Whiteness.

As Caelum’s eyes opened all he saw was a endless white void. Suddenly he realized he did not have a body. How could he see? Panic seized him and he started to hyperventilate.

Was this death, the end? He was on the verge of a full breakdown when suddenly his overthinking was stopped by a sound. A meowing of a cat.

“ATLAS, ATLAS IS THAT YOU” he shouted, waiting a few seconds he heard no response. Closing his nonexistent eyes Caelum thought I just want to be home… I want to be safe.

He started thinking of his dad, his family, Camellia, Mr. Lopez… even William if this was truly the end, what was the point of harboring grudges. Lost in thought he heard Atlas meowing again, uncertainly opening his eyes color sprang into view.

A forest, he was surrounded by a forest. Taking a few seconds to look around he realized this was a forest he has been in before. The one his family used to go to every year and spend two weeks in a cabin his mom had inherited.

As he prepared to scream for help, he noticed that there was no ambient noise. No birds, no wind, absolute silence.

Deciding that screaming probably wasn’t the best option he sat down on a nearby rock to gather his bearings. Obviously, he was stuck in a forest he was familiar with, but something was clearly out of place.

Looking around he noticed that the forest seemed to be repeating as if only one part of the forest was continuing on and on and on… forever. Ignoring this tidbit for his sanity he looked around, stood up, and just started walking.

If he was stuck in a never-ending forest he might as well start walking, it was much more interesting than standing around waiting to starve to death.

He walked around for what felt like 5 minutes when the forest suddenly parted and a log cabin appeared. The exact same log cabin his family used to stay at every year.

The log cabin was surrounded by wildflowers and had a very rustic look to it. There wasn’t anything special to it, it looked as generic as they came. Still, it brought back so many memories, memories he had never bothered to remember.

Like a tidal wave, all the emotions hit him at once, and with a stagger in his steps and tears forming in his eyes he opened the door to the cabin when a stream of the information entered his mind and words appeared before his eyes.

[System Initiation Complete] [World Initiation Complete] [Welcome to Infinity and Oblivion, Welcome to the System]

[Designed to bring the best out of everyone and elevate the races to godhood through reflection! Pave your way to power and truth! Please proceed to pick a class and then exit or be forcibly removed!]

Status

Name: Caelum Jackson

Class: N/A

Skills/Abilities:

Titles: N/A

Quests: None

All this information streaming into his head and suddenly appearing before his eyes caused him to stagger a little bit. He had to lean on the door to rebalance.

While leaning against the door it, all became clear to Caelum, the white light, the sudden energy traveling through his body. He remembered this all too clearly to pass it off as a dream.

The world had adopted… or forced into an RPG-like system, though glancing at his status there were no stats. And the class thing they wanted him to pick one like, warrior perhaps, maybe he would be offered a hero class he thought amusingly to himself.

Also, the part of being forcibly removed motivated him to quickly get this whole selection over with.

Suddenly he heard a meow and as he turned his head to identify the source Atlas leaped from a bookshelf onto his head.

“ATLAS, Jesus don’t jump on my head damn.” “And how are you here, because I’m assuming all of this is in my mind” he stated. He took the cat off his head and placed him on the floor.

“Hm, maybe you aren’t real” as soon as he said that Atlas preceded to scratch him vigorously across his leg. Atlas then sauntered over to the fireplace in the cabin and sat down.

“Well, I guess you are real,” Caelum said with a pained look on his face as he rubbed his leg with his hand.

Glancing around he noticed everything looked the same but as his eyes fell on the bookshelf Atlas had leaped on, he saw something unusual. That one book was quite literally glowing with a white light.

He felt a weird compulsion to go closer to it, as if it were demanding his attention.

He moved over to the shelf picked up the book and as he opened it, he saw it had no title.

Opening it up revealed it was filled with blank pages except for Chapter 1: Class selection.

Flipping through this chapter he saw five classes with descriptions.

Warrior- (Starting class) Focusing on fighting your way through enemies with whatever weapon you can get your hands on.

Fighter- (Starting class) Forgoing weapons, use the absurd superiority of your body to demolish all obstacles in your way.

Archer- (Starting Class) With a bow and arrow pierce through your enemies and while staying a far distance away.

Mage- (Starting Class) Mana exists in all of us and now within your world. Shape your mana and cast your will upon the world to create magic.

Rogue- (Starting Class) Hiding among the shadows and attacking when least expected, your enemies will never know what hit them.

Pave the way with your class, which option will you choose?

Looking at all these options the first thing that struck Caelum was the mage class. Magic existed in this world. He could potentially teleport or fly, maybe even raise the dead.

Another thing Caelum observed was the way every class talked about enemies struck Caelum as odd. The system’s goal seemed to be making people as powerful as possible until they achieved this “godhood” and seemingly that was through forcing them through hardships and enemies.

Natural selection was what this system reminded Caelum of.

Now he wasn’t the type to fight and with the absence of stats, it seemed he would have to train his muscles himself.

So that instantly got rid of Warrior and Fighter. "No way i'm lifting weights just to survive".

While mage seemed intriguing, he realized that the amount of work needed to put into it probably would mean slow advancement.

If he was guessing right, he wouldn’t have time to learn in a world filled with monsters and enemies, so he was going to pass on that as well.

That left the Archer and Rogue classes. Since the archer class would focus on bows and arrows Caelum had no interest in it.

With his mind made up he thought, "Here goes nothing" and focused on the thoughts of him becoming a rogue.

A screen appeared before him.

Accept Rogue class?

Thinking yes, a flash of bright light covered him, and he heard Atlas yelp in the back. The light covered the entirety of his vision and lit up the cabin as well. As this happened, he received a string of notifications in his mind.

[Skill gained: Inferior Stealth]- Provides basic knowledge of stealth, allowing one to remain hidden and undetected.

[Skill gained: Basic Dagger proficiency]- Provides basic knowledge on how to use a dagger and knives.

[Ability gained: Rogue’s Senses (Common)]- A rogue is always aware of their surroundings. Provides a limited awareness of the environment.

As the light died down, he noticed his clothes had changed. Replacing his jacket was a black hood that would cover his face if he put it up but otherwise rested at his shoulders.

He had dark red light armor on that had a leathery texture with bracers as well. On his hip was a black leather belt with two pouches on the side connected and his outfit ended with black pants and black boots.

Surprisingly, it all fit him perfectly, but with everything that had happened so far, he wasn’t too surprised. Feeling his armor, he felt that he also had a black sheathe with a dagger in it.

His good mood evaporating he realized he might be needing this sooner rather than later once he left this mind… palace area he dubbed it.

Putting that out of his mind he looked towards the door which was now glowing with the same light as the book.

He put on a determined face and picked up Atlas much to his protest and walked out the door.

"To a new world... at least atlas is here" he thought with a smile.

As soon as he set one foot outside with the upset cat in his arms the world faded to black.

Jolting awake, Caelum patted himself down realizing his new clothes were still on. Confirming that this was not just a bad dream, he readied himself.

Unease settling in his heart he looked around and heard noises of people waking up and yells and screaming.

Steeling his nerves Caelum was about to head towards the school from the field with Atlas in tow when more words appeared in his vision.

[To adapt to the new world, you must remain inside the zone automatically given upon System Initiation]. [Above and Beyond!] Enemies spawned due to a lack of native species to evolve in initiation location. 4 Bosses created and spawned. [Each boss defeated will reward with a specialized ability or item!].

[Initiation Event] [ 45:00:00:00 left till completion]