“What the fuck is going on?!” Esther glanced around herself. She was in a large white room surrounded by people he didn’t know. “Dietrich? William? Scarlett?”
“Esther!” William started to rapidly talk, “any idea what’s going on? This is exactly like those litrpg novels. Or the webcomics.”
A glowing blue window flashed into existence in front of everyone.
[Starting rebuilding of 100th Universe]
[Scanning Planet: [Earth]]
[Scanning Complete.]
[Results: Planet: [Earth], is a [ERROR} grade planet]
[Starting rebuilding of [Earth]]
[[ERROR] has occurred due to [redacted]. Overriding safety protocol... complete. [Earth] has now been successfully rebuilt. Changes include: expansion of all bodies of water and landmasses, introductions of natural treasures into the environment, all non-humanoid beings have been changed to [E Grade], mana has been introduced to the environment, [Unique Items] have been spread throughout the world...]
“May I have your attention please?” a boy with silver-blond hair and teal eyes like turquoise clapped his hands, “I am known as the System. Well, more like a system admin, but most people tend to call me the System. Anyways, you all have been brought to this room so I can explain to you what’s going on. Essentially, your universe has become a video game and has been integrated with the rest of the multiverse. There’s stats, ranks, skills, magic, and everything else.”
Murmurs filled the room. Some people thought it was a prank. Others had this grim look of determination on their faces.
“Every single person here will be sent into a tutorial to learn how this all works. Don’t worry too much though if you don’t see someone you know. There’s thousands of different tutorials so they’re probably just in another tutorial. Or dead. Or dead in another tutorial.”
Esther leaned over to whisper in William’s ear, “That isn’t reassuring at all.”
“Hey. I can hear you, y’know,” the boy pointed to his ears, “everyone in the multiverse basically has supernatural hearing compared to you guys so watch out, okay? I’m getting off track though, so continuing with the tutorial, you all will be sent in there with some basic supplies like food, water, a weapon, and similar things. You all will also gain a randomized [Attribute]. Whether it’s some kind of overpowered power that will let you plow through the tutorial or literally a curse I cannot tell you. You’ll just have to find out on your own. Well, anyways, are you ready? 3… 2… 1… and… go!”
The boy suddenly snapped his fingers, then vanished in a puff of smoke, and the room was swarmed with monsters. Screams echoed throughout as hundreds of people were brutally mauled to death.
“We need to run!” Esther exclaimed, grabbing William by the wrist, “don’t let go of my hand! We can’t get separated.”
“Where do we go?!” William glanced around the room, clearly trying to locate any kind of clue to get out of this place.
“Don’t ask me! You’re supposed to be the smart one!” Esther tackled William out of the way of the claws of a wolf-ish looking creature. Shit, shit, shit. I really hope this works. “Status window!”
A new flashing blue system screen appeared in front of Esther.
Status:
Name: Esther Astraelus
Titles: [redacted]
Attribute: TBD
Race: [Human (G) - (lvl 0)]
Stats:
Strength: 7
Agility: 10
Endurance: 9
Vitality: 8
Perception: 8
Mana: 70/70
Skills:
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
[Language of the Multiverse (Unique) - lvl 1 (max)]
[You have a message from the system moderators!]
Congrats Esther! You’re the first person in this tutorial to figure out the status window! You’re also the first person to do it without system assistance so good on you! As you guessed, (or at least I assume you guessed since we system moderators aren’t allowed to read minds without an emergency or good reason) this indeed allows you to unlock your attribute, which I assume (again) is to try to survive this. We’ll spin the wheel (kinda like a gacha game!) to see what you get and even add a 5% bonus to your chances of getting a rarer skill for your achievement! Rarer does not mean useful though, (okay well it does but I don’t know if it’ll be useful for this situation).
[Spinning the [Wheel of Attributes (???)]...]
[Success.]
Gained Attribute: [Nexus of Stellar Bonds (Legendary)] - You are the Nexus of Stellar Bonds, beloved by the Astral Gods. As such, you are able to call on the Astral Gods and borrow their power and make it your own. You are able to be bonded to two of the Astral Gods with your current rank (G). Choose your first god wisely, because they will remain your primary bond all the way until godhood, which upon reaching that rank you will no longer need to borrow power from others. This [Attribute] will evolve over time.
[Polaris, the Origin Star Twin, has requested to be your primary bond]
[Polaris Australis, the Origin Star Twin, has requested to be your primary bond]
[Scorpio has requested to be your primary bond]
[Sirius has requested to be your primary bond]
[Gemini has requested to be your primary bond]
[Skye has requested to be your primary bond]
[Rigel has requested to be your primary bond]
[The Black Hole has requested to be your primary bond]
[The White Hole has requested to be your primary bond]
[You have more unread messages]
“William, what do I choose?!” Esther cried.
“I don’t even know what you’re talking about!” William exclaimed.
“I managed to get my status window open, and the System gave me my attribute! It lets me form two bonds with the Astral Gods, whatever those are, except I don’t know what to choose!” Esther explained.
“Just pick something! We’re about to die!”
“I pick…” Esther rapidly scanned her messages, “Polaris Australis!”
“I’m glad you chose me,” a male voice suddenly spoke into Esther’s head, “I am Polaris Australis, or better known as the South Star. You can call me Lucian though. Now, about your current predicament…”
A harsh, iridescent light enveloped Esther, despite this though, it felt strangely… safe. As if it were protecting her. The light then extended to wrap around William before starting to shine brighter and brighter, until it seemed like the sun itself had manifested before them.
“Esther, what did you do?!” William demanded.
“I don’t know!” Esther covered her eyes to try to shield them from the blinding light, “I just picked something and this happened!”
Abruptly, the light went out, disappearing for a moment before reappearing in the shape of a door.
“Go through the door. That will take you to the Tutorial,” the voice said.
“Are we supposed to go through that thing?” William stared at the door suspiciously.
“Yup,” Esther reached out towards the door, feeling it pulling her in.
“What the hell…” William murmured, extending his hand towards the door and just like that, they disappeared, the door going missing along with them.
____________________________________________________
Esther gasped as she opened her eyes. She glanced around, she seemed to be floating in space, surrounded by glowing lights. “What…?”
“Hey,” said a male voice from behind her.
“Gah!” Esther recoiled back, she narrowed her eyes, inspecting the white haired boy, “who are you?!”
“I’m Lucien,” Lucien chuckled, his golden-blue eyes twinkling with amusement, “nice to meet you, Esther.”
“Why am I here?” Esther demanded, “where’s William?”
“William is currently in the tutorial. I’ve already informed him that you’re here with me,” a sheet of blackish-blue paper with glowing light blue writing appeared in Lucien’s hand, “sign this.”
Esther scanned over the paper, “What’s this?”
“The bond contract. Didn’t your attribute, [Nexus of Stellar Bonds], explain this?”
“Well it said that I was supposed to make a bond, but nothing about contracts,” Esther squinted at the paper some more, “what does this even say?”
Lucien blinked, “You can’t read it?”
“No. Well, sort of? Maybe you just have really bad handwriting.”
“It must be because you’re not used to the translating of [Language of the Multiverse],” Lucien waved his hand, “try reading it now.”
Esther took another look at the paper. It read:
Primary Stellar Bond Contract
Parties: Polaris Australis, the Origin Star and Esther Astraelus
Terms of agreement: Polaris Australis will give Esther Astraelus certain powers according to [Nexus of Stellar Bonds], and in exchange, Polaris Australis will be given [redacted] by [Redacted].
Signature: ______________
Signature:_______________
“Okay, what the hell is going on with this contract? Why are so many things redacted?”
Lucien shrugged, “I have no idea. I didn’t make it, the system did. Also don’t say, ‘hell,’ you have to say ‘Two Hells,’ or else it will be offensive to demonkind.”
“I didn’t ask for a lesson in multiversal culture,” Esther hissed.
“Okay well the point is, are you going to sign it or not?”
“I don’t really have much of a choice, do I? I’ll just have to go through this same process again if I reject it,” Esther sighed as she signed the contract and then was whisked away in a flash of light
