A young man in office casual wear was busy completing his assignment for work as a blue transparent notification screen popped up before him. In fact, the same blue notification screen popped up for every human on the planet.
The young man thought he was being pranked again by his colleagues, but as he looked around, he found every face in the room filled with shock and confusion.
Uncertain of the situation, he proceeded to read the blue prompt.
***
Greetings Mr. Zane McAllister Tarik! Your planet has been conquered and assimilated by the Embst Sovereignty. As native inhabitants of our planet, you are given the chance to prove your worthiness to one of the different classes of citizens in our dominion.
Please note: you are free to reject, however, you will be immediately placed into the lowest possible class: slave. Complaint and failure to comply will not be tolerated, and offenders will immediately placed into slave status and sold as is. There are no exceptions.
The following jobs for the different classes below are available to be accepted except for first class citizens, which are reserved for those whose origins are related to the Embst bloodline. Understand that classes play a critical role in our society and come with equal amounts of rewards and responsibilities. Your choices will affect your future.
To be acknowledged by the Embst Sovereignty, you must first pass the basic trials of those classes you have chosen. Please read the next pieces of information carefully.
YOU HAVE TEN MINUTES TO REVIEW BEFORE YOU MUST CHOOSE YOUR JOB AND CLASSES.
YOU MUST OBTAIN A JOB WITHIN 1 HOUR ONCE YOU SELECT THE "BEGIN" BUTTON BELOW.
BE AWARE: THE HIGHER THE JOB AND CLASS, THE HIGHER THE AVERAGE COMPLETED TIMES.
FAILURE TO OBTAIN A JOB AFTER YOUR ALLOCATED HOUR IS COMPLETED WILL RESULT IN IMMEDIATE PLACEMENT INTO THE "SLAVE" CLASS.
Final reminder: once the "BEGIN" button has been selected your one hour time limit begins.
FIRST CLASS CITIZEN - Restricted
SECOND CLASS CITIZEN - Accepting
Hero
Saint
Magus
Sage
Dungeon Master
Demon Lord
Dragon Lord
… (press to see more)
THIRD CLASS CITIZENS - Accepting
King
Guild Faction Leader
General
Arch Mage
… (press to see more)
FOURTH CLASS CITIZENS - Accepting
Warrior
Mage
Alchemist
Merchant
Rogue
Priest
…
FIFTH CLASS CITIZENS - Accepting
Farmer
Villager
Laborer
Miner
…
SIXTH CLASS: LOWEST CLASS
Slave
BEGIN
***
"What the hell is this bullshit!" A colleague's rampaging swearing broke Zane's concentration on reading the prompt. As if opening flood gates, a rush of curses and chaos of panicking people tore though the office.
Zane remained calm. He still couldn't be sure if the events that happened was a twisted joke.
"Hard to believe, but more unbelievable is faking these blue screens." Zane quickly calculated his options. He was good at evaluating situations and developing scenarios for action. His boss loved coming to him for input on major decisions.
"It wouldn't hurt to assume all the statements and warning to be true. If false, we'll we can one day laugh it off and tell a good story at a party. If true though…"
Zane thought of the implications of the possibility if the words on the screen wasn't a joke.
"Odd, I don't know why they used my nickname as part of my name earlier. I've never written it like that. That nickname was so old and only used when I was a kid. Maybe before I turned 11.""
The oddities made Zane take the prompt less of a joke. If the chances were not zero, he was not going to risk being a slave. He recalled he had 10 minutes to review before deciding. Time was already ticking and he needed to act quickly. Seeing the second class citizen options, Zane thought the titles sounded pretty good. "Whoa. A hero or a sage would be cool to be."
Clicking on the "see more" options extended the list endlessly. It would take hours for him read it all, let alone ten minutes. He wasn't sure of what the contents of the tests held, but the limited time made the risk to rewards ratio high. High risk for high reward. He was not the type to gamble with his future.
Reviewing the list, he decide to play it safe and quickly get an easy job. Even at the bottom of the barrel, as long as the job was easy and the pay decent he would be ok with it.
"Let's go with farmer. A bountiful farming life might not be bad. At least I can feed myself."
Clicking on the "BEGIN" button he was transported to a farm. Another blue screen popped up in from of Zane.
***
Test begins! Job Test: Farmer (Basic)
Tasks required to complete the test: (0/2)
Plant seeds
Water seeds
Extra task (0/1)
Pull out one weed plant
One seed, a watering can, and weeds appeared at his feet.
***
"…that's it?!" What the heck!!!" Zane was screaming and lamenting his habit playing safe. "Wouldn't the test for hero and sage be not that bad then?!" Zane felt like he missed out on such a great opportunity by not taking risks.
"Damn. This sucks." Zane was given a heavy blow, but he continued to finish his quest. Crouching down he pulled out a weed nearby, and he heard a ding sound. Next he dipped his finger into the ground and dropped the seed inside before covering it with the surrounding soil. He heard a ding sound but ignored it as he took the watering pail and drizzled water. Another ding sound followed, and the blue screen popped up.
***
Test completed! Test: Farmer (Basic)
Completed tasks: (2/2)
Extra task completed: (1/1)
Rewards
acceptance into Farmer class
Basic Farmer starter kit
Note: farmer kit placed into inventory
Press complete to finish.
COMPLETE
***
Pressing the complete button, Zane was transferred back. The process hadn't even been five minutes. We was regretting not choosing a higher job from a higher class when he noticed the initial prompt did not go away.
He looked over the options under the fifth class citizens, and the farmer option had been crossed out. A lightbulb came on in his mind.
"Wait. Does this mean I can choose again?!"