In the streets of New York City, a golden-haired young man walked along the sidewalk, his green eyes shining with delight as he listened to music on his headphones.
"4 rings before 40, he's still pushing, that's why he's the goat," Alex sang to his favorite remix out loud, attracting the bystanders with his melodious (horrific) voice.
Noticing all the weird looks he was getting, he lowered his head and started speed walking. 'I did it again, he thought. Soon, he reached a run down apartment complex; stepping inside and past the heeps of litter all over, he walked through the hallways and entered the elevator.
"4th Floor" he politely informed the grumpy elevator man on which floor he wanted to go to.
One awkwardly silent elevator ride later, he reached the 4th floor, pulled out his keys, and walked towards the room at the end of the hall, 403.
The door spun open, a nauseating draft assaulting his nose; looking at the lumps of trash and garments all over the apartment, his face contorted.
Why me? Why couldn't I just have a pretty maid to clean all this up for me! He lamented his fate of being born into a middle-class family with no cute maid in sight.
He took off his headphones, putting them on his desk and sinking into his gaming chair that had been imported all the way from IKEA.
"What's new? This damned update is just changing the mob skins! What a rip off," he groaned, looking at his favorite open-world game releasing such a worthless update. He closed the games tab and he started going through his social media.
No replies today either. Jobs are a precious commodity nowadays; it seems that even being a janitor requires three years of job experience; why do I need the experience to mop?
He closed his social media, he instead switching to some YouTube videos, wondering if there was anything new he'd be interested in.
Nope, another dud. Everything was so plain nowadays; sometimes he thought it was so bad he wondered if there was even a point in trying to experience anything new anymore.
He shut off his PC, genuinely bored out of his mind. Nothing, nothing to do, not even a job he could work overtime for or someone he could talk to; after all, his family was old-fashioned and didn't use technology. As for relationships, even though he was pretty handsome, the state of the dating scene today freaked him out, so that was a no-go.
In truth, life was a dull mess, and though he had the conviction to change, there weren't any chances, not for someone like him.
If only he could get isekai'd, a magical world full of monsters and dungeons, a land he'd conquer with a sword in hand. Oh! The delight that would have been.
[Transport Arranged, No 7389.]
[Talent, Approved. Welcome, Mortal.]
Alex felt his eyes grow heavy, and not because of his usual all-nighters. A glimpse of the strange text floating in front of him had caught him; what arrogant troll was this? Mortal? Is he an Immortal? 8th grade syndrome I swear-
A burst of light filled the apartment room, Alex's figure disappearing entirely, along with many others in different parts of the globe.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Alex felt his mind go blank, and a second later, he was in a vast field, the majestic sunlight falling on him; He spun around and could see hundreds of people in the field, no less confused than he was. There were many others, presumably thousands, possibly more.
"What the hell is this? I was on the toilet damnit" A grumpy old man complained
A woman screamed, her clothes messy and her silky blond hair falling off like a wig, revealing a sliver of her bald scalp. It seemed she been caught while getting ready.
In another group of people, a small boy was crying as he held onto a dinosaur plushie.
Similarly, many other situations of people being transported at unfortunate timing occured. Some singing their favorite music in the shower, eyes closed only to open them to a grassy expanse. While others had been interrupted during their bathroom breaks.
[SILENCE]
A giant blue screen popped up above grassy plains, everyone turning their heads towards it simultaneously.
[THIS WILL ONLY BE SAID ONCE. ]
[YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN TO REPOPULATE THIS WORLD. YOU ALL HAVE TALENTS THAT MAY BE OF USE TO YOU; DO NOT OFFEND THE 7 TEMPLES; ASIDE FROM THAT, DO AS YOU WISH.]
As the bluescreen disappeared a wave of confusion and anger shot out from the gathered humans.
"Hey, I've gotta head to work soon; let me out! I'll get fired if I'm late again,." called a man with a potbelly who took his baseball cap off and slapped it against his thigh.
"Yeah! Let us out! Stop wasting our time!" This lady's voice was high and shrill, like it could be used to shake dust off chandeliers from ten metres away.
"Yeah-"
But as time passed, the sun began dimming, signaling night's eventual arrival.
Alex, as a certified keyboard warrior, knew exactly what this situation was.
A dream! This practically seemed to be identical to one of those fake r/TellReddit stories, though why did his dream have multiplayer on?
Scanning the area, these people didn't remotely look like anyone he knew personally, could his sleep deprived brain possibly conjure up so many new faces?
Unsure, Alex pinched his skin trying to test if his pain sensors were working.
“Ah!” He let out a shreek, attracting some judgemental looks along with it. So it's not a dream, a kidnapping maybe? But considering the situation of the people around him, it was highly unlikely. Leaving only one possibility.
An Isekai! You have talents from what that screen thingy said, and you grow stronger and beat some boss-type monster, like a demon king, it meets the description pretty well.
"Status" he called out confidently.
(.........)
"Inventory!" Worry crept into his words
(.........)
"Shop?" Disbelief plagued his speech...
People began to look at him strangely; everyone landed safely,, didn't they? So why did this guy seem to have a screw or two loose?
"He's not crazy, guys; I tried it just now; try thinking "Talent" really hard." A black-haired young man stepped forward, he flashed a smile, ruined only by the fact that his clothing choice was.... questionable for his age.
The parents, who had luckily been transported with their children stared in confusion while the children seemed to have their eyes glow.
'Weirdo, I didn't know people still wore clothes like that after middle school. The young man wore some sagging black jeans, a heavy metal t shirt and a black coat to top it all off. A certified middle schoolers emo phase fit.
A blue screen appeared in front of Alex after he followed the strange man's advice.
Name: Alex Edward
Age: 19
Talent: Cloning [F] [Growth Talent]
Level: 1
Exp: 0/100
Class: Not Selected
Hp: 100/100
Hp Recovery: 4/M
Attack: 10
Defense: 0
Mana: 7/7
Mana Recovery: 0.01/S
Stamina: 4
"Eh? It's not that bad; the stats are seemingly decent. Talent is an F Rank but a Growth Talent, I'm obviously the protagonist in this situation." Alex smirked at his status
His thought process was driven by a unique novel he read as a kid, where the protagonist started from the lowest level talent and eventually evolved it into the highest rank, becoming the strongest in his verse.
"Oohhhh I'm S rank!" The black-haired young man shouted triumphantly.
"Move aside, you side characters. It's my turn to shine." He mocked as he pushed through the crowd, charging into the forest confidently.
A few minutes passed, and the young man had yet to return. But an old guest did make an appearance.
[GO TO THE VILLAGE, EAST OF WHERE YOU ARE.]
It didn't take a genius to realize why that extra little bit of help was sent down.
The crowd, nervously looking at the setting sun seemed to finally catch air of the seriousness of this predicament.
Naturally, they began walking towards the east, aiming for the village. As for how they figured out which way was east, they just had to look at the Sun to find out.
Alex followed behind the pack, albeit a bit sluggishly, as he was furiously staring at his Talent Panel, trying to understand how this broken thing was rated F Rank.
[Cloning Talent]
Level 1:- Grants the ability to summon a clone at the cost of 5 mana; the clone is identical to the player, and any items or weapons will be duplicated and received by the clone. This is only possible once per unique item. XP is also transferred to the host.
Cooldown:- None.
"Unique item?" Alex looked at his Talent description, lost in thought.
"Maybe it's like a URL? So every item has a different URL separating them from one another? Wouldn't that mean he could become filthy rich by selling his copied items and buying them over and over?" The thought left his mind as soon as it entered; he didn't know enough about this place; he might be cut open for research or just directly killed for witchcraft.
I mean, he had 7 mana so it meant he could already summon a clone. Add on the item-sharing feature, which seemed like a potentially exploitable bug. Not to mention! This was the [F] version of his talent, what about S? Like that weird idiot who died in the forest? What if it surpasses even that??
A flurry of emotions assaulted him, his heart beat vigorously.
Finally! My life is getting interesting!" He commented as he looked at the setting sun, it was time to begin making his way towards the village.
