“It was simultaneous the worst and best thing to happen to humanity throughout its entire existence- letting old philosophies die and new ones to rise from the ashes.”

-Post Initiation philosopher, Liu Zhang, “The System”

[24 Hours Before Initiation]

Levi was sick and tired of life. He wasn’t suicidal- as some innate part of him clung onto life, no matter how boring he found it, it was just day after day of nothing- nothing- and nothing- it was all just so mundane.

He sighed propping his head up on his palm, eyes half-lidded. He felt his consciousness slip, but snapped back quickly realizing where he was. Levi sat in the middle row of tiered seating surrounded by windowless, sterile white walls sporting holographic photos of various people ranging from the current leader, to activists, to the inventors. This was his 3rd period ancient history class. A small bespectacled professor in a slate gray suit with a crimson badge on his lapel stood at the front of the classroom, droning on in an even cadence that was practically designed to make people fall asleep.

“The disaster of the 21st century known as the Coronavirus, otherwise known as Covid 19 began as a result of several factors…” Levi had stopped listening by then, and began nodding off again, he could just review the transcript for the class if he really had to… just a few minutes wouldn’t hurt anyone right? Yeah… just a few-

A shock of electricity through his back made him straighten up immediately and gave a “very manly” yelp of surprise, his eyes widening- it didn’t hurt, instead the electricity stimulated his muscles, making his back straighten uncontrollably.

“Mr. Adams, I would suggest you pay attention in my class- this’ll be on the quiz.” Professor Landry said, his mouth and mustache tugged down into a frown, one of the lenses of his gold rimmed glasses glowed an unnatural neon blue, some type of eye controlled remote glasses, presumably to activate Levi’s seat’s apparent “Wake up student” mode.

“Yes professor.” Levi said, fully awake now “Won’t happen again professor.”

The students around him gave Levi some odd glances, some of them snickering behind their hands- but they quickly turned back to their notes at a harsh glare from Professor Landry.

“Now that everyone is paying attention set your texts to page 35 and read about the economic effects of the pandemic.”

Glass-like Education Tablets lit up all around the classroom- the screens taking on the student’s color preference. Levi did the same; his tablet shone white and filled with black text, displaying a table showing the oxidization rates for different metals; research for a paper he had to write in Scientific Studies of the Geological World that was due at the end of the week. He opened up a dropdown menu and selected History, then unit 3, then page 35.

Time to study. Whoopee.

[8 hours before Initiation]

This food sucks. Levi muttered for not the first time, shoveling a mouthful of brown paste into his mouth, shuddering. Its resemblance to a certain fecal material definitely didn’t help his protesting stomach.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

He sat alone in a small corner of the cafeteria, the walls of SmartGlass displaying an open space of rolling hills and verdant grass. He wasn’t looking at it though, he knew it wasn’t real and had already seen it enough times to be sick of it- it just wasn’t real, a projection.

Levi was looking down at his phone, a projected keyboard and trackpad in neon blue on the table in front of the screen, controlling a small sprite on the screen to raise its little sword and slash down at a minotaur’s cow-like head, a tiny “Ding!” emitting from the phone’s tiny speakers to signify a level up.

Video games had always been one of his favorite escapes from reality- just the concept of another world, another life, that he could live where goals were clear and straightforward- get stronger.

[6 hours- ERROR, time until integration changed... updating]

[5 hour until-]

[4 hours until-]

…

[20 seconds until integration]

Levi stared out over the night sky- the deep black spotted with stars and brushed with shades of purple and blue. He had always loved coming up here to watch the stars. The rooftop of his dorm building was above a light pollution shield and was thus the best place to watch the stars- he thought, in the entirety of New Seattle.

Stars were always perfect for breaking the mundanity whenever he looked at them, his mind wandered, instead of thinking about boring old earth- he could think about the stars, the countless other planets humans have still only viewed by telescope- barring close ones like Mars, which had been colonized for decades.

No- the true allure of space was the endlessly spanning galaxies, just how small his world was in the grand scheme of things- and the infinite opportunities that laid beyond.

Levi stared at the north star, Polaris- a guiding light brighter than the rest, the brightest pinprick in the sky with the moon hidden behind billowing clouds. He spent a moment just basking in the starlight, inhaling the pristinely filtered air, and feeling the night’s cold breeze as it ruffled the open gray suit jacket of his school uniform.

[10 seconds until integration]

Levi felt an odd tingling up his spine and a slight headache which was odd because cephalalgia had long since been nullified by advancements in neural nanobot technology.

What? He muttered, rubbing his forehead, but the headache was only getting progressively worse.

A loud explosion sound came from below, muffled by the now visible hexagonal segmented light pollution shield, the yellow hexagons flashing dangerously.

[Warning: User’s body possesses foreign substances, removing now]

What the heck? He thought, staring at the floating blue letters in front of him.

He considered if this was some kind of new ocular projection technology but the technology for ocular projection contacts were far from this advanced- the resolution was far below this, and the companies still hadn't found a way to send signals directly to the brain without exterior devices as even nano bots had their limits.

No- this had to be some kind of-

Levi keeled over, bile rising in his throat- coughing his vision spun as pain blanketed his mind, he barely noticed when his knees slammed into the cold concrete. Vomit clawing at his throat, he fell to all fours and retched.

The sick was oddly congealed, bits of- God knows what, floating around in a mixture of a gray tar-like substance flecked with blood.

Well, that’s not very good- his swimming thoughts vaguely noted, before he blacked out a series of blue letters flashing in his vision.

[Purging successful] [Expelled material: Metal, microscopic robots, code: 24542b]

Welcome to the system [Levi Adams]

[Tutorial Initializing…]