November 15th, 2019. A normal day, a day so normal that most would ignore it and regard it as nothing more than another boring day of work. This day however was marked in history by all as the most revolutionary day known to man. This was a day that changed the planet earth forever.
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Outside a school yard two young adults can be seen chatting, one slightly taller fellow at about six foot three can instantly give off the appearance of an aggressive man, yet by his tone in the conversation he seems as hostile as a small kitten. The other fellow is quite a bit smaller only five foot eight who looks like your stereotypical nerd. Glasses, a tucked in collar neck white shirt, black khakis and a bowl cut to finish off the style. With the other man sporting a black jacket, black jeans, and a buzzcut, the friendly conversation can quickly be mistaken as a no-good hoodlum about to jump an unsuspecting nerd. But no, this conversation would be something that no one would predict, a conversation that ended as quickly as it had begun. A conversation about another universe.
“Ha, as if I'd ever believe that. Next, you're going to tell me that there’s a ninth planet in our solar system.”
“Listen, I wouldn’t believe it either if one of my best friends randomly told me that there’s a second universe out there, but I'm telling you there’s reason to believe this.”
“Oh, like what? Really, I would love to know what reason there could be to believe such a fantasy tale.”
“It’ll be easier if I just show you, come we’re going to go to my father’s basement.”
“Didn’t you say you were going to cut ties with your father, wasn’t he a big looney? I remember all those years back when you were telling me your father found a way to become immortal. We all know how that one turned out...”
“Please, I shudder just remembering the amount of that radish spice smoothie he forced down my throat trying to prove his point. Trust me this time it will not be anything like last time. No smoothies to become an immortal, rather this time all you will have to do is observe. No pain involved, no discomfort, not even the slightest amount of any negative emotion will be felt. Trust me Nick, out of everyone I know, you’re the one who always believed me when it mattered the most. It didn’t matter how wrong I was, but this time I can’t help but truly believe my father is on to something this time.”
“Okay, okay relax. I’ll believe you, just make sure to keep your word on those negative emotions, I best not feel any discomfort or I'm leaving.”
“Ha, I knew I could count on you, come we have to get there soon or it might be too late to show you.”
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Some hours later Nick and his friend arrive in a dark decrepit basement with test tubes everywhere, it gives off a similar vibe to how a lab would look like. An old abandoned lab at that. Cob webs can be seen at the legs of the tables and in the crevices in the room.
“Would it kill you or your father to clean this damn place? It looks even worse than when I last came here...”
“My father says it makes it easier to concentrate, brings him closer to nature or something like that. Anyways this doesn’t matter. Come look over here on this table. You see the green misty looking orb in the middle of that box? That right there is my evidence.”
“...Evidence?”
And with what might be the largest smile Nick’s friend could muster, he responds “Yup, evidence!”
A loud slapping sound can be heard as Nick’s giant hand brushes past his friend's cheek.
“Oi, stop wasting my time Robert, what the fuck did I come all this way for! You drove me here for three hours just to see this? Where’s the radish spice smoothie or whatever? There’s no way you would bring me here just for a green misty ball. What’s this dumb little ball got to do with a second universe anyways? It looks pretty cool, but I don’t see how that’s got do with a second universe.”
“Relax, you didn’t even let me explain what this ball means. Jeez, you didn’t have to slap me either, say you’re sorry and I’ll tell you the story of the old mystical green misty ball.”
“...You, you expect me to apologize?! Oi, Robert I'm not the one who’s wasting your time in some sad attempt to make me believe some far-fetched tale. Heck, I should get an apology, not the other way around. Now quit wasting my time and tell me the story of this magic ball.”
“Whatever, you’re going to regret those words once you hear this story. You ready?”
“Yes, yes I'm ready hurry up already will ya?”
“Okay, so when this universe was created at the start of time a freak accident occurred. The “God” of the universe accidentally used too much creation power when forming this universe, resulting in more than one universe to be made. A total of nine were starting to form, God acting quickly and decisively started to seal these universes in an orb. Yes, yes you guessed it. It’s this very green misty ball you see here. See this is proof that there’s a second universe out there, actually no I guess since there was nine in total, then that would mean there’s seven more. Isn’t that amazing Nick, seven whole universes waiting to be discovered!”
“...”
“Well? Mind boggling isn’t it? When I first heard it from my father, I hardly believed it either until I saw the green misty ball myself. This Is going to be all the newspapers are going to be writing about for weeks to come, ‘green misty ball found! Proof of other universes!’, it’s going to be amazing.” At this point the smile Robert had on his face earlier paled in comparison to his current smile, it looked like you could fit a 30-inch flat screen T.V in between his smile and still have to worry about it not being wide enough to fit end to end.
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Nick finally spoke with a sigh after giving Robert a glare that could kill “...I’m...I’m going home.”. Nick then turned around and started walking upstairs to leave all the while clenching his fists as hard as possible. If he hadn’t turned around Robert would be able to see his veins on his face wriggling around like worms.
“Hey, what gives aren’t you amazed by the magical ball? We’re going to become famous ya dumb idiot.”
Nick stopped for a moment before proceeding to ignore Robert and continue heading towards the door, there was no way he was going to believe this goof ball and once more there was no way he was going to blow his anger here, who knows what might happen if he does. He might end up killing the poor bloke!
“Fine, suit yourself. You’ll regret it when I'm famous.” Robert happily said.
All Robert was given as a response was the sound of a door slamming shut, signaling the disappearance of Nick.
“Hmph, I knew I shouldn’t have trusted Nick, no it must be rather that he can’t see it. The great future this will bring me, I'm sure he’s just jealous that he doesn’t have such a smart father like I do.”
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“Fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK! Why can’t any of you dipshits do anything. Another loss, another loss. Damn it! Robert you bastard this is all your fault if you didn’t waste my time with your bull shit, I wouldn’t have had to end the day on a loss.” Nick angrily screamed as he slammed his mouse on the computer desk. Nick then got up from his chair and slammed it into his desk before going on his bed and shoving his face into the pillow yelling obscenities at the top of his lungs. Nick was someone who was quick to believe others, but Nick was also just as fast to blame others for his mistakes or decisions.
Nick would never believe that it was his fault that made him lose his seventh game of league of mysticals in a row. No, it was his bot lane who fed like crazy, it was their fault he lost! What? My bot lane isn’t feeding, damn you Robert why did you make me go to your damn crazy father’s place wasting my time and energy. It’s your fault I’m losing! This was something like how Nick’s mindset went. He would always try to find blame in others, especially online. At least in person he would be able to tough it out and not say something like what he did at Robert’s father’s house, but at home, online, there was no mercy. Or at least there should have been no mercy until a loud voice boomed into his ears. His ears?
No, it didn’t sound like it came from anywhere, it might be more accurate to say it come from within his mind. Similar to the voice inside your mind when you read something, except louder, much, much louder. Startled Nick jumped up from his bed reaching for his gun under his bedside, a home invasion? No maybe worse, his team mate from game four was telling the truth when he said he graduated at the top of his class of navy seals and that he would track him down. The voice that screamed attention loudly into his ears, screamed a sense of panic into Nick. After grabbing the gun Nick stood in the corner of his room with his revolver facing the door way ready to shoot while listening to the voice, quivering in fear of the thought of a real top tier navy seal coming to track him down. Thoughts of regret quickly appeared in his mind causing him to break into a cold sweat, all the while the voice in his mind spoke out.
“Attention! Attention! Attention! Your planet is now under the control of ‘the system’. You will be given a choice of what level difficulty tutorial you would like to face before the system fully simulates with your planet. At which point other beings of the system will be able to go to your planet and do whatever they wish to your planet. Harvest it for resources, enslave all creatures, slaughter everything. Anything and everything can happen at that point, especially for such a weak species such as yours. Anyways, higher level difficulty tutorials will naturally give a higher-level reward. That being said for a species as weak as yours even the lowest level difficulty may prove to be too great of a task, therefore I will give you the option of not facing a tutorial and subsequently being given the lowest rank and no reward as a punishment. Naturally this will mean it will be up to fate to decide your race, but I guess you don’t have much of a choice in this case. That being said here are the choices.”
Nick who thought he had lost his mind shot his revolver out in panic when messages appeared in front of his eyes along with an interface that looked similar to an mmorpg. Health, mana, and stamina bars all appeared in the top left of his vision and in the middle eight options appeared.
S Rank tutorial [Impossible] - An option here simply out of curtesy for the suicidal.
A Rank Tutorial [Elite] - An option only the elite of the system will have even a chance of completing. Those who succeed will be capable of killing all those who enter their planet if desired.
B Rank Tutorial [Good] - An above average ranked tutorial, that will be quite difficult for most species, although some have succeeded. Those who succeed stand a good chance of defending their planet.
C Rank Tutorial [Average] - Although rated as ‘average’ most fail to beat this tutorial. This is considered average rank for ‘the system’ and does not account for your species level of strength. Little to no chance of defending their planet unless in large numbers of C ranks.
D Rank Tutorial [Bad] - A below average ranked tutorial, you will be considered by ‘the system’ as lesser and will be treated as such by it. You stand almost no chance of defending your planet even with large numbers of D ranks.
E Rank Tutorial [Pathetic] - The second lowest ranked tutorial. You will be regarded as an ‘ant’ by the tutorial and thus treated as one. You have no chance of defending your planet.
F Rank Tutorial [Useless] - The lowest ranked tutorial. You will hardly be recognized by ‘the system’ and will be treated as non-existent.
F- Rank – Don't take the tutorial and leave your planet up to fate.
Nick being someone who naturally believed in others easily, quickly looked at the options in fear. Based on what the voice said there was little to no chance of even succeeding at the lowest rank tutorial, this wouldn’t seem alarming until one read what ‘the system’ regarded those who took that level of tutorial as: ‘Useless’. Even the very lowest level tutorial was something that in ‘the systems’ eyes was something not even worth taking, yet almost no human would be able to succeed at passing that level. Meaning that planet Earth would become a playground for different species to do whatever they please. Infuriating, absolutely infuriating how stuck up that piece of shit system was. F rank? Barely able to pass, leave oneself to fate? No fuck that, even S rank is too easy for me, that being said I'll show mercy on the system and not embarrass it too hard and take a slightly lower rank tutorial. Ahem, well since I'm a higher tier being, a chad if you will, I should be able to at least do the A rank tutorial as I am an elite amongst humans. And thus, this was how Nick chose the second highest level tutorial.
Here is where another remarkable personality trait of Nick started to show. Nick had an unrivalled level of cockiness. It didn’t matter if he had never played basketball before, you best believe he would be shit talking NBA players. One might think that this situation was far different. This was a situation where one could get killed, it was something most wouldn’t face in their lifetime, a choice this difficult, this dangerous! Yet Nick saw this all as nothing more than a game. League of mysticals 2 must have been coming out early is what Nick was probably thinking right now. A health bar, mana bar, and a stamina bar?! They all signaled towards a video game and that’s what Nick thought of this tutorial. This whole thing was nothing more than a video game and unlike league of mysticals, Nick was going to kick ass and become the best of the best.