It is said that for tortured souls, death is a mercy. It makes injuries and disease meaningless. It renders memories of suffering obsolete. It frees individuals from guilt, loss, and sorrow. For those with no way out, it is the only way.

Yet it is a mercy Shaw wouldn’t receive just yet.

“How could you do this? Why would you do this? You gave us your word! Your promise!”

The vivid memories of her own furious cry were still in her head, much like the excruciating pain radiating through her body from her myriad of injuries. She was missing her entire lower body, which made the dozens of bleeding wounds scattered across her upper body seem trivial. Shaw had survived through hundreds of battles. She had suffered and survived for years. She made it out of numberless traps and ambushes, but she wouldn't have the same luck for this one. This time, even she would meet her end.

Hundreds of bodies were scattered around her, struck down by an impossible foe while making a desperate last stand. They were the last of mankind, and as they lay dead, so did any chance humanity had of survival.

No voice answered Shaw’s cry. They simply watched in utter silence as she bled out.

Amy Shaw glanced around the classroom. The math teacher, a woman in her forties, was teaching on the stage, and approximately two dozen students were scattered around the room. Some of them were paying attention to the teacher, but most were busy chatting with each other or not-so-secretly staring at their phones. They weren’t as discreet as they thought, but no one called them out for it.

Shaw knew they wouldn’t have too long left. A glance at her phone told her that in ten minutes, what the world would later call the Launch would occur. During the Launch, a mysterious technology would be used on Earth, transforming it into a real-life game in which billions of humans were the players. Numerous monsters would appear out of nowhere, spawned all over the world with no warning whatsoever. Initially, these monsters could be easily taken out by firearms and the only threat they posed to an organized human force was their numbers, but it wouldn’t take long before the monsters level up and become more powerful than any human could possibly imagine. Eventually, firearms and whatever technology that survived the Launch would become useless, and the only way to fight these leveled-up monsters was with leveled-up players.

At the same time, everyone on Earth would be transformed into players in this brutal game. They would receive levels, attributes, and abilities, and they would even be able to select their careers. They could gain experience and level up by killing the spawned monsters. For the first few levels, the players would still be within human territory, but at the later levels, they would gain supernatural abilities and attributes that would essentially make them gods in the eyes of less informed individuals...not that these powers would save them in the end.

The Launch would tear down almost every single government on Earth. It would shatter the communication of mankind, taking out all the technologies mankind spent hundreds of years building and forcing humanity to go back to the age of sending mounted messengers to deliver messages. It would also disable most modern technologies. Phones? The internet? Artillery, tanks, and fighters? All would be rendered useless at a time mankind needed them the most.

With most of their technologies nullified and the enemy getting more and more powerful, the military might that human beings were so proud of seemed pathetic compared to the billions of monsters that showed up all over the world. Within a month, the government would collapse. Within two more, the disorganized military would crumble into different splinters, each fighting for its own survival. The survivors would form different camps and fortresses and make a stand, but they were fighting a losing war. Within ten years of the Launch, 99.99% of humanity would be extinct.

When there was only one last group of humans left, the group Shaw was in, they would receive a message from the entities who claimed to be responsible for this atrocity. These beings called themselves the Developers. They promised the players that from now on, the monsters would stop respawning. As long as they could kill every single monster left on Earth, they would have the planet back to themselves and the Developers would leave them alone.

The survivors rejoiced, and Shaw was among them. As much as she was torn and broken by the Launch, she, like the rest of them, was blinded by the promise of a future. A future that belonged to mankind once again. A future where this senseless massacre had come to a halt. Some doubted the credibility of the Developers, but almost everyone believed the Developers needed them alive for one reason or another. After all, why would they go through all this trouble with setting up this game, just to purge the players in the end? It just wouldn't make any sense, right?

And so they fought. Tens of thousands of players, each with the power of a god, started their path of purging the monsters. With might that could only be described as celestial, they burned down the forests and boiled the seas. Skies were darkened and the ground ran with the blood of the NPCs. Countless players died in the slaughter, but the rest pushed on. Hordes were wiped out. Swarms were set aflame. The NPC monsters died by the billions. In the end, after another ten years of war, only two hundred players were left and every monster on Earth was slain.

The survivors expected the Developers to leave them alone or at least reveal their true purpose. Instead, the Developers took the field in the form of golden figures of immense prowess. They attacked and massacred the rest of the players in a meaningless, senseless slaughter for seemingly no reason at all. There were no survivors.

Even as she drew her last breath, Shaw still had no idea what the purpose of all this was. The Developers spent twenty years selecting the elite of humanity and forging them into weapons of unbelievable power...only to destroy them in the end.

And now, for some reason, Shaw found herself sent back in time to ten minutes before the Launch. She had no idea how she got back here, and to be honest, that was the least of her concerns.

The Developers betrayed mankind. They transformed her world into a slaughterhouse and massacred billions of her people. They told her brothers and sisters lies and sent them to their deaths with empty promises, and in the end, they stabbed them in the back, seemingly just because they could. Was this a cruel joke? Was this some sort of social experiment? She didn't know, and she didn't care.

She wanted the Developers to pay for what they did. She would kill every single one of them...if she could. And even if she couldn’t, she would try her damn best.

Those sick bastards wanted her to play their little game? Fine. She had played it once, and she would gladly do it again. Only this time, she would win.

Shaw drew a deep breath and calmed herself, which was actually a surprisingly easy thing to do. 20 years of fighting on the front line in a desperate war had turned her into a stoic warrior. Plus, she had always been a resilient one. Even her powers were leaning toward survivability. There was a reason she survived all the conflicts, and she was the last to die.

As much as she wanted to sabotage the Developers’ plans, there was little she could do now. Warning the government about the incoming attack would be meaningless. She only had a few minutes left. Even if she could somehow get to someone in a high enough position and get them to trust her in those brief minutes...she had seen what the Developers were capable of. They transformed her world into a game. They created monsters of great prowess out of thin air, and they could turn random human beings into gods. It wouldn’t matter if the government was prepared or not. It wouldn’t change a thing.

Of course, she could use the time to warn those around her. Her friends. Her family. Tell them what was about to happen and get them to find shelter and hide. Except...she didn't have any real friends, and her parents were far from decent. In fact, a large part of her determination came from the years of abuse she had gone through even before the Launch. She didn't mourn their death during her last life, and she would gladly watch them die now.

Her priority now was to use her knowledge and experience and get as powerful as she possibly could. If she could get powerful enough, more powerful than every other player in this game, perhaps she would be able to find a way to sabotage whatever plans the Developers had. Perhaps...

As the teacher in front rambled on, Shaw did her best to recall what happened when the Launch first went down. It wasn’t an easy task considering all that had happened, but soon, she remembered what she needed.

Her eyes landed on a corner of the classroom. If she remembered correctly, a skeleton would spawn there during the Launch. In her last life, the skeleton cut three horrified girls to pieces before being knocked apart by one of the braver boy. Most of the monsters in the initial days had lower levels, which meant they were actually easy to kill. Anyone with the courage could do it...theoretically.

Once things go past the initial day, the monsters spawned would be of higher levels, and they would be nearly impossible to kill for low-level players. For those who missed the initial opportunity to reap the experience, well...things would get ugly.

Minutes went by as Amy sat there and waited. She had already spotted a potential weapon on the side of the room next to the wall. A plastic chair. She could reach it in three seconds and break it over the skeleton within five seconds of it first appearing.

The lecture of the teacher continued as most of her students procrastinated. None of them knew that soon, their world would be forever altered. Shaw had no intention of warning them.

Finally, as Shaw drew a deep breath, the time had come.

What was terrifying about the Launch...was how quiet it was. There was no sound of explosions going off or electricity cracking. There were no voices in the air, nor was there a ray of blinding light that obscured the vision of the players. As far as most of the world was concerned, this was just another boring, ordinary day.

And then...the monsters started spawning.

In a busy train station, a pair of knights in medieval armor suddenly showed up out of nowhere with large swords in hand. With a savage war cry, they slashed down on the confused people all around them, bisecting multiple men and women with a single strike. The others screamed in horror and turned and ran. The resulting stampede killed more people than the knights ever could.

In a police station, two giant green orcs took form. They charged at the unsuspecting police officers. When they were finally taken down by a hail of bullets, they had already mauled four people to death. As the rest of the officers scrambled to figure out what the hell just happened, they had no idea that four other waves of NPCs had already spawned in other parts of the station.

In a park, the ground peeled away, and dozens of zombies climbed out from beneath with red eyes and rotting flesh. They screeched into the air and charged at the horrified pedestrians all around them, many of whom were too shocked to put up a fight. Countless died, only to rise back up as combatants of the other side.

Millions perished within the first minute of the Launch. There was no warning. No advice on what to do. Still, for those who seized the opportunity and fought back and killed the monsters in melee, their reward was significant.

One veteran marine was able to slash open the throat of an unfortunate dark elf who popped up right next to him. When he did, a notification and an interface popped up in front of him, followed by another notification that he had earned 100 experience and was upgraded to level 1, which granted him five points to add to his attributes and the ability to select a career.

In the classroom, Amy had been paying attention to that particular corner, and just as she expected, a skeleton started to take form over there. It was a terrifying creature. Most of its pale white bones were barely connected to each other, but somehow, this monster was able to defy the laws of physics and not only keep standing, but also move with decent speed. A green light was shining in its skull. The skeleton was holding a sharp rib in its right hand.

Skeleton

Experience Provided: 20

Level 1

Strength: 6

Reflex: 7

Regeneration: 0

Psychic: 0

Developer’s Comment: An absolutely pathetic opponent. If you are killed by a skeleton, you deserve to die.

One of the girls sitting in that corner heard something weird. She slowly turned around, and when she saw the skeleton standing behind her with a piece of sharp rib raised, the girl froze there in fear. The idea of dodging or taking cover didn't even show up in her head. Her mouth opened, forming a scream.

At that moment, Shaw acted. As soon as she saw the skeleton appear, she turned and grabbed onto the plastic chair on the side and charged at the skeleton. She knew that skeletons were the typical glass cannon. They were so fragile that any human teenager or adult could break them with one strike. What made them dangerous was that they acted in groups, and a group of skeletons could easily cut apart even a decent fighter. One on one? They were hardly a threat.

The plastic chair smashed against the skeleton’s body and broke apart into several parts. Thankfully, so did the skeleton. The knock was enough to send the bones that made up the skeleton’s main body crumble onto the ground in a dozen pieces. The head fell on the side and rolled a few more steps before coming to a stop. The green light that once radiated from within the skull was no more.

Just like that, the skeleton was slain.

As soon as the skeleton was finished, a silver box appeared in front of Shaw, one that only she and she alone could see. It was a message from the Developers.

Congratulations! You have claimed your first kill in the game and have officially become a player! You have unlocked your character interface, your mission interface, and your storage space. You can now select a Career.

Congratulations! You have reached level 1! You have received 5 disposable attribute points!

Click on the different tabs for more information!

From start to finish, the message never explained to the players what was going on or why this was happening to them. During her last life, even as Shaw died, she knew very little about the purposes behind this game. All she knew was that there were monsters she had to kill and missions she had to complete. The Developers never bothered explaining anything to the players aside from the basics they needed to play the game.

If they bothered with telling the players even a SparkNotes version of what was going on, a lot of them might have survived in the initial days of the Launch. Yet, they never bothered. If you lived, great. If you didn't, ah well...there were always more humans to play with.

The words of the Developers were as snarky and condescending as always. Shaw frowned and swiped to the right, closing the notification.

Another interface popped up in front of Shaw. She knew from experience that this interface was invisible to everyone but herself, and that it contained all the information about her as far as the game was concerned.

Amy Shaw

Level 0 -> 1

Strength: 10

Reflex: 12

Regeneration: 10

Psychic: 0

Disposable Attribute Point: 0 -> 5

Developer Comment: Garbage. Enough said.

Career: Not Selected.

Sub-Class: None

Abilities: None

This time, a small smile climbed onto Shaw’s face.