A few years back.
Aron recalled his childhood friend bringing a game for him to play so he would not be bored being indoors by himself all the time.
He never really asked where she had gotten the game from, but all he knew was that he was supposed to be a beta tester for the project before it was launched to the public.
He had completed the beta test, pushing as far into the content as he possibly could.
But then one day, the game suddenly sent a message stating it was going to be discontinued and would no longer hit the mainstream.
Aron had been quite disappointed; he never really got to see the true ending of the story. For such a high-quality game to get canceled for no reason was both rare and saddening.
'I understand that part. But… why is everyone now suddenly inside the game?'
Everything happening now was exactly as it had been in the game.
The messages, the screens, and even the presence of multiple, probably billions, of people were just as the game's lore had described.
Aron looked to the right and noticed a few other people had also received their roles.
According to his knowledge, these roles would serve the utmost importance in future events.
A young girl in front of him had received a different role—
[Citizen: You do not need to fight monsters. Explore your purpose in your new society. You will be offered credit points daily depending on how far you have advanced in your roleplay. You must pay life gems as taxes every month or you will meet your end.]
Aron narrowed his gaze at the message. Even if the girl didn't fully understand what was happening, the fact that she didn't have to fight monsters gave her a visible sense of comfort.
However… this game was far from normal.
Aron had learned a simple rule during his first week of playing: Never lag behind.
Not even for a second.
With everyone receiving the roles they needed to carry out in this new world, they began to discuss things with one another, surprisingly being reasonable.
People had already split into groups, speaking to those they deemed had more knowledge of the system mechanics.
It worked; everyone tried to help as much as they could.
Of course, there were always exceptions to these kinds of things.
"Uhn? Is this some kind of joke? I refuse to fight any freaking monsters! What the hell is this? Is this a scheme by the government or something?"
An adult male yelled from the side, his face flushed with rage.
"Say something, uhn? Why are you looking at me like that? Are you part of this?"
Since he was large, it was easy for him to grab the boy next to him by the throat, threatening to lift him off the ground.
The boy struggled, but he didn't have nearly enough strength to fight back.
That was when he showed up—the one person in every group who was meant to be the leader, a sense of reasoning among a crowd of fools.
"Let the boy go."
Another man stepped forward and grabbed the bully by the arm. He was handsome, with long blonde hair, dressed in a white office shirt and black trousers.
That was likely the reason everyone immediately paid attention to him.
"Everyone is as confused as you are. We won't get anywhere by fighting among ourselves. We should be working together, not forming a rivalry."
The serious look on the blonde man's face was not something even the bully could ignore.
"Tsk!"
The bully withdrew his hand, turning around with anger written all over him. "When shit goes down, I'll be sure to kill you first for this."
He walked away. Aron couldn't help but sigh at the scene.
He wondered if this was just how humans were, seeing as he had barely managed to speak with people over the years.
Anyway, that wasn't important.
His gaze found its way back to the screen.
'I am sure everyone must have noticed, but the system has not sent any more messages. Yes, that is because from this moment onwards, we are all on our own.'
Aron looked towards the crowd, seeing them surrounding the blonde man, likely waiting for him to give them advice on what to do next.
It was quite surprising to see how willing people were to work together when they knew their lives were on the line.
As for Aron, he didn't need to move with anyone, nor did he plan to.
After all, he understood the game more than anyone else there.
Unless he was unaware of another tester, he was the only one who had ever played the game before it was canceled.
And with that knowledge came the burden of keeping it to himself. If he were to tell people, it wouldn't take long before they started to use him for their own selfish gain to get the upper hand.
Which was why he came up with a plan.
…
A few moments later, people had already begun to accept the new world.
They divided into groups after studying the map the system had allocated to them.
With this, they were almost ready to move toward the nearest cities to interact with NPCs and understand the world better.
NPCs were already programmed to accept them, which was why very few of them wandered near where the 'outsiders' arrived.
Each city had a different presence and features that could help a player improve in the following months of their life there.
For instance, as an Extractor, your main focus should be to secure the gear and weapons you would need to battle monsters in your upcoming missions.
While for Citizens, the main goal was to secure wealth by whatever means necessary, and there were tons of ways to do that in the early game if you were quick enough.
As for Aron, he knew exactly where he needed to start.