Rewards calculated...
Since the Buffer Period has ended, enabling reward based on the level of accomplishments
Factoring in Human Psychology..
Entering a Safe Period for the next 8 hours
Safe Period: All monsters have been contained to dungeons. For the next 8 Hours any and all forms of violence has been prohibited. Any and all attacks will be nullified
All Players will be confined to their area and may not move outside the applied field until Safe Period ends.
For observational reasons the Host is exempted from this rule
Error Found : { Experience Log}
Restructuring Total Exp. Requirement..
Redistributing Exp. based on Monsters killed.....
Restricting level advancement at Level 10 for Buffer Period...
Only Known Player at Level 10 : Romman Edzino
Creating World Rankings...Access set at level 10...
Time remaining until safe period ends: 07:59:58
4 Hours Later....
The Ding sound woke me up and a huge mouth opened right in front of me scared the shit out of me. A mouth full of pointy teeth's and rotting smell. I scrambled backwards before the owner of the mouth came into my vision and I remembered the whole flying-to-my-death episode and checked my body. Amazingly the wounds were gone and the only scar I could find was that bluish little circle right beside my heart which I swear to GOD, was fucking glowing like a small ball of flame inside my chest.
I touched it gingerly but it felt normal if a bit cold to the touch. My shirt had been ripped apart sometime in the fight because all I had was a (Bruce banner after he wasn't hulk) small outfit and a body full of dirt and blood. Though I felt weird for a second the amount of system notices made me forget everything else.
Achievement System unlocked... Distributing rewards based on Achievement difficultly
Host Achievement's score pending....
Achievement :
- First to level up (Rank E) (Reward Unique Title)
- First to level up to level 10 (Rank D) (Reward Unique Title) (Reward Perk)
- First to level up 10 level. (Rank B) (Reward Unique skill)
- First to kill a monster (Rank E) ( Reward Unique Title)
- First to kill Legend-Rank Monster (Rank SSS) (Reward Random Unique Class)
- Legend-Rank Monster Core acquired (Rank SSS) (Gained Legend-Rank Bloodline)
- Observing you to be a great help for synchronization, The system grants you a permanent Job (Rank X) ( Unique Job)
- You unlocked 1st of the God's Steps (Rank ???? ) (Reward Random Legend-Potential item)
- First to access the World Rankings (Rank F) (Gain secondary rights to the World Ranking System, World Chat System, World Log System, World Map.)
Assigning Rewards....
Awaiting Host's assent...
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Time : Same Day few hours ago. Location : White House U.S.A
The morning of the Change as it came to be known was an ordinary one for most of the people of the world; be it the common people dying of thirst and hunger or the leaders of the weakest to the strongest countries; as normal as it can be for the last time. For the President of the United States Of America the time is of his last term in office and though he felt quite melancholy about the fact, he as a person knew that he had to move on. The time was end of november 2016 and he had acted as the president for 2 terms i.e 8 years as president. He felt nostalgic remembering his own vow that he made to the people of his nation and to himself.
As was constitution, he or more precisely anyone can be a president for almost 2 terms only no more. It was under the 22nd Amendment to the constitution. He himself had read for more times than he could count, but even at the end of his term, the he was still the president of U.S of A., so he went about his work as normally as possible until ...well until the system happened.
Announcement
Congratulations! Mankind
The System has taken effect in your world and will be in full control the world around you. The system is designed to assist you in the world that you are about to experience. Regarding your conscience a buffer period of an hour has been initialized during which your chances of survival and gain have been increased by 90%.
Do have fun.
And with that blue- window hanging right in front of his sight, everything went ape shit crazy.
'What the hell was happening?'
It took barely seconds before he was escorted down the hall through majestic pathways directly to the presidential bunker to provide him absolute safety.
"Dennis what the hell is happening? What were those windows? Have you contacted Michelle and the kids?", Obama was visibly shaken due to the unknown threat.
"We are still trying to understand the circumstances Mr. President but for now we need to make sure that you are absolutely safe before any further plans are implemented. The first lady and your family is on her way to the safe house", replied Chief of Staff Dennis.
The surrounding secret service agents moved fast and in a disciplined way to the bunker but as with all the plans that are made without knowing the danger, this too had a very very high chance of failing and fail it did.
In hindsight they should have become more wary when the lights leading down to the bunker weren't on. The bunker's door were barely opened before something drove the nearest secret service agent right through and through. He screamed just for a second before he visibly shriveled and became like a thousand year old skeleton which even before touching the round became dust, the thing was already gone. The air tore apart as it retreated but not before they saw it ; it was a green whip!
Before they could even react further, the whip once again lashed out from the bunker, this time there were 2 of them, it took hold of 3 agents nearest and pulled them through the darkness. The sounds of gunfire and screams started but were silenced almost immediately.
The agents still with the president snapped out of it, they were trained soldiers first and whatever the thing was, it could be taken care of later. For now the president was much more important. They retreated as fast as they could, keeping the President behind them and the whips lashed out again and claimed the life of one more agent before they started firing at the thing. An agent shot a bullet which seemed to hit one of the things leading to a piece falling down and the whips retreated back into the darkness with a unholy screech which sounded more like grating sound.
For a second all was silent and the nearest brave soul made up his courage to look at the fallen piece of...whatever that was.
"It's a branch, Sir. It's just a branch", the next second everything shook and the building; the White House walls started breaking down as it's rubble broke off. The agent who had identified the branch took his position in order and started leading the President outside the White House.
"Are you sure..., Michael? Was it absolutely a branch?", asked the President as he was escorted outside while still trying to make heads or tails out of the situation. The floating boxes, a terrifying creature inside one of the most secure places on the planet and now one of the most indestructible places breaking apart. The day was getting worse and worse. Obama suddenly regretted not drinking the extra cup of coffea offered to him this morning.
He was worried about his wife and children too, he wasn't sure that this incident was localized only to the White house. He had a sneaking despairing feeling that the whole world was....
"Sir the comm lines are down. We cannot contact anyone out there", the rapidly speaking but with a hint of terror was the voice of one of the agents who was on the comm. lines. The lights flickered around them and went out. Even there flashlights went out. There was only one word on everyone's mind : EMP. The situation was deteriorating rapidly and without any understandable cause.
'Shit, just what the hell is happening, some sort of mutated experiments and an Emp strike. But who would have the resources to fund such an operation? or is it our own weapons used against us.'
For a minute all he could think of was the how ; but the next instant all thoughts of the how disappeared as he found himself being dragged by agents down the lane towards the exit of the White House. He turned around and all he could think of at that moment and perhaps for the rest of his life would be...
"Oh my God..."
The White house had been the symbol of head of state for more than 2 centuries and had been...just was the most memorable historical building in all of american history was now utterly smashed apart as a huge tree trunk broke through and started growing rapidly till just a few moments later the sky was covered by it and still it continued to grow. Where once was the White House now the beginning of a forest was rapidly growing.
Trees that should have taken more than century were now springing everywhere. Overhead the sunlight could barely break through the huge tree branches and the surrounding area was rapidly falling in darkness. Then came a sound of woods scraping together, of earth itself changing and then a wall made up of wood bark and wines started growing out of the very ground behind him.
Obama turned around and ran, the fear overtaking the decision taking actions, his instincts which were asleep were up and hammering his body with the flight choice. All he wanted to do was get on the other side of the wall that was rapidly closing the gaps like an elevator door. He ran and ran feeling more than hearing people beside him.
The run was barely a couple tens of meters but it felt like eternity and then he was outside the wall and there were people beside him who made it across like him but when he turned around he saw people still trying to cross the closing wall of earth, he stretched his hands to help them, to pull the women closest to crossing it and then someone yanked him out and the wall closed up in a second. For a second he could still hear the screams of the people who were squashed like bugs by the wall, but then the screaming began. The screams of the people still on the other side of the wall resounded in the eerily silent place.
"This isn't the work of men but the Wrath of God ",someone's horror filled voice whispered behind him.
'No matter what happens from now on....I don't think the world will ever be the same again... Will I be The Last President Of United States of America .?'
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Time : Few hours prior to The System announcement. Location : Turkey
The alarm was anything but loud enough to wake up the sleeping inhabitant of the paper filled and messed up room in one of the low-class motels in a rising city of danger and threat. For the world this place was dangerous with a threat level of immediately dying to dying as a hostage. But the woman sleeping on the bed was anything but afraid.
Her auburn hair fell in wavelets in front of her and her cream colored skin was dangerously exposed but as always she didn't have anyone to fully appreciate it. Her long eyelashes fluttered for a second before opening and showing dark eyes. She sat up and stretched like a cat showing off her amazing curves and short shirt barely covering anything showing a tantalizing belly button and a slow yet sensual drop between her legs.
For a second she stopped and looked outside the window to the most wonderful view she loved and had come to enjoy immensely so far. One of the reasons she had spent almost a whole day to try and find a corresponding motel to occupy herself. All for this view but she had appointments to keep and the day was ending in a half a dozen hours anyway so she better be quick.
Her long legs got her up and ran towards the bathroom to at-least make herself presentable for the day. She had worked hard at it and finally had been able to get an interview of a lifetime if she made it.
There were still a couple hours to the interview but better safe than sorry. The bathroom door closed with a bang and the shower started, all across the room were photographs of different situations; dangerous situations as her father often told her. Some of them were very recent of a suicide bombing which failed closer to the center of the city. Though the photo was disturbing to look which showed the amount of casualties in the world in it's naked true form.
She liked it this way more; not because she enjoyed the pain of others but it was her job to make sure that all this can and will get reported to those who make a difference and she loved doing the job. The world was a dark place and she knew it from a very small age but she had brazenly chosen to dive right in the mess.
She was Terror Journalist as she liked to be call herself. This business was risky and the pay was barely enough but it was not for the pay that she did it so it didn't matter. The shower was quick and the door opened to show a very beautiful woman make her way to the cupboard, the water slowly flowing and start rummaging for her clothes.
She was never shy of her own body, she knew she had a great one, part of the reason she was given this interview. So she made sure that she showcased the fact well enough so she wore something which they would never want her to. She chose a simple white sports bra and her favorite sky blue panties. The torn and rugged looking jeans still fit her to a tee and the brown colored t-shirt with her trusted jacket completed her attire. She tied her hair in a pony and got ready to head out.
Her phone wallet and some pocket cash for emergencies was kept and then she opened the lock on her personal favorite : A Sigsauer p22.
She fixed her harness and fixed the gun to it while hiding it under her jacket. This baby had been with her since 5 years and had served her well. Her own safety was seen while getting it here, she was in an active danger zone so it was allowed. The time ticked by and after securing everything the girl picked up her bag, locked the door and went down to hail a taxi.
The ride was quiet and she passed the time trying to run a mind-marathon on the political and terrorist issues that was faced in the last few years. That was one of the most asked question but it was something of real importance this time what with the recent attacks that was uncomfortably close to one of the most prominent feature of History and this city.
The favorite place of the former Mayor-turned-President will give her, her greatest interview. Dreams of reaching further than anyone were not out of reach anymore. With this interview she would get the reputation to tackle the worst of the worst and bring it all to the front of the world.
"We humans do have a habit of not seeing what is most essential, what we most need...heh I would know it more than anyone...."
"Did you say something miss?", asked the Taxi driver puzzled.
"No, just talking to myself."
The rest of the time passed by in a blink and before she knows it, she had reached her destination. A huge building, one of the historical remnants and a century old topic of debate over the most powerful thing of all: faith but for her it is the most amazing architectural wonder ever.
The scenery always made her breath stop aside from making her fell so small. The surrounding tourist were still milling about and she saw someone waving towards her, she paid the driver and started walking towards her editor-in-chief, Alexander Velis. Though she had done a lot to get this interview, the final push was given to her by this man. She was grateful to him for this. He was wearing his usual format: a blue shirt tucked in his brown almost khaki pants.
"I know..I know zaman her seydir. I am here now with more than an half an hour to boost so let's get going.", she smiled at him apologetically. He did say to get here an hour before for some final preparations but for her it was on deaf ears.
"Yes..yes thank Allah that at least you do have the mind to come early no matter half an hour...", he smiled and motioned towards the doorway.
The entrance opened up to a huge space within, though dotted with more than hundred people the halls still felt so huge like no matter who it was everyone will find a place in here. She always wanted to find out just how that happened but like always her time was short and she had work to do. She made her way behind Alexander across the building to the area which they had reserved for the interview.
"I will be with the security detail for to make sure this all goes smoothly enough. Good luck and do make sure to think before you speak."
"Always have, always have..."
"Yeah..tell that to someone who you doesn't know you.", Alexander laughed and walked towards the exit and god knows where to find the security guys.
Her work was waiting, the area was filled with at-least 2 dozen people but other than that it was strangely empty save a few people walking here and there. She knew it would filled with at least more than dozen dozen people easily. The person who she had asked for this interview wanted to make sure that he remained completely out of public's eye at least until the interview was over and done with. He was one of the most influential person in the country so doing this was more than just easy for him.
Ring....
PING....
The moment the phone rang; a different ping sounded and everything just upped and went to hell.
Raarr....
Announcement
Congratulations! Mankind
The System has taken effect in your world and will be in full control the world around you. The system is designed to assist you in the world that you are about to experience. Regarding your conscience a buffer period of an hour has been initialized during which your chances of survival and gain have been increased by 90%.
Do have fun.
Then the screams began and she could barely hold herself from shaking. That roar was terrifying, for some reason she now wanted to get as far as possible from this place something which she would never wanna do. She scrambled from her seat and tried to make heads or tails about the situation.
'Ahhhhhh...ugh', she felt herself sway as a weakness came over her.
A scream sounded from barely some distance away and she looked towards it in reflex and what she saw made her aghast, frightened and feeling despair for the first time in a while. There standing some distance away where there was nothing just a sec ago was a huge axe wielding bull which stood on two legs and roared out ferociously while swinging his axe and tearing a nearby person in half through and through. The body parts fell in two heaps, the sickening thud echoed out in every one's ears.
She steeled herself cause this wasn't the only time that she had seen such gruesome imagery so closely and she remained perfectly silent. For a second everything was silent before the person who was halved weakly tried to raise her hands and the monster simply knocked his axe against her head and smashed it like a watermelon. Then the screaming began....
The monster growled before turning at a nearby female who just had shouted and swung his axe again, this time he aimed for her head. The head dislodged from her torso and got flung to the nearby window where it smashed through and the last thing it's eyes saw was a huge number of monsters making there way everywhere and screams of th people as they died. It was a scene more likened to a battlefield. The head was squashed by large hoof whose owner if anybody in the vicinity had ever seen a movie would know is a 'Centaur'.
'Calm down and think ahead....'
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Her father's words were remembered as she always did, it is a mantra which had kept her from falling for a long time. Her fear wasn't absent as everyone thought. She just had this mantra which chased fear away and fear was something that was rampant in her very bones and the air she breathed right now. She could barely breath now, all that was going on in her mind was just what could be done next.
The bull was rampaging around and she had luckily been smart enough to hide herself and make her way crawling from behind the camera props and equipment's as slowly as she could. The screams didn't stop until after 5 minutes and she took a slow deep breath to try and distract her mind from the smell of blood everywhere. She had taken refuge behind a canvas which had been used for a white background for any VFX effect. The roars stopped soon after which were followed by a rough footsteps prowling nearby.
'I have to get out of here now...'
The stench of blood was everywhere and whether she herself survives was now undecided. She continued on her present course to the nearest door which happened to lead her into the inner hallway so she continued on her course, slowly as far away from the monster as possible and as closer to the door as she could.
Then came the moment of truth, there was a running space between the door and closest overturned hiding spot. Though it will barely take a little more than 10 steps to reach the exit but that amount of space for an unknown monster who had just cut down on everyone she knew placed on her a huge dread. Even now all she wanted to do was hide somewhere and hide until the world was sane again, but she couldn't. She could still hear it's heavy breathing and a rough stomp of footsteps while the creature fidgeted around close by. She could see its feet from amidst the gap of the curtain under a table that had overturned.
Thankfully it didn't move away from where it stood and she soon understood why.
There was a slight distortion in the air before another feet popped out of thin air, then came a massive 7-8 feet tall body with the same bull face and a noose which she hadn't noticed on the first monster. Then from thin air came the weapon, the axe whose size was almost half the bull's fell down and the tiles beneath were scattered as if it was simply glass. The two monsters looked at each other before they grunted and then started patrolling around the area which means..
'Shit more of them are coming through..they are the protectors of the..the spawn point. Minotaur's..aren't they supposed to be myths?.'
Her mind was working overtime to properly mitigate what it had to do to survive now. The door ahead looked almost impossible to reach now that the threat had multiplied. For the next minute she took deep silent breaths so as to calm herself, this is it. She honed her mind right on the door which was made for a human and not for a monster which would mean she had a decent chance of making it through and then...
'Wait a second, what the fuck am I going to do once outside? There are literally monsters inside a national monument and there has barely been any response for the last 10 minutes which means that ..yeah the outside is fucked too. So that leaves...'
Saying she turned around to face the inner sanctum as it was called. They weren't allowed in there, no one was except the higher management so the possibility of another person being there was almost nill. There was a connecting hallway between the two areas, one which would definitely allow for the monster to come in there but if she could reach the inner sanctum door before she is caught, she could lock it and that bolted door would be able to save her....she hoped. What's more there was plenty of things to hide in there and all she had to do was make sure that she didn't come inside the Minotaur's eyes. She looked around for a opportune moment and just as the Minotaur's turned around to eye the spacial crack that had spit both of them, she took it.
So she bolted as quietly as possible but her fear ran rampant because she might just die from a throw of the Minotaur. She had seen the massive axe hurling through the air and halving a person who just out of reach for the Minotaur so she prayed that the monsters wouldn't notice and someone listened.
She hid herself against the wall just out of sight, she is trembling worse now. This 20 steps almost caused her to have a heart attack, she caught herself before she focused her ears for any sign of movement. Just as she hid herself there came a hmph sound that she is sure is made by the Minotaur. Her breathing stopped and her heard accelerated again. Then once again there was silence. She looked down the hallway and berated herself for being so stupid so as to not even check ahead of her.
'Stupid, what if there were more than one of these monsters ahead, wouldn't that be death by stupidity!'
The hallway is thankfully empty which she immediately used to get across while still going as slowly as possible. The need to find out what is going on is increasing now that safety is just ahead. She passed through the low arch door and checked the inside and what she saw completely shook her true belief. Ahead is a scroll half - opened levitating right in the center of the Mosque. The air rippled around it with a gold and silver shine that showered the room with it's light. She felt safe as the light showered on her.
'An honest to God floating scroll. Just what the heck is happening to this world.'
She entered and without any push; the iron door behind her closed on itself. She took a deep breathe before she couldn't. The air felt so heavier, her lungs were on fire. She felt like drowning. She slumped against the door and darkness welcomed her.
PING...
She awoke instantly as if she never slept at all. The air no longer heavier, rather felt like a mid-summer breeze to her.
Then came the window that started all of this.
Time left until Buffer period ends : 00:20:09
Additional Rule applied: Any monster with a greater bloodline than humans will receive the following debuffs
Debuff : Any monster or monsters within any lesser bloodline's attacking radius will have all their stats decreased by 50%
Debuff : Any attacks on a monster greater than or equal to double your level either directly or indirectly will be subjected to 100% increase in damage dealt.
Debuff : All monsters attacking any lower bloodline or without class humans will have their defense null.
Please take note additional rules will only be applicable for the duration of Buffer Period
Any and all rules will be adjusted with the data obtained from the Buffer Period
You are currently in a safe location, no monster below the rank of Elite may approach within 10 meters to the inner sanctum.
"Eep..", there came a small little scream as the numerous boxes filled her eyes and only after looking around and finding no one trying to kill her, did the girl relax and read through all the windows. The full meaning sank in a while later and when it did, she found herself shaking and trying to just stand up.
'Does..this mean that the whole world is now like this? Oh..no. Dad please be careful.'
"Please please be okay."
Directly above her past the huge arched dome, past the high rising walls and right on top the spire lay a bright star showing it's majesty while resting on the top of the Church of Holy Wisdom.
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Time : 40 minutes before The Change. Location : Strauss Mansion Britain
"My theory of human gene limitations is quite simple actually. All it does show is that what we are is just the tip of the iceberg. Our DNA has a very simple yet heavy lock placed on it and I have found it. My theory proves the answer to the countless acts of disbelief and myths that we have been ignoring. Our evolution happened in a span of 100 years, countless years staying as monkeys and we evolve to a being homo sapiens only in a 100 years. If we could fully understand it's nature then the possibilities are endless. It's evolution in the very basest form, evolution which had been stopped for thousands of years by our very own hands. Just think healing from fatal wounds in seconds, flying like superman, running faster than lightning. The answers we could learn, the..".
"You have that look in your eyes again Misaki. The whole reason for us being here is trying to fund our research; not scare him off or worse make them call the mental on you.", came a voice right beside him while he hung his head on hearing the scathing words. The english as fluent as it was still contained the trace of asian accent. He turned around to watch the slightly ginning face of his partner and best friend : Takeshi Sumato. His 5'10 frame and lousy demeanor had fooled many of the wearer's true intelligence.
"I know and you do too; just how important this is.", answered the 5'8 lanky guy with crow's nest for hair and wearing a second-hand suit which oddly made him look like a guy who had missed his holidays more time than necessary.
The place they currently inhabit is a mansion though one which doesn't have the feel of it. The waiting room comprised of half a dozen chairs that were arranged across the room. A soft music played in the background, one which none of them had been able to identify. The carpet was lush under their feet, slightly soothing their over-worked ligaments. The decor was succinct and simple, the simple varnish of dark brown with the natural soft light of the setting sun made the room all the more majestic. They almost pitied themselves for wearing something that these guys would use as a rag. The classic grandfather clock across the room but yet within viewing distance saw them sitting and pacing around the room for roughly half an hour now.
"But do please stop pacing around, it will only make you tired and me irritated", came the reply.
The time for banter was over as the butler came forward and announced, "The Master will see you now. Please follow me."
They did and walked in between huge hallways, with massive paintings of long forgotten ancestors. The path took them up a couple of stairs and behind a cozy mahogany door to one of the finest meeting room they had ever seen. The velvet like carpet caressed their feet, the room temperature kept warm by a modest fireplace adorned with ancient symbols and designs. A small desk stood in between them and the man they were here to see, a man who is their last hope. The rest of the room was filled with books, some haphazardly thrown around, lying open or being used as a stand for a photo in a case.
The man wasn't facing them when they entered but the butler announced them, "Master here are your guests."
The large chair moved around and showed them the face of a old man. His square chin, high cheekbones and black eyes were the only things that could tell them that once this man was handsome but now all that remained was a bald broken scarred man who never really showed his face to the public. His once handsome face was long wound which had turned into white tissue scars which made him look strangely valiant. They didn't want to but they flinched when they saw him. They had been prepared for it knowing that the reason the billionaire didn't show it's face outside but they still flinched. The eyes noticed their flinch and them before the mouth opened.
"My name is Michael Strauss. Thank you for coming all this way, Professors.", the voice was crisp, polite and firm.
"It's nothing, if anything we are interested in why you would be interested in us.", Misaki looked vehemently at Takeshi, 'What the hell are you saying? Shut up!'
"Oh..directly to the point eh. I like it that way. Yeah I read your thesis and have a personal interest in it. What I want to know is that is there any notable side-effects to..1st stage?"
"God's Step", Misaki said unconsciously.
"What..", continued Michael.
"I call them God's Step because theoretically when you complete them you would become equal to or greater than God", replied Misaki unhesitatingly. He had way too much on the line to fear the embarrassment.
"Hmm.."
"The 1st step of evolution is of breaking up your existing gene codes", Takeshi said keeping his eyes on the man in front of him.
"Please elaborate."
"Well, under extreme stress or fear our instincts override our cortex functions in all the decision making but doing so is impossible unless the body is fully integrated with the instincts. This causes the literal breakdown of genes which is deadly. The reason why not many know of already being on 1st God's step is because of this. The gene degrade at such a phenomenal level that even with our current technology, it is impossible to be able to save them. Thus come the unnatural death causes that the doctors are unable to understand. If someone truly unlocks the 1st step, their strength become highly enhanced, they could have heightened senses and perhaps many more abilities that I do not know off. The thing is without a live test subject.."
"Is that why you have called us here, because you have someone who unlocked the first step.", Misaki glared at his partner for interrupting him again.
"Very astute Prof. As for the question, Yes. Tell me Prof. if someone does unlock the 1st step and still lives after it then what are the chances that they would live on without any side-effects."
This made Misaki pause, if what the man was saying was true then there was a subject who underwent the 1st step and is still alive. This would give them a huge breakthrough, something they had been hoping for...waiting for.
"Well...it's impossible to have no side-effects after entering God's Step. But I would like to see the person before I make any conclusions.", Misaki instantly wanted to see the subject.
"But theoretically is it possible?", Michael persisted.
"Yes. Once you step on them, once you unlock them; you permanently gain the permission to enter anytime but there is a catch....afterwards it doesn't matter if you want to enter or not; if your instinct senses any danger; if your life was about to end then your body will unlock itself to go beyond in a bid to save itself no matter the cost.", Misaki explained.
"So if we could keep the person out of danger all their life then there would be no problem."
"Or you could always keep on going ahead. The effects of gene degradation become less effective once the subject has repeatedly used the 1st stage for it to happen. The body sort of creates a resistance to it.", Takeshi said coolly.
"Is it necessary?", Michael countered earnestly.
"The God's Step are sort-off mandatory. They truly unlock the human's genetic evolution potential. Once you unlock it, you have to continue forward and face all the danger and keep going on or just step back and hide their whole life from any danger but that is impossible to achieve..because death comes for everyone."
Michael turned silent and looked at the fireplace for a second before finally sighing and standing up. He stood up a little hunch-backed and made them follow through the huge mansion again, down a couple stairs and finally into a library. For a second, Misaki could see rows and rows of books, before he hurried to follow his partner and Michael. The trio came to a stop at the last book-row one which was stood against the wall. Michael looked around one last time before he picked up 2 different books from 2 different rows and replaced them. One of these books was Theory Of Relativity while the other was the Bible.
"Seriously", asked Takeshi while pointing at the two books in Michael's hands.
Michael just shrugged in reply before replacing them in each other's position. There comes a minute sound, for a second Misaki turns around to see the printer that was making this noise and whoever was using it. Before he points it out, the library row completely moves aside to show staircase leading downstairs.
'An honest to God secret room behind the library. What is this a spy movie?'
"My ancestors built this in the era of wars as a fail-safe. It contains modest amount of catacombs which has only one true route which leads us directly to the outside of the mansion premise quite some distance away. Umm..what do kids call it these days..yeah it's a dungeon.", said Michael as he started walking downstairs and flipped a nearby switch and completely illuminated the dark recesses of the underground.
The walk was fairly short but the atmosphere made Misaki feel closed in some sort of a box. The overhead white light helped him somewhat but the feeling increased as they progressed.
Takeshi placed his hand on his shoulder and squeezed a bit while Misaki nodded and they forged on ahead all the while listening to Michael speech.
"The need for this dungeon was redundant until a few years ago. But it all changed one day...speaking of which we are here.", saying Michael placed his hand on a nearby brick which absolutely looked similar to the previous brick. The brick flashed for a while before it moved aside and a something like a honey-comb pattern came up. His hands didn't stop, barely a second later the adjacent wall opened up with a poof to the show the interior of a Sci-fi Lab.
There was a passage as wide as 3 grown men before it ended and Misaki could see equipment of all sort around (some of which even he didn't know the use of.) But the real deal that made Misaki moved ahead fast and made his partner stop and stare was right in the middle of the room under multiple protective layers inside a vertical tube lay frozen a girl. Misaki almost hit himself on the first protective glass before he stopped and stared.
The girl had long fire-red hair going down her back and she wore a medical gown. She was held straight while she lay frozen literally. The pod was frozen and if Misaki wasn't wrong than this was the legendary technique of cryostasis. A group of scientists walked around working on something with their white coats flinging around.
"Meet Alexandria, my daughter."
Then the whole world just flipped over both figuratively and literally.
One second they were looking at a young girl of barely 20 with incredible curiosity than the next they were lying flat on the ground and trying to understand how did that happen. The very air seemed ripping apart and they felt the earth move like a train on a badly alligned rails. Then a blue box opened up right in front of their very eyes.
Announcement
Congratulations! Mankind
The System has taken effect in your world and will be in full control the world around you. The system is designed to assist you in the world that you are about to experience. Regarding your conscience a buffer period of an hour has been initialized during which your chances of survival and gain have been increased by 90%.
Do have fun.
'How the heck are we moving? Weren't we supposed to be underground ! Holy Shit the earth's crust is displacing so rapidly that we are feeling it and are still not dead.'
The shaking intensifies after a while and they felt more than heard as tons of earth matter moved around and they were hurled around. Astonishingly the room remained unscathed, there wasn't a single crack anywhere they could see whereas with the movement of at-least 7 & above ritcher scale the room and them within should have been crushed like dry twigs.
Unknowingly they all started praying in their hearts for the miracle to continue. The movement barely continued for half a minute but they felt as if their lives were about to fly away. Some in the team of the scientist went unconscious and the rest looked confused. Misaki shook his partner worriedly who seemed to be unconscious. Michael turned to look worriedly at the glass chamber behind him which to his horror had some cracks in it. Though Alexandria looked safe and asleep. There was no saying when such defected glass may rupture and cause some unknown effect on her. Misaki and Michael turned around to look at each other and at the room they were in which to their astonishment had changed.
The previous large room had more than doubled in size, there was a new area right beside the original room. The wall had vanished and what remained was a curtain of light, literally. Like a sci-fi prison there was a light rays moving around on the supposed wall. One of the scientist nearest to the prior entrance moved towards it and opened it to find himself facing a stone wall. He touched the wall to see if it was actually real which it turned out to be. The lights in the room were gone but instead a small light source like a mild sun was stuck under the roof providing them with enough light. Though their ventilation was gone, the air didn't seem stagnated instead there was a slight wind in the room almost like being on the cliff side.
"Is everyone okay?", Takeshi asked
"Yeah", came a chorus of sounds. Seemed like some people weren't harmed but just went unconscious others oddly felt their head getting heavier. They soon felt their breaths hitch as they too observed their surroundings a simultaneous Ding startled them all.
Congratulations!!. You have become the first group of people to attempt the conquering of this dungeon (unnamed). Bonus reward for first experience : Prior unlock of system skill {Party Creation}
Calculating...
Due to Buffer period all fatal injuries have been ignored.
Safe Zone Buff Applied: Recover 5% of health every minute. No fighting allowed inside the zone. Please be advised the protection of the safe zone is combat-oriented. As long as you are inside, hunger is filled and the occupants are satiated.
Combat_Oriented Safe Zone: Creatures whose levels are equal to or below the highest leveled player may enter and initiate combat. The number of creatures will not exceed the number of players at any given time.
Welcome to the Dungeon ???(1012): Designed right after the Initiation, this dungeon host a variety of creatures. Please be aware that the buffer period will come to an end within an hour. Currently you are in a safe zone, you may stay here to recuperate. Have a happy time exploring.
They were in a daze given the blue boxes still floating right in front of their eyes. They were strangely in their mother language but transparent so no matter what happened they would not be blind to what's in front of them. Misaki looked around and walked towards the giant transparent wall through which a medium corridor which darkened like abyss could be seen. He touched the wall curiously before his partner shouted behind him.
"Wait a minute!"
His hands felt like as if it just passed through a cold water wall but strangely he didn't feel wet. He took his hand back inside the safe zone and flexed it to find nothing different except perhaps the cold water sensation lingered a bit.
Next second suddenly something smashed right where his hand was pressed against the light curtain. Misaki fell backwards frightened out of his mind when he went paler seeing the thing that had almost hit him.
It was a dead monster, its blood splashed all around the light veil but didn't come inside.In-fact the veil didn't even move or fluctuate when it was hit.
"Oh my GOD what the hell is that? ", someone shouted from behind Misaki.
"The problem isn't the monster but the one who just hit the veil with it ", Takeshi prompted while holding up Misaki.
The out from the darkness came a giant humanoid monster with only one eye and wearing nothing but a animal carcass around his waist.
It smiled at them and the following roar completely blew away their ear drums.
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Time : The Future. Location : Unknown
A gateway stood high above the clouds, grand and majestic. Beneath it stood a guy clad in armor and bathed in blood.
"Finally here..I am here..Took a goddamn long time find you, you know that right and all that trouble down there..but here I am..huh."
He turned to look downwards but saw only clouds as white as snow as far as he could see. The air moved so the clouds parted to show a battlefield filled with corpses and marred with blood to the extent that it started flowing. Millions of skeletons and corpses in grotesque shapes missing body parts lay'd down in the battlefield still unwilling to die. The fog turned blood red and vengeful spirits howled in agony as some of the bodies writhed. Far away one could hear the terrifying howls and roar of monsters unknown coming towards this battlefield.
The man shook himself before he took out a piece shaped like an apple and slotted it into the hole of the huge archway. The gateway came to life and starting from the runes around the apple all the runes turned white. They blinded for half a second before he smiled at the hole that had opened up right in front of him.
He turned around one last time, his face becoming nostalgic suddenly. A soft light from the archway illuminated his stature. Missing his right leg and with a hole on his chest the size of a baseball, the man sighed.
"Whatever happens..this is the last time that I will see you so...farewell...and see you in time."
After saying so the man just turned and walked right into the hole. The moment he crossed over his body disintegrated and all he knew was darkness. Behind him the world shook for a moment before it too disintegrated.
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Time : Present
When he opened his eyes for a second he couldn't understand just where he was. The sky was blue and he thought he saw a shooting star. He sat up and looked around and only when he saw the giant tiger body besides him did a smile form on his face. Memories came and cleared all his confusion away.
"It worked. Wow this is amazing.", he looked all around at the familiar and yet long forgotten area. Slapping the huge carcass, he caressed it.
"I am here now! How are you old friend? It's been 30 years since I have seen you last. Now let's re-continue our adventure shall we? "
Before he could get up, he felt some pain in his head and he fell right back into darkness...
Warning : External Soul Detected...Matching Host's Soul signature....Error in processing...Containing the external soul inside the Host's Body until further information.