Once the blinding light subsided, Adrian realized that he wasn"t inside the white s.p.a.ce anymore.He actually found himself standing on top of a gra.s.sy hill between the blue sea on the west and ma.s.sive forest spreading on the eastern horizon.
He scanned the surrounding area and found no people"s activity nearby. It looks like he was located at some isolated or rural place. But he could see and heard typical sea birds flying on the air.
He obviously couldn"t stay relaxed, so he quickly opened his backpack and start to check the gears inside.
The backpack has a tactical vest, four 5.56 magazines, two pistol magazines, four frag grenades, two smoke grenades, one flashbang, a GPS device, a 1 liter bottle of mineral water, a first aid box, a headset, Adrian"s smartphone, several pens, pencils and small notes, USB and electric charger, and a short-range radio. It"s quite a large backpack.
Adrian decided to put on the tact vest, while he grabbed all the magazines and grenades and placed it inside the vest"s pockets. The other stuff is basically useless for now, so he kept them in the backpack. He also removed the HK416 and carried it with his hand, fully loaded. He was now ready for any sudden hostility.
"What now?" Adrian was confused, he didn"t know the next step is.
The world"s will told him that he has been given power, yet she didn"t even inform him how to activate it.
It has been several minutes since he was sent here, and there is nothing here basically.
Ding!
"Huh?!" Adrian was startled.
[Main user has been identified]
Computerize female sound could be heard from inside Adrian"s mind, while transparent image like augmented reality and games appeared in his vision.
[Countdown to System Initiation in 5...]
[Countdown to System Initiation in 4...]
[...]
[...]
[Countdown to System Initiation in 1...]
[System Initiation start...]
[System is initializing, please wait...]
[System Initiation progress 1%]
[System Initiation progress 11%]
This system initiation is taking lots of time. Hence, Adrian waited while at the same he keeps watching his surrounding.
[System Initiation progress 57%]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[System Initiation progress 96%]
After 10 or so minutes, System Initiation is almost over.
[System Initiation progress 100%]
[System Initialize...]
"It looks like it"s finished." Adrian thought his power can already be used by now.
[Myriad"s Management System is online... Welcome user]
A female computerized voice could be heard once again, but this time it was a familiar voice albeit it sounds happier.
"Uh... h.e.l.lo?" Adrian tried to talk to the system.
[Greetings user... The system is already online. It is advisable to check it yourself...]
"And how I"m gonna do that." Adrian shakes his head and sighed, "That d.a.m.ned woman didn"t even tell me how..."
[User could simply imagine it using one"s mind, to summon the stats column]
Hearing that, Adrian tried imagining calling out the system.
Next, a series of another transparent AR images appeared again in front of his vision.
------------------------------------------
Name: Adrian Dornan
Race: Human
Age: 17
t.i.tle: None
Ident.i.ty: Rogue Soldier
Profession: Soldier
Profession level : Normal (0/1000) (+0.1 STR, +0.1 Agility, +0.1 Vitality)
Territory: None
n.o.bility: None
Skills: None
Combat technique: None
Martial arts: None
System level : Level 0
System EXP : 0 / 20000
Strength : 0.1
Intelligence : 0
Agilt.i.ty : 0.1
Const.i.tution : 0
Vitality : 0.1
Money: Gold: 10, Silver 100, Copper 1000
System Dollar: $1000
Equipment: Unknown item. Unknown item. Unknown item. Large-sized backpack (Normal - grade)
-----------------------------------------
Within the column, Adrian could see a range of his personal stat. From his ident.i.ty all the way to physical body stats.
He could see that this arrangement looked exactly like in the video games, he can understand how it works, much faster. But still, there are several things in the stat that he didn"t understand. He could only ask the system.
The system did explain things what Adrian didn"t understand.
Adrian"s ident.i.ty was listed as Rogue Soldier because it was linked to his profession and he did not have affiliation with any faction.
The system level is basically showing the level of the System itself. The System is currently incomplete, many of its function remains locked. Thus, in order to unlock them, the System must reach the requirements level, and Adrian needs to do a variety of activity like completing a quest, accomplishing great and impossible feats, to be rewarded with System EXP, which can raise the System level.
Not only that, raising System"s level offer many other great benefits such as better functions, knowledge permission and more flexible management.
The basic body stats such as Strength, Intelligence and others could affect a character"s ability to perform activities. Adrian thought that they could be raised by using some kind of stat attribute, but the system told him it does not work like that at all. Stats could only be increased permanently through training, learning, using medical pills or heavenly treasure and other unknown methods, while they could also be raised temporarily using buffs from weapons, items, skills, and equipment.
Raising stats through normal method is exceptionally hard. For example, if a person trained his or her Strength diligently through working out for years, they could only raise the stat mostly by 0.1 or 0.2 points. On the other hand, using medical pills, treasure, and items is the easiest way on raising them, but stuff that could raise stats is extremely expensive and rare, though they also could only raise by 0.2 or 0.4, mostly.
On average, a normal person"s stats are hovering at 0. Having all the stat at 1 means that person is 1 time stronger, smarter, and more agile than a normal person. They could store more mana inside their body and they are tougher and couldn"t be easily killed.
The system will automatically show every piece of equipment that Adrian"s wore. As most of the stuff Adrian is wearing now is from the earth, the system couldn"t recognize it. Therefore, most of them were shown as unknown items. But the large backpack was recognized and categorized as Normal - grade item.
Items were separated into different grades: Normal - Top - Rare - Unique - Epic - Legendary - Mythical - Divine.
Martial arts and combat technique also had their own grades: White - Yellow - Blue - Gold - King - Emperor - Saint.
Skills did not have grades, most of them could be raised through learning obtaining experience. They could be obtained through skill books, but not all of them. Several skills are unique, can be obtained through unexpected encounters or one was born with it.
Same as skills, martial arts mastery could be raised as well. The people who learn a martial art will be rewarded with permanent stats bonus once they completed the mastery.
After learning the entire info, Adrian had completely understood the system main functions. And he was amazed because of it. The system is simply too overpowered.
"This!! This is basically a cheat, isn"t?" Adrian thought to himself while smiled wryly.
There is also another function window beside personal stats. He tried to check it one by one.
Territory Management window was locked. Apparently, because Adrian still didn"t have or create his own territory.
The shop has an only selection to buy and use a different kind of currency, called the System Dollar.
Adrian currently only had an amount of $1000.
Shopping window has lots of variable stuff ranging from historical people from earth history, items, equipment, weapons, and other miscellaneous stuff.
Most of them have extremely shocking price. Adrian looked at one of the historical people catalogs.
-------
Name: Flavius Belisarius
Age: 30
t.i.tle: The Purple General (+25% troops morale, +15% troops management, +10% more damages when attacking enemy troops, +10% chance of successfully executing tactics)
Grade: 4 star
Profession: General
Profession level : Normal (0/5000) (+0.3 Strength, +0.3 Intelligence, +5% troops morale, +5% troops movement , +5% troops management efficiency)
Skills: Basic Sword Proficiency, Basic Construction Proficiency
Martial arts: None
Combat technique: Imperial Purple Sword (Blue), Eagle Slash (Blue)
Equipment: Byzantine"s Gladius (Rare)
Strength : 2.3
Intelligence : 2.3
Agilt.i.ty : 2.0
Const.i.tution : 2.0
Vitality : 2.0
Price: $10.000.000
-------
"Holy shiet!!! What the?!." Adrian was flabbergasted as he stared at Belisarius catalog.
"System? Is that really the real Belisarius?" asked Adrian as he was really curious about these historical people on the shopping windows.
In this case, it was Belisarius. A Byzantine Empire"s general of the late cla.s.sical era. Famously for taking back the Italian peninsula and most of the former western empire"s territory from the barbarian during the reign of Justinian the first.
As a military academy graduate, of course, Adrian knew about him. Belisarius was not his favorite but still, he admired him.
[Correct. As Myriad"s Realm law of nature has been slightly changed to accommodate the system. We are able to recreate many historical people from earth and brought them here. They will retain much of their past life memories, personality, and ability. Also, their loyalty would be at utmost high, but beware, any excessive bad activities and conduct towards them would lower their loyalty to you.]
Adrian is silent as he muttered words inside his mind, "Wouldn"t this mean that I could have arrays of incredible subordinates?"
"Hahaha. Holy!!" he laughed loudly as the feeling of excitement started creeping him.
People"s overall potential and ability was ranked by the number of stars they had. 1 star is the lowest while 5 star is the highest. All of the historical people possessed more than 2 stars and their entire base stats was at 2. Belisarius was a 4-star grade general, he was one of the best. There are still hundreds of historical people beside Belisarius in the Shop.
He continues to check on the other Shop windows. Equipment, weapons, items, all of them. Most of their price could make a person gouged their eyes. Even an Top - grade weapons cost at least hundreds of thousands of system dollars.
"d.a.m.nit, they"re so expensive. I only got this 1 grand..." Adrian sighed as he was too poor right now.
He suddenly realized something, "By the way. How could I earn system dollars?"
[By completing quests. Quests will be generated depending on the user"s encounters and circ.u.mstances. You should check the quest window for further information]
Adrian hastily clicks on the quest windows. There, several quests are available and waiting to complete.
---------
- Create a settlement : (0/1)
- Forge a nation : (0/1)
- Kill a beast : (0/1)
- Learn a martial art (0/1)
- Learn a combat skill (0/1)
- Learn a skill (0/1)
---------
"Well... That"s lots of quests, huh..."
As Adrian already finished checking those windows, something attracted his attention. It was notification windows that has a warning red sign on it.
He opened the windows and saw several notifications.
[You have received a reward]
[You have received a reward]
[You have received a reward]
[You have received a reward]
[You have received a reward]
[You have received a reward]
[...]
[...]
[...]
It looks like he received some rewards and they were directly sent to inventory windows.
Adrian slapped his forehead. he forgot there are still some windows he hadn"t check yet. The whole system is so complicated, making him a muddlehead.
He quickly opened the inventory windows. And he saw items icons and all the money he had was there too.
---------
Settlement Creation Token (Mythical)
+75% in crop production, +40% in proficiency of production skills of residents, +25% in protection against natural disasters
Once the settlement is created, it will receive 5000 units of food, 1000 units of wood, 1000 units of stone, 1000 units of copper ore, 100 gold coins
This item is one-time use only
This Item can be traded
This item cannot be destroyed
---------
"System. What is this thing?" Adrian asked about one of the items in inventory windows.
[It was a Mythical - grade Settlement Creation Token. An item that was blessed by the world"s will and it could create a settlement with all of the base buildings included.]
"Such magical thing..." Adrian already numb enough from all the shock, he was now immune to it.
"So... How"s this thing works?"
[You just need to hold the token with your hand and imagine to use it. There will be an option whether you wanted to use it or not. But be advised, it"s better to use it after you have found a perfect place to build the settlement. The location could determine the settlement"s growth and success.]
Adrian nodded seriously. Then, he tried to take out the token from inventory.
Glittering light starts forming on his right hand and the token appeared. He examined the token for awhile before return it back to inventory.
"Wait! This inventory... Can I put other stuff in there too?"
He didn"t waste any more time as he tried to put his backpack into the inventory. It was a success. The backpack that has been placed on the ground was enveloped by glittering lights and disappeared.
Adrian checks the inventory window and found a backpack icon had appeared there.
"Hahaha... This is wicked," said Adrian, feels elated.
That was extremely practical. He didn"t have to carry heavy stuff anymore. Next, he continues to check the other rewards.
------
Gloria"s Defender (Epic) - Sword
If equipped: +1.1 Strength, +0.8 agility, +15% chance of critical damage, +10% chance of piercing enemy armor
Unique combat technique: Gloria"s Wings (Gold)
Durability : (1000/1000)
This item can be traded
This item can be destroyed
-------
The next item is an Epic grade sword with incredible stat bonus. Adrian quickly grabbed it from the inventory.
It was a beautiful double-edge sword. Whiteish aura sometimes flickering on the sword"s body. While an image of a graceful woman was carved on the hilt. The sword also providing a Gold grade combat technique.
When Adrian swing the sword for a bit, it left a dazzling afterimage. Adrian decided to equip the sword while the hk416 was thrown into the inventory.
Adrian stats were raised immediately after he equipped the sword. Now, he has 1.2 Strength, 0.9 Agility, and 0.1 Vitality while the rest is still 0.
He kept the sword inside the sheath that came with it and strapped it on the right side of his waist. Then, he continues checking other items.
The next several items are skill books. 2 skill, 1 martial art, and 1 combat technique.
-------
Western War Style (Yellow) - Martial Arts
Able to use Western War Style movement
Perfect mastery will be awarded permanent +0.4 Strength, +0.3 Agility, +0.2 Vitality
-------
Swift Tiger Thrust (Yellow) - Combat Technique
Deal 10% more thrusting damage to the enemy.
Bleeding effect : -5% enemy movement, -0.1 enemy Vitality, -0.1 enemy Agility
-------
Basic Management Proficiency - Skills
+5% management efficiency
-------
Basic Sword Proficiency - Skills
Deal 5% more damage to the enemy when using a sword
-------
After checking all of them, Adrian decided to immediately learn them.
Several minutes later. All of the skills have been learned. Many foreign knowledges about the skills and martial arts movement have entered Adrian"s brain.
It"s weird. He just feels somehow knew how to use those skills. He could only shake his head as it was useless thinking more about it.
[System Notification: Quest "Learn a skill" is completed. You are awarded 100 System EXP and $1000 System Dollar.]
[System Notification: Quest "Learn a martial arts" is completed. You are awarded 100 System EXP and $1000 System Dollar.]
[System Notification: Quest "Learn a combat technique" is completed. You are awarded 100 System EXP and $1000 System Dollar.]
Several quest complete notification rang on Adrian"s ear. But he ignored it for now, while he checked the last remaining reward"s items.
The rest of the items is basically a set of Normal grade dark leather clothes that provide no stat bonus. As his camo uniform is somewhat really out of place and it was really baggy because his body was shrunk. Thus, he decided to change.
He didn"t have to undress at all, the leather clothes automatically replaced the camo uniform once he agreed to change.
Adrian now is wearing some kind of leather jacket on top of white plain cloth, dark leather pants, and leather boots. It"s quite stylish and shockingly, feels comfortable too. The tact vest was removed and sent into the inventory along with the uniform.
Adrian"s overall stats after learning skills and equipping various equipment is totally different from before.
------------------------------------------
Name: Adrian Dornan
Race: Human
Age: 17
t.i.tle: None
Ident.i.ty: Rogue Soldier
Profession: Soldier
Profession level : Normal (0/1000) (+0.1 STR, +0.1 Agility, +0.1 Vitality)
Territory: None
n.o.bility: None
Skills: Basic Management Proficiency (0%), Basic Sword Proficiency (0%)
Martial arts: Western War Style (0%)
Combat technique: Gloria"s Wings (Gold), Swift Tiger Thrust (Yellow)
System level : Level 0
System EXP : 300 / 20000
Strength : 1.2
Intelligence : 0
Agilt.i.ty : 0.9
Const.i.tution : 0
Vitality : 0.1
Money: Gold: 10, Silver 100, Copper 1000
System Dollar: $4000
Equipment: Gloria"s Defender (Epic), Dark Leather Jacket (Normal), Plain White Cloth (Normal), Dark Leather Pants (Normal), Dark Leather boots (Normal)
-----------------------------------------
It wasn"t a good stat, but it wasn"t that bad at all in this early stage.
Just as he was about to check the last item.
Suddenly.
Roar!!!
Huge beastly roar reverberating from behind. Adrian turned his body with quick reflex, and he saw a large forest bear has already so close to him.
It seems he had been careless earlier, as he was too busy fiddling with the system. He immediately unsheathed Gloria"s Defender and prepared for battle.