In the basement of a large building on a private island, a 16 year old boy sits with his head between his legs inside a cell. He stares at the floor, his face expressionless, giving him an eerie look.
Then, it happens, and it happens in just a blink of an eye, one second the boy was in the cell, the next second he was gone. The cell was empty.
But this didn't just happen with this boy, millions of people around the world vanished in the blink of an eye. Gone. Without explanation.
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Julius opened his eyes. He knew something strange had happened but he didn't understand what it was. He was still sitting like before but he was in complete darkness. For a second he thought he had gone blind, but then realised he could see his own body, which meant this darkness was real. He looked around and stood up, the floor was pitch black too.
His mind went through several explanations as to what was going on, but none seemed to make sense. After standing there for a little while he finally decided to walk around and see how far this darkness goes.
But before he could even take a single step, a voice rang in his mind.
[ Welcome to the otherworld dear contestant. ]
[ Before you can enter the otherworld you will have to complete the tutorial. ]
[ The tutorial has 2 parts and part one has five phases. The tutorial will be the same for everyone. ]
[ After completing the tutorial your journey will begin. This is like getting a new start at life. We wish you the best. ]
Millions of people around the world who were also inside a dark room heard the voice as well. Most reacted with disbelief, some with misery, others with confusion. But Julius after his initial shock, was overjoyed. For him, this was like getting a second chance at life. This was an opportunity for a life where he would be free and could do whatever he wished to do. A life away from the dungeon cells and the inhumane monsters who kept him there.
But for that he knew he'd have to work hard. He would have to get stronger. He made up his mind. Whatever this tutorial was, he was going to ace it.
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About a minute after the voice had rang out, Julius's body disappeared again. This time, he was teleported to a laboratory room of sorts. It looked like the kind of place where surgeons perform operations. But Julius soon realised the situation he was in. His arms and legs were tied to a metal chair and he could not move even an inch. His mouth had a gag in it which prevented him from making any noise.
Standing in front of him were two people. One was wearing a white lab coat and the other was wearing a balck suit and tie. Who wears a black tie with a Black suit? Julius thought. Then the voice rang out in his head again.
[ Phase I, Objective: Survive for as long as you can. You can leave and proceed to the next phase anytime you want, however the longer you survive, the better your rewards at the end will be. ]
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
And then a screen appeared to his left showing a button saying 'Leave'.
Julius already knew that he was not going to be pressing that anytime soon. But then he was distracted by a clanking noise. The man who was wearing the lab coat was holding a tweaser of sorts In his hands. It looked like a tweaser, except it was bigger and sharper.
Confused, Julius looked around the room and then realisation dawned on him. Along with fear. There were torture devices littered all across the room. His objective was to survive as long as possible. That could only mean that he was going to be tortured and had to face the pain in order to last long.
The man wearing the lab coat walked towards him. He crouched until his face was at level with Julius's hands. Then he thrust the giant tweaser inside Julius's nail. He squeezed and pulled out his nail completely. Julius yelled in pain but all that came out was a small whimper because of the gag he was wearing.
Then the man began working on Julius's second nail, and all of a sudden, the option to 'Leave' became very tempting. But Julius shook such thoughts away. He was going to stay here as long as he could. He needed to get stronger to be able to change his life, and he knew the rewards he would be getting at the end would help.
One by one, the man plucked off all off Julius's nails. First the one's on his hand and then the one's on his feet. The pain was incredible, but Julius held on.
Then the man with the lab coat took out another device, using which he began peeling Julius's skin. All this while the man in the suit silently watched.
Hours passed, the man in the lab coat used several different types of instruments on Julius, but Julius did not press 'Leave', he was not going to be weak in his second life like he was in his first one.
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Hours passed. By the end, Julius's body was completely disfigured and unrecognizable. And then the world started to fade. As soon as the world turned black, he heard the voice in his head.
[ You have died due to blood loss. You have fully cleared Phase I. ]
[You are the only person to have fully cleared Phase I, You are the person who lasted for the longest amount of time, special rewards are being given. ]
[ You have acquired the Wind Lord's tattoos as the reward. ]
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When Julius managed to open his eyes again, he was no longer in the torture room. Instead he was standing in what seemed to be a room in a factory. The voice rang out in his head again.
[ Phase II, Objective: Survive for as long as possible. The longer you survive the, the better the rewards at the end. ]
Instinctively Julius looked around to figure out where he was. He wanted to check the tattoos he supposedly got but he had to figure out what situation he was in first.
He was in what seemed to be the camera room of an old abandoned factory. Surprisingly, the cameras were working just fine. Suddenly, on one of the cameras, he saw a monster. The word monster was the only thing he could use to describe that thing. It had blue skin, one eye and really long hands. So long that they seemed to stretch out across the entire room. There was white and red paint on his blue head, making him seem weirdly creepy. Now that Julius had gotten a closer look at that thing, he thought maybe the word clown could also be used to describe it.
Either way, that thing looked rather disgusting. Just as Julius was about to go check the door at the end of the room he was in, the voice rang out in his head again.
[ The cyrone will hunt you during your stay at the factory. You will proceed to the next stage when you get killed by the cyrone or when you escape the factory. ]
Julius could only assume that the thing he had started to fondly call 'Clown' was a Cyrone. Furthermore, after the announcement was complete, the Clown began moving and walked out of the room it was in. 'He is probably searching for me' Julius thought.