《The Planet Trials》 The Beginning Guys this is my first book, so please leave a comment or review to help me out. Chapter One - The Beginning The worst part about high school is the wait. Not the people, not the classes, not the teachers, but the wait. The waiting that everyone does for life to go down the gutter. During most people''s school years, high school, and pretty much all the years someone spends in school, life is normal. You go to school, make whatever grades you want, graduate, go to college, then life hits you. And then you stop waiting. You start taking loans, doing things you regret, and so on. Though for my generation, no one really got to experience life in the normal sense. A normal sense being where you get a family, maybe go to college, and struggle through life. No, our future was much worse
"Honey! Get Up! Why are you still here?! You should be at school." My mom exclaimed as she rolled in in her wheelchair, seeing my half covered body still sleeping in bed. "Wha-, crap! Mom I''m so sorry. I guess I forgot to set my alarm or something."? I hurriedly exclaimed while I scrambled to get clothes on and get out the door. Ok that technically wasn''t a lie. I may or may not have been up till 4:00 in the morning playing Call of Duty: WWIIII (Yes, they have resorted to making fictional World Wars) which came out yesterday, and I did forget to set my alarm, I was just too tired honestly. As I am running out the door my mom is still looking at me suspiciously, but I gotta get to school. It is Friday, so it is PIZZA DAY. Every friday my school serves pizza, which my family normally doesn''t eat because pizza costs have skyrocketed in the last ten years. One box of pizza costs around 20 dollars, depending from where you get it. It''s outrageous!'' As I burst outthe doors of our house, I break into a jog. Friday is the one school day I enjoy and I overslept. Man sometimes I just wanna facepalm so hard. The thought of pizza makes me, and as it should be to should everyone else, very excited, so I speed up my jog. Now I am running at a decent pace. I check my watch, and realize that it is already 8:30. I only have fifteen minutes until the end of first pizza, I mean period. If I can get to school by second period, then I will only have missed calculus, which I am fine with. Though I want to try and get there by the end of first so I will be there in time for break, which is our second *period.* Looking up from my watch I notice I am passing Charter High, our rival school in pretty much every event. Nearly everyone of them hate us, simply because we go to the opposing school. It is a very old rivalry, starting with pranks and other minorinconveniences to the studentsabout 50 years ago, and has evolved into a massive feud, with one student actually beinghospitalized last year from a fight. Nearly everyone who attends either school has parents that are alumni, so they are born and bred to hate us, and us them. Yes my parents are alumni as well of my school, Riverdale High. My mom was an average student and was a cheerleader, and my dad was a wide receiver and cornerback for the football team. Our family is like so many others, average. Well, not really. My dad died two years ago in a car accident when the self-driving car glitched. Though we did sue the car company and get rich, I still think about his death a lot. After running two more miles (yes, I know, a whole TWO miles), I arrive at the school fifteen minutes later breathing only slightly harder than before I started my fast paced jog here. As I head to the water fountain to get a drink, the bell rings, signaling the end of first period and the start of the five minutes between first and second period. Students start littering the halls as I go to stand outside my calculus class, waiting for Gavin, my second best friend. My best friend and probably only person that could beat me in a game, Wil, is in Australia right now, at a distant relative''s funeral. As he comes out of the classroom I get his attention, "Hey Gav." He looks at me, "Oh, hi. Where were you? Mrs. Genine was super pissed you weren''t there. We had a test today!"? "Ah crap, I forgot about that. Sorry I slept in, I stayed up laying CoD in HIVR." "Well, then of course I forgive you! I''d do the same thing if I had it. How is the game?"? He asked good-heartedly. "It is alright, they have definitely made worse."Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. "True, though knowing you, you are probably number one on all the leaderboards." I probably should explain that. I am a professional gamer. I am widely considered the best in the world, not because I am great in any particular game, well I am, but that is not the reason I am the best in the world. I am the best in the world because of my versatility. I play literally every type of game. "Yeah I am, and I have already signed up for the next HIVR tournament of the game." "Dude that is so cool, I so wish I was as good as you and Wil so I could compete. It looks like so much fun"? Gavin said with dreamy eyes. HIVR stands for Half-Immersion Virtual Reality. It was invented by Dr. Freidreck Fedminster. He is truly a genius, having doctorates in 10 different areas of science. It is rumored that in two years he and his company Alleviated Technology will have completed Full-Immersion Virtual Reality. Oh it its gonna be so great. "Don''t worry man, you can still cream me in console games"? I say consoling him. He perks up, "Hey speaking of gaming, you wanna work out after school?" I look at him surprised, He never wants to work out, he is stictly a console dude. "Sure, of course. 3:30 sound good?" "Yep."? Maybe he is trying to get into HIVR as well? That''s the only reason I work out. Because HIVR is only Half-Immersion, the muscle and reflex conversion is not one to one but it is close, so I do martial arts and study weapons and work out a lot to improve my chances of winning. Becuase of this I am extremelystrong, I would say I am at least one of the strongest guysin the school, if not the strongest. The only people that could be stronger than me are the linebackers and running backs. Though I am decently strong, I mainly focus on martial arts and my study of weapons, because if you know what to do when wielding a sword in an RPG and real life, then you have a massive advantage over everyone else. It is why I have never lost a professional tournament Gavin and I continue to talk on the way to the gymnasium where all the high schoolers hang out during break. We are a 1A school, so there are only around 70 students per grade. When we got inside the gymnasium, Something appeared in front of us which made us all, the whole high school, stop talking and moving in their tracks.
System Message
Hello Earth! This planet has finally progressed enoughto participate in the Planet Trials. The Planet Trials are designed to test if there any combatants worthy of surviving and/or joining the Jangardian army. More details will be explained on this subject if you survive.
For now just survive and grow stronger to prepare.
Be wary, many have already been turned into zombies because the system has ruled them too weak to ever be able to survive the trials. Sorry
Processing Character and Awarding Title...
System Message
You have been given the title: The Ultimate Gamer You are by far the best gamer in the world. The perk(s) for this title are: Able to learn skills much quicker than everyone else. Able to develop those skills 2 times as fast. Because this title is the rarest one, XP to next level is reduced by half.
Because you will undoubtedly be strong because of your title, knowledge of games, and your physical condition, you will be awarded a second title: Faction Builder The perk(s) for this title are: Given one Faction Token Given skill: Leadership
Chapter 2 - Screams and Screens Chapter 2 - Screams and Screens Oh my gosh, I am most definitely the luckiest person alive. To make sure I''m not insane, I look over at Gav, and the blue screen goes away. Hmm, that''s convient. He, as well as everyone else I see, seems to be staring off into nothingness. That pretty much convinces me. There is no way 272 people (our entire highschool population) in their teenage years as well as in a gymnasium would be dead silent and not looking at each other. I am not an emotional person in any sense. I kind of boxed my emotions up after my dad died. I just don''t let my emotions get the best of me, and can think clearly in most situations. It helped in my tournaments to make me not rage, and win despite how I feel about a stupid mistake or something. That attitude I''m sure will help me out in a world filled with zombies. Though right now, I could feel some shock creeping up on me. I turn to Gavin, ''''Hey Gav, what''s your title?" He looked over at me in shock, "You see it too? This is awesome!" "Yeah I do, look at everyone else." I say as i wave my hand, gesturing towards the crown that was already in the gym before we got here. "So what''s your title?" I ask again. "I am a-." He is cutshort as a zombie tackles me from behind. I am used to fights, being a nerd that is strong, the jocks like to try to pick fights with me to prove I am weaker than them, Though that backfires all the time for them. So as I fall I turn around to see my assailant. It is Cyndy Louis, a senior and a party girl who got drunk and decided to drive home, and got in a car wreck, She is in a wheel chair rolling herself into the gym behind me, or was in a wheel chair rolling herself into the gym behid me. Now she is on top of me trying to eat and/or claw my face off. I guess the system regenerates you enough to get you to be able to basic functions, then lets you do zombie things, whatever those may be. I grab her shoulders as her face dives in for my neck. In a last ditch effort in an attempt to make sure she could not remember who I was or just she hadn''t gone psycho, I yell, "Cyndy. It''s me! James Orthwright!" Seeing no pause in her actions or recognition in her eyes, I sigh and use my feet to flip her over my head. I get up and hurriedly run over and stomp on her head as hard as I can twice, and on the second stomp, her skull is crushed, and there is no moving from her at all. You may be wondering, "James, you sick monster! you just crushed the skull of an innocent teenager!" Well I have two responses for that. One, I am sure she was already dead. And two, look at this.
System Message
For being the first person to kill a zombie in the boundaries of your former nation, you have been awarded the Absolute Affinity: Magic The perk(s) for this Absolute Affinity are: Magic Affinity is 100% Able to develop and learn new magic skills 2x as fast
System Message
New Skill Learned:This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Stomp The perk(s) for this skill are: Every Stomp causes 1.2 times as much damage. Cost:
System Message
For being the first person to gain a combat ability in the boundaries of your former nation, you have been awarded the Absolute Affinity: Combat The perk(s) for this Absolute Affinity are: The effect of each level gained in each combat skill is worth two levels Able to develop and learn new Combat skills 2x as fast
System Message
For being the first person to ever in the history of The System to be the first to gain both Magic and Combat Absolute Affinities, you have been award the Unique Affinity Combat Magic The perk(s) for this Unique Affinity are: Unlocks Combat Magic Gives 3 extra undistributed stat point per level Gives +1 to each attribute per level
Level Up!
This... Oh my Lord if you combine this with my already OP title, I am now undoubtedly the luckiest person alive. As I get a grip and look around the room, everyone is in shock. Then Dylan Daine, the quaterback of the football team, shouts, "What are you, insane!? You just killed Cyndy!" Then the whole crowd starts getting angry, and slowly walking towards me. Then Jackson Gerald, a fellow HIVR player, yells over the croud, "Hey, guys! Did you guys not get the message? That was obviously one of those zombie things. Plus, she was injured, and ended up tackling James. That proves at least something weird is going on. James was just killing a zombie to protect himself." That seems to abate most of the crowd, but some of them still are sending me death glares. Though right now they are leaving me alone, so I will be okay. Me and Gav talked about ou title for a bit. He agress mine are way too overpowered, though his is pretty good to. His was Elemental Fury, giving him Mediocre Affinity. (one of the tiers of Affinities. Ranging from Lesser Affinity, To Mediocre, to Greater, to Absolute.) His title also gave him an automatic +1 in both Wisdom and Intellect. Everyone is coming to terms with what is happening, then in the middle of a crowd, a freshman girl breaks into tears. When people asked her what was wrong, word got around that her dad was in the hospital with cancer, so he probably got turned as well. Then it hits me, My mom, She was in a wheelchair. So that means.... For one of the few times in my life, I cry. My last family member, my sweet mom, is dead now. I''d give all the powers or whatever away if could just have my mom, she is everything. Then while I am sitting next to the door we just walked through, something bangs into the glass doors. It''s my calculusteacher, a 78 year old man named Mr. Fletcher. His eyes are filled with hunger, looking at the room fillled with humans as if it were filled with juicy steaks. He backs up to slam into the door closest to me, and I realize I have to do something. I quickly compartementalize my fealings, like I always do, and slam open the door. I then rush out and punch the zombie twice in the face and then do a swiping kick and knock his feet out from under him. I rush over to the zombie''s head and stomp on it twice, and the result is the same as Cindy''s.
System Message
New Skill Learned: Hand-to-Hand Combat The perk(s) for this skill are: Every blow landed does 1.2 times as much damage
This time only a few people are still staring at me after I kill the teacher Now it''s time to take a look at my status.