City Central Library

PROLOGUE

Everyone has one moment they can remember with vivid detail. However, this day was destined to be a such a day for everyone.

"Honey, is there supposed to be a solar eclipse today?" In a car, a woman turned to her husband. The traffic around them had ground to a halt.

"How the hell am I'm s'posed to know? You're the who keeps blaring the TV all day!" The bald man retorted.

All around them, people began to exit their cars confused.

Suddenly, a voice boomed from nowhere. No matter what or where they were, even if they were using loud machines or noise cancelling headphones. The voice was crisp and clear.

"Being passive does not work in this universe." The voice echoed throughout Earth.

"Exactly a year from today, Earth will be invaded by a force of from another planet, set on conquering Earth. They will come, enslave everyone here and exploit every drop of resource on this planet before they leave you to rot. The only way to escape this fate and live with freedom is by becoming stronger than your enemies.

The machines you have built till now will be of no help.

I will grace all humans of Earth with an Evolution System. You will be able to grow stronger, faster and we able to wield the forces of nature.

But strength comes at a price. There will be new challenges for you, but after this trial by fire, you will be strong enough to face these invaders from Alterverse. However, if you decide to live a lackadaisical life, the only thing awaiting you will be death, destruction and misery."

Then just as it had begun, it ended in a flash. The voice stopped and the sky turned blue again. The people only knew this was real because everyone had experienced it.

"Hey... Do you feel different?" A man in a bike cried out, checking his body.

"What do you mean?"

"I… I don't know. But something feels weird."

A screen suddenly appeared before their eyes.

[Welcome,

The God of Creation has bestowed the gift of Evolution System upon all humans. Please, stand-by as your body is being prepared for your new environment…]

A warm feeling surged through each and every human on Earth.

At the same instance, there were visible changes taking place on Earth.

New flora and fauna appeared replacing the old, while strange looking vines and creepers appeared creeping up buildings and towers. While new ores appeared in abandoned tunnels, underground railway systems and other mine shafts.

Even the animals all around the globe were experiencing change. From the colour of their fur to their very skeletal structure were undergoing some sort of evolution.

This was not evolution. This was more in the lines of mutation… And not everyone survived it.

[Your body cannot sustain the energy change...]

A message would appear and then… death. More than fifty million people received that message.

A full hour later, everyone else that survived received a different new message.

*Ding

[Congratulation,

Synchronization of your body with the new environment is complete.

Your body is now able to survive the new environment.]

The people who survived had a look of joy on their faces. They had stared into death's door and survived.

As humans all over the world were taking their respite, countless birds, animals and pets ripped apart doors and steel cages leaving destruction in their wake.

Humans were no longer at the top of the food pyramid.

CHAPTER 1: CITY CENTRAL LIBRARY

Rick cursed at himself again.

"Damn it! Who wants to become a lawyer anyway? I am never going to come to a library again! Never!" He cursed.

Rick had just got to the library when the Heaven's Dictate had begun. He survived the following "upgrade" and received the instruction on how to use the System Status Screen as well. He quickly touched his right temple and a screen popped up.

[RICK HANIQUE

Strength: 12

Stamina: 9]

"Damn it!" Rick cursed again as he saw his abysmal stats. The System had said that the stats were based on his bodily conditions before the mutation.

Rick considered himself to be in quite a good shape considering he had not done any real workout since he joined law school two years back.

And now it seemed like all his hard work was for naught. Who would care about the law in a lawless world? The new world order would have only one law that the Might is Right.

Being dedicated to lead a peaceful life, Rick had been studying hard even during his vacation, being the only one in the City Central Library at nine in the morning, on a Sunday. He had just climbed up to the top floor of the library when the mutation occurred and he collapsed on the floor.

But this was not the primary cause for Rick's curses.

As Rick got back up from the floor, he received a new notification.

It was this notification which caused Rick to go on a cursing spree

patted his back and stood back up. Rick had always been clear-headed at crunch moments.

*Ding

A notification popped.

[You have entered The Eighth Floor of the Curse Reader Dungeon

Dungeon Level- 98

The dungeon will be locked before it is cleared out.]

"What the hell?" Rick was numbed by the sudden shock, "Is this where I die?"

Although he didn't know what he had to do he was pretty certain he could not do it!

Rick immediately rushed to try to go down the stairs and leave.

"Even if I can't exit the library, I should be able to reach the entrance. It should at least be easier back at the ground floor than here on the eighth floor" Rick analyzed.

Rick turned back the leave the floor. But if almost crashed his face into an invisible barrier set up. There was some sort of energy that was blocking the exit and he could not leave.

"Damn it! What do I do now!" Rick babbled as he rubbed his swollen forehead.

Rick quickly checked the nearby window to check if he could escape from their, but he had no luck. It too was blocked!

He looks a moment to calm himself down.

"I guess there is no other way, huh!" Rick mumbled. He had to move further into the library and get through whatever he had to clear to leave this place

Just then he received another notification.

*Ding

[Skill- Tranquil Heart has been learnt]

[Tranquil Heart- Veteran

Proficiency- 12%

You remain steady and unwavering at the face of danger.]

Rick quickly checked the Notification and dismissed it.

"Can a steady heart stop a bullet or sword? Tranquil Heart my foot! Useless!" Rick babbled, dismissing the notification.

He looked around for a weapon to hold. Finding nothing better, he settled for a wooden chair nearby. It was not enough to kill, but Rick hoped that it would be good enough to knock back the whoever came at him at least.

He picked up the chair and gave it a few swings before walking forward.

The layout of the floor was pretty straightforward. There were three racks of books from one end to the other facing Rick throughout the entire floor.

Rick tiptoed carefully and reached the corner most row near him, the left row. His logic was that this way at least one side would be secure.

Rick carefully crawled his way forward.

As he kept walking forward Rick left as if the space around him was changing.

He was still on the eighth floor of the library, but its dimensions looked much bigger. It was as if the library had suddenly become longer and larger.

The bookshelves were much taller than before and cast shadows all around. Rick quickly pressed his body next to the shelf trying to make himself as little as he could. Crawling through the shadows he slowly made his way forward.

*Ding

[Skill- Stealth Walk has been learnt].

[Stealth Walk- Novice

Proficiency- 1%

Meld with the shadows around you. There is a lesser chance of your opponents spotting you.]

Rick stopped for a moment and checked the message. he had no idea how useful the skill would be. But he was sure it was more useful than the [Tranquil Heart] skill he had received.

As he slowly crept his way forward, Rick noticed a gathering hall appear before him. This definitely did not exist before. This cleared Rick's suspicion that the space inside the Library was somehow different.

Rick carefully peeked his head out to see into the hall.

The hall was relatively empty. There is a large throne placed at a raised pedestal at the center of the clearing. Below the pedestal are four lesser thrones. The central throne was facing towards Rick and he observed that it was empty.

Rick had not actually observed any movement in the hall. For all he knew, the entire place was empty.

But one thing caught Rick's eye. There was a door behind the large throne.

'That should be the way out!' Rick thought as he crawled his way forward.

But Rick's plan was doomed as soon as he took the first step into the hall.

*Boom

The ground shook.

"Who dares to enter the Lord's Chamber" a voice bayed.

"Shit!" Rick cursed, immediately tried to retreat back into the corridor.

The four lesser thrones moved back and Rick noticed four shadows stand up from them.

"How did you reach here human?" A second voice sounded, "How could you defeat all our demon legions so quickly?"

'What the f***k!' Rick screamed inside his head.

"Hmm! Someone strong enough to kill all the demon legions. We must be on guard brothers. It's not been long enough since the seal had been removed. We have not regained all our strength back and Master is not here either. We must act decisively" the first voice verbalized.

The four shadows moved towards the light and Rick could finally see the faces of the voices. When Rick saw their faces his limbs turned cold.

It would not be right to call them human under any circumstance. They did have the characteristics of a human- they had a head, a body and four limbs. But they were under no circumstance humans.

All the four creatures had different features even though their silhouettes had the human form.

Rick scanned over the features of the four creatures.

The First one had metal like shining body, while two crooked horns protruded from the skull of his head. The Second has a human shape but with greyish skin and without eyes, mouth or nose on its face. The Third had a green carapace like skin and a mist surrounding him. And the Fourth had the upper torso of a human, But had the lower limbs of a goat and had had a pair of wings protruding from his lower back.

"Don't think you can get away from here with your life, human." the goat-limbed Fourth bellowed.

Rick was stupefied by the appearance of these creatures. It was as if they had come to life right out of a horror show.

"Hey calm down guys. I mean no harm." Rick chirped.

Rick said the first words he could think of. He was afraid that if he did not say anything, these... these things would kill him on the spot without giving Rick to even say a word.

"Hahaha! Such insolence. This human thinks he can come and go from Master's quarters whenever he wishes to." the metal-bodied First guffawed, "Do not think we will not uphold Master's honour in his absence."

*Ding

Suddenly Rick received a new notification in the middle of an intense situation!

Cursing, Rick checked it out.

[Quest: Victory in this dungeon will allow you a qualify you to become the Master of City Central Library

Condition: You must defeat everyone in this dungeon.]

'The heck! Who wants to be the master of this place! I will never set my foot again in this place if I get out of here alive.'

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