2
1298 Words
He was aware that this was likely just due to her being one of the only women around his age that he interacted with regularly. Just two people of the opposite s*x in close proximity. Which was one of the reasons he never acted on the emotion. Along with quite a few others. He wasn’t really the romantic type, and his prior experience in romance hadn’t exactly panned out. Well, he thought, her cheating on me with my best friend does count as “not panning out,” right?
Thus, he only managed to give her a nod and a small "good morning," despite it being noon. Jake was barely able to hold his embarrassment back from showing, but luckily, she appeared to just take it as a bad joke.
Jake was perfectly aware that Caroline barely saw him as a friend and had no romantic interest in him whatsoever. Jacob, on the other hand, she clearly had her eyes on. Not that Jake could blame her. Jacob was a great dude, no matter how you put it, and he could simply not bring himself to dislike the man, despite him being Jake’s unaware, one-sided rival in love.
Jake himself was what one would describe as rather average in the looks department. Not too fat, not too slim, short brown hair, brown eyes, and a face that couldn’t be described as handsome or ugly.
The only thing he had going for him was his above-average physique, mainly stemming from him still doing archery for fun in his free time, even having a homemade practice range at his parents’ place. This, coupled with his gym membership (which he actually used), had let him maintain his healthy lifestyle since the time he’d still dreamed of being an athlete.
*DING!*
The sound of the elevator closing quickly brought him back to reality, and the descent toward the ground level began. And just as his thoughts began to wander toward what to get for lunch, his thought process was interrupted once again.
*DING!*
A sound eerily similar to the elevator filled his head, while, simultaneously, words appeared before his eyes—in his mind, rather. He barely managed to make them out before he blacked out.
*Initiation of the 93rd Universe confirmed. Introduction and tutorial sequence commencing*
Chapter 2
Introduction
*Initiation of the 93rd Universe confirmed. Introduction sequence commencing*
*Welcome to the introduction. Preparing…*
As Jake opened his eyes, he was greeted by the voice once again welcoming him to an… introduction? And something was preparing? What the hell was going on?
Several seconds passed, and despite his eyes being open, he saw only complete darkness. His body felt numb all over, and the only thing he could feel was a creeping headache. He tried opening his mouth to no avail, as he started panicking internally. Had he been kidn*pped by aliens? As his thoughts started to spiral, the voice suddenly sounded out again.
*Preparations complete. Starting introduction*
Light filled his eyes as he was temporarily blinded by what seemed like a huge spotlight shining in his face. As his eyes slowly adjusted, the feeling in his limbs returned. He found himself looking down at his legs, noticing himself sitting in a chair. As he slowly looked up, he found someone sitting across from him with a table placed in between.
The room itself reminded Jake of an interrogation room, with the two chairs and a table in a small, closed-in space. All it lacked was a two-way window. The other difference was how perfectly clean everything was. The walls and floor were white, the table white, the chairs white, and despite there being no apparent light source, the whole room was somehow still well-lit.
"Hello?" Jake cautiously asked the… person across from him.
He/she looked human at a glance but had no discernible features. A bald head, completely white eyes with no pupils, and a chest that looked far too flat and undetailed to be natural. Not a single speck of hair could be seen on the body, and despite him being unable to confirm due to the table, he had a creeping suspicion this… thing didn’t have anything “down there” either. As his internal assessment was finishing up, the "human" opened its mouth.
"Greetings, human. I oversee your introduction," the thing said in a synthetic voice that resembled a bunch of male and female voices mashed together. “In this introduction, I shall explain to you the circumstances of your new reality.”
As Jake was about to open his mouth to respond, it started talking again.
"First of all, allow me to welcome you to this new chapter of your life. Your universe has finally passed the minimum threshold required to enter the multiverse and has thus been initiated. Now, do you have any questions before we move on to the subjects pertaining to the tutorial?"
Jake's mind was in turmoil. Multiverses? What threshold was passed? And what did it mean with a new chapter? But instead of posing any of these actually meaningful questions, he asked the most mundane thing possible:
"Who—no, what—are you?" he blurted out, stumbling over his words.
"I am the entity in charge of greeting you and introducing you to the new world, and the circumstances of your new reality."
"What new reality?" Jake asked.
"The reality named by the first enlightened races as ‘The System.’”
"How do I see this sys—" Before he managed to finish his words, a screen suddenly appeared before his eyes:
Status
Name: Jake Thayne
Race: [Human (G) – lvl 0]
Class: N/A
Profession: N/A
Health Points (HP): 90/90
Mana Points (MP): 80/80
Stamina: 70/70
Stats
Strength: 7
Agility: 8
Endurance: 7
Vitality: 9
Toughness: 7
Wisdom: 8
Intelligence: 8
Perception: 10
Willpower: 6
Free Points: 0
Titles
N/A
Well, that answers that question, Jake thought. He was starting to form an idea in his mind of what was going on and decided to just roll with it. He was kind of under the impression that this was likely just a weird lucid dream, so he saw no reason not to entertain himself a bit. So, first of all, he did what he thought was fun and started analyzing the stats.
So, nine different stats, ranging from 6-10 points in each… His stats were very balanced, with only Willpower and Perception being stand-outs. Did Willpower being only at 6 indicate that he had a weak will? Was 6 low for someone in his situation?
His race said human, that part being quite self-explanatory, but what did the “G” mean? And he was apparently a level 0 human. He seemed to have neither a class nor a profession. Though he would argue himself to be upper-middle class, with his profession being a financial consultant, he doubted that was what the system meant with those two.
No titles either, and health and mana being at 90 and 80, respectively, led to his assumption that they were based on one of his stats, by a factor of 10. Vitality, being the only stat at 9, led him to conclude that it was the stat determining health. Mana was a bit more difficult, being at 80, with both Wisdom and Intelligence at 8, one of those two likely determining factors. Stamina was at 70, which, following his prior deduction, meant it was either linked to Strength or Endurance, Endurance being the stat on which he would put his money.
He tried to focus on the different elements on the screen, seemingly to no avail. It simply informed him that Strength meant Strength, and that class meant class… As he tried to focus on his race, however, it did yield a result:
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