Eden

Edward opened his eyes, finding himself back in the lecture room with time moving normally. His clothes were dry, with all the dirt gone. Leonard was speaking to the girl, who was chortling, covering her mouth.

"That was hilarious." The girl laughed, slapping her lap. "I wish I was there."

"Haha, I know," Leonard said with a smile. He leaned back on his chair, sighing. "But seriously. That party was wild. One of the seniors drank so hard and rushed to the bathroom. He was in there for so long that we thought he had died of alcohol poisoning."

"Wait, did he die?" The girl asked, leaning in, sliding a chair closer to Leonard.

"Wait for it," Leonard said, holding back his laughter. "When me and some of the other dudes broke the door down, we saw him lying on the floor. The dude had shat, vomited, and pissed on himself."

The girl's face contorted in disgust. "Oh, god. That is gross."

"Yeah, but it was funny at that moment. We were drunk, so all we did was laugh and continue with the party." Leonard chuckled, shaking his head.

The girl noticed Edward sitting still, his eyes wandering around the lecture hall. "You finally decided to wake up, Eddie. When the lecture hall is almost over."

Hearing his name, Edward turned to them and smiled. "Cut me some slacks, Emma. I stayed up all night studying for the accounting quiz."

"I doubt that." Emma squinted her eyes, knowing damn well Edward wasn't studying last night.

"He was studying. Trust him." Leonard chimed in, nodding his head. "As you know, we just switched and became roommates. So if anyone knew what Eddie was doing last night, it would be me. I wanted to also stay up, but I was too tired from the soccer game."

"Yeah, listen to him," Edward said, pointing at Leonard. "This dude never lies."

"Uh-huh." Emma folded her arm, "The guy who got us in trouble and lied to get out of it. Yeah, right"

"That was one time, Emma. Let it go." Leonard chuckled, playing with his cross necklace. "But---"

The room suddenly became deadly silent once more, with everyone's movement freezing. Edward thought the time had stopped again, but he noticed Leonard and Emma blinking, but they couldn't move. Everyone else was like that. They were conscious, but they couldn't move.

\Welcome to Eden, a planet similar to earth but ten times bigger\ The monotonous systemic voice sounded in everyone's head, including Edwards'.

'So the first time it went black, we were switching worlds.' Edward thought, remembering that after the first blackout, monsters started appearing, and all the buildings on the school campus were spaced out. Even though he wasn't frozen, he decided to stay still so he wouldn't stand out.

\This world is similar to a game, with some mechanics. Saying 'System' would open the system navigation. This city is about to get contaminated by monsters, and your only hope for surviving is going to the safe zone, which you can see on your map. The safe zone would teleport you to a relatively safe place. After one hour, there will be no more safe zone.\

Everyone regained their ability to move, but the lecture hall remained silent. Their mind was still trying to comprehend what just happened and the voice that spoke to them.

"What just happened?" Someone finally spoke, breaking the silence.

The lecture hall once more becomes rowdy, with everyone speaking about the event which just transpired. Leonard turned Edward, turned to Edward, noticing him calm as if nothing had happened.

"Edward, you heard the voice, right?" Leonard asked, to which Edward nodded. "Merda. Questo è reale." He mumbled in Italian.

"Why do you try saying system," Edward said, going to the system navigation and looking at his status.

_______________________

Edward Smith

Level 2

Exp: 43/710

MP- 10

Vitality- 5 +

Endurance- 6 +

Strength- 12 +

Defense- 5 +

Agility- 6 +

Dexterity - 7 +

Intelligence- 6 +

Sense- 5 +

Arcane- 1 +

AP- 2

SP- 1

TP- 0

_______________________

Noticing he only got 2 AP from leveling, Edward groaned, rubbing the bridge of his nose. All those work, all those times, and all he got were 2 Ap?

"Oh, shit. I can see my status!" A man yelled, shooting up from his seat. Everyone looked at him like he was crazy, but he didn't care. "If you don't believe me, say system open and see for yourselves." He shouted, leaving his seat. "I am out of here."

Hearing his words, others also tried. The study hall got even rowdier, with most of them being excited while others were scared. During this time, Emma stood up and looked out of the window.

"Uh, guys. Come and look at this." She called out, staring out the window.

Seeing the look on her face, Edward already guessed what saw. 'I guess she just noticed the lake being further away.' He thought, still getting out of his seat to look.

But what was out there wasn't what he expected. There are trees everywhere, massive trees that seem to reach the sky. He could visibly see a campanula growing at super speed on a building. It crawled through the walls, covering the windows and doors. Soon the entire building looked like a giant campanula.

"What the actual fuck!" Edward shouted, jumping back. Experiencing everyone freezing in time was an interesting and new thing. It wasn't scary due to it not being dangerous to him.

But, THIS!? It was true horror. Trees were like parasites, consuming everything in their path. The ground beside the lake cracked before a beans stock shot up from the ground, growing so fast it looked like a blur. It went so far up that Edward couldn't even see the top anymore.

"This took Jack and the beanstalk to another level!" A boy beside him mumbled, to which Edward nodded.

*Squelch* *Squelch*

The noise brought Edward back to reality. 'Slimes. My good old friends.' He thought, turning to the door to the lecture room. 'At least I could kill them and get Exp.'

But what he expected wasn't what he received. Instead of the slime coming through the door, it broke through the Kool-Aid man. This Hydro slime was massive, being more than seven feet tall and eight feet wide. Its body had a streak of gold, with a golden crown floating above its head. The slime also had round white eyes but no mouth.

"Is that a... slime?" Leonard stuttered, stepping back. "They are not supposed to be that big."

The slime suddenly jumped forward, and Edward knew what was coming next. "Shit! Everyone, get down!" He shouted, immediately getting to the ground.

*Boom!*

Out of the slime shot, a strong beam of water went through the classroom in a sweeping motion. Those who weren't quick enough to get down were all dead. The pressure of the water beam was so strong it tore off their top half. Legs without a torso fell to the ground, blood flowing out.

"Ahhhhhh!" A girl who got down on Edward's command screamed as her friend's lower half fell beside her.

"Oh, my god! What the fuck is that!?" Screams and yells sounded through the classroom as everyone who was still alive tried to hide from the slime.

"What level is that thing?" Edward mumbled, peeking out from the table to look at the slime.

Leonard heard Edward and noticed his action. Since when he woke up, he had been acting strange. First, he kept looking around as if waiting for something. Then when the voice came, he didn't react at all, as if he expected it. The only time he reacted was when he saw the trees growing outside. But when the slime showed up, he knew exactly what was about to happen.

If not because of Edward, he could have died. He was curious about how Edward knew what the slime would do and why he was acting the way he was, but he decided to keep quiet. For now.