Chapter 2: Quest #1
[Teleportation Zone, Grand Lobby]
Though Theodore was not the only one who noticed something unusual.
Almost every single human who came from earth, regarding of their nationalities were able to notice that it seems like they were not the only planet, or species to be exact, to be picked by 'Zerna'.
Demi humans and some unkown creatures were also present around them, and it seems like they have stayed for far longer than they have in Zerna. They stood proudly in different shaped floating platforms just above the humans, their expression's were full of pity, some were in contempt, while the others were indifferent about the newly arrived species.
"What the heck is going on?" Theodore felt taken aback as his very being screamed in retreat. Showing the threat level of those individuals even if he is only a mortal.
They were equipped with different armors and wore fantasy like equipments, weapons of unkown origin were present on their hands and back giving them an intimidating look.
They just stood there maintaining silence and discipline as they analyze our behavioral pattern. Their attitude were filled with Indifference for their race as they only view them as nothing but cannon fodder.
The never ending summoning platform that humanity gathered around with was surrounded by different species of demi humans and other creatures of different sizes and shapes.
Humanity that have accepted the invitation were surrounded like cattle by different unkown species making them filled with negative thoughts, some quickly kneeled down and started praying, some just stood in their places and glared at them, some shouted and went looking for their family members, while most of them just went absolutely crazy due to their new traits that didn't match their being.
Though that was still not the bad part, the bad part was that the others weren't even given a chance to process the new events as they started to either explode or slowly melt in despair, their newly characterized character experienced a DNA collapse due to their newly mismatched physical traits.
Screams spread around, while terror filled Theodore and the others. The demi humans seems to be curious due to the looks on their faces, which was noticed by Theodore and some other observant people though they just stood there praying for the best since they neither have the power and technology needed to defeat the demi humans.
Though everything immediately changed a minute later. One of the demi humans, a middle age man with fox features, who was also seated in some sort of small silver throne suddenly spoke coldly, "What is the name of your race?"
Everyone became silent, some brave people around Theodore answered quite weakly hoping to not receive their wrath, "Humans... We are human beings from planet Earth..."
Though the answer was said weakly, the demi humans were still able to hear him, "Oh? Humans huh..."
"Seems like weak creatures to me" A giant from the back of the demi humans group muttered silently while an elf nodded besides him.
"Well, for Zerna itself to invite them, maybe they are special in a certain art... Taming creatures perhaps? Or maybe Builders? Nah, with such a weak body and lack of mana maybe they are a slave type of race..." A dog kin theorized humanities uses and specialization, only to be smacked by his partner standing besides him.
"Looks like a new weak race have been added to our rankings, this 'Humans' seems to be some support type of race base on their appearance..." An unkown creature covered in black liquids hoarsely said to a beast man just besides him.
After a few minutes of discussion, an elder of the demi-human side suddenly stood up and attracted everyone's attention. Waving his hands on the air as he created a slight change in the atmosphere with a single chant.
Humans were bewildered by the sight that they have witnessed, especially the next part.
"Authorization: Gilante Feranto Wenenza"
Black tattoos appeared on his body before a huge hologram appeared 10 seconds later just on top of everyone.
"Magic!?" - "We're actually invited to be players in a game like word??" - "A mage, and an elder of the cat tribe huh" - "It's real, one piece is real!" - "Everything for family" - "So no chant less magic?" - "Invitation, magic, Zerna being a plane, beast man, different races, seems like a fantasy type of trope"
Such comments and many more spread throughout the ground as they observed a magician casting magic for the very first time. Only to be silent, shocked, and fearful for the thing that suddenly appeared after the chanting.
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[Human Race] - [Earth]
[67th race of Zerna] - [Utility Race]
[Current Population in Zerna: 1,743,087,789]
[Current Race Ranking: 61th/67th]
[Importance: 5th/67th] - [Talent: ???/67th]
•Info: [A New race in Zerna that specializes in different fields. Their planet lacked mana due to its state of being dormant. The race of 'Humans' became the top of the food chain due to their minds and technological ingenuity.
•Current Status: [In fear of being dominated and used as slaves], [Hopeful in achieving Immortality], [Bored], [Lack of Morality], [Sinful], [Curious], 99+ more...
•Benefits: [Player Title], [Affinity], [+10 coins], [Random Skill], [Random Item], [Character Customization], [Status Screen], [+1 Safe Pass], [Race importance: 5th], [Race Talent]
•Specialization: [Technological Advancement], [Greed and Chaos], [Governed by Morality], [War Attribute], [Desire and Benefits], [Good and Evil], [Blasphemy], [Born to Rebel], 99+ more...
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Greed, Panic, Sadness, Disdain, Pride, and many more emotions were displayed across the place as they viewed humanities status.
Theodore immediately panicked as he doesn't want to be viewed as an evil race, he thought, 'Damn you all old man, why did you display our status in front of everyone!' And before he could even curse:
At this moment, another elder beastman with rabbit ears shouted in authority with a hidden worry as he faced the entirety of humanity, "Follow the yellow flags and claim the Zone of 5 as your own place, instructions and warnings will be given by our warriors, information about Zerna will need to be bought in coins, the larger the importance the higher the amount needed... Just because you are valued above the other races doesn't mean anything on our eyes. Don't. Provoke. Us. Humans."
Another elder beastman with a hood on spoke, but much kinder than the last one, "Please forgive the others for their hidden threats, it's just that Zerna has been giving us missions with higher threats in the past month making things difficult for us."
Continuing, "As my friend had previously said, zone 5 will now be yours and additional information will be given later on. Though your zone is quite safe for now, please be on guard though for any possible threats. After all, one wrong move and our entire society might collapse. Please make your way to your provided zone, just do your vest to follow the yellow flags."
Although he was not clear about what will happen from now on, Theodore and the others didn't have any choice but to follow the yellow flags and claim Zone 5 for ourselves. If they can even claim the place in the first place.
All the demi-human's stood up before they simultaneously muttered something unkown. They immediately disappeared as if they had teleported followed by a black veil that suddenly appeared out of nowhere and covered the entire long teleportation zone, while the ground near them slowly opened up and let out some yellow flags.
They just followed the flags in front of them, though they were shocked at first, they just shrugged their shoulders and thought that magic was the cause for all if this.
As Theodore marched and followed the people infront of him, he can't help but hear some interesting conversation at his side.
"Do you think we are in some sort of sentient plane that focuses on expanding it's domain like those in the novel that we used to read?" A girl in red joked towards his companion as she clapped her hands.
"Hmph, just wait till we can get stronger, with a system by our side we can grow stronger at a very fast rate leaving those other races behind, they will lick our feet's in the future." A middle aged man said in contempt as he imagined a future where humanity has climbed back to the very peak of this new lands. He grinned as he started dreaming of starting a harem in the future with beautiful women at his side.
"I hope so too, I know that the very mana of the world will bless me until the very peak of our existence, humans are the very best inside novels after all, I'm sure that it is also the same in this world." She nodded her head as she slapped his back with some force making him slightly groan.
Hearing this idiotic conversation, Theodore can't help but show disgust and cringe at the same time, 'Hm, humans being blessed by mana? Heh, you wish... It's not that easy to level up and boost our stats, I'm sure of that.'
'If it's that easy, the other races might have tried to crush as to the very best of their capabilities... Or either tried to subjugate us at the very first second that they knew our threat level...'
Looking around, Theodore can only sigh as he noticed puddles of blood near him, results of DNA failures in their customization.
There should have been more casualties due to the traits that didn't match with their users, but thankfully they were dealt with by some sort of blue vines sprouting from the ground earlier.
If Theodore were to guess, the demi-human's might have silently casted spells in order to reduce casualties on our sides.
After a minute of marching around as they followed the yellow flags, Theodore noticed that the black veil around them suddenly disappeared as if they had entered a different zone.
Which was exactly what had happened.
Infront of them stood a big bill board sign that said, "Zone 5"
As his vision fell on this view, Theodore can't help but slightly open his mouth in surprise, followed by him nodding his head in acceptance.
Zone 5, or an open field of grasslands was the only thing present except for the forest on the back side and a river in the middle part. It was like an unclaimed land perfect for a new civilization. A big round portal was behind them slightly illuminating their surroundings, though it was almost useless due to the sun still shining up high.
Though it seems like only Theodore was able to think about the good part of the lands as this was the only comments that he could hear around him were:
"Fuck this, I thought that we would either live in a city of some sort, but to think we were only given an open field with nothing but grass and tress in the area!" A man dressed as a waiter shouted as he turned his head all around him.
"Shit! We were left to fend for ourselves!"
"Damn Beastman's! I curse you to live in the middle of nowhere!"
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Shaking his head, Theodore can't help but think, 'Welp, seems like I either help in rebuilding our society, or find ways to distract myself till they finish...'
Running towards the nearest tree, he can't help but notice his lack of endurance as he started to sweat and feel oddly tired even though he only ran for about half a minute or so.
He tried climbing the tree, while only to fail miserably, Theodore instead choose to find a comfortable side to sit in at the bottom part of the tree hoping to laze around.
Hours quickly passed by, people complained less as they started to gather food and try to make a little camping area near the forest to prepare for the night.
[Your Trait Sloth is currently acting out of control]
Someone tried to invite him to join their camping area an hour earlier, but he decided to politely decline them in the name of lazing around.
He was laying around a tree as he ignored everything that is happening around him as he fell into the Dreamlands.
Fast forwards to midnight, Theodore who was still on the tree lazing around, suddenly jolted awake as a dinging sound fell into his ears making him annoyed.
"Huh? A quest? Really, in the middle of the night out of all the time in the world?" Scratching his head in wonder and annoyance before he suddenly turned serious as he finished reading the sudden notification.
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[Personal Info] - [Quest #1]
•Information: [You have been tasked to join a challenge to weed out the weak of your species]
•Difficulty: [F rank quest]
•Note: [Every member of your race has to undergo a challenge to obtain points necessary to raise your official race status]
•Warning: [You will instantly be teleported towards the designated area challenge that you will face in 30 minutes]
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"Seems like we're not allowed to decline, but still, a one big Quest for the whole if humanity huh... I wonder how this would go in the end."
Heading towards the rest of the human camp to know more, Theodore went towards the nearest one and asked around for more information if possible.
Asking around for more than 20 minutes without any new information, he decided to return to his tree and hoped for the best.
And also, he doesn't want to stay near the camp, seems like a couple of murder cases happened around the camp a couple of hour ago, suspect seems to be an old man based on the words of a camper.
Lazing around his little area, or his tree, he waited till the teleportation happened before he was finally swallowed by a red blinding light.
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Swoosh!
Opening his eyes, he can't help but feel startled. Dead bodies lay around him as the smell of blood filled his nostrils. Thankfully he had acquired the trait 'Indifference' or he might have directly started to vomit till he emptied his stomach.
[Objective: Kill at least 3 living beings or help save at least 3 lives of enemy soldiers
•Rewards: [+1.0 stat points], [Random Item], [+10 coins]
•Failure to do so means instant death
•Time remaining: 23 hours, 58 minutes, 16 seconds]
"Oh shit..." Filling his lungs with air, he only sighed and shook his head in acceptance.
He was hiding behind a ditch as mortal shells and bullet went over his head, not wanting to die he decided to suppress his slothfulness making his pride and Indifference soar through new heights.
Theodore became arrogant as he stared coldly at his surroundings, grinning at what he saw, he went towards a corpse near him and grabbed a gun that he has absolutely no idea how to operate.
"Now then, how does this gun even work in the first place? Well, only one way to find out right?" Checking the gun, he can't help but put his guard on his surroundings in case of enemies.