Time – 23:59
Location – The Light Realm
Year – ?
Moments before the start of the experiment.
Purity shines across the room. White and golden coloured light eliminates even the smallest of shadows. Within this room, a long marble table stood – on top of it, seven golden cups decorated with feathers were placed in a circle. Around the table, seven deities stood – their forms abstract.
Pharl spoke first. "Hath our preparations all been made complete?"
The other Gods around the table nodded silently. "Hast thou chosen who shall join in this experiment?" Verrn asked Pharl, placing his four arms behind his back. Pharl faced his brother, before giving a gentle bow towards him.
"Verily, I have." Then, Pharl looked towards the God just across the table from him. "Neol, doth the system thou hast wrought function in full measure?"
Neol gave a silent nod in response. Pharl closed his eyes, moving his gaze down to the golden cups in the circle on top of the table, before reaching out his gold forged right arm towards it, picking it up. "Then, toast me, brothers and sisters! For our experiment may at last be set into motion."
The other Gods picked up their cups, the inside filling with a pure red wine – before they all raised their cups up high, clanking them together above the table. After drinking the wine, they placed their cups back down, a little bit of the red wine spilling onto the marble surface of the table. Barphameon let out a gentle chuckle from her gold lips. Pharl turned to face her.
"Doth aught provoke thy mirth, sweet sister?"
"Ah, heed me not. I am but relieved that we have at last brought to fruition our century-long preparations. This experiment shall be one fraught with exceeding mirth." Barphameon replied, crossing her arms around her chest. "How many years have passed since we didst begin? Eight hundred? Nine hundred?"
"Nigh unto a thousand, I avow." Khenmish commented, his arms crossed.
"'Tis long indeed, yet we have reach'd the start with greater haste than e'er we did foresee." Miarra, who stood next to Khanmish, laughed — resting her head onto her arms behind her. Pharl nodded, before looking at Verrn, lifting his left arm up towards him. "We must render thanks unto our brother here, for without his art and governance o'er time, we might have spent another twenty centuries in preparation."
"Thou dost flatter me, Pharl, thou dost flatter me most mightily." Verrn responded, lifting his golden cup back up – it filled with the red wine once more, before he downed it.
"Shall we now proceed unto Act the First? I would fain commence it straightway." Khenmish asked, his fierce, fiery gaze falling onto Pharl. The golden cast deity nodded, before lifting his arms up towards the air above them. A golden light shone from above, before a large sphere descended, stopping right above the table, gently spinning in a circle. "Come, join with me, my brethren and my sisters."
The other gods extended their arms towards the sphere, their powers channeling into the object – causing a rainbow vortex to form inside it. Then, Pharl closed his eyes. "Hark, and speak mine own words, my brethren and sisters."
The other Gods also closed their eyes.
Then, the chant began.
"We have chosen one hundred mortals to join our company. Answer our summons and attend our words. Within the light of the Gods shalt thou bathe, blessed by our grace, and thus shalt thou live. Walk into the new world we shall bear thee to; forge thy tale, be it as hero or as knave, and show us what thou canst achieve. The most resolute spirits shall be those who reach the journey's end, and when they do, we shall welcome thee into our Kingdom of Purity, untainted by sin and shadow. Until that hour, we wish thee fortune's fairest favor."
The chant of the gods was flooded in the rainbow light filling the spherical object. As the chant reached its end, the light shone through — spreading across the entire Kingdom of Purity, the land of the Gods, reaching even the furthest of corners in this space.
This day, the Seven Gods above the mortals launched an experiment.
One meant for their own entertainment, as well as a deeper - much more hidden reasoning. Mortals chosen by the Gods were encased in the rainbow light brought forth by their powers. One hundred of them were taken away from their usual lives and brought into this experiment orchestrated by them.
And so.
"Let the game commence."
…
{ WELCOME TO THE GAME PLAYER }
"Huh?"
Kai opened his eyes, with a flying window that cast a blue light over him appearing in front of him. Looking around, he was floating in the middle of a black space, a darkness within nothing existed. His body felt weightless, and his mind, clearer than it had ever been before.
"Am I dreaming?" Was his first thought.
{ NO, THIS IS NOT A DREAM. }
The window suddenly changed, as if answering his question. Kai backed up a bit. "Can it read my thoughts?"
{ YES. }
It answered. Kai took in a deep breath, before pinching himself as hard as he could. He felt the pain — he definitely was not dreaming. Exhaling, he looked at the window. "With the way my life has been going, this isn't all that surprising…" Clearing his throat, he looked around before nervously reaching and poking the floating window in front of him.
{ PLEASE, BEHAVE. I SHALL EXPLAIN EVERYTHING. }
Before his finger even touched it, it suddenly changed again, startling Kai. He took in another deep breath and then crossed his arms. "Then… I'm listening."
{ THANK YOU MISTER WILHELM. NOW, ALLOW ME TO SIMPLIFY IT AS MUCH AS I CAN. }
Then, the black void around Kai suddenly shifted, before thousands - no, millions more windows surrounded Kai. Each one had text that was constantly changing, making it impossible to read what was written in it. Kai was surprised and taken back by everything occurring around him – it didn't even feel real.
{ YOU MAY REFER TO ME AS THE SYSTEM. I HAVE BEEN CREATED TO AID YOU IN WHATEVER WAY POSSIBLE. }
{ THINK OF ME AS YOUR GUIDE. }
"Easy enough…" Kai commented in his mind, scratching his chin, before exhaling.
{ YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN BY THE SEVEN GODS TO BE PART OF AN EXPERIMENT. IN THIS EXPERIMENT, YOU ALONGSIDE NINETY NINE OTHER PEOPLE SHALL BE TRANSPORTED TO A DIFFERENT WORLD TO LIVE IN — HOWEVER, WITH A TWIST. }
"Another… world? Like those isekai mangas and novels?" Kai thought, his mouth slightly opening in surprise, before he looked up. He remembered being quite into the genre when he was younger, always wishing he could go to another world and live as a beautiful knight or a powerful noble – but grew out of them when he entered college.
Then, the man snickered. "What the hell… guess little me wasn't so crazy after all."
{ YOUR PAST SELF WAS CERTAINLY UNIQUE. }
"Pardon—?"
{ ALLOW ME TO EXPLAIN THE TWIST NEXT. }
The window ignored Kai, which sort of annoyed the man, however he simply exhaled and kicked back a bit, allowing it to move onto the explanation.
{ FIRST OF ALL, I ASSUME YOU ARE FAMILIAR WITH AN MMO GAME, YES? }
"Ehh… Sort of? They never were my type of games. I was more into strategy games."
{ …THAT WILL WORK AS WELL. }
{ IN SHORT, YOU WILL BE ALLOWED TO CHOOSE WHATEVER YOU WANT TO BE IN THIS NEW WORLD YOU'LL BE TRANSPORTED INTO. YOU'LL BE ABLE TO BE WHATEVER CREATURE YOU WANT AND MAKE THEM LOOK LIKE ANYTHING YOU WANT — STRONG, SLIM, OUTSTANDING, NORMAL, GLOOMY - IT IS UP TO YOU. }
"I can make myself look like anything?" Kai's mind immediately started rushing with different ideas. This felt like a dream come true — since even though he didn't hate how he looked, with the way he inherited his fathers intimidating appearance and scary eyes and face, he was often called a 'monster' by others around him – some even calling him a 'demon' because of his hair naturally forming a pair of 'horns' on the top of his head.
It was something that weighed a lot on him, especially in his early years – and he even remembered hating his fathers genes for it – however, with time he grew accustomed to it and stopped caring about his look.
{ ARE YOU READY TO MOVE ONTO PICKING YOUR RACE? }
Kai's attention was caught by the window again, bringing him out of his thoughts. The man scratched the back of his head, before nodding. "Let's do it."
{ GENERATING LIST OF ALL POSSIBLE RACES… }
A second later, the window opened into a large list of different races. On a quick count, Kai could make out about twelve of them. However, when looking closer to what each one was…
[ OGRE ] ‖ [ GOBLIN ] ‖ [ DEMON ] ‖ [ ZOMBIE ] ‖ [ SKELETON ] ‖ [ GHOST ]
[ WOLF ] ‖ [ KOBOLD ] ‖ [ TROLL ] ‖ [ SNAKE ] ‖ [ ORC ] ‖ [ STONEMAN ]
…They were all monsters.
Kai grew more annoyed. "Hey, what the hell? You said I'd be able to choose whatever race I wanted to be! Why are there only monsters here for my options!?"
The system remained silent for a moment.
Then it answered.
{ MY APOLOGIES, I CANNOT ANSWER THAT. }
{ PLEASE PICK A RACE. }
"What bullshit…" Kai clenched his hands into fists, gritting his teeth. Despite having grown used to being seen as a monster or a demon his whole life, being chosen to take part in some experiment made by the Gods to go to a different world and live out a different life — one where he could do something he couldn't do in his entire life – somehow, being only offered a choice of races which all are 'monsters', felt more insulting than anything else he had endured up until now.
Was this the way of the Gods to mock him?
To mock his entire life that he had lived?
Their way of saying 'You already lived called a monster, may as well be one', was it?
Who knows.
Kai felt an unyielding fire of rage inside his chest for a bit, his heart pounding. For a little bit, it felt like he could lash out and destroy this floating system in front of him and demand to be sent back home. However… he remained composed. Instead, he took in a deep breath and exhaled. Unclenching his fists, his heart stopped pounding and he looked down at the race options with a calm look.
"I should have expected this. Life was already mocking me while I lived it – so it makes sense it would continue mocking me, even as I get lucky enough to be sent to a different world." Scanning the races, Kai clicked his tongue before smirking.
"Alright Gods. You want me to be a 'monster'?" He reached out his right hand towards the options, clicking onto the 'Skeleton' option, his eyes cold, yet having a glimmer of a deeper emotion. "Then I'll comply."
{ THANK YOU. MONSTER RACE 'SKELETON' (CATEGORY: UNDEAD) HAS BEEN PICKED FOR YOUR RACE. PLEASE NEXT SELECT YOUR CLASS. }
Then, a list of all sorts of different classes appeared.
[ Swordsman ] ‖ [ Archer ] ‖ [ Mage ] ‖ [ Alchemist ] ‖ [ Spearsman ] ‖ [ Assassin ]
[ Barbarian ] ‖ [ Necromancer ] ‖ [ Summoner ] ‖ [ Monk ] ‖ [ Priest ] ‖ [ Musketeer]
{ KEEP IN MIND, ALL CLASSES ARE ABLE TO BE EVOLVED AND MADE INTO STRONGER VARIANTS. THESE ARE THE BASIC ONES. }
"Right… So what would fit a 'Skeleton' the best?" As a fan of strategy games, Kai always had a knack for going for the best possible combinations or the strongest moves in the games – such as chess, where he was one of the youngest people to ever become a Grandmaster at the game. Looking over all the classes, each one would come with benefits and setbacks no doubt – his goal was to pick the one which would bring the least damaging setback to his kit.
After pondering it for a bit, he reached his hand out towards the 'Musketeer' class. "As a skeleton I doubt I'll get much physical strength, so I should go with something that allows me to stay away and fight at a range."
As his finger approached the class, the window suddenly glitched slightly.
Pressing it, the window changed.
"Huh?"
{ CLASS 'Priest' HAS BEEN CHOSEN. MOVING ONTO THE CREATION OF YOUR NEW BODY… }
"Now hold on—! I didn't pick a priest!" Kai shouted, however his complaint was ignored as the window changed to what looked to be the creation of the body that he would be placed inside when sent to this other world. Sighing, he shed a slight sweat. "What was that glitch? Did this thing malfunction?... No, not possible. If it was designed by 'Gods', it would be a flawless system."
He sighed rather heavily.
"I should just create my body… May as well just accept the fact that I'll be a priest…"
This took a little while. There was so much freedom for Kai to make his body look like anything he wanted — he could make its structure look like anything, the starting clothes it wore look like anything… for the most part. He could even choose the colours of his system that he would have when transported into the world.
After finishing the creation of his body, Kai stretched out. "Man that took a while… It was not joking when it said I have complete freedom to choose whatever I wanted to look like and what not. I could customise everything."
{ BODY CREATED. }
{ MOVING ONTO THE PICKING OF YOUR BENEFACTOR. }
"Benefactor?" Kai raised an eyebrow.
{ AS A PRIEST, YOU CAN PICK WHICH GOD YOU WISH TO RECEIVE THE BLESSING OF. ONCE CHOSEN, YOU'LL BE ABLE TO CHANNEL SAID GODS BLESSING AND POWER. }
"So basically I'm choosing who I wish to worship as a Priest? Alright then." He exhaled, crossing his arms. "Then let's see what the options are…"
{ GENERATING OPTIONS… }
Then, once again, the system glitched for a split second.
Kai felt a slight shiver run down his spine for a moment. Looking around the world which surrounded him, he felt dumbfounded. "What was that…? It felt like something just touched my back…"
Then, the options window appeared.
But instead of giving him plenty of options, only one was there to choose.
{ PLEASE CHOOSE YOUR BENEFACTOR. }
[ THE TITANS ]
"Is this thing actually broken? I'm starting to think that it wasn't actually made by Gods or whatever, because no way something made by Gods would malfunction this much…" Sighing, he selected the only option given to him.
{ BENEFACTOR SELECTED. }
{ NEW PASSIVE SKILL HAS BEEN GRANTED. }
{ [Blessing of the Titans] }
"So strange…" Kai commented in his mind.
"What next?" He asked. The system loaded for a moment, before appearing with the next message.
{ GENERATING THE STATUS SCREEN… }
After a moment or two, a large status window opened in front of him.
{ STATUS }
Kai Wilhelm - Unnamed
Level: 1 Gender: Male
Health: 100/100 Mana: 100/100
Race: Skeleton Class: Priest Title: Player Rank: F
STATS: 0 Stat Point
CON: (10) 0 STR: (10) 0 MP: (10) 0 | DEF: (10) 0AGI: (10) 0
SKILLS:
[Blessing of the Titans] Passive [Monster Presence] Lvl.1 [Miasma Control] Lvl.1
[Prayer] Lvl.1
SPELLS:
(Open Spell List)
{ STATUS }
"This really is like those isekai novels I used to read as a child…" Kai commented in his mind, before examining the status a bit closer. There were stats, skills, spells…. And.. 'Unnamed'? What did that mean?
"What does it mean that I am 'Unnamed'?"
{ YOU MAY PICK WHATEVER NAME YOU WISH TO BE CALLED IN THIS NEW WORLD. YOUR OLD NAME WILL ONLY BE VISIBLE TO YOU. IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT YOU ONLY USE THE NEW NAME WHENEVER INTERACTING WITH ANYTHING IN THE NEW WORLD. }
"So it's sort of like a privacy thing meant to protect my real identity… How thoughtful, I won't lie." Kai scratched his head, groaning. "Ugh… but what to call myself?"
He thought about it for quite some time, running through all sorts of different things he could use as a name for himself in this new world. He wanted it to sort of be linked to his race as an 'Undead' as well as his class as a 'Priest', even if he hadn't picked the priest class voluntarily.
After a bit, he finally came up with a name.
"How about I call myself 'Nachrose'?"
{ NAME ACCEPTED. PLAYER NAME 'NACHROSE' HAS BEEN REGISTERED. }
Kai smiled a little proudly.
He had completely come up with that name out of the blue. He combined the German word for 'Night' with 'Rose' to create this name. Mainly because it sounded cool in his head. After an exhale, he looked down at the system window again. "Anything else I have to do?"
{ NO. ALL PREPARATIONS HAVE BEEN COMPLETED. }
{ YOU WILL BE TRANSPORTED TO THE NEW WORLD SHORTLY. }
{ GOOD LUCK, KAI WILHELM. }
Then, the system went silent. The space around him returned back to the black void it was before. It was rather strange, despite it being pitch black all around it, it didn't cast a single shadow over or around Kai. It was like his body was standing in clear sunlight. The man sighed, kicking back, placing his hands behind his back and looking up.
Or at least… what he assumed to be 'up'.
"Man… what a strange occurrence. Who would have thought that all those isekai stories I read when I was younger weren't completely filled with bologna." Kai laughed to himself, closing his eyes.
Despite the fact that he was told he'd have free will to choose whatever he wanted to be in the next world, and then that fact being disproven as he was limited to certain races, stripped from choosing a benefactor and a class – Kai felt at ease. Yeah, he was annoyed and still rather pissed that he was only able to pick from 'monsters' for his race…. However at the same time, in the back of his mind, there had been a dormant thought that was suddenly brought back to him.
All those years he spent living, being seen and called a monster or a demon because of his intimidating looks and scary face – they had built up a sort of resentment towards everyone and everything. He wanted so badly to show everyone a piece of his mind – to just shout that he wasn't a monster or whatever they called him.
That he wasn't able to do anything about his looks.
However, this resentment he locked away in the depths of his mind for a long time… Until now. Being stripped of the choice when it came to picking what race he wanted to be, alongside the other so called 'free choices' being taken from him made him decide on something.
A bright light shone over him from above, illuminating the darkness. Kai opened his eyes, smirking gently.
If the Gods wanted him to be a monster so badly. If they wanted him to live and be known as a monster so badly… Then he'd gladly play along. In fact, he wouldn't just be any ordinary monster. "I shall become the greatest monster there ever was." He commented under his breath, reaching his right hand up towards the bright light above him.
Everything was engulfed in the light, turning to a white, empty void.
Then, a single sequence of messages played in his mind.
{ ALL PLAYERS HAVE FINISHED THEIR PREPARATIONS. }
{ TRANSPORTING THEM TO THE NEW WORLD… }
{ GOOD LUCK PLAYERS. }
{ FORGE WHATEVER STORY, YOU WISH TO LIVE OUT, IN THE NEW WORLD. }
…
Crows cawed. A gentle wind blew. Kai's vision finally opened. He could feel a soft grassy ground below him. As he turned his head around to examine his surroundings, he appeared to be lying in the center of a large ruin – which was surrounded by a thick, grey forest. The sky above him was grey, blocked out by the clouds, and the ground was covered in a gentle, small mist. Lifting his right hand up in the air above him, he examined it.
It was exactly like the skeletal arms he had designed for himself.
It appeared this truly was no dream. Pulling himself up into a sitting position, Kai examined his body. Baggy trousers, exposed ribcage, inside of which was a heart held inside via boney chains, beating gently, skeletal feet, skeletal arms… Touching his head, he felt around it. It felt weird – a hard, rough texture.
Looking around, he managed to spot a nearby puddle. Getting up, he walked over to it, before kneeling down and looking at his reflection. Back up at him – a skeletons' skull gazed. "So I am a skeleton now… It feels so weird. I don't breathe, I don't feel the usual warmth of my body…" Kai examined his 'face' a bit more in the puddle, before a window appeared in front of him.
{ At any point, just express the word 'Status Open' in your mind or through speech to access the Status menu. }
"Good to know." Kai thought, before standing up and stretching out his bones – gentle rubbing and cracking coming from them. Then, he rested his hands onto his hips and looked down. "Status open."
{ STATUS }
Kai Wilhelm - Nachrose
Level: 1 Gender: Male
Health: 100/100 Mana: 100/100
Race: Skeleton Class: Priest Title: Player Rank: F
STATS: 0 Stat Point
CON: (10) 0 STR: (10) 0 MP: (10) 0 | DEF: (10) 0AGI: (10) 0
SKILLS: More skills can be acquired through leveling up or the terminal.
[Blessing of the Titans] Passive [Monster Presence] Lvl.1 [Miasma Control] Lvl.1
[Prayer] Lvl.1
SPELLS:
(Open Spell List)Spells are learned through scrolls or spellbooks.
INVENTORY:
(Open Inventory)Items can be placed and taken out of the inventory at any time.
{ STATUS }
"Would you look at that? It really does work." Alongside the previous things, there were also two new messages, which seemed to be like short explanations on how some things worked. Acquiring new skills and spells… That probably should be his first task.
As a 'Priest' – he doubted he had much physical strength, especially considering the fact that he was a skeleton. There also was an inventory option now. "I suppose that makes sense. I don't know if I would like to carry all the different things I find on my journey on myself physically, considering the potential dangers I could encounter."
Clicking onto the inventory menu to check it out, he was met with a new menu.
{ INVENTORY }
Note: You can hold up to a thousand items in the inventory. Their weight and size is irrelevant. You can add items into the inventory by pressing them against the inventory menu.
Currently in Inventory:
Simply click on an item to take it out of the inventory.
[Basic Sickle] F-Tier | [Lesser Healing Potions] x10
No money currently in Inventory.
{ INVENTORY }
"I've got a weapon? That should come in handy." Kai reached out his right hand, clicking the 'Basic Sickle'. Upon pressing it, a sickle manifested into his right hand, with it now disappearing from the inventory. Examining it, it definitely was a basic tool. Not super sharp – although, that was hard to judge considering he had no flesh to feel its sharpness – and looked about what you'd find in a farmers store.
Spinning it around, he closed his inventory menu and then his status menu before taking in a breath. "Alright, time to move. Let's start my journey in this world." Kai thought, before stepping towards the thick grey forest surrounding the ruins he awoke in. He'd get plenty of chances to fully explore the system later – for now? He wanted to experience the very thing his younger self wanted to experience.
Fighting monsters… even if he was one himself.
The heart that was restrained in his ribcage beat with a burning passion and excitement – one that was child-like in nature. If he still had lips, he would probably be grinning from ear to ear right now.
…
Is this the very same?
I hear that he is.
Yet he is but a youth... Shall he in sooth deliver us?
Thus doth Kronos proclaim.
Would we in earnest yield our liberty unto his keeping?
We have no choice. He is the only one.
The traitors did strip him of his choice, yet he kept his calm. He can bring us our freedom.
Kronos, dost thou believe he can accomplish it?
That our blessings shall not be cast to the winds?
…
I do, my brethren and sisters.
He shall be our saviour.
He shall bring the traitors to their fall.