"Ehh, it hurts, what's happening?" Arnold woke up on his bed and realized he was no longer surrounded by grade-6 beasts.
He stood from his place on the bed, still a little disoriented from his hurting head, and started moving towards the washroom to wash his face. As he reached the bathroom and saw his image in the mirror, he saw a younger version of himself. He touched his forehead and face, still not quite believing what he was seeing. After washing his face, he went back to his room. Now that he looked properly, he realized that he was in his room before the apocalypse began. It was the same single bedroom with litters of all kinds around.
He felt a little embarrassed remembering his old college days when he was not so mature and was still pursuing the college beauty, Rina, and was a lick dog for her. Even after the apocalypse began, he did not leave Rina's side. Arnold even went as far as to share his only food supply, which Rina took, and when he was no longer useful, she threw him away. Her real boyfriend, Ralph, and his minions beat Arnold to a near-death situation.
Putting all these past reminiscences aside, Arnold brought his mind back to the present scenario. He looked at the wall clock in his room and realized it was 1st June 2024. He was fifteen years back in the past.
He looked outside his room window and fell into a little thinking about what he wanted to do. Should he go to the government to inform them of the upcoming apocalypse? Should he announce it on the internet?
After some contemplation, he realized nobody would believe him. He didn't have any proof. He also remembered that he had exactly one month before the apocalypse began. This was a critical piece of information. One month to prepare, one month to change his fate and that of those around him.
As he was thinking all these things, suddenly, a flickering blue screen appeared in front of his eyes, with something written on it:
"Welcome to the Ultimate Apocalypse System"
"Do you intend to bind with the system?" "YES" or "NO"
Arnold became a little hesitant as he was faced with the choice to either bind with the system or not. He had read various web novels about systems and all clichés, but this is not a web novel. As he was faced with this choice, he remembered the supernatural abilities of some of the top disaster-class Beasts and hunters and began thinking if he would also get such abilities through the system. He moved towards the floating "YES" icon on the blue screen in front of him.
As soon as he selected the YES option, he was washed with a blue light from head to toe. A burning sensation began to fill his chest where his heart was located. After some time, he became conscious and felt that his heart was heavy, like something was imprinted on it.
Now, he remembered a novel where the MC called "status" to examine his system. Arnold, as cliché as it might sound, did the same and, to his surprise, was greeted with some kind of status window.
Name – Arnold Evans
Level – 0
Strength - 9
Agility - 9
Stamina – 8
Intelligence – 13
Titles:
The Past Returner:
*100% Chance to get Best Rewards upon Quest Completion.
* ?$%**# More *&%# (Unauthorized To view)
After examining the status screen of his system, he willed it away from his view. From his preliminary inspection of the system, he found that this system was based on the amount of work he put in. The system would issue him quests, and upon completion of such quests, he would get a reward similar to the grade of quests.
"I think with the help of this system and my future knowledge about the apocalypse, I can survive the apocalypse. Hell, I might be able to become the strongest." With these thoughts about his future, Arnold promised himself to not be a loser and become the strongest of all.
He sat on the edge of his bed, letting the enormity of his situation sink in. Fifteen years back. He had a chance to redo everything, a chance to make things right.