The midday sun blazed down mercilessly, casting sharp shadows across the crowded street. I staggered backward, my lip split and bleeding. The metallic taste filled my mouth as I wiped it with the back of my hand, glaring up at the three men standing over me.
"You should have been careful walking through these streets, pretty boy," the largest one sneered while holding the meager contents in my wallet.
"Fucking hell, this has almost nothing," the smallest one said while he tossed the wallet at me, counting the money he took.
"Boss, this guy is broke like me," the last guy mocked me.
The large guy grabbed me by the collar and shoved my head against the wall .
"Please let m-" before the words came out of my throat, the man landed a punch to my stomach. I doubled over, coughing.
"Come on, let's just go," the smaller one raised his voice while he tossed the money to his friends.
"What a fucking loser."
I tumbled to the ground. I didn't have enough energy to glare at them, pain all over my body.
"Let's go there," one of them said, already bored.
As their footsteps faded, I sat there, clutching my stomach, my mind not filled with anger towards those thugs but more towards fate.
Why was I in such a state? I was already working two part-time jobs every single day, no friends, family always away, and now getting robbed in daylight. What a misery.
Standing up was hard , while pressing my one hand on the rough wall , wiping the saliva over my lips with the back of my hand .
Trying to walk i stumbled down again this time my phone fell down from my back pocket beside me .
I reached it with my left hand dragged it to my face and looked at the time
"1:30 ! "
It was already noon and my stomach making sounds , it felt like I was melting from the outside and from the inside there where rat's having a party .
"Fuck ". for a moment i wished to end it all and begin again.
Before I could say another word my consiousness completely faded.
....
....
....
Thud.. Thud...Tap
As if a group of people where running footsteps continued ring all over my ear's.
I groaned, I slowly regained my consiouness, my head throbbing like a drum. "What the hell is happening ", i thought to myself as I stood up without much effort .
No pain over my lips or body , slowly i opened my eyes blinking to sudden light .
For some reason the world around me had changed significantly , instead of the alley where I fell unconscious there where strange pattern's in the dim light, instead of cement wall there where interiors of a unknown place .It was completely different from earth.
I never been inside a dungeon but this felt like one.
I looked around rolling my eyes to this very unknown situation .The last thing that happen was me getting beat by random things and falling on an alley .
Now I am in almost movie like situation unable to grasp anything.
Looking around the atmosphere was erie, the other people who where present w in this situation where tensed , some shouting while some weeping on the floor.
"Where is this ?"
"Hey , where the hell are we ?"
"How will I know ?"
"Someone please let me go home!"
"Why is no one saying anything ?"
"What the hell are these strange symbols ?"
"How do you expect us to know , we are also in the same situation ."
People where acting on their own way, some screaming with their lungs out while others pinched their cheeks hard to escape this nightmare.
While I was sure by now that we are in depp trouble .Some of them seemed to be still in deep thought they couldn't accept the reality.
The reality that this all real , as I glubed, sudden eco shimmered the whole space.
[Dear hero's of planet earth , you warriors have been selected to participate in this game to save the World of Valeria ]
"What is this "
"What hero's ,let us go home "
"I say this once but I know the police chief you better stop these prank's of your's"
"Man do you think this some kind of funny prank , let us go back "
[Listen careful candidate's you guy are selected to become hero's Valeria , but not everyone of you can become one ]
"What do you mean "
[From this very moment you will be given a task so listen very carefully, Very carefully ]
When it repeated carefully i came back to my senses.
[On passing the task you will be directly selected and will be given several benefits ]
"What benefits , what if we fail ?"
"Yes ,what if we fail are you going to kill us."
[Its not related to the task , surviving is your issue , I am only a guide to your First task]
"First task !,does that mean we have to suffer more than what's to come!"
[To pass the First task you must be able to accept reality , this is not fake but reality please bear with it on you own.]
Easier said than to accept ,that a bunch of people got dragged into a unknown place for no particular reason and a strange voice telling them to survive own their own .
There where many voice begging to let them out , but their voice's had no value .
[In this place there are 10,000 of you , Your first task it is form a group of 10 , so hundred groups and each must survive through various trials]
That many people .
[The first trail is to go through certain dungeon each opening upto a new world . You must survive , strive and reach the next portal where your next task would occurs.]
So it's almost like a game .
[These worlds that you enter have totally different atmosphere to those you ever experienced , some might have almost no danger while others will be filled with monster's each with various kinds of difficulty's depending on their orgins .]
Exactly like a fantasy game where you have to slay monsters to reach the next level I assume .
By this time people stopped screaming and focused more on the information.
[Using teamwork and tatic's you must survive each situation, With your current stats you probabily woudn't amount to anything , hence we will provide you weapons and enough ration which will be filled with enough food for each group. ]
Rolling my eyes, I got a glimpse of various weapons and rations of food lying down in the corner of the strange space .
They where organised in a way that a group could grab and go.
[And for extra measure , you each will be given a status window , it will show your current stats ,just say status to activate]
"STATUS"
"STATUS "
"Amazing "
I could hear voices filled with amazement .
[The status window infront of you are the indication of your traits and ability , each person will defer based on their on capabilities and by working hard you can increase each of your stats by various means ]
"Really intriguing "
[If you see for yourself , your status window also shows an icon called CLASS ; simply put you can choose between various Classed based of your own stats and luck , they range from Magician, warrior , commander , Archer, priest, swordsmen , Dark magician, etc ]
So it's like a role for each.
[Once you enter groups you can choose between various jobs and not everyone can take the same job and so be careful of what you choose, also each Job has some special Classes in them that are of better Rarity ]
"Wow , just like I an MMORPG game we need to select various classes and create a balanced team"
[Each job has a rank ranging from the highest Divine, Mythical, Legend , Epic , Rare,common. Hence their growth and and uses would varies based on these.]
The more I thought about things the more it all made sense , in a way just like in an game we need to form teams and face various trails finally reaching the end.
Everyone looking at their status windows i thought it's about time i also called mine.
"STATUS"
[Name: Kang Hyunwoo]
[Class: Magician (Rank : Rare) ]
[Title: None]
[Trait: Manipulator][Stat]
[Strength: 10]
[Stamina: 11]
[Agility: 11]
[Intelligence: (30) ]
[Endurance: 11]
[Luck : (25) ]
[Mana : 14 ]
The scene infront of me was just like a game , I was a magician, it was as if I was living in a game now. Just as I quietly said , the voice again appeared .
[The last one is called constellation , that is special option only given to you by upper beings , if they are interested in you will provided various gifts and abilities , such as upgraded classes of higher rarity . Unique character is the key to get their attention and its better to keep it secret ]
When I heard "Upper being" , that probably means someone is watching over our action and maybe they have the ability to help us .
"Pick me I am very smart."
"No, pick me me I am very strong "
The chaos infront of me was a sight to see, people begging and screaming to be picked , their despiretion was well seen .
[ Constellation are not the same as you lower beings , they will never appear infront of you or help you if act desperate just play through the trials and maybe you will be provided the chance , If you get your hands on stronger and powerful weapon throughout the challenges you can still survive without their help.]
To me those words felt like a wind of relief, it would be wiser to trust weapon than some being who would leave you if they loose interest.
The shining purple part of the status window
[Constellation: The Lost one ]
"Huh?"
"Why does it show a name ?", why does it show that I have contracted with an constellation ,and the name" The Lost one".
Scratching my head confused , i pressed over a button showing more, and it opened a descriptive panel about my so called constellation.
(The lost one is one of the unknown celestial beings to ever exist in the universe , considering its origins there are no much information nor on basis of it abilities.)
I am sure this was a good thing but, at the same time a unknown constellation what would I do with it .
I wonder if I get some sort of abilities,as soon as I said those words, a purple colured text started appearing in front of the description .
(Ability : Book of All Lvl : 1 )
A small notebook magically appeared in my hand's, it has some kind of ancient looking stripes and looked like a fossil.
(Description: The Book of All is one of the most powerful abilities to exist , with it you can see through and appraisal any kind of reality , whether it maybe be created or existing or about to occur or occured based on the level of the ability.)
"See through , appraisal'
Are they like special abilities of this book , I slowly opened it , going through each page , but to my disappointment it was completely blank , and when i reached the last page it completely vanhsied from my hand while emitting a light , what the hell?, just when i said those words in my head the voice spoke again.
[ You have 10 minute's to form a team of your own , 100 portals will open in front of you and as soon as a team enters , the gate will close and so on. So without wasting time please form team's and set on your trail.]
After which I heard someone screaming Explain more , but to me it felt this will be the last time we ever hear from that thing.
What ever happen's , i need to survive , No matter What !
Based on the words we heard so far the first task at hand is to select a weapon that suits you form a group .
"Attention we require someone who can use a shiled "
"We require someone who can use sword"
"I am a priest"
Rolling my eyes around i could see people had already started aqua recruiting and some begging to join , while some shouting thier classess out loud to get attention. The earlier Air of tension now changed to the one with acceptance , Acceptance of reality.
[JOB and Classes are the same A/N]
With all the comotion i went and picked up a small wand since my class is magician and all , not that long or heavy , it was sharp enough to cut through flesh i hope so ! , With the sword in my right hand i started approaching various groups , maybe its due to my weak looking build i got rejected by all of them.
"sorry man we are full"
"Sorry, we are already booked"
Booked is this some kind of hotel or something , the only thing i could get out these people where sorry , sorry my ass, If you don't want me just say it to the face, I was very much annoyed by my fate , Even on back home i was picked the last for every activity because of my fragile looking body , Whatever I will just join last team.
When i looked people who rejected me had already completed thier team's and had started entering the portal's , unlucky i had to sit on the sidelines . When i tilted my head to my left i could see a group of poeple resting each with thier own distinct weapons and faces.
A girl siting alone her face full of worry , she was shaking a lot more than i thought , as i looked past her almost everyone except us wannabe's where left. I thought to myslef maybe these people are like me and the one's who got rejected .
10 of us alone in the vicinity and a single portal waiting for us to enter.
I wonder What's next.