April 1st, 2011
I was freaking out. There aren't many things that freak me out, but I was freaking out, pacing around my room in a frantic manner.
I died, sort of. I don't remember the exact event that caused it, though it's not hard to guess, but one way or another, my existence ended, but also it didn't. After all, if I truly died then I wouldn't be capable of freaking out like I am right now. But all that isn't why I'm freaking out.
I'm not in my body, but I know who's body I'm in, after all it's also my body. Jude Sung, that's this body's-myname. I'm not possessing Jude's body, nor does Jude simply have my memories, but my very being has fused with Jude, I am him and he is me. That's not what's freaking me out either.
Jude Sung is 21 years old, named after his grandfather on his mother's side, his dad was Korean and his mom American, both dead. He is the legal guardian of his 15 year old sister and they both live in a small apartment in Downtown Brockton Bay. That's why I'm freaking out, becauseIam Jude Sung andIlive in Brocton Bay.
I couldn't help but throw my hands up in frustration. Brockton Bay, the centerpoint for all the shit in this messed up multiverse. Gangs, Endbringers and other S-class threats, interdimensional gateways, glory hounds, and reckless superpowered teenagers. Living in Brockton Bay and all that implied, that freaked me out, much more so than when I was just me or just Jude cause at least then I wasn't so painfully aware just how much danger I was in.
"Jude! Hurry up, you slowpoke!" A voice called from outside my room.
Right, Anika, my sister, has school and needs me for a ride, something routine, normal, something to get my mind off this situation for a moment to calm down.
Ding!
MESSAGE
-YOU HAVE UNREAD MAIL.
Now that made me pause, completely stopping the task of looking for my keys to focus my attention on the floating blue screen that decided to make itself known.
I stared at it for a moment, completely dumbfounded. The screen was exactly that, a translucent blue screen that wouldn't look out of place on a computer, but it's not on a computer, it's right in front of my face where it definitely hadn't been before,and it's oddly familiar.
I simply stood there for a moment, waiting to see if it would do anything, and when I determined it wasn't, I spoke.
"Check Mailbox."
Ding!
MESSAGE
WELCOME, [PLAYER] (UNREAD)
[DAILY QUEST: PREPARING TO
BECOME STRONG] HAS ARRIVED
(UNREAD)
[QUEST: ENDSTOPPER!] HAS ARRIVED
(UNREAD)
I could feel my eyes widen in realization,that's why it's so familiar, this is the 'System'.
"Jude!" My sister called out again, louder this time, snapping me from my thoughts. Right, that first, system later.
I let my mind pull away from my current thoughts and fall back into the unnaturally familiar routine, the unfamiliarity of that last quest faintly nagging at my mind.
The System from Solo Leveling. There's more to it, but perhaps it explains itself best.
ALARM
[THE SYSTEM WILL HELP THE 'PLAYER'S GROWTH.]
ALARM
[IF HE FAILS TO OBEY THE SYSTEM'S ORDERS,
THERE MAY BE APENALTY.]
ALARM
[YOURREWARDSHAVE ARRIVED.]
The System works like a video game, killing enemies and doing quests to get Experience Points to level up and get stronger. It's how Sung Jinwoo from Solo Leveling got stronger and how I will guarantee mine and my sisters survival on this messed up Earth. It's also why I find myself sweating heavily while running across the Boardwalk.
My heart was hammering against my chest, my breaths ragged as I ran at a steady pace. I'm not an athletic guy, I'm not unathletic, but I'm definitely on the scrawnier side, so doing 100 pushups, curl ups, squats, and a 10km run is…painful.
Ding!
QUEST DIRECTIONS
GOAL
-PUSH-UPS [100/100]
-CURL-UPS [100/100]
-SQUATS [100/100]
-RUNNING [10/10km]
QUEST REWARDS
CHOOSE YOUR REWARD.
[YOU MAY CHOOSE FROM THE REWARDS BELOW.}
REWARD #1. STATUS RECOVERY
REWARD #2. STAT POINTS 3
REWARD #3. RANDOM BOX 1
WILL YOU ACCEPT?
"Accept status recovery," I muttered, slowing and eventually stopping my run, I could feel the system restoring my body, healing my muscles, filling my lungs with air, and restoring my stamina. Plus it smells vaguely of flowers which was nice.
I quickly accepted the other rewards, placing the stat points straight into strength, the most useful stat for my current level.
It's around noon now, my sister's at school and I have the day off from work, so I've had plenty of time to check out the other features of the system. Not much I didn't already know about besides some items in the Item Shop. That and the quest that I didn't recognize.
QUEST
[NORMAL QUEST: ENDSTOPPER!]
EARTH BET IS PLAGUED BY THE THREAT
OF THE ENDBRINGERS. HUNT THEM DOWN.
QUEST COMPLETION REQUIREMENT:
ENDBRINGERS SLAIN [0/3]
REWARD(S):
- 1. ITEM OF YOUR CHOOSING
- 2. BONUS STATS 50
- 3. TITLE: ENDSTOPPER
-4. HIDDEN REWARD
I'm not panicking, not at all, in fact I am beyond calm, thrilled even. The second I knew where I was, that I was in the Wormverse, I knew that it was get stronger or die. Sure I could get lucky, maybe me and my sister will survive through Leviathan, the Slaughterhouse Nine, Echidna, hell, maybe even Scion, but the chances are too low to risk doing nothing and this quest, while terrifying in concept at the moment, could be exactly what I need, and the System knows it.
Sure, killing an Endbringer is nearly impossible unless you're Scion himself, and at my level I stand no chance of getting close to one, let alone killing it. But I don't have to stay at my level, I can keep getting stronger until I can kill an Endbringer, and then I could at the very least survive Golden Morning.
Of course, standing by and watching was never my style and I've had enough of it in my past life. My goal wasn't to be strong enough to survive, or even to be strong enough to kill an Endbringer, my goal is to save this messed up world, for me, for my sister, and even for that curly haired teenager running on the same Boardwalk I'm running on. So I'll do the quest, I'll kill an Endbringer, but damn if the idea doesn't make every part of my body shake, in excitement or fear I don't know, probably both.
But for now I'm limited to running around doing the daily quest so I don't get eaten by giant building sized centipedes.
I let out a sigh and sat down on a wooden bench facing towards the ocean. It was a nice few, the sunlight shimmering off the water and the PHQ sitting pretty in its transparent dome. It was a view that made me forget how messed up this city really was, it made me feel safe and hopeful.
And there we are. Jude has the system and SI plot knowledge, let's see how far it gets him.
Bit of a shorter chapter since its just the first one. Chances are the first few are gonna be shorter just because I wanna get to the real meat of the story quicker.
This is my first Worm fic and, while I'm familiar with the series, I'm not totally clear with how the power scales with some characters so I'll need your guys' help regarding that. Please if you see something that doesn't make sense according to Worm please let me know so I can try and correct it.
I also want your guys' opinion on how the Solo Leveling 'System' would behave with certain powers, specifically the Immunity and Detoxification skill. Immunity and Detoxification are skills that come with the system and give the 'Player' complete immunity to all sicknesses, poisons (including alcohol), and status effects. Solo Leveling is rather vague as to what counts as a 'status effect' as we've seen Sung Jinwoo do things like drink straight poison and even tank low level lightning attacks without flinching (I guess some lightning attacks just count as paralyzing status effect?).
So I want your opinions, should the Immunity and Detoxification skill work on: Clockblocker's timelock (if used directly on the 'player'), Behemoths kill zone (specifically the lighting, it is shown that lighting attacks can harm Sung Jinwoo, but it was what equated to a lightning kamehameha), the Simurgh's Scream, Bakuda's Grey Boy bombs, and emotion reading or manipulating ability, Panacea's touch thing, etc.
Any power that might be considered a 'status effect' I want your guys' thoughts.
There's also the inventory, more specifically I was wondering if, say Clockblocker froze an item, would that item be capable of being stored in the inventory? And if it was, would it still be frozen in time? I was playing around with the idea since the inventory is, in it's own way, a time-space warping ability, and I was wondering if it would be a viable option in combat.
Anyways, I would love your guys' thoughts, not just on that but also on the story in general, any feedback is more than welcome as I'm always looking to improve. My update schedule will basically be whenever I can get a chapter done since I have to deal with work, school, and other such things, I will try to update frequently though.
Also idk if I have to say this but I will, I do not own Solo Leveling, or Worm, so go check out the original series if you haven't already.
