No one knows why the Origin continues to integrate new worlds into its influence. Perhaps no one can know. - Words from a Sage to a favored disciple.
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Marc groaned as his alarm blared loudly. His hand reached out automatically and a second later, there was blissful quiet. He pulled his bedcovers off of himself and sat up, rubbing his eyes blearily.
"Okay, maybe an all-night novel binge wasn't the best idea at the time," he thought wryly.
Normally, he'd go right back to sleep but that wasn't an option today. He had to deliver a commission he'd been assigned and he wanted to do a last minute check to make sure there were no mistakes he'd missed.
He just hadn't been able to resist reading the newest book of the Dreamworld Series. He felt he'd deserved it after a week of constant drawing.
Marc took his time in the shower, letting streams of hot water wake him up properly, before heading into his kitchen, which was just a side of the living room. He warmed last night's leftovers and took a plate to his bedroom to eat.
He was checking on his social media and fiction reading accounts when it happened. He was just typing a review of someone's badly written HP fan fiction when his vision was suddenly obscured by a screen.
Marc didn't jump off his bed but it was a close thing.
It was a pale blue, translucent screen, like a hologram out of some futuristic sci-fi movie.
[Greetings, inhabitants of Earth, third planet from the celestial body Sol of the Solar System.]
The message continued but Marc didn't continue reading. He waved a hand through the screen. It dispersed like smoke but reformed further away from his hand.
A red flashing notification appeared in from to him that read, [Urgent Message!!!], before disappearing and letting the first, blue screen move closer to his face.
He stood up and walked around the room.
The screen followed him.
"Is a System Apocalypse really happening or did I read too many LitRPG novels? Am I hallucinating? Am I still dreaming? I don't usually have dreams this lucid," Marc mumbled to himself, contorting his body several ways. The screen continued to stick to his face.
Marc tried to summon up the excitement he'd always felt he would have if something like this happened but couldn't find it in him to be happy. Sure, magic and leveling up was exciting but he'd read enough webnovels to know this was going to result in a lot of deaths.
Shit, what about his parents? What would they do in a situation like this. They would probably sit and wait for the government to do or say something. The government wouldn't have any context for something like this happening unless the country's policy makers made it a habit to read LitRPG, which wasn't very likely.
He might have gotten estranged from his parents in the past few years but he didn't want them to die.
He ignored the screen in front of him and picked up his phone to call them.
No answer. He tried all the numbers registered to them but couldn't reach them on any of them. He began to feel a sense of worry.
'They should be fine for now. The System might have taken out cell reception,' he thought to himself. 'I need to know what's happening though and that means reading this message.'
He sat back on the bed and continued reading where he left off.
[You have been granted the opportunity to join the Endless Realms. Your planet will be transformed into a Realm and your failing natural laws will be rejuvenated and upgraded to Endless Realm standard.]
[This process will take 7 days. Therefore, your population shall be assigned to various pre-selected Realms so you can learn how to survive and thrive in a Realm.]
[Due to complaints from various other Integrated Realms, we will be implementing safeguards.]
[Firstly, all humans below maturity will be kept in stasis until Realm Transformation is complete.]
[Secondly, as newly Integrated beings, your planet will be protected from other Realms for a period of time.]
[Thirdly, you will get a choice of how dangerous the Realm you will be transferred to will be.]
[Fourthly, any debilitating PHYSICAL disabilities or illnesses will be removed.]
[Fifthly, as incentive for greater difficulties, you get better rewards. You may choose your difficulty below.]
[Easy Mode: You spawn in a Pocket Realm without any external threats or dangers and plenty of food and resources. You get your first Talent.]
[Normal Mode: You spawn in a designated F class Human Realm near or in a safe zone. You get your first Talent, an attribute level and an artifact or skill of your choice.]
[Hard Mode: You spawn in a designated F class Realm in a wild zone or dungeon. You get your first Talent, two attribute levels, 1000 Essence points and an artifact or skill of your choice.]
[Extreme Mode: You spawn in a designated E class Realm in a wild zone. You get your first Talent, three attribute levels, 5,000 Essence points and an artifact or skill of your choice.]
[Nightmare Mode: You spawn in a designated D class Realm. You get your first Talent, five attribute levels, 10,000 Essence points, an artifact or skill of your choice and a free Perk.]
[Random Mode: You are randomly placed anywhere in the Endless Realms through the Ethereal Void Layer. You get your two Talents, seven attribute levels, 10,000 Essence points and a chance at the System Lottery. 90% chance of death.]
[You have 5 minutes to decide. If you haven't decided within five minutes, Random Mode is automatically selected. (00:01)]
[Random Mode Selected.]
Marc only had time to say, "Wait a sec...," before Random Mode lit up.
"Oh, shit."
Marc felt the sensation of being pulled in a million different directions and at the same time being compressed into a space the size of a pinhole. The last thing he saw before he faded away was the sight of space being torn apart through his window.
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He was in an endless space full of chaos.
Energies of creation and destruction, of oblivion and existence swirled and flowed past and through him.
Where was he?
Who was he?
What was he doing here?
I...
I am... I am I.
I am Marcus Cole.
A deluge of memories flooded Marcus's mind.
I remember. Where is this? System? Where is my body?
[Transferring to Void While Realm Selection Proceeds.]
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[Body Dematerialized By The Void. Soul State Fluctuating. Soul State Normalized. Acclimated To Void Conditions.]
[Randomly Assigning Starting Realm... Realm Selected: D Class Realm - Nargavta.]
[Random Mode Hidden Perk Gained.]
[Perk: Voidsoul - You have been touched by the Void and have survived the energies of Origin. Your Soul has taken a part of the Void into it. Whether this brings fortune or misfortune is unknown. Alters the Psyche and mutates the Spirit. Greater affinity for Arcana. Your soul is hidden by the Void. Other random effects.]
[Random Mode Rewards Assigned.]
[+2 Talent Selections (+), +7 Attribute Levels, 10,000 Essence Points, +1 System Lottery Roll (+).]
[Allocate Your Rewards Now? Y/N. ]
I'd have expected the void to be empty, Marc thought.
Then he read the screens again and felt alarm. He didn't have a body anymore.
He took a deep breath - how was he even breathing without a body? - to calm himself.
This was really happening. A real System Apocalypse. Like Randidly Ghosthound or Defiance of A Fall or all the others he'd read. He felt whelmed.
He turned his attention back to the prompt.
Yes, he thought.
[+2 Talent Selections. Select Talents? Y/N.]
Yes.
[-Aegis: Create an unbreakable shield.
-Weightless: Reduce the effects of gravity on your body.
-Lifesight: Detect lifeforce in your field of vision.
-Force Push: Expel a wave of force from your body.
-Astral Shift: Shift your self into the Astral and become immaterial.
-Ice Shaper: Create and shape ice.]
[Perk: Voidsoul Activated. Extra Talent Choice Provided. Automatically Selecting Choice...]
[-Voidsight: Peer into the fabric of reality.]
[Select Your Talent.]
Voidsight? Marc thought. The name and description sound OP as hell but why was it automatically selected?
Marc would probably have chosen it himself if he'd been given the choice. However, the way the choice had been taken out of his hands displeased him.
Whatever, he thought. It's probably worth it if I got it because of a perk.
Forcing himself to calm down, he looked through the other options. All of them were great abilities. Especially, Ice Shaper and Astral Shift.
First, he discarded Force Push and Lifesight. He already had a sight-based power with Voidsight, although he didn't know if Voidsight would help with detection, too. There was a good chance it did. After all, in the Naruto franchise all three super eyes increased perception. Also, he was a bit wary of mixing the sight-based abilities. He wasn't sure how the Talents would manifest but better safe than getting mutant third and fourth eyes.
Force Push sounded useful but compared to the others, it was a bit vanilla. Of course, that was based on the description. Force Push might be a powerful ability rather than discount Shinra Tensei but Marc wasn't going to bet on that.
Aegis was a good one. Marc was always of the opinion that a good defensive ability was the best ability to have. However, the only thing better than tanking hits was not getting hit in the first place. The abilities that granted that were Weightless and Astral Shift.
The last remaining option, Ice Shaper, was a top-tier ability. Many fictional characters were OP just depending on that ability.
If he hadn't had Voidsight forced on him, he might have picked Ice Shaper and Astral Shift. An offensive Talent - or at least one that could be turned to offensive uses - and a defensive Talent - more evasive than defensive - to help him survive.
He picked Ice Shaper. In the end, the versatility of ice manipulation won him over. He could create constructs - weapons, shields, tools, even furniture - with it and he might be able to manipulate other forms of water, too.
[Talents Selected.]
[+7 Attribute Levels, 10,000 Essence Points, +1 System Lottery Roll.]
How do I distribute my attributes?
A status screen unfolded.
[Name: Marcus Cole ("Marc")
Tier: Tier 0
Age: 20
Race: Human
Attributes (+7 Attribute Levels):
- Physique [T0] - Level 0(0%)
- Psyche [T0] - Level 0(0%)
- Arcana [T0] - Level 0(0%)
Forces:
- Lifeforce {Rank 0}
- Spirit {Rank 0}
- Ether{Rank 0}
Essence: 10,000 points.
Talents:
-Voidsight
-Ice Shaper
-(0/10,000 Essence)]
Physique, Psyche and Arcana... What happened to Strength, Agility, Intelligence and the others. Whatever, at least I have an idea what each does. Physique for body, Psyche for mind and Arcana for magic.
7 Attribute Levels, huh? How do I split them?
Arcana was a no-brainer. Marc had always wanted to wield magic from the moment he'd started reading fantasy.
Psyche was a good choice, too. Mages usually required higher levels of mental acuity for magic. He should also place at least one level in Physique if only to improve his weak body.
3 Levels to Arcana, 2 to Psyche and 2 to Physique. He considered reserving some levels but decided not to as he didn't know what he would face when he left the Void.
In a second, the screen changed to reflect his decision. He didn't feel any change happening to him but he assumed they would happen when he got his body back.
How do I spend Essence points?
[Essence points can be allocated to increase attributes or to buy Talent Selections. You can also spend Essence to buy items from the System Store with access to a Monolith or the Perk: Store.]
Marc's eye twitched. And why wasn't I told this before I used my free levels?
He could have spent Essence to increase his attributes at the early levels when the cost would still be cheaper and then used his free levels later.
Unsurprisingly, there was no answer from the System.
I'll spend my Essence points later.
[+1 System Lottery Roll. Roll Now? Y/N.]
Yes.
All at once a wooden wheel of fortune appeared in front of him, with a golden pointer pointing up as fireworks lit up the chaotic space around him. A white-gloved spectral hand gently held the wheel in preparation to spin it.
Golden, glittering words scrolled past his face.
[WELCOME TO THE SYSTEM LOTTERY, WHERE LUCK AND MISFORTUNE ABOUND. ROLL THE WHEEL OF FATE AND WOE AND DISCOVER WHICH SPEAKS FOR YOU.]
[ROLL NOW? Y/Y.]
Marc hadn't played gacha games before but he could imagine them being just like this.
...How nice. Of course I don't have an option. Let's hope its fate and not woe speaking for me today. Yes.
He idly wondered if he should say a prayer to some god. Since magic existed now, maybe they did too.
The spectral hand gripped the wheel tightly and rotated it clockwise before disappearing.
The Wheel spun slowly at first but began to pick up speed with time. Marc felt faint flickers of anxiety as the Wheel rotated, showing ghostly illusions of people in joy and people in sorrow.
The Wheel continued to spin for what seemed an eternity before it jarringly stopped at once, like a forceful hand had halted its crazy velocity.
[Wheel of Fate And Woe Spun. Wheel of Fate And Woe Stopped. Accessing Results. Drawing Rewards.]
[Gained Perk - Omnilingualism: Gain the ability to understand and communicate in all languages.]
[Essence Points Allocation Deferred.]
[Rewards Allocated. Realm Selected. Transferring To Realm...]
Everything went black.
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[Name: Marcus Cole ("Marc")
Tier: Tier 0
Age: 20
Race: Human
Attributes:
- Physique [T0] - Level 2(0%)
- Psyche [T0] - Level 2(0%)
- Arcana [T0] - Level 3(0%)
Forces:
- Lifeforce {Rank 0}
- Spirit {Rank 0}
- Ether {Rank 0}
Essence: 10,000 points.
Talents:
-Voidsight
-Ice Shaper
-(0/10,000 Essence)
Perks:
-Essence Absorption: Allows you to absorb Essence from defeated foes and use it to fuel evolution.
-Talents: Seeds of Possibility that warp reality, infused into the Soul. Talents are bestowed by the Origin to all inhabitants of the Endless Realms.
-Voidsoul: You have been touched by the Void and have survived the energies of Akasha. Your soul has taken a part of the void into it.
-Omnilingualism: Gain the ability to speak and understand all languages.]