The Energy Pistol basically looked like it had been yoinked straight out of a science fiction movie. Though at the same time, maybe that was him being a bit hyperbolic. Unlike some sci-fi guns he knew of, this one definitely fell more toward the subtle side of things.
It was lightweight and had a fairly simple color scheme of primarily being grey with some blue accents. There was actually a digital screen on the back of the barrel, which currently just said 100%. Now that was something Jordan could appreciate, since it meant he could actively track its charge without using Appraise.
Alongside the barrel also was a hexagonal pattern etched across its surface that made up the bulk of the blue coloring. Actually, that wasn’t quite right. As Jordan looked closely at the pattern, he realized that the blue wasn’t just from paint or anything like that. They were actually streams of energy that were subtly flowing across the blaster.
I wonder if that’ll also act as an indicator of its current charge. Like if it runs out of juice, will this energy pattern just fade away too? Jordan wondered. After familiarizing himself with the Energy Pistol a bit more, he then looked at a second item.
Because it actually came with a holster too. And it truly seemed like both the weapon and uniform were a standardized combo, because pants were already made to perfectly accommodate the holster. Unlike the pistol itself, the carrier was actually quite simple in design. It was just made out of grey leather without any obvious sci-fi tech attached. If it works it works, he supposed.
Though whoever made these items really seemed to have a thing for grey. Which brought up a good question in itself. Was the System the original designer, or did it just copy some large multiversal company’s standards? That was assuming it was even possible for one mega company to actually stretch across the few dozen universes that were apparently out there, since they were just the 42nd addition.
And that then was a second question. Were they the 42nd universe in general, or was there an original universe, thus making them number 43 in total. All the tutorial said was that they were members of the 42nd Merging, so he guessed it was dependent on if the very first universe also counted as the first Merging. It could go either way, depending on if the Merging referred to joining the multiverse or perhaps just the System itself.
Would you clarify that, System? Jordan asked, yet there was no immediate answer. Hmm, please? he tried next.
Yet even the almighty power of saying please didn’t seem to be enough to warrant the System to enlighten him. From there, he tried to make a slew of inquiries. Like was there a max Level that acted as the cap? How exactly did the letter Grades work? Would they be able to advance their Grade to D just by hitting a certain Level, or was there more to it?
Would their Subclass automatically be granted upon D Grade, or were there further requirements to unlock that feature? And then for their Quests, he even asked for some example rewards or how to actually do them. Like how did one go about starting up a Guild or Kingdom of their own?
Then he asked about the System itself. Like it was some kind of supreme deity that controlled reality? Or was it instead actually the creation of some even higher being? Jordan continued to ask about everything he could possibly think of. And each and every time, he was only met by continued silence.
Jordan found it a bit strange. He knew that the System was listening and that it could choose to provide answers. It had pretty directly guided him toward his pocket space, but only after it was asked about. But if he and nobody else hadn’t done so, would it have still given it at some point?
He believed that perhaps there was a key to how the System chose to operate. In the tutorial, it had chosen to define some mentioned terms but not others. Then there was the bit about only giving their pocket space and starting equipment after being directly asked about it.
If one were to look at it as a game designer, the System seemed to be one that expected their players to figure things out for themselves. It said they were given an advantage in the form of the Title that expanded their list of available Traits.
So perhaps that and the tutorial itself was all the hand holding it was willing to provide. Yet just the way it had operated the tutorial was already a kindness of its own. Since having their sense of time warped meant anyone who would have freaked out from being teleported had already done so. Jordan didn’t know just how long it would have taken some people to recover from a mental breakdown while being physically frozen. But the System probably would have just waited for eternity if need be.
That function was probably the main reason why the people in his group actually seemed to be fairly calm at the moment. Though that was just an assumption made from someone who’d been part of the System for less than twenty actual minutes. Time would only tell if his current idea of it would continue to hold up.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
For now, he decided to see what kind of equipment the rest of his group received. And to his surprise, there was actually the variety. In fact, there was one person in particular that stood out to him. One with what seemed to be wizard’s robes, but had the black and white symbol of a large hourglass on the back. The man also had a scepter with an actual hourglass at the top.
The design as a whole practically screamed one thing and one thing only to him.
No fucking way. There’s no way he got that of all things as a Class. That’d be way too busted as even a concept for people at Level 1, right? Like right? Jordan asked himself as he stared at the man.
His curiosity was just way too much right now. He needed to confirm whether or not he had the right idea. Jordan momentarily considered using Appraise. But decided to just walk over to the man and directly ask for himself. That way it might also spark the idea of people actually sharing their Classes now.
“Hey, I’m Jordan. I was just thinking that it might be a good idea for us to start sharing our Classes. You know, put together a headcount since it looks like we’re gonna be sticking together for a while. I went with the Combat Engineer from the list of Battle Classes, after picking Tech Savvy as my Trait,” Jordan said to start things off.
“Oh, that’s probably a good idea. I’m Mark. I picked the Time Sensitive Trait, and then also went with a Battle Class and chose Time Wizard. Good to meet you, even if it’s under these weird circumstances,” Mark said as he extended a hand. Jordan took it with an outward smile, but he was a hurt man on the inside.
Welp. Here I thought that my Class was a good one. But being a straight up chronomancer just isn’t fair man. Like if Warrior, Healer, and the others were everyone else’s starting Battle Classes, then that was probably the easiest choice in the world, he mentally grumbled.
Traditionally speaking, when it came to what could be overpowered concepts, time magic was usually pretty high up there. And if Jordan tried to claim that he wasn’t at all jealous, he’d be lying through his teeth. But he at least tried to not let it show on face. No need to be a jerk about it and ruin first impressions.
“Hello everyone, my name is Kevin Brown!” The crowd turned to the man who’d started speaking with a loud voice. He had positioned himself at one end, just in front of the marble platform. The speaker named Kevin was a tall man, and respectively muscular in build.
“Now that we’ve had a chance to all adjust and put on our equipment. I think that it’s important to start organizing. I know that some of you might still think this is a dream or even a nightmare. But this is real, which means we need to consider our most immediate priorities in any survival scenario: shelter, water, and food,” Kevin continued.
“But before that, I think it'd be a good idea to share everything we know about what this System has given up. If anyone has any pencil and paper, I think we could write out our Classes, Traits, Stats, and basically every variable in each of our Statuses. For example, the value of my Stats sum up to a total of 117. So I’m curious to know how that relates to everyone else’s.”
Oh thank God, someone else actually decided to be the main one to bring it up, Jordan thought with some relief. He’d be more than happy to let someone else handle the responsibility of being the organizer. He had always been ready to do the most work in a group project rather than being the main presenter.
But Kevin actually brought up a good point. So as someone else volunteered to sacrifice the textbook in their backpack, Jordan willed for his Status to appear and did some quick mental math.
Huh, would you look at that? Exactly 117, now that’s way too specific of a number to just be a coincidence. But if it does line up with everyone else’s total value, would it have killed the System to have rounded it up to 120? Just for the sake of making it nice and even.
A little while later, they had more or less finished writing everything down that they could think of as potentially valuable information. And yes, 117 was indeed the shared Stat total for each person in their group. Yet that wasn’t all in terms of equally given values. They had also been given the same amount of Title, Trait, and Class bonuses for their Stats. Including the exactly four people who had decided to go with a Trade Class as their main.
Which meant that it only took a bit of working backwards to find out their “base” Stats before all the bonuses. Now that came out to a total of 70 per person, which was much better as a nice increment of ten. Though it was also a bit strange, if you thought about it. Just what were the chances that across two dozen people, everyone’s Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence and such just happened to have an equal total.
Like in terms of representing how strong or smart someone was, reality shouldn’t have been so neat and tidy. Especially when their base individual Stats actually did vary by quite a bit. Like the average starting Strength seemed to be 10, while Jordan’s had been below that at 7. In fact, 10 seemed to be just the average for each Stat.
“Oh crap, I think I hear something coming this way!” a woman suddenly exclaimed.
It immediately pulled everyone out of their conversations as the air became filled with nervous tension. Jordan believed that her name was Elizabeth and was a Ranger with a Passive Skill that sharpened her senses. So if she said something was approaching their group, they all trusted her claim.
Energy Pistol now drawn, Jordan also prepared himself to immediately use Appraise. When first facing an unknown threat, being able to get information would be vital in finding a clue toward potential weaknesses. Then just a moment later, it made its way through the tall grasses.
Species: Rabbit
Level: 1
Description: A common mammal found within the grasslands of Vervina-C. They are herbivores that largely spend their time sleeping and foraging for food within their home environment.
That’s right. Out of all things, it was just a freaking Rabbit. And just like that, all of the momentum from Jordan’s built-up excitement crumbled apart before its ashes were carried away by a strong breeze.