1 Chapter 1: Smallus Prologius

A splitting headache is what first greets me when I wake up. Followed by a pang of hunger that feels like I have not eaten for days on end, possibly even for weeks. The next thing that hits me is the thirst, my throat dryer than a r*pe victim.

As I struggle to get off the bed to go look for food and drink, I notice my surroundings have changed slightly.

Outside the window, instead of the dull grey of the opposite apartment complex, there appears to be a vibrant green? It looks like vines growing on the side of a tree, instead of drab grey paint on brick walls that I expected to see.

Shifting my gaze from the vines, I look around what view the window offers me of what should be the street below. Being on the tenth floor of the apartment complex I am living in, it provides a pretty generous view downstairs. Turns out that the vines are not limited to that single building, all the blocks of the concrete jungle that I can see are covered in vegetation.

Finally managing to pull myself off the bed, I stagger towards the kitchen to look for something to drink,, hoping that the power is still running. 'Oh good, it's still cold. Lets see...'

Looking through the fridge, I find my one and a half litre bottle of water still sitting in its spot on the door shelf. Cracking it open, I start to gulp down the contents, only stopping after finishing the bottle.

Wiping off the corners of my mouth, I start to wonder what the hell happened while I was sleeping, when a screen pops up.

[You have 1 unread notification]

'Hmm? Is this like the status screen of those Sword and Magic novels?'

Going off of what I know from those novels, I mentally attempt to tap on the notification.

[Opening notification...]

[1 unread message. Open? Y/N]

Tapping on Y mentally, I wonder to myself which idiot developed such a redundant notification system.

[Greetings human. My name is Gaius, godly overseer of this universe. Throughout the millennia that humans as a race have existed, I have watched on in interest as you developed without the use of magic.

Alas, for all that you have accomplished, the coming evolution of Earth as a planet was inevitable, and would have caused the Human race to be wiped out. This evolution would have involved the reintroduction of mana back into the universe starting from Earth, causing mana to emanate through the mantle, the crust, and eventually the entirety of the atmosphere. All life will be affected by the surge of mana, those unable to cope will go extinct while those that survive will evolve, becoming bigger, stronger, faster and, eventually, smarter.

Humans would thus also be forced to adapt, or die to the changing environment. No longer will there be peace, no longer will there only be wars waged between those of your own species. As such, in order to preserve the only surviving sapient species in this universe, I will be allowing the system to grant each of you a gift.

An innate ability, so to speak. It will be based on your personality, your choices made, and a variety of other conditions I have no interest in naming. You can ask the system for that.

Now that I've explained things to some extent, my job of explaining things is done. Have a good day.]

Well shit.