Awakening

In the darkness was nothing but Vars. That is until he heard a voice.

[Congratulations Vars, you have survived the assimilation with Cosmic Energy. With Cosmic Energy residing within you, your body will be tougher, stronger, healthier, and you will live longer. The same will be happening to many animals and some plants but they get a little bit of a bigger buff than humans. As you can imagine, life will be a lot tougher also. This is why anything sentience that survives will be given a Chronicle. Go ahead, just say or think Chronicle to see for yourself.]

'Holy shit the planet is actually talking, it wasn't a dream. Well, I might as well listen to her.'

"Chronicle"

{ Vars Zeras Lv: 1

Class: None

Titles: None

Race: Human

Essence Shard: 0/7

Strength: 12 Vitality: 11 Dexterity: 14

Intelligence: 16 Endurance: 15

Talents: 0/10

Companion: Parasitic Leech

Strength: 5 Vitality: 5 Dexterity: 10

Intelligence: 18 Endurance: 5

Traits:

Leech Life (Passive)- When attached to a host, its blood is drawn and stored in the Leech's blood sac. The blood can be used to heal or increase the stats of the leech or its companion.

Hostile Takeover (Active)- When activated the leech will bury into the host's brain to gain control of the body. The time it takes varies depending on the power gap and other circumstances. }

[I understand that all of this may be overwhelming your first time seeing it so I will explain it while you look over everything. First is your name and level. Levels display a being's progression and overall strength. Although this does not mean that a person with a higher level will always win, it just depends on who's fighting. You gain levels essentially by killing things.

After something is killed its essence is given to those that participated. Although the essence is shared the being that did the most damage may receive an essence shard. They are rare but may contain armor or a weapon depending on the beast killed. Even rarer are the essence shards dropped from humans because they can contain the human's companion.]

"So I'll have to hunt animals and maybe even people to get stronger, gotcha. I mean I've been hunting animals for quite a while now but people... that may be a challenge. Soooo what happens to those that haven't made it this far?"

[Some of those that weren't able to withstand the Cosmic Energy will be turned into undead. Their living bodies aren't able to withstand the power but their dead bodies serve as a sort of container that traps the energy inside. This causes the undead to need to take Cosmic Energy from the living to be able to sustain themselves. Do be warned some undead may be able to gain stats just like the rest of you and even rarer are the ones with companions.]

"Woah, woah, woah, you mean to tell me that after I wake up I may or may not be surrounded by zombies?"

[Well... yes. Some may outright implode and others might become a terrifying undead. It all depends on the individual. Now I don't have much time so let me finish. Your class is something that you obtain after reaching certain levels. There will be options that you can choose from and those options depend on a number of factors between you and your companion. Titles can be obtained when you make an achievement for example starting a faction, owning a territory, or doing other things. There are also talents that can change the race of someone or something.]

"I noticed that talents have a 0/10 next to it. Would those race-change talents take up a slot?"

[Depending on the type of talent and what its function is maybe. Now, no more questions and let me finish. Your stats can increase either by absorbing the essence of those that you kill or with the 3 stat points you get when you level up.

The stats are pretty self-explanatory. Strength is how physically strong you are. Vitality determines the strength of your healing and overall health. Dexterity determines how agile you are and your reflexes. Next, intelligence depicts your brain power, the strength of your cosmic energy, and how well you can control it. Lastly, endurance is your defense and stamina.]

"Okay, but I'm curious what are the stats of a regular human?"

[Didn't I say no more questions? A regular human in top shape base stats are 10. I need to finish what I'm saying before time is up. Talents are basically the same as superpowers. Some can let you create fire while others can make your body hard as a diamond. You can acquire talents after you kill something, certain titles, or other means. The first talent you acquire will be random but the others are either talents that we're owned by the one killed, random, or very rarely created. Keep in mind you won't always get a talent from a kill.

Finally, companions are beings that come from a different plane of existence. Each human has had a spirit with them since birth. The early outburst from Cosmic Energy allowed these beings to breach the barrier and become one with their counterpart.

Companions can range from beasts to armor to trinkets and even sub-races of humans. You share levels and they evolve when you gain a class.

It's almost time for me to go back to sleep. The chronicle may answer some questions but only when it deems it necessary. I won't lie to you, the world you once knew is gone. From now on the strong make the rules and to get strong you have to kill. From this day forward your life will never be the same. I wish you luck young one.]

As Gaia was finishing her words her voice started to fade away. Gradually, the darkness that contained Vars started to become light.