Aalam
Aalam woke to find himself in a strange sterile white room sitting on an out of place high-backed wooden chair. He was wearing grey clothing which consisted of sweatpants, underwear, and a T-shirt and in front of him was a large oak desk. Most out there of all, however, was what was behind the desk, a fantasy style puppet, a human-looking being fully made of wood.
Now, if that wasn't weird enough, the being then began to talk to him with what felt like telepathy.
"Hello Aalam Alvaro and welcome to Earth's Monster Tutorial. Due to dying within 27 standard days of your world's apocalypse style integration, equivalent to 30.375 earth days, your soul was protected and gathered by the System.
"At this time, those with talent still alive in your world will be entering into their own tutorial, and, when that tutorial is finished, they will have to face monsters, foreign invaders, and each other to compete over Earth's hegemony. You, on the other hand, will have no part in that conflict.
"Instead, you will compete in another world undergoing a similar apocalypse style integration, but, instead of a native, you will be reborn as a monster.
"Do you have any questions or may I begin the explanation of what will be coming next?"
Aalam thought about it for a half second. This felt like the start of a webnovel and, as his dreams went, it was a bit more out there than usual. Still, if he was having a dream, it meant he wasn't actually dead, and he really didn't feel like waking up, so he decided to just go with it. "No questions. You can start the explanation."
"Alright then.
"First, an apocalypse style integration is different than a normal integration. In a normal integration, mana levels in the world rise naturally, a tutorial is given to those of talent, and the world is brought under the control of a local force and given seventy-two standard years to adapt.
"When the local species of a world threaten to destroy themselves and their planet before mana in the world can rise to reasonable levels, however, the integration of the world is instead apocalypse style. Mana in the world is made to artificially rise by the System, souls of the dead are taken to be made into monsters to invade other worlds, and everything is turned into a fight instead of allowing for a peaceful transition. Tutorials still happen, but deaths are common in them instead of nonexistent, and the world is left on its own for seventy-two years, instead of having a benefactor.
"At least that is the normal case. Your world, Earth, is slightly special as the former testing grounds of the Yin Yang Sage. The sage died roughly 2,000 years ago, but, through services rendered to the gods, her spirit has lived on and she will serve in a benefactor role during your integration process, providing you and your fellow Earthlings with quite a few benefits you'll learn about later.
"You, as someone who died, are just a soul, and you will remain as such during your tutorial. This has advantages, as your body will not effect your cultivation talent and law comprehension will be slightly easier as a result, but you also won't be able to improve your body during the tutorial and will instead gain a new one at the end. For the purposes of training, however, your body will still act as if it is human.
"The tutorial will last 81 days and consist of three challenges with downtime mixed in between. How you use this time, and what level of challenges you accept, will be up to you, but the trial points you earn from challenges will be used as currency when purchasing your new form and the stats you gain in the tutorial will transfer over, so the more risks you take during the tutorial the more likely you are to survive what comes after.
"Shall we start your soul's integration with mana? More information will be provided at each step."
Aalam nodded and then he felt his surroundings start to change, even though there was no visible difference. It felt like he was swimming underwater, only without anything blocking him from breathing. In fact, breathing felt really, really good, like fresh air after being stuck in an old library for most of a day.
Then, uncalled for, black text appeared in front of his eyes in a status screen.
Name: Aalam Alvaro
Level: 0
Race: Human Soulform (G-Common)
Bloodline: NA
Class: Citizen (G-Common)
Laws: NA
Stats
Strength: 3
Agility: 3
Endurance: 3
Toughness: 3
Vitality: 3
Perception: 3
Magic: 3
Spirit: 3
Soul: 3
Aura: 3
Attunment: 3
Luck: 3
Free Stats: 144
Soulstructures:
Lower Dantian: 1 Large Core Container
Middle Dantian: 12 Small + 1 Medium Mana Wells
Upper Dantian: 1 Huge Mental Forge
Uniqueness:
Id
"You should be able to see your status now, a gift granted to all cultivators in the Prime Material by the gods to help you better understand your power and control the assignment of nascent energy.
"Normally, souls like you would gain only 36 free stat points at this time and I would not be able to give you any extra information beyond definitions for the keywords in your status, but your case is slightly special. Your world was facing three apocalypses—global warming, plague, and thermonuclear war—and you were apparently the largest contributor working to stop all three, even fully blocking the final apocalyptic force before the integration and saving over a billion lives.
"In return, you gain an extra 36 free stat points for each apocalypse and, for fully stopping the final apocalypse before the integration, your world's benefactor, the Yin Yang Sage, has been given the authority to grant you one major boon, and she has chosen the Boon of Information.
"By thinking about it, you can access all the sage's knowledge on monsters, classes, laws, bloodlines, skills, and the like, as well as the rules for various System-hosted competitions such as the rules of Earth's Monster Tutorial itself."
A smile started to form on Aalam's face. "How much time before I have to continue to the next step?"
"You have as much time as you desire. Time in this small subspace is currently proceeding at nearly a million times the speed of the outside world, so you could take a year and it would be less than a minute of time in the tutorial."
Aalam's smile broadened. "Oh, this is going to be so much fun."