The world was not ready. In an instant the world went black. The only electronic things that worked were planes still flying in the air and the ships at sea, virtually everything else lost power. All around the world people were greeted with a blue box that appeared in front of their eyes saying, “System initializing … Welcome Earthlings to the universe.
Brian Davis wasn’t aware of all of the lights going out. He wasn’t even aware that a golden light surrounded his body, or that he was levitating off the bed. He was having the weirdest dream about a blue box telling him welcome to the universe. Then someone or rather something started speaking to him. “Greetings Earthling I am Computer Tutorial System-Zero One Seven Two or CTS-0172 for short. My purpose is to give you a brief tutorial on what is going to be happening on your planet over the next span of time. I notice that you are to receive a class 03 restoration to remedy the ailments in your body. This will allow for the longer version of the tutorial. Earth is being introduced into the greater universe, and has thus been designated as a training area for its inhabitants and other denizens of the universe.
Brian noticed that he could not seem to open his mouth and speak. What did he mean remedy his body's ailments? Was he getting cured of his fibromyalgia? CTS-0172 continued speaking as if nothing had happened.
“The universe faces a threat from invaders from outside of our known dimensions. These invaders have plagued the denizens of the universe for millions of years. Earth is now being called on to support the universe's war efforts. To aid you in these efforts every sentient being has what are called slots that can accept supernatural abilities in them. An individual can have up to 12 slots, although this is practically unheard of. Why the last person to have 11 was over a hundred thousand years ago. You will likely only have 6.” Several large colored gems floated in the space in front of Brian.
“When a slot is outside of a body they look like this. Each color represents a different category of abilities. Red is attack, orange is defense, green is nature, pink is restorative, grey is manufacturing, blue is enchantment, yellow is augmentation, and finally purple is conjuration. When you touch a gem you will be prompted to pick a theme for which the ability bestowed will fall under. All gems in addition to color have a rarity intrinsic to them. This rarity can bestow additional perks upon an ability. The ranks of rarity are junk, common, average, advanced, rare, and mythic. Upon initialization or when a being turns 18 they will be given 3 gem slots to fill. They will get to choose both the color and theme of all three gems. From that point on, unless a rare circumstance happens, you will only be able to choose a theme. These abilities are also upgradeable upon constant use and completion of certain activities.”
“To help you hone your abilities monsters and other races from the universe have been populated to Earth. All of you will compete to capture zones. Whoever controls the zones has the greatest chance of survival. All Earth sentients are given a boon to combat the fact that they know so little about the System. This boon takes the form of an increase in rarity for one of your slot gems, an upgrade in levels of a slot, or an enhancement of your body either one aspect greatly or a smaller overall enhancement of the body.” Brian noticed inspirational music started to play and increase in volume. “Go forth and conquer Earthling, join the war effort, save lives”
The music stopped, “That concludes the tutorial portion. Do you have any queries?
This was definitely one of Brian’s weirder dreams. “What do the grey gems entail? Can’t you just use machines for your manufacturing needs?”
“Manufacturing covers crafts of all types: building, smithing, carpentry, and various other forms of labor where something is made from raw materials. All goods are made by sentient hands in the System. Do you have further queries?”
A multitude of thoughts, ideas, and theories swirled in Brian’s head as he struggled to grasp all that he had been told. He slowly got a hold of his thoughts and opened his mouth to ask a question.
“Apologies, our allotted time has reached an end. Go forth and conquer Earthling.”
Brian opened his eyes and slowly sat up in bed. His mind was still swirling from the wild dream he had just had. It took him a moment to notice two strange things. One that room was completely dark, there was no illumination from his digital clock near his bed. Even more shocking his mind was completely clear, there wasn’t the normal fuzziness of sleep loss. Nor did it feel like his mind was already working overtime just by being awake. He remembered, the class 03 restoration, did that mean he was cured of fibro. He moved his arms slowly in circles, he was expecting the near constant pain to awaken and reassert itself. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. He quickly jumped out of bed and started doing pushups on the floor. He felt the burn of physical exercise but none of the pain that frequently tagged along. This was amazing. His mind felt clearer than it ever had, and there was no pain bringing him down. He had never felt this good. This was the greatest moment of his life. This means … Oh. This means … He noticed a blinking blue light in the corner of vision. There was nothing in his room that would make an effect like this. What was it? He focused his mind on the light and suddenly his vision was dominated by a blue box. Text filled the box and Brian started to read. “Welcome Earthling to the greater universe. Please choose three gem slots colors and themes please.”
Three gem slots, that tutorial program had mentioned something about gem slots. They represented abilities that one used to fight and conquer zones. This was all too similar to some bizarre war game. But, one that was altogether too real. What would happen if you died? Do you respawn or is that it? Way too many questions filled Brian’s mind, but his focus strayed back to the blue box which dominated his vision. It offered no answers, the text hadn’t changed, it wanted him to choose three gems. What were the colors again? At this thought the text changed and showed the colors and their meaning.
“Red is attack, orange is defense, green is nature, pink is restorative, grey is manufacturing, blue is enchantment, yellow is augmentation, and finally purple is conjuration.”
Conjuration? Is that similar to the school of magic in RPGs? The box didn’t update its text. While Brian owned several guns, but the ability to conjure a gun out of thin air was very tempting as it would mean he was always armed. Let’s try it. “I choose purple gem slot and the theme is guns. A purple gem materialized in his hand. A smaller text box superimposed itself on the blue box.
“Summon elemental gun (Average) The user summons an elemental gun of the chosen type. It does not need reloading during the duration of its existence. Duration: 10 seconds. Cooldown: 10 minutes.”
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That is so cool. Wait, what are the elements it mentioned? Brian put out his hands and tried to summon the gun, but nothing happened. C’mon work you stupid thing, give me my gun.
The blue box reasserted itself, “To equip a slot gem you must first focus and accept the gem that will slot it into the next available opening. Only then will you be able to activate the ability by choosing it.”
Brian detected a hint of sass and long-suffering in the text. Who does this box think it is?
The text displayed nothing.
Brian gave it the stink eye and focused on the purple gem in his hand. Another textbox superimposed itself.
“Do you wish to equip Summon elemental gun?
“Yes”
The gem dematerialized from his hand. Some new part of Brian’s mind that he had never accessed before showed 11 blank circles. And then the purple gem filled in one of them.
I have 11 slots, holy cow. What did the tutorial say that hadn’t happened in something like a hundred thousand years. Sweet. Brian focused on the purple gem and imagined summoning a gun into his hand.
“Which element do you wish to equip, Holy, fire, electric, ice, profane, poison?”
“Electric.” Brian felt a tug on something inside of him. A blue white SMG with yellow accents materialized in Brian’s hands. He quickly lifted it up and noticed it was lighter than a normal gun. He sighted down the barrel. Too bad I am not a range, can’t exactly test this is my place. Oh well. He waited a few more seconds and the gun disappeared. Now what other abilities do I want? Best defense is a good offense. Red is attack …
“I chose Red and my theme is explosives.”
A red gem appeared in his hand and once again a text box appeared in his vision. “Generate explosion (average) User charges ambient energy which explodes on impact. Cooldown nine minutes.”
Brian focused on the gem.
“Do you wish to equip Generate explosion?”
I wonder if I can do it silently. Yes I wish to equip Generate explosion.
The gem disappeared from Brian’s hand and appeared in the second slot.
Definitely can’t test this one here. Ok, that leaves one left. I can summon a gun, I can make explosives; what else do I need? His eyes fell on his closet where his gun safe full of guns and bullets sat. Red gem, theme bullets.
A red gem appeared in Brian’s hand and he focused on it.
“Convert to fire bullets (advanced) Converts regular ammunition to fire bullets. Fire bullets deal normal damage and fire damage. Special: Chance for bullets to be refunded when shot.”
Nice, bonus fire damage. Also free bullets that will be handy.
The large blue text box reasserted itself with new text. “Choose your initialization inhabitant bonus. Upgrade one aspect of your body to be inhabitant maximum. Upgrade the rarity of one of your slot gems. Upgrade the abilities of one of your slots by a few levels. Upgrade every aspect of your body to an extent.”
What to choose, what to choose? Seems like upgrading the rarity of your slot gems is a risk. There is no guarantee that you will get a bonus if you don’t have one or if you have one that you would get a better bonus. So that’s out. Upgrading the levels is also not that great, the first few levels should be easy to upgrade, at least that is how it is in games. So very quickly you would have an obsolete benefit. That doesn’t seem great. So that leaves upgrading one aspect of the body or upgrading the whole body. I wonder how much the body upgrade is? If it’s like ten percent that would be significant, speed, strength, reflexes, stamina, pain tolerance and who knows what all else, that could be huge much greater than just upgrading one aspect. … Hmmm. Upgrade my whole body please.
A golden glow enveloped Brian again and he once more levitated off the ground. His whole body tingled as several minutes passed. Finally the glow dissipated and Brian returned to the floor. Brian took a step forward and his newly improved muscles threw him off balance with more force than he was expecting. Right, I am stronger and faster now, it will take less physical effort to do what I am used to doing.
Brian spent what seemed like forever adjusting to his new found physical capabilities. All right let’s see what craziness has happened to the world. Brian grabbed a change of clothes and walked into the bathroom to shower. The lights didn’t turn on when he stepped into the bathroom. Right, the power is out. I wonder what happened there? Guess I will see if I can do this in the dark. He stepped into the shower and turned on the water. Ohh, that’s cold.
The cold water made Brian quickly wash up. He got dressed and walked to his closet. Luckily his mom had given him a candle for emergencies. Thinking of her made the hole in his heart ache. His parents had died in a car accident a few years ago. He missed them everyday. Although he was glad they wouldn’t have to deal with whatever was happening. He lit the candle, opened his gun safe and pulled out his Black synthetic stock Springfield Armory M1A scout squad rifle. The tutorial said monsters are out there better bring the big guns. The .308 was the largest caliber he possessed. He pulled out the four 20 round magazines. Let’s see if this works. He focused on one of the magazines and felt the tug again. Must be mana or something like that. The bullets now glowed with a red flickering effect. He loaded the magazine into the firearm. He put one magazine in his pocket and reached for a backpack to stuff in the other two magazines. He pulled out his SIG P229 9mm pistol. He ejected the magazine and ensured it was full. He racked the slide and a bullet popped out. He focused on the magazine and the tell tale red glow emitted from the bullets. He inserted the magazine back in the gun, re-racked it, picked up the stray bullet, and once again ejected the magazine. He loaded the stray bullet in the 15 round magazine and filled it to capacity again. On a whim he tried the flashlight attached to the underbarrel of the pistol. Light flooded the room from the 1000 lumen flashlight. Bright. Ow, that’s bright. So battery powered stuff works. That’s useful. Wish I had planned more for a disaster. He turned off the flashlight and holstered the gun. He pulled out his three spare magazines and put one in the pouch attached to his holster. He put his two spare magazines and loaded them into his backpack. He grabbed several boxes of both ammunition and stored them away. He strapped on a CRKT Kangee tomahawk and a United Cutlery Liberator trench knife. He grabbed a spare flashlight and stuffed it in the bag. Now to get some food and water and then head over to Mr. Mcmullen’s house. Brian didn’t believe in prepping for the apocalypse, although he wished he had now. But he still had bottles of water and MREs in case of natural disaster. He quickly loaded a spare change of clothes and provisions and was ready, he hoped, for what the world had in store for him.