Gasp!
Jack's eyes snapped open, his chest heaving as he coughed violently, water spurting from his throat like a dam bursting. His body shivered violently, slick with sweat, as fragmented memories clawed their way to the surface, each one more jarring than the last.
Where am I? Who am I?
Memories of two paths surfaced in his mind. One was of a global shutdown filled with video games and anime; the other was a nightmare of zombies, monsters, and mutating viruses and diseases tearing through cities. The two timelines clashed, as if competing for dominance in his mind.
Am I Hester or Jack?
Confusion filled Jack's green eyes as they flicked with uncertainty. He felt as if his body was not his own yet it also felt as if it was his.
A particular memory flashed through his mind. A handsome skinny young man was standing in front of a mirror. His green eyes were slightly red as he excitedly read a thick textbook on the history of gaming while taking his sweet time brushing his teeth.
Just as the memory began to settle, it fractured, reforming into a near identical image. Subtle differences stood out-black eyes instead of green, a textbook on ancient civillations rather than gaming history.
The memory rapidly began to crack but stayed barely intact and faded away.
Before Jack could catch his breath, another memory popped up. The green-eyed young man smiled as chatted with his friends as they walked past a burning corpse.
The memory shattered and was replaced. The chaos in his mind swirled like a storm, fragments colliding until one truth emerged, sharp and undeniable.
No, I'm Jack. I haven't died yet.
The realization grounded him, the memories settling like dust after a hurricane.
A determined light appeared in Jack's eyes as they stabilized alongside his mind.
He remembered everything that had happened. He was still in this shithole alternate timeline.
"How long has it been?" Jack wondered and looked at the digital clock on the wall.
"September 5th 3pm. It's been twenty-four years since the system left." Jack muttered as he felt reality setting in.
Laying there in silence for a few seconds, Jack let his mind wander to the time he first arrived in this world. He was so excited back then.
The life of Hester—a young man with similar features but a vastly different existence-flashed before him. Jack clenched his fists. Had his arrival killed Hester, or was Hester already dead before he got here?
The thought weighed heavy, but Jack shoved it aside. Survival first, answers later.
"Ring…ring…"
Just as Jack was thinking about getting up, he heard his phone ringing and had a bad feeling. Jack groaned as he stood up feeling woozy and grabbed his phone that was on the counter.
When he looked at the caller ID, Jack's stomach sank.
Timber Wood Selective Services.
"Shit! I knew it."
Jack's eyes flew open as he stared at the phone in his hand. His heart skipped a beat.
Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he answered the phone.
"Hello,"
"Hello, this is Sarah from Timber Wood Selective Services. Am I speaking with Hester Bunny?"
"Yes, that's me," he replies, already knowing where this is going.
"Great. I'm calling to remind you that your military service deferral is about to expire. You'll need to renew by the end of the month, either online or by mail."
"And if I don't?"
"If not, you'll be enrolled for active duty automatically. Failure to report within three months will result in criminal charges."
Jack feels his stomach tighten but forces himself to sound calm.
"Right. Can you remind me of the deferral options?"
"Certainly. Currently, you're using the financial contribution option—$60,000 every six months."
"You can also develop a military-grade VR game for 50,000 users. Secure an internship or endorsement from a recognized institution. Or design a simulation game that meets realism standards."
"Would you like to change your application method?"
Jack pinches the bridge of his nose. "No, I'll stick with the financial contribution."
"Understood. Just make sure to submit payment before the deadline to avoid complications. Is there anything else I can assist you with?"
"No, no, that's it."
"Well then, have a good day, Hester."
The call ended with a click, but Sarah's words lingered, each syllable a reminded of the noose tightening around his neck. Jack leaned on the counter, his mind racing. Options. He needed to think about his options, even if they were as bleak as ever.
"First, I can ignore financial contributions. I should consider the other three options."
"Military Grade…should I risk it?" Jack pondered as he licked his lips before shaking his head.
Designing a military grade game surpassed his skill set. He had thought about this before and realized that all his game development skills needed to reach B grade to qualify to make a military grade game. There were simply too many requirements and the standards were too high.
There was also the need to get a military grade game developer license which would cost him a few thousand dollars just to take the test.
If he still had the system, not being able to make it now didn't mean he couldn't do it after investing a shit load of points into his skill. He wouldn't even have to worry about how to acquire the license since the system could take care of that for him.
"Though if I still had the system, taking this option would still be impossible."
"As for securing an internship or receiving an endorsement or creating a simulation game they both aren't good options either."
Jack sighed as he knew that he was screwed. The third option was possible and he had some confidence in getting into a university but the timing wasn't right. College applications had ended a month ago so he would need to wait at least three months before he could apply to a university or college.
As for creating a simulation game it had the exact same problems as trying to create a military grade game.
"God dammit. The system was really leaving me with no other option but to send myself into the pits of hell." Jack gritted his teeth before slamming his fist on the counter. Unfamiliar with his new strength he punched a hole right through the top.
Jack stared in disbelief at the hole in the counter, his pulse quickening. He flexed his fingers, examining his skin. It shimmered faintly, flawless and unscathed. The surge of power in his veins felt exhilarating, addictive—and terrifying.
His skinny fist that he was used to was now replaced by a fist that had powerful muscles underneath the strengthened flesh. Clenching his fist made Jack feel a surge of strength and a feeling that nothing could break his skin.
"This must be the benefits of upgrading my attributes. At least I got something useful from that scheming system. Grade B defense and grade C+ strength are already showing their use." Jack felt his mood become a bit better and returned his focus back to solving his circumstance.
His mind turned to his bank account. Recalling that, he had left around 120,000 dollars in his bank account, which was enough for him to put off his military service for another year.
He could only hope that the money he saved wasn't extracted by the system when it left. Even if it did, he still had the three games he had created that were still generating money for him.
Taking into account how much profit his current three games are bringing him. If he didn't spend any more money to make games, he would run out of money after a year and a half if he still had the money in his account.
If not…
"I might be able to squeeze in this financial contribution application as long as I take a couple of small loans. With the three games as my assets it shouldn't be too hard." Jack muttered with a frown. He would prefer not having to take on debt.
It would be best if he could get an internship or recommendation from one of the universities in the city so that he wouldn't have to bleed out money.
"Twenty five days. I have twenty five days to figure out how to avoid going to the front lines." Jack clenched his fists accidentally causing the volume on his phone to shoot up and play the last song he was listening to.
Not paying much mind to having some background music he looked at the dozens of notifications he had gotten while unconscious and saw that one of them was from his bank.
Opening the email, his heart dropped.
His stomach dropped. A lump formed in his throat as he stared at the words: "-2,000,000".
Jack's fingers hovered over his phone, his brain struggling to process the magnitude of his loss. Two million dollars in debt. The system not only took his lifeline but it even dug him a ten foot deep grave.
Jack felt light headed as he stumbled before catching himself. His eyes flashed with determination and insanity as he went through all his emails and accounts. One by one, he found that every account created with the help of the system was deleted without any chance of recovery.
The system hadn't just left—it had wiped everything tied to it, leaving him stranded.
"Thank goodness I still have Hester's bank account and Game Developer License still around as backup. But this is the worst case scenario." Jack gritted his teeth.
He could already imagine the chaos this was causing in the banks and that sooner or later the government would be after him.
He could either proactively get ahead of it and contact the police or remain passive and pray that the system removed all traces of him when it deleted everything.
"Either way, I can only try my best to convince the government and banks to not force me to pay this debt. There is a good chance I can do it."
"I just need a good enough story to cover my ass."
"But if I had a choice between having to pay back the debt and keeping the accounts or not having either. I would keep the accounts."
"With those accounts gone, so is my money—and any way to make more." Jack cringed.
He was cornered. Trying to come up with 60,000 dollars in less than a month was nearly impossible.
"Once I survive this I'm going to find that system and destroy it with its creator!" Jack growled anger bubbling up his chest.
"Luckily, I converted most of my money into skills and attributes. 120,000…isn't too much of a loss." Jack muttered not even believing himself but it was enough to move his thoughts onto something else.
The attributes and skills that he had paid for.
Jack's eyes glowed as he locked on a piece of paper and a pen. He paused before going to write down his attributes and skills that he had gotten from the system to get a sense of what he currently had.
"Intelligence and defense—both grade B." Jack exhaled slowly.
"Dexterity and endurance at C+, and strength trailing at C."
His mind worked through the implications. Intelligence and defense were his lifelines, but against this world's monsters, even those were not enough.
"As for skills, only two of them have reached Grade B, Debugging and Multi-Platform Coding, the rest are C+. My other skills are lower grades due to them not being related to game development or I just got them recently and had no time to upgrade them. "
"Grade B, the entrance to mythical skills and abilities." Jack muttered.
According to the system's standards, grade B was where one's ability would surpass the limits of humanity. For example, if the limit of multitasking without any loss of quality for humans was three to four tasks than at Grade B he would be able to do four to five tasks without losing quality.
If the limit of humans was to run at a speed of 35 miles per hour at grade B you would be able to run 45 to 50 miles per hour.
Jack had two attributes that reached this level, intelligence and defense. They both had surpassed the limits of normal humanity.
But that was only in account to normal humans. This world was different.
Not only was there a zombie pandemic and all sorts of monstrous viruses and diseases but with the rapid improvement of technology genetic modification were becoming more and more common. Although it was still rare and still controlled by governments.
With genetic optimization one could easily cross the boundaries of humanity's limit.
Jack's lips curled into a bitter smile as he reviewed his stats. His intelligence and defense were exceptional by his old world's standards. But here? This world wasn't interested in his small gains. Through genetic modification, reaching his strength wasn't very hard.
"Timber Wood City is only a low grade city. It can only afford to provide genetic modification to its elite soldiers and above without the help of the state and federal government. I barely qualify to be put in the same ranks as elite soldiers but compared to the special government programs and monsters I'm still cannon fodder." Jack closed his eyes to calm himself and looked down to look at his body.
His brown skin was covered in sweat and dust from when he collapsed to the floor. After so many upgrades, he had transformed his initial skinny body into a lean muscular physique. However, different from his previous life, this life's body had sharp emerald green eyes that gave him a more sturdier feeling.
He had even grown two inches with his latest upgrade. Now standing around 5 feet and 11 inches.
Jack was quite a handsome man.
"Think." Jack muttered, pressing his fingers against his temple. His enhanced mind buzzed with possibilities, each more desperate than the last. The more he thought the more the back of his head throbbed with pain.
Instinctively he reached around his curly black hair that he tied into a bun to where it hurt the most and was stunned to see blood. He hastily touched the back of his neck and back felt trickling blood flowing down from an open wound the size of a finger. It was already half healed and scarring up.
"Did this happen when I blacked out?" Jack's mouth twitched as he felt that this wound must have been caused by the system. There was nothing around him that could cause it otherwise.
His fingers brushed the wound, sticky with blood. A chill ran down his spine. Was it possible? The system hadn't just been in his mind…it was physically inside his head messing with his brain. The thought lingered, unsettling and unresolved.
Not feeling well, Jack decided that his first action was to patch up his head to make sure he didn't die from blood loss. Jack winced as the blood trickled down the back of his neck. He stumbled into the bathroom, his mind spinning with questions. But as Jack struggled to come up with a plan, the ripples left by the system's disappearance were already drawing predators to his scent.