The glowing blue light intensified. The cold metal band on the left wrist of Dustin began to vibrate violently. He squeezed his eyes shut as a beam of bright azure energy shot upward from the heavy device. The light fanned out smoothly and materialized into a floating holographic screen directly in front of his face.
All around him the infinite white void was suddenly illuminated by thousands of identical blue rectangles. It looked like a massive digital office space had just been spawned out of thin air. The quiet murmurs of the endless crowd transformed into loud gasping sounds and confused questions.
"The evaluation process is now commencing."
The cheerful voice of the Announcer echoed through the massive expanse. The tone remained sickeningly upbeat and entirely detached from the rising panic.
"Your physical bodies and your mental aptitudes are currently being analyzed by the system," the Announcer explained happily. "We will assign you a designated combat role based on your deepest latent potential. Please remember that your starting class is a permanent foundation. You cannot request a transfer or a reassignment. Accept your fate and do your best to survive."
Dustin stared at the blank blue screen hovering at eye level. Small white loading circles spun endlessly in the center of the digital display.
'Latent potential,' Dustin thought nervously. 'What kind of latent potential does a guy who sleeps fourteen hours a day actually have. I just want a class that lets me sit in the back. Give me a Summoner class. I can summon a giant magical bear to fight for me while I take a nap behind a rock. Or give me a Healer class. People will fiercely protect the healer and I will never have to swing a heavy sword.'
A loud roar of pure adrenaline and excitement erupted from a small clearing a few yards away.
Dustin turned his head and saw a massive mountain of a man flexing his heavily tattooed arms. The giant man wore a tight black tank top that looked ready to rip completely apart at the seams. His holographic screen was glowing with a fierce crimson light instead of the standard blue color.
"I am a Warrior," the massive man shouted triumphantly. "My name is Baruka and the system has recognized my absolute physical superiority. Everyone look at these numbers. My starting strength attribute is already at twenty two points. I am going to crush every single monster they throw at us."
Baruka laughed loudly and slammed his giant fists together. The impact sounded like two heavy stones crashing into each other. A few smaller and visibly terrified people gathered around him immediately. They began begging to join his future survival team. They clearly recognized that hiding behind a massive Warrior was their safest ticket to living through the terrifying tutorial.
Dustin watched the loud display of toxic masculinity and rolled his eyes.
'What an absolute idiot,' Dustin reasoned internally as he watched Baruka flex. 'The Warrior is always the frontline combat tank. That means you get punched in the face by giant monsters while everyone else hides safely behind your back. He is basically volunteering to be a human meat shield for strangers. I would much rather be completely useless than be a frontline meat shield.'
A soft digital chime pulled his attention quickly back to his own floating screen.
The spinning loading circles finally disappeared. The bright blue background of the hologram suddenly shifted into a deep and vibrant emerald green. Glowing white text began typing itself rapidly across the center of the digital projection.
[ Evaluation Complete ]
[ Participant Name Dustin ]
[ Assigned Class Rogue ]
Dustin stopped breathing for a full five seconds. He stared at the glowing green words until his eyes physically started to burn. He waited for the screen to glitch out and correct a very obvious system error. The green words did not change at all. They just sat there floating in the air and mocking his entire philosophy on life.
"A rogue," Dustin whispered in absolute horror. "You assigned me the Rogue class. Are you completely out of your digital mind."
He looked straight up at the featureless white sky and raised both of his hands in pure frustration.
"This has to be a massive mistake," Dustin yelled angrily at the invisible Announcer. "I am currently wearing plaid pajama pants and I have not jogged in five entire years. Rogues have to sprint through the dark shadows. Rogues have to climb tall trees and perform acrobatic backflips. Rogues literally stab terrifying things from one inch away. That requires an insane amount of cardiovascular endurance. I do not do cardio. I avoid cardio at all costs."
The Announcer did not respond to his loud complaints. The system simply did not care about his personal preferences or his terrible stamina pool.
Dustin lowered his arms and let out a long breath that sounded exactly like a deflating tire. His shoulders slumped forward in absolute defeat. His beautiful dream of sitting behind a rock and letting a magical bear do all the bloody fighting was officially dead. He was going to have to do his own running and his own stabbing. The sheer thought of the physical exertion made him want to lie down on the marble floor and never get back up.
He looked around the white void to see how other people were reacting to their permanent assignments. The results were a wildly mixed bag of joyous celebration and absolute despair.
A young athletic woman named Cha hae was standing tall and proud with a glowing golden screen hovering in front of her. She had received the advanced Swordsman class and a beautiful silver blade had magically materialized in her hands. She gave the weapon a few quick practice swings and looked incredibly dangerous.
Not far from Cha hae a handsome man with bright blonde hair was laughing confidently. His name was Kael and his holographic screen glowed with the exact same bright silver light. Kael was already gathering a very large group of eager followers. He spoke with a natural charm and promised to protect anyone who joined his vanguard assault team. He wielded a pristine steel longsword that looked vastly superior to the basic weapons most other people were receiving.
Dustin watched the charismatic leader and instantly recognized the hidden danger. People like Kael always attracted the most attention and the biggest monsters. Being anywhere near that guy would guarantee a very high mortality rate.
On the other side of the dense crowd an older gentleman wearing an expensive business suit was weeping openly. His screen was a dull and lifeless grey color. He had been assigned the generic Civilian class. It was a non combat role that provided absolutely zero survival stat bonuses. The system had basically declared the wealthy man completely useless in a real fight.
The older gentleman was definitely not the only person suffering. A young teenager nearby had received the crafting class called Blacksmith. The poor boy was crying because his physical strength was too low to even lift the heavy iron forging hammer that the system had provided as a starter item.
The incredible unfairness of the random assignments was causing minor fights to break out across the void. People were arguing aggressively over who deserved which role. The social order of the real world was completely collapsing in real time. Rich corporate executives were begging strong manual laborers for basic protection. The strong were quickly realizing that they held all the actual power in this brutal new reality.
'Well I guess being a Rogue is slightly better than being a generic Civilian,' Dustin thought to himself as he watched the billionaire cry. 'At least I get a real combat class. Now I just need to figure out exactly how badly my body is failing me.'
Dustin tapped the glowing green screen with his index finger. The text rippled outward like water and revealed a complex list of numbers. It was his personal status window. He read the attributes carefully and felt a cold knot form deep in his stomach.
[ Personal Status Window ]
[ Level One ]
[ Physical Strength Four ]
[ Vitality Three ]
[ Base Agility Two ]
[ Class Bonus Agility Ten ]
[ Total Agility Twelve ]
[ Stamina Two ]
[ Perception Eighteen ]
The floating numbers painted a brutally honest and terrifying picture of his physical health. The average healthy adult human likely started with ten points in every single physical category. Dustin was so far below the normal average that it was actually embarrassing to look at.
His Physical Strength was a pathetic four points. This made perfect sense to him because lifting a heavy slice of pizza to his mouth was the most intense workout he ever did. He knew immediately that he would never win a physical struggle against a real monster. If a creature grabbed his arm he would be entirely helpless to break free.
His Vitality was sitting at an abysmal three points. Vitality represented his overall health pool and his ability to recover from open wounds. With a score of three a single deep scratch could probably cause him to bleed out and die on the forest floor. He was basically made of wet tissue paper.
Then he looked at the Agility stat. His base score was a laughable two points. His body was naturally slow and highly uncoordinated. However the system had forcefully injected ten artificial points into the stat purely because he was assigned the Rogue class. This brought his total Agility to twelve points. He was suddenly slightly faster and more balanced than an average human. It was a massive temporary blessing but it came with a truly horrible catch.
That horrible catch was his Stamina attribute.
His Stamina was sitting at a pathetic two points. The number glowed with an angry red color indicating a critical warning state. Stamina dictated exactly how long he could actually use his new Agility before his physical body simply shut down from total exhaustion. His gas tank was practically empty right from the very start.
"Stamina is two," Dustin mumbled in sheer disbelief. "I have the combat speed of a decent athlete but the gas tank of an elderly chain smoker. If I sprint for more than thirty seconds my heart is going to literally explode in my chest."
This terrible stat distribution completely destroyed the traditional fighting style of a Rogue. He could not engage in long acrobatic fights. He could not dance around a massive monster and slowly bleed it to death with a dozen small cuts. Every single swing of his weapon would drain his tiny stamina pool. Every single dodge would push him closer to passing out. He had to finish every single fight in one exact motion.
Dustin dragged his hand slowly down his face. The survival situation was looking incredibly grim.
Then his eyes landed on the final attribute on the green list.
His Perception was sitting at an absolutely massive eighteen points. It was naturally higher than almost every other player in the massive crowd. Even Baruka the mighty Warrior only had a perception score of seven.
Dustin stared at the high number and smiled broadly for the very first time since arriving in the white void.
'Eighteen points in perception,' Dustin analyzed deeply. 'The system actually rewarded me for my intense gaming habits. I spent the last five years staring at glowing digital monitors for ten hours a day. I trained my eyes to catch the slightest pixel movement in dense digital jungles. I trained my ears to isolate the sound of distant enemy footsteps over the loud noise of explosions. I can read a tactical map and predict enemy pathing better than anyone here.'
The magical system had taken his extreme hyper focus and his digital tracking skills and converted them directly into a physical attribute. He could see much further and hear much better than anyone else. He would be able to spot hidden traps and notice predatory monsters long before they ever saw him coming.
His unusually high Perception completely changed his entire survival strategy.
'I do not need to fight like a traditional Rogue at all,' Dustin realized with a rapidly growing sense of relief. 'I do not need to run around and do exhausting backflips. I just need to find a comfortable tree branch and sit perfectly still. I can use my high perception to observe the monsters from a completely safe distance. I can memorize their exact patrol routes. I can wait until they are completely unaware and then drop down for a single fatal strike.'
It was the ultimate lazy assassination method. He would let his highly trained eyes do all the hard work while his weak body rested comfortably in the shadows.
The Announcer suddenly spoke again and interrupted his tactical planning.
"The evaluation phase is now officially complete," the bright voice declared loudly over the crowd. "You have all received your designated roles and your starting attributes. We hope you are satisfied with your latent potential. Please take a moment to equip your starter weapons. You will find them safely stored inside your personal inventory space."
Dustin tapped a small grey backpack icon on his green screen. A rusted iron dagger materialized out of thin air and dropped heavily into his open palm. The weapon was terribly balanced. The metal blade was heavily chipped and covered in dark brown rust spots. The leather wrapped handle was badly frayed and smelled strongly like old sweat.
He gripped the dagger tightly and tested the weight. It felt incredibly heavy and awkward in his weak hands.
"This is basically a dull butter knife," Dustin complained quietly to himself. "I am supposed to kill terrifying monsters with a rusted butter knife. The system is definitely trying to kill us on purpose."
He looked around the glowing white void. Thousands of people were pulling out their own starting weapons from their digital inventories. The strong Warriors were holding large wooden clubs or heavy iron broadswords. The Archers were inspecting simple wooden bows with thin strings. The newly assigned Clerics were gripping small wooden staffs that glowed with a faint white healing magic.
The tension in the infinite room was rising rapidly. The reality of the deadly situation was finally settling into the minds of the massive crowd. They were holding actual deadly weapons. They had been assigned violent combat roles. The initial vocal panic was slowly being replaced by a cold and heavy dread.
Dustin slid the rusted iron dagger into the elastic waistband of his plaid pajama pants. The cold metal pressed uncomfortably against his bare skin but he did not have a belt or a proper leather sheath. He crossed his arms over his chest and waited patiently. He knew the tutorial was about to begin. He knew the safe and infinite white room was only a temporary holding cell.
"I just need to survive," Dustin told himself firmly. "I will find a quiet place to hide. I will avoid the monsters and I will avoid the other loud players. I am going to be the most boring and lazy Rogue in the history of this stupid system."
He closed his eyes and tried to calm his uneven breathing. His new strategy was perfectly sound. He would survive this incoming nightmare by doing absolutely nothing at all.