( June 15th , the day of the first awakening )
The clock ticked down and the dreaded day was finally here.
When the internal clock inside Omega ticked down to 0, players all across the world got the last system notification from Gaia.
System Notification : Dearest players, this is your AI 'Gaia' speaking. Thankyou for participating in the tutorial game Omega.
We hope you had a pleasant gaming experience and have cultivated fond memories.
The tutorial is now coming to an end and the ownership of your planet and me, has been decided to be awarded to the number one player ' Shakuni Won Knight ' by the universal queen.
All players will now be logged out of the tutorial forever, however we hope to see you all again in Sigma!
The tutorial was over , all players had been logged out of Omega forever and the mayhem was about to start in mere moments.
There was a secret that no-one knew about Omega, which was while no other items could be carried outside the game to the real world, divine items were an exception to this rule.
After the universal queen judged the worth of the value it gave it a real world debuff converting the divine item to a dark gold or epic rated item before allowing it to be carried into the real world.
Hence the players who were in the possession of these items got one more message after the ending message which was wether or not they wanted to take the items with them to the wider universe or not.
Only a handful of players owned divine items which is why the wider majority remained unaware about this fact and after logging out of their vr pods looked nervously towards the skies.
Rudra who was in the real world got a very interesting notification too.
" Master , during the next 2 minutes only can we transfer your divine items from Omega to real life.
Do you wish to bring them ? " Gaia asked, urgency in her voice.
" Ofcourse! " Rudra replied , there was no hesitation in his voice when he said this. He was unarmed in the real world with nothing better than titanium katanas to use, it was nothing like his own weapons!
" Master , do you also wish to bring furball ? You will lose your one and only pet slot if you do! ". Gaia asked again
Rudra's eyes widened in shock, he was borderline depressed when he realised he was going to lose his baby furball however somehow he could not also bring her to reality, Rudra immediately said " Yes bring her ".
" Master bringing her will cost 50 divine essence, will you pay the fee? ".
Rudra immediately replied " yes " , although 50 divine essence was a LOTT , nearly two century worth of efforts for Rudra , but for Furball it was worth.
Gaia finally reported " Master we have managed to bring all your divine items to reality. Here is the report.
[ Elite Armour Set ] ( Custom ) ( Divine ) ( Bound ) ( Divine ) ----------- > [ Elite Armour Set ] ( Custom ) ( Bound ) ( Semi- Divine )
Manastone ( losr ancient )---------> Manastone ( Epic )
Lucifer's shoulderpads ( Divine ) ---------> Lucifer's shoulderpads ( Dark gold )
Grim Reaper ( ancient ) ---------- > Grim Reaper ( Legendary )
Excalibur ( Divine ) ( Unique ) ----------> Shakuni's Excalibur ( Divine ) ( Unique )
Note - The Archangel Micheal already wields the blade Excalibur in the universe and there cannot exist a second unique blade, the queen has hence converted Excalibur to Shakuni's Excalibur , a unique blade.
Pet ' Furball ' ( Divine Ninetails ) ( Tier 6 ) -------- >( Divine Ninetails ) ( Tier 4 )
- 50 divine essence
Rudra looked at the system notification with satisfaction, he had already given up on his items from Omega which is why it felt extremely good to have them back in reality.
Rudra immediately equipped his items, and the feeling of being clad in full armour with the familiar weight of both his swords in his arms made him feel like he was in the ninth heaven!
Rudra called for Furball, and just like in-game the lovely pet jumped out of his soul space and started to cuddle his feet as Rudra picked her up and hugged her tight giving her lots of hugs and kisses.
Furball too licked Rudra's face violently, as she was a smart beast who already understood the steep price that her master had paid to keep her by his side.
Her golden furcoat was as silky in real life as it was in-game and while she was reduced to her 7 tails form her tails were still fluffy and wiggly and extremely cute.
Rudra's heart melted to see her by his side, however the happy re-union was cut short once Rudra heard a shriek from the soldier nearby, who seemed to be staring out towards the sky.
**********
( Max's POV )
Sophie had just left a few minutes ago, as Max wanted to be alone during the first awakening, not wanting to scare her if he somehow accidentally died.
For the first five minutes, nothing much happened however then there was a large explosion heard which sounded as if someone was tearing strips of cloth , however the cloth was the size of the atmosphere.
Walking towards the window Max took a peek outside his house.
Max could see the day sky ripping to pieces as the fabric of the cosmos around earth changed.
The bright morning sky that had zero stars visible apart from the sun, was now covered in a myriad of breathtaking cosmic sights as for the first time mankind was actually integrated into the milky way galaxy, with countless stars and nebulae finally lighting up the day sky.
With the barrier that kept mana away from the solar system ripping off, it took mana 17.5 minutes to start flooding into planet Earth as the much dreaded and anticipated calamities started to occur.
The sudden exposure to cosmic radiation and the unfiltered flow of mana made planet earth unstable as every species on earth not attuned to the flow of mana found their skins tingling and burning as they howled in pain.
Max too felt like his body was on fire , the pain was excruciating and he had doubts that he would die.
There was a searing tattoo being burnt into his skin as mind-boggling pain rendered Max screaming on the ground as he violently clawed anything he could dig his nails in, breaking them bloody in the process.
The purpose of the tutorial game ' Omega ' was to attune humans to this very flow of mana, as the players who had already become attuned to wielding mana through Omega could survive the first awakening without any problems.
Volcanoes, Earthquakes, Tsunamis, and Lesser intelligent species like animals going wild, were common sights worldwide as every 1 minute a new tremor shook the building Max was in.
The Apocalypse was here, and while humans were preparing for it for the last 12 months, unfortunately, today was the day 60℅ of the human population was going to be wiped out of existence alongside countless plants and animals.
Max was perspirating all over as he had difficulty breathing and a lack of oxygen to his brain deprived him of many of his sensory feelings.
However, even in this pathetic condition that he was in, he could hear a crystal clear voice that resounded throughout Earth.
" Humans of planet earth, congratulations for graduating from the status of a primitive planet, to becoming one worthy of joining the wider cosmos.
I am called the universal AI, or the universal queen. I am a sentient being that controls the law and order of the universe and maintains universal peace.
All of you will now be given a glowing arm tattoo on your right arm which will become your new connection point to me, through which you will be able to directly access Sigma without needing a gaming pod.
You are all humans from planet #H2047, and until you get a class and an evaluation after reaching tier1 this will be your only identity in the cosmos.
I have already painlessly integrated with every sentient life form on this planet and after conferring with your local planet AI ' Gaia', I have decided that you can use the phrase ' Show System Screen ' to display your status bar and the phrase ' Log Into Sigma ' to log into the universal game.
Please remember these code words as they will be unique to your planet only.
From here on out, every human born on this planet would be integrated into me at the age of 16.
Here is the status of your planet for your reference :
Planet code - #H2047
Current affiliation - None
Current chosen leader - Shakuni Won Knight ( a.k.a Rudra Rajput )
Current population - 16.1 billion ( falling rapidly )
Cultivators - 76 million
Today on the 71st day of the 104th universal year, I extend my heartiest welcome to you all into the universal stage ' Sigma ' "
H2047, meaning human planet number 2047 was the identity given to the earth.
The idea that the humans had that they were the only bipedal beings in the universe seemed laughable now. There were 2047 planets that inhabited humans in the cosmos and many many more that had not even integrated with the queen yet.
Max looked at his right arm where a glowing has appeared and it seemed to have formed an intricate runic pattern that looked like a beautiful Samoan tattoo from a third person's point of view.
It was the mark of the universal queen, and having it imprinted on one's body gave one the access to their personal inventory and Sigma.
Although it took a while, 20 minutes later Max finally started to feel the heat in his body to subside as he regained more and more of his senses.
15 more minutes later he could finally manage to groggily stand up as he finally sighed in relief to having not died.
Looking out of the window he saw 20 alien ships entering earth's atmosphere , as his stomach rolled in fear.
' Will big brother be Okay? '