"Where the hell am I?"
A moment ago, he had been in the dimly lit confines of his dormitory room, and in the next, Hal was standing at what seemed to be the edge of a cliff.
Just a few meters away stood a gorgeous, blonde young woman with a distant, lost gaze.
He recognized the look, as he himself had it just a few dozen seconds ago.
It was one of absolute heartbreak and devastation.
And seeing how she stared out over the cliff, clearly contemplating things...
Hal swiftly dashed towards the young woman in a panic.
The decision turned out golden as, in the next second, the young woman allowed herself to freefall.
Fortunately, Hal caught her by the waist, the adrenaline rush allowing him to easily hurl the young woman back to the grassy surface, causing her to land on her palms and butt.
Her lost gaze cleared a little.
Just when Hal was about to reprimand the blonde young woman, the world warped and turned black again, but this time, he wasn't sent somewhere and merely stayed in the void.
[Congratulations! You've earned 5 Chaos Points!]
This was the message in the holographic notification panel that appeared before him.
Only then did Hal remember: he tapped the proceed option.
'Chaos Points? Oh…so what happened earlier was merely some sort of illusion prepared by this so-called Joker System's tutorial, huh?' he mused as he tapped the ok button.
The notification panel closed the next moment, revealing a black box with hints of red floating in front of him.
Hal naturally remembered the box.
After all, it was his mana-bound artifact.
Something rather eerie happened the next second, as the box suddenly opened and the jester doll slowly emerged, stopping right in front of his face.
"Hihiyahahaha! Hello there, chosen!" the doll began in a high-pitched, creepy laughter, startling Hal. "I'm Joker, and I shall guide you through the tutorial.
As you can see, you can earn Chaos Points in various ways, though you'll have to learn exactly how on your own. Hiyahahaha!
Now, open the system by snapping your fingers!"
Hal, still bewildered, did as he was told, prompting the main interface of the Joker System to appear.
There were options on the side, though most of them, except for the "Draw Card" button, were disabled.
"Well…obviously, tap on the only available one, dimwit!" the doll screeched, bumping foreheads with him.
So Hal quickly pressed the button, prompting a window attached to the Draw Card option to appear.
There were six options in the new window:
==
Chaos Points: 5
==
[Common Draw] = 1 Chaos Point
[Uncommon Draw] = 10 Chaos Points
[Rare Draw] = 50 Chaos Points
[Unique Draw] = 100 Chaos Points
[Epic Draw] = 300 Chaos Points
[Legendary Draw] = 500 Chaos Points
==
"Well, go on…" the miniature jester urged. "You'll be using your brain a lot to earn Chaos Points, so you can't just sit around waiting for my instructions on obvious choices, can you?"
The choice was indeed pretty obvious.
He had five Chaos Points, which was enough for five Common Draws, so with trembling hands, Hal pressed the option once.
A drumroll soundtrack played, followed by sighs of disappointment as a new notification appeared:
[Boohoo! No Cards drawn!]
Hal swallowed, rather frustrated.
He then quickly pressed the Common Draw option one more time without waiting for the jester's instructions.
[Boohoo! No Cards drawn!]
"Wha…?"
Hal was growing increasingly frustrated, wondering whether the darned draw was rigged.
Luckily, on his third draw…
[Congratulations! You have drawn a [Common]-tier card!]
==
Card Name: Fireball
Rarity: Common
Type: Elemental Spell
Durability: 5 uses
Cooldown: None
Chaos Karma cost: 1
Description: Shoots a fireball in a straight trajectory at a fixed, novice-level speed.
==
"Oh?!"
Hal was naturally excited, finally grasping how the Joker System could help him achieve what would normally be impossible for someone like him with an exceedingly low mana affinity.
"Hihiyahahaha! Now then, Chaos' chosen, tap your left wrist."
Hal did so almost immediately, eager to learn how to use the card.
In the next second, two vivid holographic windows appeared—one long and narrow, containing eight slots with gesture words like Palm Strike, Point Two Fingers, and other similar entries, and a larger window with the word "Deck" at the very top.
The eight slots were empty, and the deck contained only one card: Fireball.
Hal didn't wait for Joker to lash out again, dragging the fireball card into the first slot labeled Palm Strike.
The jester doll nodded in satisfaction before speaking the next moment:
"Weeow! Who would've expected you to use your brain this time? Anyway, you can only equip and use eight cards at a time, specifically those in the eight slots. You can replace them anytime, of course, but slotting cards takes time, and the higher the rarity of the card, the longer the equip time." Joker explained before snapping his fingers.
The next moment, the world warped again, and Hal found himself standing in the middle of a windy forest.
The dead leaves drifting past in front of him created a picturesque, peaceful scene.
It was soon disturbed by a blue, raging aura, followed by a beastly howl as a boar with blue fur and ruthless, glowing eyes emerged from the aura.
It scraped at the ground with its front hoof, preparing to charge.
And it did the next moment, making Hal's heart race in panic.
He had never fought an arcane beast before.
Hal turned to look at Joker to ask for guidance, but to his horror, the jester doll wasn't there with him.
'Shit!!' he cursed inwardly, instinctively remembering the fireball card.
As per Joker, he could use the spells in the slots…
'But how?!'
Then it struck him.
"Palm Strike…"
The boar was upon him, leaving dust billowing and pebbles flying in its wake, its tusks ruthlessly stabbing at him at horrifying speeds.
Hal would surely die if the system didn't work as he hoped it would.
"HAAAH!" he roared, thrusting his palm toward the charging boar.
A vermilion magic circle then appeared in front of him with a black and gold card at its center, followed by a modest-sized fireball that shot straight toward the blue beast.
*FWOOSH!*
The fire elemental spell split the air, the temperature around it rising for a moment or two, before it made direct contact with the boar's face, ruthlessly devouring the beast and roasting it alive.
The creature crashed onto the ground, skidding and rolling toward Hal, before coming to a stop a few meters in front of him.
It was dead.
"Hihiyahahaha! Tutorial complete. Well done, Chaos' chosen one."
Joker's voice echoed in the wind, though the doll was nowhere to be seen. A moment later, the world warped once again.
The next thing Hal knew, he was back in his room, his black box nowhere to be found.