[September 27th, 2029]
"Jason...this is too much..." expressed a somewhat portly, bespectacled woman with dark brown hair fixed into a messy bun, healthy brown skin that had been worn by time, kindly features, and laugh lines that had only grown more prominent with age. Her name was Amanda Alejandro Perez, Director of the Springfield Children's Home, and in her shaky hands was a check for $10,000,000.00.
"You're wrong..." refuted a young man with a fair brown complexion that indicated he spent a lot of time indoors, messy brown hair, and distinctive, amber-brown eyes. At the young age of nineteen, most wouldn't think the young, simply-dressed man was anyone of consequence. However, after transitioning out of high school at fourteen, completing his dissertation at seventeen, and accumulating sixty-three million followers who supported his international philanthropy and growing beautification business, Jason Springfield had gone from a nameless orphan to the wealthiest person in his hometown of Springfield, Tennessee.
Sporting a tired but sincere smile, the result of averaging fewer than five hours of sleep a night, Jason calmly asserted, "Without your support and the compassion of everyone here, I wouldn't be the man I am today. You pushed me to use my talents. I've still got a long way to go, but every day I try to make the world a little better…a little more beautiful..."
"Oh, Jason..." muttered Amanda, tearing up but managing to avoid crying outright as she got up from her recently donated oak desk, made her way around to where Jason towered over her a full head and shoulders, and gave his tense body a warm hug, whispering, "You sweet, sweet boy..." in a strained tone. She knew Jason wasn't good with physical intimacy, but he had directly—and rather awkwardly—informed her before he left for college that she was an exception. Since then, she couldn't help but hug him when the opportunity presented itself.
Fortunately for Jason, Amanda didn't embrace him for too long, allowing him to relax as she released him, gazed up at him with a proud smile, and asked, "Do you have time to meet with the other children? Little Samantha and Timothy would be—"
Before Amanda could finish speaking, a faint but growing vibration began affecting the room and the children-made knick-knacks lining its shelves, a telltale sign of an earthquake.
"Haaaaa...this is the sixth earthquake this week, and it's only Thursday..." sighed Amanda, completely calm and remarkably stable as she and Jason waited for the tremor to stop instead of seeking shelter. An average of 181 minor earthquakes occurred in Springfield, Tennessee, annually, so unless the emergency sirens outside began to sound their alarm, most long-time residents elected to wait them out.
'This quake...it feels like it's spreading through my body, not just through the floor...' noted Jason, mentally preparing himself to support or shield Director Amanda in the event she were to stumble or the ceiling were to collapse. At the same time, he swept his surroundings with an intensifying frown, his gaze settling on a hundred-gallon fish tank. When he was much younger and non-verbal, he could watch the fish swimming for hours at a time. He even had a five-hundred-gallon tank installed in his office, so he noticed the changes occurring within immediately.
'Did someone slip something in my V8...?' Jason couldn't help but wonder, his mouth and eyes slowly opening in disbelief as the singular, sapphire-blue betta present appeared to glow, its body more than doubling in size as it gained what he could best describe as a cel-shaded quality. It was as if someone had swapped its texture from realistic to cartoony, and as Jason observed the strange phenomenon with growing wonder, the effect spread to several other fish in the tank, the spontaneous increase in mass causing water to spill over from its top.
Hearing the pitter-pattering of water splashing onto her carpet, Amanda followed Jason's gaze, her mouth and eyes similarly opening wide as her brain struggled to process what she was seeing. Then, nearly causing her to leap out of her short heels, two dark blue, rectangular-shaped windows appeared out of thin air, one in front of her and another in front of Jason.
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[//IMPORTANT NOTICE//]
Planet MWG-BPS-001-493-909-115-851-003, [Terra], has acquired the requisite experience for evolution. In accordance with Article 13, SS 4.3b of the Sapient Species Preservation Pact, the prevailing intelligence of the planet will now be relocated to an acclimation zone for the duration of the evolutionary period. To ensure your safety during spatial transference, it is advised that you relocate to an open area with at least one cubic meter of space separating you from other organisms.
[//TIME REMAINING UNTIL FORCED TRANSFERENCE//]
—[000HC-000DM-000M-000Y-000D-00H-05M-47S]—
[//Would you like to transfer now?//]
[Yes] [No]
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"What in the world is this...?" Amanda muttered aloud, waving her right hand through the display, causing its semi-transparent surface to faintly ripple like water, distorting its white text.
Though he had observed similar phenomena in the anime, manga, and manhwa he read in his free time, Jason knew there was something more important than explaining things to her at that moment, his gaze shifting to the nearby intercom as he suggested, "We should gather everyone in the court. I also have questions right now, but the safety of the children takes priority."
"My goodness! You're absolutely right...!" exclaimed Amanda, hurrying over to the intercom to instruct the orphanage's staff to take everyone outside and to gather them in one spot. As she did that, Jason strained his ears, the distant pop of gunfire and what sounded like an explosion pricking his ears, causing his eyes to narrow, and his expression to turn solemn.
KA-CHA
As his attention was focused elsewhere, Jason couldn't help blinking in a mix of surprise and confusion as the sound of breaking glass reached his ears—followed by a paradoxically cold yet hot sensation spreading across his abdomen.
"JASON! OH MY GOD!" exclaimed Amanda, her eyes widening to their limits as she covered her mouth and nose with both hands, prompting Jason to look down at where her eyes were fixed. His simple, pale blue long-sleeved Magellan shirt had a tiny hole and a patch of dark maroon spreading across it. And from his right pant leg, a much brighter crimson stain spread across the off-white carpet.
'Well, that's not good...' thought Jason, his brain tingling with anxiety and adrenaline surging through him, but his mind crystal clear as he used his right hand to cover the hole running clean through the lower right side of his abdomen. Pain and heat radiated through his entire torso, but he knew from experience that panic only made things worse. Thus, while doing his best to stymy the flow of blood, he directed his gaze at the culprit behind his injury, staring at him from within the rapidly draining fish tank.
Seemingly undaunted by the fact that its home would soon be depleted of the water it presumably needed to survive, the transformed betta, now as large as the tank was wide, opened its inverted mouth. As it did, the sand and colorful stones lining the tank's base were intensely disturbed. Much more significantly, a second bullet-sized hole was punctured in the tank's 10mm-thick acrylic glass, courtesy of the glowing blue sphere that zipped across the room, narrowly missing Jason's head as he clenched his teeth, suppressed the feeling of lethargy beginning to invade both his body and mind, and lunged forward.
Though he had many, many questions at that moment, the one thing that Jason was certain of was that if he didn't take action, he and, very likely, Director Amanda would die. He cared very little about his own life, but he would never allow those he cared for or those he was obligated to protect to be harmed as long as he could take action.
With no thoughts, only pure adrenaline driving him forward, Jason tried to perform a combat roll to get out of the betta's line of sight. He had never attempted one before, but by committing to the movement, he managed to pull it off with surprising ease. Pain shot up his spine, and he felt like he was mere moments from bleeding out, but the only thing that mattered to him at that moment was grabbing the wooden brace between the legs of the table supporting the aquarium. It was propped up on a wooden table more than fifty years old, so as Jason drove the heel of his left foot into it as hard as he could, the reddish-brown beam splintered like a dry, albeit very thick, twig.
With the topped-off tank weighing more than 500kg with water, fish, and stone decorations, the table supporting the aquarium promptly splintered down in the center without its brace. The walls of the aquarium itself held surprisingly well, but the detachable base became dislodged, causing the water within to spill out all at once as Jason retracted his feet and did his best to stand. He was able to get his feet under him, but when he tried to rise, it was like his body was empty, completely devoid of strength.
Instead of attempting to stand a second time, Jason leaned forward and grabbed the upper edge of the aquarium to try to move it away. As he did, tear-inducing pain permeated the left side of his chest, his ribs punctured by a luminous blue projectile the size of a large marble.
"I'M TAKING YOU WITH ME...!" shouted Jason, summoning strength he didn't know he possessed to fight through the pain and slam his fists on the floundering betta, alternating between his right and left before using both in a display of primal fury. Amanda watched this with her hands still covering her mouth, unable to believe such a caring and docile boy could be so full of rage.
"Jason...!"
Regaining her senses when she saw Jason abruptly slump with his head down, Amanda pushed her heavy desk aside as if it were a paperweight and rushed forward so quickly that her heels flew off. The scene she had just witnessed aside, she couldn't stand idle as someone who had been in her care nearly their entire life bled out in front of her.
Tapping into her training as a former US Army Combat Medic, Amanda put Jason in the fetal-like recovery position before moving with the force of a human tempest to retrieve a bright red first aid kit and an AED(Automated External Defibrillator). Thus, as Jason's consciousness faded, a pervasive chill permeating his heavy body, he couldn't help but smile, finding solace in the knowledge that at least one person had truly cared about him...
...
..
.
drip....drip....drip....drip....
'That's really starting to get on my nerves...' thought Jason, the persistent sound of a water droplet striking a pool forcing him to rouse from what he had expected—hoped would be an eternal slumber.
Rising to a seated position and finding himself in a pitch black void with no features or landmarks to speak of, Jason slowly scanned from right to left with the precision of an automatic CCTV camera before gazing down at himself. There were no visible light sources, but his body was visible to an upsetting degree. His skin seemed to be exuding light that matched his complexion, and like the betta and other fish before him, it was as though his texture had been changed. The fact that he was naked was a concern, but he chose to focus on his hands and fingers, finding them both familiar yet not. Their dimensions were identical to the hands and fingers he was accustomed to, but he felt as though he was inspecting an extraordinarily well-made avatar in Virtual Reality.
Just as Jason began to consider what his next course of action should be in the seemingly empty black space, a blue window appeared before him, matching the one that had appeared previously but with new, somewhat troubling text.
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[//ERROR-0472//]
Due to a delay in the automated notification and transference systems, you have unfortunately fallen victim to the evolved beast, Boltfish: Type Betta. Under normal circumstances, you would be sent to a Tutorial with the rest of your people. However, by sacrificing yourself and defeating a 1-Star Magical Beast without Mana or a Mana-infused weapon, you have earned an achievement and fulfilled the basic conditions to be recognized as a Hero. Please continue to work hard so that you might lead the people of your world through the trials to come.
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As if it knew that Jason had finished reading it, the notification vanished just as quickly as it had appeared. Immediately after, a similar but slightly different window appeared, this time resembling the Menu of an RPG with a chat window on the bottom left displaying the text he had just read and informing him he had earned two achievements and a title in golden and bright green text. Specifically, his achievements were called [First Blood] and [Final Stand]. As for his title, Jason couldn't help but frown when he read what it was called...
"The Man Who Traded His Life for a Fish's..."
...
..
.