1 Prologue
"ABCDE F You and your mom and your sister…"
*swipe*
"Let's see how this street food vendor makes his world-famous burger..."
*swipe*
As the teen boy was about to continue his upward scrolling on Instagram, a familiar unpleasant shout makes his bored look turn into a displeased one.
"Stop wasting time on that stupid Instagram Raghav! Although you have finished your exams yesterday, wasting time like this will not get you anywhere in life.
Now get ready and come to help me, you didn't forget that your uncle is coming right?"
A nagging voice interrupts his blank yet peaceful time making his lazy ass to get up unwillingly.
"Yes, Mom…" Raghav gave in to his mother's nagging without fighting back because he knew the work stress his mom was facing due to his uncle's visit.
His uncle is an extremely rich businessman. His family on the other side is a fairly middle-class family with just his father working to run the whole family.
To not get another nagging from his mother, Raghav got up from the cushioned chair and went towards his room to change his clothes.
*Ding Dong*
As soon as he finished changing his clothes, a doorbell sound chimed in his ears making a bright smile break out on his face.
He immediately ran down the stairs to meet the uncle.
Most specifically, to get his gifts.
It's not that he was a money-minded person and just pretended to be nice for the gifts. He and his uncle were quite close since he was a child making him unrestrained around him.
If specified, he only had a connection with his uncle amongst all his relatives.
"Hehehe, Raghu is also here" Uncle called out as soon as he saw Raghav.
"…"
Raghav didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. He was 18 this year and was still called out like a kid by his uncle.
Choosing not to answer, Raghav tactically hugged him with a smile and let his parents continue their talk.
"Zzzzzz Bzzzz"
The conversation continued for quite a while before getting interrupted by his uncle's vibrating phone due to an incoming phone call.
"Sorry! I have to take this one." Uncle apologized as he excused himself walked away to answer the call.
Just as he walked away, Raghav noticed his brand new iPhone which looked expensive just by appearance. It was not a normal iPhone but rather a custom-made one with a titanic sign at its back was designed with some metal covering.
As soon as his uncle came back, Raghav asked about his phone with an excited expression on his face.
"oh, this?!"
"This one is a custom-made iPhone gifted to me by my CEO on the company's anniversary. It has an actual part of the ship 'Titanic'."
After a little halt, he continued.
"If you want you can play around with it for a bit" Uncle said with a smile
Raghav readily took the phone and went towards his room, sensing that his parents and the uncle have something to talk about in private.
Inside the room, Raghav jumped on his bed with the phone in his hand as he intently watched the backside of the phone while laying down.
That phone was really a sign of luxury with the titanium plating on its back with the words 'TITANIC' attracting everyone towards them.
Although the phone was pretty nice, Raghav was more concerned about the private talk between his parents and his uncle.
*thud*
"Ow!"
Just as Raghav's thoughts wandered around the private talk, the grip of his hands loosened and in an instant the heavy phone fell on his nose, causing him to get hurt in the process.
As he groaned from the throbbing pain on his nose bridge, his eyes darted to the phone and widened in horror.
"no no no no no No No" Raghav mumbled as he paced back and forth with horror nesting on his face.
Turns out that the Titanic part of the phone was cracked after hitting his nose.
Raghav was really horrified by it. He knew that the phone must be super expensive and most importantly it had sentimental value to his uncle. He knew that he would be screwed after this incident got found out.
*tremble*
*tremble*
"Huh? Wha …" Raghav was astonished and too stunned to utter anything but monosyllabic word as the phone vibrated. Knowing that his uncle was receiving a call, he pushed away his fear and was about to get up and give his uncle the phone.
But before he could even complete his words, a blinding white light emerged from the cracked part of Titanic and immersed Raghav in it.
…
After a certain amount of time, He opened his eyes in a flash as droplets and beads of sweat rolled down his forehead.
His face showcased true horror, his breathing became heavier with each passing moment, his heartbeat as loud as a boom box.
"John Jacob Bastor IV… Titanic… End of the world… Test… Genesis Plane…World of Gods…???"
He mumbled crazy things that made no sense to him but seemed strangely real as if happened with him.
Turns out that the broken piece of Titanic contained the memory fragments of John Jacob Bastor IV. The memory fragment revealed yet another shocking news which stated that the Titanic did not sink by crashing against a glacier, but rather accidentally passed through a region that connected Earth to Outer space.
The entire crew of Titanic who died were not drowned but were transmigrated to another strange place called the [Selection Area].
The memories Raghav got were just fragments that were stored by John Jacob Bastor IV. They contained just the vital information to let the bearer of the fragments prepare for the catastrophe.
'According to these memory fragments, 3 years from now… On 16th July 2025, All the people above 21 will be transported to this place called [Selection Area] and the rest will follow a month later.'
Raghav did not fully consider this memory to be true and would preferably be called a mental patient than this being real, but unfortunately, proof was against him.
He rushed towards the computer to google about John Bastor and even about the survivors of Titanic and their confessions on what actually happened at the crash.
"John Jacob Bastor IV was an American business magnate, real estate developer, writer, lieutenant colonel…
He was one of the richest people traveling on the Titanic and among the top ten rich people of the world at that time…"
With every word he read, the palpitations in his heart grew stronger.
He finally couldn't hold it anymore and didn't know what to do. He wanted to tell the world about it but knew that no one would believe him at all.
Amidst the chaos in his mind, his mind finally gave him a faint hope and he dialled a number on the expensive iPhone without thinking through to the consequences.
*ring ring*
After 4 rings, the person on the other side finally picked up the call.
"Hello, David here." The person named David spoke in an extremely formal tone.
Raghav: "112084 NRONE"
David said "Huh?!" in a confused tone.
Raghav meanwhile in his frantic state, "No need to get shocked. Listen the task carefully. Prepare a ticket to America with the admission letter from a good university for graduation in the Science field for a person named Raghav Agarwal from India, Punjab.
Also, remember not to overstep your boundaries and try to investigate about me or about the owner of this phone." He said with a menacing tone.
…
Raghav had already ended the call after his last threat without waiting for David to respond.
His heart was beating loudly as he recalled his hasty behaviour.
Under pressure and confusion Raghav had dialled a number recorded in the memory of John Jacob Bastor IV. The number was of the servant family who served the Bastor Family and did all kinds of dirty work for them.
"Calm down Raghav! If the memory shit turns out to be true then I would get a letter pretty soon, or else I have a brain issue…"
Raghav forcefully calmed himself down.
Taking deep breaths, he laid down on the bed and closed his eyes to review all the memories he had got.
After an unknown amount of time, he dozed off.
…
When he woke up, it was 8:00 in the morning and the luxurious iPhone was nowhere to be found.
Raghav freshened up and ran outside the house.
Reaching a nearby park, he started jogging.
Although Raghav was not a fit guy, but he was also not fat. He was a fair-skinned, tall, healthy boy with long hair.
He jogged around the park until his body was all sweaty before returning home.
Ignoring the shocked eyes of his mother, he walked towards his room to take a shower.
…
3 days passed in this way and Raghav was learning more and more profound things like real estate and military techniques from John Jacob Bastor IV's memory.
He was now fairly sure that the stuff he saw in the memory was true and after 3 years, maybe there will be a catastrophe and everyone will get transmigrated.
According to the memory, everyone transmigrating will get a chance to choose their own gold finger.
One can ask for anything they desire and will help use it to them in the [Selection Area]. But it is limited to one thing.
We can ask for anything starting from World Tree to even Systems.
"Raghav!"
"There is a letter by your name" Dad shouted
Just when Raghav was thinking about what will he choose as his golden finger, a shout broke his thoughts.
He ran downstairs, grabbed the letter from his father, and tore it open.
The words 'Boston University' on the front of that envelope made his breathing heavier and at the same time gave him a glimpse of Bastor family's strength.
Although happy, he was also scared of what was about to happen in the future. He couldn't imagine what the world would look like when everything was over.
It is always that way, if one knows about their death date that person wouldn't be able to sleep peacefully and would live their remaining life in terror. The same was for Raghav, he knew what was about to happen so he couldn't stay calm and scroll Instagram. He wanted to work and get himself stronger to get a better chance to live and survive in the [Selection Area].
The only option for him to survive better in that [Selection Area] was to learn more about survival skills along with a bit of science and technology.
If it was just about survival then it wouldn't have been so terrible. There was a hidden take to this situation which Raghav was afraid to think. John Jacob IV's memory also said that [Selection Area] was just a test which will then allow the Selected people to step into the World of Gods and become a God themselves. But, if one doesn't get Selected then he/she will most likely get obliterated.
He knew that he would only be able to get a jumpstart in America due to the power of Bastor Family and his questionable connection with them.
Raghav definitely couldn't rely on them for everything and will have to earn his own money to not let them suspect that something is wrong. He had already fucked up enough, by calling David without any preparations, basis or research.
'Ahhh! Get a grip of yourself Raghav. Stop daydreaming and get to work…
1st step- Convince Mom and Dad to allow me to go to Boston University for further studies.'
Raghav subconsciously nodded repeatedly as he agreed to his own plan.
Mom and Dad gave each other a questioning look as if asking if the other person knows something about their son's weird behaviour lately.
They both have never seen Raghav getting up at 8 am even in his exam time, much less during his vacations. The letter for him and his smile reading it made both of them more curious about what was going on in their son's life.
"Mom!
Dad!
I want to tell you both something…"
Hence, flipped a new chapter in the life of Raghav.
