60 Years ago…

I don’t understand why I can’t meet my father in person and see my progress. I can only hear his voice and watched him in the holograms. His researchers said that I was beyond their expectations. I got the highest points in every hardest survival and war simulations but I think it’s not enough to prove my worth. I’m still lacking something. Even with the help of Training Capsules to hone my skills and still wasn’t enough.

Is it because of my age? I’m still 5 years old so it’s pretty much understandable.

They said that my father is always busy to lead the nation and the army so I continue my training. The Training Capsules are the pods used to tap the users’ memory to help them reach the peak form so that the body is completely familiar with the movements during the training but a user like me is not ordinary because I was born with high intelligence and that what made the researchers supported my progress. They said that I was like a sponge as I absorbed the knowledge as fast as I could and they called me Perfect.

I shivered from just hearing that word. I don’t feel perfect because what I learned from the history books, no one is perfect. No matter how hard they tried to become perfect, they always failed in the end.

A day later, walking to the library, armored soldiers passed me by blankly, none of them registering in my head. When I reached the entrance, the librarian is asking me to see my ID.

I need my ID.

Then my black crystal bracelet reacting to my command and it glowed in purple color. The purple particles hovered on my right palm before the ID appeared and I gave it to the librarian. My bracelet contains an independent subspace or a storage dimension of roughly one cubic meter size. The crystal that reinforced to any bracelets that mainly used as Inventory was also coming from the meteorites that were discovered 400 years ago.

When the librarian approved that I can get inside, the double iron door automatically opened. The smell of the ancient books lingered to my nostrils as I scanned the towering iron bookshelves. I felt relaxed for a bit as I grabbed the books that are suitable for the kids since I’m still a kid. I do this habit if father’s researchers gave me a break.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

The beeping sound that coming from my wireless earphone is giving me a signal that someone entered to my room as I let the AI activated my voice recording device that was hidden somewhere in there and listen to whoever roam inside.

Then I heard a familiar female voice and I assumed that it was one of my father’s researchers, “General! Please don’t dispose her! She is already a perfect candidate to –”

“–WHERE IS SHE?!” My father’s angry voice made me jolted for a moment.

Then a deafening shriek coming from a researcher following with the gunshot.

“I thought you stopped this project and sent her off to the best slave seller!”

“Your son won’t make it anyway.”

Then followed by a loud smack which I assumed that my father slapped her face.

“Don’t… ever… say that… right in front of my face!”

I turned off my headphone and stared at the old dusty bedtime story. My hands are shaking as I analyzed all of the information I heard from them.

Me? Ready to be sent off to the slave seller?

Son? Do I have a sibling? A brother?

If he won’t make it… Is he dying? From what? A disease?

If father sounds angry from my existence, why he won’t accept me?

Why he would choose the dying son? Why not accept his fate?

Is he better than me?

I paused as I closed the book and returned to where it belongs. I have two options in this kind of situation, escape or accept my fate. Escaping from this place is near impossible so I chose to wait in this library until my father’s soldiers found me.

Suddenly, books from the above landed beside me. I glanced at it and to my surprise, they were so colorful, thin and shiny. I looked from left to right and it seems like I was alone. I was so confused but to my curiosity, I would like to read one of those books at least let me read it just a minute.

As my small hand touched the cover of the book with a title of Gaming History Vol 1, it felt so smooth and there’s no speck of dust on it. When I opened it, the smell and structure are completely different from the other ancient books. It looks so fresh as if it was newly produced from a book publication. I’m sure that those shiny books don’t belong in the library.

♦ ♦ ♦

Present

Before I could press the Yes option, an annoyingly loud voice interrupted me.

“Krak! Press NO! Tutorial is only for the weaklings! Zero skills! Know nothing about this game!” The so-called God is beside me and thankfully, I can’t smell his scent.

It was true that I know nothing about this game but yelling right in front of everyone made me want to smack him so good and see how strong I am right now but my anger suddenly dispersed like a mist.

“I thought you’re not going to pestering me around while I’m playing the game,” I said as my eyes focused at the screen.

“It’s because it wasn’t part of the contract and I just commented on your gameplay!”

Then Crack continued as he shrunk into a size of a bee and floats in front of the game screen, “And… How does it feel to become a shadow?”

“Why do you even ask? I think you already know the answer.”

He looked so excited and said, “Oh come on! I just want to hear it from you!”

“You’re the only one who looks excited as if you’re the one who played this game.”

“Krak! Okay! I’ll see you again when you reach level 10.” Then he disappeared.

“Just don’t come back,” I muttered under my breath as I pressed the Yes option.

System: These followings are the main commands.

> Profile

> Journal

> Inventory

> Relations

> Reputation

> Loyalty

System: Let’s start with Profile. You can say the command out loud, or silently. I recommend you to say the command through mentally.

“That’s convenient,” I commented and utter the command mentally.

Profile!

> Character Model

> Status

> Titles

> Skills

> Passive Skills

System: Since you already encountered the Character Model, Status and Titles, we can start with Skills –

“–No. I want you to explain those three commands that I already encountered. Let’s start with the Character Model because I don’t know how that thing works.”

Then we proceeded to the Character Model and I saw my character again and I can see the tab with icons beside it.

System: Character Model is where you can see your avatar to allow you to see it without using mirrors. You can also rotate in any angles, and zoom in or zoom out.

“Uhh… I see. Interesting. I’m just wondering, how am I going to see underneath my dress through this?” I asked as I rotated the character.

System: Have you seen the icons on the right side of your avatar?

“Yes. What are those things do?”

System: The D icon from the top is a Description.

I pressed that icon and read the following description.

Unhostile Mode

The queen is not in the mood to fight because she has something to do to her kingdom.

“That’s pretty straightforward.”

System: Next to D icon is the M icon. M icon stands for Measurements which allows you to see your height, weight and body measurements.

“Let’s see how tall I am… What the –” I widened my eyes in shock as I read it.

Measurements

Height: 70 ft.

Weight: 0 kg.

Show more…

“If I’m so tall, how I became weightless?”

System: Your race became weightless in this area.

“Then why?”

System: Next to M icon is –

“Wait! You didn’t answer my question!”

System: Thermometer icon which allows you to see the temperature of your avatar.

I sighed, “Fine! Just proceed.”

System: You can control your temperature if needed.

“How about the 2nd to the last icon? It looks like death to me.”

System: The skull icon that you are referring to is the X-ray icon. There are 4 layers for you to see the insides of yourself.

“The last one looks like a puff of smoke.”

System: That is Spirit icon which allows you to see your spirit.

I pressed the Spirit icon and I saw my former self. I wore a green military uniform with the 5 silver stars that pinned on the epaulet.

System: Should I proceed to explain the Status?

> Yes

> No

I just nodded and the system showed me my status.

[STATUS:]

NAME: Natasha Shadowwalker

RACE: Shadow

TYPE: Shadow Queen

GENDER: Female

AGE: 65

JOB: General of Darkness

[LEVEL: 0]

HP: 1,000,000/1,000,000 - Health

MP: 1,500,000/1,500,000 – Mana Pool\Magical Power

XP: 0/100 – Experience Points are used to denote progress towards the next character level.

SKILL PTS: 0 - Skill Points are used to add the numbers of your stats.

ATK: 999 – Attack is the amount of damage in either scientific, magical or spiritual moves.

CONT: 999 – Constitution is for endurance, recovery, stamina and good health.

STR: 999 – Strength is for the amount of brute force to move heavy objects.

DEF: 999 – Defense is for resistance against scientific, magical or spiritual attacks.

CRIT: 999 – Critical Hit is an attack that does more damage than usual, usually affected by random chance, finding a weak point and some sort of modifier.

DEX: 999 – Dexterity for accuracy, agility, balance, coordination, and reflexes.

SPD: 999 – Speed stands for mobile swiftness on every environment except the divine domains.

MAG: 666 – Magic stands for magic attack and mana recovery.

INT: 999 – Intelligence is for deductive reasoning, knowledge, memory, logic, and rationality.

WIS: 999 – Wisdom for self-awareness, common sense, restraint, perception, and insight.

SPT: 666 – Spirit is for Spiritual Attack.

CHAR: 69 – Charisma is a force of personality, persuasiveness, leadership and succession planning.

LUK: 777 – Luck which allows you to get lucky if it is above 0. The higher the number of Luck, the higher the chance you can get the exciting random loots. You can change your fate if it is above 100.

“Now that I understand those letters. Why do I have huge numbers of stats? How strong my enemies are? Why do I need these abominations? Do I have to use them as my army and wage war against them?”

System: I’ll answer your questions once we finish this tutorial.

“Please proceed.”

[TITLES:]

RULER OF DARKNESS – Your God bestowed you this title. Additional 1,000,000 to all stats against any race and 100 Loyalty for your people. This title will be activated if your rage can disable the Zero Emotions for a moment.

HERO SLAYER – Your God bestowed you this title. Additional 150,000 to all stats against Heroes. This title will be activated if your rage can disable the Zero Emotions for a moment.

RULER OF THE 4 SILVER STARRED GENERALS OF DARKNESS – Your God bestowed you this title. It gives your generals additional 10,000 Loyalty.

THE WALKING END – Your God bestowed you this title. All the living and undead beings except demi-gods and gods will disintegrate at 100 kilometers in radius. Additional 1,000,000 to all stats against demi-gods and gods. This title will be activated once your opponent is a demi-god or god.

WORLD ENDER - Your God’s rage against the 7 gods of Octavia wished you to help him MURDER them. Additional 500,000,000 to all stats against gods. This title will be activated once your opponent is a god.

NATURAL ENEMY TO ALL RACES – No one likes you except your race and remaining believers (different races) of your God. Additional – 100,000,000 Reputation. This title will be activated once the enemies found out that you and your people are shadows.

THE ORIGINAL DEMON LORD - Your God’s rage against the One True God wished you to have faith in him. It gives him an additional Infinite Crack Motivation and 1,000,000,000 for your stats. This title will be activated once you fully have faith in him.

THE 5 SILVER STARRED GENERAL OF DARKNESS – Since you are a general and president in your previous life, which would also reflect your current life, you will lead your people once more until the End. It gives 10,000 Loyalty for your people. The 666% buff to all stats of your race will be activated once you completed finding your generals in Octavia.

After reading the descriptions of my titles, I can’t imagine how I’m going to fight my enemies especially the god-like beings.

System: Should I proceed to explain the Skills and Passive Skills?

> Yes

> No

“Yes.”

[SKILLS]

COPY-PASTE – Your God loves copying and pasting things digitally so he bestowed you this unique skill. The information from your enemy will be copied and pasted to your Journal after using the Observe Skill. The skills of your enemies except demi-gods and gods will be automatically learned.

OBSERVE- Your God gave you his eyes. This skill shows information about the targets.

FUCK YOU AURA – Your God likes your very nice attitude and gave you a unique debuff skill. Releasing an ominous aura with a radius of 10 kilometers will make the victims lose consciousness or die in the process and if the person survives they will get frightened or lose their will to fight. If you say the magic word ‘FUCK YOU’, your target will be instantly affected by the effects of your skill.

DOUBLE F. U. – Since you disrespected your God, he bestowed you a unique skill to disrespect other gods. Just show them your double middle fingers and they will instantly lose their focus because you made them blinded with their rage. You can also use this skill against any mortals just for fun.

SHARE IT – You can share your knowledge and skills with your Relations.

DOMINATION – A debuff skill to weaken or paralyzing your target.

SELFIE – Since your game difficulty is very impossible, your God bestowed you this skill that serves as a Save Station. Use the front camera and take the picture of yourself. The pictures will be automatically added to your Journal.

SHADOW WALK – This is the same as Portals or Wormholes. You can use it as a Fast Travel.

POCKET DIMENSION – Your God shared this skill with you. A space that serves as an inventory, home or a battlefield. Unfortunately, Demi-gods and Gods cannot be affected by this skill.

[PASSIVE SKILLS]

GHOST MODE – A shadow can pass through almost anything. (All shadows possessed this passive skill.)

ZERO NEEDS – A shadow’s body is not needy. No need food, heat, medicine, water, and air. It won’t age and only Divine Powers can penetrate the skin until its existence deleted. (All shadows possessed this passive skill.)

ZERO EMOTIONS – A shadow’s emotions were suppressed. (All shadows possessed this passive skill.)

DISASTER MODE [DEACTIVATED] – All mortal things you touched will disintegrate except air, earth, fire and water. (All shadows possessed this passive skill.)

SHADOW SENSES – All shadows’ senses are same as supernatural predators such as Night Vision, X-ray Vision, Infrared Signature/Sense Heat, Eagle Eye, Keen Sense of Smell, Super Hearing, Echolocation, Sense Vibration, and Sense Spirit.

SHIT AURA – Since you are the first mortal who can smell your God’s scent, he bestowed you this passive skill to hide your existence. To avoid being detected by the demi-gods’ and gods’ eyes.

I sighed when I realized that I have so many things to do in this so-called game, “I have so many things to memorize if I copied a lot of skills.”

System: Don’t worry. The 2nd main command, the Journal will help you.

“Journal,” I commanded.

> Create Quest (Unavailable)

> Quest

> Library

> Archive

> Scrapbook

> Album

System: Create Quest is where you can create your customized quest but this one is on a process so the player can’t use this for now.

System: Quest is a task that a player may complete to gain a reward. Your current quest is to finish the tutorials and the reward is 100 XP.

System: Library is the infinite storage of all knowledge you learned from Octavia. The information you took from your enemies after using the skill Copy-paste will be stored here.

System: Archive is the separate infinite storage of all knowledge you learned from your previous world.

System: Scrapbook is where you can write or draw anything infinitely. You can also print out the specific page or present it to the public through Holograms or any output devices.

System: Album is the infinite storage of all images you took from your camera. Some images are your saved game file where you can load your game.

System: Do you have any questions?

“No.”

System: The 3rd main command is Inventory. If you used Pocket Dimension skill at your target, they will be sent to your inventory. You can enter your subspace and see the gifts from your God.

“How can I enter?”

System: Please say this secret command [Enter Pocket Dimension] or [Enter P.D.].

“Can I also say that command through my thoughts?”

System: Yes.

Enter Pocket Dimension!

My surroundings began to transform into a void and somehow I found myself floating. A few moments of doing nothing, the 6 round objects slowly emerged right in front of me until I saw the things that I didn’t expect.

“T-This is impossible!”

The End of Chapter 5