Never-ending River of Time

Looking around, he can see a sea of corpses surrounding him. Cadavars and blood stained the marble floors, making him walk carefully to avoid slipping. He could distinctly tell who had died first. Some of the blood had already developed an oily film covering it. Some bodies were cold, and some were still warm, as they died mere seconds ago.

He could see expressions of revulsion, fright, and shock on the faces of the other five survivors.

It was deeply embedded in human instinct to be intensely focused on the traumatic event that just occurred, as a way to cope, he assumed, and to serve as a guide for the future-self to follow if the situation ever repeats itself.

But sadly, that will not help him right now. Looking outside the glass windows that miraculously survived the start of the scenarios, as the system dubbed, he could see a giant bird flying outside. Its wings create thunder strikes, falling to the ground and electrocuting the giant bugs below.

The ground was teeming with a huge colony of ants. About the size of a car, they were pretty scary, with their pincers and beady black eyes. It’s really frightening when you understand that the later scenarios could mean having to fight those creatures, since the blue shield of the scenario-made barriers has already disappeared. Meaning that it’ll be a free-for-all once they get outside, as they can’t just be stuck inside a mall for the rest of their life.

Take a deep breath. He must calm down, so stop looking at what’s happening outside the mall and focus on what’s happening inside.

Sadly, he lacks the self-control to do that. In San Francisco, he can see people swimming around in the water, probably mermaids of some kind. He can’t tell any other details other than them having blue and grey tails.

He can see the spine of a sea serpent running around the lake, its head occasionally coming up to swallow air and whipping its humongous tail at the merpeople as they try to pet it.

So much for not panicking in this situation when his entire world was merged and recreated into something different, something new and more dangerous.

(Maybe even exciting? This made Shisui feel like he was in one of the action stories he loved to read in middle school.)

[Ahem.] 

Eyes suddenly jumping back into focus, he turned towards the source of the voice which was saying above him. 

It was the white llama thingy again.

After reappearing in front of the six remaining. Shisui can distinctively feel the panic rising in his chest, fearing the contents of the second scenario.

He was at the top of the mall, a mosaic glass dome casting rays of colored sunlight into the mall. Highlighting the bloodshed and death that had occurred only a few minutes ago.

When his shirt started getting hot, he could have moved to the shade. But he was too petrified to do so. What if the llama demon kills him for being disrespectful or breaking some sort of unknown rule?

He can handle a few hours of discomfort and a sunburn, however, he can’t win back his life even if he wanted to.

But somehow he still manages to keep a somewhat straight face during this, or at least he’s not outright having a panic attack like some of the others. 

(Others, so he doesn’t see them as people. So he won’t feel guilty for killing.)

But how? Shisui can only see seven survivors- not nine? Does that mean that the other two survivors were too injured even to stand up? If so, that will not bode well for their chances of surviving the scenarios.

[Survivors of the first scenario, I welcome you all to the new world you’re about to experience. A world of gods and magic, a world that will change your view of reality. If the first scenario didn’t already do that for you.]

Smiling at his joke, he continued. Voice booming across the mall as if he was using a microphone. It made Shisui wince as his poor eardrums were once again overburdened by its loudness. It takes him some time to adjust.

(He will adapt, it is engraved to his very being and he won't be the first to die. Not after everything that had happened, he will not die again.)

Well, on the bright side, at least he won’t misunderstand any of the llama’s words by now.

[But first, before diving into the complications of the scenarios. Viewers of my channel, if you would like to skip the introduction, then you may go away. The action will resume roughly in an hour, give or take. After all, we wouldn’t want all our incarnations to die 15 minutes into the second scenario because they haven’t figured out how to use coins just like planetary system #204, Errapel was it? It has been some time, so please forgive me if I have forgotten.]

Conversing with whatever the system took the llama so long, Shisui nearly thought the llama had forgotten about them. It seemed like it, but through the exposition, he could regain composure and gain more information about how the scenarios function. Information he can exploit.

This isn’t the first planetary system this had happened to, and the introductions aren’t mandatory or are just newly added to the system. Which means the rules aren’t enforced by an omniscient god or someone similar. 

Note: The rules are flexible and can be changed depending on what the system manager sees as fit.

[Excuse me for being rude, so an introduction I believe is necessary. As you see, I already know all your names, so I’ll just be introducing mine. I believe the rough translation of my name into your language is Conroy. Wise advisor, I like it.]

Clapping his hands, Conroy made a blue screen appear. Showing them a normal status screen from a video game.

[Hah, sorry about the hold-up. I had to tell some of my viewers about the lesson we planned. Seems like some of them are still not aware that this is a bit of a ritual on my channel.]

Looking down at the survivors and seeing their confusion, he then added on.

[Oh, I apologize for rambling a bit too much. Then let the introduction begin.]

[Let me get down to the basics, the entire Star Stream. Which is the source of the scenarios, functions on an energy known as probability. The way you can gain probability will be revealed in the later scenarios as you gain more abilities and knowledge. However, this is all you need to know for now. Hint: Coins are a source of probability.]

Wow, that revealed nothing, Shisui thought. Still grateful for the information; albeit limited and kind of useless at the moment.

[Coins can be used to up your “stats” as you humans like to call them. For each level, there is a certain number of coins needed to increase the level. The amount of coins needed to level up doubles every 10 levels. Open your attributes window, then you will see.]

Wait, do you just say “Attribute window” or something in order to open it? How do you even open it? Shisui thought before the attributes window opened up before him.

Wow, contrary to Shisui’s beliefs, his stats are pretty bad. He really needs to invest some more coins into endurance if he wants to survive. His only decent stat is agility which is at Lv.11.

[Another wonderful function of the Star Stream is the ability to turn coins into any kind of currency, be it shells, bills, or anything else. Do what you will with that information. I hope it finds itself a use in your future scenarios.]

So any kind of currency, does that mean he can transform the coins into actual metal coins and use them as a distraction in a future fight? Maybe even melt the coins down if they run out of metal for weapons.

(They still hadn’t told them how coins are earned.)

[That’s it for introductions, and I wish you the best.]

Conroy said, smiling at the survivors as if he was a loving grandfather and not just a creature sent to make their deaths entertaining for the audience of gods.

[You have 30 minutes to prepare for the second scenario. I hope you use your time well because this 30-minute block could determine whether or not you die.]

Conroy said before he vanished into thin air or turned invisible. Because it seemed like he had witnessed the entirety of the first scenario.

[Oh, I almost forgot. Sponsor selection, some constellations, better known as the gods of your world, sometimes feel bad for you or want to feel entertained through your actions. Through those emotions, they’ll want to help you. Some of you have been really interesting in your choices and methods so far, so this sponsor selection will certainly be interesting.]

He said before a blue screen with the words sponsor selection popped up before him.

The sponsor selection was supposed to help Shisui, but all it did was make him even more flabbergasted than before.

As it reminded him of the novel, he had finished writing an hour before the introduction of the first scenario.