《Shawn vs True Life》 Chapter 1 - The Start of my True Life Chapter 1 As I started to wake, I couldn¡¯t help but notice that I felt different. I tried to remember what I did last night while still lying down with my eyes closed trying to get used to this weird feeling. It''s no use, I must have had a good night if I can''t remember it. Slowly opening my eyes I looked around in shock. I was in a beautiful room. The room itself was large and open. Its walls were a pure white which almost glowed. It had hardwood floors that were stained a nice warm dark brown. There were nightstands, dressers, and a large walk-in closet. Everything looked like an antique. The bed was king-sized, very comfortable, and had a large headboard with multiple carvings that looked hand made. In the center was the battlefield cross. Helmet resting on the buttstock of an M-16 with dog tags hanging off the handgrip all supported by combat boots. To the left was a group of soldiers trying to erect the American flag. On the right was a bald eagle staring down at a police officer who appeared to be jumping in front of a kid, taking a bullet, and saving the child''s life. The detail was amazing but I went pale when I saw the name on the dog tags, it was my name. This was not my room, at least I didn¡¯t think it was. It is an odd feeling to not remember what your room looked like. As I thought deeper my panic started rising. I couldn''t remember anyone close to me. No family, friends, or co-workers. I had to have had parents right? I could remember working but not peoples names or faces. Maybe I had some sort of head trauma? I felt my head and there was no bumps or pain. Rushing out of the room I quickly found the front door. A voice greeted me from a rocking chair as soon as I took a step outside. ¡°Good morning Shawn. I know you have questions, and I will answer them, but please have a seat first and hold your questions until the end as this may take some time.¡± I stared at the old man in confusion before sitting in the rocking chair across from him. The old man looked like a kind grandfather. He was wearing fishing gear. He had an aura around him that seemed to calm me. ¡°First off I want to congratulate you on completing the tutorial. Most people do not do so for at least a hundred or more lives. And before you ask, yes I am saying your life as you know it is over. You died and in doing so ended the tutorial. Earth is the tutorial planet, we give you deja vu in hopes that you will react to the situation differently, thus earning more points. If you do not gain enough points before you die, you are entered into the cycle of reincarnation and start gaining points again. Think of points as experience just like in a video game. As such, you will lose some each time to die. This experience is payment either for reincarnation or to send you to your personal pocket outside of spacetime¡­¡± ¡°Wait, what?¡± I was really confused. If what the old man said was true then I am dead. If i am dead then I will never see my parents or friends again. Somehow I don¡¯t really feel bad about that. I know I should feel bad, I just don''t remember them. ¡°What happens next? How many points do I have then?What can I use them for?¡± I rapidly started asking questions before I was interrupted.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°All in good time Shawn, I told you to hold your questions til the end. I¡¯m sure I will answer the majority of them while explaining the system we use and how to use it. As I was saying everything you do good or bad has a point value. For example, If you knock the items someone is carrying out of their hands you may get one point.If you see that happen and go pick up the items for someone you may get four points. Good deeds get four times the points than bad deeds. However, if you choose to do nothing, you lose points equal to what you would have gained. This is why it takes so long to accrue the points needed. If you reach ten million points then you get an achievement for completing the tutorial and get sent here to see me. The ten million points needed will be used to fuel the teleportation of your soul here. If you have any extra, you will get to keep them. Experience is important as is Achievement points. I will refer to each as XP and AP from now on. Now that you will be enjoying True Life, the only limitations are what you can afford. Live a new life, gain more XP and AP and use those to unlock new things. Everything you did not have in the tutorial you will need to pay the point cost to unlock. You can go negative in XP if you are not careful. If you unlock too many things and then get killed by another person in True Life, you will find yourself wishing you had paid attention. If you kill a True Lifer you will steal an amount of points equal to 60% of their total XP, they then will need to pay the death fee to power the teleportation back to their personal space. If they do not have the points available then it will be bad for them or you if you find yourself in the same situation. It costs one million points to bring your soul back to your soul realm" The old man sighed heavily after that and I began to wonder what happens when you have a negative amount of XP. By the look on his face I know I do not want to find out. ¡±AP can only be gained by accomplishing something grand, or whenever the system feels like it but they can not be stolen. I know that sounds vague but the system gives AP whenever it chooses and can be a little snarkie about it.¡± The old man looked at me and I could tell he was trying to see if I was lost. Well I was but If I have questions I will ask when he is done. ¡°I know this is a lot of information but it is necessary so you don''t waste your points and go negative. You will understand more once you start navigating the menus. To shine some light on what is possible I will explain a little more. Let''s say you do not want to be a human any longer, you can just unlock another race. If you unlock the Elf race you can start another life as an Elf, but only if you unlock a planet that has them as available races. It wouldn¡¯t make sense if Elves started showing up on Earth. Well they were there before along with other races and magics but that was a mistake that was patched. If you unlock an appropriate planet and race you will be reborn as a baby Elf. When you grow you will look just like you did as you do now but with the racial traits of an Elf. If you want a different natural hair color or anything else unlock it. It is also possible to play as a female if you wish. If you do not want to wait to grow up there is a reborn as an adult option that you can unlock as well. Anything is possible, magic, mutations, fantasy, scifi, super powers, cultivation, the list goes on.¡± ¡°I can see what you are thinking so I will leave you to it. I am going fishing, make sure you have your questions ready for when I return.¡± With that I was left to my thoughts while staring out from the porch. On the left side from the porch I can see the old man carrying a fishing pole and tackle box walking to a large lake with large mountains in the distance. The sun barely peeked over the snow capped mountains. creating a breathtaking sight. In front of me are various crops with a forest of unknown trees wrapping around it and the house. This has to be a dream. Could I really do anything I want? He is right, I do have a lot of things to think about. What kind of world do I want to live in next? What powers do I want? Do I even want to be human? How expensive is it to unlock things? What is AP used for? I have too many questions, but the most important is, how long can I stay here? Chapter 2- Exploring The System Entering the house I once again marveled at the beauty. It was a mix of handmade antiques and modern luxury. While exploring I made my way to the bathroom, in the mirror I saw myself staring back at me. I am a little over six feet tall with short blonde hair. Broad shoulders, a decent amount of muscle left over from my military days, but my midsection had been getting a little larger over the past few years. After my knee injury, I was forced to stop being so active. Although I was allowed back at work I hid the amount of pain I was really in. A man has to eat and I could not just sit at home waiting on government assistance. I remember now, after the military I was a police officer in a small city. The pay wasn¡¯t that good but the people I worked with made it worth it. The comradery that I missed in the military was half the reason for becoming a police officer. I can not remember their names or faces. For some reason, this upset me more than forgetting my parents. Staring at myself in the mirror I felt a sudden wave of tiredness wash over me. I guess taking a nap isn¡¯t a bad idea. My body still feels weird, almost like it is not my own. Movement caught my eye. Apparently, the intel was correct. A man driving a large 18 wheeler had just pulled up. I checked the photo to confirm his identity. It was him, James Glass. He is an arms dealer who decided firearms were too small and wanted to sell things with a bigger boom. Intel says that he has a bomb thousands of times more powerful than the Tsar Bomba. If he has it in the truck then I will need to be careful where the bullet goes after hitting him. I need to move around to his side. I grab my weapon and pack and start running counter-clockwise to get a better shot. He is getting out of the truck and entering the lone building. It took 20 minutes of power walking and sprinting to get into position. Just as I get set up and get my ranges with my rangefinder, he exits the building walking backward with his hand in the air while holding something. Other men are following him pointing their weapons at him. He enters the truck again. I need to act now. ¡°Chaos 2-3, I have the target in my sights, and confirmed identity, request permission to proceed.¡± ¡°Eagle 3-1, hold for authorization¡± ¡°Chaos 2-3, the window is closing, need authorization now!¡± ¡°Eagle 3-1, wait one. Authorization has not been confirmed.¡± The truck comes to life and starts pulling away. ¡°Chaos 2-3, there is no time. I¡¯m taking the shot.¡± ¡°Eagle 3-2, do not engage until authorization has¡­¡± BOOOM! ¡°Chaos 2-3, target is down. Send the ground team in for cleanup.¡±Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. I was in trouble, ignoring the order I took the shot anyway. Now I had to see the Colonel. I knocked on his door and was told to enter. ¡°Sir, Sergeant First Class Allen reporting as ordered.¡± I saluted and announced as I entered. ¡°Sergeant Allen, it appears you do not know how to follow orders. Looking at your records I couldn''t help but notice that you are only a couple years from retirement. Since your hearing is going out I will help you by expediting your early retirement. This could have gone worse, but in light of your past accomplishments, I feel this is the best option for us. I expect you need to pack your things and turn in your equipment. You are dismissed. Oh, one more thing, don''t worry about all the paperwork, we will have someone do that for you.¡± I woke to the smell of food cooking. Entering the kitchen I saw a full English breakfast waiting for me. After eating I went outside again to find the old man. I wanted my questions answered. He was in the same spot in his rocking chair. I sat down getting ready to start my line of questioning. ¡°Before you ask, this is your house, not mine. This is your soul realm. I am just here visiting and explaining the basic stuff. You will need to figure out the rest on your own. I will however answer a few questions before I leave.¡± Said the old man. ¡°What are the achievement points used for?¡± ¡°There are some things you can unlock that are too powerful, so to increase the rarity they will need to be unlocked with AP. This is not to say others will not have such abilities but less will. If you want to live as a dragon, well you will need a lot of AP to unlock that. The same for other powerful abilities like your own smaller version of the system, if you want a video game-like world that is. Upgrades can be unlocked with XP as well. It is best to explore the menus when you have time, but I will offer one more piece of advice. Unlock the AI assistant when you can. They have access to the System and can advise you as you grow. To access the system just say status, menu, inventory, etc. Just like you would in one of your games. Now it is time for me to go, and for you to grow. I look forward to seeing how you progress, after all, you are the only one to complete the tutorial on his first try.¡± With a wink, he disappeared leaving me alone with my thoughts. For now, I will study the menus and hopefully find where the assistant can be unlocked. I saw a flashing letter icon in the corner of my vision. As I thought about the icon word suddenly appeared before me.
Legendary Title and Achievement For being the first to complete the Tutorial on their first life you earned the Title "Once is All it Takes" + 200 AP + One free shop purchase + 1 Million XP
Off to a good start. I willed the menu to come up and was greeted with another box.
Soulbound items unlocked?? Bloodlines unlocked
Skills unlocked Spells unlocked
Mutations unlocked Abilities unlocked
Races unlocked Cosmetics unlocked
Shop XP and AP totals
After selecting the shop I found the same options listed as before without unlocked next to them. I searched for an AI assistant and found that it cost three million XP. The option to purchase if was green so I guess I had enough XP. I decided to follow the old man''s advice and confirmed the selection electing to use the free purchase from the achievement.
Please describe the gender and personality of your new AI assistant.
"Female, mid-twenties, sweet librarian with glasses, long red hair, umm I guess that''s it." Before me appeared what I had imagined when describing the new AI. "Hello Shawn, please give me a name, then we can get a list of what you would like for your first TrueLife.