2. Mass Transmigration
"Big bro, I know you want to help him, but until we understand the situation, we should head back inside." My little sister has a point, but I can't leave him like this. "I'm coming, please hold on." I walk towards the man, but I feel my sister pull me back into the house.
"Arghhhhhhhh!" He lets go of the pole, flies into the portal, and it closes immediately after he passes through it.
Slam!
She closes the door and locks it. "Why did you do that? I could have saved him!" I place my hands on my head.
"What are the chances that you could save him, huh?! You obviously didn't know what you were up against. What if it took you too?" My sister's answer is plain and simple, filled with prominent facts.
But that man didn't deserve it. Nobody does. The sun is disappearing, the sky turning pitch black—I just can't wrap my head around it all. And we can't contact the authorities; the servers are down at the moment. I hear more and more screams from nearby houses.
What's this? The end of the world?
"Bro, big bro!" My sister calls out my name. My attention shifts towards her. "It's just like in Bakodang Online! The people called players got sucked into a portal from their home world—Earth—that led them to the world of Bakodang."
This wasn't the time for her silly jokes. "I'm serious, look at it here in the game's prologue. It all started with a giant halo appearing in a pitch-black, sunless sky."
What she said actually makes sense. I look closely at the game prologue, and it looks a lot like our current situation. But how is this even possible? And why does she look so excited? "From my knowledge, there's supposed to be a timer within the halo counting down from 1 minute," she asks.
"Yes, there is. How does that make this any better?" I reply with a groan.
"It does matter a lot. We should have less than 10 seconds remaining. You will thank me for this later." Hina holds my shoulder tightly.
[Citizens of Earth, you have been selected as players!]
A mysterious voice echoes in my head. From the looks on her face, Hina heard it too. "Listen, big bro, take this comic; it's going to help you a lot," she whispers into my ear. A portal suddenly appears, sucking her in. I hold her hands, trying to pull her back.
"Every player is scattered around Bakodang." I don't understand what she's saying. All I want is to pull her out of that goddamn portal.
"Hina, Hina, hold on! Big bro got you!" I try to pull her back. Why isn't she fighting too? Tears that I couldn't control slide down my swollen cheeks.
"This isn't something you can stop. Let's meet at the Shumas' hilt." She lets go of my hand, falling into the portal. I try to grab her hand, but the portal closes.
I fall on the floor, weeping. My only sister was taken away from me by some bloody portal, and I couldn't do a thing about it. The world suddenly falls silent; I can't hear any shouts or screams. I look out my window. There is nothing but vast darkness. It's getting closer. The darkness—I don't mind. It can consume me too. I am sure I am the last person remaining on Earth.
A portal opens. "You don't need to suck me in." I walk into the portal. The moment I open my eyes, there is nothing but vast darkness encroaching the space I am in. Maybe I am dead, but I didn't think the afterlife would be pure darkness.
[Please create your character. You have 30 minutes.]
Wait! What's happening? A screen appears before me, with multiple slides illuminating my surroundings a bit.
I open the comic my sister gave me.
"So they don't have to utilize something called 'circuits.' Instead, players grow stronger by leveling up and evolving their circuits to higher stratas." I don't understand any of the mechanics, so I decide to just pick any circuit that looks good.
The first page asks me to pick my race. According to the info displayed on the screen, there are 8 races: humans, elves, dragonoids, vampires, werewolves, demi-humans, undead, and high elves.
Each has a special trait unique to them. For humans, it's adaptability; for elves, high intellect; for dragonoids, destructiveness; for undead, increased necromancy efficiency if they choose the necromancy circuit; and for high elves, increased skill effects.
I choose high elf as my race. Compared to the other races, the high elf's special trait seems more useful to me because, from the little knowledge I have, skills are very important. Choosing something that increases skill effects is the best way to go. Plus, they are really good-looking.
I tap the high elf icon. The next page is for circuit selection. There are tons to pick from, so which one should I choose? "Oh," there's a feature to help arrange them based on the race I picked. The top circuit on the list is the Magicraft circuit. I'll get to cast all sorts of spells, I guess. Out of curiosity, I scroll down the list. "Hmmm," the bottom circuit on the list is the Oblivion circuit.
The name seems nice. Maybe I'll go with it.
Tap
I click on it, and a pop-up appears asking me if I am sure of my decision. I should continue to the player naming interface. Let me check the comic first.
[You have 20 seconds remaining]
What! 20 seconds? Does time run t
his fast here? I click OK and move on to the next page to pick a name from the recommendations.
[2 seconds left]
I finish before the time runs out. This is really tiring. I wonder what my little sis chose.
[Commencing transmigration:
1...4..45...80...99...100.]
[Transmigration completed]
The pitch-black space transforms into a beach in an instant. Light rays pierce my eyes. "It hurts." I haven't seen light in a while. The sky looks fine—it's light blue in color.
I feel different. Scratch that—I feel completely different. My hands and feet feel lighter. I touch my ears—they are long and pointy now.
Silver, lustrous hair runs down my shoulders. "I have long hair now." It feels so soft. I look at my reflection in the water—I am absolutely handsome.
Wait, something is off. Where are my clothes? I'm totally naked. I place my hands over my private parts.
It's surprisingly cold, maybe because of the sea nearby, and it's just summer on Earth. I need to find my sister soon. I can't leave her by herself for too long. I am a protective elder brother. I hope all those people who transmigrated here are alright. This world isn't too bad, after all.
[Welcome, player no.1000084: Savage Mallet]
[Task no.1: survive the storm]
[Task no.2: kill a bea-----]
[Error... errorrrr]
[You have been disconnected from the Bakodang system]
[You have acquired the survival system]
[Oblivion circuit: strata 1]
[SSS skill unlocked: 100% crit rate]
Savage Mallet? What kind of serial killer name is that? I can't believe I chose it.
Error. Disconnected. Survival system—I don't understand any of these
concepts. I spoke too soon. Isn't that a massive storm heading this way? And that's not all—the sky is bleeding too. I take back what I said earlier. This world is apocalyptic.