It is chaos of epic proportions.
Earth evolved without warning and that welcomed a tragedy for everyone in it.
It is a total shit show with everyone dying left and right. Everything is destroyed from the ground up. There are few survivors and they had to face the reality of surviving through stormy times.
It was not bad at first, but with the evolution of Earth, new problems came up through monsters with unknown origins and with them is the emergence of dungeons and floating castles that threaten the total annihilation of the original living things that survived the catastrophe.
Humankind prayed for hope and a chance to fight back. They were answered with the Wicked Box, countless buildings that appeared out of thin air, who provided the survivors with the ability to counterattack.
It has been thousands of years since then, Humanity and the Inferno Beings (the name given to the species of unknown origins) still waged war.
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August 16, 3069 of the Freedom Alliance
Section 14, Lizren Settlement
Entrance to the Wicked Box Building #26
Ever since the day the Wicked Box showed up until now, no one had full knowledge of who owns it and what it really was. There were a bunch of theories that were given, but they were just too blinded by the luxuries it provides, that few actually inclined to search for answers.
What everyone knows is that the Wicked Box sells anything that you could possibly imagine, literally everything. A pill that can cure practically any disease that exist, a slave customized to every desire you want, species that can only be found in fantasy books, magical weapons and abilities that will make you an overlord and many other things can be found and attained for a certain price.
Great things come with greater cost, and the Wicked Box is the embodiment of that. In exchange for all that they have, you need gold coins, magical minerals, Inferno monster body parts, and other unique things to trade for it and all of those things can be found in dungeons and floating castles.
In order to avail the Wicked Box's services, one needs to be an exclusive owner of a status watch, a piece of magical equipment, obtained by finding a token in a maze game prepared by the Wicked Box itself. During the early years after the evolution of the Earth and the appearance of the Wicked Box, there was no age limit that will hinder someone from taking the maze game annually. However, when the Freedom Alliance was created, the Wicked Box gave the requirement of having an age of sixteen to qualify to participate until the age of twenty, giving everyone a fair chance of five tries in a lifetime.
There is no assurance that someone could rake in a single token in all of their five tries but it is possible to obtain more than five tokens and the surplus tokens can be sold for a very expensive prize.
That is why for the third time, William Crowley, held on to hope that he can be lucky enough to get one for himself. However, the maze game just started but he is already in a dilemma.
"It is not like I am not giving you a chance at all, this 'Time Rope' will free you minutes before the maze game ends. Consider it as a gift of mercy from me."
A series of laughter followed as the girl who said those words turned around and started to run inside the maze game. The group of teens who were just watching as William is bullied gave a wry smile and a pitiful look as they followed the bossy girl.
'Damn you Bitch!!!'
William wanted to shout and curse at the top of his lungs but he was gagged so tightly. The hateful girl specifically commanded his minions to restrict him with his arms holding his balls before entirely tying him up so trying to move is a bit hard .
William would give anything just to undo things he accidentally did the day he offended that demon girl Vanessa Riddon. It was never his fault that he accidentally tripped her, causing her to fall face down on shit. His body was huge for a teenager, why didn't she saw him from miles away, running crazily like that without even noticing his existence. Will always thought that this was a conspiracy against him and from that day on this girl demon spawn never gave him peace.
The maze game goes on for a whole five hours and he sadly waited for the rope to be undone until there was almost twenty minutes left.
'There will come a day that you will be at the mercy of my hands. And you will be screaming and begging for mercy'.
There was no time left for him to spare and he rushed inside and what welcomed him were seven tunnels.
'Where the hell should I go in?'
Out of panic, he chose to go towards the seventh tunnel and madly rushing in.
It was a dead end.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
He knelt down and started punching the ground in anger. He could have explored the seven tunnels with enough time but it was too late.
He kept on punching the ground until he felt something wrong. He noticed spherical object is present. He became extremely excited and started digging it out.
There were multiple tokens stacked buried in the ground and he continuously dug one after another.
"Hahaha I guess I have to thank that little bitch later on. Maybe I will slap her with one of the tokens as a thankful gift from her earlier gift."
The maze ended with him ending up with more than twenty tokens. This is probably the best day of his life and he started thinking of the things he wanted to buy after selling the other tokens.
Just like that, after the horn sounded out to signify the end of the maze game, he was transported out of there and he magically appeared inside a luxurious room.
Last year and the year after that, the fact that he found no tokens, he was transported outside the building immediately after the maze game.
"Please put the token or tokens in the table".
Just as he was looking around, an callous female voice commanded him what to do. Without hesitation, he quickly followed.
"State your name, age and residence"
"William Crowley, 18, Section 14-Lizren Settlement, House Number 143."
"Congratulations, Mr. Crowley. I am Rose and I will be your attendant on all of your transactions here inside. In case of buying Sublet Ring for your future followers, I will also be their attendant."
William knew that the Sublet Ring is a magical equipment used by a person with a status watch to give someone without one to use their rights to avail the services of the building but there are limitations and increase of prices to the things that they want to buy.
"I noticed that you have the lucky chance of finding multiple tokens. As a reward for these kinds of situations, I have to inform you that you have two options before I hand out your status watch.
First option, you can use one token for your use and take other tokens outside. By doing this, you have total control whether to sell these tokens or use it exchange one for a Level-4 Inventory, free of charge. Be reminded that if you ever choose this option, inventories Level-5 to Level-1 inventories will increase to 200% of the original price.
Second option, trade all of the tokens for a chance of winning a lottery draw. This lottery will feature ten Level-8 Inventories, five Level-9 Inventories, twenty 1More Chance Token, one random evolving Level-3 Inventory and one Void Token in which you will gain nothing. Of course, you will still be awarded with your status watch. Be reminded that if you ever take this option, you will forfeit your chance to participate in the maze game in your remaining two years.
Please choose wisely!"
William seriously weighed out his options, whether to take it safe or play hero mode. In the end, his greediness and recklessness of youth won the battle.
"I choose the second option!"
"Very well!"
A few seconds after, a lottery box appeared.
"I wish you luck, Mr. Crowley. Please draw."
William nervously fished a folded paper out of the box.
"1More Chance Token. Please try again."
And he did so.
"1More Chance Token. Please try again."
And again.
"1More Chance Token. Please try again."
And with the fourth draw revealed his prize.
"1 Random Evolving Level-3 Inventory."
"Mr. Crowley, congratulations! Please wait for a while until your prize and your own status watch is ready."
'I am so unlucky with things like this. At least I got something instead of nothing.'
A few minutes gone by and Rose's voice appeared again.
"Mr. Crowley, everything is already prepared. Please retrieve your things in the table."
The tokens are nowhere to be found and two small boxes replaced them instead. The left box was uncovered and revealed his own status watch while the second box on the right must be the Level-3 Inventory.
He excitedly put it on and a bunch of info flowed through brain.
Status
William Crowley
Power: 400
Speed: 50
Armor: 10
Intel: 15
Arsenal: *Status Watch
Ability: *Basic Identification (Level 1)
(Upgrade is dependent to power level increase.)
William is very pleased with himself and opened the second box, a dagger with a jade handle came into view. He carefully handles it out of the box and a notification appeared whether to equip it or not, and of course he accepted.
Status
William Crowley
Power: 400(200)
Speed: 50(15)
Armor: 10
Intel: 15(20)
Arsenal: *Status Watch
* Glaive Dagger (Level-3 Evolving) (Soul Bound)
- Power +200, Speed+15, Intel+20
-Active: Teleport (10sec Return After Throw)
-Active: Shadow Lurk
- Evolve Mode: Death Eater (Level 1)
(Filters What It Eats)
(Upgrade is dependent to whatever it eats)
Ability: *Basic Identification (Level 2)
(Upgrade is dependent to power level increase.)
"Now that you are equipped with your status watch, you will be transported out. I wish you good luck and please be back soon as possible to avail our services. Further details of our items are present inside the status watch while power upgrade guide is unlocked base on your power level increase. Good day, Mr. Crowley!".
A heavy fog suddenly filled the room and after the fog diminished William was surprised to see that he was back home.
William have mixed feelings about waking up this morning. Earlier, he was too overjoyed to hear the news that the nemesis of his life never got the chance to get a status from this year's maze game. Details are they were busy fighting the monsters guarding the way and the way they did went hindered them from the prize. Now that he thinks about it, it was too lucky for him to get one and slap it on that girl's face.
But now, his joy turns into a little bit of sadness because of a recent discovery.
The Glaive Dagger was dull. It was dull as a wooden knife. It was nothing but a decoration. To make matters worse, he has no idea how to activate its evolve mode.
He was so distracted by this that he actually forgot to think about the matter of the discovery of the latest continent that "accidentally" got out to the public.
After the apocalypse and the evolution of Earth, all the survivors of the human kind were mysteriously transported to one Continent which is now named Freedom Alliance Continent.
They got this information when someone actually bought a magical map of the current world from the store. And from this map, two more continents were actually inhabited by other species.
The first one is the Infernal Empire to which the Infernal beings lived in while the other one is the Magical Continent of Aurelia where the humanoid beings and intellectual beasts chose to be.
The man who bought the first magical map not only unlocked the very first productive knowledge for survival but also brought home the very first grand prize: the throne of Cronos.
By unlocking this, he won the rights to rule a part of the continent and the ultimate perks that go with it.
From the years after that, everyone was crazy of looking for details of getting a throne of power, and by now the continent is ruled by six sovereigns. There are two more spots which are needed to be won and the Infernal beings will not stop for nothing to rob it.
The magical kingdom ruled by the Dragon Kris of the East, the Undying Rubert of the South, the Lightbearer Janice of the North and the Dryad Quincy of the West became our allies to some extent. They were lucky enough to discover a continent and unlocked some areas of it. They were kind enough to barter some materials and even help us defend against the Infernal beings.
The Infernal Empire, which is ruled solely by the Tyrant Shapeshifting Gargoyle named Elmond, actually discovered three more continents which increased their power even more.
With our forces still developing, the six sovereigns devised a plan to train groups to include seven roles. This became the foundation, an efficient way to defend borders, attacking dungeons and flying castles and most importantly to conquer new continents to increase our resources.
William picked up a pamphlet of some sort made by his deceased parents which include the roles to which he must choose from and their responsibilities.
First of all, a guardian role, good enough to block multiple attacks for long periods of time. They are very important in early fights because low level Inferno beings usually do not cast magic attacks.
Second, the sentinel role, persons who are very efficient on casting defensive magic spells. These kinds of people are highly sought after because of their importance in raiding floating castles.
Third, the knight role, which helps the melee tanker and of course very important on the offense side.
Fourth, the celestial, persons who are responsible for heavy precise damages. They are also needed for fast attacks and penetrable power.
Fifth, the Imperial, persons who can cast area wide magic spells with of course vicious damages over time.
Sixth, the Ranger, persons capable of scouting ahead and a speed type attacker.
Last but not the least, the Transporter role, the one who supports the team and is responsible of delivering, gathering and selling all the loots of the party. They are not necessarily huge persons as everyone thinks but being one is a bonus.
As he was still scanning the contents of the pamphlet, something vibrated inside his pocket. William hesitated for a moment before he took out a spherical object, letting it float in front of him. A holographic image of an midle-age woman suddenly appeared before him.
"Hey, why did you change your house password again? Open up quickly, I need to go to the bathroom."
"Aunt Tris, just put in the last password again and add the number 05 with it. I am in the second level just finishing up breakfast."
"Ok just wait a bit."
When the call ended, the object slowly returned back to his hand.
Houses are not built as they were before. A person can buy a customized home design inside the Wicked Box and you just target the place where it will be placed, then it will automatically appear there. Structures are not designed to be taller or wider also but deeper into the ground and maximizing the space inside. It is like having a tiny house built inside the ground but the roof installed as the entrance.
"So, did you get a status watch now?"
"I did." William raised his hand smirking, showing off the coveted item.
His aunt Tris became sad instead of rejoicing with his nephew's glory.
"So you will be the next one to die amongst us. Here I am still hoping you could escape the fate of my late husband and your parents. Well, there is now way I could change your mind, just be careful and don't die young."
"I hope so, too. There are many things I wanted to do."
"So what's your plan now?"
"No clear plan yet, I just want to level up for now before going in the dungeons. Do you have some advice for me?"
To level up, William needed to increase his power to 1000 to attain level-1. Only then would he be able to unlock the specialization skill tree in his status watch.
"Well just do what your father and uncle did when they did get a status watch. Find someone to teach you some basic skills to level up or find a sponsor to hook you up with magic upgrades from the store and pay it with interest. Worse yet, just pay some retirees to beat you up, I heard your father actually tried that one but surrendered half way."
"Thanks for that promising advice."
"So glad to be of help. Well, I gotta go. Be careful, okay?"
'So what do I do now?'
Without any ideas to follow through, he started to dress himself up and decided to have a breather outside. There is only one place he can get ideas from random strangers and have fun at the same time, the House of Ecstasy.
'I just hope that the premium big sisters who accompanied me before is free today, as well. Hehe!'
William was meters away from the establishment when he was alerted by a loud horn sound. It was followed by a second one, third one and finally the fourth horn sound hastily produced successively. This kind of pattern can only mean one long warning: All civilians must go back home immediately, defense groups get in position, all prepare for enemy attack!!
Just as the last horn sound was completed, everyone began to move, and even the patrons in the brothel house hastily exited the premises.
'Damn it, Aunt Tris went to the market place today, I just hope she didn't go back home and went straight to my house instead.'
William started to make his way back home by squeezing through the crowd of people hastily going back to their respective homes. When he arrived, he immediately checked if his aunt was there. Sadly, she was not.
'Damn it, why aren't she here?'
William took out the spherical communicator and tried to connect to her aunt if she got home safe. The call did not even connect yet when a huge explosion took place outside his house which made his home tremble a little. William sneaked a pick outside and saw that a man and woman lay quietly outside. That woman was none other than his aunt Tris.
"Aunt Tris, wake up, come on. Please wake up!!"
William was too scared to go outside so he tried yelling as much as he can but to no help at all. His aunt was knocked unconscious. William gathered all the courage that he could, and sprinted towards her. However, before he can even get halfway, a devastating roar made him fly away.
"Oh, I was sure someone strong would rescue them if I left them there but it was a little insect who came running around. Oh and look what I found, a power holder! This must be my lucky day."
William quickly got up to his feet and saw who was the one talking. It was the enemy, an Infernal Being with wings. Maybe it was the loud roar or something else but the man beside the woman woke up.
"Hey, please take her away. Just ran as fast as you can and take my aunt with you. I will hold the monster here, I promise." William conjured his soul bound weapon to take the monster's attention but the problem was that man seemed to not hearing him.
"Hey, are you listening? Go now, I will be fine here." William threw the dull dagger towards the monster, hitting fairly in the head. However, it was no use, it's attention was towards the two people in front of it.
"So she is your aunt. That's adorable, you tried sacrificing yourself for her but she won't survive either."
"Please let them go, fight me instead!"
"Shut up, you little insect." The monster casted a magic spell and two sharp stones flew straight to Will's thighs, immobilizing him. The monster drew the sword available on his back and slowly descended into the ground then straight to the man and woman.
William became frantic and did his best to summon back the dagger and threw it again to the monster. He did this over and over again but it did not even budge.
The monster stopped right in front of the man and quickly stabbed the sword in the ground.
"Kill her."
The man snapped back to reality and saw the terrifying existence in front of him.
"I said kill this bitch!!"