Do you want power? [Yes / No]

Everything had gone dark, not if someone turned out the lights kind of dark. But instead, someone threw you in a deep basement, sort of dark. Marlow squinted his eyes. He couldn’t make out anything beyond the white prompt in front of his face.

Do you want power? [Yes / No]

That was an odd question to ask. What was power referring to? Political power? Physical power? Influential power? What was it referring to? Was it talking about taking control?

Do you want power? [Yes / No]

The prompt didn’t change. Holding steady in Marlow’s vision wouldn’t help him. But, sitting here in this void wasn’t going to solve his problems, so he did the only thing that could help move him along, he pressed ‘yes.’

Do you know what is about to happen? Have you read the terms and conditions*? [Yes / No]

Selecting the hyperlink, he scrolled down to the end of the page, exited out, and chose yes again.

Excellent, prepare to die legally. Yes or Yes

Tapping ‘yes’ again, he wondered how many times this scene played out. After all, everyone was coming to this new world. There were like a quadrillion people on earth, and not everyone had good relations with President Musk, so what did their nation’s leader have planned for them?

Welcome to Eternium. There is no saved data for your profile. Would you like to make a new character? Selecting ‘no’ will lead to actual death. [Yes / No]

Not my problem, just find your family. Everything after that is for future me to handle. Wait, did it just say that I became legally dead? Don’t worry about it. It will all work out. You’ll find your family, and then you can ponder what happened. He tapped the yes button again. The pitch black void brightened to a dull pencil gray.

Would you like to select an available starting class or undergo tests and trials to determine the right choice? These tests may unlock different or even unique classes based on your ability. But be warned! Taking the tests and showing low aptitudes may reduce the number of available classes! You can exit these tests at any time! Start Game / Take Tests.

He pressed the starting game button. The world shifted from black to white as the message faded. There were hundreds of faces staring at him. Which all promptly flinched, exactly as Marlow did. There were all of him, each wearing a different set of clothes.

Most wore heavy armor and massive weapons. Others had little to no clothing but were bound with muscle. Some rarely had intricate cloaks with daggers, clubs, or linen gloves.

As he spun around, trying to figure out where the exit was, one, in particular, grabbed his attention. Of course, being surrounded by lions, tigers, and bears would catch anyone's eye. The game noticed this, so it pulled closer while all the other classes became muted gray.

Beast Tamer (Common): The Beast Tamer, a minor subclass of tamer, mainly relies on his or her creatures both in and out of combat. However, unlike their original class, they can also choose how they want their creatures to grow. Such as focusing on developing in one aspect of itself, becoming mounts, local field bosses, or given enough time, their animals can even become raid bosses. So long as they can tame them, of course, and keep them alive that long.

A downside is that the Beast tamer can only have ten skills and ten spells at any given time. The Beast Tamer begins with three skills at the novice rank when entering the game. After that, they gain two characteristic points every level and a new class skill every fifth level. Recommended Stats: Strength, Constitution, and Charisma.

Profession unlocks at level five. You have four characteristic points to spend. Please note that your starting characteristic points have been modified due to your: trials, real-life capabilities, and class selection. Please allocate your remaining points now.

Marlow looked over his character sheet, which filled his vision. And just to be safe, he read the tooltips on each and every stat to see what they did.

Strength was the stat related to how hard he could hit and lift heavy objects. Dexterity was how nimble and beneficial he would be at using ranged weapons and sleight-of-hand tricks.

Constitution was how tough he was, which included his stamina and resistance to diseases. Finally, it had his appearance and how likely he would be tossed around at higher levels. Suitable for tanks, warriors, and in his case, dealing with beasts.

Intelligence determined the maximum mana he could have, and he understood complicated concepts. As for Wisdom, it determined how fast mana regenerated and helped him decide whether he should do something.

Finally, charisma was, of course, how charismatic he was, such as; how likely he was to get better prices at stores, shops, and taverns. Possibly excellent for convincing people to follow or do things for him. Too bad he would break down into a nervous wreck before then.

Luck determines everything on an unstated level, along with his chances of finding hidden loot without looking for it. Karmic luck just had a ‘question mark’ by it. Then there was perception. It was how well he could focus and spot detail, including sensory input, aka how much he would feel pain. After rereading the page for the fifth time, a new pop-up occurred.

Growth in Eternium is difficult when you are doing nothing! Unlike other systems, each day will struggle to survive, especially at the start of your journey. Because of the difficulty, the rewards will certainly be worth your effort! Since this system is somewhat unorthodox, please note that a modifier of ‘one’ is considered an average, healthy adult human. Your real-life capabilities have negatively impacted the constitution to a high degree!

Each point allocated will increase your modifier by one-hundredth of a point. An exception is when you gain your first ten points in any category. At this point, your score will increase to ‘one point in that category. Each time a category increases to the next multiple of fifty, the base score will increase by ‘one.’ At fifty points, your modifier will be plus ‘two.’ At one hundred points, the modifier will be plus ‘three.’ For example, a character with forty-nine points in a category will have a modifier of 1.49, which is forty-nine percent stronger than an average human! Then, if they reach fifty points in the category, they will jump to a modifier of 2.0!

The discrepancy in strength is intended to push you to develop as fast as possible. Skill in the areas you focus on will quickly allow you to reach higher than others of the same level, even if you have similar stats! You can earn skill and characteristic points through your actions, so work hard! You must be as powerful as possible when the first significant update comes into effect. That is… if you want to survive!

“Well, that explains much about the confusing point system.” Glancing back and forth between his character sheet, it then suddenly clicked for Marlow. Oh! That explains so much! Finally, being able to understand what his character sheet is saying.

Strength- 12 modifier (1.02)

Dexterity- 8 modifier (0.80)

Constitution- 14 modifier (1.04)

Intelligence- 6 modifier (0.60)

Wisdom- 12 modifiers (1.02)

Charisma- 8 modifier (0.80)

Perception- 10 modifier (1.00)

Luck- 18 modifier (1.08)

Karmic luck- 0

Upon looking at his character sheet with greater understanding, Marlow, of course, became very worried.

“That’s rude. Judging me six out of fourteen.”

Long-forgotten wheels began to turn in Marlow’s head. Mainly old phrases that he heard in passing, such as; ‘It’s not all bad, you’ll make it someday, ‘Just think of all the fun things you can do in summer school,’ or ‘It's ok, that’s just a number it doesn’t mean anything. Well, no longer would that be the case. If he could do something about it, he would. So he dumped his four remaining points into intelligence. As he did so, he felt as though a significant burden was lifted from his head.

After assigning his last point, the game politely asked him to input a name. Since he was going to be in this game until humanity could reclaim the world, he might as well go with something he was used to, Marlow. It was accepted. It wasn’t taken yet, with everybody joining the game it wasn’t chosen, sweet!

Name: Marlow

Class: Beast Tamer

Profession: Locked

Character Level: 1

Experience: 0

Points until next level: 1,000

Hit Points: 90 (50+Constitution*10 for every point over ten)

Mana: Locked

Mana reg: Locked

Stamina: 50 (50+Strength*5 for every point over ten+Dexterity*5 for every point over ten)

Strength- 12 modifier (1.02)

Dexterity- 8 modifier (0.08)

Constitution- 14 modifier (1.04)

Intelligence- 10 modifier (1.00)

Wisdom- 12 modifiers (1.02)

Charisma- 8 modifier (0.08)

Perception- 10 modifier (1.00)

Luck- 18 modifier (1.08)

Karmic luck- 0

Current class skills:

Tame (Novice I): Who’s a good boy! Yes, you are! Now fetch! When trying to tame a creature into joining your cause, you gain 1n%+.5n, where n = skill level. So get out there and make some friends!

Ping (Novice I): Peekaboo, I see you! Mental holding the image of one of your companions in mind, you can generate a beacon of light above them. Helping you find that missing cow on a dark and stormy night. You gain 1n=r, where n = skill level and r = radius of beacon beam above target creature. Cool down for 5 minutes between uses.

Caretaker (Novice I): Come on, girl, let's go for a walk. Attending to your companion's basic needs, such as bathing, feeding, exercise, and providing shelter. It Will drastically improve your odds of them listening to you. This skill only amplifies that! You gain a 1n% chance when asking a companion to follow a new task or command, where n = skill level.

Please Note! General skills such as Bartering, Scan, Jogging, etc. can not be learned while you have class. You can still use general skills to some degree, but you will never be as good as someone with that particular skill.

He rolled his eyes. He decided to get this ball rolling, so he could finally move on from this tutorial. He needed, no, going to find his family. Who knows how long they’ve been in this new world? After he’d done that, there would be time to mess around in this new reality.

After looking at the avatar representing his new class, he pressed the ‘yes’ button. As he did so, the world faded into motes of light before he appeared in a mob of flesh.

Title assigned: Refugee! Since you and billions of other people were evacuated from your lovely home. This title has been given to help you get going in this new world. Effect: For your first three months, all experience is doubled.