence in their once peaceful habitat. Giant waves started to crash against the rocks near the shore, alerting Jay to the growing unrest out at sea. He swiftly turned around and returned to the shore hoping to locate the source of the disturbance. Whatever was causing the turmoil however had already bypassed the island leaving only the crashing waves and missing wildlife as evidence it was ever there. Hearing a sucking plop to the side of him behind a large boulder, Jay walked over to investigate the odd sound as quietly as he could possibly be.
He slowly climbed on top of the boulder trying to make as little noise as possible so as not to alert whatever had made the sound. Peering over the top of the rock, he saw what looked to be a lump of green snot. The snot ball somehow sensed his presence and lunged for him. Frantically scrambling backward and nearly making a fool of himself by falling ass over teakettle off the boulder, Jay barely dodged the ball of snot.
“What the hell is that?!” Jay exclaimed, backing away from the boulder and the strange creature while staring at it intently, only to have his question answered by a System window that he immediately closed.
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Monster:
[Primordial Ooze], Level 1
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The green lump oozed over the rock and continued to pursue Jay, however he wasn’t about to let it get near him and kept backing up. Luckily for him, the ball of snot didn’t seem to be all that fast when it was simply moving, the thing was literally as slow as the molasses that it resembled. During the seemingly endless game of tag the two were playing, Jay learned that its speed greatly increased when it attempted to lunge at him and it would not lunge until it was within a couple of meters of him. As long as he could dodge the lunge, the slime wasn’t much of a threat to him, but it was relentless. No matter how far away he got from the slime, it still slowly chased after him as if tracking his scent.
Hey Mikey, I think he likes you... Now go kill it.
“Kill it? How the hell do you kill an ambulatory snot ball?” Jay said finally fed up just listening, acknowledging the voice inside his head for the first time.
How should I know? Try whacking it with a stick or throw a rock at it.
“This is so stupid.” Jay said while bending to pick up a rock. Jay chucked the rock as hard as he could at the slime, only to miss.
HAHAHAHA! Nice throw Nancy!
Too embarrassed to try that again, Jay decided to go try and find a hefty branch to use as a club. Unfortunately, the jungle was too dense in his immediate area except for the path. Giving up on the search for a club, Jay settled when he found a hefty rock instead that he could use to try and smash the slime with. After carrying the heavy rock back towards the slime, Jay waited for it to get in range and attempt another lunge. Quickly dodging to the right, the slime flew past him and landed with a disgusting squishing sound. Lifting the rock above his head, Jay smashed the rock down as hard as he could onto the slime. In retrospect, he decided, this was a horrible idea. The slime practically exploded like a giant snot bubble and covered him from head to toe.
“Yuck, this is nasty and it burns! I know I have lost my memory and I am going completely insane with a random voice speaking to me, but why do I feel that this is the more traumatizing event?” Questioned Jay, hurriedly turning towards the water to wash.
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You have defeated [Primordial Ooze], Level 1
Due to the lack of Mana Cores, residual Mana is automatically absorbed by [Ornate Key?].
Would you like to loot the [Primordial Ooze], Level 1?
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“Loot? I guess?”
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You have looted [Primordial Ooze], Level 1
* 1 Mana Fragment received.
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With a popping sound and a small flash of light, a tiny crystal-like fragment appeared in front of Jay where the worst of the slime mess was located. Reaching into the goop, Jay picked up the small fragment before heading towards the water to clean the slime off him as fast as he could. The burn was getting worse and it was starting to seep into some uncomfortable places.
After finishing with his hurried bath, and once again looking embarrassed with his even more see-through pants, Jay focused on the mana fragment wondering what it could possibly be.
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Item:
[Mana Fragment]
(Common)
A small fragment of mana.
* Use: Contains a small amount of mana that can be used for various applications.
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Quest Alert!
Quest Complete: [System Initialization Part II]
Now that you have learned how to access the Character Sheet, the next step is to learn how to focus and bring up a new System window containing a brief description of the item being focused upon.
* Objective: Bring up 3 descriptions 3/3.
* Reward: System Initialization Part III
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Quest Alert!
Quest Chain: [System Initialization Part III]
Your mastery of the System interface has progressed admirably. Now prepare for your final test to fully integrate with the System!
* Objective: Kill all the monsters 0/10.
* Bonus Objective: Make the Boss appear and defeat it 0/1.
* Reward: Full System integration.
* Bonus Reward: T-shirt
* Bonus Reward: Title: I survived the Apocalypse and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.
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“What the fuck?” Jay said, completely confused after reading the quest objectives and rewards. He closed the window just in time to see another slime pop into existence in front of him and heard several more plopping noises coming from behind him.
Oh shit.