Kirko's eyes widened as a boy jumped at him."You were so cool!!" he shouted while gripping Kirko's shoulder."T-Thanks?""You went out there killing all those monsters like it was a usual afternoon for you.""W-Who are you?" Kirko asked, fully confused about what's happening right now."Oh yeah, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Cain and I'm from the same school as you."
He released his grip and, with his eyes still sparkling, he continued,"I woke up from sleeping because of all the screaming, then in front of me there was a screen and a sword on my palm. Then I looked out the window as the whole class was looking out, that's when I saw you killing the goblins. It was straight out of a webtoon."
He gulped some saliva."You were sooo cool!!""OK." Kirko blinked, still confused about what's happening right now.
Someone was actually talking to him? Praising him? He wasn't used to this. His throat felt dry as he tried to think of a response but he couldn't think of anything.'Calm down Kirko, just say something good.'
Then Kirko realized,'This might be a chance to get a friend.'
As Kirko was going to ask Cain to be his friend—"Ok, that's enough of all the talking."
A voice echoed from above, deep and commanding. A man floated down, dressed in a black suit with a matching hat, his sharp eyes scanning the room. The air grew heavy as an invisible force pressed down on everyone's shoulders.'What's making my body feel so heavy?' Kirko thought, 'Who is he? He's not normal.'
"Let me introduce myself. I am the Game Master. The person who brought you to this room and made you kill the goblins. You must all be confused, thinking why this is happening and how to stop this, and here I am to tell you everything—why you had to kill monsters, why you got weapons, and how to stop this."
Even this was so confusing to all of them, no one dared to speak as the sheer force emitting from the man made them all realize that he was dangerous. So all of them stood there, speechless, looking at the man.
"First of all, welcome to Pandora's Reckoning. I have taken 1 million students from different schools all over the world to participate and complete missions," he scratched his head, "Well, there are about 990k students now, as many students have died in the first mission."
He cleared his throat."Ok, from now on you all will be called players, and every player needs a username, so choose yours right now."
A status bar opened in front of Kirko:"Please Enter Your Username"
Without much thought, Kirko wrote his first name, 'Kirko', as his username and then waited to see what the man was going to say next.
"Let's continue. The system gave you all weapons based on body style, so if you don't like your weapon, you're just dumb, 'cause that weapon is best suited for you. Each of your weapons has unique abilities that another player will never get. You can also bring out or make your weapon disappear anytime you want.
Each weapon has a grade. From best to worst, it is: S, A, B, C, D, F. If you have an F-rank weapon, then don't worry because you can evolve your weapon."
Kirko brought out his dagger.'I got lucky to get an A-rank, and no wonder the dagger spawned out of nowhere,' he realized as he spawned and made his dagger disappear three times.
"If you complete the objective of the mission, you survive. If you don't, you die. Also, if you die during a mission, you're dead. But if you are severely injured, you will be healed fully after the mission is complete. Do you all understand that much?"
No one dared to speak, all of them still terrified of the figure above them, who was just standing and telling them something that sounded unbelievable. But they still had to believe whatever he said because all of this just felt too real.
"I shall continue. There are 50 missions in total. You all survived the first mission. After each level, you'll receive a break; it could be a day, two days, a week, or even a minute. Survive until Level 3, and you'll receive a rune—something you all will love to have. And if you want to know what that is, survive first, and I'll explain later.
Oh, and one more thing—your abilities do not stay with you when you return to the real world."
Kirko's heart pounded. Fifty levels.'That's too much…'
"Pfft—hahaha!"
The Game Master suddenly burst into laughter, doubling over in the air. The entire room froze in confusion.
"I can't do it anymore!" he gasped, wiping a tear from his eye. "I'm not the serious, intimidating type. Honestly, you should've seen your faces! The way you all were trembling—it was so funny!"
Silence filled the room. Then, the Game Master's expression shifted. He pointed directly at Kirko."Except you. You weren't scared one bit. You're interesting. I'll be keeping my eye on you."
He then clapped his hands."Alright, let's wrap this up."
"Now I'll give you the rewards for completing the first mission after you go back to the real world, and the rewards will be based on your contribution to completing this mission. From the next mission onwards, there will be a ranking system, and the rewards will be based on it."
He then sighed and said,"Finally, when you come to this world, the real world stops. So when you go back, you will go back to when the message first popped up for you."
The Game Master floated higher, arms stretching forward."You're all wondering why this is happening, right? The grand purpose behind it all?"
The Game Master smiled."I was bored. So I created this game. That's all, no other reason. So all of you, I welcome you all again to Pandora's Reckoning."
The white room disappeared and Kirko went back to the school washroom.