Acting on instinct, Yuin swung his hand backward to strike the figure beside him.
But nothing happened.
The nerve-chilling energy was still as close and suffocating as before.
"Well… not to worry. You probably made it through by mistake," the celestial's frosty voice said. "I'll handle you at the end of the round."
She moved back, her long, burgundy hair swaying with the motion as she flew away on her black board.
"Annoying pests!" She cussed.
But these words only faintly grazed Yuin's ears as he'd been frozen in place by his own plight.
My hand…. it passed through the celestial.
When he swung backward, his hand had passed straight through the celestial like air.
Yuin instantly realized this was far more dangerous than anything else.
But why— how?
I thought I could— I could touch them…?
Confused and distraught, he could only look to his mark for an answer.
Inspecting it, Yuin found the digit three as it'd been. And for a moment, there was relief mixed with the confusion as he realized there wasn't any issue with his mark.
But then his eyes moved, focusing on the other side of the mark.
Reality instantly dragged him back into despair.
The digit one, laying on the other side of the mark, had gone down to zero.
What the— his mind raced wildly, searching for an answer.
How? When?
The bigger digit meant the number of times he was safe from the celestials. But he hadn't thought of what the other could mean.
Just when did it go down? And now that it was down, what purpose did it serve?
Yuin fell into a deep puzzle, retracing every step of his actions that led to where he was.
He hadn't done anything aside from killing a celestial and being protected by the digit.
Yet, for some reason now, he could no longer touch a celestial, and one of his digits had been expended.
Then— his eyes spread in speculated realization.
Did it mean the number of celestials I could kill? He thought.
Since the digit was one and I'd killed one, it isn't far-fetched.
But Yuin shook his head the next second, disagreeing with this conclusion.
It couldn't be the number of celestials he could kill. After all, killing a celestial all depended on his capability.
Not like the digit rewarded him with some mighty skill or anything.
Then— he nodded, more in agreement with the next conclusion.
The digit meant the number of celestials I could touch. Since it was unnatural to begin with, I was given access, but only to one.
Realizing this, a chill ran down Yuin's spine.
"Grooghh…" he vibrated, as if trying to shake off the chill.
I only have the other digit left now, he said, casting his eyes toward the celestial.
With no means to touch a celestial, he could already foresee his doom.
The temporary chance he was given to access a celestial had got him on high. Too high that the fall was devastating.
I was too in my head… he cried uglily.
But— his expression turned stern the next moment. Are they not aware that I killed their kind?
His eyes shifted to the celestial floating above thousands of them.
Does she not know, or is she just keeping quiet?
"Attention!" The celestial called.
"As you've seen from the events leading here, this is reality. Although you could tell from the customization that this is not so different from the contents of a game, it still remains a way to save your world." She started.
"This realm is a different world from yours, crafted solely for things like which is about to take place. But do know that death here means death in your real world, and—"
"Yes yes, but what were we brought here to do?"
A Chosen fired from the crowd, interrupting the celestial.
His question rippled gasps from his fellow Chosen whose minds could still vividly remember how brutal the celestials were when they first appeared.
"Hey, what are you doing?"
"Why would you speak?"
Cautious whispers hit him from different sides.
The celestial gazed at the boy with unsettling calm. Her eyes were zeroed on him with cold contempt.
It was clear she was weighing his worth. Whether to kill him or spare him.
At least that was what her face looked like.
After a moment, she spoke.
"If you'd not be so insolent and allow me speak, you'll realize I'm talking about it."
"Hagh, yes. It's just that you're talking so slow like you aren't up for it," the boy replied.
His hands were raised and clasped behind his head, and his expression was calm and carefree like he wasn't at all bothered by any of this.
Above his brunette head, his codename floated; Fearless Rebel.
While most panicked because of his blatant way of speaking to the celestial, Yuin kept calm.
He was more focused on the doom that awaited him.
The hell does she mean she'll handle me at the end of the round?!! He panicked internally. Plague!
The celestial scrutinized the boy with calm for a moment, then resumed talking.
"In this realm, you will all complete quests through which you'll level up, gain skills, rewards, coins, drops and so on."
She continued.
"The quests will differ every round, and there's always a penalty for failure. Through drops you will earn real money."
"Huh? So we are going to earn?"
"Is this for real?"
"Real money?"
"Along with the ones the government will give us monthly, won't we become rich?"
Whispers drifted among the chosen as they were filled with doubt, unsure whether they could really make money.
From where Yuin stood, a small smile curved his lips, clouding his plight.
Hmm, so we are going to earn.
The joy in his eyes was undeniable.
Who knew there could be blessings in misfortunes?
I just have to register under a guild when I get back home to receive the monthly payments from the government.
He nodded in conclusion but something clicked in his head.
His situation.
He quickly corrected himself.
If I survive…. IF I survive.
"Let's get right into it. Every other information will come at the end of the round because it'll be a miracle if a quarter of you survive. So there's no need to waste my breath on the soon-dead lots of you," she glared.
"First, summon your Status Window by saying it."
The Chosen did as told, some in their minds, and summoned it.
A glowing teal screen appeared before them, containing all their information and more.
—————————
༄ STATUS WINDOW ༄
Name: Im Yuin Code name:NamelessUser
Rank: Beginner Age: 19
Level: 1 Race: Human
Class: [Locked]
༄TITLE(S)༄
[Hide Title]
Yuin quickly slapped the yes button as if held under gun point.
Phew! That was close, he glanced skeptically at the celestial.
Did she see? He wondered. But soon cast aside his concern.
Whether or not she did, they want my end regardless, he sighed and continued navigating his Status Window.
—————————
༄STATS༄
Strength: +12 Agility: +12
Intelligence: +12 Anomaly Factor: +0
STAT POINTS: 0
_______________
༄SKILLS༄
Primary Skills↡
None..
Secondary Skills↡
None..
________________
༄SHARDS༄
Mythical Shard •[Black]• •[✮✮✮✮✮✮] +
Legendary Shard •[Purple]• •[✮✮✮✮✮] +
Elite Shard •[Red]• •[✮✮✮✮] +
Superior Shard •[Gold]• •[✮✮✮] +
Greater Shard •[Green]• •[✮✮] +
Lesser Shard •[White]• •[✮] +
______________
So that's the code name that floats above my head, Yuin's eyes lingered on his code name for some moments before moving to the other details.
Anomaly factor. What's that?
While he didn't know what it was, he didn't pay much mind to it, concluding everyone must have it on their status window as well.
"As you can see, your stats aren't that low for mere beginners. That is because you've been training and preparing for this," the celestial continued.
"But you're still considerably weak."
The chosen all listened attentively with their eyes glued to the screen.
"In the Shard section, you can see you possess 1 Greater Shard."
Their eyes immediately darted toward it.
"Shards are crystals used to summon players. As for what the players are, I will explain. But first, go to your inventory."
Because Yuin's reading ability was limited, he was slower than the rest in navigation. But that didn't make him fall behind.
When the chosen opened their inventory, they found a green crystal shard in one of the several open slots.
"It is a beginner's gift that will help with this round," the celestial informed. "Take it out."
The chosen reached out to the shard inside the inventory, their hands passing through the slot like it was a mere hologram.
They grabbed onto the shard and brought it out.
Instantly, an alert dinged and a mini rectangular screen appeared.
[Ding! You have acquired the Greater Shard]
⎡ -Greater Shard- ⎤
│ Color: Green │
│ Summon: 2-Star Player │
│ Rarity: Greater │
⎣ ⎦
Everyone stared amusingly at the green shards in their grasp, everyone but Yuin.
He was yet to take out his shard from the inventory. He simply stood still, gazing with a confused expression.
Because unlike everyone else, there was no Greater shard in his inventory.
Instead…
An Elite shard lay quietly in the slot.