Chapter Five: Cold Detachment

Flynn watched the prompt with bated breath. His heart matched the rhythm of the timer that slowly ticked down. It started at 10, and in the blink of an eye, it was at 5. By the time it reached 3, he could hear his heart pounding in his ears.

| 2 |

| 1 |

| Synchronizing… |0

As the system swept away Flynn's soul, he embraced a feeling he had only felt a few times in his entire existence. The sense of a metaphysical soul. It was a strange feeling. One he wasn't used to, even after spending what felt like centuries inside a similar space. It was as if you floated in an endless sea of nothing, could reach out, search even, but never find.

Sometimes energy appeared within your soul sea, but never longer than it took an ember to flicker out of a fire. Flynn watched the motes of energy pass by as an unimaginable amount of time flitted by. Some might call it a tranquil existence, but his last visit to his soul sea had marred it. He had lost count of the number of times he had to watch his race die, powerless to do anything. With-

| Unfortunately, the synchronization of Humanity into the system has gone wrong. Fear not! Only fifty percent of Humanity is incompatible with the system! The system is fair. It has increased your tutorial rewards accordingly and given your race access to the Token Shop! Praise be the System! |

This panel was far less elaborate than the last one and held non of the Golden luster of the previous. Simple white text was stored inside.

| You have entered the Tutorial Shop. Every race member will be given shop tokens equivalent to their potential within the trials. These can be redeemed for various rewards at the beginning of each tutorial! Happy shopping! |

It was a prompt he was expecting, but seeing something happen and knowing about it are two very different things. In one swoop, half of Humanity that entered the trials had died in a matter of moments. Roughly a billion people had disappeared the first time the system took humanity, and the number grew with each wave, so he assumed it was the same amount.

The thought made his nonexistent stomach turn, and if it had been possible, Flynn would have vomited yet again. Despite his second chance, despite having knowledge that could save millions of lives, he was powerless at this moment. He felt as if he was watching humanity die once again.

Flynn spiraled as emotions all too familiar started flooding into his psyche, threatening to take him under the spell that was despair. What was the point if he got another chance? He was mediocre at best. Who was he to think he could say-'

| You have received one Common Token. |

More familiar text streamed across his mind as he twisted down a slippery slope after a few moments of blankly staring at the text before him. The system itself had confirmed his worries. He was utterly ordinary. A manic grin played its way across his mind, and laughter bellowed through his mind.

"Very well, let's see who's bet wins." He dismissed the prompt.

It was true that a common token was at the bottom of the barrel for humanity, just above getting nothing at all. Still, within the system, the shop was a profound treasure, and Flynn would have access to it the entire time he was in the system, as well as the possibility to get even more tokens.

After getting the turmoil known as his emotions in check, it was followed by another prompt that would have and did overwhelm him in his first life—the shop screen. Thousands, hundreds of thousands of items, skills, blessings, and other things pertaining to the system suddenly appeared within his vision. It was the equivalent of a flashbang set off in a dark room. Luckily for Flynn Blackwater, this was not his first time viewing such a screen.

'It's the same,' Flynn thought as he perused the Common rank store. 'I may not be able to save everyone, but I will save humanity.' Flynn let the fact that hundreds of millions of people were wiped out slowly wash over him.

In his first life, he had been controlled by his emotions. If it was anger, he acted out rashly. Despair would make him crawl inside himself. Either way, it had gotten him into more trouble than it was worth. Even in his final moments, he had pushed his squad forward because taunts angered him as monsters ripped apart limb and flesh. He shook his nonexistent head as if to clear it from so much clutter.

'Praise be the System.' The words echoed through his mind like venom as he looked over his options. In reality, a single Common rank Token was average, and only a select few of humanity received anything more significant than uncommon tokens at the beginning of the trial. Rare tokens were nearly unheard of, or at least those who had obtained them kept it a secret. This fact didn't stop Flynn from complaining about it bitterly in his first life.

Flynn had received nothing more than a common and a single one at that. If he were going solely off his first attempt, he'd admit the system had probably been quite generous even giving him that. Having only one token meant that he could only buy F-grade common wares from the shop.

Each item's grade went up in token price by one, meaning an A grade purchase would cost five tokens. He sighed, looking at the class he had chosen so long ago.

| Common [F] Rank Class: Swordsman

Description: A combat class specializing in sword combat. |

He had chosen this class after some, if not careful consideration, only to find out it was a class, like all common classes, that could be unlocked for simply killing monsters with a corresponding weapon until reaching the appropriate level of 10. He had realized he needed to have an actual sword equipped to use the class anyway. So it quickly became useless to him within the tutorial. Of course, he gained the bonus attributes the class gave early, but that was all it did for him until he got his hands on a sword.

Flynn clicked his tongue in his adolescent ignorance, dismissing the class and perusing his options. His eyes eventually landed on something he had considered in his previous start.

| Common [F] Rank Custom Class |

| |- Description: Some choose to forge their own path, but like all things, treading a path never before walked, can be dangerous.

Note: This Class can only be chosen before the start of the tutorial and cannot be changed through normal means. |

His first time viewing it had piqued his interest, but as always, he had chosen the safer, more stable path. A tried and tested one. He mentally clicked the class gaining more information on it and a button to purchase it.

| This allows the user to create a custom class from within the bounds of common rarity by selecting skills and abilities that the being has access to. The creator can slot in abilities, magic, skill, or passives collected, making them stronger. If two Abilities have high compatibility, they can affect each other. |

Flynn perked a nonexistent eyebrow as he read over the prompt. It was a challenging class, and he knew of no one with such a class in his previous life. Of course, his memory was a bit blurry past the first trial, but even if it weren't, it wouldn't have mattered. He had made up his mind.

He selected purchase.

| Error, Your class slots are full! [1/1] You are unable to purchase this class. Please buy something else! |

Flynn was taken aback by the informati9n as he looked over the text, re-reading it. Of course, this wasn't necessary since the system streamlined the information straight into a user's brain. He tried to pull up his character sheet, but he was given another prompt instead.

| Character Sheets are unable to be accessed within the shop. The system apologizes for this inconvenience. |

Flynn clicked his tongue in annoyance. His class slot was already taken, but he couldn't see what class it was. 'Perhaps my class from my previous life?' He thought before looking through more options. His eyes scrolled and scrolled through possibilities before landing on a particular ability.

| Name: Cold Detachment |

|Type: Mental |

|Rank: Common [F] |

|Description: This ability is passive and uses a fixed amount from the mana pool to stay activated. During activation, emotions are dulled, and only the analytical mind takes over. However, whenever the skill deactivates due to lack of mana, unconsciousness, or other abilities, the emotions that would have been felt during the use of Detachment will be immediately distributed and multiplied. |

Flynn had quite a few options, but this one called out to him. If he could simply turn off his emotions during a critical moment, it could be a lifesaver for him, not to mention the appeal of not having to deal with, well, emotions. He was aware of how this sounded and how he should be far more concerned with the allure of not having feelings, but he buried that particular thought like so many that had come before it and made his choice.

| Excellent purchase! Good Luck within the tutorial, and remember: The System is Kind, The System is Just. |

Flynn Blackwater once again found himself looking at his hand. This time he was not looking down at a beautiful sunset. Instead, he stood in a clearing within a moonlit forest. He was alone. Padded dirt surrounded him in a circle forming an arena of sorts. Behind the arena came unkempt grass that swayed in a gentle cooling breeze. The giant spruce trees at the edge of the clearing created a wall as they became denser the further into the woods they went. Bugs far too big to be fireflies illuminated the forest in flutters of orange and yellow. It was a sight he had been too confused to enjoy in his first life, and it was beautiful. It was strange seeing it again, and the deja vu sent a shiver up his spine as a quest appeared, truly starting the hellish tutorial of humanity.

| Quest: Combat Assessment: Defeat the monsters that appear in front of you by any means necessary within the allotted time. Note: you may stop at any time by yelling surrender, but the monsters can and will kill you; good luck, player! |