ALL NOVEL Chapter 1: Descent (1)
What the actual fuck is going on?
Michael cursed in his mind as he struggled to keep running. He raced at top speed on the cracked, dry ground, gazing directly at the group of trees twenty meters in front of him. They burrowed their way up from the biggest cracks, their powerful trunks crowned by yellow and green leaves. They looked as if they were struggling to survive in this harsh landscape. In that sense, they were the same as him.
He heard a snarl coming from behind him and turned his head to look over his shoulder. He saw his hunter running on all fours, closing the considerable distance between them far too quickly. The jaguar wasn’t particularly large and seemed to be on the thinner side; its ribs were clearly visible. Yet, it was still much faster than him.
He finally reached the trees after avoiding as many of the larger cracks in the ground as he could in order not to trip, and hid behind a tree just as the jaguar leaped toward him. It hit the tree he was hiding behind, roaring in annoyance. He had maybe two seconds before it made its way around it and tore him apart. It would have to be enough.
Michael hurriedly ripped his wand out of his belt and drew a circle with it, gasping out the Skill.
“Mana Sphere!”
A glowing, blue sphere the size of a billiards ball formed out of thin air. Just as the jaguar circled the tree and jumped onto him, he reflexively fired the Mana Sphere at its head. The attack went right through the beast’s left eye, crushing the bones around it and drilling through it in a split second. Blood and gore flew out of the wound. The Sphere kept going, piercing through part of the skull and creating a hole in the brain within it. The animal died instantly.
The young man stared at the carcass as it fell to the ground, nausea rising from within him. He pushed down the need to throw up. Blood kept flowing out of the carcass, sinking through the cracks in the ground. The remaining eye seemed to be staring at him, lifeless as it was. He shivered. Even though he had grown up with the knowledge that violence could come suddenly, it was the first time he had seen it so closely.
A small, translucent blue rectangle appeared in front of Michael. It was a string of messages just for him.
[You have slain a Jaguar (Level 4.)]
[You have reached Level 1.]
[Skill Point awarded. The number of skills you can learn has increased.]
[You may now choose a new Skill.]
[You have been granted the Analyze skill.]
[You have reached Level 2.]
He read it with resentment in his eyes, speaking to himself.
“How is this a fucking Tutorial Zone?”
It had been less than an hour since he had gotten here, but he could still remember the messages that appeared in front of him and were spoken in his head, interrupting his ordinary day in a fashion he didn’t even think was possible.
[Universe K-2849 has been successfully assimilated.]
[Welcome to a new reality.]
[Information gathering successful.]
[Most living beings on Earth are now under the System.]
[The first wave will now be teleported to the Tutorial Zone.]
[The introduction begins.]
“Fuck.”
Remembering the System notifications only made him feel like his short temper was even worse. He had no idea what the hell was happening. Out of nowhere, a so-called System had descended and teleported him to an unknown place. Michael stared at the jaguar’s carcass. He had been lucky. He hadn’t been aiming for the eyeball; he just happened to hit it. Had he failed, there was no way he would still be alive. The threat was very real, to the point that he was still struggling to process that he could have died. It was the first time in his life that he had been close to dying. He couldn’t stop his trembling as the adrenaline wore off. His knees shook.
…It’s also the first fucking time I killed anything that wasn’t an insect. Jesus.
This thought gave rise to bitterness. He couldn’t believe what he had done, even though his actions were justified. The animal had gone after him and hunted him down from the moment it saw him, with clear intent to kill. He had just done his best to survive. In the end, he couldn’t easily shake off the feeling that was weighing him down. The first kill. If things continued like this, he would be forced to kill many more creatures.
He looked at the sky and took a deep breath. He stared at the large System message floating up there. It could be seen and read from any angle.
[Welcome to the Tutorial. You are all part of the first wave of arrivals.]
[Killing other contestants will net you XP, which will be used to increase your Level.]
[Creatures apart from the contestants have also been introduced.]
[Survive for three months.]
He sighed. At first, when the System had introduced itself and told him to choose a Class, he had thought that this would be a fun adventure. He wasn’t worried about his friends and mother, because he had come to the conclusion that a Tutorial Zone would be a safe place. It didn’t take long for him to realize how wrong he had been. Any excitement from being part of something only seen in fiction was quickly replaced by concern, both toward himself and toward other people.
He turned his gaze toward his surroundings. Michael couldn’t help but frown. The landscape didn’t match the words “Tutorial Zone” at all. He took everything in with a sigh. The ground was reminiscent of a land after a drought, covered in a fine layer of sand and dirt. It was hard and cracked, not at all comfortable to lay on or even step on. It wasn’t anything close to a hospitable place.
Shouldn’t a Tutorial happen in a forest or something?
Even though he had been here for the better part of an hour, he had yet to find any source of running water, despite walking around. He also couldn’t see anything resembling an oasis. At the same time, the existence of the trees revealed that things weren’t so simple. They crawled out of the biggest of the cracks, their roots nowhere to be seen as they attempted to receive some sunlight. As he had noted before, the traces of yellow leaves on their crown only served to support the idea that they were barely getting by.
This was closer to a desert, but there were too many trees, also reminiscent of a forest. It was as if someone had smashed the two biomes together and used the result as the stage. Up above, there was a cloudless blue sky with two burning suns, one smaller than the other. It seemed to be around noon. The air was hot and dry, and he had already started sweating. At last, he looked at himself.
The white robe he had been gifted by the System was already torn and dirty, with drops of blood on its surface. His boots were thankfully still undamaged, but he doubted that would be the case for much longer. The clothes he had been wearing on Earth were underneath it all, while the Oak Wand was the only piece of equipment he had.
“…I’d like to choose a new Skill.”
A list appeared in front of him, floating in a translucent blue rectangle, like all other System messages. The list was short and concise, containing only five Skills. Michael narrowed his choices down to two of them.
[Active Skill
Mana Shield (F): being a Mage does not mean traveling without protection. Basic skill for casters.
Gathers one’s mana into a thin protective layer above their skin, shielding them from harm. Higher proficiency and a higher Intelligence Stat result in greater effects.]
Compared to the other skills on the list, this one would grant him the biggest amount of immediate power. As the struggle against the jaguar had shown him, he needed a way to protect himself as soon as possible. If the animal’s claws had managed to injure him, he could have been rendered unable to lift and use his wand, which would have crippled his ability to use the Mana Sphere Skill. At his current level, he needed both movements and words to cast it properly. In short, a defensive Skill was the number one thing he decided he needed. The second Skill made him hesitate, however.
[Passive Skill
Mana Path (F): the very beginning of mastery over mana; to find and follow one’s mana path is to find oneself.
Marginally increases the effectiveness of all mana and mana-related skills, including spells. Marginally improves casting time. Higher proficiency and a higher Wisdom stat result in greater effects.]
Even at only a glance, it was obvious that this Skill had the potential to vastly outstrip the others when it came to effectiveness. Michael didn’t have many Skills or any spells right now, but once he started accumulating more knowledge, this Skill’s effects would grow accordingly.
“…I choose both the Mana Shield and Mana Path Skills.”
He had only been awarded a single Skill Point for reaching Level 1, but he had another one from Level 0. It had been gifted because of his Race. Thinking about that made him furrow his brow. That was one thing that was even more confusing to him than this whole situation.
He opened his Status Window.
Status Window
Name: Michael Gray
Level: 2
Race: Unawakened Human (F)
Class: Mage
Job: None.
Stats
Strength: 11
Dexterity: 13
Endurance: 15
Constitution: 12
Intelligence: 31
Wisdom: 23
Free points: 4
Skill points: 0
Active Skills
Mana Sphere (F); Analyze; Mana Shield (F)
Passive Skills
Mana Path (F)
Titles
??? Descendant.
With a frown, he looked at his Race. Information about it appeared before him in less than a second.
[Unawakened Human (F): a human carrying ancient, nearly extinct blood. To claim the power in the blood as your own, you must prove yourself. Only after withstanding a baptism of blood may one know what they truly are.
Your kind has been hunted down by the divine for eons. Carry on their legacy.
Perks: +3 to all Stats, +1 Skill Point.
Per Level: nothing.]
He sighed once more. What the fuck did this mean? His kind had been hunted and his bloodline was nearly extinct? He started to worry. The increase in his Intelligence seemed to have made him only more capable of imagining different scenarios that he had no answers to. Was something strange about his father or mother? The man hadn’t been in his life ever since he was a baby, but his mother was the closest person to him in the entire world. As his thoughts reached this point, Michael’s gaze gained an edge. That’s right. His mother was the single most important thing right now. If she shared the same bloodline as him, it was possible that she would be hunted down as well.
This Tutorial wasn’t like a Tutorial at all. With the risk of death due to dehydration or to other participants – human or otherwise – being so high, ensuring the acquisition of resources and a safe place were paramount. His mother was 46 years old and hadn’t fought for a day in her life. If she had been part of the first wave, she could be in serious danger. Or…
No. She isn’t dead. You need to find her.
Nothing else mattered more. He had to find Mom and carve them both a place in this new world. He would put his life on the line as many times as he needed to. He would struggle desperately for their survival. This was real, or at least he thought so, even though it was an unbelievable scenario. He needed to keep going. Even though he had been called overprotective of his family and friends before, that criticism didn’t apply in this situation. Finding them was his most immediate objective.
I need to level up.
Only by leveling up and becoming more powerful would he be able to keep his loved ones safe. Deep within his heart, he also felt the desire to improve himself in this new world. Steeled determination shone in his eyes. There was nothing else to it. First, he should find water.
Then, power.
***
In the heart of a black hole, shackled by pure energy and spacetime itself, an enormous creature raised its head. Mysterious forces coiled around its body in a jarring display. Reflected in its slit pupils was a black and white sphere. Its surface was ever-changing, never repeating a past pattern. The creature thought to itself.
A new universe…
The System had caught wind of another universe to assimilate. This alone wasn’t worthy of the monster’s attention. What mattered was what it could feel. It was certain. Somewhere in that universe, there was a being carrying their blood. Blood that had been nearly forgotten. The creature closed its eyes with a light smile.
Finally, their revenge could begin.