"Sun Barrier!" a voice cried in the background, and a laser wall of sun rays formed around the city. Another voice called out, "Sun Tsunami!" Then a wave of molten fire engulfed the entire city, destroying it completely.
"It's all gone!" Erie fell to his knees. "Mom! Dad! Where are you?" Erie buried his head and cried in silence. He then heard a flapping noise and a figure landed in front of him. "Little boy, I need you to hide." He reached his arm towards Erie, and he was instantly transported.
Suddenly, the alarm rang in the background, waking Erie from his sleep. "Ugh, that dream again," he muttered, reaching for his pendant for comfort.
"Wait, where is it!?" he panicked. "Where is my pendant?"
Erie looked across his desk, under his bed, in the closet, and by the TV. Then he saw his reflection and stopped. "My hair is straight? And my eyes? What happened to my eyes? They're orange! What happened to me?"
Erie started to feel around his body, noticing he felt more toned and stronger than before.
"I hope this isn't my real hair color," Erie muttered, staring at his reflection. The vibrant orange strands stood out starkly. "My hair is so vibrant," he thought.
Later, Erie walked back to his bed and sat down. "Where is my pendant? Man, I wish I had some kind of ability to help me find things with ease." The moment the words were mentioned, a status screen appeared in his vision:
[Master: Erie Sunheart] [Race: ???] [Ability: N/A] [Skill: N/A]
[User currently does not host an ability, reach level 5 to unlock first skill]
"What the hell is this?" Erie looked around, and the screen followed his vision. "Why are there floating letters in front of me?" he exclaimed. "And you mean I have to level up? Who is talking to me!? Hello!?"
[Hello, Erie Sunheart, I am here to assist.]
"Where are you? And who are you? Come out and speak now!" Erie demanded.
"And my race? Why are there question marks there? Am I human? What am I?" Erie asked, his voice full of confusion.
[Error, system is unable to identify master's race. Please upgrade the system to level 2 to determine race. Please level up to level 5 to unlock the first skill. Reward: 5 additional stat points.]
"Exp? And stat points? Ugh, what are my stats?" Erie said in a weary voice.
[Stats]
[Level 0]
[HP: 100/100]
[Agility: 20]
[Speed: 15]
[Strength: 5]
[Stamina: 20]
Hey, is this one of those system things that old books talk about? So I have a system? But... why me?" As he said this, Erie was waiting for a response. "I guess you don't answer questions then, huh."
[Please proceed and complete the daily quest for 25 exp.]
"Well, I run 10 miles a day anyway, so this should be nothing." Erie began to walk to his closet to locate his running shoes. He put them on, grabbed his water bottle, and proceeded outside to run. "I feel a lot lighter than usual."
[timer started]
Timer?" Erie ran through Magnolia Park, enjoying the scenery around him, and then he noticed the red-haired, brown-eyed guy from school. "Ugh, not now. He's the guy that stepped in to help me at school." They both ran through the park, enjoying their jog, when suddenly he heard a ding in his head.
[Congratulations, 5 miles complete. Proceed to finish water intake. Currently, 98 oz of water has been consumed.]
Erie sat down on the bench facing the giant lake in the park and started drinking the rest of the water.
[100 oz consumed]
[110 oz consumed]
[120 oz consumed]
[128 oz consumed]
[Congratulations, you have completed your first quest. 25 exp granted. The system has awarded the master with an additional 75 exp.]
[Level: 2]
[Exp: 0/100]
1 stat granted
[Stamina: 21]
"Hey, this is easy! I'm at level 1 now!" erie yelled out loud.
"Only a level one? Well, it's no wonder why Tobi keeps pushing you around," a voice said in the background.
Erie looked up. "Look, I don't have any currency, man. The ones I had, I used my last few on food for myself."
"I'm not here for your currency, I'm just checking on you, dude. Why didn't you fight that guy back? You always fight back. What happened?"
Erie stood up from his spot. "It's my birthday today and my mother's death anniversary. I didn't feel like fighting today," he said as he looked away, his voice dropping in disdain.
"well happy birthday, I'm Alex Sawyer." reached out his hand for a handshake...
"Ughhh... Erie Sunheart?"
Erie and Alex talked for a while and walked through the park. About an hour had passed since Erie had been outside when a system notification popped up on Erie's screen.
[You have been in sunlight for 1 hour. 5% stat boost has been granted.]
Erie stopped in his place and double-checked the screen in front of him. "Stat boost? For being in the light?"
Alex looked back at Erie, "Dude, are you alright? You look like you just saw a ghost or something."
Erie responded back, "Yeah, I'm okay. It's nothing."
[Alert, disturbance detected, entity appearing, halt movement]
Alex chimed in, "So, the sudden stop—I'm guessing you sense that as well, right? Feels like we have a teleporter coming our way."
"Yeah, I can," Erie said, pushing his hair back. Then the air in front of Alex and Erie distorted.
"Oh, you two are together," the person said, materializing in front of them. "I am Officer Janet," she said. "You two are late!"
Alex then stared at Officer Janet, "Late for...?"
Officer Janet snapped at Alex. "The military bus has been waiting in front of Erie's house for an hour now! I will now be teleporting you both to the bus! We have to depart immediately; we are late!"
Officer Janet waved her arms and teleported them both to the bus.
"We will now be departing to the school! It's time to go!" And with that, they were both teleported.