Chapter Two: A Very Shocking Introduction

"Welcome." A new female voice said, startling Drake causing him to nearly fumble over on the ground.

There were no doors in the room that he could make out so it shouldn't have been possible for someone to just appear in the room without him noticing. But after the initial shock of hearing a new voice in the room Drake quickly stood up and looked at the person across from him.

On the other side of a newly placed white table -that he was wondering where it had come from- was a picturesque woman with shoulder length black hair, and sharp brown eyes staring back at him. Even with her sitting down Drake could clearly see her defined body features under the office lady type clothing. If anything the tightly stretched clothes only made her infatuating curves more alluring.

While thinking that she reminded him of one of the KPOP stars he had seen do a video for one of his favorite games, he let out a whispered, "Wow, you are hot," an upward crease forming on the side of his mouth.

The woman smiled in turn, casually getting to her feet. She was slightly shorter than Drake, maybe around 170cm'. And she sauntered just as casually over to his side of the table.

"Oh. Now I've definitely seen this movie before." Drake muttered, looking down at the extravagant woman in front of him.

Unbeknownst to him the woman had pulled out a small taser in her hand. But Drake hardly noticed since he was too occupied looking at the woman's smile.

Before he could understand what happened he went stiff as a board, suddenly feeling an intense shock go through his body, falling to the ground he had just stood up from.

"Wwww-hhh-what tttthh-the ffu-fuuck ladyyyyy!" Drake shouted out through spasms.

The woman never stopped smiling as she knelt down next to Drake, the taser still popping with swift and loud cracks in her hand.

"I may be a system construct, only here for your introduction, but I'll be damned if you'll subject me to your low tier game without pants. Pervert," said the woman, giving Drake another quick shock to the thigh.

Drake yelped again in surprise, pain shooting up the length of his leg like being struck by lightning.

"Oh don't be such a baby. This thing only does 1 damage per hit, the stun is only inconvenient since you don't have any resistances yet. Now here's an extra freebie, put them on so I don't have to look upon your disappointing lower half will you," she giggled condescending, dropping blue jeans on Drake's still spasming, drooling face.

By the time Drake was able to gain control over his body he was even more confused than before. It had been a little over 10 minutes as he glanced at the top right of the welcoming screen. She had just wasted the little time he had here over a small compliment.

Sure, I forgot that I was half naked. Drake thought. But it's not my fault I was brought here with no pants! I just went on auto pilot since she's right in my strike zone!

He sighed inwardly as he slipped into the jeans he was given, more confused. He tried his best to ignore the blinking green bar in the top left of his vision. Not wanting to acknowledge it. Thinking that if he had he would be admitting to going even more crazy than he already thought he was.

Transported half naked to a small nondescript room. A gorgeous hottie just spawns into it after I hear voices in my head. How was I supposed to know anything but that this might be a wild lucid dream or I went into some kind of coma! He screamed internally.

"Will you sit down so we can get started already, you don't have all day. We have a lot to go through," the woman said from her seat at the table she had gone back to at some point.

"Oh I'm wasting time now, huh?!" Drake shouted, "Aren't you the one who just knocked me out for giving out a harmless compliment!"

The woman raised a brow at Drake's outburst, her hand raising from below the table. The same menacing taser in her hand sparking to life menacingly, lighting up the side of her face with every electrifying crack, "You were half naked, if you don't remember, want to go night night again brat?" she stated flatly making it all the more terrifying.

"That's fair. No, I'm good Ma'am, let's get started shall we!" he quickly yelled out in the most polite tone he could manage, silently sliding into the office seat at the table.

"Good boy. Now that we can finally begin, hurry up and fill out the basic information the screen is asking for," she prompted with the wave of the taser.

"Bitch…." Drake muttered under his breath.

"What was that brat, I didn't quite hear?" she asked, the taser again snapping to life with electricity.

"No, no, nothing! I just don't really understand the first line! Haha…." he rambled nervously, looking down at the screen in front of him.

[Please enter your name or alias.]

"Why would I need an alias, I'm assuming since I'm here you already know my name. This seems like a sign up for some type of job or game. Did I reincarnate, maybe?" Drake asked rapid-fire, his enthusiasm starting to eclipse his terror of being shocked again.

"Ugh… So many questions, and we haven't even passed the first prompt. Can't you use that thing between your fleshy ears?" the woman said dramatically with a flourish of her arms.

When she popped in I could have sworn she was an angel, but what's with all this sadistic crap! She's a 10 but her personality is like a 1! I guess that's why they say don't judge a book by its cover. Thought Drake, staring at the woman, waiting for a proper answer while willfully ignoring the taser she used so liberally.

The woman's eyes thinned in annoyance, reluctantly answering, "You are lucky I'm forced by the system to answer even the most mundane of questions as long as it's within a certain scope. No, you haven't reincarnated. Are you stupid? And the reason for the option of an alias is because in the coming tutorial. You will be placed on specific ladders for the competition of rewards at the end of it."

Drake's ears perked up at the mention of the competition ladders. He was an avid gamer during his 26 years of life, even playing games when it wasn't mainstream. Having to hide the fact he would turn down dates and outings just to get a few more hours in front of the screen.

"So it is like a game sign up, almost like a Gamer Tag?" he mused.

"You can think of it like that if it helps," she said, twirling the taser between her fingers as she continued, "But this is no game, the system is made to promote the growth of Mana Vessels by any means."

"Mana Vessels?" Drake asked.

"Yeah, the most simple explanation I'm allowed to give you is that they, or more specifically; you and the rest of your race are containers for ambient mana. Meant to contain the infinite sums of it throughout the multiverse. You know about the Big Bang right?" she asked pointedly.

"Yeah, I went through school," he answered.

"Could have fooled me," she giggled.

Drake scoffed a scowl quickly forming on his face.

"Well," she continued. "That didn't happen for just any reason. The build up of mana from the Originators, or the first Vessels couldn't be held. And went pop!" the woman explained with a pop of her hands and lips.

"And now all that Mana is continuing out into the multiverse just all willy nilly. Doing whatever it likes, creating planets, destroying planets, creating and collapsing whole sectors of the universe. So to contain the unstable mana, the surviving Originators developed the system to gather and process it," she finished.

"Well doesn't that just make two bombshells in the room lady. I feel like you should apologize to all the people who worked so hard to come up with the Big Bang Theory," Drake said.

"Nope. It isn't my fault they were uninformed, incompetent monkeys," she said flatly.

Drake didn't let some of the information she slipped in go past him without question either, "You said my race as if there were others. Are you insinuating that there will be other 'races' in this tutorial?" he asked.

"Yes," she stated just as quickly.

"And they are….?" Drake asked exacerbated.

"Can't say, won't say. Can't give you all the info, but I will say that the area you are going to only has humans in it," she quipped, adding, "At least as far as participants goes," she finished coyishly.

"Fair...." Drake said a little suspicious of the last comment, but forced himself to look back at the screen hovering in front of him nonetheless, pushing the thought away.

Well I guess I'll just use my gamer tag for now. He thought.

Drake pressed the empty box on the screen for his name, a cursor flashing in the box as a keyboard flashed into existence in front of him.

Beginning to type out the name he had used in some of his more recent RPG games.

[Please enter your name or alias.]

[xXxDemonHunterDrakexXx…]

Drake's hands moved nearly at the speed of light to cover his flushing face. As he started typing the name he had used for his solo play RPG games, he slowly realized it would be seen by others.

I'm 26 dude! He screamed internally. This is going to be seen by who knows how many people. How embarrassing would it be to introduce yourself like this?! Oh hey! I'm xXxDemonHunterDrakexXx! He continued to think, only embarrassing himself further. The embarrassment became even physical as he squirmed slightly in his seat.

"Hurry up, you have only 40 more minutes to get through everything and ask any other questions you might have, so there's no time to dance about. And if you're worried about the alias, don't be. It will only last for the tutorial ladders and won't matter afterwards," the woman said, her face giving away how bored she was growing watching Drake mull over only the first prompt of the introduction, losing so much interest that she picked at the under of her nails with the taser blowing the dirt off occasionally.

"Thanks…" he muttered.

Remembering the old MMO he had played when he was younger. Drake smiled with nostalgia. He thought of the name he used through most of the 10 odd some years that he played.

[Please enter your name or alias.]

[Shot]