"Huh, there must be a million cool phrases for situations like this, but I can't seem to find any..." (Unknown Soldiers Last Words)
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"There's something wrong; I can feel it." Looking around himself, Jaime couldn't shake the sense of unease that seemed to have been creeping up on everyone across the world for the last week. The weather around the world had been eerily pleasant with nice temperatures and gentle breezes. There hadn't been a single natural disaster and even the weather people's predictions had been 100 percent accurate.
Even stranger all crime seemed to have mysteriously stopped at the same time the weather changed. Everyone and everything had seemingly become docile overnight. Scientists around the world had been beating their heads in trying to figure out what was happening.
Every person in the world had suddenly gotten stage fright, no matter the age, sex, or nationality it seemed everyone just felt irrationally nervous, and scared to the point of inaction. Trying to find an answer through the weather proved just as useless.
The clouds seemed to move normally, yet they never poured down rain. The trees and vegetation looked the same, yet there was no pollen being released and grass seemed to refuse to grow past a certain height.
Even the animals were acting strange, either hiding away when spotted or refusing to leave their owners house in the case of pets. With these events repeating all around the world, the last 6 days had passed in a paranoid calm.
Every indicator was pointing to some big event, but nobody could pinpoint what that would be. Speculations raged across the internet as netizens argued over Apocalypse scenarios and government experiments that might have gone horribly wrong. What no one understood just yet was that it wasn't just the people feeling that way, but the very planet itself.
As a Houston native, Jaime was no stranger to sudden weather shifts, having been caught on the wrong side of enough hurricanes and floods to know when the weather is shifting against him. Selling weed after school to all the roided up rich kids he attended private school with, who couldn't tell premium Kush from oregano had also given Jaime a decent understanding of how to weigh costs and benefits.
All to say, Jaime knew what being in real danger felt like. That feeling of pressure, knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that if he didn't make the correct decision right then he wouldn't live to regret it. And right now, in the middle of the weirdest week of his life, facing down 5 obviously coked up Lacross players who looked ready to murder him Jaime knew he wasn't safe.
It didn't make sense; Jaime wasn't scared of the group in front of him. He had fought and bitched all those clowns out so many times he was pretty sure they had permanent nightmares about him. Yet, as he stood there, the hair on the back of his neck started to prickle and his stomach started making knots inside him. Right when he was about to say Fuck it and just handle business everything changed.
*** "DING, DING, DING, it is this Units great pleasure to welcome all you wonderful creatures to the Great Well of Eternity! Your planet's consciousness has reached the limit of her rank. Normally, this would be the end for her and consequently all of you would forever remain normal, boring mortals. However, she has instead decided to cast her Immortal soul and all of yours into the Well in the hopes that you all will rise to the occasion and forge a new path forward.
As this is your first entry into the Well you will all be granted the Eternal System after this message ends. Due to your Planet entwinning her divine soul to you all, your inherit talents have been enhanced and officially awakened, with some added benefits that I am sure you all will find quite useful, if you survive. The world will now be adjusted to fit the periphery of the Well, and do be careful things will only get more dangerous so this Unit recommends taking all the precautions you can.
Oh! This Unit almost forgot to mention, all talents and abilities are influenced by their world's cultures and ideas so things that might have been fictional can and will become real. That being said, this Unit wishes you all good luck and bye for now!"
***DING, DING, DING***
With a sound suspiciously like school bells ringing, the world shattered. If anyone had been conscious and capable of viewing Earth from space, they would have seen an unfathomably large Well appear for a second, suck in the remaining essence of the earth and promptly blink out of existence.
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When Jaime came to, the first thing he noticed was that he wasn't facing off against the goon squad behind his School anymore. As a matter of fact, he wasn't certain he was even on Earth as he knew it anymore. After hearing that machine? Or maybe it was a person? Whatever it was, the news it brought didn't surprise Jaime as much as it should have.
As a black kid growing up in America in the 21st century, Jaime had seen and read more than enough fanfictions, movies and other media to know that when the whole world goes weird for no reason, something is bound to happen eventually. Jaime had basically spent the last week waiting for the other shoe to drop, and damn did it ever.
Looking at the vast forest he found himself in, Jaime knew he should probably listen to the voice that had apparently been their welcoming committee to whatever fucked up playground Jaime now found himself in.
"Now that I think about it didn't that robot thing say something about this being the Well of Eternity or some shit?" Jaime mused aloud, taking this situation far too casually for someone who had literally just had his reality shattered both physically and mentally. As if sensing his thoughts Jaime heard a 'ping' sound in his head and suddenly his vision had shifted.
"Welcome user Jaime, as this is your first time interacting with the system and given your current dangerous location the system has seen fit to bring you into this personal space for your first experience. Be warned, until reaching the rank ***** you will not be able to access this space again.
All current functions are being uploaded to your consciousness for ease of use. This space can provide anything you can think about but be aware that anything created in the safe space can't be taken out of it, with no exceptions. If the user dies or gets hurt from their own creations **** can be paid to heal the user.
The space can't create anything that the user does not have a concrete idea about or personal experience with.
Due note, due to interference from 'Mother Earth' all time spent in the personal space will pass at a rate 10 times slower than in the real world. This effect will only last until the end of the current session. Upon next entry, time flow will be adjusted back to 1:1 ratio unless ********* at which point the ratio may be freely adjusted.
The 1st wave will be arriving in 1 day of real time. To facilitate integration into this new reality, everyone has been granted 1 skill and 1 mystery orb. These will contain 1 skill and one mystery that are formed based on the user's previous experiences. It is recommended that all new users take this time to familiarize themselves with their new abilities."
With that final note, the distinctly emotionless voice of the system stopped speaking in Jaime's head, giving him the chance to process his new reality as the information packet sent by the system gave him a basic understanding of what it could currently do and more details on how the space operated.
Finding out he could make the currently empty black space into whatever he thought of he closed his eyes and recalled one of his favorite spots.
A giant neighborhood community center popped into reality. Equipped with a pool, multiple concession stands fully stocked with food and a gaming theatre Jaime was quite pleased with the results before him.
Deciding that was enough for now, he began to feel nervous as he started accepting the reality before him. Mentally calling 'Status' Jaime somewhat excitedly looked at the blue status chart appearing before his eyes.
Location: Layer 1 (Personal Subspace)
Name: Jaime Fareway
Health: 100/100
Strength: 10 (average for humans is 10)
Durability: 10 (average for humans is 10)
Dexterity: 12 (average for humans is 10)
Intelligence: 15 (average for humans is 10)
Spirit: 20 (average for humans is 10)
Rank: None
Talents: Instinct for Survival (S+)
Skills: None
Inventory: 1 skill orb (unranked), 1 mystery chest (unranked)
Jaime couldn't keep the maniacal smile off his face. He didn't wait a second longer and hurried to take out the skill orbs with a mental command. One second his hand was empty; the next moment he was holding 2 small egg-sized clumps of multicolored light that seemed to emit a very faint warmth.
Before he could do more than blink, the orbs sunk into his palm and he felt a warm current rushing through his body making it stronger. It felt as if someone was gently applying pressure to his whole body. As the warm current rushing through him got stronger so did the pressure.
Eventually, when Jaime was starting to worry that his body might explode from the strangely painless pressure, he finally heard a "POP" and all the pressure seemed to find an exit as his body seemed to swell up a tad. The next thing he noticed was a notification that popped up in his vision.
*Ding, congratulations user has acquired the skill Aero Kinesis (upgradeable) and the racial talent Ghoul Lord (unique)*
*Ding, congratulations user has successfully evolved into Superior Ghoul Lord. You have ascended to peak G rank as a result. All changes in stats and abilities have been verified *
*Ding, congratulations user on becoming the 3rd being from your planet to ascend to G rank, a mystery chest has been sent to your inventory*
"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha...." Jaime couldn't help himself; this was exactly what he needed to make it through this.
Looking at the notifications flashing across his sight, Jaime took a deep breath and could feel the difference in his body immediately. Now that the pressure was gone, Jaime felt lighter, as if he had lost half his weight in a few seconds.
As he did jumping jacks and created all sorts of exercise machines with a thought, he noticed that his body barely registered the movement as an exercise.
His breathing didn't change, his body seemed to stay the same temperature with not even the slightest hint of moisture appearing on him as he started doing push-ups, squats, shadow boxing and he even started trying all the break dancing moves he could remember but had never been able to perform before.
After another few minutes, Jaime finally determined that his overall being had completely changed. He looked at his stats and noticed that his Strength, Dexterity, Durability, and Intelligence had all increased to 25 points.
His spirit stat seemed to have gotten the biggest boost however, shooting up to 40. Based on his life before all this stuff, Jaime knew that one stat point seemed to make him 10 percent better in whatever aspect was enhanced.
His current stats were all at 25 with his spirit being the outlier at 40, yet Jaime felt much more than 2 times stronger and faster. He couldn't say for certain since he couldn't conjure up any precision measuring instruments in the space for some reason, probably because he didn't have a deep enough understanding of how the machines worked.
Jaime decided to push aside his curiosity about his current stats for now and turned his focus to the last notification he had been ignoring in favor of testing out his new body. Sensing that he was ready to address it, the notification that had disappeared reappeared in his eyes, and Jaime reconfirmed what he had noticed.
"So, there's 2 people who accepted their gifts and broke through before me. That can either mean everyone will break through after accepting the 'newbie' gift and the reward to the top 3 is a recognition of our faster adaptability to the situation. Or it could be an extremely unlikely event that only happened because our gifts were too strong and forced us to evolve to accept them."
While contemplating the information revealed in the last notification, Jaime didn't wait any longer and mentally chose to accept the mystery chest.
*Ding, user Jaime has accepted the mystery chest (unranked) and decided to use it.... Congratulations, user Jaime has received 1 'Foundation Synergizer' Potion*
Pulling the potion out of his inventory, Jaime noticed how the amber colored cylindrical flask felt like tempered glass in his hand and gave him a cool sensation to touch. Twisting open the top, Jaime brought the flask up to his nose and gave it a sniff.
He couldn't smell anything; it seemed to have even less aroma than water and looked just as colorless. Feeling confident after his recent power boost and knowing that the system wouldn't give him anything that would kill him, at least not without warning him about the dangers as it had seemed to do so far, Jaime didn't think too long about the idea and chugged the approx. 8oz of liquid held in the bottle.
The liquid tasted like, well nothing. Jaime couldn't deny a subtle sense of disappointment; he had thought it would taste either incredible or disgusting. A cool sensation spread through his body and made him shiver as he finished the potion.
As soon as the last drop of potion landed on his tongue Jaime felt his body shudder before a pain unlike anything he had ever experienced hit him. He almost collapsed to his knees instantly, barely holding himself up as his mind raced to figure out what was happening. Waves of pain seemed to originate from every part of his body, leaving his body stiff and unable to move.
The pain got stronger every moment, feeling like his entire body was being boiled, shredded and beaten with hammer all at once. Suddenly, the pain disappeared, a few moments passed, and Jaime was just beginning to feel better when his brain seemed to explode with pain.
The sheer sensation was so overpowering it knocked Jaime out before he could even fully register the pain. An unknown amount of time later, Jaime's eyelids fluttered open, and he shot up. Jumping 10 feet into the air from his laying position.
"What the fuck system?! What the hell was that bullshit!?! Were you trying to kill me??? I mean no warning or even a fucking note my nigga!!" Jaime raged at the system, pointing up into the nonexistent heavens and hurling expletives for 10 minutes straight.
When he finally calmed down, he noticed 2 things. The first was that his clothes didn't fit, at all. His faded black jeans were completely ripped at the thigh making it seem like he was wearing Jean shorts and leggings. His equally faded green adidas shirt had also disappeared at some point. His high-top converses had gotten uncomfortable after his first stat growth and still sat beside him on the ground.
Just as he was getting upset again over his clothes, a force seemed to act upon them enlarging them and recreating his shirt from the threads it had burst into at some point. The clothes seemed to adjust to fit his twice enhanced body.
That brought to mind the second thing he had noticed, his body was different. Before this he had been blessed with good genes, but as he called up a full body mirror in front of himself, he had to admit that maybe that pain had been worth it, even though he shuddered just thinking about going through it again.
The man in front of him, while still passable for his 18-year-old self looked more like a model than a random student at a preppy school that sold weed. His previous 5' 11" (1.8 m) had soared to 6'4" (1.93m) and his lean physique had buffed up considerably.
He lifted his shirt and admired the 8-pack abs that he had only ever seen in movies and on professionals. His milk chocolate colored skin appeared to almost shimmer with how soft it looked and felt. His hair typically kept cut short now fell to his neck in thick curls of black that drank in the artificial light.
More importantly, his eyes had become a royal purple color that shined with a hint of mischief. That's right, Jaime had already gotten an idea. For now, it was just a random thought, but one day many civilizations will burn, and countless souls will wail, all because of the thoughts running through Jaime's head right now.
"Alright system, go ahead and show me what's up" Jaime mentally dismissed the mirror in front of him, and made a Lazy Boy recliner pop up for him to sit in while speaking to the system like he hadn't just been threatening to find it and permanently unplug it.
*Ding, user Jaime has taken the Foundation Stabilizer... Unexpected reaction has occurred between ability and racial traits, finding countermeasures... New evolution route created due to unique circumstances... Evolution successful... Congratulations foundation has been perfected, and you have advanced to F-Rank...*
'Hmm, I kind of figured that something like that might happen, but I should probably be careful not to get caught up in getting stronger before I even understand what I can do and what I am becoming.' Jaime's thoughts felt much more controlled and focused now that his initial outburst had subsided. He continued to browse the notification log that seemed to exist in the back of his mind to be called up whenever he needed,
*Ding, congratulations user Jaime has become the second person to breakthrough to F-Rank in this Region (Earth) and has become the first person to breakthrough to F-Rank in his Subregion (USA)*
*Ding, due to 1 or more people breaking through to F-Rank, the regional and subregional chats will be opened in advance*
*Ding, congratulations user Jaime, for becoming the second person in your region and the first person in your subregion to breakthrough F-Rank you have been granted the title Earth Pioneer II and the subregional command token (USA). As the new lord of the subregion, it is up to you to allocate resources and take over the surroundings. Attain complete control of the Region (Earth) to unlock the second layer and receive rewards*
'Damn' Jaime knew that things were going to be changing, but he felt nowhere near ready to take charge of the whole fucking country, though Jaime supposed it should be called a subregion now.
Throwing aside the thoughts on alien races who might be near them waiting to swallow them all up, Jaime decided to focus on his personal development for the moment and take the rest of the shit as it came until he had more information and a better idea of what exactly he could do.
Figuring that he had already wasted a day with all his upgrades and complaints and knowing that he only had 9 days left to prepare after his 'nap' Jaime turned his attention back to his stats and was honestly not that surprised to find that all his stats and skills had been changed.
Location: Layer 1 [Subspace]
Name: Jaime Fareway
Race: Human/Ghoul King
Titles: [Earth Pioneer II] [Subregional Lord (USA)]
Health: 1,000/1,000
Strength: 40 (15 is average for a F- Human)
Dexterity: 40 (12 is average for a F- Human)
Durability: 40 (12 is average for a F- Human)
Intelligence: 40 (16 is average for a F- Human)
Spirit: 45 (16 is average for a F- Human)
Stat Points: 0
Rank: F-
Talents: Kings Instinct (SS+), Energy Genius (SS+)
Skills: Blood Control (SS), Lord of Air (S+), Elemental Savant (S+), Infect (SS+)
***A/N: Just so everyone is aware the Ranks work the same for skills, talents and the power system, with G- rank being the lowest up until SSS+. There is more to it but that's all y'all need to know for now (evil laugh fades slowly) ****
In the face of his new status sheet, Jaime noticed that it seemed to have added more details. Jaime had a pretty strong feeling that as he got stronger and gained more knowledge, the stat screen would continue to change as well. For now, he decided to keep handling things one at a time, starting with familiarizing himself with all his new and improved skills and talents.