"Shoot! I'm going to be late for work!" I called out. The bus was late, so I had to run to work. In the last month, I've been late every day. If I'm late again, my boss will fire me! My name is Aeris, and this is me being late to my job for the billionth time.
I opened the door and he was, my boss, standing there waiting for me to enter.
His mouth opened and then "Mr Aeris Vael, as of 2042 September 4th, I'm happy to say, you are fired,"he said with a wide grin on his face.
"Wait! It's not my fault, the bus was late." There was nothing I could do, it wasn't my fault the bus came late, and I even left my house early.
"You're fired, enough with the excuses, get out now!" His face looked as if he was trying to hold back his laughter, my boss was the kind of guy to giggle at people's face and be entertained and people suffering.
"Wait aren't you supposed to give me at least a week's notice before being able to fire me?" I vividly remember being told that when I got my job.
"Well if you read the announcement the company put up two weeks ago maybe you would know that we aren't obligated to give you any notice!" My boss said while pulling out his phone to show me the exact announcement made.
"Yeah, but I didn't sign anything saying I agreed to it."
"What are you going to do anyway? Even if you try to sue us we have better lawyers and you probably won't even have enough money to be able to get a homeless person as your lawyer!" My boss said with a smirk on his face. I was going to try fighting back but he was right.
"Please! Understand my situation, I don't even live in the city! I commute from a large village outside of it!"
It was no use, I turned my back on my boss and left. Once I was on the train I pulled out my phone, I don't know why I did because there was nothing to do.
I started reading, and it was just one of those trashy harem novels where the MC is overpowered from the beginning and the author just gives them a system for absolutely no reason.
I turned off my phone as the train began to stop at my station, What was I going to do now I was fired I kept myself from crying as I got on the bus home. I was unemployed with barely enough money to last the rest of the month.
I opened my home door and as soon as I closed it I went to my room, I felt so annoyed.
"Why! Why did it have to be me? What did I do that was so wrong-."
BANG! A loud crashing sound came from nowhere, my vision was blurry I could barely see anything but I felt something on me. I couldn't get up, I started to struggle breathing, and my vision went dark. I was dead.
"Hey! Wake up, kid!" someone called out.
"Who are you?" I managed to force out. The person looked at me with shock.
"Your life sure was bad!" he said, ignoring my prior question.
"I don't care about what my life was like, just tell me who you are!" I said starting to get angry
"Geez! Why are you so angry?" He replied. I started to stare at him with an angry look on my face.
"Ok! I'll tell you who I am. I am a person of higher status within the universal plane!" he exclaimed with a smile on his face.
"Are you happy now?"
"I guess," I said while still lying on the floor.
"So, how did I die? All I remember was something dropping on my head and my vision fading away."
"The way you died was kind of my fault. I was fighting with another being and one of my attacks missed and went right for your planet."
"Ok, what happens next?" I ask calmly.
"I know I'm sorry-, wait you're not mad?" he asked sounding surprised.
"Yes, of course I'm not mad, like you said earlier my life was really bad, and I just got fired from my job," I replied.
"So are you going to tell me what happens next?"
"Ah yes! What happens now that you are dead I will give you a gift!"
I stood there trying to think what type of gift he could give me and I would be able to use since I'm dead.
"Your first gift is coming back to life, and your second gift will be decided by random"
Why would he bring me back to life even though he just said I had a bad life but maybe the second gift might change that so I don't mind.
"How will the second gift be decided?" I said while trying to guess in my head.
"I'll just shove my hand in my treasury and whatever I take out you'll get, good or bad," he replied.
So I'm not even guaranteed to get something good, so there was no point in coming back to life.
As he put his hand in I started to get scared, if it wasn't good I would go back to my same old life and probably die again to some sketchy debt collectors.
As he pulled out his hand he said "Wow, I feel bad for you."
When he said that my spine shook, and he handed me a rock, I started to cry out.
"Give me a proper reward!" I screamed.
"Bye!" he called out.
As he started to fade I ran towards him and then. Darkness.
I woke up with tears on my face and that stupid stone on my chest which confirmed that it wasn't a dream. I went to check my phone, I was gone for an hour.
I started to wonder what the stone was for. Why would there be a stone in his treasury anyway?
One Week later.
It's been a week now and I still haven't been able to find a job or a use for this stone, I have tried everything to find a use for this rock, I started to get and I threw the rock to the ground.
CRACK!
"There was a note inside! A note!" I said with a face filled with excitement. I picked the note up and began to read. Before I read I began to notice an area that seemed to be naming a person was scribbled over. It was clear that something was stopping me from seeing it.
The embodiment of art, my final work.
This is my final work, If you are reading this I am probably, if not definitely dead. If you are reading this it means you have overcome countless trials and have worked hard to get to this note and you are pure-hearted, kind, forgiving, smart and a being that doesn't use strength to win but knowledge. To say this is my final work would be a lie because it isn't completed but since you are smart enough to get here you will be able to complete it. Since you are pure-hearted I can also trust you won't use it for bad things. The reward will be activated after 10 minutes of reading the note However if the planet you are inhabiting doesn't have monsters or dungeons affecting it, there will be in the next month. To close say Status close, to open just say Status open. There is also a system AI to help answer questions. Thank you.
From █████.
YES! Finally, something good has happened to me. But there are some issues. What does it mean by monsters? Don't tell me it's gonna be like the monsters in folklore tales and novels.
Also another issue, I'm not smart, I'm not kind, I'm not pure-hearted, I don't use strength or knowledge to win a fight because I'm the one losing the fight!
What even is the reward? I began to overthink and worry about what sort of catastrophe I've brought onto the world for the next 10 minutes.
[ timer till monster arrival: 27:23:59:59 (Days:hours:minutes: seconds]
[ Activate to set location/people ]
[ Edit window ]
[ Exit ]
It appeared before me. The works of the hidden person who wrote that note. The person has already made a self-activating timer, a button to close the window, and allows people or a certain location to use it. It seems the person who made this, is not an ordinary person.
This system was exactly like those novels! I knew exactly what to do first.
"System edit!"
It showed me the same screen but with a keyboard allowing me to change the screen. The first thing I did was try to add levels but instead of the classic levels and stats, it showed me...
[ denied ]
[ Insufficient funds ]
[ personal required funds: 100 credits ]
[ universal required funds: 10,000 credits ]
[ 1 credit = 1000 EXP ]
[ Credits are used to change the laws of the universe or do things that you or everyone else didn't have ]
[ EXP can be used to increase stats but you can't do that after getting levels and stats ]
"Woah! How do you get EXP?"
[ System AI will add two new options to the main screen ]
[ Convert EXP to Credits ]
[ Quest ]
[ Quest will be based on your situation and will be put into different difficulties, starting from the lowest to the highest, Baby, Easy, Intermediate, Danger, Catastrophic, Planetary, and the rest are hidden These are the categories everything is put into. You get a new quest every day. You won't be stopped from doing past quests that were repeatable. ]
"Why are levels and stats so expensive?" I asked.
[ Explanation: Adding levels would motivate the user to keep trying. It would also make it easier to get stats/level ]
[ Solution: only shows level, doesn't make it easier to get high stats/level. Price will change to 73 credits ]
"How much credits does it cost to get a passive income of 1000 US dollars daily in my bank account?" I asked hurriedly.
[ 10 credits for every thousand USD daily permanent ]
"Woah that's insanely easy. Isn't that too easy? I should start doing Quest now."
I hurriedly called the status screen and pressed on 'Quests' and a quest started to appear.
[ Difficulty: Baby ]
[ quest: repeatable ]
[ Description: 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and a 10km run... isn't enough! 1000 push-ups, 1000 sit-ups, 1000 squats, and a marathon ]
Time limit: 7:00:00:00
[ reward: 10,000 EXP ]
[ Punishment: public castration ]
I stared at it in shock! Public castration! "This isn't baby level, this is whatever level is hidden right now!"
How am I supposed to complete this in a week?
6 days later.
"Ha...ha! I can barely breathe" I completed it, finally!
[ congratulations! You have completed your very first quest! You will be rewarded 10k credits! Due to it being your first quest, you will gain 50% of your original reward! Your total is now 15,000 EXP. An extra gift of 1 million USD is given to you! ]
"Please convert 10,000 EXP to credits and with the credits purchase the ability to get 1000 USD added to my account daily," I said as I closed my eyes dozing off into a deep sleep.
[ Your request has been confirmed, from today on you will gain 1000 USD daily! ]
The next day.
The first thing I did was go to grab my phone and there it was 1 thousand from yesterday and 1 thousand from today and an extra gift of 1 million! One million and two thousand in total. I can finally survive! I now have the funding I need to prepare. I'm predicting the monsters are going to come out from the dungeons and the portal just like in those novels. In those novels and comics, the first day the portals appear is usually when a lot of monsters of all sorts appear.
Before the monsters can appear I want to make everyone able to access levels and stats, so I should start doing multiple quests now. I only have about 19 days left!
3 days later.
After doing the first quest my physical abilities have increased so the quest should be easier now! Since the quest is repeatable I can choose to do it right after doing it once so I can get credits way easier. Ever since the first time I've been able to do it a lot quicker. This is my 3rd time doing it and I've gained 30k EXP at this rate I'll be way over the 100k needed! Over the three days I've been doing all sorts of 'baby' level tasks and that has gotten me to 75k EXP overall.
"Woah, that kid's crazy, every day he goes out and does at least 10 laps around the whole town!" Someone whispered.
"I heard he got fired from his job recently and is currently unemployed!" Another person whispered back.
Once I got back home I decided I should get the levels and stats before everyone else to give myself a head start!
[ Purchase completed! ]
[ Original Balance: 75,000 EXP
New balance: 74,900 EXP]
[ to use the ability say 'level window' ]
[ side note: average human stats in each stat is 10, the highest stats for strength: 20, endurance: 19, speed:19, dexterity:18, constitution: 19, intelligence: 20, wisdom: 18, Charisma: 18, Perception: 18, willpower: 20 ]
"Level window!" I screamed out as others started to call me a crazy 'college student'
Stats:
Level: 2
Requirements for level 3: have 20 in every trainable stat.
Trainable stats:
Strength:17
Speed:16
Dexterity:14
Endurance:18
Innate stats:
Willpower:17
Intelligence:9
Perception:11
Wisdom:1
Charisma:3
"Wasn't this system just insulting me? Charisma 3? Wisdom 1? Intelligence 9? They are all below average! Am I really that ugly?" I said while wiping invisible tears.
Anyway, who cares about that! I should start preparing for the monsters, I'll introduce the system just 3 days before the apocalypse, so instead of introducing it on the day which is in 16 days, I will release it in 13 days. I've decided on three things to introduce, System help which was already built in for me ( the Ai but a lesser version of it ), level screen, and finally quest. The total cost will be about 500,000 EXP but with my speed I'll probably have about 700,000 EXP.
3 days later.
Just 10 days till I introduce the system to the world, the world will be in chaos! I have finally reached level 3 and I can complete my first ever quest in just half a day! All of my trainable stats have exceeded level 20 but innate stats seem to have no change.