5. Good Start
Michelle had been staring at the book and pebble for a few minutes, utterly confused about what to do with them.
Picking up the small note paper beside the two items, she read it seriously. The more she read, the more confused she became.
'What the freak? Who would read this letter seriously?'
Her brother was talking nonsense about a magic stone and a magic book. He talked about how he managed to get four magic books online while browsing for books at a cheap price.
He also told her about the pebble capable of holding energy comparable to a million suns.
"Hmnpp... Does he think he can make a joke on me with a serious face? Just you wait, Dante," Michelle grumbled, feeling annoyed.
But before she could drop the paper note, it combusted to ashes, then white light gushed out of it, heading toward her forehead. Before she could curse, she blacked out.
...
Michelle dreamt of a city full of happy faces, bustling streets, and a large number of moving vehicles. Near the city was a large forest spanning hundreds of kilometers.
After a few minutes of looking at it, a crack sounded suddenly. Michelle tried to find the crackling sound, but what she saw terrified her, a crack in the sky.
It was like a mirror had been punched from the inside, and after a minute of waiting, a hand burst out of the punctured hole. It had shiny scales and sharp claws with a metallic sheen, a horror only found in novels and movies.
A dragon standing 15 meters tall towered over a small house, followed by small scaly creatures like lizardmen and kobolds. The nearby city was then slowly enveloped in a large transparent dome.
*Ding*
A bell sounded before a voice with a soothing tone echoed across the whole city. The world then lost its color.
"Welcome to the new era of magic and abilities. I am Gaia, the system tasked with overseeing the whole planet. I am responsible for the welfare and health of all living on this planet. I am not your enemy, humans, but the one overseeing this whole development. My task is to guide you all on how to cultivate and improve your abilities."
"Anyone under 20 years old will be marked green, which means you cannot be attacked by any monster spawn until you come of age. As for those above, you have been blessed with undying bodies when inside the city."
The color returned.
Then she saw a large timer above the city, counting down six months to the impending disaster.
...
Michelle gasped for air, stunned and unable to speak. What she had seen could not be explained by any common sense. She tried to tell herself it was just hallucinations, but her gut kept persuading her it was real.
After much contemplation, she stood up. She felt the world was going to crash, but a new type of feeling rose inside her, excitement. She picked up the book, but when she opened it, she almost stumbled. A baby unicorn in cartoon form was displayed.
"The world might explode right now, and this is what you're giving me, brother?" she thought.
After a minute of waiting for something to happen as her brother had told her, the book lit up. The light swirled like a balloon, then zoomed into her, slamming into her forehead.
"Why is it always the forehead?" Michelle said.
Michelle then closed her eyes as her mind processed the information she received. The Gauntlet and Book of Aru, an artifact made by an unknown entity that could rewrite any object. It contained the full knowledge of Aura and could shape-shift into a gauntlet indestructible to any damage. Michelle also received instructions on how to absorb aura and strengthen her body.
She opened her eyes slowly, glowing with confidence and anticipation. She then picked up the stone, bit her finger, and dropped blood on it, binding the two artifacts to her.
...
Jake had just turned 19 years old and was bored with his daily routine of studying. So, he picked up his bag and ran outside the school gate. Like any normal student, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his cellphone.
"Yo bro, let's meet up at our meeting place," Jake typed before sending it. After a minute of walking, he stopped at a convenience store, where he saw Carl. Jake opened the door before greeting his friend.
"Carl, how have you been? I didn't see you yesterday?"
"I just didn't feel like going to school, so I stayed at home and played games all day."
"How about going to the river today?" Jake suggested.
"Yup, why not? I feel bored doing nothing today. Alright, might as well go fishing."
"Okay, let's meet up at the riverbank at 1 in the afternoon."
Carl nodded, and Jake walked out of the store.
...
One day had passed since he gave the book to his sister. Right now, Dante was walking aimlessly. He was searching for some lucky kid that he could scam. He disguised himself as a poor homeless man with dirt and holes in his shirt.
"I'm already so powerful in the beginning; why not act like some hermit and scam some kids with their lollipops?" Dante thought while laughing inside.
His plan was to act like a mysterious person, scam some kids, and if they managed to give him a little money, exchange it for an artifact, then *poof* he would disappear.
"What an awesome plan," he thought.
The purpose of this plan was to cultivate kids until they were strong enough to protect and rule a large city, managing it to avoid chaotic situations. Imagine having a large number of undying humans in a city with no hesitation to kill anyone because others wouldn't die either. Chaos might erupt in every city in the world. Of course, Dante wouldn't let them be undying forever. He set this rule only inside the city while fortifying its buildings to be sturdy enough to withstand a superhuman's punch.
It may sound excessive and overprotective of humans, but Dante just didn't want to release millions of monsters to massacre all humans. As for the monsters, which were his creations, he didn't feel guilty about humans massacring them as he would just release soulless monsters with no intelligence, except for the elves, dwarves, or dragons.
Dante planned to release them later when humans would be able to survive without his intervention. As for how Dante was going to make them, he first needed to study souls and their laws.
...
Jake and Carl had been fishing for an hour now and had only managed to catch a single small fish. Just thinking of it was making Jake more frustrated. How the freak were they so unlucky?
Usually, they could catch 5-7 fish an hour without any effort. Unbeknownst to them, someone was laughing to their heart's content. Dante was having the time of his life making the two frustrated. He watched them almost throw their only catch back into the lake, blaming it for their bad luck.
After a while of fishing, Jake and Carl prepared to tidy up their trash and equipment but stopped as their eyes focused on a hunchbacked old beggar carrying a bamboo fishing rod with nylon as its fishing line, with the beggar taking small strides looking like he might stumble at every step.
Jake and Carl hesitated to help the beggar after inhaling a pungent smell. I mean, who would help a beggar that smelled like a fish that had rotted for a few days? Jake and Carl almost puked on the spot.
But like good kids with good consciences, Jake picked up their only catch and walked toward the beggar with blurry eyes and tears. If anyone saw Jake, they might think he was crying because of the beggar's pitiful appearance. Jake just couldn't take the smell, which almost felt like peeling onions near your eyes, it burned like freak.
After a while of contemplating and fighting for his life, he managed to get near the beggar. Just as he was about to give the fish they caught, the beggar's fishing rod curved as if it had caught a 100-pound tuna. Then a large 50-plus kilogram catfish struggled in the river, almost dropping Jake and Carl's jaws.
They felt tricked. They had been fishing for three hours with no luck, then this old man suddenly came along and directly caught a behemoth in no time. Jake looked at his pitiful one-pound fish, then at the catfish, contemplating what the freak the old man was using as bait to catch something that big in no time.
Jake remembered that the beggar only used half of an earthworm, while he used an expensive set of lure bait. They almost thought of themselves as noob players who had just witnessed a level 100 veteran player fighting a level 10 boss monster, purely overpower.
Like a doll with a broken string, Jake pulled his hand back along with the fish he wanted to give. He walked back to Carl, who also had a dumbfounded face. He put the fish back in the bucket and then picked up the small folding chair they had prepared to store away.