After a few moments, Micheal overcame his emotions.
There were only minutes left till the next Wave of Chosen
were transported away from Earth, never to return. In that
brief period, he knew exactly what he needed to do. He could
not afford to let himself get emotional right now, no matter
how raw his feelings.
His deep, blue eyes gleamed as he looked over to the left,
his short brown hair rustling slightly. He rubbed his strong
chin lightly, feeling the scraggy stubble that had appeared.
"Shin! Shin! Wake up, quickly!" His voice was
authoritative as he rushed over to a tent that was set up right
next to his, throwing it open. The brisk scent of the morning
air filled his lungs, a refreshing smell that he hadn't tasted in
years.
"Y-yo what's up, man? How early is this?" A bleary-eyed,
blonde haired 18-year-old stared at him through the open tent
in confusion.
"Shin, I need you to listen to me." Micheal's eyes were
deadly serious as he spoke, his voice containing a certain level
of pressure and force that Shin had never heard before.
As Micheal looked at Shin, the scene of Shin sliding to the
ground, dead, flashed in his mind. He blinked as he looked at
the blonde teenager, taking a deep breath as he forced himself
to focus. All of that had yet to happen, it wasn't real. At least,
not this time around.
"What's happening?" Shin's eyes became serious too as he
nodded at Micheal, settling down. Shin had always been better
at adapting to things, Micheal had always noticed, taking
things as they came. He, himself, had always been bad about
that.
"Shin, we are about to be Chosen. We are part of the
Fourth Wave of Chosen, which means we will be three years
behind the other Chosen." Micheal's voice was cool as he
continued,
"I need you to listen and remember everything I am about
to tell you. This is not a joke, this is not a game. If you don't
listen to me, you may very well die." He had already changed
the future now, so he might as well go all out.
"…"
For the next several minutes, Micheal talked without pause
at Shin, telling him various things and explaining what was
about to happen.
In particular, he explained what the Shop was.
The Holy Shop, as some called it.
When the apocalypse took hold and people were
transported, the first thing they saw when they vanished from
earth was a small, floating blue screen. The infamous Status
Screen.
Apart from that, there was a white screen that appeared as
well.
The Holy Shop. A shop where one could spend 'Points' to
gain powerful Abilities or Artifacts, tools that affected whether
or not one could survive at all as they moved through the
Seven Layers.
Every human being in the world had access to the Shop.
However, none of the other Races had access to the Shop.
Only the Human Race did. Researchers theorized that this was
because the Human Race was considered the weakest race in
existence, and that the Heavens had created the Shop to rectify
this, to make this final struggle a fair one.
Of course, in the end, it hadn't been enough. Humanity
lost, and lost pitifully.
'But I will change that, this time around.' Micheal swore,
his eyes full of fire.
'I won't let it happen like last time.'
'I won't.'
"This is all about to happen?" Shin's stunned voice, full of
shock and surprise, caught Micheal's attention as he finished
musing.
"Yes. I had a vision of the future. I need you to keep that a
secret, and remember exactly what I said." Micheal responded,
his voice warm as he looked at his longtime best friend, a man
that had stayed by his side for more than 10 years of
harrowing survival. For now, he decided it was easiest to
explain his situation as a vision of the future. He lacked the
time to dive deeper, not right now.
As he looked at his best friend, he knew that there was no
way in hell he would leave Shin to die. He hadn't even met up
with Shin again till the 2nd Layer, originally, the two being
lost and clueless like all of the other Chosen initially were.
As for his family…
He had never met up with them, but had known that, at the
least, they weren't part of the Fourth Wave. They had died in
one of the Layers, he wasn't sure which. If only he or Shin had
brought their phones with them on this camping trip, it
would've been worth it to hear his mother or father speak, or
to talk to his little sisters.
He sighed.
'I will save them. I will save everyone.' His eyes widened,
full of determination.
BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
A few moments after they finished speaking, a loud, but
familiar, whirring noise shook the air. Particles of energy
seemed to flow, visible to the naked eye as bright light
surrounded Shin and Micheal.
And not only those two. But, instead, 1,000,000,000
people total, an entire billion people. From China to America,
Russia to South Africa, Australia to Brazil.
In that instant, one billion people were surrounded by light.
1,000,000,000 people were Chosen to be part of the Fourth
Wave.
All of those people, Shin and Micheal included, vanished.
.. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..
Micheal blinked, his vision clearing as he found himself in
a familiar setting once more…
An ethereal, fogscape where he floated in mid-air, right in
front of two stationary screens. His body felt cool, as if he was
swimming in a pool of water. It was comfortable and relaxing,
quite peaceful.
.
— - Shop — -
Available Points: 48,200
Abilities - Artifacts
.
— - Status — -
Name: Micheal Care
Points: 48,200
Race: Human
Age: 18
- Stats -
Strength - 11
Endurance - 11
Recovery - 10
Soul - 10
- Abilities - (0/7)
"Please spend your allotted Points till they are completely
used up. You have one hour to choose. After that hour, all
unused Points will be discarded, and you will be transported to
the First Layer."
An ethereal, feminine voice sounded off, another familiar
voice. A voice from the 'Spirit' that ran the Shop, a being
some theorized was God, while others declared was something
akin to a magic computer program or Ai.
Micheal ignored that voice, however, as he immediately
tapped upon the 'Abilities' option in the Shop, ignoring
everything else.
.
—-Abilities—-
Ki Cultivator (God Tier) - 1,012,800,500
Ki Cultivator (Emperor Tier) - 256,850,600
Ki Cultivator (King Tier) - 31,402,800
Ki Cultivator (Lord Tier) - 5,288,000
Ki Cultivator (Sky Tier) - 606,500
Ki Cultivator (Earth Tier) - 95,000
Ki Cultivator (Mortal Tier) - 5,000
High Werewolf Type – 10,250,000
Werewolf Type – 556,000
Lesser Werewolf Type – 12,000
High Vampire Type – 11,350,000
Vampire Type – 688,000
Lesser Vampire Type – 16,000
Steel Body Type – 40,000
Herculean Strength – 2,500,000
Enhanced Strength – 20,000
Enhanced Recovery - 20,000
Dragon Blood Type – 16,340,000
Ice Caster Type – 245,000
Fire Caster Type - 245,000
… (1/41 page)
.
"It's all the same." He thought, breathing out a sigh of
relief. The Abilities you could buy, some of them upgradeable
while others were enhancements or unique 'Types' who's
users would come to be known as 'Adapted Humans.'
Everything was the same.
He even had the same 'Point' total as before, a total that he
had lucked out with. The average Points that most humans
started with was 20,000. To start with 48,200 was a huge boon
and the luckiest part about his starting position. How the Point
totals were decided was a hotly debated topic among
researchers that had no answer. Some thought it was based on
potential or talent, while others thought it was random.
Of course, that was nothing compared to those that started
with 100,000 Points, or even a few that started with 150,000 or
200,000. Some of the legendary leaders of the Last Army even
started with close to 600,000 or 700,000 Points, a ridiculous
sum.
In an instant, he flipped to one of the last pages, in the very
back. These pages were full of Abilities that could only be
purchased a limited number of times, for some reason. Many
of these had been largely taken up by the users of the first
three Waves. After the Fourth Wave finished, almost all of
these were gone.
As he scanned through the list, however, he found the
Ability he was looking for. It had already been chosen three
times, one of the few Abilities that had a limited supply.
…
Life Orb Master – 40,000 (3/4)
…
"Ability select, Life Orb Master!"
"Are you sur-"
"Yes, I'm sure! Purchase it immediately!"