Chapter 1 - A Different Saturday

14th October 2023, University of Noe H. Sunis

The dull hum of the fluorescent lights overhead did little to liven up the oppressive atmosphere of the cramped lecture hall. Rows of students slouched in their seats, their collective energy more fitting for a Monday morning than a Saturday afternoon.

“Man, it's Saturday. Why are we even having class?” a young man grumbled, his voice low but tinged with enough exasperation to catch a few heads turning. He leaned back in his chair, his phone in hand, the universal sign of surrender to boredom.

“Who knows what Dr. Hamathir is thinking?” the girl sitting next to him replied, letting out a sigh that seemed to carry the weight of the entire classroom’s apathy. She twirled her pen absentmindedly, barely pretending to pay attention to the front of the room.

The professor was at the board, furiously scribbling a sea of equations that might as well have been hieroglyphics. The lecture’s subject, ‘Partial Differential Equations’, garnered little enthusiasm from the room, particularly not from the young man.

“I mean, what the hell are we even learning? What's the point of this subject?” he mumbled, his thumb flicking across his phone screen with practiced efficiency.

“You're learning PDE, Partial Differential Equations,” came a sarcastic voice from a few seats down the row. A second woman leaned over slightly, her expression deadpan but her tone laced with biting humor. "It's very important."

"Sure," the young man replied, exaggeratedly rolling his eyes. "Absolutely critical. Definitely going to revolutionize my future career as... whatever."

The first girl let out a soft chuckle, her laughter breaking the monotony of the lecture hall. "You're not even listening to his lecture. You've been reading away at your novel for the past hour."

He glanced up from his phone, shooting her a half-hearted glare. "And you're not listening either. You've been buried in another subject this whole time." He sighed, his tone softening as he noticed the determination in her eyes as she slipped through her notes. "Still, gotta admire your hard work."

The girl smirked but didn't reply, her attention already back on her textbook. The faint scratching of pens and the low murmur of half-whispered conversations filled the room as the professor's voice drifted in the background.

Equations and mathematical jargon-filled the air as the lecture monotonously, but the young man's mind was far from the whiteboard. He leaned toward the girl beside him, his voice cutting through the ambient hum of the room.

"Chloe, what are we having for lunch later?" he asked, his tone almost pleading.

Chloe, her pen tapping rhythmically against her notebook, didn't look up. "Hmm, I don't know. What do you want?" she replied while leafing through her notebook.

"That's why I'm asking you," Lucas sighed. "I don't know." He slouched back into his chair, his helplessness apparent in the way his shoulders sagged.

From a few seats over, the other girl chimed in with a mischievous grin. "Hey, Lucas, why don't you just breathe? Humans can survive without eating for three days, you know."

Lucas shot her a look, rolling his eyes. "Sure. Let's just gobble up oxygen. You wanna join in, Samantha?" His sarcasm hung in the air, but Samantha merely smirked, unfazed.

Chloe leaned closer to him, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Why don't you ask the boys?"

Scoffing, Lucas shook his head as he swiped idly at his phone. "Them? Yeah, they'll just ask me the same question back. A whole circle of indecision. Very productive." His tone was laced with nonchalance, though his fingers had already resumed swiping on his screen.

Samantha, tapping away on her tablet without sparring them a glance, made the executive decision. "Let's just go to the usual spot."

Lucas shrugged, barely lifting his gaze from his phone. "Yeah, sure. Why not? It's not like we've got any other options anyway."

Chloe, now growing curious, leaned over slightly, peering at his phone screen. "What are you even reading?"

Couldn't be bothering to look up, Lucas responded, his voice as monotone as ever. "Generic xianxia murim novel with a generic system. What's up?"

Blinking puzzledly, Chloe attempted to process his words. "Right. Sounds fun," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Totally is," Lucas replied, entirely unbothered, his attention already back in his fictional world.

All of a sudden, Lucas sighed, conceding to Chloe's suggestion as he opened the group chat. His thumbs moved deftly across the keyboard.

lukaath: Lunch, eat what?

A reply popped up almost immediately.

kang_: dunno, what you want?

JIN: going to gym later.

lukaath: gym with empty stomach, nice. dont die.

Joe: 99?

Yx: again?

C_yang: @Joe OK.

kang_: @Yx 99 is good

JIN: @Joe @Yx want to gym too?

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Yx: got date later, you go gym with joe.

Lucas chuckled at the rapid exchange of indecision-turned-consensus. He tilted his phone toward Chloe, letting her see the chat. "Look, the boys want Cafe 99 too."

Glancing at the screen and then at Lucas, a mischievous grin formed on Chloe's lips. "Why don't you go work out with them? You're too skinny," she teased, poking at his stomach.

With an expression of a mix of mock offense and amusement, Lucas swatted her hand away. "I'm not that skinny," he protested.

"Lucas, be more like Jin," Samantha quipped from her seat, her smirk as sharp as her sarcasm. "Work out more. Chloe likes abs."

Lucas grinned, unfazed. He patted his stomach lightly. "I have abs. They're just protected by my fat." His confidence earned a laugh from Chloe and a subtle eye-roll from Samantha.

As the banter died down Lucas's thoughts drifted. Saturday was supposed to be predictable, and simple. Lazy. Usually, he would be lounging in the student hostel, playing games, or scrolling endlessly on his phone. When hunger struck, he would grab something quick to eat from the cafeteria. Sometimes, when boredom outweighed laziness, he would venture into the city with friends for a slightly overpriced meal.

However, this Saturday was destined to be different.

Lucas sat slouched in his chair, scrolling through his novel with half-hearted interest. The plot was predictable. Power-ups, face-slapping moments, and overly convenient systems. He skimmed the paragraphs, his thumb flicking the screen in a rhythmic, mechanical motion.

Then, suddenly, a blue screen popped into his vision.

He blinked, startled, before instinctively brushing it off as a pop-up ad. The website he used for reading wasn't exactly pristine when it came to avoiding intrusive ads. With a slight huff, Lucas tapped at the spot where the "X" to close the ad usually hovered.

Nothing happened.

He frowned, tapping again. And again. And then a few more times for good measure. Still, the blue screen lingered, unyielding.

"What kind of janky ad is this?" he muttered under his breath.

Assuming the close button was just cunningly hidden, Lucas leaned in closer, squinting at the screen. That was when he noticed, there was no close button. No faint outline of an "X", no indication this was an ad at all.

His curiosity piqued. Lucas took a moment to read the glowing text displayed on the floating blue box.

The words sent a shiver down his spine, but before he could process what they meant, he heard it, a low murmur spreading across the lecture hall like a ripple in still water.

He looked up, the blue box moving with him, hovering obediently in his field of vision. His gaze swept the room, distorted faintly by the translucent glowing of the text.

Through the shimmering screen, he saw Chloe sitting frozen, her eyes wide as she stared into the empty air in front of her.

"Samantha?" Lucas called softly, his voice uncertain. Samantha, usually quick with a quip or sarcastic jab, was silent, her gaze fixed on her tablet as if hypnotized.

As Lucas scanned the room, a sense of unease settled in his chest. Everyone was acting the same way. Either mumbling incoherently or staring blankly into space. Even Dr. Hamathir, who had been enthusiastically lecturing just moments before, had fallen silent, his marker poised mid-stroke against the board.

And then, the next set of words appeared on the glowing screen.

For a moment, the world around Lucas seemed to tilt. His thoughts scrambled as the meaning of the words hit him like a freight train.

A system notification.

Not just any notification. This was eerily familiar. It was exactly like the ones in the countless novels and comics he had devoured over the years. The kind of notification that marked the beginning of something extraordinary.

In those stories, ordinary people, often just like him, were thrust into bizarre and dangerous worlds. They would wake up one day to find themselves chosen, blessed, or cursed with a mysterious system that governed their every action.

These systems were often laden with stats, skills, and quests, pushing the protagonist into trials that tested their will, intelligence, and strength.

Lucas's heart raced as he recalled those fictional tales. The idea of systems always seemed thrilling from the safety of his screen. People fighting monsters, growing stronger, and uncovering secrets hidden from the complex, game-like rules.

But now, with the flowing blue text hovering before him, the reality felt far less exhilarating. This wasn't just a fantasy he could set down at will. This was happening, and he wasn't sure if he should feel excited, terrified, or both.

Before Lucas could fully process the weight of what was happening, another blue box materialized in his vision. The glow of the text was sharp and unrelenting, cutting through the confusion swirling in his mind.

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Quest: Basics of Survival

Congratulations! Your planet, Earth, has been selected to integrate into the Nexus, an interdimensional network connecting countless realms.

As inhabitants of this planet, you are now bound by the rules of the Nexus. Your survival, growth, and progress with depend on how well you adapt to its systems.

To ensure a smooth transition, all inhabitants must complete the Basic Survival Quest to understand the fundamental mechanics of the Nexus.

Task: Open the status window.

Failure: None.

Note: This task cannot be rejected. Compliance is mandatory.

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Lucas stared at the message, his chest tightening. Earth? The whole planet? This wasn't just about him. It was everyone. His eyes flicked toward Chloe, Samantha, and the rest of the lecture hall.

If they were all seeing the same thing, this wasn't a random occurrence or some twisted prank.

He could feel it, a subtle, almost imperceptible shift in the air around him. It was as if the fabric of reality itself was distorting, bending under the weight of something unseen.

Whatever was happening wasn't just in his mind. It was changing the world.

He didn't know what it was and couldn't begin to explain it, but deep down, a voice whispered to him. It was a voice he recognized, but rather a culmination of the countless novels and stories he had devoured over the years.

Those tales had ingrained in him a primal survival instinct, an understanding of what to do in the face of the inexplicable.

Do the deed.

Steeling his mind, Lucas exhaled slowly, steadying the tremor in his hands. His heart pounded, adrenaline coursing through his veins, but his resolve was firm.

"Status," he whispered. Despite the soft tone, the word carried an unnatural weight, as though it resonated with the very essence of the world.

Appearing before him was exactly what he had expected, or perhaps what he had dared to hope for.

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Lucas Kun

Level 1

Class: None

VIT - 4

POW - 3

AGI - 5

INT - 7

WIL - 6

Talent: Avid Reader.

Skill:

None.

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