Noah's hand trembled. 'Is this real? Am I being given a system like all the fantasy novel and comics?' His breathing hurried and he felt like he had a lump in his throat. With a voice barely containing his excitement, he confirmed. "Confirm."
[Confirmed. You can find the lottery ticket in the Lottery Menu.]
[Does host wish to initiate tutorial?]
"Yes… Please." Noah nodded as he listened to the monotonous voice.
[Tutorial begins…]
[The Trace System currently consists of 3 functions. First is the User Data, where the host can see his statistics. The second is the Trace function, where the host can receive a 'Trace' or leave a Trace and gain rewards upon their completion. Traces are either unfinished tasks left by unknown entities or an achievement that the user left behind. They can be random or systematic depending on the situation. The third function is the self-explanatory Lottery function. You can gain anything from the lottery.]
After the explanation ended, the three menus appeared in front of Noah and he gulped down his excessive saliva. He then took a deep breath and read the three menus' names. As the system said, there was User Data, Traces, and Lottery.
"Open the User Data." Noah decided to go through them one by one before doing the lottery at last. A long holographic panel then appeared in front of Noah.
[Name: Noah Ezra]
[Trace Points: 0]
[Level: 1 – Trace Points: 0/1]
[Physics: None]
[Class: None]
[Title: None]
[Strength: 11]
[Agility: 10]
[Stamina: 11]
[Intelligence: 10]
[Defense: 10]
[Active Skills: None]
[Passive Skills: None]
[Reversal Countdown: 102d:4h:6m:22s]
Noah skim-read the whole thing at first due to his excitement but then paused at the countdown on the bottom. No matter how much he thought about it, it didn't look like 'reversal' is a good thing. Especially not with the Blackout happening a few days ago.
"System, what is this countdown?" Noah asked but received nothing but silence. He sighed and decided to leave it be for now.
After reading the whole thing, Noah was now sure this system was a gaming system. 'However, it is slightly different. There aren't any 'Quests' but 'Traces', I wonder why the difference in names although they were almost the same…'
"Open Traces."
[Main Trace: Prepare]
[Description: The user needs to prepare before the Reversal. The reward would depend on the level and Data of the user when the Reversal arrives. Mastering helpful survival skills will give bonus rewards.]
"Shit…" Noah's heart sank. Judging by the description, it seemed his intuition was right. The reversal is some sort of catastrophe befalling earth.
His excitement was now replaced by anxiety. According to the description, he needed 'survival skills' after the reversal.
'No… This is not a burden, but an advantage. I know what I need to do. If I didn't get the Trace System, I would have been ignorant.' Noah calmed himself down and changed his mindset.
"Open the Lottery."
[Lottery]
[Lottery Ticket: 10 TP]
[Available Tickets: Skill Lottery Ticket (Rare)]
"I need 10 Trace Points to get the next ticket… Hopefully, this skill will help. Use Skill Lottery Ticket." Noah whispered the last four words and waited for the change to happen. Then, a glowing sphere of light came out of the red holographic panel. The sphere began to increase in size until it looked as big as a basketball. The sphere hovered midair before it turned into a rectangular icon with an eye in the middle. The eye also had an '!' mark about it.
Seeing nothing else happening, Noah touched the icon. The icon then turned into a stream of light before being absorbed by his body.
[Congratulations! Active Skill Acquired – Mild-Focus.]
[Mild-Focus: Upon activation, the user's concertation and learning ability are increased by 3 times. Can be used once a day and has a duration of 4 hours.]
"Is this… good?" Noah titled his head.
…
Jay came to the school early as the teachers asked her to hang up the new classes lists on the announcement board. Being the second semester in the third year in high school, the tension was sky high for everyone. However, Jay couldn't focus on studying these days as she had bigger worries.
[Item: Poster. Level: 0]
'What is this… hah…' Jay sighed inwardly. For the last couple of days, when she touches something its name appears in a holographic panel in front of her. And since this morning, she started seeing something else called Level, which she also didn't understand. It looked like she was in a game.
Although she didn't like games, her little brother did. Thus, Jay knew that this ability was called 'Appraisal' by gamers. However, she didn't know if she turned crazy or was this reality.
After she hung up the posters, Jay looked for her name. 'Class 3 – A. Noah is… Class 3 – B. It seemed we won't be seeing each other for a while.' After looking at the other names, she found out that Alfred was with Noah. Ella and her friend were Class 3 – C. It seemed everyone has split apart.
The students began to come into the school. Jay headed to the stairway to get to her class. Before she reached it, she heard laughter from above.
"Pfft, you're saying Noah is a retard now?" She heard this voice before. It belonged to… Rick. The guy who was with them on the boat during the Blackout.
"Hey, don't say that! He was just admitted to a mental ward for a while…" Now came Ella's voice.
"Uh… Doesn't that mean he got a screw loose now? Hahaha…" Now it was a male voice she didn't recognize.
Jay was enraged. How can they say such a thing about their friend? Even if he had some health issues, that doesn't mean they can talk about him like that!
"Y-You, guys! How can you such a thing?!" Jay was an introvert so she didn't want to oppose people like this, but leaving after hearing their talk would leave a bad taste when she sees Noah. That's why she ascended the stairs and confronted them.
"Hey, bookworm, mind your own business, okay?" A guy she didn't recognize frowned and growled at her. The rest were leaning against the wall without saying anything. There were Rick, Ella, and another girl she didn't recognize.
Ella looked uncomfortable and awkward but she didn't say anything. Rick was indifferent about the whole situation.
"N-Noah is my friend. Of course, it's my business if you talk about him like that!" Jay swallowed her salvia and gathered her courage. The guy who was frowning came over wearing a scary face. Jay backed away and put her hands up instinctively.
"Mind. Your. Damn. Business!" The guy used his finger and harshly tapped Jay on her head with each word. With each word, his taps became harsher. Before he can tap for the fourth time, however, someone caught his hands and squeezed it hard.
"Ugh… Let go!" The guy flung his wrist shaking of the hand that caught him. Seeing the face of the culprit, the guy flinched.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Noah's voice was low and his gaze was sharp. Anyone can see his anger by just looking at his face.
"Shithead, who do you think you are?!" The guy's voice rose a notch and the others were now fidgeting awkwardly. The tension between the six people was high.
"I don't give a fuck if you talk shit about me. But if you hurt my friends again, I'll fuck you up bad." Noah's words were savage yet calm. Like he was saying the most ordinary thing.
"Fucker!" The guy was livid. He was trembling from rage and it looked like he would start a fight at any time. However…
DING! DONG!
The first class period started. Hearing this, Rick came forward and pulled the guy shoulder to calm him down. "Let's go."
The guy's rage subsided and he started walking away with Rick followed by the other girl. Ella was now between the two groups and hesitated.
"Ella?" Rick turned around and called her over.
Seeing this, Ella took a glance at Noah and Jay before leaving with the rest. A small gesture, yet it had so many meanings. With this, Noah lost a friend.