Chapter 1

"...." Speaking

'.....' Thoughts

July 14, 2024

The sun was beaming down on a random street in Pottstown. It was hot day and everyone was just hoping for a nice breeze. But one person especially was hoping for their walk to work to end. 

"Why is it so freaking hot?!" Samson was walking towards the store he worked at. But it was the hottest day of summer so far and he was not enjoying it.

"I really wish it wasn't so easy for me to sweat. But that's what happens when you are shaped like a whale." 

Samson was definitely not the most healthy person. He was a good 5 11 but was walking around with 300+ pounds. He always talks about he'll start to work out. But he always pushes it back. Never having the motivation to start.

Samson finally came to the street across from his job, waiting for the light. Sweating hard and feeling impatient he started across the street when there were less cars coming. Luckily he was able to get across safely. 

Getting across the street, he finally entered his place of work. Going in he saw some coworkers sitting in the main lobby. They were like him getting ready to clock in. 

"Oh hey Maddie." Samson was looking at the girl to his right. She was tall and had black hair. She was also kind of shaped like a twig. "Oh hey Sam." Maddie was on her phone as she answered him. Most likely texting her boyfriend. 

Samson just walked by her and moved into the main station of the work area. "Good morning Ms. Veronica. How's it going." "Hello. Just trying to get through the shift." Miss Veronica was just walking around looking at what needed to be done. "I am just really ready to go home. It is so hot today" 

"That is very true." Samson laughed. "It's like 110 out there I think. Hottest day of the summer so far." Samson walked to the back to clock in and finally start his shift. 

5 hours and 30 Mins Later

It was getting closer to the end of Samson's shift. "Man just 30 minutes left until end of shift." Samson was trying to find something else to do. But the weirdest light caught his eye. His coworker Naeem seemed to also notice. 

"Whoa! What's with the fucking lights! I don't appreciate going blind!" Naeem was covering his eyes. Samson looked over and noticed everyone had a light in front of them. "Weird, everyone is glowing, even me. Sam muttered to himself.

*DING!* 

The light made a noise as it morphed and darkened into a kind of rectangle shape. It also showed static like on an old satellite tv. What popped on it scared everyone. 

"Hello humans of earth! My name is ############! Oh wait. I forgot about the restriction. Oh well." The box showed a tiny imp like creature wearing a three piece suite of... all colors? His skin was also all crimson and covered with white markings. 

"What the fuck?! What are you?!" Naeem screamed out loud, hoping for an explanation to this weird demon thing. 

The Imp didnt seem to hear him and kept speaking. "Well humans of earth. I sadly inform you that the universe has become to full. So we are doing a full update." Everyone in the store looked around at each other confused on what it meant. "This means that everything that has happened since the universes creation will be reset. " 

Samson eyes widen at the clarification. 'He was talking about starting over the universe. That doesn't seem like an update. That seems like a reset.' Samson was worried but everyone else in the store still seemed confused. 

"What is the that demon thing saying?" An old man in the store asked aloud. Still kind of confused.

A random teenager next to him yelled, "Pay attention. Hes talking about all of us going bye-bye and the universe starts all the way to the big bang." The teen immediately got up and went to leave the store. 

As he was leaving the imp kept speaking. "Before the.. update, we wanted to see what to add for the next version of the universe. So we decided to put different planets through an experiment." 

Samson was wondering what kind of experiment the universe could conduct. Maybe new animals, or new kinds of resources. He really couldn't think of anything else besides those. 

"The thing is that this experiment for this planet is definitely dangerous. It will bring the loss of many of your lives. But that doesn't really matter since it'll all go away from the update."

There was an uproar in the store. 

Multiple people started yelling questions all at once. "Why would you want to do that? Why us? Cant you do the experiment somewhere else?" There was just more yelling and yelling. Samson could even hear the yelling coming from outside near the other stores. 

"Well now I am going to give you the basic run down on how the experiment shall go." The imp pulled up a paper. Probably what he was about to read off of. "The planet Earth has been chosen for experiment #1A." The imp stopped reading for a second. 

"Oh wow. You guys are really unlucky." The Colorful creature chuckles to itself. "Well too bad. In this experiment all the humans shall randomly choose the "class" they will use to survive. As a way to test how they respond to the supernatural becoming real."

Samson thought about when the Imp said classes. 'Is he talking about like video game classes? Like a wizard, or a barbarian? Also what about the supernatural being natural'

The imp kept going, "These classes will come in different ranks. The lowest tier will be one star. The highest tier is 5 stars. Difference in rarity affects growth in power. The more creatures.."

The imp sighs and puts the paper down. "You know what. This is just taking too much time. I'll just summarize." 

Samson's eyes widen. Naeem yells out in anger. "What does it mean this is taking too long! It sounds like that information could help us live!" 

"There is not really anything we can do about it dude." Samson tried to comfort him. "Oh my god. Shut up fatass." Naeem always like to be disrespectful to Sam. Even though Sam has always been kind to him. 

"Whatever dude. Just trying to make you feel better" Samson shook his head and turned back towards the Imp.

The imp sighed again and started speaking. "Listen up humans. Monsters of what you have thought were fantasy are going to start appearing all over your planet. You all will choose a class to use to survive."

Shouts of fear start in the store. Lots of people are starting to call their families to see if they also hear the message. "You have to kill the monsters to strengthen yourselves and stay alive. The universe updates in 2 years earth time. That's how long you have to try and survive till. Well good luck and good bye. Oh also the universe will issue mission every now and then. Bye!"

The screen in front of everyone disappears. Confirming the end of the message. There was a long silence. Then finally someone spoke out. "Ok. So that was a bad prank right?" A lady in the store asked to really no one. "Or maybe there was a gas leak in the store and we all were just hallucinating?" 

All of a sudden wild wind heard, and the sky went from a dark moonlit sky to more purplish twilight and even more stars. Lights appeared in the store and started to take shape of playing cards. 

'This must be how the class selection is going to go.' Samson was looking up at them. 'Ok, so the imp said 5 stars were the most powerful. Just got to grab one of those. Should be easy.'

The lights were now all cards. Samson immediately started looking for anything with 4 or more stars on it. But of course it couldn't be easy. 

The cards started to move around. Getting faster and faster till there was no way anyone could read what was on them. Very obviously a way to make sure no one could decide there class. 

"Well shit. They really want us to die." Samson was having a hard time trying to decide what card to grab. He looked around hoping maybe there was a trick to it. Didnt seem to be though. 

"How are we supposed me choose a class to survive with if we can't even see the choices" There was a lot of complaints and jeering. 

Crash

The teenager from early came smashing through a window. They were all bloody and beaten with knife wound all over. The sound of growls and roars could be heard from the broken window. 

*DING*

Tutorial Mission: Beginning of the Experiment

A big rectangle like the one that projected the imp, now has a depiction of the first mission on it. 

The world as you know it has changed. Now your goal is to survive as long as you can. Monsters have invaded. Slay them and use the experience to get stronger. Good luck. 

Objective: Kill 5 monsters. 

Time Limit: 24 hours

Reward: One random equipment

Failure: Loss of Life

"OH MY GOD! This is all real! That kid is actually dead! The world is really ending!" A lady started crying and yelling in the corner of the store. People were still paying attention to the body of the kid. Some were vomiting and some were just crying. 

"Ok! We just need to start picking our classes. Doesn't matter what they are." A random dad in the store could be heard. As he said that he reached into the storm of cards to pick a class. 

As he grabbed his card he glowed in a red light. All of a sudden he was holding a one handed Medieval Axe. 

"Oh wow. This feels extremely weird." The dad seemed to swing the axe a few times to get comfortable. "Alright everyone it is time for all of you to do the same. Unless you want to die." He then kneels down to talk to his kids. 

Samson was looking at all the cards moving around. Hoping to even find a hint of a 5 star card. 'Ok! lets just go for it. Something is better than nothing.' Samson reached forward for a card. 

As he grabbed one he started to glow green. He pulled his hand back and looked down at himself. He was now wearing Monk robes instead of his work uniform. They were Shirt and Pants are seafoam green, and the boots and belt are sage green. 

"Feeling very mystical with this outfit. But how do I figure out what card I got." As he said that his own kind of status screen popped up. 

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Status Screen 

Name: Samson Brown

Class: Astral Monk (5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

Level 1: (Exp 1/10) 

HP:25 

MP:25

Stats-

Strength:5

Dexterity:5

Constitution:5

Intellegince:5

Wisdom:5

Charisma:5

Skills-

Basic Hand to Hand Combat (Passive LVL1): You have a natural talent using your fists and legs to destroy your opponents. Weapons can be used but feel uncomfortable in your hands. 

Astral Gauntlets (Active): Spectral wraps appear around your hands. They put more strength behind your punches. They also allow you to attack the spirit of your opponent directly, bypassing physical resistances. 

MP cost: 10

Duration: 5 minutes

Cooldown: 1 Minute

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'Wow. This is kind of insane. And to get a 5 star class, what crazy luck.' Samson kept looking over his status seeing if there was anymore info. 'There is also an inventory, that's pretty useful.' 

"Hey Samson, How did you do that?"

Naeem called out to Sam. Pretty interested in the transformation of the class selection. 

"Just grab a card. It's really not that difficult. Just gotta hope you get lucky with something good." Samson pointed at the floating cards hoping to help. 

Naeem turned around and started to look around for something. He then reached out fast and grabbed a card. As he grabbed one he glowed gray and appeared with a shield and spear. 

"Oh man, this is so weird. I feel stronger and comfortable with these new items." Naeem gripped his shield tighter and spun the spear in his hand. 

Naeem looked off into his own status screen. "So it says that I am a Spear fighter 3 stars. That's pretty ok. What did you get Sam?" 

Samson was looking at his own robe feeling the texture. It felt like silk. But was definitely not made of silk. He looked up at Naeem and went to answer his question. "I have a..." 

*Crash*

The sound of a window breaking could be heard in the front of the store. Growls ands hisses were coming from the same area. 

The dad from earlier looked up and moved his child behind him. "Alright everyone listen up! The monsters have broken in. We need to to stay together and work as a unit. If you haven't yet you need to pick a card."

Samson looked around at all the people in the store. There was 5 workers. Samson, Naeem, Maddie, Ms. Veronica and Mr. Reggie. The old guy from that been working here since the store opened. As far as Samson knows anyway. 

As for the regular civilians there was about 10 of them. There was the dad and his 10 year old daughter. There was a group of 3 Teenagers. And then 5 other random people. There were 15 total people here and most of them had chosen there cards.

"The Axe dude is right. You should all choose your cards. I did and I feel great." One of the three teenagers was standing near the middle and was now wearing a nice wizard's robe. He was very obviously a fire wizard because his robe was red and orange in color. 

"The power you can get from them is incredible. I have actual magic to use as I wish. This is awesome." He then started walking towards the sound of the window breaking. "I'm going to go take care of those monsters for you guys."

"Hey kid wait. We have no idea what these monsters are capable of. Just cause this seems like one of video games doesn't mean it is." The dad guy called out to him and motioned for him to come back. 

The teens hand lit up in a blaze. "Allow me to lead the charge." The teen turned a corner and instantly froze. He saw a group of short, green skinned, ugly, almost naked goblins in the front of the store. 

He realized he was in over his head and went to turn back. He turned and was instantly stabbed in his eye. A goblin had jumped on him from behind as he turned. The blood drained from his head from the wound. 

The teen fell to the ground, to the dismay of all the other people in the store. A lot of people vomited at the gore of the display. 

The dad was able to hold down his liquids. He dashed forward to the goblin that killed the teen. He swung his ax and chopped the goblin's arm off. "Fuckin monster. Get away from us." 

He swung his ax at him again and this time finished off the goblin. He glowed a bright gold, a clear sign that he had just leveled up.

The dad cracked his neck and his veins started glowing red. His muscles bulged and his irises turned crimson. He seemed to be using a skill. "Now is the time to fight the monsters. Especially if you want to see your family again." The dad then started to walk towards the group of goblins. 

Samson thought about what he said. 'Oh yeah! I have to get to my mom.' 

"OH SHIT! MY MOM IS HOME ALONE AGIANST THESE MONSTERS!!"