***Ryan's POV***
'What is going on?'
I felt uncomfortable and exhausted and looking out at thousands of people going about their business like normal felt weird.
'Didn't I receive a notification that I died? Why am I feeling worse than before, it feels restricting...' I shook my body a little and tried to stretch, hoping to shake off the cobwebs binding me.
'Is it some symptom or negative status from dying? and why does everything look like-' I looked around at a water bottle lying beside my bed and stretched my arm towards it.
"Argh!"
Pain assaulted my head as I dropped down instantly, it felt like a thousand needles were jammed right between my eyes.
"What the fuck is going on!!" I screamed.
"KEEP IT DOWN MAN! I'M WORKING HERE!!" I heard a familiar voice scream back.
'huh'
I rolled over and grabbed the bottle of water before pouring it all over my head. The cold water relieving some of the pain and managed to calm me down a little.
'Stats'
Name
Ryan Richards
Level
1 (0.00%)
Race
Human [G]
Alignment
Human (Earth), Norse Mythology, Odin, Huginn, Muninn
Attunement
Wind(0.00%), Dark(0.00%)
Titles
Double Attuned, Left Eye of Huginn(E), Right Eye of Muninn(C)(Sealed), The Returner
Strength
5
Perception
4
Endurance
7
Vitality
6
Intelligence
40
Wisdom
40
Luck
10
Free Stats
0
Credits
0
'uh...'
'...'
I looked at the bathroom door and rushed towards the mirror hanging in the bathroom, a young teen appeared to stare back at me, he looked both familiar and foreign at the same time, the most striking feature would be the heterochromatic eyes that looked unsettled and wary, pale blue and bright green stared as water dripped from his blond locks totally unfamiliar with the mess they would become in the upcoming years, sharp jawline and broad shoulders that were achieved with hours of training just to get some edge on the football pitch, peaked out from the soaked T-shirt.
My right hand moved to touch my cheek and the image in the mirror replicated the action, though the many blemishes that were present on the face echoed of a distant past I could easily recognize my appearance before the integration and all the race evolution. With each race evolution, the faults are removed and I become more handsome, or at least that's what Mel said.
A gorgeous redhead's idiotic grin appeared in my thoughts before I shook my head and concentrated on the mirror, after waving a few more times I walked out of the bathroom and sat down on my bed.
Due to actions of ??? -Gained title The Returner
I looked at the logs to see the system notifications that I missed during the supposed reincarnation.
'Or is it reincarnation? whatever took control of me, I'll place my bet's on Muninn, used the eye to maybe return my memories back to a time before the integration? Probably, according to the legends, Muninn's domains are mind and memory... but how could I still keep the eyes? and the system?'
I looked at another notification from the logs,
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
Planted ZX-458 has reached optimal Energy Levels!
Integration Initiated!
You have been selected along with a group of 10,000,000 people to the Initial Initiation!
Get Ready to teleport to the Training ground in 0 h 45 m 31 s
'I remember this notification, it gave me the warning last time too, man did it freak me out back then...'
I kept looking at the logs while trying to figure out everything that is going on, 'for some reason, I travelled through time, no that's not right, this body is different, that's why I'm feeling uncomfortable and weak. And my stats went back to what they were before the integration, but the wisdom and Intelligence are the same, why can't I use Telekinesis? Did my skills reset? but I know how to manipulate mana, I should be able to recreate it...'
I tried to gather mana and the pain spiked for a second which broke my concentration.
'ugh... okay something's wrong...'
I checked my HP and Mana bar on my status screen, along with the almost empty mana bar, an extra note was there.
Status HP:60/60 Mana:110/400 (Sealed)(grade too low)
'Right, we could only use mana after going through the integration, I forgot this, it has been a long time since the tutorials. Anyway, I should be able to use mana again in an hour... should I call dad? they weren't part of the integration so they aren't in any danger anyway, or at least not until the challenge happens...'
*Beep* *Beep*
My phone beeped and I could see a reminder pop-up.
[Evening Practice in 1 Hour]
'huh...' I looked at the posters of Ronaldo and Messi stuck on the walls and shook my head lightly, 'I never really tried to figure out what happened to them in the past, an era long gone I guess!' I walked towards the shower intending to take a hot bath while I could.
'The next few months are gonna be rough!'
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*** 3rd Person POV***
While Ryan decided to spent his last few minutes on Earth taking a Hot bath, across the world there were millions of people preparing their own measures, some were packing firearms in a backpack and gathering rations, while some were praying to God, to save them for this catastrophe.
In exactly 42 minutes, on 25th June 2025, 15:45 PST, massive towers appeared in the middle of the seven continents, 7 massive towers that seemed to be able to touch the sky appeared from the ground, the space around them shifted, allowing the buildings to wrap around them, no property was damaged, and the towers looked like just another building lost in the concrete jungle.
While everyone was bewildered and massive military reinforcements were dispatched no one noticed when 10,000,000 million people just disappeared from the Earth, well not at least for a couple of hours...
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***Ryan's POV***
Beginning Teleportation...
I looked around and felt the familiar darkness surround me.
*Bzz* *Bzz*
'Look is not the most appropriate word,--'
What I was currently going through is my very first race evolution, most people guessed why the cruel system gave them a freebie before it was unanimously agreed that it only helped us to watch us struggle against the beasts. I felt a click in my consciousness before I could feel the mana around me again, I tried to wave my arms through the darkness but nothing happened, I still couldn't feel my arms.
'Tch is it taking longer than before--'
"Ugh" a gasp escaped my lips as I finally felt my mind connecting to my body, a warm feeling overtook me as my brain once again connected to the mana in my body. Subconsciously I started to direct the mana and control it as several notifications started appearing in front of me.
Mana Unsealed!
Created skill Mana control
Mana Control Levelled up!
The darkness around me cracked open almost as if I was breaking out of an egg, layers of darkness peeled off my surrounding and a bright white light overtook my vision. Reflexively I poured mana into my left eye and the normal obstructions were removed, I looked around, ignoring the deja vu, to find myself in a white 4x4 room with just a table with two chairs on opposite ends.
On the other side of the chair was a floating square? at least it looked like one, yellow in colour with golden borders and jagged lines almost resembling a face. I stepped up to the table and more notifications bombarded me.
Welcome to the Multi-Universe
As the first members of your race to advance towards the multi-universe, you have been awarded the following rewards
- Title: Hope of Mankind - +5% All Stats.
- Skill: Tongue of the wicked one (rare)- Can speak and read every language known to the system.
- Skill: Eye of Truth (uncommon)- can identify all things, or species either in or below its grade.
Trial 1: The Initiation
Having been reborn after leaving your home planet, you have 0h 9m 46s to gain knowledge from the Pisca.
'Right I forgot about the Pisca, notorious for taking advantage of everyone, ruthless traders, and one of the species that took refuge in the system and now most of the time work as the system's administrations, many odd rumours were surrounding these things.'
"Have you done reading the notifications human?" The Pisca said, its voice was followed by a light buzzing sound.
"What does the system gain by doing the integration?" I asked the Pisca, it was a question that bugged me a lot, there weren't a lot of higher tired beings that we could contact during the tutorial so most of the intentions of the system remain hidden.
"The system is just a helping tool that helps anyone reach the peak of mortality and beyond." The Pisca answered.
'So even in the Q&A section, we would be told the same bulshit answers'
I looked disappointed before saying, "Let's move on, I don't want to answer any questions"
'I need to save those 10 minutes, there are still some titles that I can gain if I rush through this..'
The yellow Pisca turned silver, I looked at the notification.
Trial 2: Character Development
Every action you take, every skill you gain, every kill you get influences the class you can gain upon reaching level 10. In order to escape the shackles binding you, you can alter your character for some physical changes and choose a new identity, and then choose your elemental attunement and your weapon.
"Would you like to change your name?" The monotone of the Pisca continued.
"NO"
"Would you like to alter your appearance?"
"NO"
'heh, I remember I tried to change my dick size last time...'
"You're already dual attuned...Processing information..."
'Don't snatch my Dark attunement, it took me a lot of time to complete that hellish quest.' I looked at my cheat like stat sheet.
"Choose your primary weapon, due to not receiving an attunement from the system the quality of weapons have improved."
The Table started elongating as various weapons started appearing out of thin air, swords, bows, daggers, and axes, I inspected the daggers with Eye of Truth.
Broken Daggers of Diana (Uncommon)(Replica) (Greek)
+100 Atk
5% critical hit chance
5% chance to inflict bleed.
Evolvable
'These again...tch! if only they were from a Norse deity, why the fuck would I get replicas of a roman goddesses daggers... but at least they are evolvable this time around...'
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