When Jonathan 'Jon' Duster opened his eyes, it was to a new place.
'Is this heaven?' Jon asked himself as he moved to touch his wound on the chest. He didn't see it, but he is certain the wound should be there. He could even feel the sensation of pain. He didn't find the injury though, 'Heaven…is wondrous' he thought as he stood up, feeling his body move. It is as if he didn't die yet and has a body, without the scars, injuries, and all. Even the scar that he got by a scrape on his knees during his high school was nowhere to be found. 'Maybe this is my soul?'
When he inspected himself, he paused. His gaze lingered at his chest area where the wound should be. Instead, there on his fair skin with a warm undertone is a round shaped… 'Barcode?' Jon traced it in disbelief. Other than not being square, it is exactly a barcode.
'Did heaven become digitalized as well?' Jon scratched his head as he looked around the place. He seems to be inside an infinite white space, not how Jon imagined it, but it fit the description, bright, blinding, and full of light.
"Okay, what's next? Where can I find Papa and ma? Or is it straight to reincarnation? I hope not, I wish to meet sis and them one last time" Jon chattered on, not noticing the black barcode turning into white. If people looked at it now, they could not find it without specifically looking for it.
The white space rumbled, and darkness spread around him, leaving behind white specks here and there. Before he knows it, the white space turned into a space theme. A giant screen popped up before him, [please report your alias]
A voice ethereal, neutral in tone sounded from everywhere yet from nowhere. It's like his ears didn't pick any sound but he heard it all the same, inside his head.
'My name?' Jon didn't hesitate, and reported it, "Jonathan Duster"
[Too long, please select a shorter one]
'Short one?'
"JON"
[Alias selected]
[Please select the area to be deployed]
A large map spurted into existence; it looked like a map of an island.
'Come on, did the heaven really digitalize? I will surely give it five stars, God' Jon thought but he didn't choose, he wanted to meet his sister.
'Wait, there is no one coming and going here, is each person have a personalized space? It's no good, how could I meet my sister?' as he worried, the voice spoke once more.
[Detected no selection, random selection in 10…9…8…]
'Oh, no I don't wish to go yet, I want to see my sister, God please just a day more and I will leave after talking with my sister' Jon pleaded but the god seemed unresponsive before the countdown reached '0'
Before he knows, he felt his vision go dark and his body sensation leave him. Then he found himself getting back his sense. Unlike before when he is floating, he is standing now. And the space around him isn't white or black, but filled with color. He is inside a wooden cottage, and the doors and windows were open, letting him see the grassland outside with trees, rocks, and houses here and there in distance.
'Is this Heaven?' Jon questioned, there is no cloud on the floor, while there is sunlight outside it's nothing different from the physical world. And he could not even move his legs; they seem to have stuck to the floor. What's more, there are a few mundane items scattered before him. Otherwise, the cottage is empty of everything.
[You have entered the Tutorial area ID #3215983…, two minutes before the tutorial begin, please read the rules and instruction meanwhile]
1:59
1:58
.
.
.
Jon looked at the holographic screen before him in confusion.
'Wait, what tutorial? Isn't a tutorial to enter heaven a bit overkill?' Jon confused, looked at the screen and read the content.
[Rules:
1. The total playtime of the tutorial is 450 minutes, you can't quit mid-way. You can get +100 tutorial points if you don't turn off the streaming function even once.
2. Only the top 25 are eligible to pass the tutorial. Upon failure, you can't reattempt the tutorial for 24 hours.
3. The tutorial area is covered by a dome that is sound insulated; going outside this dome will reduce your health by 20% of the health limit each minute.
4. The dome will start to shrink by 1 km each hour after the first 5 minutes, after 7 hours it will shrink at a speed of 1 meter per second rate until the last 100 meters when the shrinking rate is 10 meters per minute.
5. The main goal of the tutorial is survival; the last man standing out of 150 gets +100 tutorial points and one vial of diluted life water which cures all mortal wounds and diseases, including genetic disorders, mental illness, and other alignments.
6. You can farm tutorial points and find items through a variety of ways that you can explore on the map.
7. For each person killed directly, you will get +10 tutorial points. (you can use the tutorial points at the end of the tutorial in the tutorial shop)
8. When a person is killed, 50% of his belongings will be left behind with priority to low-grade items and support items. Being killed by the dome doesn't leave any of your belongings behind, so you can exit the game by this method.
9. You can temporarily enter a party with up to four people, when only the party remains standing the party will be automatically broken.
Jon read the instruction and thought 'This…isn't this Battle Royale format game?' Jon had played them. While not an expert, he is experienced in this format of the game when he was going to school.
'Is this even heaven or did I enter a VR capsule?' Jon asked but shook his head sooner, 'Being killed… the pain…that is real. This has to be heaven, hell, afterlife whatever it is'
'Does this mean I can reunite with sis here if I got eliminated this round and come for the next one?' Jon had a sudden thought, and as he thought more, it became more possible. He decided he will die this round. Anyway, he died once; dying another time isn't that dreadful.
One minute already passed through when he read the instruction again, he just read them again to see if he missed anything and he really did miss something. On the fifth point, it is said a vial of 'Life water' will be rewarded to the last man standing. But it isn't the strange point, but the 'diluted life water' is said to cure all kinds of mortal wounds and alignments.
'Aren't we all dead already? What use is this when we don't even have a body to use?' Jon asked.
'If here is really heaven, there must be a god or some sort of higher power, will he have the time to play us ants? So there should be some sort of hidden meaning here' Jon thought hard to make sense.
'I got it, what if the reward is not for us to use, but to use on someone who doesn't die yet and in the physical world?' Jon's mind worked crazy and thought of another pleasant possibility. There was sometimes an event that can't be explained by doctors, an almost deathbed patient will regain health. A phenomenon like this can't be explained even by doctors and scientists. What if this miracle is made by some sort of higher power? Those powers don't need to save ants. But what if this had happened because someone close to you requested these higher powers or used an item of otherworldly, even after death?
Jon is in no way a believer of god in his life, but for his sister he prayed, and blindly believed whatever god he can think of, but all were useless. But when he died and woke up in a strange place, he could only think of this as heaven; there is no other possible explanation he can come up with. Even if heaven is a bit different from what it is described.
'Doesn't this mean I can save sis?' Jon would have phased around in excitement if he could. Of course, his thoughts are farfetched and may come out false, but he will try nonetheless if he can save his sister. Let his sister, who is the kindest to him live one more day, for that he is ready to do anything.
As he thought this, the count came to an end finally.
00:00