I stood in the middle of my apartment, tears forming in my eyes. The curtains hadn't been opened in days, and empty bottles of alcohol scattered my dimly lit room.
"Why did I turn out like this…?"
I am a selfish, insecure bastard who only makes people miserable.
I was too much of a wuss to even kill myself.
I clasped my head in both hands and sunk to the floor in defeat.
My parents hate me, I got sacked from my job, I have no friends, I have no social skills, and worst of all : I'm too broke to buy any more alcohol.
This sucks.
I lowered my hands and sat there in my room, staring blankly at a wall.
Suddenly, light shined on my face and I looked upwards.
Something popped up in front of me.
[ Would you like a wish? Select "Yes" or "No." ]
"What the fuck..?"
It almost looked like a game notification. I must be imagining things.
No GAME notification appeared in front of me. I was probably still drunk.
…despite this I clicked "yes," on impulse.
[ Congratulations, you are one of the first 1000 players to click accept! Your place is…236th to select "yes." ]
Jeez. So 235 people had already accepted? They must be eager…
I waited to see if there would be any more notifications. Even if it was a dream, this was the most interesting thing that has happened to me in weeks.
[…1000 players successfully clicked accept! Teleporting all players….]
Teleporting? Yeah I was really losing it. This was one wild imagination I had.
Then, it felt like parts of my flesh were getting ripped away from me. I looked down and I was right, parts of my body were literally getting torn away from me in little pixels.
Fear gripped me and I couldn't scream or even move. Not that I even could if I wanted to, my legs had already been taken.
Then, my vision went black.
~~~~~~~~
I woke up to the sound of many people talking. They seemed to be speaking in a variety of different languages.
"Çfarë po ndodh!"
"Where are we?"
"ce qui se passe?"
Faint crying could also be heard. I opened my eyes and got up off of the stone cold floor. It was a huge…room? No. More like a massive cave... And it was FULL of hundreds of people. Where even was I?
I glanced around. So many people in one area… I stepped backwards and almost bumped into a man behind me.
"Cuidado, idiota!" The man shouted.
I grimaced, Stepping forwards again. I tried to comprehend what was happening.
[ Welcome players! ]
In huge writing above us all, the game notification appeared once more. It was almost a relief.
[The game manager will now be teleported.]
My confused face was reflected upon the people around me. We were all as equally confused as each other.
Then, pixels began to cluster together in the sky and a strange humanoid creature appeared floating near the roof of the cave, staring down at us all.
It had pale green skin and wore long purple robes. The entity had white hair that was almost as long as the thing itself, and it's yellow eyes glowed slightly.
The creature had strange stripe patterns on its face and arms, in a darker green colour.
"&27#%[&@."
It made strange sounds, and everyone including me stared up at it in a mix of confusion and awe.
The creature looked annoyed, before waiting a few moments. Everyone was silent in anticipation.
"…Sorry about that! The system has now turned on the auto translator. Apparently it turned the translator on for itself but not anyone else…."
The creature spoke. It was was very loud and almost bursted my eardrums.
I didn't know wether to be terrified or not, was this entity friendly? Was it the thing that brought us all here? ….or maybe I was still imagining things. It all felt so real.
"I will introduce myself. I am the manager of the tower, and I am in charge of you all. My name is Ahiram."
It smiled down at us, crossing its arms.
"Manager of the tower?"
"What does that mean?"
"What is that thing?"
Everyone around me started talking, trying to work out what was happening. I could understand what they all were saying now. This must be what the entity meant by 'auto translator.'
Well, duh.
"Silence, players. I am still speaking."
The people around me became quiet and fearful once again.
I looked back up at the entity.
"All around the world the system notification appeared in front of the human population. The first 1000 players to click 'yes' were accepted. Simple, right?"
It paused, as if to let us absorb the information it was giving us.
"Now! What do we mean by 'would you like a wish,' the first person to get to the top of a tower, gets to have one wish! They can wish for almost anything, and then they get to escape the tower. Any questions?"
It spoke nonchalantly, but despite this, Uproar began.
"What do you mean, tower!?"
"What happens if you don't get to the top of the tower!"
"Why is this happening!?"
The creature waved its hand dismissively. All eyes were on it.
"Alright, Alright. I'll explain a little more…since I'm generous. There are ten levels of the tower, and in each level of the tower there will be monsters trying to kill you."
The creature named Ahiram glanced at the humans below while it spoke.
"If by chance you reach the top, one of you will get the wish. The first one to reach the top ONLY… Buuut there is a strong possibility you will all just die."
I felt a shiver run down my spine.
"Don't think we're throwing you completely into certain death! As manager of the tower, I feel it's only fair you stand a chance! You will be gifted a random ability of a random rank. All players please say 'open menu' right now."
"Open menu," everyone said simultaneously, doubt reflected in each of our eyes.
Then, a screen popped up in front of me.
| Name: Hiro Kami
| Age: 23
| Ability: N/a
| rank: N/a
| Group: N/a
| Coins: 0
Wow. This really was like a game. It was uncanny. I felt exited and scared at the same time. I couldn't see anyone else's menu as I glanced around.
"Well done players, you did what I asked. Now, the best part. Random ability selection!!"
Another notification popped up in front of me.
[ Ability selection. Click "Start." Or "information ." ]
I selected information. I felt a bit too nervous to get my ability just yet.
[ Ability selection: You will gain an ability and the rank of the ability. The ranks are: S A B C D E F . S being highest rank and F being the lowest rank. Click "Back." ]
Okay…so it is literally just up to chance? Jeez. I am so screwed.
I clicked "back" and then "start."
Then, the random ability selection began.