Chapter 1: Introduction

7:00 AM 

[ Beep Beep Beep ] 

"Wha-a I'm up I'm up" 

It was the sudden beep of the alarm that wakes me up every morning, Todays is a special day though, today is the day that I go back to school. I haven't gone back to school ever since I moved here. Today is also Akane, my sister's first day back. 

My family is only me and my sister, my parents... Unfortunately died when I was 10, leaving me and her behind. Ever since then, I have taken up the responsibility to take care of her and provide her with a better life. Unfortunately, she doesn't talk to me anymore, ever since she got into middle school, she has avoided talking to me. She's often cold whenever she does though, it makes me a bit depressed, I sometimes wonder whatever I did wrong. 

Anyway, that's just a little part of my life... 

I'm saying this as I brush my teeth and get ready for school, todays a big day, after I finished brushing my teeth, I prepared breakfast for Akane and called her down. 

"Akane! Breakfast is ready!" I yelled for her to come out of her room. 

"I'm coming!" She yelled back to me. 

I got my backpack on prepared to leave the house, the school wasn't too far from home. Ever since I came here, I been working a part-time job to pay for food, the government gives me a bit of money, but that isn't enough to cover everything. 

Even though I've already spent a summer here, I haven't made any friends. So, this school year is going to be completely different and solitary. 

Walking to school I see a couple of students, talking to each other. I don't have someone like that, but it's better for me, I tend to be solo you see. I don't mingle with others, to stay out of trouble and things that bother me. I got to the school gate, and entered the school, I'm supposed to be introduced to my class today, so I got to wait outside the class? 

[ Ring Ring ] 

The bell rang huh? 

Alright, now I got to wait till I get called in huh. 

"Ok class, today we have a new student joining us for the year" I heard the teacher say. 

"Class, please welcome Akira, Souji." 

I opened the door and walked in, 

"Akira, please introduce yourself" 

"Uhm hello, my name is Souji Akira, and I'm 17 years old, I recently moved here from Tokyo, uhm let's get along!" I said bowing in front of the whole class, a sweat drop came from the top of my head. 

"Okay Akira you may sit in the chair by the window in the back" the teacher said. 

I walked to my assigned seat and sat down. The seat she put me in was the best seat I could if asked for, I'm in the back and I can look out the window. 

I looked around the class, the people here don't look like the ones in Tokyo, by the way they dress. 

[ Ring Ring ] 

It's finally lunch huh 

*Sigh* It's been a harsh day, as I looked around I wondered what I could do for lunch, should I try and make some friends, or should I just stay alone? 

Everyone also had someone to talk to except some people, I was too scared to talk to somebody, so I just started looking at my phone. 

And an unfamiliar app that I had not downloaded appeared on my phone. 

"What's this?" I whispered to myself, as I was confused on how it got there. The name of the app, "World Nations Z." 

Piquing my interest, I clicked on I, realizing it was a game I turned my phone horizontally to view properly. 

My volume was already at the lowest level, so I won't have to worry about disturbing the class or embarrassing myself on the first day. 

When the game started, I felt sleepy and wished to sleep, without being able to think I closed my eyes. 

To my surprise I was suddenly flashed with white light, when I opened my eyes, I wasn't in the classroom anymore. But I was in a place completely devoid of darkness. 

Meaning Everything was light, however I was not blinded by the light. 

Still confused I looked around, questioning where I was. 

"Hello?! Is anyone here?" I asked. 

Suddenly something that I hadn't seen before in life but in video games popped up in front of me. 

I guess you could call it a window or panel. It was like a notification with a message. 

I tried touching it but my hands went through, looking from different angles but it stayed in place. 

I finally decided to read what was on this notification. 

"You have been selected to play World Nations Z, you will be rewarded by playing, do you wish to play?" 

Reading this message, my confusion skyrocketed, I've been Selected to play? 

"And I will be rewarded if I play this game?" 

Wait no! I still have responsibilities to fulfill. I must work hard in order for my sister to have a good life. I can't play this game, As reality hit me, I decided on that instance that I shouldn't play this game. 

I looked at the notification again and found the accept and decline button. Of course, I instantly clicked the decline button. 

 But something unexpected happened and a bunch of red panels appeared all around me. 

"Error 00999xFFA012" 

All of the panels said this, and even though I tried to press the decline button multiple times nothing would happen, and more Errors would pop out. 

Even with this, I waited for a bit, maybe an hour or two and pressed the decline button again. Stil nothing, happened and more panels appeared. But they disappeared after 30 seconds of being there. 

Without a choice I was forced to click the Accept button. 

I was instantly moved, I felt like I was dragged from one side of the world to the other. Like when the camera moves in video games. My senses played tricks on me, and I fell flat on my butt. 

I looked back up and here I was, "Z Character Creation." 

"I guess I have no other choice but to play this game," I said to myself. 

Creating my character, I chose to go with my own appearance, but altering my hair a bit, my appearance had over grown hair, but I wanted to change it up a bit and so I went with a shorter hair look. But not too short. 

Now with my Character Created I was prompted to name my Character. 

"Souji Akira" my given name, I will not change my name. 

So, after I named my Character after myself, I was taken to the Skill's menu. 

The skill's menu did have a variety of skills that I could choose from. But this was only for my Main Skill. 

Scrolling through the multiple skills I arrived at General's Growth. 

A skill with the description matching that of a drill Sargeant, the description didn't tell much except that I can grow and nurture subjects and give a growth boost. 

I don't know what type of game this is, but this was the skill I was attracted to out of all the skills. I feel like I've nurtured and taken care of my little sister, so this won't be much different than taking care of children, will it? 

And with that skill set I was also given Appraisal and Commandment as essential skills given to "All players." 

"All Players? Are there more people than I playing?" I asked myself. 

It had been 2 hours since I've arrived in this place, and it was already getting excited quickly. 

And with that character customization finished, I clicked the finish button. 

As soon as that was pressed, out of nowhere I was created out of air and dropped from very high up. Soaring through the air, I wanted to get control of my body. I managed to flip it in the right direction facing where I could see the ground. 

But I was too high up and could only see the clouds. 

"AHHH" I yelled as I was dissenting. 

Feeling all the wind tingling and tickling my face, this did not only feel like virtual reality, but it felt real, I had all my senses and felt everything that was happening. 

As I was getting close to a cloud I braced for impact as I never knew what would happen if you fell through a cloud. It felt like hundreds of needles tickling and piercing my skin. 

After going through the clouds, I finally got a glimpse of the world below me. Smoke came from the ground as if it were Warfield. An area which had been devastated. 

Outside of that, green grasslands, forests and rivers were now in my view. 

"Woah" I yelled in excitement, I felt great, this finally felt like I had escaped all those years of hard work and fallen in love with my hobbies again. 

But the fun was over and now that I realized that I was still falling from a big height, and nothing could stop me, I screamed in terror. 

I didn't know what to do, I tried to move, I tried to swim, I tried to make an effort to survive but all of that didn't work for me. 

I accepted that this would be my last moments of life and closed my eyes. 

[ BAM ] 

I slammed on the ground, I felt hurt as I impacted on the ground. 

But I could feel my hands and my face on the dirt that I had fallen on. Opening my eyes, still scared I realized that I was still alive. 

The pain didn't go away for 10 seconds, but after that I felt great. 

I was finally confident enough to get up and look around. 

"Alright let's do this!" I told myself. 

When I tried looking around and trying to guess why I didn't take any damage. Another Panel appeared right in front of me. 

"Error, Player cannot take damage before cutscene!" 

"What now?" 

I looked around and saw nothing but a battlefield that had not happened any longer than an hour. 

Many men, women and what seemed like animals layed on the battlefield. It was a sad reality that happens. 

The smell of smoke, and rot touched my nose hairs and soon I felt like vomiting. This putrid smell, which I had not smelt before, one could say it was the smell of burnt flesh. 

That of which I wouldn't dare to imagine happening in my life time. In the peaceful world of mine, War could be of a distant past but bad things still happened. 

However, this could not compare to that of petty crimes and murder. Because this was a real scene blood, guts, and dismembered parts. 

Even though all of this flooded to my head in the span of 30 seconds. A new Panel appeared again. This time telling me something different. 

"Tutorial Quest: Save the Survivors! Reward: 5 Gold Coins" 

"There are survivors in this mess?" I thought to myself as I doubted that there were survivors since it seemed completely one-sided, not many color the people wore. 

Thats how I thought it was once sided, because people usually wear the color that is their team right? 

"How the hell am I supposed to look for survivors now" I said, hoping something would answer my question. 

However, no response was the answer to my question. 

Then a new Panel appeared, this time it wasn't directly in the world but in my vision. Sort of like a HUD or UI in video games. 

When I read it, I was happy, now this was something I could get behind. 

"Loading Skills: [General's Growth] [Appraisal] [Commandment]" 

"Nice all my skills are loading up now!" I yet again said to myself. 

"Skills Loaded" 

After this notification appeared, everything changed. 

Many different panels appeared where the remains of people on the ground are. 

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Name: Grisha 

Gender: Female 

Age: 3 

Race: Half-Goblin 

Skill: Weapon Metamorphosis 

Status: Dead 

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This... This ability, it's very specific, of course I already knew it was something like this but, now that I think about it, it's a very weird ability. 

As I looked around, many of the people or things here were dead. I called them things, because not all of them were Humans, they had human features and human forms, but they had different skin colors, body portions, body features. 

Things like scales, long ears, horns. Those characteristics that you would only find in fantasy books. 

I walked around the area, trying to look for someone who was alive, but of all results. Nothing came up, then I neared the start of the forest. 

Big trees, and dark shadows casted upon me, making me feal fear and nervousness. 

Being me I would typically avoid this area but I felt drawn to it. So I checked it out and to my surprise. There was someone alive, unconscious but alive. 

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Name: Bellphis 

Gender: Female 

Age: 19 

Race: Human 

Skill: Battle Cry 

Status: Unconscious (Bleeding) 

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"She's bleeding? Oh shit! What should I do!" I panicked, not knowing what to do. 

If I think about it, if this is like a video game, then there must be an inventory, right? 

I tried looking controlling the UI using my head but nothing worked. 

I imagined having a mouse and keyboard and clicking on the buttons and they worked, Now I was able to access and use the key binding's that belonged to the User Interface. 

While I looked for something that resembled an inventory button, nothing appeared. It appears this game does not have an Inventory System. 

"Now that I remember, wasn't that one of the Main Skills?" I thought to myself. 

Damn, it seems like you can only have an inventory with a skill, I was hopeless, seeing that she had equipped on her I tried looking around without touching her. 

"What if she kill's me because of a misunderstanding?" I questioned myself. 

Figuring out what I wanted to do, I finally had the balls to look through her pockets to see if she had anything that could heal her but I had found nothing. 

So with the mindset to complete the quest I headed into the forest, the forest was dark and silent, I for sure didn't like it but I kept pushing. I didn't encounter any animal's but I saw a couple of small spiders which spooked me. 

I tripped a couple of times on the unknown ground filled with tree trunks, sticks, and vines that came from the trees. 

Trying to scan some mushrooms and flower that I encountered but they didn't have any healing effects. 

Until finally I stumbled upon a mushroom which had a special effect. 

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Name: Diodali Healing Plant 

Type: Mushroom 

Effect: Small Healing 

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I saw around a dozen of these small mushrooms, I picked them all up got up to leave when suddenly my head felt light and my vision was getting blurry. I smelled the smell that came from the mushrooms, which I was too blind to see that they had left a small cloud of gas whenever I picked them. 

I felt weak and stumbled but I was determined to help that person survive, I stumbled back to where she was, slowly closing my eyes within each step. I didn't know if it was my last moment. It seemed like I have been in too many death incidents. 

I slowly reached where the lady was and bent down to where she was leaned against the tree. She was still unconscious and bleeding, then I remembered a video I once on first aid. 

With the little strength I had I ripped my shirt apart which I had not even looked at until now, and applied pressure on the wound. And wrapping the cloth around her wounded arm. 

And with my last strength I fed her a mushroom, It wasn't hard since she ate it on her own will, Survival Instincts? 

After she successfully ate the mushroom, green particles surrounded her, and my vision was no more. I only felt myself falling and hit something. 

When I lifted my head up, I was no longer on the outskirts of the forest where I passed out but in the classroom. 

Chatter filled the room as my ears adjusted to the sudden change of environment, I felt like I had just taken a nap. 

Coming to my senses, I realized that it was all just a dream, I guess I've been so tired lately that I just fell asleep on my desk. 

After waking up from that nap, I went through the rest of my school day without speaking to anybody. I even got asked a question by the teacher, but that was it. 

I was given homework at the end of the day, the school bell rang and so I left. Me and my sister met up at the gate of the school. 

"How was school today?" I asked her trying to strike up a conversation. 

But she didn't answer, she just kept looking at her phone and walking. I felt like I was talking to a wall, and words just went in one ear and came out of the other. 

I don't know what I did wrong to deserve being ignored like this, because she was always so affectionate towards me and was very loving and appreciative. 

But all of that changed after middle-school, nothing was the same anymore, and so we moved here to have a better life. But my wishes have fallen short and instead of spending more time with her, I've started working harder. 

Managing a job, school, and getting home in time to make dinner or provide her needs are starting to get hard. Due to that, I haven't been able to sleep for a good amount of time. 

"Hm," she said as meaning to say it was a good day. 

I've been getting better at translating her non talkative side, she usually just makes a sound instead of talking to me. 

Halfway away from our house, I saw a convenience store and wanted to buy some pudding and maybe some food as well. 

"You go home by yourself, I'll stop by the convenience store," I told her. 

Then she nodded and continued walking doing what seemed to be texting, so I shook my head and crossed the street and headed to the store. 

Now inside the store, I looked for the isle that the pudding was in, and grabbed it, along with some chips and an soft drink. 

After paying for it I checked my phone to see my how much money I had left. 

--------------------------------------------------------- 

 Money: 149,096.00 Yen 

 Transactions: 

 - 904.00 Yen 

 +75000.00 Yen 

--------------------------------------------------------- 

"What the Hell?!" I yelled in confusion. Somehow 75,000 Yen had been added to my account. 

"Oh no! I'll get arrested at this point!" I said again, thinking that I would get in trouble with the authorities without working for that money. 

It must have been an accident, right? Somebody accidentally transferred money to my account. I won't use it, it'll get fixed soon, I just have to wait and not worry right? 

I tried not to worry about it and headed home. 

"I'm home!" I said, it was common courtesy for me to say that when entering my house, I've already gotten so used to it that it's like my 2nd nature. 

I went to the kitchen and split the pudding between the two and left her the bag of chips as well. I've always left snacks for her to munch on from time to time. 

Since it was still afternoon and not yet night, I headed upstairs to take a nap. 

I threw myself on the bed and hugged my pillow. It was a tough day, today was so exhausting that I felt like I was sinking into my bed and my head felt sleepier than usual. 

And so I closed my eyes, no realizing that it was still afternoon. 

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Slowly opening my eyes and feeling the pain throbbing in my head. 

I finally opened my eyes and was surprised because I was dreaming of that video game again. Grabbing my head I sat up, still wondering what was happening. 

"Ughhh! W-Where am I?" I asked, my vision was still blurry, and I heard a loud sound in my ear, like if someone was playing a loud frequency. 

Suddenly a person came into my blurred vision. 

"So you're awake!" the person said shaking me violently. While I still had not managed to get a grasp on my consciousness, I was fed something and soon my vision got better, and the sound started to go away. 

I was now able to make out the figure in front of me, and soon the panel was too. 

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Name: Bellphis 

Gender: Female 

Age: 19 

Race: Human 

Skill: Battle Cry 

Status: Alive ( Low Health ) 

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Well, looks like Bellphis is alive... But she would not stop shaking me. 

"H-Hey stop!" I managed to say, she then stopped shaking me and opened her mouth as to say something. 

"Verily, I doth apologize! I sought only to rouse thee, for an hour hast thou slept without awakening!" she said. 

"Huh?" I questioned, as I could not completely understand what she was saying. 

I somewhat made out what she was saying, apparently, she was apologizing for waking me up. 

"Oh that's okay! Anyways what's going on?" I asked. 

I was confused because I didn't know what happened, the Save Survivor's quest seemed to be completed now so I was wondering if more Survivors were saved. 

"I discovered thee beside me upon mine awakening, perchance thou hast rescued me, albeit in dire straits thyself. Nevertheless, I managed to locate some of my companions yet living and aided them with the Diodali Mushrooms." she said while holding both my hands. 

"Oh that's good!" I said, happy that she was able to find her friends. 

Now looking at my own status, I am no longer poisoned and currently healing. 

That's good, I won't die at this point, even if I'm in a dream I can still feel and hurt, and the feeling of dying is not something I want to experience. 

"Regardless, my friends and I doth wish to express our gratitude for thy salvation. Pray, is there aught thou dost desire in return?" she said with a soft smile. 

Taking a closer look, she had bags under her eyes, scars on her face and arms, but she had a beautiful smile, I knew that she wouldn't be a good fit for the battlefield, and she could of used her beauty to become famous. 

But in this world, she probably didn't have a choice but to fight, I didn't know her reasons, but I could tell one thing, that she was sincere, and to answer her question... I honestly don't know what to do from here on. 

I was trying to think of something to say when suddenly I got a quest from the System. 

"Tutorial Quest: Join Bellphis and her crew. Reward: 1 Stat Point" 

Well! Looks like I'll be joining Bellphis. 

"Well... Could I maybe join your group?" I asked, I couldn't anticipate what she was going to say, but she suddenly made a dissatisfied face. 

"Verily, this occupation be fraught with peril! Thou art aware of the risks – injury could befall thee!" She said, trying to discourage me from joining her group. 

"But what other choice do I have? It's either I join you or die here," I replied. 

I get what she is saying is correct, If I join them, I might die but I have no choice. It's not like I can decline a Tutorial Quest or something. I have no choice but to join them. 

"So be it, yet training thou shalt require!" She responded to my ultimatum. 

Then after that, I was welcomed into Bellphis's group, and the remaining survivor's welcomed me. 

Apparently, the tutorial was completed and being welcome in was the 'Cutscene' 

Credits: Karrot

Discord: https://discord.gg/uy8PC7mNQ8

TO BE CONTINUED