It was early in the morning, and many people would still be asleep, both because it was Saturday and because it was so early, but Jay, was awake. In fact, he didn't even sleep at all.
The day before, he had a falling out with a few of his classmates and was beaten seriously. He was just lying in bed, his entire body aching, barely able to move.
In his sorry state, all he could do was watch TV, that was his greatest entertainment throughout the night. Even that was getting somewhat boring, as he had already rewatched his favourite shows, and the newer ones did not really appeal to his taste.
The moment he turned his TV off, a sudden flash of light appeared before his eyes, forcing him to close it. Moments later, when he could finally open his eyes, it was revealed what that blinding light was.
A floating panel was hovering in front of his vision. At first, he only shook his head as he thought he was only imagining things, he even rubbed his eyes, but the panel stayed there.
"Congratulations, player! You have been selected to participate in our game! Please wait while the System calculates your data!"
Jay finally read the floating panel, which just kept on staying where it appeared. Out of curiosity, he poked it. Although his finger went through it, he felt something; as if it was made of some sort of very light material.
"What the hell is even this?"
He muttered as he lowered his hand. Just as he was about to mutter something else, the panel flickered and another line of text appeared on it.
"Calculations completed! Please stand by, your body is being prepared for the randomly selected worlds!"
At that very moment, the panel changed its text, a strangely pleasant, but at the same time tickling feeling rushed across his body, emanating from his chest in a pulse, and every second it kept repeating.
"Body prepared! Background forged! Altering the timeline slightly! Difficulty chosen: Hard!"
"Notice! Please complete the preliminary, mandatory quest, without altering the timeline further! Failing to do so will result in a restart"
The moment Jay finished reading the last message, the floating panel completely vanished, and at the same time, he found himself lying on the ground outside.
It happened so rapidly that if his eyes were closed, he couldn't have been able to tell that he had been moved. At first, even he thought that it was unreal, and he was most likely only dreaming, but he felt grass under his hands and sensed a gentle breeze caressing his face.
Out of curiosity, he slowly shifted his gaze down at the ground, but his gaze got fixated on his leg. Then his eyes quickly shifted over to his hands and then up his arms all the way to his shoulders. He had a skinny and weak body, however what he saw was the complete opposite. His body was muscular and solid.
"Preliminary combat experience infusion completed!"
Upon reading the new popup, Joy pushed himself up from the ground. Much to his surprise, his body felt light as a feather.
"To progress further and unlock most of the features, please spar with the selected opponent."
Jay shook his head, as the information he had just received was too much, and he still needed time to comprehend everything; however, he heard steps from behind him, and then a voice. A voice which he had heard, but couldn't quite recall where.
"Hey, Jay! Are you ready for our match? I can't wait to spar with you again!"
It was a friendly voice, so Jay quickly turned around, and when he noticed the person walking towards him, his face turned snow-white. He tried to mutter something, but no coherent words came out.
"S-S....S...S-S...Go..."