Nate knew what was coming next and was dreading listening to the boring review of information by the system introduction. He had already learned about all of this in his education and the fact that he had to listen to it all again seemed to rub in the fact that his stats sucked. The voice of the system made him get very disgruntled.

[To start the system introduction, the items in your current display will be briefly explained. In the event that new items are added in the future, additional prompts will appear with descriptions.]

[User identification, level, health, and energy are displayed as a status for reference]

[Your body has mental and physical constitutions that are tracked by the system and eight statistical properties reflecting the nuances of those two constitutions. These stats will be summarized in the following tutorial. Access to the descriptions and other information is always available with the inquiry function.]

[The following is a brief summary of your user stats.]

[Your physical constitution is composed of four stats: Speed, Agility, Stamina, and Strength.]

[Speed is the stat that reflects the user’s reaction time and movement speed.]

[Agility is a stat that reflects the user’s ability to manipulate momentum and change direction while moving]

[Stamina is the stat that indicates the body’s ability to handle repeated physical stress and to recover during physical activity.]

[Strength is the reflection of the bodies physical force output]

[Your mental constitution is composed of four stats: Intelligence, Perception, Wisdom and Will]

[Intelligence is the stat that indicates the brains accumulation and processing of data]

[Perception is the body’s awareness of the surrounding environment and other life forms]

[Wisdom is the brain’s ability to utilize accumulated knowledge]

[Will is the user’s mental strength to endure and focus despite hardship]

[This summary concludes the basic introduction to the user interface and stats]

[Based on a review of user current statistics, you are classified as a human with poor physical and mental constitution. Train hard to improve yourself!]

The last line from the system repeated itself over and over again in his head. Nate couldn’t believe something like this had happened to him.

“Why the hell are my stats so low?,” he asked out loud as he began to feel himself drift into a stupor. This outcome was definitely not the one he was expecting and the mental impact was intense. As if to add a finishing blow, the system sent a notification to sound in Nate’s head.

[You have been affected by ‘Mentally Distressed’ status]

[Your ability to think clearly has been reduced]

As the words of the system alert echoed in his skull, Nate blankly looked at the emptiness of his room and breathed in a sign of exhaustion. Following a deep breath, he choked for a second before he groaned and fell back onto his trashed bed, “Damn, it smells like shit in here.”

Despite feeling and smelling like a turd, Nate still forced himself to clean up his room and get ready for work. An unexcused tardy at the weapon factory would result in an immediate report to the City’s Enforcement Division, so Nate still needed to be on time despite the poor results of his Awakening. Even with his continual stress over his stats, Nate managed to get himself out of his room and on his way to his job on time.

Luckily, the morning routine had become almost instinct to Nate after years of performing the same tasks. As soon as he was old enough to understand directions, Nate had been put to work in the factories and given a chance to live on his own in a boarding room. The main rule of Newcomb City is that you have to either be productive or strong to survive. Thankfully, Nate easily picked up on the skill working on the weapons assembly line of a factory. He had always been pretty good at his job and was constantly commended by his supervisors.

Coming out of the boarding house, Nate looked up at the domed ceiling of Newcomb City. He had really hoped that the system awakening would give him a chance at getting away from his life in the sooty factories. But, it didn’t seem like he was going anywhere now. Perhaps he would live the rest of his days here and never even see the rest of this city. A bit of depression slammed into Nate as he thought over his potential future. With slowly moving feet and his head drooped down, Nate started his commute walking to work.

The narrow corridors of the Grey Sector were so familiar to Nate that he could practically walk the route to the weapon factory with his eyes closed. As he walked, Nate mentally struggled to keep his hopes and dreams from being destroyed. The young man had lived by himself in the Grey Sector for his entire life and had wanted a way out for just as long. Grey Sector was the lowest industrial sector of Newcomb City, but it was a necessity for the City’s progress as it produced most of the manufactured goods. Only those with low levels and no background ended up in this dust and grease filled paradise of early industrialization.

Looking up at the city’s ceiling on his walk, Nate’s desire to see more than just the Grey Sector still burned strong. The dome of the city covered most of the work and living spaces. From his lessons when he was younger, the lower level people that lived inside the city had to trade their view of the outside world for the safety of the dome. Without the dome, everyone would die from the vicious beasts that roamed the wilderness outside of the city. As far as Nate knew, most cities in this world were similar to Newcomb City. But he really wasn’t sure. Nate had only been given the most basics of public education in the Grey Sector.

With his poor system awakening still plaguing his mind as he walked, Nate continued his way through the slums looking around at the people and poverty around him. He began to wonder what he and these other people did to deserve such a bad starting point.

When he was around 6 years old, the City’s Education Department had given him a crash course in job skills, the history of the City and the functions of the Singularity’s System. From what Nate remembered of his brief history lessons, a great Singularity had gifted the people of Earth a system that allowed for their continued growth and evolution. However, most people looked at the Singularity’s gift as a curse that caused ancient cities to be destroyed and human society to fall apart. Most of the world had become overrun with wilderness and beasts of unfathomable strength. To protect themselves from the catastrophic effects of the Singularity’s System, the surviving humans flocked into fortified cities around the world to seek shelter from the wilds and develop their own strengths.

After a few minutes of walking and reflecting on life, Nate arrived at the weapon factory for work. Of all the factories, this one was the most important in Grey Sector because it was responsible for assembling weapons for the City’s defense. Bracing himself for what was about to happen, Nate walked in the factory entrance and stood in the employee line going through to building’s security.

Nate watched as the hundreds of people in front of him made their way through the security station and into the factory. When it was Nate’s turn in line, he walked up and handed his identification card to the guard on duty. He couldn’t help himself from looking around at this dump that he had worked in for years. Rust and grime coated everything around him.

“Hey you,” the security guard yelled, “Quit spacing out and move. I’ll get in trouble if I don’t keep the line moving.”

“uhhhh....sorry. I went through my system awakening last night and I need to report to the Superintendent,” Nate responded in almost a whisper.

“Oh shit,” the guard said angrily, “Why didn’t you say something sooner? Go straight upstairs to see Superintendent Warren. He will need to send you over to the Sector Administrator’s office.”

Without wasting any time, Nate made his way towards the factory offices to tell Superintendent Warren about his Awakening. It wasn’t that Nate wanted to talk about his bad awakening performance. Per the requirements of Newcomb City, any young person that completed their Awakening must report their status directly to the Sector Administrator with 24 hours or risk facing punishment. Each newly awakened was to be evaluated by the Sector Administrator and assigned a new role in the City depending on the results of the Awakening. Some exceptional people would awaken to system levels at level 5 or above. Those rare few would be promoted to guards right away. Usually, for average people like Nate, the new role consisted of performing the same job as always in Grey Sector since most people in Grey Sector awakened to low levels.

But Nate knew that his stat levels were not even close to average and he was worried. He had never even heard of a person awakening to Level 0. The lowest he had heard of was Level 1 and those people were still few in number. Most young people started off at around Level 2 or 3. Typical adults in the Grey Sector are at a maximum level of twenty with a series of skills specialized in manufacturing and crafting. Of course, the exception was the Sector Administrator who had a level in the upper 30s. From rumors that Nate heard over the years, some higher-level protectors in the city had power levels exceeding 100.

Knocking on Superintendent Warren’s office door, Nate immediately heard a voice on the other side yell for him to enter. He opened the door and walked into a room to see a rather old man sitting at a big desk.

“What are you here for?” the old man grunted not even bothering to look up from his paperwork.

“Sir, I had my Awakening last night and the guard directed me to see you,” Nate responded sheepishly.

The rotund old man looked up from his desk and caught sight of Nate.

“Good, good. I hope you are decent. I may be able to get a few credits bonus depending on your performance,” the man said standing up from his desk and walking to a shelf.

“Sorry, sir. My stats are extremely low for some reason. I don’t think they will give you a bonus for me,” Nate said in a hopeless tone.

The middle-aged man’s smile faded from his face as he opened a container on the shelf and began sorting through some round disks in the box. After pausing for a moment, the superintendent pulled out a small black disk from the box. With what seemed like a bit of hesitation, the superintendent soundlessly walked over to Nate and placed the disk in his hand.

“Take this medallion to the Sector Administrator’s building. Tell the guard out front that Factory Superintendent Warren sent you and he will bring you to the right place,” the bulky man said before sitting back down and looking at his paperwork.

Feeling dismissed, Nate moved to leave the room but was quickly stopped by the voice of the factory superintendent.

“What’s your name kid?” the man asked as he opened up the book.

Nate turned to see the man pulling a large book off his shelf.

“Nathaniel Redsun,” he replied as he tried to figure out what was happening. He could feel that his mind was a bit muddled.

‘Must be the effects of the [Mental Distress] status,’ Nate thought to himself as he watched the superintendent sit down and flip through the book.

The man seemed to have found what he was looking for after a minute of searching and looked back up at Nate.

“Kid, you have done excellent work for me over the years so I will give you a bit of advice. Make some preparations before you go see the Sector Administrator. I have heard the City is in need of people and newly awakened have been getting transferred to other places to work. Some have even been sent outside of the city.”

Nate just stood for a second and stared at the man as the words soaked in. The Factory Superintendant turned around in his chair and ordered, “Leave now and report to the Sector Administrator’s office within the next 4 hours.” He had so many questions about what was just said, but he wouldn’t get a chance to ask.

Did he really have a chance to get out of Grey Sector despite his poor level and stats?