3 Royally Screwed

Larcen looked around for help as he did not know the usage of the needles. He sighed as he placed the suit back inside and closed the lid before taking off his ID from the ID slot. He walked back down the stairs and asked the receptionist about it.

She looked up and stared at him for a few seconds before asking, "ID please."

Nodding, he placed it on the counter. The receptionist took the card and scanned it before looking at the monitor.

"You're new. Received the ID a few minutes ago and have no experience in diving. Is that correct, Sir?"

"Yes."

She nodded in response and pressed a few buttons and returned his ID before giving him instructions, "I will send someone to assist you. Until then, please get one of the pods ready."

He nodded and left the area, climbing back up to the first floor and got one of the pods ready before waiting. A few minutes passed, and someone entered the hall before heading straight towards him.

She looked normal, nothing too outrageous like the hourglass proportions of the high humans, but the nurse uniform made her look more attractive in Larcen's eyes. She walked towards him and asked, "Mr. Larcen?"

"Yes, that would be me."

She nodded as she glanced between him and the pod before deciding to tell him about the suit.

"New members usually don't know this, but the suit pierces into your body and supplies vital nutrients for your survival. Those wires aren't electrical but actually pipes, and they carry these nutrients. The helmet keeps you safe from certain situations such as madness and mind erasure. These are the most basic functions and the oldest models, but they're free, so most new divers opt for these instead.

Now, if you would undress, I will suit you up and help you initiate your first dive."

Larcen blinked a few times but did as he was told. After all, professionals like her would have seen a lot of people naked.

The suit looked scary, but it didn't hurt much when the nurse took care of the needles. Almost all of them connected to his thicker veins and arteries. As for what they did specifically, he didn't know.

After everything was done, he carefully got into the pod as he did not want the needles to cut through his veins, but the nurse simply chuckled.

"You don't have to worry. The needles are made of a material that is extremely hard in the air but is flexible when in liquids," she said as she helped him with the helmet and smiled at him before closing the lid.

"Try staying alive, okay?" he heard her say before he was engulfed in darkness and silence. A few seconds passed, and red lights lit up before he felt something enter his body through the needles, albeit the feeling was fleeting.

He took a deep breath and waited for the helmet to release anesthesia. He closed his eyes and waited, not knowing how much time passed in darkness. Hours, days, months? He did not know, but he also wasn't able to open his eyes.

{System initiation... requirements met. Activating System - 0.025%}

Time simply flowed as he stared at the message in his consciousness. The percentage slowly increased, and as it got closer to a hundred, he began to hear noises. He couldn't really understand it, but those sounds calmed him down and gave him the confidence that he wasn't dead.

The moment it hit 100, the numbness faded, and he could feel his body. Smell, sight, sound, touch, everything. He opened his half-closed eyes fully and looked around to see people staring at him. He was in a crowded cuboid-like vehicle from what he could see, and a few seconds after staring at him, the people simply got back to what they were doing.

They were engrossed in sleek-looking rectangular devices, and before he could observe more, the girl sitting beside him patted his hand.

"Are you feeling alright?" she asked as she did so, and Larcen simply nodded before giving her a confused look.

"What happened to me?" he asked as he remembered the stares of all the people in the vehicle.

"Well, you were talking to someone on the phone and suddenly fainted... Are you an actor? Because, if you were, you did a very good job."

"Ah... haha, yeah," he said before looking at the device in his hand. It was similar to the rectangular devices that everyone used here, but he didn't know how to operate it. He closed his eyes, hoping for something, and that was when it hit.

The basic information of this world was shoved into his head, and it came with a package called "buy info get pain-free." 

Something stopped him from screaming, but it didn't reduce the pain at all. The pain slowly reduced, but he didn't open his eyes as he was looking at a familiar screen in his mind.

{

Name: Larcen 

False Name: Jack Turner

Lifespan: 11 months 16 days 07 hours 13 minutes System Points: 0

Talents:

Manufacturer - Scanning and Replication 

Merchant - Inventory access and ability to sell replicas 

Server Administrator - Set up a server

Active skills:

Flow State - Enter a state of extreme focus

}

He read the contents more than three times before opening his eyes and looking at the red screen at the corner of his vision. It was a countdown that had less than two hours left to hit zero, but it was the words above the timer that made him anxious.

{Time until the world awakening}

{01:47:34}

He knew what a world awakening was since it was a very famous topic among the citizens of his planet. Awakening was the process through which a planet evolved, and most of the time it happened through the cycle of destruction and repair.

Mana would start to permeate the air, and this would cause mutations in many while killing another majority. Only a few would be able to adapt, but that was only possible if the mana release rate was low.

Larcen's mind raced with thoughts and questions as he contemplated the dire situation he found himself in.

'I'm royally screwed, aren't I?'