“Shit,” Jason said as his screwdriver slipped while installing a fan into his PC. He was rushing. He had been so excited to get all the parts that he couldn’t wait to get the proper tools and started building almost carelessly. Of course, he knew what he was doing, but he should have paid more attention to his work.
Not that such superficial things should matter as in that exact moment, Jason and everyone else in the world blacked out.
Jason woke with a start. “What? Where the hell am I,” he shouted into the white abyss.
“You are here,” a voice stated calmly from all corners of the infinite room.
“Thanks,” Jason replied dryly.
“This is the start to a new era on Terra.” the voice pronounced the name with a curious accent, allowing Jason to come to a startling conclusion.
Aliens. Seriously? Roswell and all of that, wasn’t a bunch of psychos going on about nothing? Oh fucking well, I guess; here we go.
Jason wanted to confirm his theory. “So are you, whatever and wherever you are, the good kind of alien, or the bad kind?”
“Good is subjective. I’m not here to discuss such superficial matters with you, Jason Taylor. It is the time of your peculiar planet’s activation. The mana in your world has become active and thus it is the responsibility of my people to tell you all you must know about the System. Or at least enough to last 5 minutes.”
“Great. Gotta love malicious compliance. Whaddya got for me angel-thing?”
The voice made a strange sound at its description, akin to a laugh. “The System is the only Universal constant. Once a planet has the proper mana, every living creature is brought into it in one respect or another. Humans and other sentient creatures have access to the full system and, as such, can interact with all of their menus. However, less intelligent life, like the dogs you people keep as pets, are somewhat aware of what is happening and can use their system to a limited extent. Unintelligent life does not have access to the System directly, but the System still influences them, of course. You will also find hostile enemies not native to your world beginning to appear as a challenge to your planet. Finding safety and earning your levels in the system to strengthen yourself is key, both to you and your planet.
To pull up your personal system, say the word ‘status’, and it will appear. Anything else you learn is between you and the system via its messages and alerts. I wish you Luck, and may the System be with you.”
Before Jason could even let out his long-held breath, he was back in his apartment, holding his screwdriver looking at his PC. He immediately turned on the TV and saw a reporter slowly steadying herself, seeming to have come out of the same daze he had. Flipping to another channel, another Jason came to a conclusion. This wasn’t some random trip he found himself on. This was truly a planet-wide phenomenon.
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Not being one for sentiment, Jason immediately calmed himself and focused. “Status,” Jason declared aloud. The screen before him was disappointing, to say the least.
Name: Jason Taylor Age: 24 Race: Human Level: 0 - 0/1 XP
Before he could even process the information before him, another screen appeared.
Quest Complete: Initiate System
You have begun your journey into the system, Human.
+1 XP
Level Up!
You are now Level 1. View your status screen for more information.
Jason dismissed the two notifications, returning to his status screen.
Name: Jason Taylor Age: 24 Race: Human Level: 1 - 0/100 XP Health 195/195 Mana 143/143 Free Points: 1 STR 12 INT 14 CON 13 CHA 6 DEX 7 LCK 10
Seems like typical RPG stuff. Six stats, and you can upgrade them with stat points at each level-up.
Jason threw the point into DEX, as it was his lowest physical stat, and he didn’t know what he’d be facing in the coming days. Then he walked to his small kitchen to get some equipment he would likely need in the coming days. He picked out an assortment of knives, a first-aid kit and some canned and dried foods. He also went to his bedside table and got the pistol he had since his father gave it to him right before he passed.
While in the bedroom, Jason was about to grab a backpack when he had a thought. “Inventory.” There it was, the most glorious sight anyone could ever behold. A grid of empty squares, begging to be filled. Rushing back to the kitchen, he filled it with his equipment. Each time he placed something in, the System stacked like items into each slot. The measly nine slots Jason had access to were enough to hold his equipment, but not large as a whole. One slot for all of the kitchen knives (apparently the System didn’t discriminate), one slot for the dried fruits, another for the canned meats and the 4th slot went to his first-aid kit. As Jason tried to place his gun into his inventory, he received a notification.
Error.
Complex non-system items cannot be placed in Inventory. Systemization of such items may be possible within Safe Zones, ranked Haven or above.
“Safe-Zones, huh. Gotta get me one of those I guess,” Jason mused to himself. Recalling another classic RPG feature, Jason focused on “Safe Zones” in the message.
Safe Zones
Safe Zones are places created by intelligent creatures as a way to protect against monsters. No monsters may spawn within a Safe Zone, nor its radius of safety.
Quest Initiation: Zone of Safety
Due to your planet’s recent initiation into the System, any sentient creature may be granted this quest, however the window of opportunity closes one full rotation of the planet around its star(s) after the System’s initiation.
Task: Kill a total of 250 level’s worth of creatures. 0/250
Time Remaining: 23 hours, 07 minutes, 34 seconds.
Reward: 1 Safe Zone Core.
Well, it couldn’t be more obvious what to do next. Jason had to kill some monsters!