[WARNING: This is not a game. This is NOT a game!]
[The number of living beings in the galaxy has reached ten quadrillion and is about to merge with the world of gods and demons!]
[The Milky Way is beginning to digitize. The Earth plane is about to be generated!]
[You must survive and do your part to protect the starry cosmos.]
...
Two hundred years ago, the Stellar Era began, and countless fierce beasts and monsters poured into Earth.
Within a year, ninety percent of Earth's living beings were wiped out.
Even though wave after wave of awakened ones emerged from various races, Earth's inhabitants still couldn't stop the decline.
Five years later, the Earth Alliance was formed, and all races could only barely survive by relying on one hundred main cities.
Stellar Calendar Year 288, July 16th—just another ordinary day.
Inside the Scarlet Star Orphanage in Dragon City, a young man holding a broom suddenly froze in place.
The boy wasn't particularly tall, and his looks were nothing special, but his youthful face showed a stubborn determination.
[Rex, human race. You have reached the age of sixteen and are about to begin a new life.]
[Talent awakening initiated.]
[Rex, human race. Awakened as an archer, class rank E.]
[Every talent can have a bright future. You must persevere.]
[Generating character status window.]
* * *
[Rex: LV1 (100) (100 experience needed to level up)]
[Class: Archer]
[Rank: E]
[Health: 100 | Mana: 100]
[Base Attack: 10 | Attack Range: 10 meters | Attack Speed: 0.2]
[Strength: 5 (linked to physical attack power)]
[Constitution: 5 (linked to health and defense)]
[Mental: 5 (linked to critical hits and control)]
[Agility: 5 (linked to attack power and attack speed)]
[Intelligence: 5 (linked to mana and magic attack)]
[Class Skill: Triple Shot]
[Character Talent: One in Ten Thousand, Rank: F (upgradeable)]
[Starting Inventory: 10]
* * *
[Each time your character level increases by one, base stats +1, free stat points +5.]
[Ding! You have obtained a starting weapon.]
[Worn Wooden Bow: Attack +8, Agility +2]
Rex stood there for a good while, then let out a long breath.
"Finally awakened. So today's my birthday, huh."
The first thing he focused on was actually his birthday, not the class he'd awakened to.
Most kids in the orphanage only found out their birthdays on the day they awakened.
"Kids from the orphanage usually have pretty average talents."
Over the past ten-plus years, Rex had seen tons of awakened ones from the orphanage. Only one person had managed to awaken a D-rank class talent.
No expectations meant no major disappointments.
"E-rank class, F-rank character talent—that's pretty normal, I guess."
"At least it's a combat talent."
Rex's mindset was pretty good. He'd always been just an ordinary guy.
Class talent was incredibly important for every awakened one. Even an A-rank class had starting stats over ten—double what Rex had.
Higher-ranked classes got way more stat points with each level up.
Once someone leveled up to five or six, the gap would be massive.
"But what's up with this 'upgradeable' character talent? I've never heard of talents being upgradeable before."
Rex took a closer look at his talent description:
[One in Ten Thousand: For every ten thousand monsters killed, randomly gain one stat point.]
"Holy crap, what kind of garbage is this?"
Rex was usually pretty even-tempered, but even he couldn't help cursing when he saw this talent.
Kill ten thousand monsters for just one stat point? How long would that take?
If it weren't for one word "upgradeable" giving him a sliver of hope, he'd honestly just want to give up right there.
Go be a miner—three thousand copper coins a month. You could survive on that.
"Sixteen years old, huh? Guess I can't stay at the orphanage anymore."
Rex looked around at this familiar place, feeling a wave of sadness.
He'd watched batch after batch of people leave. Now it was his turn.
Once you awakened, you had to contribute to society, to the human race.
Dragon City wasn't big, but it was crammed with seventy to eighty million people.
There weren't monsters running wild in the city, but competition was still brutal, and most people struggled to survive.
"Now that I've successfully awakened, I need to think about what comes next. If I'm gonna stay in Dragon City, it'll cost me a hundred copper coins every day."
Everything had to rely on himself now.
Before awakening, you could hang out in the safe zone for free. After awakening, you had to pay.
If you ran out of money, you'd get teleported straight out to the wilderness.
But he only had eight copper coins on him—money he'd earned sweeping floors at the orphanage.
[Ding! Detected that you have awakened a class. The Dimensional Treasury will now provide you with starting funds. We hope you can grow quickly and become a powerful professional.]
[Ding! Silver coins +3!]
Rex was overjoyed at this unexpected windfall.
"What's the Dimensional Treasury?"
"Doesn't matter what it is—anyone who gives me money is definitely a saint."
Three silver coins meant three thousand copper coins—a whole month's income for a low-level professional.
With some starting capital in hand, Rex instantly felt less panicked.
At least he wouldn't get teleported out of the city right away to face endless monsters.
As long as he had time to grow and develop, everything would be fine.
"Don't really have anything to take. Just gotta say goodbye to the director and leave."
"Maybe someday if I make some money, I'll donate some silver coins to the orphanage."
Rex knew the odds of him having money were pretty low.
More likely, in a few years he'd end up as food for some beast.
None of the kids who'd left the orphanage had ever come back.
That was most people's fate, and Rex didn't think he was someone favored by destiny.
"The skill's Triple Shot—a common archer skill."
Right now Rex's attack power wasn't high, so Triple Shot wasn't all that useful. Against level one monsters, he'd basically just be tickling them.
"One in Ten Thousand, huh?"
This talent was definitely trash, but maybe it was just right for Rex.
Rex wasn't particularly good at anything, but he was especially good at enduring hardship.
He only had three silver coins now, plus a broken wooden bow. That was it.
"All I can do is put in more effort."
"So I gotta kill ten thousand monsters? Well, I'll get there eventually."
Right now, that was all Rex could tell himself for comfort.