Rick was the happiest person on the whole planet.

Everything in his life was going well. He had good grades, his soccer team won the tournament and he had a date with Diana.

Ok, calling it a date might be a little bit of an exaggeration, considering that she only asked him if he could help her with their math homework, but afterward they are going to watch a movie together... together with some friends.

It was something ok.

The plan was quite simple: Come home, eat something, wait three hours for Diana to arrive, do homework together and end the day with a movie. He could hardly wait.

Rick was alone at home. His parents always away on some kind of business trips or another and he was an only child. To guarantee his well-being, his parents transferred him some cash at the beginning of every month to his bank account. Some being a relatively huge amount of money for a 17 years old boy who didn't work. Having already eaten, the only thing left to do right now was to wait for Diana, so he just did that.

***

Rick woke up with bleary eyes. His phone ringing right beside his head.

"Damn... I must have fallen asleep. I have to stop with those late night sessions of LoL." he thought to himself. He still had about half an hour before Diana will arrive at his door, but first things first. Somebody was calling him. Just when he was about to pick up his phone, it went silent and he received a notification.

The only thing was that the source of said notification didn't appear to be his phone, it felt more like if the message was floating right before his eyes.

System Initializing…

It felt like the whole world was spinning for a moment and as suddenly as this feeling came it stopped.

"What the fuck was th..."

Rick was cut off by confused screaming right outside his window. And he had an inkling that the floating screen in his vision might have something to do with it.

Welcome to New Earth! Your world has been entered into Nexus, and as such, is now running on a new system to give you the tools and challenges to survive and live a fulfilling life! Good Luck.

Basic Information

Rick Dadreck

Class: ---

Level: N/A

Health: 50/50 (+ 16/h)

Mana: 50/50 (+ 12.5/h)

Stamina: 50/50 (+15/m)

Vitality: 4

Endurance: 3

Strength: 3

Agility: 4

Perception: 2

Intelligence: 4

Wisdom: 1

Willpower: 4

Review by thinking "Status" at any given time.

Congratulation! You unlocked "Newbie Path"

Think "Show Paths" to see all your Paths and your available Path Points (0PP)

"Again. What the fuck is going on" Rick whispered to himself, but he kept studying his so called "status". It would take around 3 hours to regenerate his health and exactly 4 hours for his mana to reach maximum capacity.

Wait a minute,mana? Is this some kind of video game? No that would be absurd... right? "Well, if you never try, you´ll never know."

First of all, Rick needed to know what he could do with his mana. 'How to go about this? Maybe I should meditate?' He sat down on the floor, closed his eyes and tried to look into himself with his "inner eye".

At first, there was nothing and he felt like an idiot, but after a short while of continuing regardless, he could feel it. Something foreign is moving inside his body. Slowly, Rick tried to get a hold on this new power and to direct it into his palm, but every time his control would slip out of his grasp. He tried again and again until he finally managed to direct his mana into his palm.

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You have learned the Skill Meditation

You have learned the Skill Mana Manipulation

"Ok, nice. What now?" Rick tried to manipulate his mana again and it felt surprisingly easy this time. He was even able to form a little orb made out of mana on his right palm. He inspected the small blue ball floating right before his nose. It was hypnotizing how the little strings of Mana, the ball was made of, are moving inside the sphere.

Mana Manipulation has reached Lvl. 2

Mana Manipulation has reached Lvl. 3

It was at this moment a thought struck him. Maybe he could shoot this ball of mana to learn something like a Mana Shot or something? Aiming his palm at a wall, he willed the ball to shoot forward.

You have learned the Skill Mana Bolt

The result was... underwhelming. He could clearly see the place where his Mana Bolt struck the wall, but he expected that he would achieve more than just burning his wall a little and on top of that, the Mana Bolt moved astonishingly slow. Even a child could have avoided being hit by this particular spell. Ok it wasn't that bad but Rick couldn't stop feeling disappointed. He had hoped for more from his new spell.

Despite that, Rick remained optimistic. If it was in his ability now to create a spell like that, he always could create more spells. But before he went on experimenting with his new abilities.

"Status"

Rick Dadreck

Class: ---

Level: N/A

Health: 50/50 (+ 16/h)

Mana: 40/50 (+ 12.5/h)

Stamina: 50/50 (+15/m)

Vitality: 4

Endurance: 3

Strength: 3

Agility: 4

Perception: 2

Reaction: 4

Intelligence: 4

Wisdom: 1

Willpower: 4

What? Ten mana for this useless Mana Bolt? He couldn't believe it! He only had enough mana for five shots of Mana Bolt. Plus it didn't look strong at all! How could he hope to win a battle against... anything with this joke of a blue glowing orb? He needed to create something better. It was then, that he remembered a short presentation he did for school just 2 weeks ago. It was about bullets and their history. When they have been invented, what materials you need, stuff like that.

Without further ado, he, again, made a ball of mana on his palm but this time he condensed it further and further and he made it flat on one side and aerodynamic on the other side. It took him multiple tries and he was a little sweaty at the end. Still nobody could have wiped that massive grin of his face.

You have learned the Skill Mana Bullet (Ra)

Mana Manipulation has reached Lvl. 4

Mana Manipulation has reached Lvl. 5

Mana Manipulation has reached Lvl. 6

Mana Manipulation has reached Lvl. 7

Mana Manipulation has reached Lvl. 8

You are the first person in your world to learn the skill "Mana Bullet" (Rare) entirely on your own. You will receive a Creator Bonus (Manacost per bullet will always be 1 Mana)

You are the 487th Person to learn a Rare Skill thus receiving a Pioneers Bonus. It is now slightly easier to learn new Rare Skills and level already obtained ones.

Congratulation! You have unlocked "Trailblazer Path"

"Yeah baby, that's how you do it! I bet Diana would be impressed. Oh shit, what time is it?"

Looking at the clock on the wall, Diana should have arrived 10 minutes ago. Maybe he should call her with all those floating screens and new powers and what not.

"Huh ... No signal, weird. Ok maybe I should go look for her."

Putting on his shoes and his jacket, Rick could now hear agitated voices from outside, too occupied to notice them before. It was understandable for Rick. He imagined that most people wouldn't be so adaptable or excited about this change as he was. If he was honest, he had been daydreaming about having superpowers more often than he could count, but who hasn't?

He opened the door, stepped outside and nearly ran into his neighbor and best friend Rain Lee.

"Yo Rick! I was just about to knock. Call me crazy or do you also see that stuff. Ohh and this one is for you."

Rick looked perplexingly at the aluminum bat offered to him by Rain and took it without thinking.

"Yes Rain, I also see that stuff, but what are the bats for?"

"Ehh safety, duh? If you haven't noticed, our little neighborhood is suddenly surrounded by a fucking forest. We need to gather food and water as fast as possible and find out what's happening."

Rain was right. Rick was so busy with experimenting with mana indoors that he didn't notice the change in scenery. Just two houses down the road the street abruptly stopped. Thankfully, that wasn't the direction of the local supermarket, which he could still see down the road in the other direction.

"I already ran around the parameter. It looks like the supermarket is the center of a perfect circle with a radius of about 200 meters. Some of the houses at the edge and the road are perfectly cut off. It looks kinda creepy."

Rick didn't know what to say to that. People were already gathering in front of the supermarket. The two boys decided to join the growing crowd.

It was a friday and late enough after school, that most kids that came home were already out again, but not late enough, that most adults were back from work, so there were less people than Rick expected at first.

"Settle down people!" Mr. Rogers, the owner of the supermarket shouted. "I know that you are frightened for so am I, but we need to calm down and think about our situation! I am of course willing to give you food and water but we are cut off and we don't know when help will arrive, if ever! So for now my supermarket is the biggest source of clean water and food. We need to ration our supplies before we find alternative sources!"

"Rogers is right." Said Mr. Brown who was Ricks direct neighbor opposite to the Lees. "I propose to even go a step further. We should go from house to house and collect all the food and water and store it here. That is our best chance at survival for the long run."

Rick and most other people seem to agree with that idea, but some were reluctant to give away such vital recourses.

"No, I don't want that! I already paid for the stuff I have at home so it is rightfully mine and if I don't want to give it away, than it is my right not to!", argued Ms. Mason."

"Look Ms. Mason, I understand where you are coming from but we need to work toge..."

"Heeeelp, somebody help please!"

Mr. Rogers response was cut short by a distant cry for help.