"Oh shit, I'm really back!" Daniel thought as he stood up from his couch. He remembered the old couch in the shabby living room, which was a part of the small apartment he used to live in.
It was a hot Sunday during summer and Daniel immediately rushed to his bathroom, to look into a mirror. He was 22 again, he almost couldn't recognize his face. His long grey hair and beard were gone, his hair was brown again, and short. He also had a short, trimmed beard, which wasn't as dense as it would be in the future.
"Yes! Yes! Yes!"
The battles he fought had left him with many scars, which were now all gone, as if the battles he fought had never happened. Well, they haven't happened yet. He remembered his last moments before he died. He remembered Zartar's face as he stood above him, shortly before he died. Lillith kneeling next to him, Azmodeus and Belial, quietly standing there and watching. And then Zartar's comments. His mocking words. He felt like his blood was boiling.
"I'm coming after you bitch, just wait for me!", he said to the mirror, with Zartar on his mind. This time he would destroy him.
After he washed his face he thought about the next steps he needed to take. It was around 6 in the afternoon and he remembered that the system would activate at midnight, so he had some time to prepare. In the past, he spent the day alone on his couch, watching Netflix and fighting the hangover he had from saturday, he heard nothing from his friends. He had not wondered why, he thought they were also hungover. He had not known that all long range communications was heavily disturbed. That meant that phones were working, but calls and texts just didn't get through, unfortunately he had learned this later on, but then it was already too late.
This time everything would be different, he planned to gather his friends around him as soon as he could. The friends he had never seen again after the system was activated and earth was reshaped. He recalled them all. Michael, Anita, Anna, Robin, Yasemin, Simon and Sergej. His plan was to wait until the system was running and then get them, one by one.
He spent most of the day planning out how to start this time around. He remembered that after the system was introduced, the first couple of hours were later known as "the night of slaughter", as most people who had been outside when it happened were killed. The first step was the evaluation, were the system granted every human invincibility during the evaluation process. The evaluation would make everyone fall asleep and the invincibility was the system's way to protect everyone from harm, which could be a result of that, as for example people who were driving cars or other activities where falling asleep could result to death.
After waking up, everyone would get their first quest, which was to register a username. Back then, Daniel had registered the name "Havoc", as that had been the name he used for most of his game characters. Unfortunately the system wouldn't let you register your real name, which Daniel had tried before. The reward for completing that first quest was a character specific beginner weapon of the lowest grade. Daniel remembered the first sword he had received.
During the time of the evaluation nother thing had happened to the world. It had been reshaped in some ways and pathways to other worlds had been opened, enabling other creatures to migrate to earth. Another change was dungeons, which spawned all over the world, on every continent, in every country, region, city and town.
He could still remember all of the dungeons he had taken part in conquering, from the smallest dungeons in his area to global dungeons like the [Twin Dragons Nest] or the [Trail of Death].
The first hours after the start of the system were also the time were all monsters and creatures that appeared, were all roaming the strees and the skies at the same time. During that time, being outside was like a death sentence. All these creatures would start looking for either shelter or food, no matter what kind of being it was. From dragons to goblins, they would all look for one of these two things.
As midnight came closer, Daniel grew nervous, his knees feeling weak. The feeling he had was the same many students have before the start of an important exam. He wasn't afraid of it, he just wanted it to start as quickly as possible so he could get it over with.
He was sitting on a window sill in his living room, next to the open window and smoking. It was a warm summer night and he enjoyed watching the last remains hours of the peaceful life people had from the eight floor, where his apartment was. Happy people were walking around, families, couples and groups of friends who were laughing and having fun, unknowing of the events which would begin in a few hours.
He thought about his parents, which were on vacation. He knew where they were but there was no way to get to them in the short amount of time he had until the start. Even after that, traveling there would be nearly impossible. He had to wait until the teleportation gates were unlocked, afterwards he could look for them like he had done in his previous life. Back then, he was able to trace their steps until he found the camp of survivors they had joined, only to find out that they had died while defending that same camp, just two weeks before he came there. Now he knew where he had to go immediately and this time he wouldn't be too late.
He lit another cigarette as he planned the steps he had to take in the beginning. First he wanted to get accustomed to his younger and weaker body. He knew the perfect place where he could do that, while also getting to some of the trasure chests that were also spawned randomly all over the world. In his previous life, he had heard of many locations and he was sure he could still recall most of them.
While getting used to this body, he would get the best items he could find and properly gear himself up before going out to search for his friends. Gather them was a crucial step, as he wanted to have a group of people he could trust immediately in the beginning. Most survivors would, after seeing what happenend on the streets, wait for either the police or the army to come and save the day. What they didn't know was, that not just all long range communication devices were deactivated by the system, all modern weapons were too. That meant that police and army were sitting in the same boat as everyone else and had to rely on themselves to survive. Well some people would leave their homes and try to see for themselves what happened, but most people wouldn't, especially after hearing the civil defense sirens, which would be activated sometime in the night. During that time, Daniel was sure he could get a hold of most of the treasure chests in the area. Running out of food was the moment that made people leave their homes and that would slowly spark the beginning of small camps and communities of survivors. He had joined one in the past, not knowing what kind of dilemma he had walked into.
After taking a shower Daniel saw that it was close to midnight, he had time for another cigarette, before lying down on his couch. That's when he fell asleep.
[System activated]
[Short term invincibility activated]
[Evaluation process begins]
The notifications appeared in front of all humans, who now fell asleep, while the system was evaluating them. The evaluation would give them a class, based on their physical and psychological state, which could only be seen by themselves. After waking up, every person would be able to use the system and their skills, unless they were below the age of twelve. Children younger than that would get a character class which was locked until their birthday, until then they had to rely on the protection of others. While this was a huge disadvantage, they would be given an advantage to balance this. Everyone who was either too young or not born by the start of the system would later on get evaluated and would receive a better class as they normally would.
The ratings people's character classes received would range from one star, which was considered the worst, up to five stars, which was considered the strongest. Later on people could raise their character classes' rating, which would leave them with the same class. The class could also be evolved, which was a lot harder than raising their class rating.
Daniel knew what was going to happen, as more and more notifications popped up in his dream.
[Evaluation processing.. 5%]
[Modern weapons deactivated]
[Long range communication devices deactivated]
[Evaluation processing.. 15%]
[Area dungeons spawning complete]
[Regional dungeons spawning complete]
[District dungeons spawning complete]
[Global dungeons spawning complete]
[Special instances (locked) spawning complete]
Lots of messages popped up, so fast that it was almost impossible to read all of them.
[Evaluation processing.. 99%]
[Evaluation process failed, abnormal status detected]
[Lightbringer's imprint detected]
[Re-evaluation]
"Huh? What do you mean evaluation failed? Did my reset cause this? Just shut up and give me my character class!", Daniel thought. He already knew the result of his evaluation. He knew he was unlucky when he received the 2-star warrior class, but this time he had an advantage. He still had all of his knowledge, so he knew exactly which stats he had to raise, which skills he had to learn and where to hunt. Also, he knew how to raise hthe rating of his class and he had some ideas on how he could maybe evolve his character class. He would make sure to use everything he knew to his and his friends' advantage.
[Re-evaluation completed]
[Receiving 5-star character class "The Immortal Emperor"]
He had to look twice to be sure he saw the last notification right.
"The what!?"