The bright light of the rising morning sun shone above Dave's eyes, piercing through his eyelids and causing him to jolt awake with a start. For a moment, his weary eyes struggled to adapt to the environment around him, blinking rapidly as they tried to focus.
His eyes slowly adjusted to the light, and he took in his surroundings with a mix of confusion and disorientation. He was in an abandoned building with no memory of how he got there.
"Where am I?" He blurted out, his hoarse voice filled with wonder and confusion.
He found himself in some type of building that seemed to have been abandoned for ages. His clothes were torn and tattered, and he couldn't remember how he ended up that way. A faint memory of a falling sun, full of intense heat and light, lingered at the edge of his mind, but it was hazy, and unclear.
As he took a grasp of the situation around him, he saw a large smoke cloud in the distance, billowing into the air like a dark omen. Walking towards the exit, he was met with an unbelievable sight.
Dave's mouth hung open in utter shock as he gazed out at the scene before him. The world he knew had transformed into a desolate, post-apocalyptic landscape. The abandoned building he stood in seemed almost intact compared to the devastation outside.
Buildings had collapsed, their walls cracked and crumbling, some reduced to mere rubble. Houses were nothing more than piles of splintered wood and shattered glass. Restaurants and bars, once bustling with life, now spewed forth thick plumes of smoke and flames, their windows blown out, their doors hanging off hinges.
The streets were a tangled mess of debris, a chaotic jumble of broken glass, twisted metal, and splintered wood. Cars were overturned, their metal bodies crumpled, their windows shattered. Trees were uprooted, their branches snapped, their leaves scattered.
The once-familiar sights and sounds of the city were now replaced with an eerie silence, punctuated only by the distant crackle of flames and the faint moans of the injured.
But the most striking, the most unsettling aspect of the scene before him was the blood. A mix of black and red, it seemed to be everywhere, pooling on the floor, splattered on walls, dripping from the wreckage. It was as if the very streets themselves were bleeding, as if the earth had been wounded, its life force ebbing away.
Dave's mind struggled to comprehend the scale of the destruction, the sheer magnitude of the disaster that had unfolded. He felt like he was walking through a nightmare, a surreal landscape that couldn't possibly be real. Yet, the sights, the sounds, the smells, all told him that this was his new reality.
"What the heck happened? And how exactly did I end up here?" Dave asked aloud, his voice laced with confusion and frustration.
He scanned his surroundings, searching for a signpost, a landmark, or anything that could give him a clue about his location. But there was nothing. No signs, no billboards, no street names. Just the endless expanse of destruction and debris.
As he walked, Dave passed another abandoned building, its condition even more worse than the one he had just left. The walls were cracked, the windows shattered, and the door hung crookedly on its hinges.
Dave's gaze drifted towards the broken windows, and suddenly, a memory flashed before his eyes. He stopped dead in his tracks, his hand flying to his head as a searing pain shot through his temples.
He closed his eyes, trying to ward off the pain, but the memory lingered, yet staying out of reach. It was a fragment, a flashback of a moment in time, but it was enough to make Dave's heart race.
He remembered being chased, running for his life, and then...and then something had happened. Something that had brought him to this place.
"What's this, I feel like I've been here before," He muttered with a strained voice while struggling to make sense of the fragmented memories flashing through his mind.
More flashes came, each one a vivid reminder of the terror he had endured. He saw himself being captured by Tyler and his gang, the cruel smiles on their faces as they tortured him. He relived the moment he escaped, the rush of adrenaline as he ran for his life.
And then, a meteor, which he thought to be the sun, its intense heat and light crashing against him like a tidal wave.
As the memories flooded back, Dave's eyes snapped towards the hallway, his feet moving on their own accord. He rushed towards a specific spot, his heart pounding in his chest. And there, in the center of the hallway, was the crater.
A large and deep hole, a gaping wound in the floor where the meteor had struck. Behind it, the buildings had been reduced to rubble, a sea of debris stretching out as far as the eye could see.
Dave's eyes widened as he stared at the destruction, his mind reeling with the implications. He had been hit by a meteor, and yet, he was still alive.
"But how is it possible?" Dave asked aloud, his voice laced with wonder and confusion. He had expected the meteor's energy to have killed him, to have reduced him to nothing on the floor. Yet, here he was, standing perfectly fine on his two feet, breathing, thinking. He was alive, and seemingly uninjured.
Dave's mind struggled to comprehend the possibility of it all. He remembered crawling out of the crater, moments after the meteor's impact, and stumbling into the building where he had awakened.
It was as if he had been given a second chance, a reprieve from death itself. He felt...different, somehow. More alive, more vibrant, more healthy than he had ever felt before. It was as if the meteor's energy had somehow revitalized him, restored him to a state of peak physical condition.
Just as Dave was grappling with these thoughts, a hollow interface screen flickered to life above his eyes, causing him to raise an eyebrow in surprise.
At first, he was taken aback by the sudden appearance of it. But as he gazed at it, recognition dawned. He had seen something similar to it, in movies, in mangas and comic books, it was something called a System.
However, he was surprised that such a fictional stuff as this could be real. He didn't believed it at first, but after the series of events that had occurred to him — Tyler, the meteor, and the current state of the world,… he came to realise that this might actually be real.
Unless he had ended up in a fantasy world where he's being used as the main character of a story, with the author scribbling down plots and scenes, while also controlling his thoughts and actions.
As he gazed at the interface before him, a tab suddenly popped up, displaying a series of messages that scrolled down the screen with a soft, blue glow. A soft and melodious female voice whispered in his mind.
[Welcome User]
[You're a one in a billion to have been lucky enough to get hit by a meteor strike. Due to your intervention, you have prevented a mother crystal from forming]
Dave's mind reeled as he tried to process the sheer amount of information being presented to him.
"A mother crystal?" he wondered, his thoughts racing with excitement and trepidation.
[In turn, the mother Crystal is now in you, which had been ultimately transformed into a System]
"Well, whatever the mother crystal is, I'm glad I got to get a system in return."
[Congratulations, you have successfully activated a beast Taming System!]
"A beast taming System? I've seen systems with the same name as this, I just wonder if it'll be the same as those ones."
[Name: Dave Addams]
[HP: 1000]
"This doesn't seem right, most health points begins with 10 or 100, why is mine 1000?"
[Level: 100]
"Level 100? Did I just jumped from level 1 to 100?"
[Combat Skills: Black belt in martial arts]
"Whoa! But I never trained in martial arts before, I only practice swimming, how did I get a black belt of all belts? It's not even a red belt or something less!"
[Shooting Skills: 100%]
[Weapon fighting skills: 100%]
Dave couldn't say anymore, it's quite clear that the system he was given was different, but whether this was a blessing or a curse, he doesn't know that yet. And that was when a certain message had appeared.
[All fighting abilities of the user are SSS Ranked, however, you need to work hard for your abilities to become overpowered]
That was when it hit Dave, the 1000 HP, the level 101, and the incredible feats he had never achieved before in his life, they all started making sense to him.
He was given all of this because he had obtained a SSS rank system, but it also claimed for his ability or something to have a limitation to this feature, so he continued reading further.
[Level up points (0) : 0/1999 Exp]
[Once the required amount of Exp has been obtained, a leveling up point will be given, the user can then use it to level up any of the beast taming abilities]
[Below are your abilities]
[Beast taming lvl 1: Amateur - You can only tame basic tier beasts, with at most two in numbers. Uses 5 EP for every tamed beast]
[Beast Summoning lvl 1: Amateur - You can only summon one tamed beast at a time. Uses 5 EP for every summoned beast]
[Beast Control lvl 1: Amateur - You can control your tamed beast by giving simple commands like Kill, Stay, Run. Uses 5 EP for each control given]
[Energy Points (EP): 0]
[Error! Error!! The user's EP is low! You need a female to recharge!]
[Recharge from a handshake - Gives 5 EP]
[Recharge from a hug - Gives 20 EP]
[Recharge from a kiss - Gives 45 EP, increases as the user levels up]
[Recharge from a secret intimacy - Gives 100 EP, increases as the user levels up]
[~Quests~]
[Main Quest]
[The leadership of the current state of the world is in chaos, become Earth's only leader in Six month]
[Reward: Will be given once quest has been completed]
[Daily Quest]
[1: Tame at least 10 beasts in a day]
[Reward: 100 Exp]
[2 - (Optional): Defeat ten beasts in a day]
[Reward: 100 Exp]
[Both quests can be completed, and rewards will be given for each completed quest. But in a day, the first quest must always be completed]
[Penalty for not completing quest: You will be attacked the next day by numerous beasts, and none of your abilities will work on them]
[Good luck on your Quest to survival and conquest, Dear User! The system wishes you well!]
With that said, the screen interface vanished from Dave's field of vision, leaving him feeling both exhilarated and overwhelmed by the sudden revelation.
He couldn't wait to explore his newfound abilities given to him by the System and unlock its secrets. He knew he couldn't inform anyone as they won't believe a single bit of his words, since the system was only visible to him.
As he stood there, basking in the thrill of his newfound power, Dave's excitement was abruptly shattered by the sound of footsteps and the glint of steel in the sunlight.
He found himself surrounded by a group of eight individuals, each one brandishing a weapon and eyeing him with a mix of suspicion and hostility.