If I would have known what I was about to face, I probably would have chosen to wear something other than a sports bra and yoga pants. But I didn't know. And really, what does one wear for an apocalypse? I didn’t exactly own any armor.
Having finished jogging a mile around the track in preparation for summer and bikini season, I’d just reached for my water bottle when the first blue box appeared.
Greetings, Earthlings! Take me to your leader.
Do what? Huh?
That’s the reaction I get? Surprise? Bewilderment? Frantically swiping arms through my message? C’mon, people of Earth. Get it together. You gotta have a sense of humor about these things.
Again. Do what? Huh?
Sigh.
Did the box just spell out a sigh? Really?
Okay. I’ll keep this short and sweet. Your planet is being invaded, blah, blah, blah. The technology level here is so backward that you’d get totally pwned if Those Who Run Things let the Atjioatsjhuie attack.
The who?
Yes, the Atjioatsjhuie. Best I can do to approximate their name in whatever backward language you’re seeing.
This was way too much to take. It was like something from one of those webstories that Ben, my cute but nerdy new boyfriend, liked to read.
Anyway, TWRT have decreed that you be given a chance to defend this little planet of yours, Dirt. Oh. I meant Earth. Which means dirt. Great name, bee tee dubs. Very original.
It occurred to me that, unless I’d passed out from a heat stroke and all this was some kind of fever dream, these blue boxes were our first ever contact with a real alien, and it definitely wasn’t going how I would have thought it might had I ever actually considered such a thing.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
The big takeaway here—the really exciting takeaway—is that you’re getting a System!
Yep. Definitely like one of those silly webstories.
And not just any System, either. My System. The one I designed, The Card Commander System. It’s so freaking cool. You’re going to love it.
Somehow, I doubted that. I doubted that so, so much.
If you survive the first round of the first trial—which I’m totally sure some of you will!—you can just quit it right there. No pressure.
I was really starting to believe that all this was real and that I, and literally everyone else in the world, were in some serious trouble. In the stories Ben read, a lot of people died in the tutorial, and afterward, society broke down. Only the strong survived.
Every world needs cannon fodder! It’s important. You’ll be important. Of course, if you want something more for yourself, you might want to continue on. The second and third rounds aren’t that much harder! That second trial, though. And the third. By the true, unspeakable names of the various members of TWRT, I’m getting goosebumps!
Yep. We were screwed.
The rewards, though! Vanilla 1/1 Cards will be so common that only the very fortunate will be recruited, leaving your fate completely in the hands of others. Gaining better stats or a special ability, if you survive, will be simply huge! And obviously, finishing the trials to become a Commander gives you so much more control over your own destiny.
If I interpreted that right, it sounded like this system was a lot like a … collectible card game?