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[(World Shatter) Initialized]
[Quest (Class Evaluation) Initialized]
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Those words appeared in my vision as clear as day. The text readout inside a little text box sitting in the center of my view. The box encasing the words was blue and slightly transparent; meanwhile, the words themselves were white and opaque.
It was exactly like the stuff I'd seen in the manga I read.
So then why did I feel so… Unbelievably terrified?
Stumbling out of the bathroom door, sweating like a spit-roast pig, the sickness had completely overwhelmed me bringing me to vomit on the floor at my feet.
A sudden loud sound resonated, sending shockwaves rippling through the checkboard-tiled floor and up my body. Products went flying and tumbling down store shelves while the contents from my stomach now laid before me, seeping deep between newly forming cracks in the tiling.
A cracked line shot out across the store, splitting the floor apart right where I stood. Stepping back revealed the line to be a deep cavernous ravine exponentially growing in depth and width with each passing second.
It quickly became so deep that I could no longer see its bottom. As far as I was concerned, it didn't even have one.
As it grew wider and wider, I knew that I would quickly be swallowed up if I didn't get moving. But from what I could see, I was trapped in the corner of the building.
Fuck what do I do? Am I going to die just like that?
While the checkerboard-tiled ground began to collapse and grow into an ever-expansive ravine, the store shelves retained enough structural integrity to climb across the gap.
That was it; how I could escape.
With no moment spared, I jumped onto the shelves and began shimmying my way across, all well trying to avoid looking down.
If I fell, I was as good as dead.
My body was rigid and stiff with fear. One slip was all it would take.
Suddenly, the store shelves had started to bend in the center, incapable of supporting their own weight any longer.
"No, no. Shit, no good!"
The shelf snapped in half, leaving me to fall pathetically to my death.
However, before my mind could process what had happened, my body rag-dolled on something hard, instantly cracking my lower spine.
"Fuck," I gasped as my face twisted with pain.
Fortunately, whatever it was, had caught me halting my descent any further. However, I could no longer feel or move my legs, and rubble was falling all around me.
The dust in my eyes forced me to shut them, but I could still feel my surroundings enough to know that I was lying on some kind of cylindrical concrete structure.
A sewer tunnel?
All the loud racket echoing throughout newly formed geography eventually stopped.
Rubbing the dirt out of my eyes, I could see what little remained of the store above me. Unsurprisingly, it collapsed by the time the ravine had stopped expanding, leaving me to helplessly watch the light-blue azure sky while waiting for my soon to be demise.
How pitiful was I that I had my nerdy fantasies come true, and yet I still managed to die before it had even actually began? If the ceiling had just caved in on me and got it over with, I would've been a lot more accepting of that outcome. But no, now I had to lay there and wait to die while thinking about how much of an utter incompetent loser I was.
"I hope that girl made it out safely."
Wait… Why am I even thinking of her? She's probably already escaped and forgotten about me.
A sudden vitriolic rage overcame my senses as I screamed, "Screw you, dirty bitch! Screw you, world! Fuck you all! I hate it! I hate you all!"
The world was mocking me, like a genie granting wishes in ways that a person didn't want or expect to teach them an important lesson about wishes.
"Well, your lesson can suck my balls! I don't want it any longer! Take it back! Take it back from me! Give me back normalcy, you son of a bastard world!"
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[Quest (Class Evaluation) Successful]
[Cataloging User (Henry Miller) As Class (Spiteful Loser) Into System Database]
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What?
I couldn't help but let out a chuckle. The "System" was making fun of me.
Is this all just my own personal hell? Did I do something to deserve all of this?
Tears rolled down my dirtied face as I yelled, "All I wanted was to make people happy! All I wanted was to be loved!"
The adrenaline in my body quickly dissipated, causing me to slip unconscious soon after.
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[Quest (Race Evaluation) Initialized]
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***
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[Quest (Race Evaluation) Successful]
[Cataloging User (Henry Miller) As Race (CRITICAL ERROR!) Into System Database]
[User Interface Booting Up]
[Tutorial Mode Activated]
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[Hello User (Henry Miller)]
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[Say or Think the Word (Begin) to Start the Tutorial]
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***
I opened my eyes to see an orange and red sky juxtaposed against cracked stone and bedrock walls reaching maybe 50 feet above me. In front of me, a wide ravine stretched off into the distance for perhaps a mile, where it then branched off in two directions. Though I couldn't yet see it, I knew below me there was only darkness.
I was a bit surprised that none of the debris had fell down on and crushed me, and I was even more surprised to find that I could sit up.
"Wait, wasn't I paralyzed?"
I couldn't feel any pain other than maybe a slightly strained lumbar region.
"Huh…"
I assumed either I must've just been overreacting, or I had just somehow been healed by God, or the "system", or both.
"Now, how the hell am I supposed to get out here?"
Rolling over so that my body laid laterally with the sewer pipe, I began slowly inching my way forward to the peeling earthen wall. They were dark and felt sharp and rigid like shattered stone.
Slowly crawling to my feet, I hugged the wall to maintain balance. It didn't feel like there was any clear-cut way of climbing up, but oddly enough, I felt an urge to try it anyway. It's not like there was an obvious alternative.
Wriggling my fingers between the loose dirt and rock, I felt the smaller stones gave way to bigger ones.
"Aha, that's it."
With a bit of effort, I had excavated a sturdy stone ledge that could support my weight.
"Now, if just I repeat this process, I'll be able to climb back to the surface."
It was undeniable how bizarre I felt in the situation I was in, but I couldn't quite put my finger on what exactly was wrong with me yet.
Pushing it out of my mind, I continued to chip away at the stone wall till I made enough sufficient ledges to begin my ascent.
***
Many hours had passed by the time I was out of that godforsaken pit. The refreshingly chilly night breeze washed over my near-naked, sweating body.
Around my waist was a kind of lasso belt that I fashioned from my shirt, pants, and shoelaces. It was an instrumental tool as I managed to find ledges to hook it around in case I fell.
Which did happen… Twice.
Alas, I was now stripped down to only my underwear, what with having to drop my shoes and socks off as to not slip mid-climb—my phone and wallet: another casualty to the pit.
"It's freezing out."
Nights in the northwest were brutally cold regardless of what season it was. Luckily, it wasn't winter yet, but damn, was it still cold as hell.
Observing my immediate surroundings, I realized I couldn't see a thing; it was utterly pitch-dark—not really all too surprising. I doubt that the power grid would've been able to withstand whatever happened here.
"What did happen here?"
Carefully crawling along the ground to avoid accidentally falling off an unseen ledge, I eventually managed to find an abandoned vehicle on what I thought to be some sort of neighborhood street. The door was left open, suggesting the person took off in quite a hurry.
Pulling myself into the driver seat, I felt around for the ignition.
"Got it."
Turning the keys still in the ignition made the vehicle's engine start-up. Its motor huffed and then quietly hummed as it sat in park gear.
I closed the door and turned the heater on. I also considered turning the headlights on, but if I did, I would've been running the risk of seeing a monster or something dangerous.
There was no way of knowing how friendly this new world was yet, and I was far too tired to even consider dealing with whatever was in store for me.
"Not worth it."
Tilting back the driver seat, I curled up into a ball and closed my eyes.