“My Lord, all the preparations are complete. As soon as the System arrives, we will be able to react to any circumstances.”
“Good. Now all we do is wait. And really Felix, there’s no need to be so formal with me.”
“My Lord, I must insist. You are the next-in-line for head of the family that will take over the world.”
“Bah. Only when my old goat of a father dies. Do you wanna make any bets on what will happen when the System arrives?”
“No.”
“Fair enough. It is the apocalypse, after all.”
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Leo was daydreaming. He found school so... dull. It was the same thing every day. Same subjects, same teachers, same students, same rooms. Everything was the same. Eventually, one had to admit that school was tedious. He didn’t hate it, but he felt to it in the same way as re-reading a good book for the 30th time in a row.
“Mr. Sica, are you finding my class boring? I apologize for the inconvenience,” Leo’s thin skeleton of a History teacher said. “Why don’t you come to my room for detention later and see if that wakes you up.”
The class laughed. Leo wasn’t sure if it was at him, or with him.
He sighed. The teacher always said the same exact thing whenever he daydreamed. He was like a broken record at this point. It was almost comedic. “Yes, Mr. Peterson.”
“Good. Anyways, the Cold War was…”
Leo stopped listening. He disliked this whole class. All he wanted to do was sleep, but Mr. Peterson refused to let him. For God’s sake, it was first period! He rightfully should have been allowed at least a little daydreaming time. He had already gotten 3 detentions that week! Mr. Peterson droned on and on about the events of the past until eventually the bell rang.
“Goodbye class, and don’t forget that you have a paragraph on the tension of the Cold War due Thursday. As for you, Leonard, I expect to see you here after school. Have a nice day.”
As Leo walked to his next class, Math, he was deep in thought. Could it really kill the school to add some variety to the activities? He knew that was a pipe dream, but he still couldn’t help but hope.
Leo continued walking. Every day went like this. Boredom. So much boredom. Really, some variety surely would have boosted his motivation. He was sure that with variety in day to day activities, student’s grades, happiness, and participation would all increase. At least it wasn’t like his Elementary school. That was dreadful. Same teacher, same room, all day. Eventually, he arrived at the room and slowly walked in.
“Hey Leo, how’s it going?” Mr. Linstein, his math teacher, predictably asked, as he did every day.
“Good.” Leo predictably answered, as he did every day. He walked to his seat, and prepared for another semi-boring class, but was surprised with something else.
“Class, today I want to do something a little more fun. I know that most of your classes have tests in them, so I’ve decided to lighten the mood for you. Isn’t that great?”
Leo held his breath, on the edge of his seat, looking as though someone had grabbed his black hair and pulled him forward, wondering if he would actually be able to do something fun. This could be the first step in the school taking action!
“So, today we’re going to be working in groups. I know, I know, not very exciting, but since you’ve been good so far all year, I’ll even let you pick your own groups. Please don’t go over four, though.”
Leo exhaled and leaned back. His brown eyes dropped in disappointment. Of course it would be that. He had gotten so hopeful, and the crushing sense of disappointment permeated his bones. He knew he had overreacted, but he couldn’t help himself. No one would want to work with him anyway. He was just an average looking guy, with an average personality. Some of his classmates didn’t even know he existed, but most just chose to ignore him. No one cared about some guy like him. He had above average grades in every class except History. Nothing too extreme, just like him.
Leo sighed again and started to work. He finished with 15 minutes left in the period, and decided to go to the bathroom. Not because he needed to, but because he wanted to waste time. When he got back, he noticed some kids with empty papers. Tch. People like that disgusted him. If he could put in the effort, so could they. Even if they didn’t like it, they could still try. That was what he forced himself to do every week.
The rest of the day continued like this. He did his work, had extra time, and went to the bathroom. Then finally, at 8th period, it was lunch time. Lunch was his favorite period, mostly because he was able to watch the other students mess around and get in trouble, which was certainly not boring. It was even funny to him.
Leo munched on his sandwich and thought about his next class. English. By far his least favorite subject next to History, yet he was determined to do well on it. He didn’t care for History, but he also didn’t want to have two classes that he just ignored, so he decided to put in effort in the lesser of the two evils.
A food fight began across the cafeteria, but Leo wasn’t worried. Even if food began to come near him, he would just move away. Really he was just happy for the extra entertainment. He watched as one boy got pelted in the face with a rotten tomato, and another had his face slammed in a chocolate milk carton, which got the chocolate milk all over his clothes. Leo almost laughed at that one. He did laugh when that same student gave his friend who had caused the mess a hug, getting it everywhere. Eventually however, school was school, and a teacher came to break up his free entertainment.
Lunch was almost over, and Leo was reluctant to leave, but he knew he had to. Walking over to English was across the school, so he left early. He had been late one too many times for leaving as the bell rang.
English was the same old. Boring class, boring teacher, and boring students, yet he tried to pay attention anyway. All he wanted was a bit of excitement.
The bell rang. He moved to leave the class. As he did, something weird happened.
System Initializing
Please Stand By
Well, at least this didn’t seem boring. Maybe it would even be as good as the food fight.
“What? What is this?” Chaos reigned around Leo. Leo himself, however, stayed cool. He could sense, feel, the excitement. Most importantly was the lack of boredom. Leo waited another 5 minutes. Then 10. Just as he was about to leave the relatively safe classroom, and as his boredom was returning, he got another message.
System Fully Initialized
Roll for Core Ability
Another window popped up in front of Leo. He could hear the confused murmurs of the other students, some in a fearful tone, some in a wondrous. Leo himself had a question about the circumstances. He whispered it as to not look insane, though that was probably unnecessary seeing as all the other students thought they were either insane or having hallucinations.
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“System, what are you and why are you here?”
Questions will be answered when all remaining humans roll for Core Ability.
“System, can you tell me what exactly Core Abilities are?
Core Abilities are the System’s way of giving a newly integrated civilization a chance to survive. These are ingrained into a human’s very soul, and can only be affected by certain expensive and rare rituals or skills.
“Wait a second. What do you mean by remaining humans?” The system remained silent. “Alright then. System, how do I roll for this Core Ability?” Suddenly, a new screen popped up.
Common Ability - 50%
Uncommon Ability - 25%
Rare Ability - 15%
Epic Ability - 9%
Legendary Ability - 1%
Roll for Core Ability
“Well, what happens if I refuse to roll? I don’t like the sound of getting a Common ability, even if this whole situation does seem exciting.”
Humans who refuse to Roll for Core Ability within 24 hours will be recycled for material. Roll for Core Ability, or there will be severe consequences.
“Sheesh, alright. Don’t have to tell me twice. Though I do wonder what exactly recycled means in this context. I doubt it means what I think. Hmmm. Now how do I roll exactly?” Leo reached for the screen but just passed through it. All the while Leo did this, other students were panicking around him.
“System, if I ask to roll verbally, will it work?”
The system did not answer back.
“Well fine. Be that way then. I’ll just do it anyway. If I roll a Common ability, I hope it's exciting. I’ve had enough of this boring life.”
Before he could roll, however, he was interrupted by another student loudly exclaiming.
“HEY! Everybody listen up! Can someone tell me what the hell is happening here? I’m really confused and could use some help here.”
“Shut up man, I’m trying to figure that out myself and your yelling isn’t exactly helping! Now be quiet while the smart kids figure this out, and maybe we’ll tell you.”
“Yeah!”
Leo sighed. This was not the type of excitement he wanted. He decided to take things into his own hands.
“Alright everybody. It looks like some sort of ‘System’ has invaded Earth. I don’t know much, but I do know that before we can learn more, we need to roll for this ‘Core Ability.’ Bring up a menu for that by asking for one.” Leo did not speak loudly, but everyone heard him anyway.
“Man, what the hell do you know? Are you a spy or somethin’ for this System? I don’t believe one word you’re saying. I don’t even recognize you from around here. Hey guys, are we sure this guy went to this school? He looks a little suspicious.”
Leo sighed yet again. It seemed there would always be idiots who would argue the first thing they hear, just for not making perfect sense with their view of the world.
“Hey, wait a second! He’s right! I just politely asked and I got another weird screen in front of my vision! This looks completely luck based though…. What kind of system is this anyway?
“What the hell is this!? 1% chance for a Legendary ability? I don’t even know what those are but I want one!”
“I don’t know about you, but I’ll be happy with an Uncommon. 50% chance for a Common is brutal.”
Leo sighed again. It looked like he would be doing that often now. “Anyways, let’s roll for my Core Ability!”
Acknowledged.
Rolling for Core Ability...
Leo watched with anticipation as words whirred across the window in front of him. They came with an odd image of what he presumed was someone using the Ability, yet they were moving so fast he couldn’t get a good view. His hands were clenched so hard blood started dripping from them. The words began to slow. He caught a glimpse of a detailed image of a man with a blood-red aura surrounding him and a gigantic axe, almost as big as the wielder. The words slowed again. This time, the images he saw were crude stickmen waving swords around. For the last time, the images slowed, then came to a stop.
Congratulations!
You have rolled the core Ability God Sphere.
Please hold until all remaining humans roll.
God Sphere, huh. Well, that certainly didn’t sound
common. Was it possible that he had rolled a rare or epic ability? The image that came with it was very detailed. Perhaps even more detailed than that axe-man from before. It was of a man simply standing, but in a radius around him were what looked like dead people, sleeping people, and if he was correct, some sort of time rift? He didn’t want to discount the possibility. The radius in which the people were around him was fairly small, no bigger than 5 meters. There were people with swords outside of that area, but looked hesitant to take another step forward.
Around Leo, it looked like people had begun getting their abilities, judging from the complaints and occasional shout of joy.
“What the hell is this supposed to mean!? Cloth Affinity!? System, if you don’t let me reroll this stupid ability then I’ll come up there and do something we’ll both regret!”
“Woah… Quickdraw? That sounds like something you’d see in a cowboy movie, if cowboys had superpowers! Awesome, I bet it’s at least Uncommon!”
Leo wondered if perhaps the people with cool-sounding ability names were keeping quiet. That was probably the smart thing to do. Leo was about to start preparing for the long 24 hours until he would be able to do something fun, but was interrupted by a small and almost sickly looking kid walking up to him.
“H-hi, I’m Francis. Nice to meet you. I saw how you w-were the one to take charge and I thought you might be able to help me out. You see, I uh, I think I got an epic ability. Maybe not, but Orbital Impact doesn’t sound very common to me.” Francis was gaining confidence now. “I came over here to ask what ability you got, and if you would be able to take charge of things again. You’ve probably noticed, but I'm not the best at leadership roles. We don’t know anything about what will happen after all humans roll, but I’m willing to bet it won’t be good. Also, uhh, if you don’t mind, could you tell me your name? I feel like I’ve seen you before, but it’s slipping out of my head.”
Leo wondered what would happen if he just walked away. It sure would be entertaining to see the obviously shy kid just stand there. In the end, though, he decided to take mercy.
“Nice to meet you Francis. I don’t have much interest in becoming a leader, but I’ll do it if no one else steps up. Your ability sounds really cool. There’s no way something named Orbital Impact is common. I got an ability called God Sphere, and that doesn’t seem very common to me. Guess we’re epic brothers!”
“Y-yeah, I guess.”
“Anyways, I’m not sure what made you think that whatever happens next would be bad, but I have to agree with you. There’s no way a system with passive aggressive remarks like ‘remaining humans’ and ‘chance to survive’ will have sunshine and rainbows across the yellow brick road.”
“Yeah, that’s right. Well, I guess all we can do is hope someone steps up.”
Leo started to walk to a different spot to watch the commotion, but looked back.
“By the way, my name is Leo. Leo Sica.”
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Leo was watching the commotion by now. Honestly, it was better than a Hollywood movie. Seeing the reactions of students who evidently got a common sounding ability like “Basic Sword Expertise for Idiots” or “Master Chef” (the latter of which didn’t even sound too bad) was just as good as seeing the eyes of students glow when they got an uncommon or rare. He wasn’t able to learn any of the names for those abilities, as the students who got them seemed to be smart enough to not declare their lucky winnings. It would be like declaring that you got the winning lottery ticket in the middle of a crowded street. That was just asking to be attacked.
His English teacher, who Leo had honestly forgotten was even there, finally spoke up.
“Class, please settle down. A few of you have come up to me and have attempted to explain the situation. From what we know, a mysterious ‘System’ has come to Earth and told us to roll for a core ability, with extremely unfair rates. We will be able to learn more after all of humanity has rolled or 24 hours pass, but until then I would like all of us to stay here. After all, safety in numbers is an important thing. You can text your parents about this, and if you get hungry I will organize times to go to the cafeteria. The whole school is doing this, so it may take time until we get our turn. That is all.”
Leo wasn’t surprised. What he was, however, was hungry. Almost ravenous.
“System, why am I so hungry?”
Core Ability integrating takes energy. It is recommended to eat foods with a high amount of energy bonds during integration.
“Right. When exactly will my ability be integrated?”
Integration will be completed when all humans have either been recycled or have rolled for their own ability.
“I see. I guess now we play the waiting game. I wonder how long it’ll be until I get to eat?”
All the while Leo was deep in thought, Francis was watching.