A cosmic scaled dragon came across the earth, destroying everything in its wake. Not even the great cities – New York, Tokyo, Beijing, Moscow, Rome and London – were safe from its path.
It flattened every single city and town, crushing humans beneath its claws and reducing even nukes to nothing but scattered dust and debris. Everything that stood in its way was wiped clean off the face of the planet.
Until the very moment when every last person alive was given a single mission meant to save the world itself.
➤ Mission
➤ Tier - ???
➤ Description: Save the World.
That was all there was to it – just those three simple words. 'Save the World.'
But at what cost though? Would it mean giving up everything they had left? Or maybe even sacrificing everyone who was still breathing?
He'd been standing there all alone right in the middle of the disaster zone. Just moments before, he'd been messing around with his own biological brother – laughing and shoving each other like they always did – when suddenly his sibling was decimated in front of his eyes.
Only his brother's feet were left behind. Nothing more than that remained of the person he'd grown up with.
He was absolutely horrified by what he'd seen, and immediately turned to run back to his home. But when he got there, his whole world came crashing down even harder – the place where he'd lived his entire life was gone. Vanished without a trace.
His family, everything he'd ever owned, every single person he'd cared about – all of them were just… gone.
And then it was his turn next. A massive blast came crashing down from the sky, striking him directly and snuffing out his life in an instant.
But then he woke up, back at the very start. He was just a third year highschool student again, sitting at his desk like nothing had ever happened. Confused beyond belief, he glanced over at the window and saw that everything outside looked perfectly fine and peaceful.
He reached over to the side of his desk and picked up his phone. The screen lit up, showing him the date clear as day – March 17th, 2016. Ten full years before the world was supposed to end and everyone would disappear forever.
Without even thinking twice, he immediately burst out of his bedroom door and went sliding down the staircase of his house. When he reached the bottom, he saw his mom at the stove cooking breakfast, his dad sitting at the table reading the newspaper, and his brother sprawled out on the sofa playing video games like usual.
'A Miracle… did I really come back from the past?'
It was the classic fantasy setup – traveling back in time to prevent some terrible catastrophe and save the world. But him? He had plans to save everything, though his way of doing things was different from just focusing on 'saving the world' as a whole.
'Well, I guess I better get moving right away then. After all, I already know exactly what I'm going to do with this chance to go back and change things.'
He quickly started packing up his things and headed straight for the front door. His mom didn't really pay much attention beyond calling out that he could head to school early if he wanted, even without eating first.
He stepped outside and began walking through his neighbourhood. It was so serene out here, quiet and calming with birds chirping and neighbors watering their lawns. He knew that in ten years' time, this same street would be nothing but a burnt-out hellscape.
No one would be safe when that dragon arrived, and he was the only one who knew what was coming. He had to make some tough choices, and he had to make them fast.
After walking for a while, he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks right in the middle of the sidewalk.
'Open.'
A system materialized in front of him then – a strange, technological looking display that floated in the air, transparent with glowing lines running through it.
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✦ 𝕾𝖄𝕾𝕿𝕰𝕸 𝕴𝕹𝕿𝕰𝕽𝕱𝕬𝕮𝕰 ✦
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➤ 𝕯𝖊𝖘𝖈𝖗𝖎𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓
A special system that lets you access information on just about anything you can think of, with barely any limitations to speak of. Though some parts might be censored out or show up as blank spaces. It can also help you grow stronger by keeping track of your physical and mental attributes, though there isn't a traditional leveling system to work with unfortunately.
✧ 𝕿𝖆𝖕 𝖙𝖔 𝖚𝖓𝖑𝖔𝖈𝖐 𝖋𝖚𝖑𝖑 𝖎𝖓𝖋𝖔𝖗𝖒𝖆𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 ✧
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He just stared at the grayish colored interface hovering there in front of his face.
'It's gray…? Never really thought about what color it'd be, but I definitely wasn't expecting that.'
He reached out and tapped on the system screen, and immediately tons of information flooded out before him. Most of it was condensed down to just the essential details though, so it wasn't too overwhelming to look at.
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✦ 𝕴𝖓𝖋𝖔𝖗𝖒𝖆𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓 𝕻𝖗𝖔𝖋𝖎𝖑𝖊 ✦
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➤ 𝕹𝖆𝖒𝖊 ⋙ Lexus Hakamari
➤ 𝕬𝖌𝖊 ⋙ 17
➤ 𝕿𝖎𝖙𝖑𝖊 ⋙ 𝕬 𝕾𝖚𝖕𝖕𝖔𝖗𝖙𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖗𝖆𝖈𝖙𝖊𝖗
➤ 𝕬𝖙𝖙𝖗𝖎𝖇𝖚𝖙𝖊𝖘
┊Strength ⋙ 8 ┊ Agility ⋙ 5 ┊ Speed ⋙ 6
┊Endurance ⋙ 10 ┊ Dexterity ⋙ 4 ┊ Intelligence ⋙ 7
┊Wisdom ⋙ 3 ┊ Charisma ⋙ 6 ┊ Focus ⋙ 8
➤ 𝕮𝖚𝖗𝖗𝖊𝖓𝖙 𝕾𝖙𝖆𝖙𝖚𝖘 ⋙ 𝕱𝖔𝖗𝖙𝖎𝖋𝖎𝖊𝖉 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝕽𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖞
➤ 𝕮𝖚𝖗𝖘𝖊𝖉/𝕭𝖎𝖓𝖉𝖊𝖉 ⋙ 𝕹𝖔𝖓𝖊 - 𝕱𝖗𝖊𝖊 𝖙𝖔 𝖘𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖊 𝖞𝖔𝖚𝖗 𝖉𝖊𝖘𝖙𝖎𝖓𝖞
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He let out a soft sigh as he looked over his stats. He knew that without a way to level up normally, his growth would probably have some hard limits to it. But he was determined to push past whatever boundaries stood in his way – he had to be strong enough to face what was coming.
Before he could even think about getting stronger though, he needed to learn some real skills and pick up some expertise. After all, this world had all kinds of different paths people could take – becoming warriors or heroes, saviors or rescuers and so much more. There were even assigned classes you could take on, just like in all those fantasy stories he'd read before.
'It really does seem like I've got something pretty unusual here with this system… kinda weird honestly. It just floats right along with me wherever I go, but it looks like nobody else can see it at all. Guess that shouldn't be too shocking though, all things considered. Wow.'
'But there is one thing that really caught my attention...'
A Supporting Character? What in the world does that even mean exactly? Does that mean there's actually a main character running around somewhere in this world? And if there is a protagonist out there, why didn't they save everyone when the dragon came? Why let everything turn to ash like that?
Another question popped up in his head, making him raise an eyebrow as he spoke with an unwavering kind of curiosity in his voice.
'Why did the system pick me specifically? Are there other people out there with systems too? And will I ever be able to get as strong as whoever this protagonist is supposed to be? This can't be some kind of novel… can it?'
His mind was racing with all these good questions that he really needed answers to – but the system didn't say a single word back to him. It just flickered for a second and then closed itself right there in front of his face, leaving him staring off at the sunset painting the sky orange and pink.
'Its already noon? Wait no – that looks like sunset, so it must be way later than that. I have to get home right now before mom notices!'
He took off running as fast as his legs could carry him, not wanting to get yelled at for coming home late. He hadn't gone to school at all today – he'd just been standing there reading through everything the system had to show him. Did messing around with it really make time fly by so fast? Like hours just vanished into thin air?
'Weird.'
He thought to himself as he reached his house and pushed open the front door. To his surprise, his brother was standing right there in the entryway and threw his arms around him in a tight hug. Lexus just patted him gently on the back, while he could already smell food cooking – his mom was busy setting the dinner table up in the kitchen.
"Alright you two kids, come on over and eat already. Your father's gonna be working late again so he won't be home till midnight. You both make sure to eat your fill and get to bed before ten o'clock okay?"
The little brother nodded his head obediently and then went to plop down on the sofa while he waited. Lexus headed over to the counter and grabbed their plates – she'd made dumplings, his favorite, and he called out as he piled some onto both of their dishes.
"Right mom, don't worry about us – we'll be good."
They'd barely started eating when his mom asked him something out of the blue. She never really asked him about school or anything like that since he was little – she was always the calm, quiet type who kept to herself and worked hard. But everyone knew she could get seriously pissed off if you did something really stupid or lied to her.
"So… how's things going at your school then?"
Lexus tensed up the second she asked. He hadn't gone to school at all, and honestly? He had no idea if he could even start to explain about the weird floating system that had appeared out of nowhere while he was walking this morning.
"Well uh… its – its pretty good I'd say mom! Everything's totally fine!"
"You're lying to me already."
'Crap!...'
His mom could always see right through his lies, especially with how different he'd been acting all day – bursting out of the house so fast earlier, and now acting all jumpy at the dinner table.
"You didn't go to school today did you? That's not a good look at all young man. Why didn't you go?"
She reached down and picked up one of her light foam slippers, holding it at the ready like she was about to give him a good smacking with it.
"Wait mom – hold up a second!!"
He ended up getting smacked hundreds of times – or at least it felt that way – while his little brother just kept eating his dumplings peacefully like nothing was even happening.
◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆
As night slowly rolls in and the house gets quiet, he jolts awake from a light doze and immediately focuses all his attention on the system again. He'd been waiting for this moment all day – when everyone else was asleep and he could really dig into what it had to tell him.
'Open.'
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✦ 𝕾𝖞𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖒 ✦
➤ Ask anything you want to know about, or just tap anywhere on the screen to bring up your current status details.
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He stares at the glowing interface for a second, taking a deep breath before he speaks up – this was the big one, the question that'd been eating away at him ever since he'd woken up back in 2016.
"What will actually happen to the world after ten years from now?"
It was a resolving question more than anything else – one that could finally confirm all the terrible things he'd seen with his own eyes before he'd somehow come back in time. He'd been curious about it nonstop ever since he'd realized where he was, but part of him had still been hoping maybe things could be different.
The system didn't respond right away – it flickered and hummed for a little while like it was sorting through tons of information all at once. Then finally, the words appeared on the screen.
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➤ In ten years' time, the world will be hit with a massive outbreak of sudden deaths across every single continent. People everywhere will be forced to run and hide from creatures that no one has ever seen before – monsters that seem to appear out of nowhere and hunt without mercy. And this whole catastrophe won't even be the end of it all – its only the first tier of danger, with countless more threats and disasters lying in wait long after this initial crisis hits.
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He just sits there in silence for a minute, looking at the words glowing in front of him.
He. Was correct all along.