Right. The blue boxes had said something about a System. The earth had reached minimum ambient mana levels and could now be integrated, whatever the hell that meant. After that, he’d gotten thrown into some kind of ‘Ultra Hard Nightmare’ tutorial.
If this was supposed to be a tutorial, it was doing a crappy job of it.
Tutorial.
Like… a video game?
If he could summon an inventory, then maybe he could summon something else, like a status page… or a help menu.
He looked at the edges of his sight for some kind of button but didn’t see anything.
Perhaps he could ask the blue boxes for help?
“Hey, uh, System person? Can you help me out?” Nathan said.
Nothing happened.
“I’d appreciate an explanation, you know.”
Once again, he received no response. Nathan grunted.
“Would it have been too much to get a goddamn help page—?“
A blue box appeared in front of him. Nathan jumped back instinctively, and the blue box followed.
Nathan’s heart slowed and he took a closer look.
[Congratulations! You've unlocked the Apocalypse™]
If you're reading this, congrats—your planet has been granted the privilege of participating in the Great Descent™. That’s right, you lucky soul, your world has been selected to partake in a legendary, totally-not-optional battle that happens every 1000 years!
Alongside five other confused species, you'll fight tooth and nail to reach the bottom of the 9 circles. And trust us, these circles are no walk in the park—each one comes with its own flavor of misery...uh, we mean challenges. But hey, if you make it, you’ll be heading home with some serious loot and impressive new powers!
Features:
9 Custom-Tortured Worlds: Explore beautifully crafted realms, each designed to test your sanity and survival skills!
Diplomacy: Trade with, befriend, or declare war on bizarre species gathered from across the universe! (Friendly tip: they probably hate you.)
System Enhancement: To aid you in the integration of your new magical powers, the System guides, categorizes and automatically applies your abilities to your body!
Reaction-Based Combat: Blink, and you’re dead! No pressure.
Arcane Madness: Master an in-depth magical system that will either make you a god or a greasy stain on the floor.
So go on—dive in, fight for survival, and make your species proud! (Or, you know, die trying. That works too.)
Nathan looked at the box with a dry expression. He stared up at the cavern ceiling and shook his fist.
“I did not agree to this, you jackass! I demand a refund!”
After grumbling a bit, he thought over what he’d learned. Nine circles… Nathan assumed, based on the features list, that this was another word for realms or worlds. And to return home, he had to get to the final circle.
He searched the box and spotted a pop-up icon. He clicked it, revealing two other articles.
[Clearing a Circle]
[Classes]
Oh, how convenient. He clicked the first one.
[The conditions for exiting a circle change from Circle to Circle. Some Circles will require combat. Some will require information-gathering. Some will require a virgin sacrifice (jk, jk… unless??). One universal thing is that if you fail to clear the circle in the allotted time frame, you will be crushed during the recycling of the Circle and turned into monster food. So, uh, get to the end and don’t die. Non-Users (barring rare exceptions) may not pass through the exit. To view Circle clear conditions, go to the quest menu and view the current Circle quest.]
Recycled? Nathan’s hands shook before he forcibly stopped them. He took a deep breath and looked closer at the description. If the quest menu was anything like the help page…
“Quests.”
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
At that moment, a new blue box appeared to the left of the article list. There were three tabs. Main Quests, Personal Quests, and Side Quests. The current tab selected was Main Quests.
There was only one item in the list: [Escape the Tutorial!]
Nathan clicked it.
[Escape the Tutorial!]
Aw, leaving so soon? We totally don’t take it personally.
To escape the dreaded tutorial, we’ve made it so dead simple even a level 1 NPC could figure it out! Just kill one, harmless, adorably-named Circle Boss. It’s just a single, tiny (okay, not that tiny) boss—how hard could it be, right?
Requirements:
-Kill [Gliding Eel] - Lv. 37
-Must be finished in 15 Days (Day 1/15)
Rewards:
-Soulbound Town (Starts with 4x standard town points)
-Staircase to Circle 1
Nathan got the feeling that it wouldn’t be an easy fight. That was ignoring the fact that he’d almost gotten massacred by that giant skeleton monster. The only reason he’d survived was because he’d gotten lucky with the hook thing, and that was going to get patched in a few hours if the System hadn’t been lying earlier.
“Why couldn’t it have been something easy, like collecting ten apples? That’s a good starter quest, right?” he said.
He clicked on the next tab, Personal Quests. Three different items appeared.
[Upgrade REEL to Diamond+] (0/10 fish caught)
[Upgrade BAIT to Diamond+] (0/1 Scythian Worms)
[Upgrade CAST to Diamond+] (0/10000 casts made)
[Sink or Swim] (9/15 Lv.)
For [Reel], he needed to fish 10 fish of F-rank or higher. For [Bait], he had to find one rare [Scythian Worm], a powerful bait. Finally, he’d need to cast his fishing line 10000 times to upgrade [Cast].
Nathan bit his bottom lip. A sinking feeling entered his gut. None of these skills were related to fighting.
Then again… he didn’t know what [Cast] did. Maybe it was referring to magic casts?
I’m deluding myself.
But to find that out for sure, he’d need to get access to his personal information. In a few of the RPG farming games he’d played, there was a menu related to that.
“Status.”
Nothing happened.
His stomach growled and a wave of exhaustion hit him. He needed to rest. Nathan decided to check out the other article before he fell asleep.
[Classes]
Ah, the all-important class selection. This is, without a doubt, the single most crucial choice you’ll make… you know, if you survive long enough to reach it. Your class doesn’t just hand out perks—it basically decides whether you’ll spend the apocalypse as a badass hero or a well-dressed corpse. For example, a [Warrior] (Copper) could eventually class-up into the slightly more intimidating [Mighty Warrior] (Iron). Pretty cool, right?
But here’s the thing: you start with no class. Nada. Zilch. You’re just you—Lv. 1 Nobody. It’s only at Lv. 15 that the System decides you’re worthy of a job title. The classes are kind of random, but the System does its best to match them to your personality and existing skills. If you’re the sword-swinging type, you’ll likely end up with something swordy. But if you’ve spent your days, say, crafting pottery or maxing out your fishing skills… well, uh, you might not get the most apocalypse-ready options. Let’s just say that wielding a fishing rod in battle isn’t as effective as you’d hope.
Crap.
Nathan tried to stay awake, but he couldn’t keep it up.
His body slumped over to the hard ground. As he fell asleep, his mind wandered back to the events of the day. He’d almost died to a giant skeleton monster. He didn’t even get to see his sister.
And worst of all? He was freaking starving.
His mind shut down.
----------------------------------------
The next morning, Nathan woke up to hunger pangs. His body felt weak and exhausted, and all he wanted to do was lie down and try to get more sleep. He forced himself into a sitting position and looked at the glowing water. Nathan wanted to keep experimenting with the System, but first, he needed to eat.
Nathan didn’t feel like searching for food on the surface after he’d almost died. Besides, what would he eat? The bone marrow of one of those skeleton creatures?
A glowing window appeared in front of him before he could think anymore.
[Greetings, survivors. I am System-B32. Normally, I don’t do this, but special times call for special measures, as you humans put it. Last night, I received a bug report for the first time in ten thousand years. A survivor in the ULTRA HARD HELL NIGHTMARE tutorial exploited a bug. This bug has been patched by removing the fishing system. You’ll have to do it the normal way now. Mad? Blame that guy.]
The window disappeared and another one appeared.
[Private Message Received]
[SCREW YOU, NATHAN LEE. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH TROUBLE YOU’VE CAUSED? IF YOU WEREN’T GOING TO DIE ANYWAY, I’D PERSONALLY COME DOWN THERE AND RIP YOUR HEAD OPEN.]
The window disappeared, revealing a third window with a gif of a middle finger. The window closed, leaving Nathan alone.
Nathan blinked and rubbed his eyes. There were multiple concerning parts to that message. First of all, he definitely wouldn’t be able to exploit that bug again. In addition, he wouldn’t be able to flex his fishing game skills anymore. This was a problem, considering he didn’t know how people fished in real life.
Also, the System’s certainty about his impending death was worrying.
He sighed and picked up the fishing rod. He might as well give it a shot.
There was no reel. It was just a hook and a piece of string attached to a long, tapered stick.
Nathan threw his line into the water.
Less than three seconds later, he felt a nibble on his line. He blinked. Another nibble. His hands jerked of their own accord and he knew that he’d managed to hook the fish. It swam away and Nathan’s hands wrapped themselves around the rod tightly.
He pulled backward until the fish flew into the air and landed beside him with a thump.
Nathan stared at the flopping fish with wide eyes. No bait, and he somehow managed to get a fish?
He shook his head and drew his fishing rod back for another swing. He threw forward and waited for three seconds. A moment later, he felt his hook snag on something. He pulled backward and a gleaming piece of metal was dragged out of the water.
He stared down at it. It was a beautifully crafted, intricately designed sword. Inscriptions ran up and down the metal while the hilt was covered in valuable jewels.
Nathan slowly blinked his eyes.
Did someone leave an entire sword in this random-ass lake?
He shook his head. He’d take a closer look at it in a minute. He threw his fishing rod back into the water.
Like clockwork, he felt a nibble and pulled back. The object clattered to Nathan’s side.
[You have leveled up!]
Nathan stared at the object for a long period of time. Several minutes passed, nothing to be heard but the gentle drips of water falling into the pool.
He’d just fished out an AK-47.