What shocked Geran about the box wasn't the contents written on it, what shocked him was the scene that unfolded before his eyes. Geran watched as the world cracked and glowed a bluish white, from those cracks came energy that poured directly into his body. As the energy seeped into every pore, he felt a power flow through his body without the pain he had felt earlier, this continued until the world ceased expelling energy and shattered completely, disappearing into a flurry of light. Once the light had disappeared Geran was shown one final sight, a tunnel of light where his dad was yelling at an unknown man who looked terrified, his mom was embarrassed behind his father but still looked happy until she saw him. With one final act of love his mother blew him a kiss

[Skill Acquired: Interdimensional Love]  

'What the hell? Mom... even in death you still gotta baby me'

 With the new skill box his vision faded to black until he opened his  eyes back up and saw my grandma and sister standing over me on the couch with panic on their faces and tears in their eyes

"BUBBA! Are you ok?!"

Geran rubbed Clara on the head

"Hey it's ok munchkin, your brother is strong."

Gerans grandmother watched him sit up before smacking his head with her cane

"Y-You darned kid, I told you i'd go first to make sure this didn't happen, I'm fine if I die but you dying would leave Clara all alone... YA DON'T THINK!"

'although most people would be angry at this kind of treatment I was used to it, she didn't hate me but was raised tough and only knew how to express care this way. What was shocking though was when she hit me with her cane I didn't even feel a little bit of pain.'

"hey grandma... hit me harder."

Gerans grandma was surprised

"Did that black out mess with your head? I'm not gonna-"

Geran looked at her intensely with pleading eyes, she sighed.

"Ok then kid, I hope you know what you're doing."

His grandma swung full force and although it was nowhere near her prime she was able to swing it fast enough to seriously injure a normal grown man... however- 

'It's so slow, I wonder...'

Geran stood up and walked around his family watching them move in slow motion, it was as if his body and sense moved faster than the human eye could track, once he was satisfied with his speed he put his hand in front of his grandmas face and exhaled letting time resume as normal. Once time had resumed the cane smacked against his outstretched hand... and snapped, the metal walking cane snapped against his hand with no effort.

"G-GERAN?! how did you get there?"

Geran rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment 

"I guess I'm superhuman now, in the series I used to read humanity would be given powers to adapt to the new world they were in and fight the monsters."

Clara looked confused

"Monsters? like from those anime we watch?"

Although he was ashamed to admit it, Geran held an inexplicable weakness to his sister. Maybe it was the fact that he felt responsible for the worst 3 months of her short life but when she walked into Geran's hospital room after she had started to recover and saw the bedridden Geran watching an isekai he let her stay, the two had been anime partners ever since.

"Exactly, except they're real and try and kill people. What I am experiencing now is a side effect meaning that I have become equipped to fight the monsters. It's risky but I think... grandma do you think you could live through all the pain you've felt in the past?"

His grandmother huffed arrogantly 

"Of course I can, if I lived through it once then I can live through it again, however I won't let Clara take the same risk you did until we know more."

Clara looked pouty

"B-BUT I WANNA HELP GWANNY AND BUBBA TOO!"

Grandmother shook her head

"Geran nearly went into cardiac arrest and he's a lot older, I refuse to let you do it right now!"

Clara was angry but remained silent, Geran told his grandmother how to start the process. Once she said the words she suddenly started shaking as her old long lost muscles started to contract before slightly expanding over and over again, unlike Geran however she didn't faint, she stared intensely while clenching her teeth in pain

"Heh, a lot of these old scars are singing like they were when I-I got em"

While this may have just been something she said to sound tough... her scars that had existed before were burning quite literally. Smoke was being emitted from her glowing scars as they started crumbling and falling off. Later on her entire body started glowing as she exhaled smoke

"AHHHHH! CMON YOU WEAK BASTARDS! I REMEMBER YOUR PAIN WELL!"

Through this unimaginable torture her ability to speak up was an impossible demonstration of her utter defiance to pain.

As her body grew brighter and brighter ever increasing in temperature until she resembled and gave off the heat of molten metal causing her grandchildren to back up. She gave off one last burning glow before she was too bright to see, with a final muffled howl of pain the glow faded and in it's place was the kids grandmother...

"GRANDMA?!"

Geran yelled in shock while Clara covered her mouth with shimmering eyes

"Eh? what's got you kids in such a fuss?"

Clara screamed out in excitement to her grandmas question

"G-Granny...You're so pretty!"

In the place of their strong but enfeebled grandma was a woman not looking young but appearing to be in her mid 30's or early 40's with a powerful build, if a word could be applied to her appearance it would be "Amazon" and a beautiful one at that. In place of her wig which had burned away rested a gleaming head of raven hair. 

Geran in a state of bewilderment repeated his words

"Grandma? No I guess you look too young for that now, Cynthia?"

Cynthia blushed in embarrassment before stamping her feet

"I-I DON'T CARE HOW OLD I LOOK! I didn't raise your father and you kids for the golden years of my life to be called anything but Grandma!"

Clara asked inquisitively

"What about Admural?"

Cynthia chuckled playfully which she hadn't done in years

"It's pronounced Admiral, but those days are long gone sweetie."

As they were stunned and admiring the changes that had happened they felt the earth start shaking before all the panic they had heard outside their small apartment ceased. They opened the window to see what had caused the sudden shift in mood until they were similarly shocked silent.

All of the planets that now littered the night sky of various shapes and sizes that defied the laws of astronomy had started glowing including the earth

The voice that rocked the universe was heard again as a screen appeared in front of everyone.

[Hear ye pitiful lifeforms, a conference was held, the respective gods of your planets were summoned for a grand battle until only the 1289 most powerful remained. Fret not for those who were culled, they have become powerful objects scattered through unique dungeons meant for only the strongest to conquer.]

Cynthia pondered for a short period of time over a key word that stuck with her, while most were stuck on the declaration that not only were the gods real but they had been subjected to a horrific tournament of death by this unknown invader. Cynthia however was stuck on the word-

"planetS?"

Geran and Clara looked to their grandmother instead of listening to the horrifying descriptions of the voice

"What did you say granny?"

Clara was still confused while Geran quickly caught the meaning

"Wait you don't think that means... they aren't planets to spawn monsters but planets of other competitors in the same situation?"

The voice quickly explained

[Current Realms in Universe 25791: 1,289. Current number of Monsters: Incalculable. Current number of participants in Balanced Hell: 2,973,025,643,215. Current Awakened: 37,057,253,068. Current Enlightened: 2,604,498,756. Current Dual Illuminated: 6,445. Hmmm... numbers are a little low compared to... nevermind, it'll be fine. Phase 1 Hell linking will commence, please wait while your planets are adjusted]

The worlds suddenly shifted and distorted, earth literally opened up at the south pole making the earth flat as the south pole fell into place as a border. The planet closest to earth had made similar changes until it too was flat and crashed into the only part of earth not protected by an ice border locking like a puzzle piece. A new voice matching that of a young boy was suddenly heard

[Greetings Terrans, this is a specialized message for your planet. As a part of your phase 1 in Balanced Hell your planet has been linked with the first world like many others. Instead of 1289 separate planets there are now 644 linked planets, the worlds linked contain all types of different species, some similar to yours yet some far different. The animals you are used to no longer exist and are instead replaced with more aggressive monstrous versions. The goal is to survive both the monsters and other participants, while many are peaceful there are many who are aggressive and would kill you for the benefit, including other humans. The benefit to killing another participant is that you get double the proficiency and experience which as many of you have realized provides limitless power. Your skills and titles are decided by your life before linking however this does not mean you are hopeless if you did not receive the best skills despite my superiors theatrics, you'll just have to work much much harder than you're used to. It goes without saying however... if you die you don't come back.]

The last part was said with a sort of sadistic glee that was even more terrifying in a child. Before Geran could speak however he heard a neighbor who had walked outside speak

"H-Hey, this is a dream ri-"

Before he could finish that sentence he was suddenly cut off, not from his sentence but from his body, blood started oozing from his eyes and mouth as he looked down to see a bulge in his shirt like a pool floatie wrapped around him, his top half slid forward and fell off as the life drained from his horrified and confused face, his shirt obviously same off with his torso to reveal a large scaled worm snaked through his jeans and burrowing down into his pelvis it had been taking bites out of. When Geran looked to his terrified neighbors he had to yell quickly

"GET INSIDE! THERE'S MORE COMING!!!"

When the neighbors looked toward the bushes and lawn they saw all manner of altered insects or creatures in the process of being altered moving towards them. Cynhia slammed the door while Clara screamed and covered her eyes as the reality set in to the chorus of screams outside

"G-Granny wh-why didn't we help them?!"

Cynthia looked down letting her raven hair cover her eyes

"As a soldier my duty is to protect the people, but I'd give up any medal I have to my first duty to protect you kids. Geran do you have any other info?"

Geran nodded solemnly

"I got a skill essential to any good RPG or fantasy series, I think it's time we [Identify] our skills and strengths, Clara we need to hold off on getting you powers until things calm down and we can get proper supplies just in case."

With this grim future in front of them the apocalypse had begun, is what they would say if a new message didn't pop up

[New Quest: Kill 15 Monsters/Participants

Time Limit: None

Reward: Class Bestowal]

 

 

 

 

AN: Alright we're finally back to the main story and you get to see the real difference in powers from other series next chapter, This will be a series full of mystery and I welcome anyone to try and find any Easter eggs in the series, so far there are 3 in the series you'd know.

 

PS. before you get your hopes up no this isn't like solo leveling or any of the spin offs where the protagonist is going to be some weak-OP necromancer. The MC will not be a necromancer so I'm not even letting you guess that, but guess the class the MC is going to get and if are right you can decide what animal you want the first big bad to be based on. As always remember to favorite/like if you enjoyed