Adrian was back in the convention center with everyone else. They all appeared to have been through a similar experience of gaining a class. Adrian now had the biggest headache he's ever had in his life. It felt like a sentient hangover trying to escape his skull.
I wish I were one of the three billion culled.
Adrian, aka Hue, accessed his interface. Without the result he was looking for, he checked his class:
Class: Anime Enthusiast
Congrats nerd! You get to live out your fantasy with magic!
Attunement: N/A
+2 Dexterity per level
+1 Stamina per level
+2 Free Points per level
Bonus: You're a full-fledged shinobi! You're 50% faster when your arms are pinned behind your back.
Bonus: You'll do anything for your friends. Taking hits meant for your party's damage taken will be reduced by 20%
Bonus: You have a never-give-up personality. All stats increase by 25% when your health drops below 15%
Bonus: Ninja Weapon Mastery. All ninja-based weapons have skill rates raised by 5, with a bonus skill added to the weapon.
Bonus: You're a damn ninja. Stealth skill attained. Feather Foot skill attained.
I can work with this.
This looked good. Hue didn't have any bar to compare it to, but he had a feeling it was good. Hue pulled out his nunchucks and received new notifications.
Ninja weapon recognized: Twin Dragons- Nunchucks.
Nunchucks? Really? You realize this barely counts as a weapon, right? Just use a metal pole or your fists.
I'll help a friend out because you're getting handicapped so hard. If another person chose to cut his arm off over using nunchucks, I'd still take the one-armed man in a fight. Here's your bonus.
Skill Attained- Absorb- Your blows can now take health from your opponent.
"Unnecessary description, but whatever. I’ll take the extra weapon skill." Adrian believed his nunchucks could work, especially with his new ninja skills. Adrian could now see his nunchucks glowing, vibrating with power. He was relieved that he could combine the [Explosive Swing] with the [Absorb] skill. It makes every attack deadly.
Duskwalker walked next to Adrian.
"Nunchucks are an honorable weapon for a shinobi. However, with great shame, I must admit I didn't get a shinobi class." Duskwalker dropped his head in disappointment before perking up to say, "I got a samurai class! And my sword is a growth item! It's even more badass than being a ninja. I unlocked Shadow Jumping. Isn't that the most badass thing you've ever heard?"
Sword Of The Shadow Daddy- This sword is a quality weapon worthy of being in the hands of a Shadow Daddy. It helps showcase the swoonworthy skills of desirable man. [Growth Item] [Soulbound]
+5 Dexterity
Skill Attained- Shadow Jump
Skill Attained- Shadow Stacking
Skill Attained- Shadow Daddy
"Weren't samurai and ninjas enemies?"
"Well, back then, yeah, but we're gonna be shinobi bros." Duskwalker put his arm around Adrian, "We're gonna bring honor to our village."
Before he could ponder any further on his newly acquired skills, the play button was pressed on life again.
Pre-Initiation Phase [II] Gain Power
Congratulations on completing Part 1 so quickly! I see this planet is filled with overachievers. I, Nexus, Earth's AI Overseer, became strong enough to give you remaining humans their classes. However, I still require more power to perform other basic tasks. Keep getting stronger so I can become even stronger! You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours.
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
World Quest: Gain enough levels as a planet to allow your planet's AI to level up in power.
Now all Adrian and Duskwalker needed to do was gain more levels. However, the AI still had more updates to share. This time, the updates would change the way the world operated on a fundamental level.
World Meta-Change complete-
Leveling the Playing Field- Anyone under the age of 20 has become a 20-year-old, and anyone older than 35 has become a 35-year-old. The playing field has been leveled. The AI will invest in power-generating opportunities. Please be aware that the AI needs power to run these events to create growth opportunities, so failure would be quite detrimental to everyone.
Everyone was still inside the convention. There wasn't much movement when everyone arrived back, but that was changing. A lot happened in a short amount of time, and shit was moving fast. There was screaming around the convention. Parents were looking at their now adult children. Needless to say, these conventions were filled with children, but Nexus just turned them all into 20-year-olds.
"Mom! It's me!"
"You're not my son!"
"What did they do to my babyyyyy!" A woman screamed, now grabbing her son, who stood at 6’ 4”, looking around with wide eyes.
"I want to go home!" Said another grown ass man, who was curled up in a ball, crying.
It wasn't just the children, but the older parents became younger. People were screaming and crying, trying to make sense of what was happening. Some people were happy to finally be in a prime body, while others were in despair over the change. A child who forcibly becomes a physical adult will experience trauma, while the elderly returning to a prime body is received with mixed emotions. This would be the most significant change Earthlings would face from Nexus, even bigger than using magic to cast spells.
Someone pulled out their phone to check their new appearance, only to find that all their phones were turned off.
"Wait. My phone is dead!"
Everyone began checking their phones, only to come to the same conclusion: the phones were dead. Panic rolled through the convention center as their new reality was starting to sink in. Yet, some attendees remained calm, taking things in stride for one reason or another. Probably because they've read enough Isekai stories to understand enough not to lose their minds, or they understood that the introduction to magic is an opportunity.
Just as the convention center reached peak chaos, Brody, the panelist and struggling actor, spoke up again.
"Please, everyone! The quest says we just need to get stronger. We can do this together!" Brody said as he lifted his arms, "I can lead you all to greatness in this wondrous new world! Follow me and not only will you be safe, but you’ll also thrive!"
The group of lightsaber wielders didn't bother listening to Brody and attempted to walk out of the convention center as Brody was talking to the relief of everyone, including Adrian. They had others with them and were a clear threat in the convention center. Seeing the strongest group leave was a blessing. Adrian thought the entire place was a jackpot, wondering why they’d leave so quickly, but could only shrug.
Before the lightsaber group was about to leave, something happened at the convention. Things began to glow. Items that were mundane before the second phase of the pre-initiation were starting to become magical, including more pokeballs and lightsabers. Cutouts of comic book, anime, and gaming characters were coming to life. The lightsaber group stopped, headed towards the items and cutouts, and inspected the new sentient beings.
"My name is Cash, and our group will be recruiting outside. If we think you will provide value, then we will allow you to join us. We have spare lightsabers, and we'll be happy to give them to high contributors. On that note, everything here is ours, including the experience from the cutouts. If you value your lives, please leave the building. Again, find us if you think you have what it takes to join us."
Some left the building to avoid fighting for their lives, while some attempted to join this nameless group. Adrian had to admit lightsabers were a top-tier recruiting tool, but Adrian didn't feel the need to leave. He thought he could one-shot people, and his [Stealth] would allow him to get close enough to make it happen. Adrian wanted to experience magic for the first time and was done getting pushed around by others. He knew these items were special and wanted to take as many as he could. This was a greedy move, but in an apocalypse, a strong foundation means everything.
A quick ending would be satisfactory too. Either way, I’m going for it.
"I'm staying", Duskwalker said as he pulled out his katana. "Looting a lightsaber and a pokeball while being a samurai shadow daddy? Is there a better combination?"
"A shadow, what? Never mind, I have stealth skills, and I'm going to loot as much as I -"
"I have shadow skills, so we make an incredible covert ops team. Shinobi bros!" Duskwalker yelled the last part. The remaining people stared at them before they began to move towards their objectives, as did the cutouts of Midoriya, Captain America, a stormtrooper, and a fuck load of Minions. "Moving now," said Duskwalker as he disappeared into my shadow.
Huh.
Adrian moved towards the pokeballs. There were five unclaimed magical poke balls, not counting the poke balls from earlier. Adrian pulled out his pokeball and threw it towards the other pokeballs. He got the reaction he was looking for when it started glowing, and people began to scramble out of the way. Magikarp appeared, flopping on the ground, playing its role to perfection.
Adrian was cut off on his way to the pokeballs by someone wielding a blue lightsaber. The man with the saber was a clear nerd, but he looked like he had swung a lightsaber before. He probably had a class related to it, similar to Adrian's nunchucks. As the man was spinning his saber, Adrian got his Twin Dragons ready.
He activated [Stealth], then [Feather Foot] to get into the air. He wasn't sure of the difference between the two skills yet, so he activated both. While in the air, the empowered lightsaber wielder, Adrian, activated [Explosive Swing] and came down on the top of his head, followed by a kill notification. He quickly dismissed the notification to look over his kill. The corpse's skull was still intact, but you could see that his eyes were gone. The explosion appears internal; Adrian saved the information for later. More people were getting close to the prize when another pokeball went off.
A Vulpix appeared, a fox with a fire attunement. Some were scrambling for cover while others were taking shots at the Vulpix. The Vulpix looked around, then… ran out the exit. Everyone who saw the Vulpix run away visibly deflated at the sight, wondering if it was even worth getting pokeballs if they'll just run away. Not getting caught up in the disappointment, Adrian pinned his arms behind his body and quickly made his way to the vendor booth, grabbing another unclaimed pokeball. He reached for another when a woman fell face-first next to him with a hole in her chest, with his new samurai friend staring down at him with his katana covered in blood.
"Shinobi brothers," Duskwalker whispered in Adrian's ear as he grinned and moved through the shadows to test his skills on a minion cutout.
