Chapter note: First person narrative.
***
Year 2050.
Humanity found itself in a predicament that none would expect.
All of humanity was frozen in its spot, as time itself did not move.
Before us, a tiny golden translucent rectangle appeared.
And inside that rectangle, it said a message:
[ Your world's ending has come. ]
It said, like it had a thought of its own, it changed, now saying:
[ As the graceful Gods saw this event, they decided to save your world, in exchange for something. ]
[ 300 among the billions, will be chosen and participate in a game, that will decide whether this world will be saved or not. ]
[ Depending on these people's actions, your world or country will either be destroyed or not. ]
Then, without a warning, the 300 chosen people were taken off the planet, without the chance of ever coming back.
As the last chosen people were taken off the planet, time returned, bringing everyone back to what they were doing.
***
Within the system space.
I was seated in my personal 3x3 meter room and was greeted by the system.
Each person here was different from another, but one thing was similar to all of us; each one belonged to a country where they lived.
Everyone remained calm, as the system was keeping track of our emotions and minds.
[ Congratulations, you are the chosen representative of your country. ]
[ From here on out, you will be a player, that the Gods and everyone on your planet can watch. ]
[ The goal of the game is simple. Level up, get stronger, learn skills, earn money, increase your stats, and most of all, earn System Points. ]
Just looking at this message, many people started calling out their status in their rooms.
As the system continued to explain its reason for making us players, many ignored it and started checking their own status windows.
Some of the 300 continued listening to the system, taking notes of what it said.
[ Within a specific time, you need to gain system points and these points will be used at the end of the time limit. ]
[ Remember, the fate of your world and country depends on your actions from here on out. ]
[ That's it! Good luck players, and the system hopes you live a long life in this new opportunity given to you. :) ]
"So that's it, huh?" I said, looking around the room I was in.
"Since it's a system, I can probably do this?" I said before calling out the word status in my mind.
[ Name: Rey Sunren. ]
[ Age: 18. Gender: Male. ]
[ Level: 0. Class: Summoner. ]
[ Country representative: Philippines. ]
[ Stats: ]
< Strength: 12. >
< Agility: 9. >
< Defense: 12. >
< Vitality: 19. >
< Stamina: 22. >
< Mana: 10. >
< Intelligence: 17. >
< Perceptions: 11. >
< Luck: 5. >
[ Class skills: Summoning. ]
[ Normal skills: None. ]
[ Talent: Insight. ]
[ Stats points: 10. ]
[ Skill points: 10. ]
[ Title: Player. ]
[ System store. ]
[ System points: 0. ]
"Holy shit, that's one long system panel," I yelled while looking at the details of the status window.
Before I could even read more into it, another two panels appeared, telling me:
[ System note: Average stats:
» Average physical stats: 10.
» Average Energies stats: 15.
Special note: Given stats by the system: Mana: 10.]
"I'm both above average in both physical and energy stats..." I sighed while looking at it.
I thought for sure I was truly better than this, especially since I lived in the mountains and on a farm, forced to do labor just to live.
Nonetheless, I looked more into the system, checking all the things it gave.
I first started with the System Store.
The moment I pressed it, the panel turned into a long one where multiple sections of items were available.
[ System Store: press the following options to buy what you want.
(Skills). (Weapons). (Daily lives). (Foods). (Potions). (Armors). (Techniques). (System note.) ]
Inside the box, multiple options were available.
Each one gave me the necessary things I needed.
Sadly, I didn't have any System Points, making this function useless at the moment.
Except for the skill section it had.
[ Would you like to exchange your Skill points to buy some skills in the System Store? ]
The greedy system asked, already waiting for me to give my Skill points to it.
Though I knew this was going according to the plan of the system, I decided to follow it.
After all, having a skill other than your class skill is better than nothing.
The moment I was allowed to buy skills, I hurried and bought what I wanted.
Of course, taking measurements as the system only allowed me to buy 3 skills with my 10 skill points.
"Fucking scammer." I groaned, annoyed by it.
Within ten minutes, I managed to get the skills I thought would help me greatly, both in general use and in my class.
These were: Mana Bullet (D-rank), Mana Shield (D-rank), and Escape (B-rank).
Since I was technically a mage, I decided to take the skills that fit a mage.
Boring and generic? Yes. But absolutely needed, especially the last one.
Summoning my skill window, I read my new skills:
[ Skill: Mana Bullet (D-rank) — Shoot a bullet of Mana from your index finger.
Level: 1/10.
Stats needed: 3 mana points per bullet. ]
"With this, I can attack as a mage."
[ Skill: Mana Shield (D-rank) — Create a shield out of Mana that can protect you from attacks 10 levels near yours.
Level: 1/10.
Stats needed: 10 mana points per cast. ]
"Obviously protection is needed. Mages are known for being weak in the early game."
[ Skill: Escape (B-rank) — When a sure death and lethal attack appears, automatically teleport 10 meters from your position.
Level: 1/50.
Stats needed: 20 mana, 20 stamina, 10 vitality, 5 strength, 5 agility per use. ]
Just looking at the needed stats, I wondered how much it would need in the later levels if this were just level 1.
Except for that, I was satisfied with it, because now I had attacking, protection, and escape skills.
Since there was nothing else to do, I summoned the full system window and invested all my remaining stat points into Mana.
After all, Mana is the mage's greatest friend.
Before I could celebrate much further, another system message appeared:
[ The given time has ended. All players will now be relocated. ]
Just like that, we were thrown out of the system space and sent into another place where we would start our new life.
***
Author note: This work will be 1st person in narrative most of the time. If you don't like this, please don't hesitate to not read it.