On the night of New Year's Eve, during the Covid-19 lockdown period of the Pandemic, when everyone is either spending their New Year's Eve alone by themselves or celebrating together with their family members and the people trapped withinside their household during the Covid-19 Pandemic.
So when the clock struck exactly midnight on New Year's Eve (GMT +1) Greenwich Mean Times. Instead of the usual celebratory loud cheers, people opening cans of beer and cold beverages, with loud music playing in the background, etc.
The whole entire world had suddenly became silent. Almost at the sametime in unison, every single plant, animal, or insect to walk or crawl on this Earth. They seems to have uncontrollably lost consciousness and entered into a state of deep hibernation.
It is quite unknown by how strange this phenomenon had occurred. With no further explanations or any sort of clue nor hints that would eventually lead to the definite outcome or cause behind this oddly strange otherworldly phenomenon.
Those that were affected by this otherworldly wierd phenomenon seems to have ceased aging, stopped growing, and halting body development in some particularities.
Meanwhile, for some, they experienced a minor change in bodily modifications, like having grown an extra limbs or body part (ears, horns, tails, etc) in proportion to their full humanoid bodies. Resembling creatures that are commonly seen in fantasy fictional stories, mythologies, and folklore.
Whilst, others can seem to have been supernaturally induced, having suddenly gained superhuman powers from out of nowhere; like the ability to control fire, to freeze and stop time at will, conjuring pillars of ice, and communicating with animals, etc.
The animals and plants have grown to be more prehistoric, dating way back to the early Cretaceous period and so on. Only differiating in terms of size, and the ability to hunt, kill, and sustain themselves in the New World that is about to unravel.
The inhabitants of the Earth were not the only ones that were wierdly affected by this strange phenomenon; a mystical unorthodox magical energy seems to have suddenly swept over the entire planet, within seconds, causing the entire Earth to spin faster.
As the Earth's gravitational rotational speed gradually begun to get faster. The time contraction of space time relativity has become all the more obvious, as hundreds or even thousands of years has passed on Earth under a couple of rotations.
The Earth's crust has begun to shift; the Earth's ocean sea level then continues to steadily rise, with the polar ice caps of Antarctica having completely melted. Underground sea volcanoes having erupted, spewing out tons of hot lava and large lumps of land mass, which eventually give rise to new islands and never before seen undiscovered continents.
New wildlife and natural plant fauna will sprung into existence, either evolved evolutionary down the line completely independent by itself or from an existing evolutionary tree to become an entirely new different species. Completely, left untouched by human hands, or the cross contamination of human pollution, deforestations, dumbing garbage and trash from human cities, may have intervened and possibly affected their evolutionary passage of growth.
A long time has passed, and the few people that had managed to woke up, only to immediately find out that the present world has completely changed. The modern day cities covered in large massive buildings, tall skyscrapers, and fancy buildings, etc. No longer exists. Instead, it is immediately replaced with tall trees, ancient forests, mountains, and giant wild lands.
It is now no longer the digital era, with most of the technology dating post digital era having been completely lost to the gradual degrading in digital storage devices in due time and the complete severance of electricity in the New World.
As humans are onced again are forced to wandered back into the age of darkness, and start exploration all over again; traversing the wild lands by foot, taming wild beasts to be used as mounts, domesticating them to become like household pets, or raising them to become cattles or potential farm foods.
So crafting will be an essential and a necessary life saving skill to have in the New World to help increase your chances of survival. Primitive tools, made out of stone, rocks, and sticks can be made by just about anyone by hand. With the neccessary knowledge and know how that is.
But, it is only those that have managed to obtained processed used metal, recycled from old broken technology and machinery from the old era, can be made into new weapons, armour, tools, and equipment will rule the New World.
After an unimaginable amounts of time has passed that more people are beginning to wake up. They gradually began to unhastily gather themselves together, forming individual small sized groups, or a pretty large sizeable camp in order to help improve their chances of survival within the New World.
Alot of things have changed, no longer are we stuck in the peaceful and relatively safe world, in the comforts of our home.
We are instead forced to fight daily; exposed to the natural dangers of the unknown and the environment that we live in, whilst monstrous beasts the size of giant dinosaurs will come and get you. So if you don't manage to quickly adapt to your surroundings, survive and hone your skills with experience and expertise. You are bound to fall prey under the blade of a hunter or predator that is out to kill you. So watch out.
The state of the world is in utter chaos, as the awakened people are making heads or tails to make end's meat, with the few amount of food, materials, resources that they could gathered at this moment.
And the strongest of them all, the ones with the highest levels or capable of leadership, are given the position of a ruler. A single individual that has sole rein and sovereignty over the group, capable of forming new rules and the extradition of that said people from their group or community. Almost like a king.
○ ○ ○
Some time later, an individual that goes by the name of Jack Flint, our main protagonist who had actually woken up from his eternal slumber.
His mind was kind of groggily, as he hastily tries to recovered his field of vision as quickly as possible. Despite being anisometropia, his pair of eyes having different levels of refracting powers, so there is an unequal focus between the two eyes.
Jack Flint does not actually need to wear the prescribed glasses, as he could perfectly see well within his everyday lifestyle, but for more clarity and a much clearer field of vision. It is better to wear the pair of prescribed glasses whenever he is busy working, preoccupied with college work assignments, or seeing things from a far.
Ding!
Jack Flint then suddenly heard the unfamiliarised sound of the system notification, ringing withinside his head, as he then saw a blue screen interface panel floating in front of him.
[You have successfully awakened from your deep sleep.]
[The world has completely changed around you. Life is no longer stagnant and peaceful as it onced was. Humans, animals, and plants have evolved to become much stronger, to adapt well to the tougher and harsher environments of the New World...]
[So you better get a move on!]
'Am I watching some kind of intro to a survival video game or something? Or have I been reading too much 'LitRPG novels' fictional stories that I'm starting to see blue popup screens.' Jack Flint first thought, upon opening his pair of eyes, and discovering the blue popup screen that suddenly appeared in front of him.
It took some time for Jack Flint's eyes to completely adjust to his surroundings, as he hasn't open them for quite some time now. Only to immediately find out that he was no in the familiar bedroom of his apartment, but at some place else.
To be more accurate, it is still his bedroom apartment, but a whole lot of time has passed. So alot of dust particles, dirt, and grime has gathered on the surface of the furnitures withinside Jack Flint's room.
Cracks and mould have already started to form over the surface of old wallpapers and painted walls of Jack Flint's room. As tree branches, vines, patches of grass, and moss have started to grow on the floor, walls, and ceiling of his room to showcased how much time has passed during the duration of his sleep.
'Am I still back on Earth, or have I been maybe been transported to an alternate reality or parrallel universe. Maybe a distant Earth in the future or something.' Jack Flint thought.
His first assumption could not be that far from the truth, as it is almost like having been forcefully transported to a post apocalyptic future Earth, but in fact time was actually frozen for him, whilst the world was still continuing to tick. And its only just until recently that his time has started to wind up and started ticking again.
Jack Flint was originally an ordinary 20 years old college student, attending Manchester Metropoliton College for his second year in digital art and animations. But, the Coronavirus Pandemic sort of happened, and now he is currently living alone by himself in a cheap single studio flat apartment by himself.
His mind was still stuck on that time, as the last thing that he could remember was that he was busy working on his animation short film project, whilst watching a Youtube Vtuber livestream video upon his old smartphone before he suddenly blackout.
'Hmmm...' Jack Flint thought, thinking so intensely to himself. Trying to find a definite answer, but couldn't come up with any.
Before he could continue on that track of thought, he then suddenly smheard the familiar sound of the system prompt notification ringing withinside his head.
[Now beginning the tutorial phase...]
[3... 2... 1! Begin!]
[Tutorial Task 1: Open up your Status Screen Interface {0/1}
Instructions: To open up your own personal Status Screen Interface, you either say the keyword 'Status!' out loud or recite the key phrase 'Open Up Status Interface!' inside of your head.
Quest Reward: 5 unallocated stats points + quest progression]
'Things don't seem at all that difficult to achieve. The tutorial task seems simple enough and doable.' Jack Flint thought.
He then recited the key phrase withinside his head 'Open Up Status Interface!', then the current tutorial quest screen board panel immediately vanishes, replaced with his personal status screen.
[Status screen]
Name: Jack Flint
Age: 20 years old
Gender: Male
Race: Human (Homosapien)
Class: Upgrade Specialist
Class Level: 001
Class Rank Evaluation: F-
Titles: N/A
[Stats/Attributes]
Health Point: 29/29 (3×4+4+6+2+5)
Stamina Point: 24/24 (4+6+2+5+3+4)
Satiety: 23/24 (4+6+2+5+3+4)
Life-force Point: 149/149 (100 base value+total amount of stats points)
Strength: 4
Agility: 6
Defence: 2
Dexterity: 5
Constitution: 3
Endurance: 4
Intelligence: 6
Wisdom: 7
Willpower: 5
Charm: 3
Luck: 4
Fame: 0
You have 0 unallocated stats points!
[Skill/Abilities]
Item Reinforcement Lv.1 - You are able to reinforcement an item or object by consuming a certain amount of your own life-force points.
Item Upgrade Lv.1 - With the correct amounts of material and resources, you can choose and select the path to which you want to upgrade the item or object.
Item Synthesis Lv.1 - You are able to automatically assemble or craft the item/object, so long as you have the correct raw materials and resources to craft the item, alongside having the relevant crafting recipe within the Item Crafting Recipe Dictionary.
Item Disassembly Lv.1 - You are able to break down the item or object into its most basic components.
Item Crafting Recipe Dictionary [0/0]
[You have successfully completed the {Tutorial Task: Open up your Status Screen Interface}! The quest reward has been given!]
[You have successfully acquired 5 unallocated stats points!]
Ding!
Jack Flint then heard the familiar sounds of the system prompt notification ringing withinside his head, as a new blue screen display panel then appears in front of his status screen interface panel, showcasing his next tutorial quest progression task.
[Tutorial Task 2: Allocate 1 stats points into any chosen categories of stats attribute points of the Player's choice {0/1}
Instructions: Whenever the Awakener's Player System has detected that the user has any sort of spare unallocated stats points. There will be a plus or minus sign beside the corresponding stats attribute. You can choose to add or undo the allocated stats points into the category of stats attribute that you wanted to increase, but be warned that onced you consumed the allocated stats points it will become permanent. So be warned and choose carefully.
Quest Reward: (Please select one reward out of the two choices {Basic Survivor's Backpack} or {Observe Lv.1 (Epic Grade)}
'Well, damn. The quest rewards for the second tutorial tasks seem to be pretty rewarding than the previous first one.' Jack Flint thought.
By accident, Jack Flint had accidentally touched the highlighted keyword {Basic Survivor's Backpack} of the quest reward, not expecting for anything to happen.
{Basic Survivor's Backpack: 3 plastic water, 8 × 50 g beef jerky, 1 roll of bandages, flint & steel, lightweight hunting knife, 1 pack of paracetamol}
A blue screen 3d visual display panel then appears in front of him, showcasing what the {Basic Survivor's Backpack} would look like at a glance. At the same time, displaying the information and the object that is contained withinside the {Basic Survivor's Backpack}.
"Woah..." Jack Flint couldn't help but blatantly express his sense of excitement for the spectacle that he is seeing in front of him.
'Its almost like it's out of sci-fi fiction, seeing a 3d holographic projection right in front of me.' Jack Flint thought.
And then a sudden thought suddenly arise from within him, popping up inside of his head, after he has a quick look at the {Basic Survivor's Backpack} 3d holographic projection.
'Now I wonder what is so special about the {Observe} skill that would want to make me be dissuade from picking the {Basic Survivor's Backpack} as the chosen option for my second tutorial quest reward.' He thought.
Without another word, Jack Flint then immediately presses upon the highlighted keyword {Observe} to get the descriptions of the skill.
{Observe - The skill [Observe] would allow for the user to be able to ascertain the level, name, race, and possibly the class of the specified target.}
At the same time, what Jack Flint doesn't actually know that the Epic Grade is just basically second to the third highest grade of rarity you can just about get, below Legendary, Mythical, and Divine.
The order of classification goes from Common {white}, Uncommon {green}, Rare {blue}, Epic {purple}, Legendary {orange}, Mythical {red}, Divine {platinum/gold}.
Jack Flint then thought something to himself. 'On second thought, the {Observe} skill seems to be much more precious than the {Basic Survivor's Backpack} option right now.'
'Though, the whole world has changed, things like water and food is easily replenishable, but it's quite difficult to find. It's not like I'm stuck in some kind of zombie infectious viral disease spreading apocalypse, where you can't even go outside to look for food.' He thought.
The chances of the cause of the apocalypse to be a zombie virus or infectious fungus is extremely low, considering the state of this world.
One look outside of his bedroom apartment window, Jack Flint could easily have tell that it was not something unnatural like a infectious zombie virus or nuclear explosion that wiped most of the humans on Earth, but rather they simply vanished. There was simply no traces of explosive detonation, huge craters, and massive paths of destruction in lay with a nuclear explosion.
It would seems that a large amounts of time has passed, with numerous trees having grown out from from the ground as a tiny sapling, breaking through the hard concrete pavement and asphalt roads, to as tall and high as a ten floor apartment condo. The same one as Jack Flint is now currently living in, as a college student.
'Huh.' Jack Flint was slightly bewildered, as he was able to make out a slight beastly figure outside his bedroom apartment window.
Flying high up in the sky was a strange bird, nothing like he has ever seen before. It would seem like a pigeon at a glance, except it is just about three to four times the size of an ordinary city pigeon. And it looks to be extremely carnivorous, unlike the typical scavenger type pigeons that Jack Flint usually know.
And how does he for a fact know that the huge pigeon is a carnivorous hunter, it's by the fact that the big pigeon has a hugely long beak, and from inside the hugely long beak there are many rows of razor sharp saw teeths.
There is blood and fresh guts flowing at from the huge pigeon's beak mouth, from the dead severing carcass that it is currently carrying withinside its mouth.
"Ugh..." Jack Flint disgustingly made a disgusted face, watching the gore fly by him, as he inadvertently thought. 'Have I been inadvertently been sent back to the prehistoric era or maybe been transported to a very realistic Ark Survival game.'
'Hmm...' Jack Flint thought, whilst taking his time to pick which of two he would select for his second tutorial quest reward. 'So which one should I pick for my tutorial quest reward?' He asked himself a hypothetical question.
'If only I've had a coin with me, then flipping the coin over and deciding upon what is chosen for the second tutorial quest reward will be easier.' He thought.
'Wait a minute...' And then realisation suddenly hits him.
'Isn't this my home and bedroom. There is definitely goanna be a few copper coins or silver nickel lying around. Somewhere.' Jack Flint thought, as he then proceeded to get up from his old dilapidated gaming computer chair and have a quick look at the current state of his old bedroom.
It didn't take long for Jack Flint to find his old coin box of used changes, or to be more accurate a recycled and reused hot chocolate mixed powder plastic cylinder container.
Despite the ongoing passage of time, the plastic cylinder container has yet to deteriorate and degrade, even though it is biodegradable. As this is because the process of decomposing is solely dependent on the bacteria and microbes in the dirt and soil that consume and breakdown waste into simple matter.
Without further ado, Jack Flint wasn't really in a rush, so he lightly grabbed a hold of the dusty lid of the old recycled cylinder coin box which used to contain hot chocolate mixed powder, and turned the lid slightly clockwise to open the old recycled coin box.
The lid of the cylinder recycled hot chocolate mixed powder container had opened without a cinched, revealing the blue turquoise oxygenated copper coins on top.
'It would seem that the prolong exposure to the oxygen molecules withinside the air has caused the copper coins to have formed a layer of copper oxide on top of the surface of the copper coins.' Jack Flint thought, having remembered his chemistry. The science lessons and educations that he has done in high-school.
Continuing on that line of thought, a sudden idea then slowly pops up from withinside his head. 'Hmmm...' He thought so to himself.
So without saying any words, Jack Flint then decided to pour the collected piles of copper and silver nickels over onto the surface of his dusty old desktable and workstation.
Rattle! Klink! Klang!
The sounds of the metal coins hitting against each other, producing an unrhythmic tune, as it landed on the dusty desktable.
A light smile then appeared upon Jack Flint's face. 'Just like I thought, only the top few copper coins at the top of the cylinder coin container seems to have oxidised...'
'It would seems that the stacks of copper coins and silver nickels placed on top of each other has created an isolated space in the middle and the bottom of the cylinder coin container, which prevents the oxygen in the air from ever reaching the semi-reactive copper coins.' He thought.
Jack Flint then decided to pick up a random 2p copper coins from the pile of coins, on top of the dusty old dilapidated desktable, with the key characteristics of the heads and tails side of the coin being the most distinguishable at a glance.
He then placed the single 2p copper coin over the curled up index finger, underneath the big thumb of his right hand.
Afterwards, Jack Flint then flicked his thumb, tossing the 2p copper coin into the air.
He then said something to himself, "Heads and I pick the {Basic Survivor's Backpack} as my second tutorial quest reward, and tails for the {Observe} skill as my second tutorial quest reward."
The 2p copper coin then flew high into the air, before Jack Flint outstretches his right hand out and catches the 2p copper coin with his palm.
Without saying any words, he quickly maneuvers his right hand with the 2p copper coin at the centre of his palm, flipping it over onto the backside of his left arm.
'Heads or Tails...' Jack Flint thought, whilst observing the obscured 2p copper coin underneath his right hand carefully.
He then thought, 'And now is the big reveal!'
Jack Flint then immediately raised his right hand, revealing the figure of which side the 2p copper coin had landed on, and it turned to be the Tails side of the coin.
'Tails! Then it's the {Observe} skill then.' Jack Flint thought.
Jack Flint then recited the key phrase 'Open Up Status Interface' to open up the status screen interface panel.
□□□
[Status screen]
Name: Jack Flint
Age: 20 years old
Gender: Male
Race: Human (Homosapien)
Class: Upgrade Specialist
Class Level: 001
Class Rank Evaluation: F-
Titles: N/A
[Stats/Attributes]
Health Point: 29/29
Stamina Point: 24/24
Satiety: 23/24
Life-force Point: 149/149
Strength: 4
Agility: 6
Defence: 2
Dexterity: 5
Constitution: 3
Endurance: 4
Intelligence: 6
Wisdom: 7
Willpower: 5
Charm: 3
Luck: 4
Fame: 0
You have 5 unallocated stats points!
[Skill/Abilities]
Item Reinforcement Lv.1 - You are able to reinforcement an item or object by consuming a certain amount of your own life-force points.
Item Upgrade Lv.1 - With the correct amounts of material and resources, you can choose and select the path to which you want to upgrade the item or object.
Item Synthesis Lv.1 - You are able to automatically assemble or craft the item/object, so long as you have the correct raw materials and resources to craft the item, alongside having the relevant crafting recipe within the Item Crafting Recipe Dictionary.
Item Disassembly Lv.1 - You are able to break down the item or object into its most basic components.
Item Crafting Recipe Dictionary [0/0]
□□□
'Hmmm...' Jack Flint thought, 'I've managed to gain 5 unallocated stats points as a quest reward for completing the first tutorial quest.'
After giving it some thought, Jack Flint had decided to use his 5 unallocated stats points scarcely, only investing 1 unallocated stats points into the wisdom attribute stats.
Ding!
The familiar sound of the system prompt notification ringing withinside his head, and a blue interface display screen panel then appeared in front of him, asking if he wants to proceed with the stats allocation or not.
[Do you wish to proceed with the allocation of your stats points? {Proceed} or {Cancel}]
Without saying a word, Jack Flint then immediately presses upon the {Proceed} button, and the System has recognised Jack Flint's inputted decision.
[You have successfully completed the {Tutorial Task 2: Allocate 1 stats points into any chosen categories of stats attribute points of the Player's choice {0/1}. The quest reward is now being distributed.]
[Please choose amongst the following options as the quest reward for managing to complete the second tutorial tasks! {Basic Survivor's Backpack} or {Observe Lv.1(Epic Grade)} ]
'Obviously, I will go for the {Observe Lv.1 (Epic Grade)} option, since I've already flipped the coin. Can't really go back on my own words can't I.' Jack Flint thought, as he then select the {Observe} skill option of his chosen second tutorial task reward.
Ding!
A few seconds later, Jack Flint then heard the familiar sounds of System prompt notification ringing withinside his head, as a few blue screen display panel then keeps popping up one after another.
[You have successfully learned the skill {Observe Lv.1 (Epic Grade)}! from the System]
[Tutorial Task 3: Please choose an item or object of your choice and reinforce it utilising your own life-force {0/1}
Instructions: To imbued an object, item, or entity with life-force energy, either through the natural manipulation of life-force energy through mental strength and willpower, or recite the keyword 'Reinforce' withinside your to actively activate your class related skill.
Quest reward: Low Grade Life-force Crystal Necklace ]