After Earth became integrated with the System, it didn’t take long for Jordan Joyner to learn three important things. First, there was a wider multiverse out there already filled with both other humans and many other races. The second was that of all the races, intelligent crustaceans, not humans, were actually the most populous. And finally, said crustaceans apparently favored the taste of human flesh as a highly-sought delicacy.
But before the circumstances that forced him to discover these three facts, he was just a regular man enjoying a normal evening during the weekend.
“You know what? I wasn’t sure what to expect after what they did with Human Earthworm Four, but that wasn’t actually that bad. Like Five might actually get to go on the eventual rewatch list,” Jordan said as the three young men walked out of the theater room.
As they passed by a trash can, he threw away his now empty bucket of popcorn and soda cup. Now that they were done with the movie and his hands were free, Jordan fished out his phone to check if he missed anything over the last two hours.
“On a technical level, I’d agree that it was really well made,” Adam started. “But I honestly think that I’d rather watch it again to write an essay on the sound design than just for the sake of it. It just tried too hard to recapture everything that made One good, but so much worse.”
Leo nodded in agreement. “Yeah, they knew they screwed up by making Four too unique and just threw everything off. It’s so obvious that the writers just copied Human Earthworm One’s homework, only changed it up a little to seem new, and hoped to make a profit off the nostalgia factor. That was really hard to unsee, especially after the second half.”
Jordan just shrugged as the other two continued to pick apart the movie’s flaws. He’d seen the same flaws, but really didn’t mind them as much. Sure the nostalgia bait was a bit too obvious at certain points. And by no means would he consider it as among the best of the series so far.
Yet overall, he still thought it was perfectly fine as a movie if you just wanted to kill a couple of hours with something enjoyable. He looked back to his phone and read through the latest text from his mom.
She had sent him a reminder to check for Christmas present ideas while he was still at the mall for its theater. Jordan personally thought that shopping for Christmas presents before it was even Halloween was just a bit too soon. But hey, even when you were getting close to graduating with your Bachelor’s and already moved out, mom was still the big boss.
“Right. So I’m gonna hang around for a while and put together a gift list for my mom. Either of you wanna come with, or nah?” Jordan asked.
“Nah, I have an exam on Wednesday that I need to study more for. So I should really start on that as soon as I get home tonight,” Adam said with an already tired grimace.
Leo scratched at the back of his neck. “Hmm, yeah, I’ll also have to pass. Would rather grab dinner on the way back and then just chill for the rest of the day. Oh by the way though, remember that this Friday is when the new raid comes out. If we’re all free, I kind of want to see if we can start right after it's out, maybe even clear it while it’s still day one.”
Jordan and Adam both had to think about that for a moment. Since the raid would be released during the morning of a weekday, there was the chance that school or their part-time jobs would get in the way.
But neither could immediately remember if there’d be any known scheduling conflicts, and agreed that they should all be there right as soon as the raid’s available. Actually beating it within the first 24 hours was pretty unlikely, and there was no way that they would claim the honor of being the first party to do so. But half of the fun was just trying it anyway and figuring out its new mechanics for themselves.
From there, the trio parted ways. Jordan went further into the mall to start browsing through the different little stores, and his two friends left together through the exit by the movie theater.
Around half an hour then passed as he just casually looked around, noting down anything that might make a decent gift idea. He personally wasn’t that interested in some of them. But hey, some extended relative or one of his mom’s friends might always like to have a carved wood model of the Empire State Building.
I think Aunt Bethy is into collecting old beer bottles, actually. There should be an antique or vintage shop somewhere around here, Jordan thought to himself.
For a moment he wondered just what the difference was between those two terms and which one was which. And while he could also take out his handy dandy smartphone to find out the answer in less than a minute, that was just slightly too much effort for only a passing thought. Either way, he’d check that store out next and note down any other nicknacks of interest it might have.
Though that’s what his mind said, Jordan’s heart still lingered on the milkshake place he just passed by. While he knew that his weekly spending budget for fun stuff was already capped, maybe it wouldn’t hurt to just-
It was then that the young man’s entire world turned completely black. But just a second later, a screen appeared before him as the only other thing in the darkness.
Welcome, Human of Earth.
Your universe has been selected to participate in the 42nd Merging. Your Species has been found to have reached an acceptable level of compatibility for this process.
You have been designated to be part of Group 42LUE.
As soon as Jordan finished reading through the prompt, it disappeared. Then like someone flipping a switch, the seemingly never ending blackness was filled with light. Yet it wasn’t from the lights of the mall or even that of the sun. At least, it was clearly not Earth’s sun.
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Jordan next found himself standing on a circular, marble platform. Standing there with him was a group of what seemed to be about two dozen people. Surrounding their platform in all directions was a tall grassland, where the vegetation would have at least reached his waist.
Then directly above them was the source of the natural light. A red star, one that appeared to be at least three or four times larger in the sky than the sun.
He tried to open his mouth to say something to the other people, but there was simply no response from his body. Jordan’s eyes would have then widened with shock, but there was also no movement from them. Even trying to speak through his closed mouth, his voice failed to be produced.
More concerning was that when he tried to take a sucking breath, Jordan’s lungs also failed to do anything. His eyes didn’t blink, his heart didn’t beat within his chest. Even the voice within his mind felt quieted and unable to put together a coherent thought. And when he looked around to the others within his group, they too seemed to be just as frozen.
But that was one thing that actually was functional. While his eyes couldn’t blink, they could still move around. While his vision was limited by being unable to move his head or neck, it did allow for at least for those immediate observations of his surroundings.
Initialization completed.
The flow of time shall be normalized upon the user completing the basic tutorial.
Welcome to the wider multiverse.
As those newly integrated with the System, you have been granted a unique opportunity. While the road to supremacy is filled with walls and dangers, those who are among the generation to take the first step to pave the way for future generations of their home universe will be given special consideration.
New Title Acquired:
Title: 42nd Initial Merger
Description: Be amongst the first living wave of your kind to be merged with the multiverse.
Benefits: +5 to all Stats, +5% to all Stats. A greatly increased number of Traits to select from.
As the multiverse grows larger, so does the disparity between the first universes and those newly added through the Merging.
Titles are the rarest form of reward and are given as achievements for extraordinary accomplishments. In this instance, the Title granted will also allow for an abnormal amount of flexibility regarding the upcoming selection of one’s Trait, in comparison to the first Trait selection for those already familiar with the System upon reaching E Grade.
Traits are the foundation for one’s path to the top. A new Trait may only be selected once per Grade, starting from the first at E. While one’s available Traits are usually dependent on their heritage and personal experiences until then, the user’s Title has greatly expanded the available list beyond these typical parameters.
The user should take the time to carefully select from the following list of potential Traits. As their selection will have a significant influence on their available Classes, and cannot be reversed upon being finalized.
Would you like to begin selecting a Trait?
It was then that Jordan’s mind was released from what felt like being placed in stasis. His body, however, was still stuck in place. But now that he could freely think within his own head again, he first had a very reasonable reaction to the recent series of events.
What the actual fuck?! Did someone slip something into my soda? There’s just no goddamn way any of this can actually be happening! Jordan internally screamed.
He then spent the next several minutes going through the many expletives in his vocabulary as he refused to accept that this was real. The college student then started to list off what had to actually have happened. That this was some kind of fever dream after being drugged. Or that maybe he had a sudden aneurysm and his dying mind was instinctively dreaming up a scenario based on his go-to comfort of video games.
Even as time passed, at least to him, the so-called System remained infinitely patient. It did not respond to any of his rants about how it couldn’t possibly exist. Instead, the question from before just remained in the air in front of him.
When he was eventually just emotionally exhausted, Jordan stared at the screen. Despite many attempts to scream at himself to wake up, nothing had worked. And past the regions of common sense and normal thinking, something within his mind said that this wasn’t just a strange dream or nightmare. This was as real as real could be.
Since it looked like he was stuck with this new world and its rules, he’d just have to try and make the best of it. So with a bit of reluctance, Jordan mentally told the System that he was ready to see the list of Traits.
What followed was a new screen that actually had a scroll bar on the side. At the top was even a header that contained both filters and even sort-by settings.
The list itself seemed to be in alphabetical order by default, so Jordan stuck with that for now as he began to peruse the options. And the System hadn’t been kidding about the list being an expanded one. Because there were what had to be hundreds of possibilities before him.
Some of the Traits were pretty basic in their descriptions. Like there was one that just made you faster at running and without using as much energy. Same thing for others for swimming, climbing, and… even flying.
From there he saw that there was quite the range in what Traits actually did. Like there were the very basic ones from before, but also some that were quite specific. Such as a Trait that made all training in swordplay more effective. But then others that narrowed the kind of sword down, like one that was the same thing but with a better effect due to just being for katanas.
Yet what caught Jordan’s eye was an early one in the list called Apprentice Magus. Its description claimed that it’d allow one to better understand arcane texts and learn the spells they contain. Did that mean that magic was also real now? Looking through a few other Traits that seemed magical in name, it quickly seemed like it.
It took him quite a bit of willpower not to just immediately select one of those as his choice. As much as the fantasy of casting spells would have been a dream of everyone, him included, he needed to stick to being rational. After having casually perused the list for a while, Jordan decided to see what he could find by making use of the filters.
He saw that there were quite a few kinds of filters. But one that caught his attention was something called affinities. That had its list, with a corresponding number of what he assumed were the associated Traits. The arcane affinity, for example, had 13. Something he quickly confirmed by activating the filter and seeing how the available Traits changed.
There were a few others, some corresponding to the elements like fire, earth, water, and air. Then there were the different kinds of physical affinities, ranging through the different kinds of movement. Or more that specifically impacted the body itself, like making his skin tougher or eyesight sharper. Each one had an affinity to neatly organize what kind of thing the Trait itself modified.
Yet of the affinities, there ended up being one that ultimately piqued his curiosity. Mostly because it wasn’t something he had actually expected to make an appearance in this new reality of theirs. The technology affinity.
Now what do we have here? Jordan asked himself.