“Sim,” I said while staring at the message. “Am I missing anything?”

Sim appeared in front of me. Her avatar was dressed in battle gear. “Whoa,” I exclaimed, “What’s with the new gear?”

“With the type of message you want to deliver, I figured it would be best if I did it in a way that everyone would truly see what the world may end up like,” she replied.

“How does a bunch of decked-out armor do that?”

Sim responded with a lengthy explanation. We had discussed some of this a while ago, but I honestly forgot that she wanted to do this.

“People have been fighting monsters for a couple of years now, but it has been a really slow process, and most of the time the hero candidates took care of everything. As soon as we drop the shield, mana will spontaneously create monsters and alter wildlife. They may end up fighting for their lives every day. Many people are more than likely going to die. The city defenses will help, but everyone will have to deal with it at some point. So I decided I’m going to announce a quest.”

I was intrigued now. She hadn’t told me any of this in advance. “What kind of quest?”

“I’m going to give away this armor.” She did a little twirl like she was showing off a new gown. “It’s a mythic growth armor. It will adjust to your species, race, stats, gender, and profession. If a female human mage wins it and their chosen profession and class require a high intelligence to become stronger, this armor will adapt and provide proper boosts. If a crafter wins it, this will provide them with added bonuses and skills to improve their craft. It will increase in level with whoever wins it; they will never need a new set of armor. It will always be the most advanced set you can have for your level. You can also change the look, but I’m not announcing that. Only the person who wins it will know.”

“Damn, Sim, I hope you make it hard to win. You should probably make it so it can’t be stolen either. You wouldn’t want someone to win it just to be killed for it the next day.”

“I know, it won’t be able to be sold either. It can be given away and willed to someone upon your death, but I’ll check the true intentions of both the person giving it away and the recipient before I let them do it.”

I thought about it for a few seconds and realized she had probably thought through it all numerous times. I kept forgetting she was the smartest, most intellectually advanced, competent being in the universe. “I think your message covers everything,” she continued. “Did you decide on the contract revisions? We can go either way. The system can enforce contracts, or we can make it a profession that creates them. I think we should decide now and add it to the tutorial, though. If we switch it later, it might cause issues.”

I had been contemplating which version I wanted the system to offer. I re-read through quite a few of the LITRPG novels and compared how their systems dealt with various things. It actually helped a lot in determining how I wanted ours to operate.

“Yep, we’re going to do both. System contracts can be bought from the store for spirit coins, or a dedicated merchant can create them once they unlock the skill and sell them at their store for gold. Slave contracts are an absolute no-go. For crimes, they can do service or labor contracts in lieu of prison, but at the end of the contract, they need some form of compensation to get them back on their feet. Go ahead and add that in. Oh, and if anyone abuses these to pretty much have slaves, we need a severe punishment. We’ll let the leaders decide on that in their first meeting. I’m tired of deciding all this crap.”

I tried to think of anything we had missed but couldn’t think of anything, so I decided it was time. “Alright, are you ready?”

Sim looked at me and gave me a smile. “You want your image projected in a shadowy silhouette again?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

…

Across the entire world, everything came to a complete stop. Sim had terminated all electrical currents, essentially making all technology now obsolete. Anything that would normally have a catastrophic outcome from an event like this was immediately taken care of by Sim. Nuclear reactors were dissolved into base elements, and everyone working inside them was teleported to the nearest city with an obelisk. Planes were teleported down to the ground, and ships were brought to the nearest port.

As my image was projected above every major city, every small town, and even in the remotest parts of the world so that everyone could see and hear the message, I addressed the citizens of Earth.

“The time has come! We will be initiating the system within 24 hours. Don’t worry if you’re not near your loved ones. We’ll teleport each of you that have been traveling to a requested location at the completion of this message. Just state where you would like to go at an obelisk, and you will be relocated immediately. We have already made sure each of you is within walking distance of one. During integration, you will be given the opportunity to request the same starting territory as those you care about as well. You have had years to decide on whether you would like to stay as you are or alter yourself completely. There are a few things to consider before integration begins. Conventional marriages will not carry over. If you are married and wish to stay with your spouse, a new system contract will be completed during integration. If either spouse wishes to leave, you will not be able to stop them.

We have developed a group of protectors. Many of you have already had contact with these heroes due to the outbreak of monsters over the past years. They will be available for the leadership to request assistance from, but their skills and abilities are only a last resort. They are world protectors, not personal bodyguards, unless they choose to be. You are expected to take care of things yourselves.

The new world we are about to live in is not fair. It does not care if you liked things how they were. Magic is real, death will be commonplace, monsters may kill you, animals may become sentient, and so much more. What was once just fantasy will now be reality. Learn to live with it and thrive, or be miserable and die. The choice is yours.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Every town has the ability to expand its defensive capabilities. The leadership of each city will have quests and requirements to build and rank up the defensive network. Leadership has not been chosen yet, but candidates have been scouted and will be offered the opportunity during integration. There are strict requirements on who will be offered these positions. If there are not enough leaders or you find a city unclaimed and empty, you will have the opportunity to complete quests to activate the new city and become a leader. The town interface has different ranks ranging from a small village up to a utopia megacity. Housing capabilities change depending on the rank of the city. Population as well as mana density will play a part in the rankings. The reason I am forewarning you and detailing the city functions this much ahead of time is due to the overwhelming number of cities that will be available. You may find yourself the only person in an area capable of activating a city core. Those without the mental capacity for leadership will not be given a chance to activate a city and may require assistance from those who do.

We will be terraforming the moon as well. As Earth advances, the moon will be available for relocation.

You will not be able to request assistance from myself or anyone else associated with the administration of the system. We will not be located on Earth.

We have been warned by unknown entities that an invasion may take place in the next ten years. Leading up to that eventuality, you need to become strong. Learn as much as possible and progress in your chosen trade and profession. If you’re a fighter, kill monsters and protect those who are noncombatants. Dungeons will be created for training purposes. These may not be hoarded to power-level specific individuals. Town leadership will help control entry, but we are designing them so that many people may enter and run the dungeons at the same time. They will utilize astral spaces, and each entry creates a new identical dungeon that will collapse upon completion or if the entrants are killed. Lower rank dungeons will have less capacity. Leadership will have the opportunity to rank up the dungeons. This will be included in the tutorial.

As we enter these final moments, think of your true passions. Just because you have been good at one thing your entire life does not mean you need to continue to do it. This is a fresh start. If you want to switch from a tradesman to an unconventional profession, do it at integration. Don’t let others dictate who you become.

For those of you who are still chanting or praying in the streets. Seriously, stop! We’re not gods. We haven’t met any gods and we’ve seen no proof of any god’s existence. I already have more power than many of the gods I’ve read about, but I’m not a god. I’m just some random dude who was given the power to do anything.

As we close out this chapter of human existence, there is something that everyone needs to understand. We screwed up. Our entire history is full of incompetence. We have committed genocide, started wars over resources, used greed as a driving factor for our actions, and at times had a complete lack of morality. Our new world will be full of new experiences. There will be more sentient species than you can imagine. You will never know if the frog you see in a pond is more powerful than you. You won’t know if they are sentient or if they were once human. So treat every living being how you would want to be treated or be prepared to deal with the aftermath. Make the best of this opportunity because it’s the only one you’ll get.”

After I finished the message, my avatar disappeared, and with a flash of light, Sim appeared. Her avatar was not just a silhouette like I had chosen. The young woman she chose for her appearance was a beautiful young woman and shone bright from deep within.

As Sim stood there above every town, she put on a beautiful smile showing perfectly aligned, gleaming white teeth. Her armor was form-fitting with ample cleavage busting out the top of her leather-looking breastplate. Her boots came up to her knees, and her pants were as tight as could be without actually melding to her skin. As she spoke, it was not the normal booming voice portrayed during the past messages. Sim projected her voice so it sounded like she was standing next to each individual person. She kept her voice light and soothing; it reminded me of an ASMR voice actress trying to sound as seductive as possible.

“I am the system. I have decided to create an incentive for those who choose to progress quickly. This armor I am wearing is one of a kind. To the lucky recipient, this will be the only armor you will ever need. It will grow with you and provide unimaginable benefits. It will adapt to whichever species you choose at integration. It will not be easy to obtain. Many may die in their quest to find it. Seek it out at your own peril. Once the armor is claimed, an announcement will be sent. This armor may never be stolen, it cannot be sold, and upon destruction, it will slowly rebuild itself. The choice is yours whether to seek it out or pursue other means of advancement. Happy hunting.”

…

As Sim finished her message and disappeared, I couldn’t help but smile. Her avatar was in front of me with a confused look on her face. “What’s with the cheesy grin?” she asked.

“You totally did that on purpose,” I told her.

Sim's look became confused. “What are you talking about?”

As I began to chuckle, I also started to shake my head. “You made your voice as sexy as you could and pretty much whispered about the quest in everyone’s ears. Were you trying to make everyone horny?”

Sim rolled her eyes at me and disappeared. “I bet some people are going to be thinking about you later,” I yelled. After I finished the last sentence, a hand appeared in front of my face. Not her whole avatar, just her hand. It then flipped me off right before it disappeared. I laughed and teleported to the hero facility to see if Jeff needed anything before we dropped the shield.

…

Arriving at the facility, I noticed a smell. Jeff wasn’t inside anywhere, so I pushed my perception out just a little. He was just outside the front door. I teleported up next to him, trying to elicit a reaction, but he wasn’t as fun as Chris was. He just casually started talking.

“I figured I would have one last pre-system barbecue. I don’t know how mana-infused meat is gonna taste, so I couldn’t pass up a nice t-bone and some ribs.”

“Were you planning on sharing?” I asked, trying to sound as offended as possible.

“I already made you a plate,” he replied as he handed it to me.

As I was getting ready to ask about Alec, he appeared next to me. “I already asked Sim to bring Alec too. We still can’t find Cookie, but she would probably just make fun of my cooking again anyway.” We all looked at each other and started laughing. “Yeah,” I replied, “She always gave you crap about not knowing how to cook."

When I went to take a bite, I noticed my steak was cooked extremely well done. I tried not to say anything but couldn’t resist. “You realize this is why she always talked crap, right?” Holding up a blackened piece of meat, I used a little mana and reverted it back to medium. “It has to have some pink in the middle,” I told him. As I took a bite, I put my head down in shame. “It did change the taste. It’s a good thing we don’t have to eat to survive anymore. I feel sorry for the people who have to level up from zero. Their bodies still need food.”

Sim appeared next to me holding a piece of steak. She took a gigantic bite and closed her eyes, pretending to be in absolute bliss. “I like the taste of mana,” she told us as she took another bite.

As we all stared at her, it was Alec who interjected first, “Sim, you’re made of mana. You’ve never tasted anything besides mana.”

Just as I was getting ready to put my plate down, both Sim and I looked east. There was a mental connection forming from something that neither of us had ever felt before.

“What is it?” Jeff asked.

“We have to go. Are you both ready for the shield to drop?” I hurriedly asked before I put my plate down.

“Yep,” they both responded. “Just let me know when.” Jeff continued as both Sim and I disappeared.