Insomniac Player

Damien opened his eyes.

The first thing he noticed was that he wasn’t dead.

The second thing he noticed was that he wasn’t sure this was better.

He stood in an endless white expanse that stretched beyond sight in every direction, seeming simultaneously like nothing and everything. There was no floor beneath his feet, yet somehow he did not fall. No ceiling, no sky, and no walls.

Just white... so much that it overwhelmed his senses, the color seeming to press from every angle and making Damien wonder whether anything else even existed beyond it.

The kind of white that made hospitals seem colorful.

Thousands of people surrounded him. No... millions. Perhaps, billions.

Everywhere Damien looked, there were people standing shoulder to shoulder in the endless brightness. Some were crying. Some were screaming. Some were trying to call family members on phones that no longer seemed to work.

One man was repeatedly slapping himself.

Damien respected the man’s scientific method as he glanced around again.

"If this is heaven," Damien muttered, "they seriously need interior decorators."

The moment the words left his mouth, a massive translucent screen appeared overhead.

Not just in front of him, but in front of everyone.

The screen was so enormous it seemed capable of covering the entire white world.

Text began appearing line by line.

The crowd slowly fell silent.

—-------

➤ [WORLD INTEGRATION NOTICE]

➤ [Congratulations, Your world has successfully met the minimum requirements for System Integration.]

—-------

"Minimum requirements?"

"Was there an exam?"

"Nobody told me there was an exam!"

A teen raised his hand. "Can I take a retest?"

"I studied engineering, not whatever this is!"

Damien immediately disliked the phrase "minimum requirements."

It meant there were standards.

And that someone had been grading humanity.

—-------

➤[Rule 1]

➤ [Reality has been integrated with the Game-like system.]

➤ [All existing physical, social, economic, and biological frameworks will gradually adapt to System functionality.]

➤ [The laws of reality and the laws of game mechanics will now coexist.]

—-------

"What does that even mean?" someone shouted.

Nobody answered. Mostly because nobody knew.

Damien doubted any answer could explain this.

—-------

➤ [Rule 2]

➤ [Human settlements will be reorganized according to population.]

—-------

➤ [Rule 3]

➤ [Global geographical restructuring is in progress.]

➤ [Existing names, territories, and administrative boundaries may be modified.]

➤ [Maps will be updated automatically.]

—-------

Suddenly, a woman fainted.

Several others looked like they might follow her soon.

Damien personally thought renaming everything was a bit excessive.

Ending civilization was one thing.

Messing with paperwork was another.

—-------

➤ [Rule 4]

➤ [Class Change Towers have been established.]

➤ [Towns: 1 Tower]

➤ [Cities: 5 Towers]

➤ [Capitals: 10 Towers]

➤ [Additional Towers may be constructed under special conditions.]

—-------

The words "Class Change" immediately caught everyone’s attention.

The crowd became significantly more interested.

Humanity had priorities.

—-------

➤ [Rule 5]

➤ [Individuals who accepted the Initial Trial shall be designated First Generation Players.]

➤ [First Generation Players shall receive priority benefits and opportunities.]

➤ [Following completion of integration, all eligible humans may access Class Change Towers and become Players.]

—-------

"So I accidentally became an early adopter," Damien scratched his chin.

’Usually, early adopters get buggy software. I hope this game isn’t planning the same thing.’

—----------

➤ [Rule 6]

➤ [Humans aged sixteen or older may obtain Classes through Class Change Towers.]

➤ [Available Classes are determined by aptitude, talent, achievements, and compatibility.]

➤ [Examples include but are not limited to:]

[Fighter]

[Mage]

[Archer]

[Assassin]

[Farmer]

[Chef]

[Blacksmith]

[Merchant]

[And others.]

—-------

A teenager nearby raised his fist.

"YES! I WANT TO BE A DRAGON SLAYER!"

The System offered no immediate dragon-slaying options.

The teenager looked disappointed.

—-------

➤[Rule 7]

➤ [System Structures have been added.]

➤ [Examples include:]

➤ [Auction Houses]

➤ [Weapon Stores]

➤ [Alchemy Stores]

➤ [General Stores]

➤ [Guild Facilities]

➤ [Additional Structures may appear depending on regional development.]

—-------

Damien blinked. "Wait."

He frowned. "If there are weapon shops..."

He paused. "...doesn’t that imply we’re going to need weapons?"

The implications hit everyone, and almost nobody liked them.. Almost... except some psychopaths.

—-------

➤ [Rule 8]

➤ [Additional lifeforms, civilizations, monsters, NPCs, and System functions have been added.]

---

The crowd erupted.

"NPCs?!"

"Monsters?!"

"What do you mean by added?!"

Valid questions, but there were no answers.

—-------

➤ [Rule 9]

➤ [31.4% of humanity accepted the Initial Trial.]

➤ [Total First Generation Players: 2,752,418,991]

—-------

The crowd fell silent.

Damien stared at the number.

Then he looked around, back at the number, and around again.

"Huh."

A woman beside him glanced over. "Huh, what?"

Damien shrugged his shoulders.

"Turns out 2.7 billion people make decisions exactly as responsibly as I do."

The woman looked offended.

Damien wasn’t sure why.

The evidence was literally floating in front of them.

—-------

➤ [Integration Scope: Planetary]

➤ [Beginning World Reconstruction.]

—-------

In a blink, the endless white vanished.

Everyone found themselves staring at Earth, or what used to be Earth.

The entire planet floated before them, too large and perfectly suspended to be real, more like a giant hologram or the memory of a planet than the actual world.

And then it began to shift and transform.

Cities trembled.

Roads shifted.

Mountains moved.

Entire regions stretched and expanded.

The transformation looked both mesmerizing and terrifying.

Modern skyscrapers twisted and reshaped themselves.

Some retained their glass-and-steel appearance.

Others transformed into structures that looked as though they belonged in fantasy novels.

Ancient towers rose between office buildings.

Massive walls erupted from the ground.

Crystal spires pierced the sky.

In the center of many cities stood enormous towers made entirely of glowing crystal.

They shone with rainbow-colored light visible for hundreds of kilometers.

’Class Change Towers.’

The structures looked sacred, powerful, and extremely expensive.

Damien doubted anyone would dare graffiti them.

Then Earth began growing, not in any way that made scientific sense, but the planet stretched larger as if someone were pulling at reality itself.

The entire planet just kept expanding.

"That can’t be healthy," Damien said.

Nobody argued.

The world swelled to many times its previous size.

New forests appeared.

New mountains emerged.

Entire regions formed where nothing had existed before.

Between settlements stretched enormous wilderness zones.

Untamed land filled with unknown dangers.

Villages.

Towns.

Cities.

Capitals.

Each became an isolated island of civilization surrounded by oceans of monster territory.

The transformation continued for what felt like forever.

Then suddenly, everything stopped.

Silence filled the void.

The new Earth hung motionless before them.

A completely different world.

A familiar world and a completely alien one.

Damien stared at it.

The crowd stared with him.

Nobody spoke. Nobody knew what to say.

Humanity had just watched reality uninstall itself and reboot as a fantasy game.

There wasn’t really a guidebook for that.

Far below, the transformed planet waited.

Waiting for billions of confused humans.

Waiting for Players.

Waiting for whatever came next.

At that moment, Damien’s heart was filled with regret.

"...I really should have listened about the weather from Mr. John."