Worlds are constant, from 1st to 9th grade. A 1st-grade world is the dream for every sentient life form, not because of its beauty or allure, for no one really knows what a 1st-grade world looks like, or at least I know of no one who does.
The higher the world’s rank, the higher the concentration of mana.
The higher the concentration of mana, the stronger the life-forms the world could support. This is the difference between worlds.
The strongest life form on a 9th-grade planet could barely reach the peak of a 9th-grade practitioner; on an 8th-grade planet, one could reach the peak of an 8th-grade practitioner, and so on.
Between every grade, there is a chasm, whether it is a world or practitioner, and if someone wishes to advance from a lower world to a higher one, there is only one choice, and that is.
END GAMES
_
In a dark & neat room with only a bed and a young man lying on it, his eyes were wide open, staring at the ceiling, lifeless. All of a sudden, the light went on, the room was bright, and a sound echoed throughout the room.
“Good morning, participant. Please be prepared within 1 hour, and head toward the 7th theater.”
With a calm face, the young man leaves the bed and heads toward a door, opening it.
The sound of water hitting the floor, mist covering the washroom, and a man with his head bowed in the middle, his eyes closed, moves his hand to shut off the water.
“Participant, please be prepared within 40 minutes, and head toward the 7th theater.”
Sitting neatly on the bed, wearing a black suit, with closed eyes, both hands on his knees, his right index finger slowly tapping on his knee, waiting… until the main door in front of him opened.
“Participant, please head toward the 7th theater at your earliest convenience.”
In a long hallway with the number 7 at its end, countless rooms on both sides open, with both men and women coming out in suits, some looking nervous, some excited, some calm, in a sea of people in matching clothes, no one is recognizable, just a participant, nothing more.
In the seventh theater, a thousand men & women were sitting facing the center stage as an old man with a kind face came and faced the thousand participants.
He looked at everyone and said in a calming tone, “Welcome, today is a big day for everyone here; before we start, I’d like to wish everyone the best of luck, and hope that you’ll come back safely, or soar to new heights.”
He continued, “You are going to the planet Z-118, it isn’t entirely hostile as humans and other races are surviving as well; however, some are hostile, so don’t be too comfortable with others, your main objective, as you all know, is survival…”
He went on walking and explaining the basics, but the people looked numb, not even one of them was listening; everyone had their own thoughts and plans.
They already know everything that needs to be known.
They chose to risk their life.
Everyone has their own reason: some for a better future, some for excitement, some to escape the constraints of law, and fight to entertain the viewers so that they may have a chance to escape.
They would either survive or die trying…
A man with his head resting on his fist, looking at the old man deep in thought, wondering if he’ll live to see tomorrow.
After all, if he stayed here, with his extraordinary talent reaching the peak of a 9th-grade in his early 30s and living for 200 years is easy, with life extension methods, 400 years is still possible.
However, it does not matter anymore; he has already registered, and escaping is impossible, but every time he remembers why he registered, tears well up in his eyes.
‘Just a little pride, whisky and arrogance, why should I die such a horrible death for it?’
‘Once you register, you cannot escape. I was preparing for a little over a month to increase my chances of survival. The only problem is that everyone who comes here has been preparing for years, studying the different possibilities, environments, strategies, planets of previous games…etc.’
‘Moreover, I wasn’t even a fan or a follower of the end games before I made this stupid decision.’
‘Good thing I do not have a sick sister to take care of, though, because this is practically a lost cause; unless I have astonishing luck, things would be difficult.’
‘It doesn’t matter anymore, I’ll treat this as a death holiday, I’ll be transported to another world with a system and compete with people from other planets, how many people can experience this before death?’
In a large room, many men and women were working when a door opened, and a man with a stern look entered. All of the workers stopped and said in unison, “Good morning, Mr. Hans.”
Mr. Hans nodded and said, “Keep working, don’t mind me,” as he walked toward one of the controllers to take a seat. He said to the assistant following him, “Is everything going according to schedule on our end?”
His assistant adjusted his glasses and said in a firm tone, “Everything is going according to plan; the teleportation station and the capsules are ready to be teleported to Z-118 at a moment’s notice.”
“How are the participants?”
“They are receiving the last debriefing; none is missing, although some tried to escape as usual. It should be over in ten minutes.”
“Hmm,” while looking at information on his computer, he asked, “How long do you think our friends will last this time?”
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“For the past 10 years, we never passed the 3rd stage, unless some talents join this time, I doubt we will do any better than usual.”
“Hmm, I have a good feeling this time.”
With a sharp look using his finger to adjust his glasses, he thought to himself, ‘You say that every time, boss!’
‘Finally, the lecture is over, for a second there I thought they really want us to live, my heart is pounding so fast, I feel like vomiting, I really want to escape, but I don’t want to get beaten up, I’m just a little body refiner.’
‘Although this is very nice for someone at my age in a 9th grade planet and I could be considered a powerhouse in my young age, however, I know that for the end games, even a 6th grade practitioner isn’t qualified to be cannon fodder, instead they would be entertainers.’
_
Finally, as I entered the teleportation room, I saw white lightning, white walls, and floor, and even the teleportation capsules were white. People were entering capsules with doctors checking on them every step of the way, and my need to vomit increased.
I swallow hard, my feet stuck, unable to move when some worker asks me to keep moving, so I curse his 18th-generation ancestors ‘can’t you see that I’m in shock’
Walking toward my capsule, sleeping in it, watching its cover slowly closing while thinking, ‘in my next life I’ll drink less’, slowly closing my eyes, sleepiness befalls me as everything becomes dark.
I slowly open my eyes, and all I can see around me is darkness. I look at my transparent hands as I float in nothingness, taking a deep breath, and I say, “System panel.”
A transparent blue screen appears in front of me.
_
?SYSTEM PANEL?
?PERSONAL?/ITEMS/SHOP/CHAT/TRADE/GIFTS/RANKING
NAME: “yet to be specified.”
RACE: “yet to be specified.”
CLASS: N
STATS: DEF: N / MP: N / FOCUS: N / STR: N / /AGI: N / LUCK: N
ALLOCATION: 10
[Each Allocation increases a stat’s percentage within its current Tier.]
NOTE: Please specify name and race before teleporting to planet Z-118; otherwise, they will be assigned randomly
NOTE: teleporting to planet Z-118 in T-9:51
_
I looked at my class with a depressed face.
8:45
To make the game fun for viewers, the system sometimes gives classes early to random losers, such as myself… Although it’s not much of an advantage, it still helps, but the system probably thinks that even if it gives me a class, I will just embarrass myself, so it saved this opportunity for someone else.
7:53
With a sigh, “Alright, let’s try to survive as long as possible.”
NAME: Nightworn
Nodding to myself, “To survive, one needs a name that will bring terror to one’s opponents. I spent about a month choosing this name, well, it was more of a depressed crying session after realizing the mess I got myself into, but still, it was an effort.”
“As for race, there are dozens of available races; however, I already made my choice before coming here.”
RACE: Devil
The Devil is a humanoid race, not much different from humans, but with a few horns on the head; they actually look like demons, except they do not have demonic energy. According to the endgame race catalog, devils aren’t born naturally but created by requests from viewers over time.
?SYSTEM PANEL?
?PERSONAL?/ITEMS/SHOP/CHAT/TRADE/GIFTS/RANKING
NAME: Nightworn
RACE: Devil
CLASS: N
STATS: DEF: N / MP: N / FOCUS: N / STR: N / /AGI: N / LUCK: N
ALLOCATION: 10
[Each Allocation increases a stat’s percentage within its current Tier.]
NOTE: teleporting planet Z-118 in T-6:05
_
There are many ways to get stronger, like strengthening the body with mana, or gathering mana in the body to elevate the soul and become a mage, and many other ways; however, in the games, the fastest way is to rely on stats.
Base-level life forms have F (0%) in all stats.
So it doesn’t matter how strong you were before entering the endgames; once you enter, everything is returned to base-level; however, for entertainment purposes and fast progress, all new participants receive some allocation points.
The strategy that I am going with is a simple one: dump everything on luck, as devils have a high affinity with luck. Good luck can help with system items, rewards, and finding special resources, and most importantly, surviving. I will be a lucky person and increase my chances of survival.
With a chuckle, I spent all my points on luck, LUCK: F (10%). ‘This should get me through the first few days.’
NOTE: teleporting to planet Z-118 in T-5:22
‘5 more minutes to go, this time the game would be about building a safe zone or a shelter in a zombie apocalypse world, it would be fun to watch, actually, if you are not a participant that is’
Planet Z-118, or as the locals used to call it, Earth, is a planet that is technologically advanced with no energy or mana elements whatsoever. It’s used to house many intelligent life forms like humans/elves/dwarves/beastfolk/demons/merfolk…etc.
Z-118 consists of five continents: Havaroth (North), Elorath, Arcana, Vespera, and Barazoth (South). The north is mainly occupied by elves and demons, while dwarves and beastfolk occupy the south. Other small races and humans exist in both continents, although in small numbers.
Merfolk dominate the seas, while humans dominate Arcana and Vespera.
As for Elorath, there is no dominating force, but a mix of countless races. The humans and dwarves are the most technologically advanced, while the elves are inclined toward nature. In terms of agriculture, they can only be placed first; these three races are considered the strongest in Z-118, that is, before the apocalypse.
On a normal day, everyone on Z-118 received a message.
? SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT ?
Attention, all living entities of Planet Z-118.
A Mana Convergence Event has been initiated. Ambient mana density is increasing beyond planetary tolerance thresholds.
This phenomenon is irreversible.
As a result of forced mana saturation:
? Biological instability will occur.
? Entities with insufficient mana affinity or damaged life essence may undergo Corruption.
? Corrupted entities will lose higher cognition and reanimate as Mana-Driven Undead.
Survival Probability varies by individual.
Adaptive responses include, but are not limited to:
? Awakening of latent mana cores
? Spontaneous evolution
? Skill manifestation
? Species divergence
The Convergence will complete in 00:05:00
May adaptation favor you.
? END OF ANNOUNCEMENT ?
And that was the beginning of the end.
On the roof of a wrecked skyscraper, a young man slowly gets up from a capsule, his hand over his head. When he realized that his head had horns now, he sighed, sliding his hands into his pockets, and slowly walked toward the edge of the skyscraper, looking down at the ruined city.
His gaze was deep as if the world was in his palm, and everything was just a matter of time; however, he suddenly stumbled back, right hand over his head, while the other was still in his pocket. He let out a deep breath, slightly sweating as if he was under great mental pressure.
“Fuck me, that was scary. How many stories high am I? Why would I teleport here?”
He was about to vomit blood; wasn’t he supposed to be lucky? Why was he dropped into one of his worst nightmares? Doesn’t luck know that I am afraid of heights? He said in his mind, “System.”
?SYSTEM PANEL?
?PERSONAL?/ITEMS/SHOP/CHAT/TRADE/GIFTS/RANKING
NAME: Nightworn
RACE: Devil
CLASS: NSTATS: DEF: F (0%)/ MP: F (0%)/ FOCUS: F (0%)/ STR: F (0%)/AGI: F (0%)/ LUCK: F (10%)
ALLOCATION: 0
[Each Allocation increases a stat’s percentage within its current Tier.]
NOTE: You were teleported to the Elorath zone.
NOTE: You have gained three basic recruitment orders to help you begin your journey.
Congratulations: due to your astonishing luck, your three basic recruitment orders merged into one advanced recruitment order.
