'There are times in life when you face questions you don't know answers to.'
I thought as I looked at the 4th question on today's exam.
-Sigh!
A long sigh escapes my mouth as I was done with my paper. It's just the 4th question that I didn't know how to solve.
'Seems like this is it for the papers,' I thought as I looked around me.
Beside me was an orange haired boy trying his best to solve the questions. For a brief moment, I even saw him praying with his hands joined a couple of times.
Some were engrossed in the questions, others were trying to peek at each other's answer sheet. My eyes then slowly reached the teacher observing the students with a slight smile. Even though the students were cheating, all he did was observe. Though he did call some students out who were disturbing others with their copying.
-Sigh!
Another sigh escaped my mouth as I put down my pen and looked through the window, at the setting sun that covered most of the sky.
'What should I do after this?' I thought it was the last exam of my 3rd year highschool. My best friend was fighting cancer in another city right now. I could visit him maybe?
"Perhaps I should read some manga?" I muttered out my thoughts as I was pretty much done with the paper.
"Hey! Adrian. Pss Pss," the same orange haired boy, Mark, whispered to me. Peeking him from the side eye, I observed him for a brief moment before whispering back," lunch."
"Sure," he gave me a thumbs up with a bright expression, before he carefully raised his three fingers denoting the question number he was asking.
"Mark. Adrian," though our homeroom teacher's eagle eyes caught us before I could even re-read the question. Well, there goes my lunch.
Mark grumbled. I then looked back at the sunset at a distance, calming me a little, as I recalled that this was the last time I would be looking at this sunset. Somehow it made me recall a few bits of my life as well.
Adrian John Rodriguez. A fancy name that was given to me by Sister Martha, the orphanage where I used to stay during the first decade of my life. She said that I was born for greatness and the purpose of life was to the best there is.
I was enthralled. The common masses couldn't understand the thought process a legend like me was going through.
But that was for 5 more minutes until I found her saying the same thing to another 5 year old in the orphanage.
Anyways, life was pretty easy going as I worked, first in the orphanage and later part time, and studied in my free time. Even got a decent scholarship that saved me quite a bit of money. Academically I was good, as for sports, I was barely average.
Nothing especially good about that life… but nothing bad either.
And I wanted it to peacefully continue like that for a long time. With college, relationships, marriage, etc. I would rather have an ordinary life with simplicity than one with fortunes and troubles.
'?'
Sadly… Life throws curve balls in ways that one can never expect.
'What's that?'
Looking outside the window, I saw something flying in the air.
My eyes narrowed at that thing that was flying. It seemed like a worm or something.
'What IS that thing?' I tried taking a good look at it, as for some reason, I couldn't let go of it. Though my curiosity was fulfilled rather fast as that 'thing' was flying towards us. Its speed was fast as the size kept increasing, the closer it got.
"Hey! What is that?" One of the girls spoke pointing at that thing, before her eyes widened in shock. And then she shouted,"M-M-MONSTER!!!!!!!"
Indeed.
It was a giant caterpillar, big enough to crush the entire highschool if it fell on the ground. Panic ensued as it flew over the school, gathering the attention of all the classmates present.
But that wasn't the end. It wasn't the only one as more and more monsters of various shapes and sizes started pouring from the sky, flying all around as far as the eyes could see.
And that was the start of what people will soon call the Great Cataclysm.
[The World Tutorial is Over!]
"Huh?"
The crisp sound of a mechanical voice resounded in my mind. Though a little feminine, lack of emotions in those words revealed the apparent nature of it's artificial nature.
[The Game will now begin! Server 2312AB31 Will now be open!]
"What?"
"What is this?"
"Am I hallucinating?"
Before I could even think, the voice of my classmates took my attention. Each of them showing a different emotion towards the 'air' in front of them slowly ensued an air of disarray within the classroom.
Between the monsters outside and this 'System' like notification. Confusion and panic spread like a wildfire, questioning the common sense of everyone present that was built over generations.
I glanced at Teacher Leeway, wondering if he was going to calm the situation but from his serious gaze it seemed he was prioritizing to understand the situation first. At the very least he wasn't losing his wits in this situation.
And then things turned from bad to ugly as 'it' appeared right in front of us.
"Hello Hello! Can you all hear me?" Something appeared from above, as our eyes landed at the strange being flying right above the teacher's desk.
A white coloured goblin like creature with insect wings, hovering in the air, his dirty yellow eyes looking at everyone present in the classroom. Licking his lips with a long tongue, he looked at us as if we were a delicacy.
"KYAAAA!!!"
"MONSTER!!!!"
"SAVE ME!!!!"
And some of the girls in our class shouted as they jumped out of their seats and ran away from that creature as fast as they could, towards the far end of the classroom.
"[Silence!]" That creature spoke in a strange language, muting the voices of all the panicked students present there.
All sounds, whether it were the voices of the students or the falling of the furniture, everything turned null as the white goblin smiled creepily. His dirty yellow eyes looked at everyone present once more before he spoke,
"Now that we have some peace. I will relay what I have to say."
His voice attracted the attention of all those present around. Some afraid, some serious. Tension built as some of the students were panicking even more given their loss of speech ability. Two even fainted from all the pressure that was building.
Though the white winged goblin monster didn't care about any of them…
"Starting with the fact that most of you have guessed already. Your world was on a tutorial mode until now and it's time limit is over. Now, you will be playing the real game."
"There is only one rule. Survive every level. As you survive each level, more information will be revealed to you. Some of it will be useful. Some will be useless. But as you pass each level, your control over your own life will increase. Now… entertain us," he smiled as he clicked his finger.
The amount of information provided to us was little. The time given to us to take that information was even less than that. One can see from the manner of speech of that goblin that he was enjoying every bit of it.
As he clicked his finger, time paused. Everything around me turned black, gray and white, even that white goblin was frozen in the air with that creepy smile of his.
My eyes looked at the frozen classmates first, and then at the goblin. Perhaps my mind was already confused, that this strange process challenged my ability to think clearly. Where should I even begin? What is even going on? All sorts of questions jumbled up in my mind as a headache followed along with it.
"Huh?"
It was then I noticed. The Fancy Cheap Silver ring that I always wore on my right index finger glowed bright before melting into my finger, leaving a black circular mark there.
It had an intricate design, and I found this ring in my cupboard on a random day. Perhaps I liked it for one reason or another, so I ended up wearing it all the time. It wasn't related to my days of eighth grade syndrome at all. Nope. Not at all.
Moments passed as I stayed still, wondering what was going on. Though, before I could try something, another message, this time on a white screen, appeared in front of me.
[Game Master's ID Found!]
[Unlocking Game Master's Privileges!]