Chapter 1
As I started to wake, I couldn’t help but notice that I felt different. I tried to remember what I did last night while still lying down with my eyes closed trying to get used to this weird feeling. It's no use, I must have had a good night if I can't remember it. Slowly opening my eyes I looked around in shock. I was in a beautiful room. The room itself was large and open. Its walls were a pure white which almost glowed. It had hardwood floors that were stained a nice warm dark brown. There were nightstands, dressers, and a large walk-in closet. Everything looked like an antique. The bed was king-sized, very comfortable, and had a large headboard with multiple carvings that looked hand made. In the center was the battlefield cross. Helmet resting on the buttstock of an M-16 with dog tags hanging off the handgrip all supported by combat boots. To the left was a group of soldiers trying to erect the American flag. On the right was a bald eagle staring down at a police officer who appeared to be jumping in front of a kid, taking a bullet, and saving the child's life. The detail was amazing but I went pale when I saw the name on the dog tags, it was my name. This was not my room, at least I didn’t think it was. It is an odd feeling to not remember what your room looked like. As I thought deeper my panic started rising. I couldn't remember anyone close to me. No family, friends, or co-workers. I had to have had parents right? I could remember working but not peoples names or faces. Maybe I had some sort of head trauma? I felt my head and there was no bumps or pain.
Rushing out of the room I quickly found the front door. A voice greeted me from a rocking chair as soon as I took a step outside.
“Good morning Shawn. I know you have questions, and I will answer them, but please have a seat first and hold your questions until the end as this may take some time.”
I stared at the old man in confusion before sitting in the rocking chair across from him. The old man looked like a kind grandfather. He was wearing fishing gear. He had an aura around him that seemed to calm me.
“First off I want to congratulate you on completing the tutorial. Most people do not do so for at least a hundred or more lives. And before you ask, yes I am saying your life as you know it is over. You died and in doing so ended the tutorial. Earth is the tutorial planet, we give you deja vu in hopes that you will react to the situation differently, thus earning more points. If you do not gain enough points before you die, you are entered into the cycle of reincarnation and start gaining points again. Think of points as experience just like in a video game. As such, you will lose some each time to die. This experience is payment either for reincarnation or to send you to your personal pocket outside of spacetime…”
“Wait, what?” I was really confused. If what the old man said was true then I am dead. If i am dead then I will never see my parents or friends again. Somehow I don’t really feel bad about that. I know I should feel bad, I just don't remember them.
“What happens next? How many points do I have then?What can I use them for?” I rapidly started asking questions before I was interrupted.
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“All in good time Shawn, I told you to hold your questions til the end. I’m sure I will answer the majority of them while explaining the system we use and how to use it. As I was saying everything you do good or bad has a point value. For example, If you knock the items someone is carrying out of their hands you may get one point.If you see that happen and go pick up the items for someone you may get four points. Good deeds get four times the points than bad deeds. However, if you choose to do nothing, you lose points equal to what you would have gained. This is why it takes so long to accrue the points needed. If you reach ten million points then you get an achievement for completing the tutorial and get sent here to see me. The ten million points needed will be used to fuel the teleportation of your soul here. If you have any extra, you will get to keep them. Experience is important as is Achievement points. I will refer to each as XP and AP from now on. Now that you will be enjoying True Life, the only limitations are what you can afford. Live a new life, gain more XP and AP and use those to unlock new things. Everything you did not have in the tutorial you will need to pay the point cost to unlock. You can go negative in XP if you are not careful. If you unlock too many things and then get killed by another person in True Life, you will find yourself wishing you had paid attention. If you kill a True Lifer you will steal an amount of points equal to 60% of their total XP, they then will need to pay the death fee to power the teleportation back to their personal space. If they do not have the points available then it will be bad for them or you if you find yourself in the same situation. It costs one million points to bring your soul back to your soul realm"
The old man sighed heavily after that and I began to wonder what happens when you have a negative amount of XP. By the look on his face I know I do not want to find out.
”AP can only be gained by accomplishing something grand, or whenever the system feels like it but they can not be stolen. I know that sounds vague but the system gives AP whenever it chooses and can be a little snarkie about it.”
The old man looked at me and I could tell he was trying to see if I was lost. Well I was but If I have questions I will ask when he is done.
“I know this is a lot of information but it is necessary so you don't waste your points and go negative. You will understand more once you start navigating the menus. To shine some light on what is possible I will explain a little more. Let's say you do not want to be a human any longer, you can just unlock another race. If you unlock the Elf race you can start another life as an Elf, but only if you unlock a planet that has them as available races. It wouldn’t make sense if Elves started showing up on Earth. Well they were there before along with other races and magics but that was a mistake that was patched. If you unlock an appropriate planet and race you will be reborn as a baby Elf. When you grow you will look just like you did as you do now but with the racial traits of an Elf. If you want a different natural hair color or anything else unlock it. It is also possible to play as a female if you wish. If you do not want to wait to grow up there is a reborn as an adult option that you can unlock as well. Anything is possible, magic, mutations, fantasy, scifi, super powers, cultivation, the list goes on.”
“I can see what you are thinking so I will leave you to it. I am going fishing, make sure you have your questions ready for when I return.”
With that I was left to my thoughts while staring out from the porch. On the left side from the porch I can see the old man carrying a fishing pole and tackle box walking to a large lake with large mountains in the distance. The sun barely peeked over the snow capped mountains. creating a breathtaking sight. In front of me are various crops with a forest of unknown trees wrapping around it and the house.
This has to be a dream. Could I really do anything I want? He is right, I do have a lot of things to think about. What kind of world do I want to live in next? What powers do I want? Do I even want to be human? How expensive is it to unlock things? What is AP used for? I have too many questions, but the most important is, how long can I stay here?