1 Chapter 1: The Holy Land
The crickets chirped loudly and the blazing sun illuminated the ground. The extremely humid and hot weather resulted in every normal person staying in their home and enjoying their cold air conditioning.
Sitting on a porch, was an average looking middle-aged man… he had long blonde hair and a small stubble growing on his chin, there was nothing too special about him besides the eyepatch covering his right eye.
Large droplets of sweat trickled down his face as he expertly shuffled the playing cards in his hands. Empty beer cans and cigarette butts littered the ground and porch he was currently resting on.
The pedestrians that happened to drive by, looked at him scorn and disgust… He was the well known 'loser' in the neighborhood, parents would always tell their children to steer far away from him.
Little did they know, the man that they scorned and looked at with disgust had fought for their country… he was in the military for 18 years before he finally decided to quit his job. Before working in the military, he had always aspired to be a magician that played in magic shows or even carnivals.
Unfortunately for him, because of his abrupt decision to leave the military, no working places would hire him. No matter how much he tried, or how much better he was than the other applicants, to his dismay, he could just not land a job.
In a moment of frustration, the man suddenly tossed the deck of cards he was shuffling. He watched as the cards scattered in the air and slowly fell to the ground, he then mashed his lit cigarette on the porch whilst gazing at the cloudless sky.
"I hate this forsaken world... I fought with my life on the line for years and this is how they repay me?" he whispered to himself, his voice was deep, raspy, and contained a trace of killing intent.
His name was Wilhelm Siegfried, coming from pure German descent, his childhood life was anything but extraordinary… the other kids would ostracize him for his different name or looks. Calling him Hitler or other forms of slander.
Despite this, Wilhelm had excellent grades while growing up, however, due to his poor background and status, he had decided to go into the military… They paid for his housing and schooling, which at first, made it seem worth his while.
As time went on and as he further escalated in the military rankings, his opinion of the world, and more specifically, the government, had started to fall. In his 12th year, he was promoted and had finally become a top special forces soldier, where he was then deployed to Afghanistan to help "keep their citizens in line".
While stationed in Afghanistan he was ordered to kill on sight, whether they were citizens or not… due to the area being war-torn, he had to sleep with one eye open and watch as all of his comrades and friends died one by one. He saw first hand what the peak of human cruelty was capable of. Or at least the very least, he thought he did…
After fighting in Afghanistan for two or so years, he was finally pulled back to the United States, where he was given a commanding position. He commanded the rookies and other fresh troops for about two more odd years.
Everything was going fine, but because Wilhelm was fed up with all of the lies and filth that was hidden behind the government's clever facade. He finally decided to retire on his 38th birthday.
Fast forward about two years, on his 40th birthday, Wilhelm was now living in a very small house which he could barely afford with the pitiful pay that the government supplied him each month.
Wilhelm knew better than anyone why he was in this unusual predicament, he was probably considered a 'liability' to the government. He held a lot of secrets and other classified information that the average citizen should never come to know about. He was already thankful at the fact that they had let him leave with his miserable life.
"Sigh, I can't blame anyone else for my mistakes" Wilhelm breathed out a deep sigh and started to pick up the scattered playing cards.
As if nothing had happened, he once again started to quickly shuffle the cards and imitate the magic tricks he had seen on the television when he was but just a child.
Wilhelm continued like this for the next few hours, and soon, the sun went down and the weather started to cool off. Once evening arrived, most of the neighborhood kids came out to play around the same time.
They rode their bicycles and scooters along the wide road, they glanced at Wilhelm quite a few times but were reluctant to say anything to the weird 'uncle'.
"Hey, old man! Go back to your shack, you're scaring the kids" A young man said, he had short brown hair, freckles covering his face, and an unsightly countenance.
Suddenly, while Wilhelm was minding his own business, an obnoxious voice entered into his ears, causing him to raise his remaining eye and inspect the person talking to him.
In front of him were three teens, probably around the age of 15 or so. After noticing they were merely children, Wilhelm didn't pay them much heed and went back to playing with his cards.
"Heh, you really want to ignore us? My dad is the sheriff!" that same displeasing voice, once again, entered into Wilhelm's ears, alas, without even raising his head, he shooed them off with his hand. He didn't feel like talking to some brats, so he just ignored them.
"Hmph, don't be acting arrogant with me old man. you're just a useless swine that shuffles cards all day" the teenager grumbled audibly and walked towards Wilhelm… he moved his hand forward and tried to grab the collars of Wilhelm's ragged shirt.
However, contrary to the teenager's expectations, before his hand could reach Wilhelm's collar, he felt his neck being squeezed. The sound of gagging echoed throughout the streets as Wilhelm gripped the teen's neck tightly and looked at him with a sharp glint.
"I don't enjoy giving lessons to a strangers child, such is the responsibility of the parents… don't force me, boy," Wilhelm said nonchalantly and released the teenager after a few seconds.
As he let go, the unprepared kid fell to the ground and landed on his rear, he was shaking nervously and had clearly wet his pants as the smell of urine wafted through the air.
"D-do you know how much trouble you can get in for hurting a child?" the kid stuttered for words and quickly got up, he then started running towards his house, presumably to go tell his daddy.
Seeing this, Wilhelm chuckled dryly, sat back down, and continued shuffling his cards. He had expected some of the other children to scream or make loud noises, but contrary to his expectations, none of that happened. The awkward silence caused him to raise his head and observe his surroundings.
His left eye widened in shock, in front of him, the children that were once talking and full of life were all stationary. They looked as if they were frozen in time, Wilhelm hurriedly stood up and waved his hand in front of one of the kid's face.
Wilhelm furrowed his brows after seeing that the child had no visible reaction and further studied the surroundings, the birds were paused in mid-air and the leaves falling from the trees weren't any different.
Confusion was apparent in Wilhelm's eye, 'is this a dream…? No, that can't be' he quietly mused to himself and decided to pinch his arms.
As he pinched his arm, he felt an abrupt stinging pain, indicating it wasn't a dream… the confusion in Wilhelm's eyes became more and more apparent as time went on.
"Tsk"
Wilhelm clicked his tongue in displeasure.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" he roared loudly.
Suddenly, as if a balloon popped, Wilhelm heard a popping sound from behind him and reflexively turned around to see what the cause of the noise was.
"W-what the hell… a fairy?" Wilhelm muttered out in disbelief.
[Hello, human… you are amongst the first 1% of humanity that will travel to the holy land] The strange looking fairy spoke in an almost ethereal and robotic voice.
"The holy land? Is this a joke?" Wilhelm couldn't help but ask, everything that had happened until now, including the 'fairy', was hard to believe.
As if the fairy didn't hear Wilhelm's questions, it continued talking in its nearly robotic voice.
[The Holy Land is a world ten times bigger than earth, once you arrive, you will figure out there will be creatures much stronger than you humans… even your prided guns and nuclear bombs will not be effective]
"I don't understand what you're talking about, why are you transporting us? Why earth?" Wilhelm asked a handful of questions at once, however, the fairies calm expression didn't contort in the slightest.
[Humans are very adaptable, we need you to become stronger… stronger than even us, you will understand why you are being transported, sooner or later] The fairy replied calmly which made Wilhelm even more anxious.
Wilhelm wildly scratched his head, "is this an alien invasion, or perhaps I'm in a lucid dream?" he started to grumble out indecipherable words.
[Another 1% of humanity will be transported each month] The fairy, of course, didn't answer Wilhelm, but instead, supplied him with more confusing information.
"What are the chances that I'm amongst the first 1%?" Wilhelm complained loudly.
[don't worry, you will not go to holy land without any tools… assisting you will be a system that follows a relatively easy to understand rule set]
"System? Rules? Can you explain?" Wilhelm asked curiously after he calmed himself down.
[the system will work similar to how games in this world work, classes, stats, coins, hp, mp, etc… etc… it was made this way so that most humans could understand it easily] the Fairy replied.
"A gaming system? So like an MMO?" Wilhelm inquired.
[yes, similar to what you humans refer to as an 'MMO'... well, enough chatter, you and the other 1% of humanity will be transported momentarily] the fairy maintained a relaxed expression on its face the entire time as if it weren't even alive.
[transporting to the holy land in 10 seconds…] A strange robotic voice resounded in Wilhelm's mind, vastly different in comparison to the melodic fairy.
"What the hell? Did you say something?" Wilhelm looked at the Fairy suspiciously, but its lips didn't move.
[9 seconds…]
[8 seconds…]
[7 seconds...]
The strange voice continued to echo inside of Wilhelm's head, he once again scratched his head in confusion.
"What did you put in me?" he asked the Fairy anxiously, alas, he didn't receive a reply.
[6 seconds…]
[5 seconds…]
[4 seconds…]
[3 seconds…]
[2 seconds…]
[1 second…]
"Oh fuck, is this the end?" Wilhelm muttered out a few last words, the last he would ever utter on earth.
[initializing… welcome to the Holy Land]
As he heard those words, Wilhelm felt his mind go blank and his vision become impaired. He felt as though he traveled through an endless amount of darkness, for months. Finally, a robotic voice once again echoed out inside of his head.
[Congratulations, you are the first 1% of humanity to arrive at the Holy Land]
Wilhelm, who was assaulted by a splitting headache, slowly opened his remaining eye with some difficulty. He studied his new surroundings and drew in a breath of cold air.
It looked like he was in a very dark cave, he massaged his forehead and tried to piece everything together.
While he was stroking his scraggly beard, attempting to comprehend the recent chain of events, droplets of water ominously fell to the ground every now and then. However, that was the least of his worries, the main problem was the animalistic grunts and other strange sounds that came from all directions, causing large beads of sweat to slide down his face.
"Is there a tutorial of some sort?" Wilhelm whispered quietly, he didn't want to spook anything in the cave but he also wanted to make sure the thing inside his head heard him.
[tutorial initiated…]
[you do not need to audibly speak out commands, just think them]
[think of the word 'status' for your personal information to pop up]
A series of robotic instructions rang in Wilhelm's ear, it took him a few seconds to comprehend, but without hesitating much longer, he did as instructed and quietly thought of the word 'status'.
Suddenly, a string of words and numbers appeared in front of his eyes, somewhat similar to a panel.
---------------
[Character Information]
Name: Wilhelm Siegfried
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Level: 1, [0/100 EXP]
Class: None
Strength: 11
Agility: 8
Intelligence: 15
Stamina: 7
Magic Power: 0
HP: 100/100
MP: 0/0
Skills: Krav Maga (level 10), indomitable will (level 1), superior intellect (level 2), Gun proficiency (level 10),
Items: None
Allocatable stat points: 1
Evolution points: 0
Coins: 0
(Normal men in their prime have an average strength, agility, and intelligence of 10.)
---------------
"Haha, it really is a gaming interface!" Wilhelm couldn't hold his laughter back after seeing the game-like interface, everything that had happened until now felt surreal. Though, even if it were fantasy or a dream, he figured it would be better to enjoy it while it lasted.
Unfortunately for him, because of his loud outburst, a few unwanted creatures had heard him. A strange growl resounded throughout the cave and entered into Wilhelm's ears, it sounded similar to the sound of an engine being revved up.
While Wilhelm was still attempting to process what had happened, along with trying to discern where the source of the sound was located, eight eyes that radiated a deep crimson appeared in front of him. He took a few steps back and gulped audibly.
The spider, no, the monster, showed itself, causing Wilhelm to open his mouth wide… "a giant spider?" he shouted in shock whilst taking a few steps back.
'That damn fairy played me, even with this excellent gaming system… there's no point If I don't survive the first day!?!?!' he thought angrily and turned around to dash away.
'Even with all of my military experience, a 40-year-old man fighting hand to hand with a 4-meter tall spider? Yeah right, I'm outta here!' he smiled gleefully and ran faster than he had ever before.
Strange sounds rang out from behind Wilhelm causing him to slightly glanced back and what he saw made his remaining eye nearly pop out of its socket, 'why the hell is it so goddamn fast??'
The spider was currently madly charging at Wilhelm, its eight legs moved swiftly and almost looked as though they were creating mirror images.
'W-what the hell? Why would that bastard transport me to this spider infested cave?' Wilhelm lamented and inwardly cursed that androgynous fairy.
Sitting on a porch, was an average looking middle-aged man… he had long blonde hair and a small stubble growing on his chin, there was nothing too special about him besides the eyepatch covering his right eye.
Large droplets of sweat trickled down his face as he expertly shuffled the playing cards in his hands. Empty beer cans and cigarette butts littered the ground and porch he was currently resting on.
The pedestrians that happened to drive by, looked at him scorn and disgust… He was the well known 'loser' in the neighborhood, parents would always tell their children to steer far away from him.
Little did they know, the man that they scorned and looked at with disgust had fought for their country… he was in the military for 18 years before he finally decided to quit his job. Before working in the military, he had always aspired to be a magician that played in magic shows or even carnivals.
Unfortunately for him, because of his abrupt decision to leave the military, no working places would hire him. No matter how much he tried, or how much better he was than the other applicants, to his dismay, he could just not land a job.
In a moment of frustration, the man suddenly tossed the deck of cards he was shuffling. He watched as the cards scattered in the air and slowly fell to the ground, he then mashed his lit cigarette on the porch whilst gazing at the cloudless sky.
"I hate this forsaken world... I fought with my life on the line for years and this is how they repay me?" he whispered to himself, his voice was deep, raspy, and contained a trace of killing intent.
His name was Wilhelm Siegfried, coming from pure German descent, his childhood life was anything but extraordinary… the other kids would ostracize him for his different name or looks. Calling him Hitler or other forms of slander.
Despite this, Wilhelm had excellent grades while growing up, however, due to his poor background and status, he had decided to go into the military… They paid for his housing and schooling, which at first, made it seem worth his while.
As time went on and as he further escalated in the military rankings, his opinion of the world, and more specifically, the government, had started to fall. In his 12th year, he was promoted and had finally become a top special forces soldier, where he was then deployed to Afghanistan to help "keep their citizens in line".
While stationed in Afghanistan he was ordered to kill on sight, whether they were citizens or not… due to the area being war-torn, he had to sleep with one eye open and watch as all of his comrades and friends died one by one. He saw first hand what the peak of human cruelty was capable of. Or at least the very least, he thought he did…
After fighting in Afghanistan for two or so years, he was finally pulled back to the United States, where he was given a commanding position. He commanded the rookies and other fresh troops for about two more odd years.
Everything was going fine, but because Wilhelm was fed up with all of the lies and filth that was hidden behind the government's clever facade. He finally decided to retire on his 38th birthday.
Fast forward about two years, on his 40th birthday, Wilhelm was now living in a very small house which he could barely afford with the pitiful pay that the government supplied him each month.
Wilhelm knew better than anyone why he was in this unusual predicament, he was probably considered a 'liability' to the government. He held a lot of secrets and other classified information that the average citizen should never come to know about. He was already thankful at the fact that they had let him leave with his miserable life.
"Sigh, I can't blame anyone else for my mistakes" Wilhelm breathed out a deep sigh and started to pick up the scattered playing cards.
As if nothing had happened, he once again started to quickly shuffle the cards and imitate the magic tricks he had seen on the television when he was but just a child.
Wilhelm continued like this for the next few hours, and soon, the sun went down and the weather started to cool off. Once evening arrived, most of the neighborhood kids came out to play around the same time.
They rode their bicycles and scooters along the wide road, they glanced at Wilhelm quite a few times but were reluctant to say anything to the weird 'uncle'.
"Hey, old man! Go back to your shack, you're scaring the kids" A young man said, he had short brown hair, freckles covering his face, and an unsightly countenance.
Suddenly, while Wilhelm was minding his own business, an obnoxious voice entered into his ears, causing him to raise his remaining eye and inspect the person talking to him.
In front of him were three teens, probably around the age of 15 or so. After noticing they were merely children, Wilhelm didn't pay them much heed and went back to playing with his cards.
"Heh, you really want to ignore us? My dad is the sheriff!" that same displeasing voice, once again, entered into Wilhelm's ears, alas, without even raising his head, he shooed them off with his hand. He didn't feel like talking to some brats, so he just ignored them.
"Hmph, don't be acting arrogant with me old man. you're just a useless swine that shuffles cards all day" the teenager grumbled audibly and walked towards Wilhelm… he moved his hand forward and tried to grab the collars of Wilhelm's ragged shirt.
However, contrary to the teenager's expectations, before his hand could reach Wilhelm's collar, he felt his neck being squeezed. The sound of gagging echoed throughout the streets as Wilhelm gripped the teen's neck tightly and looked at him with a sharp glint.
"I don't enjoy giving lessons to a strangers child, such is the responsibility of the parents… don't force me, boy," Wilhelm said nonchalantly and released the teenager after a few seconds.
As he let go, the unprepared kid fell to the ground and landed on his rear, he was shaking nervously and had clearly wet his pants as the smell of urine wafted through the air.
"D-do you know how much trouble you can get in for hurting a child?" the kid stuttered for words and quickly got up, he then started running towards his house, presumably to go tell his daddy.
Seeing this, Wilhelm chuckled dryly, sat back down, and continued shuffling his cards. He had expected some of the other children to scream or make loud noises, but contrary to his expectations, none of that happened. The awkward silence caused him to raise his head and observe his surroundings.
His left eye widened in shock, in front of him, the children that were once talking and full of life were all stationary. They looked as if they were frozen in time, Wilhelm hurriedly stood up and waved his hand in front of one of the kid's face.
Wilhelm furrowed his brows after seeing that the child had no visible reaction and further studied the surroundings, the birds were paused in mid-air and the leaves falling from the trees weren't any different.
Confusion was apparent in Wilhelm's eye, 'is this a dream…? No, that can't be' he quietly mused to himself and decided to pinch his arms.
As he pinched his arm, he felt an abrupt stinging pain, indicating it wasn't a dream… the confusion in Wilhelm's eyes became more and more apparent as time went on.
"Tsk"
Wilhelm clicked his tongue in displeasure.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" he roared loudly.
Suddenly, as if a balloon popped, Wilhelm heard a popping sound from behind him and reflexively turned around to see what the cause of the noise was.
"W-what the hell… a fairy?" Wilhelm muttered out in disbelief.
[Hello, human… you are amongst the first 1% of humanity that will travel to the holy land] The strange looking fairy spoke in an almost ethereal and robotic voice.
"The holy land? Is this a joke?" Wilhelm couldn't help but ask, everything that had happened until now, including the 'fairy', was hard to believe.
As if the fairy didn't hear Wilhelm's questions, it continued talking in its nearly robotic voice.
[The Holy Land is a world ten times bigger than earth, once you arrive, you will figure out there will be creatures much stronger than you humans… even your prided guns and nuclear bombs will not be effective]
"I don't understand what you're talking about, why are you transporting us? Why earth?" Wilhelm asked a handful of questions at once, however, the fairies calm expression didn't contort in the slightest.
[Humans are very adaptable, we need you to become stronger… stronger than even us, you will understand why you are being transported, sooner or later] The fairy replied calmly which made Wilhelm even more anxious.
Wilhelm wildly scratched his head, "is this an alien invasion, or perhaps I'm in a lucid dream?" he started to grumble out indecipherable words.
[Another 1% of humanity will be transported each month] The fairy, of course, didn't answer Wilhelm, but instead, supplied him with more confusing information.
"What are the chances that I'm amongst the first 1%?" Wilhelm complained loudly.
[don't worry, you will not go to holy land without any tools… assisting you will be a system that follows a relatively easy to understand rule set]
"System? Rules? Can you explain?" Wilhelm asked curiously after he calmed himself down.
[the system will work similar to how games in this world work, classes, stats, coins, hp, mp, etc… etc… it was made this way so that most humans could understand it easily] the Fairy replied.
"A gaming system? So like an MMO?" Wilhelm inquired.
[yes, similar to what you humans refer to as an 'MMO'... well, enough chatter, you and the other 1% of humanity will be transported momentarily] the fairy maintained a relaxed expression on its face the entire time as if it weren't even alive.
[transporting to the holy land in 10 seconds…] A strange robotic voice resounded in Wilhelm's mind, vastly different in comparison to the melodic fairy.
"What the hell? Did you say something?" Wilhelm looked at the Fairy suspiciously, but its lips didn't move.
[9 seconds…]
[8 seconds…]
[7 seconds...]
The strange voice continued to echo inside of Wilhelm's head, he once again scratched his head in confusion.
"What did you put in me?" he asked the Fairy anxiously, alas, he didn't receive a reply.
[6 seconds…]
[5 seconds…]
[4 seconds…]
[3 seconds…]
[2 seconds…]
[1 second…]
"Oh fuck, is this the end?" Wilhelm muttered out a few last words, the last he would ever utter on earth.
[initializing… welcome to the Holy Land]
As he heard those words, Wilhelm felt his mind go blank and his vision become impaired. He felt as though he traveled through an endless amount of darkness, for months. Finally, a robotic voice once again echoed out inside of his head.
[Congratulations, you are the first 1% of humanity to arrive at the Holy Land]
Wilhelm, who was assaulted by a splitting headache, slowly opened his remaining eye with some difficulty. He studied his new surroundings and drew in a breath of cold air.
It looked like he was in a very dark cave, he massaged his forehead and tried to piece everything together.
While he was stroking his scraggly beard, attempting to comprehend the recent chain of events, droplets of water ominously fell to the ground every now and then. However, that was the least of his worries, the main problem was the animalistic grunts and other strange sounds that came from all directions, causing large beads of sweat to slide down his face.
"Is there a tutorial of some sort?" Wilhelm whispered quietly, he didn't want to spook anything in the cave but he also wanted to make sure the thing inside his head heard him.
[tutorial initiated…]
[you do not need to audibly speak out commands, just think them]
[think of the word 'status' for your personal information to pop up]
A series of robotic instructions rang in Wilhelm's ear, it took him a few seconds to comprehend, but without hesitating much longer, he did as instructed and quietly thought of the word 'status'.
Suddenly, a string of words and numbers appeared in front of his eyes, somewhat similar to a panel.
---------------
[Character Information]
Name: Wilhelm Siegfried
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Level: 1, [0/100 EXP]
Class: None
Strength: 11
Agility: 8
Intelligence: 15
Stamina: 7
Magic Power: 0
HP: 100/100
MP: 0/0
Skills: Krav Maga (level 10), indomitable will (level 1), superior intellect (level 2), Gun proficiency (level 10),
Items: None
Allocatable stat points: 1
Evolution points: 0
Coins: 0
(Normal men in their prime have an average strength, agility, and intelligence of 10.)
---------------
"Haha, it really is a gaming interface!" Wilhelm couldn't hold his laughter back after seeing the game-like interface, everything that had happened until now felt surreal. Though, even if it were fantasy or a dream, he figured it would be better to enjoy it while it lasted.
Unfortunately for him, because of his loud outburst, a few unwanted creatures had heard him. A strange growl resounded throughout the cave and entered into Wilhelm's ears, it sounded similar to the sound of an engine being revved up.
While Wilhelm was still attempting to process what had happened, along with trying to discern where the source of the sound was located, eight eyes that radiated a deep crimson appeared in front of him. He took a few steps back and gulped audibly.
The spider, no, the monster, showed itself, causing Wilhelm to open his mouth wide… "a giant spider?" he shouted in shock whilst taking a few steps back.
'That damn fairy played me, even with this excellent gaming system… there's no point If I don't survive the first day!?!?!' he thought angrily and turned around to dash away.
'Even with all of my military experience, a 40-year-old man fighting hand to hand with a 4-meter tall spider? Yeah right, I'm outta here!' he smiled gleefully and ran faster than he had ever before.
Strange sounds rang out from behind Wilhelm causing him to slightly glanced back and what he saw made his remaining eye nearly pop out of its socket, 'why the hell is it so goddamn fast??'
The spider was currently madly charging at Wilhelm, its eight legs moved swiftly and almost looked as though they were creating mirror images.
'W-what the hell? Why would that bastard transport me to this spider infested cave?' Wilhelm lamented and inwardly cursed that androgynous fairy.
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