[Welcome to The Real World!]
[Mission: Survive for ten minutes]
Gaping at the words floating in front of him, Vysl didn't understand what was going on. He turned in his seat, searching the classroom with his eyes for answers.
And answers he got, as his classmates and teacher also had varying levels of confusion in their eyes. They all seemed to focus on something directly in front of their faces.
"What's going on?" Someone finally spoke.
"Is this a...hologram?" Someone else questioned.
"Welp, this is a shock to my system! I suddenly forgot all that we were reviewing! Can the test be postponed 'til tomorrow?"
After the first three led in breaking the silence, everyone began speaking at once.
"...hand passes right through it!"
"Is this a prank by the scho..."
"...timer counting down to 0."
After hearing someone mention it, Vysl looked up to see for himself.
It was true.
Where the message was previously, a new one appeared. It was a timer counting down from ten minutes.
Vysl questioned aloud, "Wait, didn't the thing say we need to survive fo-?"
The ground began to shake.
Everyone panicked and a few screamed before quickly sorting their belongings into their backpacks and ducking under their desks. Vysl did the same.
"Class! Everyone keep silent in the case that there's an announcement! And stay calm!" The teacher, although frightened, did her best to restore order among the students.
After hearing their teacher, the students' voices slowly transitioned from screams and yells to whispers.
The shaking of the ground was powerful, causing a thunderous roar that seemed to beckon destruction. The walls held, but bits of the ceiling fell at times.
After approximately two minutes from when the message in the air appeared, the shaking slowly subsided.
Vysl didn't know about anyone else, but during the shaking, he was experimenting with the message screen in the air. He learned that he could manipulate its placement in his view, bringing it closer or pushing it farther with his will, as well as making it disappear and reappear or appear in his mind. He tried asking it questions and making it display different words and images, but with no reaction. Most strangely, he moved it to appear directly in front of a classmate's face, yet they did not react. It appeared to be that everyone saw their own message and could not see anyone else's.
[Congratulations! You completed a hidden quest!]
[Conditions: Experiment with the Welcome message within two minutes of being welcomed to The Real World]
[Rewards:
~Early Starter (title)(0)
~1,000 Buyon
~Access to the Menu before originally intended
~Unlocked Shop in Menu
~Unlocked a random mortal weapon purchase in Shop]
*This is…A QUEST?! And I already completed it?! Are these like those fantasy role-playing game mechanics?!*
The dismay Vysl felt, produced when a message telling him to survive followed by an earthquake unsettled him, began to dissipate. In its place, excitement grew. These events could only mean one thing to Vysl: opportunities!
He successfully willed the Menu to open with a thought, causing a mental image to vividly appear in his mind. He could see 3 tabs labeled with categories.
[Profile] [Shop] [Options]
Through imagining opening the Profile page, a new mental image popped up.
[Level: 0]
[Titles] [Skills] [Manuals] [Techniques]
[DisEn available: 0]
[Body: 0] [Pneuma: 0]
[Buyon: 1000]
At this point, the Menu differed from Vysl's expectations.
*Aren't there supposed to be statistics like strength, dexterity, intelligence, luck, etcetera?*
Although confused, a fire seemed to burn in his eyes at the sight of the game-esque screen. His curiosity and anticipation could be called a raging flame!
He attempted to open the Body option in the case that it had further subcategories, but nothing happened, only serving as fuel for the two emotions.
*What does it mean by "Body"??? Are there not any subcategories? Does it even refer to mine? Have I not unlocked it? What's the 0 for???*
It was now over three minutes since the welcome message first appeared and one minute since the shaking decreased significantly. The teacher once again issued her order of staying still under a desk, but didn't manage to stop the students from loudly talking a second time.
A few continued to panic but most regained sanity and lost all traces of fear. Assuming the danger was gone, they began to talk about trivial things like how they had a lot more time to study for the test.
That was, however, until someone noticed the sounds coming from outside.
"Hey, everyone! Do you hear that?" A student whose desk was right next to a window got out from under her desk against the order of the teacher and looked out the window. Vysl saw her go from squinting her eyes to see clearly, to her eyes widening and a scream escaping her mouth.
She turned, running towards the door at the opposite side of the room.
"E-everyone, run!"
Vysl was just about to check out the Pneuma option before the girl began running. He and a few others shot out from beneath their desks to see what made the girl scream while others simply followed her out the door without verifying if there was really danger.
The teacher, as one of the few who also checked the window, began yelling, "Everyone, leave the classroom!"
Vysl already had one foot out the door by the time the sentence was finished. "Monsters... dozens of monsters!" He was frightened at the sight of a sea of monsters rushing towards the school.
They were all of different shapes and sizes. Some being humanoid and bipedal, some quadrupeds, a few with spines protruding from various places, some beastly, and even some over four meters in height. Though, strangely enough, they were all the same color: an earthen yellow.
A cacophony of screeches and howls grew louder as the horde neared the school.
Vysl stood in the hallway, which was being flooded by students, wondering where he could be safe.
*The timer has less than 7 minutes, I can do this. Don't freak out, don't freak out. Assuming that there are no flying or ranged monsters, the roof is safest.*
Vysl weaved his way through the crowd towards the nearest staircase he knew lead to the roof. On the way to the stairs, Vysl was shocked to see that a lot of students ran outside!
Of course, screams ensued.
*Retards! That's where the monsters are! What are they doing, greeting them?!*
Suddenly, loud bangs and shattering of glass resounded through the school.
THEY'RE HERE!
Vysl had only made it to the second floor when the monsters reached the school. Adrenaline provided more strength to his legs as he continued climbing the stairs towards the third floor.
BANG
Vysl's face grew pale as he stared at the weird creature that just burst through the window ahead of him.
It looked like a fluffy ball the size of a watermelon with long arms, or legs, extending outwards from it.
Vysl and the students near him turned around to run back into the second floor. Unlike everyone else, Vysl did not attempt to run as far away from it as possible, but instead took advantage of the fact that the monster was targeting a different student to run into the nearest classroom. He could hear the student being torn apart as he locked the door.
The classroom had a full class in it that didn't know exactly what was going on, which exasperated Vysl because he didn't feel like being the one to explain the weird situation.
So, he only gave them a single sentence, "MONSTERS ARE INVADING THE SCHOOL AND GOOD LUCK SURVIVING THE LAST, ROUGHLY, 7 MINUTES!"
His words garnered a negative reaction, but Vysl didn't care. He ignored all questions, knowing they'd learn his words are credible when they hear more screams, and continued to look through the classroom's supplies.
He incurred a lot of questioning glares from the students and teacher under their desks as he looked like he was ransacking the place, but nobody did more than question him.
*No, no, no, no....no good shields! Agghhhhh!*
Vysl was frustrated as he searched the room for anything that could serve as a shield.
*I'll settle for a stool...*
To everyone's bewilderment, Vysl picked up a small wooden stool that sat forgotten in a corner of the room, judging that he could use it effectively.
*And now for that weapon!*
He had postponed investigating the random weapon until he had time to breathe, in the case that having the Menu open would slow his mind. He did not want to die because he was busy perusing the Shop. That'd be too embarrassing!
Opening the menu, Vysl checked the shop.
[Available Buyon: 1000]
[~Steel Dagger(0): 100 Buyon]
Conveniently, an image of the dagger appeared in his mind as he wondered what it looked like. Gleeful, Vysl willed a transaction, causing a new message to appear in front of him.
[Successfully purchased Steel Dagger(0)]
[Available Buyon: 900]
A gasp came from somewhere near Vysl. When the dagger appeared in front of him, he had frightened those who were watching him. They were more scared of the fact that he had a dagger than curious about how it appeared from seemingly nowhere.
Still ignoring them, Vysl held the dagger in one hand while carrying the chair in the other.
Satisfied, he stood next to the locked door of the classroom, peeking out from the small window.
There were a lot more screams than before, making the teacher and students reevaluate Vysl's words.
In the one minute it took to find a "shield" and purchase the dagger, the monsters had infiltrated the entire school.
*Looks like I can forget about the roof. Maybe I'll be safe in here?*
Almost as if fate was spitting in his face, a monster slammed into the door of the classroom.
BOOM