Awakening, Jonathan rubbed his eyes. Opening them, the first thing he noticed was a holographic HUD.
Groggy, he sat up and rubbed them. Upon opening his eyes again, he noticed the HUD was still there. Then a holographic alien appeared before him, the same one they had appeared previously.
"This is a recording. I am now dead and you are the last hope for survival for the universe. First, let me explain what has happened."
"After transporting us to this universe, I tried 9 times to successfully cultivate a civilization. This was not successful. This is the last attempt as I am dead, and the 360,000 of you are all that is left. You have been suspended in cryogenic sleep for over 200 years. I have injected your bodies with self replicating nanotechnology that has the ability to learn. This also gives you the ability to grow as well. For every 100 points in your separate 5 skills, you will be able to prestige, permanently strengthening and altering your body."
"Your purpose here is to survive, and rebuild civilizations."
"There are no laws, and there is an unfortunate time limit. I have used all of the remaining power I have to transport the wildlife into cryogenic cells. Unfortunately they can't be sustained forever. I used the most power on the strongest beasts, in increments, until the weakest beasts. Release schedules will be in your system."
"To bring up and minimize the system, you need only speak the words "system activate" and the HUD will appear and disappear."
"Now, regarding your newly acquired system. This system is intuitive and will enhance your attributes. It currently only has the most basic functions, but has the ability to learn. It will also govern marriages. Marriages once completed, have their own attribute perks that will be unlocked upon being married."
"Marriage here is absolute. There is no room for divorces, and abuse will be dealt with extremely harshly by the system. All upgrades and prestige will be stripped away and you will revert back to the state you are currently in"
"I unfortunately ran out of time to fully program the nanotechnology with everything I wanted to, but another thing to note is while I couldn't outright prevent murder, performing a murder will bear a visible mark on your skin."
"As a last note, you have all been placed strategically to not be able to reach each other within two years of today."
"I really hope you succeed where the others have failed, you really are the last of our universe."
With that, the hologram faded, but not before Jonathan caught a glimpse of the light leaving the alien figures eyes.
A voice rang out in his head, deeply melodic.
"System initiation complete. Please enter your name"
Jonathan hesitated. No one would know him here. The chances of running into anyone he knew was astronomically low.
The approximate number of able bodied sixteen year olds fit for survival in an unknown world is approximately 36 million, and with just 360,000 left... What had happened for only one percent of people to e left over?
After a considerable amount of time thinking about his name, Jonathan entered: Xianthu
"Greetings, Xianthu. Welcome to the planet aethelios"
Xianthu paused, hearing the name he selected for himself for the first time. It felt strange, but he liked it.
"System help," xianthu thought
"What is your query?" Came the voice inside his head
"What are your current functions?" He inquired, trying to figure out what he had to work with in this unknown environment.
"Current abilities are identify, communicate, repair, and information."
"Please expand on information." He asked the system.
"Information: I can give you information on the calendar, aethelios population, wave release dates, and location."
"Please expand on identify"
"I can currently name objects"
"That's all?" Xianthu thought, shaking his head in amusement.
"I can also tell other humans stats"
"Please expand on repair"
"The nanotechnology within you has the ability to repair any wound, provided there is sufficient power within the host. The more repairing that needs to be done, the higher the energy drain will be."
So the nanotechnology not only drew its power from his energy, but it could also heal him? This was amazing news.
"Please explain communication." Xianthu thought
"There are three types of communication. Hologram, voice chat, and text. These require you to be within certain range of another player."
Nanotechnology is something xianthu was familiar with. He understood how these things worked. In order to see what he was seeing, there had to be nanotech fused with his optical nerve. To hear, it had to be in the ossicles.
Armed with this new knowledge, he closed the help section and looked at the number in the top left of his screen. 360,000.
He then noticed a little widget to the side and willed it to open.
Stats screen:
Stats:
Strength: effectiveness of effort, capacity
Level 1/101
Training method: physical exertion.
Stamina: food/water effectiveness, nanotech energy
Level 2/101
Training method: eating, drinking, interacting with nanotech
Endurance: fatigue
Level 1/101
Training method: physical exertion
Intelligence: nanotech learning/capability
Level 1
Defence: bone density, skin thickness, cold/hot/poison resistance
Level 1/101
Training method: conditioning
Perception: eyesight accuracy, smell, hearing
Level 1/101
Training method: meditation, ranged combat
Prestige progress: 0%
Upon seeing this, Xianthu had questions about prestige but decided he would investigate it later.
For now, he said "system activate" and the HUD went away.
"So, I'm stuck in a survival game," he stated to the air around him. "Might as well make an axe and find some water and food."
Without further delay, xianthu looked at his surroundings. The first thing he noticed is the trees were thick. So thick trying to move anywhere would be a task. The second thing he noticed is the sound of trickling water near him.
"I'm near a brook!" He thought to himself.
With water located, he got up to make himself an axe. Walking up to the nearest tree, he grabbed a branch to break it off, and nothing happened.