[Agreement has been logged. You have five minutes for orientation before you have to fight for your lives. Please pay attention, the system will not repeat itself.]
Kate blanched, an annoyed look on her face as she tried but failed to keep the scowl from marring her features. She turned to Kenan, her expression clearly reading *can you imagine this thing?* He shrugged, his heart skipping a beat at the familiar way she looked at him. Then she frowned, huffed, and turned her face away sharply. For a moment Kate had forgotten she was dealing with a liar and a cheat. Her time and attention were better spent figuring something else out.
[This World used to have life and was overseen by an impartial system. However a corruption began, its origins to this day unknown. But it swallowed every living being on this world, and buried structures and civilization under an endless forest of parasitic hive mind trees. The system has spent eons finding heroes from different universes to fight the encroachment of the corruption. But they have all failed. You two are the last, and as incentive the system has taken your entire world hostage. The survival of your species depends on you defeating the encroaching power of the corruption.]
Kenan frowned. This was very much unlike the books and webnovels they'd read. This system—it was desperate. And it wasn't even giving them a choice about what it expected from them. Just an ultimatum, with the survival of the entire human race hinging on it. And frankly speaking, it couldn't have picked a worse time or worse set of people. Because with what just happened at their wedding, how were Kenan and Katherine going to work through the scandal of him cheating on her in order to save the human race?
[The system will delegate quests to you. The completion of these quests creates a feedback of energy that empowers and feeds the system. Level up the pylon in front of you, which would in turn expand the habitable area, and give you access to more information and help from the system. Completion of quests will also help with the accumulation of exp. Which in turn can be used to strengthen your stats and skills. The system will now offer a one time welcome package, do you accept?]
"We're fucked. This is madness. We're trapped here and we'll be forced to undertake quests to do God knows what. And we have less than three minutes before we have to fight for our lives." She whirled on him, eyes blazing. "And you cheated on me with my sister!"
Kenan winced. In the end it seemed it would always come back to that. He knew they needed to talk about it—they had to talk about it before it was too late. But that seemed rather tame compared to their current predicament. "We don't have time for this, Kate. I know you're upset, but as you've mentioned, we'll have to fight for our lives. I know you're scared. So am I. But I can't afford to slow down, and neither can you, baby—"
"Don't call me that!" Kate snapped at him. "You've lost the right to call me that. Let's just get this over with." She turned and faced the screen, leaving Kenan feeling despondent and sad, as they both accepted the system's prompt.
[You have both been given one basic warrior bundle, and one basic healer bundle. You have been given 10 exp each and have both reached level 1. You are given a one time bonus of 1 active skill and the choice of a basic passive skill of your choice.]
[Quest 1: Welcome Party I: the system has siphoned excess corruption and discharging it into the clearing for the heroes to extinguish. Wave 1: Slay 5 basic goblins]
[Kenan Keys Davis has been given the active skill
[Katherine Kate Davis has been given the active skill
[Please pick one passive skill from the list below. Note, you both have to pick from the same list, you both can not pick the same skill.]
• Basic Magic Mastery
• Basic Weapons Handling
• Basic Defense Mastery
• Basic Farming
• Basic Alchemy
"I want the Basic Magic Mastery skill. Unless you feel you can do a better job of it than me?" Kate asked. Kenan just shook his head and picked the Basic Weapons Handling skill. The warrior bundle might have weapons he would need to use, so falling back on knowledge of how to handle them was best.
[1 Basic Warrior Bundle: 1 short sword, 1 wooden shield, 1 spear, 1 bow and a quiver of 10 arrows]
[1 Basic Healer Bundle: 2 basic healing potions, 2 basic mana potions, 2 rolls of clean magic bandage, 2 basic antidotes]
[1 minute until 1st wave begins, would you like to see your stats?]
Kate shrugged. There was no harm in doing so. She agreed, and the screen split itself equally into two halves, one side showing Kate's status screen, and the other showing Kenan's.
Name: Kenan Keys Davis
Level: 1 (0/100)
Unallocated EXP: 0
Stats:
Physique: Basic Lv 0 (0/10)
Spirit: Basic Lv 0 (0/10)
Mental: Basic Lv 0 (0/10)
Soul: Basic Lv 0 (0/10)
Perception: Basic Lv 0 (0/10)
Magic: Basic Lv 0 (0/10)
Skills
Active Skill:
• Wind Bullet — Lv 1 (0/50)
Passive Skill:
• Basic Weapons Handling — Lv 1 (0/50)
Name: Katherine Kate Davis
Level: 1 (0/100)
Unallocated EXP: 0
Stats:
Physique: Basic Lv 0 (0/10)
Spirit: Basic Lv 0 (0/10)
Mental: Basic Lv 0 (0/10)
Soul: Basic Lv 0 (0/10)
Perception: Basic Lv 0 (0/10)
Magic: Basic Lv 0 (0/10)
Skills
Active Skill:
• Fire Bullet — Lv 1 (0/50)
Passive Skill:
• Basic Magic Mastery — Lv 1 (0/50)
[30 Seconds Remaining Until First Wave.]
Kenan turned to Kate. In front of him were two packs, one a wooden crate with weapons in it. The other a leather satchel that probably held the health potions. For a second Kenan paused, staring at the weapons crate as his mind seemed to travel back to a time he'd rather not remember. He frowned. Maybe he should have picked the farming passive instead.
[20 seconds remaining until first wave]
"Baby, I need to tell you something. The pictures and the videos your sister showed—it's not what you think, I—"
"So that wasn't your dick I saw in full display, happily resting in her mouth?"
[10 seconds remaining until first wave]
Kenan quickly picked up the bow and quiver of arrows, doing his best not to even look at the short sword. He grabbed the spear and small wooden shield—barely larger than a dinner plate—and handed them to Kate. For a moment she hesitated, not wanting to take anything from him. But Kenan pushed them into her hands, then quickly moved back to grab the short sword and its sheath, slinging it over his shoulder. With a better look he realized it was a Roman-styled gladius. Those usually had straps you could use to hang them over your shoulder.
[3 Seconds remaining until first wave.]
Kenan looked at Kate and caught her gaze, beautiful green eyes staring back at him with all the hate and pain she could muster.
"I love you, baby. No matter what happens."
[First Wave Now Spawning]