Under a huge tree in a forest, a young man was thrusting his spear that looked like it was made of gold and silver toward a turtle that hid inside its own shell. The spear went inside the hole, and blood soon started dripping out the hole.

[Killed a Carnivorous Turtle (Normal)]

[EXP+1]

“Nice work, Theodore.” A young man walked toward him. He had short spiky yellow hair and wore a red-colored leather jacket. For his bottom, he had long pants with the same material as his jacket while using a pair of big boots reinforced with steel.

“Yeah, thanks.” He nodded as a strange blue screen appeared.

Name: Theodore Griffith

Status: Normal

Level: 7

EXP: 25/42

Blessing: None

Skill: Pierce (F), 9 Slots Remaining

Attributes: Strength 10, Endurance 5, Agility 9, Vitality 5, Magic Power 20

Free Attribute Points: 0

‘I have received three experience points from two turtles. Since the experience is shared, I can’t really complain, considering the fight has become easier with their help.’ Theo let out a long sigh.

“I am sorry that you are being held back since you are helping me.” Another person that turned out to be a beauty came into the scene. She had long blonde hair tied into a ponytail. Her hands were clenching a silver staff with a blue ball on the top. She wore a light-yellow blouse coupled with long pants to avoid injuries over something small. Still, the combination of all of them made her look cute, especially with the addition of her innocent face.

“It’s fine. In this situation, we should help each other out.” The guy suddenly stopped her from apologizing as if he tried comforting her.

“…” Theo only watched his action in silence before shaking his head.

“Anyway, we should continue.” The guy then turned to Theo with a smile while his vision still remained on the female.

Deciding not to think more about it, he agreed. He first touched the turtle shell as it disappeared into thin air, leaving nothing behind. He thought nothing of it and moved on.

But when the two were about to follow him, loud noises echoed in their surroundings, alarming the whole forest. Even birds immediately flew to the sky to avoid as if something big would happen soon.

Theo glanced over his surroundings before finding the ground shaking.

“This…What is happening?!” The girl panicked and screamed. Her face was pale, and she subconsciously leaned on the boy next to him.

If it happened before, the boy would hug and comfort her, but the shaking ground made his feet go limp. It took all his energy just to stand still.

Theodore gritted his teeth as soon as he found that the sound became closer and closer. He then turned around and yelled. “Run!”

Out of instinct, the two turned around and began running. No matter what their running form was, they needed to go as fast as possible to avoid whatever that was coming their way.

Even Theo followed right behind them and soon caught up. He turned his head to see what was happening behind him and dropped his jaw.

Trees were falling down one after another because of a strange creature. It looked like the turtle from earlier but covered in grey. Instead of a pattern on its shell, it had some sort of rock formation sticking out of its shell. The height alone reached six feet tall with the width twice of that number.

“That is a Rock Turtle! The leader of the Carnivore Turtle we killed earlier! It is an elite monster that has far surpassed our level. But it should be miles away from us, not here!” Theo exclaimed in surprise.

Over a few hundred years ago, the Earth experienced high-level technology, starting from communication or even transportation.

With technology like that, humanity had found a way to explore the sea and conquer the sky. To their surprise, under the bottom of the sea, they found a “Pandora Box.”

When they opened it, Earth transformed into something that even science couldn’t comprehend. One thousand pillars of light shot through the sky, leaving a kind of magic circle behind all over the world.

Out of curiosity, humans checked the magic circles only to find themselves teleported into a very strange place. It was a completely different world. A world that human beings couldn’t have imagined.

In this world, the humans brought their guns, tanks, or even fighter jets to explore the new place. But all of a sudden, they were attacked by strange monsters inside the realm. Their weaponry was able to fight them, but it turned out that the monsters living there were the lowest of their food chains.

As soon as the strong monsters appeared, they obliterated the entire armed force from humanity. The human beings that once stood on top of the food chain fell to the bottom.

However, humanity didn’t entirely leave with an empty hand. They found another source of strength, new to this world. They were surprised to find their body evolved when they killed monsters, turning the whole situation into a game-like world.

What made people surprised was that with the addition of this new power, people started receiving a strange voice in their head, introducing themselves as some sort of beings. It was then categorized into seven: Normal (F), Elite (E), Champion (D), Hero (C), Supreme (B), Mythical (A), and God (S).

They later realized that the ranking was completely the same as the monsters in that world, making humanity think that beings of the past, human or not, that had left their legends on Earth granted them power.

People could lift a huge boulder or even destroy a skyscraper with this power. The human then united and returned to that world once again, finding that the most primitive fighting skills that were almost forgotten in modern society could be combined with the power coming from the other side to create something more powerful.

The Martial Arts society united and was reinstated, creating a school for many who aspired to be a strong fighter on the other side. The stronger you are, the more respected you are in the eyes of society. It became a popular belief, and many people joined the school, trying to change their fate.

Of course, most didn’t survive in this harsh world. The horrible creatures that resided in this world murdered many people, but some succeeded in life and became famous.

Theodore Griffith was also one of the aspiring people that wanted to change his fate. Unfortunately, he fell into a situation where people got killed by monsters. To survive, the only way to do it was to run.

It was at this moment the event that turned his life upside-down took place.

“Kya!” The girl got tripped by a big root sticking out of the ground as she immediately wanted to rise again but to no avail.

Theodore turned around and grabbed her hand, pulling her up. The other one also helped her up before noticing that a mere few seconds were what it took for the turtle to catch up with them.

Out of desperation, the woman instinctively pulled Theodore’s hand even stronger. At the same time, the man beside him pushed his back.

With the sudden push, Theo stumbled and fell instead. The two only gazed at him with a weird smile, bulged veins and wide eyes as if they just realized what they needed to do in this situation.

Theo stretched his hand and opened his mouth wide, albeit no word came out.

In school, he was often bullied by his classmates because of his unbalanced state. Looking at his status, he appeared to be someone who excelled in both magic and physical ability. However, his status was nothing compared to those who only excelled in one aspect.

With the addition of his poor status, he became a perfect target for people to satisfy their ego that they were above someone else and got bullied as a result.

Nonetheless, he decided to continue his life as if nothing happened, ignoring the bullies since none of them actually tried to kill him or something. He strongly believed that there would be a time where he could change his standing until he got into a situation that kept his sanity this whole time, the betrayal.

He then sensed the turtle’s presence next to him as he instinctively raised his spear to the side. The turtle struck the spear with its head, almost snapping it into two. It didn’t stop there. The force behind it kept pushing until it reached Theodore and blew him away.

Bam!

“Kah!” Theodore spat a mouthful of blood as he realized some of his bones were broken when he crashed into a tree. Due to the impact, his head also hit the tree pretty hard, and blood flowed down his face, dying his vision red.

‘Ugh. I can’t move.” Theo thought after realizing he had no energy left to even open his mouth.

The monster looked at him, stood proudly, and roared as if telling him that it would kill him.

‘Is this the end?’ Regret filled his heart. In the face of death, a certain thought appeared in his mind. ‘Humanity is idiotic, greedy, prideful, resentful, depraved…In the face of death, betrayal is what most people think. To save their own life, they could do whatever.’

‘…’

‘Humanity…Is a f*cking piece of shit.’

‘Ah. How wonderful it is if I have the power to reset mankind once again? They won’t be any worse than this, right?’ His vision had turned blurry, and his consciousness had become fuzzy, knowing that his death was near. No matter how he cursed humanity, his wish wouldn’t be fulfilled. ‘If only I have another chance.’

He looked at the turtle that wanted to crush him, gradually closed his eyes, and accepted his death before a strange voice echoed in his ears.

[God of Mischief is interested in you and wants you to be his emissary. Do you accept?]