1 The Start

Ten days. That's how many days we have left, and how many days it's been since everybody on Earth received the same message in their head. "Prepare, for you have 20 days until your world as you know it, is gone. Your world is to be merged with another. This world is much stronger, more primitive, and extremely cruel. Your pitiful strength will be your ruin. Therefore, the gods of MERCI have smiled upon you. In 20 days, you will all be summoned into a simulation world. In order to obtain the strength needed for survival, you must fight. Your lives, are in your hands. Prepare."

Nick Burns sat in his favorite spot in his favorite hamburger joint, staring out the window. For the last 2 years, he has had the same routine. Every Saturday, he comes in and orders a hotdog. And every time, they tell him the same thing; "Sir, we don't sell hotdogs." Nick isn't stupid, he knows they don't have hotdogs. At first, the employees got annoyed at the young man, thinking he is just an annoying jokester. After a few months though, they decided to just let him be.

2 years ago, on Saturday, Nick's girlfriend was pulling out from this hamburger joint, when a truck ran a red light and smashed into her. She was dead on impact. Since that day, the only time he speaks, is to order a hotdog. His girlfriend wasn't popular, so after a week nobody talked about her anymore. Nick sits here every Saturday, not out of mourning, but because he wants her to know she isn't forgotten.

'10 more days till the world changes' Nick said in his head, 'Soon I won't be able to come here anymore Mary, sorry.' Nick heard the TV being turned up behind him. 'Looks like they still aren't taking this seriously.' On the TV the news reporters were discussing what to make of the announcement. Most people were making random excuses for it, some people thought it was the government doing some experiment. The government had only made one announcement about the event; if this does happen, they will be setting up bases for the children and elderly, to protect them.

'It's almost dark. I should get home soon.' Nick got up and walked to his car. He opened the door, sat down, and then accidently shut the door before putting his leg in the car. 'Damn it.' He started the car while scowling. 'Stupid door.' When Nick got home, he changed into a loose T-shirt and shorts. After putting on his shoes, he headed out the door to begin his daily jog. He breathed in deeply; he always jogs at night because he enjoys the cool night air, and it's much quieter. After jogging a few laps around his block, he returned home and grabbed a can of soda. 'Time for my new daily super tough workout plan.' After chugging his can of soda he got down into pushup position. Nick has never cared for exercise; he only jogs to offset his unhealthy eating habits.

'5...15...24' Nick collapsed on the ground breathing heavily. 'Whoo. 2 more than yesterday.' After getting the messaged 10 days ago, Nick decided that he needs to work out in order to boost his chances of survival. Once he finished his extremely exhausting workout, he Grabbed a bag of chips, plopped down on his couch and turned on an old martial arts movie. 20 minutes later he was fast asleep.

'3 days to go, he thought to himself. 'But... this.' Today was another Saturday, so he was sitting at his table. In front of him sat a hotdog. From her office, Pam smiled at the young man staring at his hotdog. Pam became a manager here 4 years ago when she was only 21. She was here that Saturday 2 years ago, and she has seen this young man every weekend since. Pam lost her parents when she was young, so she has an idea about how he feels. She figured, since the world is changing anyways, it was fine for her to break protocol. So, she went out of her way to make sure Nick got a hotdog before the world changes.

Nick sat at his table staring at the hotdog for an hour. 'I hate hotdogs' Nick thought. He stood up, threw away the hotdog, and left. He only orders a hotdog every time because he knows they didn't sell them here. This was only his was of making sure he got human interaction at least once a week, in order to not become a complete shut in.

The night before the change, Nick has just finished up his nightly workouts. 'Phew. I finally managed to do 40. It'll have to do. I should rest up so I'm prepared for whatever tomorrow may bring.' He decided to sleep on his bed tonight, after sleeping on the couch for the past few days, to make sure he is well rested, and doesn't wake up sore.

At 8 o'clock in the morning across the world, every single person, whether awake or asleep, saw a blinding bright light. Rumors say even blind people were able to see the light. After rubbing his eyes, Nick looked around. All around him, he sees only plains, with a forest barely visible in the far distance. 'Everything looks much darker Nick thought. Even though the sun was shining in the sky, this world was lacking in brightness. The sky was dark, almost black. The grass on the plains seemed to lack life. Coming back to his senses, Nick noticed the many people spread out across the plains. Most people were talking to others to try and figure out what was happening, while some were just staring Blankly into space. There were even some, mostly children, that were sitting down and crying. 'Huh… I've got a lot more neighbors than I thought I did.'

Nick heard gasps and a few swears as a new message started playing in everybody's head. "Congratulations. Your world has been selected to be merged with another.." 'Congratulations my ass' Nick thought to himself. "This world is very different than the world you are used to. You may be comfortable comparing this world to the games you play. Everybody will notice a new bracelet on your wrist. This bracelet cannot be removed. From now on, think of it as part of your body. You'll notice on the display, your name and level. Everybody starts at the same level, 1. Click the button on your bracelet to access the options. You have 6 months until the merge. Your new life begins. Enjoy."

Nick clicked the button and looked over the 4 options. 'Status, Inventory, Scan, and Info. Pretty self explanatory. Let's check the inventory.' After opening the option, He first saw a display of himself. 'Looks like clothes all have effects, but aren't starter clothes at least supposed to give some defense? Why is it all 0.. Oh well, I'll have to get better gear.' He then opened the scan tab, but this tab was too boring. The only use was for scanning monsters, new gear, and materials. He then opened his status tab.

Nick Burns

Class- none

XP 0/300

HP- 100

GP- 25

Str- 10 Spd- 10 Def- 10

Titles- none

Gear- plains clothes

Weapon- l____l - choose

After looking at the highlighted box beside weapon, Nick clicked it, and saw a list of weapons pop up. 'The sword is the coolest, let's go with that.' Nick clicked on sword, only for the option the immediately be greyed out. 'The hell? Fine. A spear is the best anyways.' Making up his mind, again, he clicked on the spear. Grey. Scowling, he thought 'Maybe my body isn't tough enough for a melee weapon. I knew I should have worked out more.' With this in mind, he clicked on the bow. Grey. Angered, he started clicking on weapons at random. 'It can't be. Are they gonna make me fight with my fists? At least give me some brass knuckles or some fighting gloves.' After mashing almost all the options, his finger pressed down onto the option for the dagger, and almost immediately a small grey dagger, about 6 inches long, appeared in his hand. 'The hell? I'm supposed to protect myself with this toothpick?' Nick threw the dagger on the ground only to find it right back in his inventory. Sighing, he resigned himself to never be a good fighter. 'Maybe I can get a job cleaning monster teeth' he jested.

Dagger - White

3 attack

'Better than nothing, I guess.' Curious about this world, he clicked on the info tab. 'Looks like it's mainly common game things. Killing monsters to get XP. Hm? Interesting. So only bosses drop items? How are we supposed to make use of the material monsters drop? I didn't see anything about job classes. Only 1 Str 1 Spd 1 Def per level until we get our first class? That's pretty low, I'll have to be careful.' Glancing down at his toothpick, he thought back to the bright red letters at the top of the Info tab.

'So we lose our items and don't appear again until the world's merge if we die here? If that happens I'll stand no chance in the real world. I can't afford to die.' After steeling his mind, he continued to read the info. Weapon classes. - White - Green - Blue - Red - Orange - Purple. 'So the toothpick is the lowest class. My first goals should be to level up, and get a better weapon. Hopefully one that's a little longer. But you're telling me…?' Looking again at the line that says everybody starts with the same stats, no matter their body condition, Nick was upset.

"You're saying I've been working out for no reason?" Hearing the snickers around him, Nick realized he said that out loud. Embarrassed, he decided it was time to find a new venue. Turning to walk away, he tripped over a rock and fell flat on his face. "You're courting death" he shouted at the innocent rock. Red faced from anger and embarrassment, Nick sprinted away from the howls of laughter, and towards the dark looming forest.