《Game of the Year》 Doubt "This is so weird," I cried out, this being the hundredth time I tried to uninstall this shitty app on my phone. Tightening my grip on the phone, I glared at the screen which displayed this app called [The System]. The system my ass, It doesn''t start up, it does not do shit except hang my phone from time to time. I sighed and left the phone down on the table. No use stressing about it. Right now was my time to relax and this was my chill zone. The Sweetbucks cafe, every day I would bunk college to come here. Living the slow life. The seat next to me was empty because I''m bad at making friends. Sighing I smile at the white heart pattern my coffee had on it. I closed my eyes and tried to relax again. When was it? I realised life had no meaning. An existential crisis was what I was going through. Life was easy when my parents decided what I had to do with it. You are born, you learn the ABCs, You get into school then college and then you fail. With parents like mine, when you fail your exams you don''t just fail in college, you fail in life. Oh, what a disappointment I have become. Sorry, dad. Sorry, mom. It''s a simple plan in the beginning. Unless you are born poor or with no parents. In which case, your life sucks from the beginning. But even then you would still have a purpose which was to get a better life. Ever since I failed to enter the prestigious college, my father intended me to get in. My life was given back to me. All of a sudden I was given back the control of my life and I did not know what to do with it. So I took a year off, got myself stuck in a gaming spiral. Then I was pressured again by my parents to start doing something. Since I was doing nothing, wasting my time playing games. I got into whatever college I could get in so I could finish my graduation. But then what? A year of playing games was the most fun I have had in my whole life. It was fun. Gaming was fun so I figured I wanted to have fun my whole life. But how would I do that? There could never be an never ending game that wouldn''t get boring at some point A loud ring of my phone brought me back to reality. This happened all the time, I ordered coffee only to go daydreaming until it turned into cold coffee. Gulping it down in one go I picked up my phone to see what the ring was all about. Dark blue words on a white background. It looked like someone changed my phone''s os or something. This damn virus! I tried to tap at the screen in hopes something will change and it did. Name: Tristan Strength: 9 Agility: 8 Intellect: 100 "Uh." Grabbing the phone by both hands I looked at its screen from as close as I could. Intellect was on a whopping hundred while my agility and strength were in single digits. This virus or the so-called game did have a sense of humour. I let out a hollow laugh at the game''s estimation of me. Come on all that intellect and no strength and speed, what was this? The screen changed again now displaying another message telling me about quests. This virus really was something else.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. I got out of the cafe while checking the other features of [The System]. Opening the app I was presented with many other icons: Forum, Shop, Quest, Stats, Inventory, Base setup. Let me just say it, a lot to take in. I tapped the shop icon which revealed a site like most shopping sites nowadays. Except being completely empty. Moving on I tapped the quest icon, the list shown to me at least wasn''t as empty as the shopping feature. -> Initiation: Find a secluded area to complete syncing with the system. The syncing process will begin when the player accepts the quest. Rewards: 100 points. Accept this quest I was walking when I saw this little quest. Why do I need to get to a secluded place? Thinking about how ridiculous the situation was, I tapped yes without any second thought. What could a phone virus even do to me? The next thing I know I''m lying down on cold hard concrete with people surrounding me. Some of the gathered strangers pulled helped me back up on my feet. After convincing some of the more concerned strangers that I was fine and back on my way again. They strangers told me how I just fell unconscious all of a sudden. It didn''t feel good knowing that this happened after I tapped yes on the prompt on my phone. Speaking of which, I checked my pockets for my phone only to feel the insides of my empty pocket. After that, I checked all of my pockets and my phone was nowhere. I looked back at the place where I fainted. I ran over and searched around that spot with no results. The only conclusion was that it got stolen. Some fucker stole my phone while I was out. Fucking strangers, it must''ve been one of them but they were long gone now. "Hah," I cried out at the blue words in front of me, my jaw was wide open, ¡°what?¡± The light blue prompts disappeared the next moment and I was left on the busy street looking like an idiot. What should I do now? My legs were already walking towards the direction of my home. I held back the urge to say it until I reached home. I guess mostly because I thought it would be stupid. But now sitting down in the comfort of my own house I was free to act stupid. I called out, "Status." Name: Tristan Strength: 9 Agility: 8 Intellect: 100 ¡°Holy mother of god,¡± I covered my eyes. This was actually happening. When I saw the blue words hanging in the air in front of me it became hard to stop my lips from curving up. ¡°Quests.¡± I called out again. -> A capable Player: Raise the strength, agility and endurance stats to 10 within 30 days. Rewards: 100 points, Random Ticket. -> Recover your tools. Recover the lost phone or get a new phone to access other features of the system. I laughed, my eyes glued to the blue words hovering right in front of my face. My gaming addiction is this bad? Did I just become a schizophrenic? Is this me hallucinating? I had so many questions with no answer in sight. But it was starting to get fun and so I called out, ¡°shop.¡± My command wasn''t answered like the last two times. It seemed like I needed to get a new phone after all. Recovered Switching back to an old phone is a painful experience. First came the struggle to actually find it then the wait for it to start up. It took an hour of charging for my old phone to finally boot up. The wait was really painful. Taking a long breath, I watched the cracked screen sighing, It sure was taking its sweet time to boot up. When it booted up, the words [The System is back online] greeted me. Pretty happy that [The System] had low standards when it came which phones it worked on. The player can access the shop feature.> "Good to know," After that my fingers moved fast, opening the shop. I was directed to a shopping site. It felt Ironic that the shopping site had the name ''Pacific'' but this site sure had a strange variety of things on sale. There were only two sections: materials and books. The materials were divided from common to rare. I didn''t bother to check them, as none of it was affordable with 100 points. Plus, what will I even do with an iron ingot. Moving onto the books section which was also divided from common to rare. The books of the common rank were affordable although barely. Frustrated that I could only pick from three choices due to my lack of points I read the list: Boxing 101, Jiu jitsu and Basics of Shooting. Choosing Boxing 101 was a no brainer since it was perfect to help me complete the ''A Capable Player'' quest. Although it did not cost real money, I was still a bit hesitant to tap the order button. Maybe a part of me was worried about the absurdity of the whole thing. Yet the crazy floating blue letters and me passing out at the press of a button had me believing in this so I tapped the order button. I kid you not, a blue ball of light appeared and a book materialized in front of me. So caught up in the moment I only watched as the book stayed hovering over the table in front of me. My throat felt dry as I reached towards the book. When my fingers made contact with the book it disappeared. A ring sounded on my phone. Completion: 0% Skipping: 15 minutes Shadow Boxing: 24 hours Sparring: 168 hours Speed bag: 24 hoursIf you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Pushups: 20 x 5 Squats: 40 x 5 Begin Training "No instant skill is bullshit," I cried out before tapping on yes. A hundred points were wasted that day, I later discovered that although cheap, there was a difference between books and skill books, the latter although costly made you learn the skill without any effort while the former was cheap but it took effort. Boy, does it take effort. ¨C2 days later¨C "Fuck. This." I cried between heavy breaths, leaned against a railing. Some bastard passed me by chuckling. Probably laughing at my nonexistent stamina. People in the parks are the worst. On top of having to run in the mornings every day, I had to join a boxing class to get the sparring hours in. The class also had more workouts laid out for me than what was listed on the quest which helped. I didn''t like doing them though. In conclusion the schedule was excruciating and I hated it. ¨CA week later¨C A week deep into training for the quest, I noticed a strange phenomenon. Whenever I tried anything boxing related my movements would improve at a visible rate. Like my body was guided by some invisible power, it was a strange experience despite the whole [The System] thing. Sucks that the strange power did not guide me in workouts at all. On the other hand there was progress. My stats had started to climb up in numbers. Name: Tristan Strength: 10 Agility: 8 Endurance: 3 Intellect: 100 Endurance, something which didn''t show up before on my status was now on 3. Although it was a happy occasion I couldn''t bring myself to smile. Probably because I flinched anytime I looked in the mirror. I did not claim to be the best looking out there but I could pass as a 7-8, yet the black eye on my handsome face has been more than inconvenient. Since I was so pissed off all the time. I finally broke down and chased the bastard that always laughed at me while I took my strategic rests. I don''t know if it was the black eye I was sporting at the time but seeing me going after him made him stumble a bit. The bastard even started running faster than before. I couldn''t catch up to him but I definitely will, one of these days. Overall keeping with this ridiculous schedule has been exhausting. Just when I thought I was finally getting used to it, top dog Randy at the gym gave me the black eye. I jotted down that name in my hit list before moving out for the gym. ¨CA Month Later¨C I laughed out as I reached the finish line. God damn, did it feel good to beat athletes at their own sport. Just when I was finished patting myself on the back my friend arrived. "You. How the hell did you." Mark didn''t finish his sentence trying to catch his breath, his hands on his knees. "Come on. You know you have been lagging behind in practice." I replied my grin still very much plastered on my face. Mark flashed me the middle finger. Mark was the bastard that laughed at me during my morning runs. The day that I caught him I forc¨C asked him to be my running partner. Soon we found ourselves sitting on a nearby bench to catch our breaths. I checked up on my [Book] progress while Mark talked about some chick he wanted to date. Completion: 100% Jump rope: 15 minutes Shadow Boxing: 24 hours Sparring: 168 hours Speed bag: 24 hours Pushups: 20 x 5 Squats: 40 x 5 "Wipe that smile off your face before I punch you." Mark said, his head in his hands, "This is unbelievable." "Yeah." I replied, "You suck." Name: Tristan Job: Boxer(Rookie) Strength: 10 Agility: 10 Endurance: 10 Intellect: 100 Nodding to myself I thought of the man who gave me a black eye under the pretense of sparring. Randy''s gonna get it today. Battle "So you just went up to her and asked her out?" I asked again in disbelief. Mark just covered his face with his hands, "Yes, I did and I know. Maaan ¨C what the fuck was I thinking?" I would''ve laughed then and there but for this running partner of mine I held back. He had helped me a lot this past month so it was only right that I helped this new buddy of mine. Except the problem; I too sucked at this getting girls game. Patting his back I spoke, "Look man, It''s not that bad I am surprised she only told you to back off instead of saying something like gross, fuck off." Mark raised his head to look at me, "What?" "Uh, you know how it is with women." I answered. I don''t know how or why that conversation ended with Mark feeling sorry for me. He kept on telling me that''s it was going to be alright, women are assholes and not to kill myself over something trival. What the hell happened there damnit! I said my goodbyes to Mark, getting a move on from the park. On the road back home all I could think about were the ways I should beat Randy black and blue. Being so lost in my daydreams I didn''t bother to check my ringing phone. I got home busy with my thoughts not noticing my mother sitting on the couch. Getting ignored wasn''t my mother''s favourite thing so like any decent parent she yelled at me, "Tristan!" The sudden shout made me jump since I was deep into daydreams. I glared at her, "What the hell, Ma!" She pointed at the chair in front of her, "Sit." Frowning, I took the seat. Folding my arms I glared at her. I wasn''t going to be the one opening the conversation. Taking the hint, she continued with her lecture, "A month of absence in college. You joined a boxing class for some reason and yesterday you sent me a text saying that your phone got stolen." Then she folded her arms to mimic me, "Look at me, Ma. I''m turning into a failure of an adult, no job, not concerned about education. I don''t even care, Ma." That was enough to set me off, "Really is that what you''re worried about!?" "What else should I be worried about," My mother questioned back with a raised brow. "You know wh¨C" Mid sentence I was presented with the floating blue words. In my anger I just tapped "yes" without reading what the message was about. The result? If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. What was supposed to be the start of an intense argument between my mom and I ¡ª turned into a long pause. Not the usual kind, mind you, the kind where my mother just sat there her mouth half open, froze mid sentence. For some reason I turned towards the clock which had stopped moving. Then I watched the walls of my home fade in colour. The doors disappearing, the windows shrinking in itself turning into white walls. My mom who sat a few distance from me with her mouth hung open simply disintegrated into white sand. All of a sudden I was the only one left in a mind numbingly white room. Although I wasn''t alone, people appeared out of thin air every minute or so. Everyone looked around, probably confused about how they got here and our questions were answered soon enough by the arrival of the generous floating blue message or rather, a woman? The blue words floated above the woman''s head. Her black hair flowed down her shoulders like silk. Golden eyes set her apart from any girl I had ever seen. Draped in a red coat, her tight fitting black shirt and gray skirt did all the bit of justice to her hourglass figure. She held a book in her hand, the other was on her chin while she studied everyone in the room. Catching me staring she only reacted by shooting me a smile and a light wave. I waved back absent minded like an idiot. Holy shit, she was smoking hot. Taking a headcount her lips moved everytime she pointed at people present. She spoke right when the people stopped materializing out of nothing, "Okay 10 players have arrived. Now, you may have read the name floating above my head and yes, the GM stands for game master. Nice to meet you all." One of the people present, a female dressed in a kimono raised her hand asking, "An¨­ ¨C" Laura cut her off, "I wasn''t finished, nihongo wa wakarimasen, urusai. I only know hindi and english anyway." The girl in kimono just shrank back, muttering something under her breath which sounded more like bitch than any japanese word I knew. Also I had to say it didn''t sound like Laura didn''t know japanese, what was she anyway. This whole system thing is getting crazier every day, first quests, now game masters. Laura continued with her speech, "So you guys have signed up for the battle royale. Good choice if you''re an experienced killer, bad one if you''re a newbie which most of you look like." She eyed the kimono girl, chuckling she continued, "This will be fun to watch. You guys will be teleported into one of the 11 areas of a randomly generated landscape. I will save everybody''s time and let the system explain the basics." She finished her sentence with a finger snap. The Battle Royale will last for about a week in game. Players will be teleported to random areas of a randomly generated landscape. Each area will hold a spawn point where the player can get a common grade weapon from the list available. Players giving up the match by suicide or not taking the initiative to hunt other players will have their soul terminated. GM Laura will be on the surveillance and has the power to terminate any player at her sole discretion. Killing a player will get you a token which can be exchanged for rewards in the hall of glory. The player with the most tokens by the end of the 7th round will win. Rewards by ranking: 1st: 1000 points, B-R Ticket x 5, D Ticket x 3. 2nd: 500 points, B-R Ticket x 3, D Ticket x 1. 3rd: 100 points, B-R Ticket x 1. 4th: 50 points. 5th: 25 points. "Yay, How exciting, you naughty little killers read the message. It''s time to get out there and get killing. Also make sure you''re done by the end of 7th round or I will have to terminate all of you, m''kay." Laura spoke, it felt like she was talking to a bunch of children as if we would return her enthusiasm with cheers of our own. "I will start the countdown now." Without waiting she cheered, tapping something on the translucent blue interface in front of her. Kill? How do you expect me to kill anyone? Oh, no, no, no, all this because I didn''t bother to read a system message to continue arguing with my mother!? My body followed my chaotic thoughts. My breaths got faster, I felt cold, every breath became harder to take. I backed away from everyone present in the room. I had backtracked so much that I hit one of the walls. The noise of which brought everyone''s attention to me. The kimono girl watched with a brow raised. A man whose body screamed gym bro sneered, one of the people, a younger kid looked concerned; how the hell did a kid get stuck in this game. My back against the wall I closed my eyes. Yet the stares, I could still feel their stares digging into me. This stupid game had turned into a horror movie within a blink and I was panicking. I didn''t want to kill these people! I didn''t want to kill anyone! What battle royale? Out of ideas, I punched myself in the gut to stop thinking. Which worked out but now I was on my knees hugging my aching gut. Atleast, the pain kept me from thinking about the situation at hand as I chanted ow, ow, ow. A few minutes more and I will be okay I thought to myself. Then the sound of someone snickering brought me back to reality. I raised my head from the white floor to watch the people present and I spotted someone familiar. What the hell are you doing here? Our eyes met and he started laughing loud. It looked like he was having the time of his life. How the fuck did he get here? My sight got assaulted with the system message I had been ignoring so far. His laughter, the only thing left in the white room stopped when the countdown began. Yet the guy still watched me with a grin on his face. He watched me as I struggled to get up. Then he began walking towards me. Midwalk he spoke not letting out any sound. Last 3 seconds left on the blue countdown in front of me. I repeated the way he moved his lips and it formed the words: I. am. gonna. kill. you.