Is it better to live a long, ordinary life or die after a short but exciting one? Jaden Ace thought about this question often. He considered himself content with his normal life as a businessman in New York. Up until recently, every person had no choice but to live a normal life working, sleeping, and eating. However, in the year 2025, everything changed.

Huge portals appeared in the sky one morning, sending horrifying monsters to rampage the Earth. The monsters were categorized in different classes which showed how dangerous they were. Phantom Class was dangerous, but couldn't cause much destruction, about the same as a rabid wild animal. Beast Class was capable of destroying an entire building. King Class was completely unstoppable by human means, no matter how many tanks or missiles they employed. A King Class monster could turn an entire city into rubble.

Since the first time the monsters had appeared, only one King Class monster had been killed, and it took nearly all the nuclear missiles owned by the United States to kill it. As a result, the states of Nevada and Utah were now a nuclear wasteland. No one had set foot there and lived since the incident.

However, King Class monsters were not the strongest. They did not even come close. Emperor Class Monsters were so horrifying that they went beyond human comprehension. There had only ever been one Emperor Class who had appeared, and when it did it it destroyed the entire island of Australia. Thousands of people died, and not even the strongest missile could do a thing against it. After this terrible calamity, the world was filled with fear and riots, as people panicked at what seemed like the end of the world.

However, when humanity was backed into a corner, something happened. A few people around the world suddenly awakened with a mysterious power known as systems. These systems had different categories that gave people different forms of powers such as a 'Fighter System' or a 'Healer System'.

The first man to gain a system was a normal teenage boy from the Philippines named Crisanto Cruz who had the 'Berserker System'. He became the first human to single-handedly kill a King Class monster. After Crisanto, many more people gained systems and devoted their lives to protecting humanity.

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"And so, as Ethan has gained a Fighter System, he will become a monster fighter and no longer work for this company."

A group of men sat in a boardroom, gazing in awe at the young man who had recently gained a system. The speech was greeted with polite applause. Jaden joined in, enthusiastically. He was not applauding since he was happy for his co-workers accomplishment, rather, he was clapping because the one with a system was not him.

Jaden had read many online novels, he knew how the whole system thing worked. And he had no interest in it. Going from weak to strong? Gaining devoted fans and an adoring harem? Forget it!

"That is all for today, gentlemen!" The CEO was a tall man with thick black hair. "Don't forget, the weekly reports are due tomorrow." There was a murmur of thanks and a clatter as the men rose out of their chairs to leave the office for the day.

A couple men stayed behind, shaking Ethan's hand excitedly, practically drooling with jealousy.

How annoying.

Jaden made his way to the train station to take him back to his apartment in downtown New York. A smile came to his face at the thought of the nice bath that awaited him at home. Leave the monster fighting to someone else.

Jaden checked his phone as he sat, waiting for the train. The sky had grown suddenly dark and thunder rumbled. Suddenly, a notification popped up.

[ALERT: Emperor Class monster spotted above New York. Citizens are urged to evacuate.]

He looked around. He was the only one left in the train station. The notification had to be mistaken…right? This was beginning to remind him all too much of those online novels.

Suddenly, the roof above him collapsed. High up in the sky, Jaden saw something truly horrifying. It looked like a giant dragon with five heads and the tail of a scorpion. Its wings were jagged like bat wings and its legs looked like a spider.

Give me a break!

The monster roared, causing the buildings of New York to shake. Its teeth looked sharp enough to impale a mountain.

Jaden had the uncomfortable feeling he was about to be eaten.

Sirens were beginning to scream, and he could hear people screaming and panicking in the city. There must be some system fighters nearby, but what could they do against an Emperor Class?

The monster made a slow circle in the sky. All of a sudden, it began to charge to the ground, directly at where Jaden was. He closed his eyes and wished goodbye to the world. To die before getting a raise is a terrible thing!

Jaden felt a rush of warm, foul breath and heard the clash of teeth and then….

[Welcome, Jaden Ace, to the God Emperor System]

As if this day couldn't get worse.