[You have witnessed the end of the world]
[The barrier between worlds shattered]
[Invaders laying waste to countless worlds]
[You world is next]
[Unless you stop it]
[Initializing System]
4%
22%
67%
100%
Ding!
....
[Welcome to the Last Hope System]
[Saying 'status' will display your stats]
['Skills' will display your current skills and their proficiencies. Skills will not be shown if they are deemed unimportant or if their proficiency is too low]
['Inventory' will display one cubic meter of space, in which you can store and retrieve objects. Only objects that you are holding can be stored. The space cannot store living organisms]
Ding!
[Detected newbie package, would you like to open?]
Despite all the messages coming in, all Arcus could do was cry.
Silently, so as to not wake up everyone else. All the kids at the orphanage are separated into two big rooms, one for guys and one for the girls. They all slept on thick wool blankets that were laid on the floor. Unfortunately, the orphanage doesn't have enough money to afford beds for everyone.
Even with the scarce donations from the villagers and the pitiable subsidy from the kingdom, food expenses eat away at every coin that passes through these doors.
In between sobs, Arcus would take big and quiet breaths. The last thing he needed was for everyone at the orphanage to think he had gone even crazier.
The ending of the world.
What he had seen, was horrifying. Corpses piled higher than the town's walls. Rivers of blood bigger and deeper than the river outside of the town. The number of times he had died alone had almost made him go crazy... for real.
Arcus had been trying hard to convince himself that it was just a nightmare.
That with time it would pass, and maybe he could go back to the days of walking around the town and the park where he would see people smiling and sitting down and having a meal under the shade of the trees.
However, those days would never come back.
Peace was a luxury no one could afford, and Arcus knew that now.
The next day, while Arcus was in the middle of sweeping the floor.
'Status'
------------------------------------------
Scrolling further down Arcus could see another row of text.
[The average stats of an adult male are 5]
Scrolling back up and looking at his below-average stats, Arcus couldn't help but feel depressed.
'How am I supposed to do much of anything when I'm not even as strong as an adult.'
It was at this point that Arcus remembered this morning another message had flashed by his eyes while he was crying.
[Detected newbie package, would you like to open?]
'That's right!'
'Open the newbie package'
Ding!
[Opening the newbie package]
[You have obtained a Wishing Coin]
[You have obtained a scroll]
[Please check your inventory]
'Inventory'
Another light blue screen flashed across his eyes, and inside he could see two objects.
An ancient-looking scroll and an ordinary-looking rustic coin.
Unsure of how to retrieve any of the objects, Arcus stared at the scroll hoping it would materialize on its own.
But it didn't.
Meanwhile on the other side of the room. One girl who was sweeping the hall sneakily glanced at Arcus and turned to her friend.
'Why is he just staring at the wall like that, has he gone mad.'
'Shuush'
'Should we report it to the caretaker?'
....
'What if he's gone mad and he snaps at us'
'Mia?'
'Hey, Mia'
'Shut up!'
Annoyed by her friend's constant pestering, the girl named Mia finally snaps
Her loud outbursts echoed in the hall, snapping Arcus out of his daze and he turned to the girls vaguely realizing they must've been talking about him.
He frowned as he felt annoyed by the thought that they were gossiping about him while he was only a few meters away from them.
"Eeek!"
One of the girls, frightened, turned around and continued sweeping far away from where Arcus was. The other one, the girl named Mia, simply lowered he head and continued sweeping the floor.
'What's wrong with them, all I was trying to do is get that stupid scroll'
The moment Arcus said the words scroll in his mind, He felt something land in his hands. He raised his hand in shock, and he found himself gripping the scroll.
'The scroll! So that's how you do it, I have to think of the object and say it in my mind.'
Realizing where he was, Arcus turned to look around him to see if anyone had seen the scroll appear in his hands. Thankfully, the only other two people nearby were the two girls and one of them was turned around while the other had her head down too busy with sweeping the floors to notice.
Arcus dropped the broom, hid the scroll underneath, and rushed into the outhouse as quickly as he could. Even though it stank in there, it was the only place where he could open up the scroll in private since he shares his room with 13 other kids.
However, what Arcus failed to notice is that one of the girls, Mia, was visibly shaking. Her eyes flashed an unknown glint as she glanced in the direction of Arcus.
Once outside, he made sure no other kid was in the outhouse before going in.
Arcus took the scroll from out of his robe and opened it slowly. Soon a row of golden letters came into view.
[There are no shortcuts in the pursuit of power]
.....
Arcus opened the scroll a little more.
.....
Empty
.....
Outside the outhouse, there were a couple of kids playing by the yard.
"Tag! you're it"
Six kids were running around trying to tap the other when all of the sudden.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
A loud scream echoed from the outhouse.
All the kids stopped and looked at the outhouse, their faces awkward. One of the older kids turned to the rest.
"Maybe we should move somewhere else."