“It’s a game,” Aerys said. Gazing at the numbers and words that were all too familiar to him.

Status

Name: Aerys Highborn

Species: Human (Evo-Gene)

Level: 1

Class: -

Auxiliary Class: -

Health Points(HP): 50/50

Mana Points(MP): 60/60

Stamina Points(SP): 50/50

Strength: 6

Dexterity: 8

Vitality: 5

Endurance: 5

Intelligence: 6

Wisdom: 5

Free Points: 0

Quirk: Heightened Flight Response.

Evo-Ability: Clone(Lv.1)

“The heck is this thing talking about? I ain’t no lousy ladies man. I’m the best of the best. A single wink of mine is enough to soak their panties like a damn water slide,” Daze said. Revealing his quirk that had something to do with his horrendous pickup lines.

“Ma’am, is this for real?” Aerys asked, turning his attention back to the woman in charge.

“I understand how strange it is for our weapon to be some sort of game. But believe me, before all of you even exist, this game dated back since the first arrival in Orientation, and let’s just say our seers did very good in influencing those game makers in implementing the same thing,” Antonella said.

“You mean those stupid games are all preparation for the war?” Jolt asked.

“Well it’s sort of a long shot, but I guess it did work,” Antonella said. “Some of the past participants had some expertise in using the system to their advantage, and most of them are now at the frontline.”

“And despite these so-called game experts, we’re still losing?” One-Eye chimed in.

Antonella gazed at the war dog. “You know well how it is in a war. A bunch of highly capable individuals isn’t enough to win the whole war, more so when up against a plethora of different species.” Antonella said.

“Humph, so you need an army of those people then,” One-Eye said.

“Not me, but we, mister one eye,” Antonella said, smirking. “This isn’t just my battle, but ours.”

Antonella rose from her seat, preparing to leave. “So rest for the night, and decide what will you do for the fate of humanity,” Antonella said as she left.

Aerys had a lot more things to ask, but Antonella shot him down, telling him that her obligatory time with them had ended. She told him that further questions could be asked to her assistant or to their fellow participants at the dorm.

A suave-looking butler emerged immediately after the departure of Antonella. “Pardon the Mistress, sir. Her schedule is a little bit packed this week,” said the butler.

“Oh, it’s fine,” Aerys said. “Just a little curious that’s all.”

“Despite my shortcoming, I’ll be glad to do the answering on behalf of the mistress,” the butler said. “And I am Albert. Please to make your acquaintance.”

The man with neatly combed white hair lightly bowed his head to the whole squad. He dressed appropriately like a butler; swallow-tail black coat, maroon vest, silver buttons, and completing the overall look with a pair of white gloves.

“Shall I show you your room then?” Albert said.

The special ops squad followed behind Albert who looked nearing his early seventies. They left the mansion through the back door, strolling through the vast garden with a two-floor building at the far end. Along the way, Aerys couldn’t let his mouth sit still. Asking everything about the system which was nothing different from a basic RPG. Except for the quirk and his Evo-ability, most of it was basics he already knew.

“So you’re telling me I can be a wizard? Like throwing fireballs from my bare hands, or commanding lightning to fall from the skies?” Aerys asked, smiling with twinkling eyes.

“I can vouch about the fireballs, but calling down a lightning judgment is something I’ve never seen before,” Albert said. “But I guess you’ll never know. And perhaps you, sir, might be able to do it. Just like the genius of Dumbledore, I might say.” Albert winked.

“Wait, how do you know about Harry Potter?” Aerys asked.

Albert just smiled. He twisted the doorknob and opened the door to the dorm. The silence was rather annoying as Aerys expected his questions would all be met with answers. Nonetheless, he followed the butler like a sheep being herded. Shortly after, he was assigned a room. Small. But enough for a single bed with a window towards the garden.

“Is this temporary?” Aerys asked. Having accommodation this easily without paying was rather odd for the likes of Aerys. To him, nothing came without a price.

“Indeed, it is,” Albert said. “If sir decided to go, I doubt you’ll be around for at least a month or so.”

Aerys frowned. “I’ve been hearing a lot about deciding or not, but aren’t we already drafted in this war? Or do we really have a choice not to join?” Aerys asked.

“Indeed, you do,” Albert said. “But deciding not to join doesn’t mean you will be sent back to Earth.”

Aerys gave a questioning look, expecting an explanation over what Albert said.

“Not all people are meant for war, sir,” Albert said. “Even if they have a blade touching their necks, they wouldn’t even think of fighting back. They would resign to their fate, and accept their defeat. And what you see here in this city, are made of those types of people. Gentle-nature they called themselves, but what I see are nothing but cowards.”

“And you?” Aerys asked.

Albert turned his back to Aerys, heading to the door. “A word of advice from a coward, sir. Once you leave the border of Pioneer, you can never return back here again. Not unless…”

It was a long pause.

Albert turned to Aerys, flashing a warm smile. “Choose wisely, sir,” Albert said, nodding as he then left. Leaving Aerys alone to ponder over a crucial clue.

Aerys dropped his head on the fluffy feather pillow and stared at the wooden ceiling in a daze. Over the past two years, things had been escalating way too quickly for him. From having a power to being forcefully conscripted to a private special ops squad, and now here he was in another world, preparing for a world-ending war.

“I wonder what mom and Jamie are doing right now,” he thought. “Would the company tell them I’m dead through some freak accident or something? Or would they just keep it quiet and pretended I’ve never even worked there.”

Aerys wondered whether his family would be okay with him absent. Financially, he wasn’t worried much. In the last year, his little brother Jamie had found his talent in day trading, and with him giving Jamie some seed money, that little brother of his was steadily making a fortune. But emotion-wise, he hoped both of them wouldn’t be too sad.

“Ah, fuck.” Aerys covered his eyes with his forearm. Hiding his glistening eyes. He wasn’t this emotional even after doing missions across the continents, yet knowing he was separated by worlds, he knew he wouldn’t be able to see them again.

“I miss them,” Aerys said.

Aerys curled his body to the side, and let his sorrow and fatigue drown him into his sleep.

Knocks on his door echoed, awakening him from his slumber. The mention of his name kept repeating from outside, and the groggy Aerys got up and went to the door.

“Really Double?” Jolt greeted him. “You actually went to sleep after all those talks about the fate of humanity and so on.” The woman who was older than him by five years stood with her hands resting on her hips. “I was expecting more from you, you know? For something right up your alley, I thought you would be thrilled in looking for more information,” Jolt said.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Aerys’ half-opened eyes gazed at Jolt. “What do you want, Jolt?”

She harrumphed. Grabbing Aerys by the arm and dragged him away down the stairs.

“Wait, where are we going?” Aerys asked.

Jolt remained silent, pulling him along on the first floor as she then pushed through the double oaken door. A vast hall met Aerys’ eyes and the familiar lights on the chandelier drew his gaze.

“Are those light bulbs?” he asked.

“You would have known if you didn’t sleep,” said Jolt. “Now, let’s get some dinner. The guys had been waiting for too long.”

Jolt let go and left for the long table in the middle.

Aerys stood there, and before he could take a step forward, he noticed the many gazes on him. It was rather odd to be looked like that as he wasn’t the attention-seeking type of person. Aerys tended to keep things for himself. Yet glancing to his side, the lady with blonde hair looked awfully familiar to him. His eyes gazed into her blue eyes, and he remembered.

“You’re that researcher from CERN,” he said, remembering the ID card on the bunch of clothes he found on the research facility floor.

She grabbed Aerys by the arm and pulled him close. “Is help coming?” she said, her blue pupils quivering. “My son, he needs me. He can’t be alone, not with that man-child, and he…” her trembling voice stopped.

“Enough, Yulia,” another woman grabbed Yulia by the arms. “Give the guy a break. He’s in the same situation as us and he won’t get us back home.”

“But!” Yulia wanted to say something, but her friend hugged her tight, calming her down as Yulia wept on her shoulder. The woman gave Aerys a sign to move along, and he did.

He joined with his squad and noticed One-Eye wasn’t there. He kept his silence, not bothered to know about a man keened on blowing up a whole city for the sake of vague freedom.

“Took you long enough, Double. I’ve already finished my third plate,” Bull said, bumping his fist at Aerys, almost making him stumble.

Aerys sat down and stared at the plate of food in front of him. It was nothing fancy, a slab of steak, a portion of veggies, and a handful of mashed potatoes. “No gravy?” he asked, smirking. For some reason, the only normal thing he found here was his dinner.

“Trust me Aerys, there’s no need for gravy,” Bull said. “That piece of steak alone is packed with flavors. If you don’t want it, I can . . . Ow!”

Aerys slapped Bull’s hand away as the latter could only pout. For a man built like a bear, pouting didn’t look right on him.

“A pity,” Daze said. Staring at someone. “She’s a perfect nine, but with her going loco, my passion just isn’t high enough to put in a crazy.”

Jolt punched Daze by the shoulder, glaring.

“What was that for?” Daze said, rubbing his aching left shoulder.

“This isn’t the time to find someone who you can put a dick into,” she said. “So snap out of it, and let’s figure out how to get back home.”

The word home drew the confused gazes from the others including Aerys.

“What?” Jolt said.

“For a seven, you’re about to step into crazy territory Jolt, and I advise you not to,” Daze said.

Jolt frowned, seeing the indifferent look on these people's faces. “You’re telling me all of you don’t want to get home?” she said. “You, especially Double.”

Aerys stared into Jolt’s brown eyes. Not knowing how to answer that statement.

“Sorry, Jolt, but I think I’ll be sticking here for a while,” Daze said. “I’d enough of those mob bosses that kept chasing my ass. And over here is a brand new start.” He took a quick swig.

“For personal reasons, I’m with Daze,” Hush said. Calmly taking a bite out of the small piece of steak he cut.

“And you Bull?” Jolt asked.

“I…” Bull’s head dropped, staring at the floor. Several thoughts ran in his mind as a painful expression lasted briefly for a second. He craned up and feigned a smile at Jolt. “Sorry Jolt, but I’m with the guys.”

“Fine!” Jolt got up. Glaring viciously at Double for a few seconds before taking her leave.

“Well, she got pretty cranky today,” Daze said.

“It understandable, you know,” Aerys said. “She has a daughter, and it must be torture to her knowing she can’t be by her side.”

“She has a daughter?” Bull said.

“She’s married?” Daze said.

“…” Hush eating silently.

“She’s a single mother and she…” his words trailed off by an unexpected visit from someone. Albert stood beside him and gestured at the empty seat.

“May I have a seat, sir?” Albert asked.

Aerys nodded and the butler sat amongst the broken special ops team. All eyes were on the butler as he wouldn’t be here not without a proper reason.

“Ehem,” Albert cleared his throat. “I thought all of you had been gone by now,” he said.

“What do you mean?” Aerys asked.

Albert raised his eyebrows for a second there, and it dawned on him. “Oh,” Albert said.

“Oh? What do you mean by oh?” Aerys asked.

“It seems there’s a misunderstanding here. I thought all of you had left Pioneer with Mr.One-Eye,” Albert said.

“He left?” Bull frowned. “When?”

“Right before nightfall,” Albert said. “A bit dangerous I might say for beginners, but he said he was mold in the darkness. So I guess he got his confidence working for him.”

Albert left afterward, and One-Eye’s early departure sort of affected Bull a bit. He left afterward after finishing his fourth plate. Leaving Daze, and Hush alone as Aerys departed not soon after. Daze joked that Aerys perhaps was gonna one-upped them and left Pioneer also, but the lad gave his words. He went out just to get some fresh air.

Aerys strolled down the city streets, and contrary to his expectation, the night was lively. The bright yellow lights decorated the streets, with street vendors selling their goods and night snacks, upping the overall city’s nightlife experience. It wasn’t like the boisterous chaos of New York City with the clubs and flashy neon lights as it was more like a mellow city near the beachside, relaxing and comforting.

Soon, he was far from the busy streets and reached a small park surrounded by high towers. A few street lamps were there, giving a bit of light in this empty park, looking closely it wasn’t tungsten in the bulb as it was more like a rough-looking gem. Whoever that created this must have the genius of Edison himself, thought Aerys. He found a bench and sat there alone among the trees.

He opened his status and gave it another look. A new life in a game-like world where the fate of humanity rested upon these numbers and stats.

The meow of a cat drew his sight down. A white ragdoll cat appeared out of nowhere, rubbing its fur against Aerys’ legs. He smiled as he never thought he would find a stray cat in a city like this. He thought the usual creature would be like the shit-eater he saw before.

“Hi there, kitty,” Aerys said, smiling. He patted the cat on its head as the white ragdoll snuggled at his hand closer. It meowed a few times, making him think that it was asking for some food.

“Sorry, kitty,” Aerys said, looking rather down. “If I had some money I would have bought you some.” The cat jumped on his laps and rested there as Aerys patted the cat. Brushing his fingers against the soft white fur as both of them enjoyed each other company.

At the distance, he spotted someone jogging through the trail. It was quite odd at first, but this world and earth might not be that different after all. It wasn’t unusual to see people jogging during the night. The jogger came closer, and he appeared to be an old man dressed quite casually in some sort of tracksuit with four lines by the side. He stopped, glancing at Aerys with his feet jogging in place.

“Oh, are you trying your luck getting a quest?” the old jogger said.

“Quest?” Aerys asked.

“Oh, my bad,” the old jogger said. “I thought you were one of those new participants trying to get some sort of quest from that little cat.”

“Sorry to break it to you, sir, but I’m one of those participants you spoke about,” Aerys said. “But you said something about a quest, does the system really works like that?”

The old jogger smiled. Taking a seat right beside Aerys as Aerys carefully scooched to the side a bit.

“Believe me, boy, in this world anything is possible. I’m never much of a fan of playing games, but living in one really felt good,” the old jogger said. “The name’s Pedro Sato.” He handed out his hand, and Aerys responded with a shake.

“Aerys Highborn, sir, a pleasure to meet you,” Aerys said.

“Oh, you’re already using your made-up name, pretty good if I must say. It has a nice fantasy touch on it,” Pedro said, chuckling.

Aerys didn’t want to say it was his real name since telling about it might lead to a longer explanation of why his name sounded straight from a fantasy novel. He just smiled at the comment and asked about the quest.

“So about the quest, do NPCs live around here?” Aerys asked.

“Not quite, the quest sort of happens if the system deems it to be appropriate for a quest. So in a way, it’s all based on luck,” Pedro said. “And that cat on your lap, many people had tried their luck on getting some sort of quest from it, and for the last ten years I’ve been living here every one of them had failed.”

“But why do people think so? Couldn’t it be just a normal stray cat in a park?” Aerys asked.

“Perhaps it is. But from what I’ve heard, this little munchkin here could only be seen here in the park during the night,” Pedro said. “And come to think of it, I’ve never seen it once during the day.”

Aerys continued patting the cat as he wasn’t really bothered whether the cat could give a quest or not. As of right now, the mention of how long Pedro had lived here drew his interest.

“You said you’ve been living here for ten years?” Aerys asked.

“Indeed it is,” Pedro said, glancing upwards as if remembering that first day he was here. “At first I thought this is the afterlife since I was kind of on the way to the hospital for a heart attack. But to my surprise, those paramedics were also with me. I thought we got into an accident or something, but then Mistress Da Vinci explained to us all about it, and here I am, living the life at ninety years old, still fit and healthy.” Pedro smiled.

Aerys was genuinely surprised. “But the heart attack?” Aerys asked.

“Oh, that. If I remembered this correctly the second one soon came after but truly befitting of an RPG game, a quick swig of a red potion, and everything went away,” Pedro said, laughing over that little memory.

“Wow, that’s really amazing hearing it like that,” Aerys said. He never knew something fatal like that could be treated with something he usually stashed in his bag until reaching ninety-nine.

“So, are you the type of fighting at the front line, or do you prefer living the life here comfortably?” Pedro asked.

Aerys looked down, remembering his family. Even if he could enjoy all of this game-like system, living the dream like a true hero in a fantasy world, but without family, he felt rather empty.

“It would have been nice if I can go back,” Aerys said.

“Missing your loved one, huh. Good choice if I must say,” Pedro said, tapping slightly on Aerys’ shoulder. “It would be quite a challenge compared to reaching the front line, but I’ll be rooting for you, boy.”

“Wait, what?” Aerys stared at Pedro with wide-opened eyes. “You’re saying I can go back to Earth?”

“Well of course,” Pedro said, nodding. “In this world everything is possible.”