Chapter 1: How Earth Was

Like a storm, the events that led to all of this came abruptly and unannounced.

30 years ago, one would be able to look at history as a chain of events linked by action and consequence.

As one thing leads to another, it was even possible to make predictions for the future.

Of course, precision was always going to be questionable when doing so, but still, it was possible to at least determine scenarios so unlikely that to consider them a possibility would be lunacy.

In such a world, that made so much sense for any that had a speck of reason, no one would have been able to predict that a mere decade later, the world would suffer such a change that history would derail completely, making any assumption about the future impossible.

As it is always the case though, there was one event that led to this. A single one, not connected to anything that had happened previously in our history.

It was called "The First Contact", and it happened 20 years ago.

At the time, Earth and its citizens, be they aware of it or not, were still following a logical path.

But all of that changed when she began to speak.

Softly, but due to the contents the message carried, not at all calming.

Everyone on the planet, as if their senses were shared, stopped their thoughts, and listened to a voice no one had heard before.

[Congratulations people of Earth.

I, Catherine, Goddess of the Red Night have decided to bless your world.

As such, you may now receive your Gifts.

Your planet will know its true nature, and you are to be accepted amongst many others.

Rejoice and Celebrate, Pray and Struggle, as I've chosen you, may you prove your worth.]

A phenomenon that, in a smaller scale, would have certainly been attributed to mass hysteria, yet... for the whole world, from the most influential of politicians to the most average kid, to reproduce the same words and describe the same voice...

Deep down, everyone understood that this was different from anything else.

However, to truly understand the effects of this event was another story entirely.

Soon after, people discovered access to Gifts.

Skills capable of turning the laziest person into an athlete.

People capable of healing through seemingly magical means, just by waving their hands over a broken bone was enough to have it restored better than any other treatment ever could.

Supernatural and unexplainable abilities were popping up everywhere. These miracles... made people feel truly blessed.

Explanations were hard to come. The obvious answer was the most fantastical one, simple magic, yet, common sense at the time dictated that this must've been the work of science beyond our comprehension, that Catherine, or whatever, was a being incomprehensible to us, from a civilization much more advanced.

Yet, these claims mattered not.

Most of the common folk were quick to notice the similarities of their newly found powers to RPG systems.

Levels, magic, mana, and status... all of that were staples of the genre, and known by many.

And if these staples, once fantasy, were now a reality, the natural question was... what about the others? Monsters? Dungeons? Other races like elves and dwarves?

Much like previously, it didn't take long for an answer to arrive.

It wasn't just the people that had changed, as Catherine, our self-proclaimed Goddess had said, the world itself was being blessed.

And so, if humanity had changed so much, it was only fair that the world would too.

It was somewhat unnoticed at first, at least to the general public, but around the world, an interesting structure started to appear.

As long as one had a weapon, they were able to fight back.

Most of the casualties we suffered were due to the fact we were caught off guard.

We had the means to push them back, and we did.

Against monsters that could be killed by fists alone, without even the need for special abilities, firearms proved to be extremely effective.

With the combined efforts of the people and the armed forces, humanity managed to regain control of the world for the most part.

However, challenges could still be found in many places.

The Dungeon Gates appeared in places like mountains, islands, or the bottom of the seas. The sky was no exception, nor were caves in remote locations.

To this day, in many of these places, rampages still occur.

The Dungeons in the Oceans are particularly problematic, and attacks have led to maritime trading becoming more expensive, but monsters are roaming around in quite a few areas. Especially away from cities.

The first plan to deal with the Rampages involved closing access to them and using the army to raid and hunt the monsters inside.

However, this didn't work.

There were too many gates, their locations were completely random, and it was both expensive and impractical to contain every single one of them like this.

So, emboldened by their own fight for survival, or for the memory of lost ones, popular demand won, and the Gates became accessible, giving birth to a new job.

Adventurers started risking their lives to enter the Dungeons. To hunt the monsters and uncover the mysteries about them.

Although... In a short period of time, it became clear why the government's first idea was to monopolize them.

The monsters, once killed, have a chance to leave behind something.

These can be weapons or small stones.

The stones in particular had an interesting quality to them.

They could be used as an alternative energy method.

Monster cores, as they were later called, became a commodity sold by adventurers to the Government.

And it wasn't the only thing that could be sold.

The Dungeons didn't only hide monsters, but also minerals and crystals, as well as many other goods.

They all had value as research material.

And so, offices were set up, where one could trade the materials they obtained in the dungeon for cash.

This led to a surge in people becoming adventurers, but as supply surpassed demand, eventually, things stabilized as other jobs became more profitable.

Still, it was a fact that the world had changed completely in just one year.

There were also no clues as to what could change next.

The only certainty was uncertainty now that reality and fantasy were closer than ever.

I was born 18 years ago.

Thus, this fantasy-like reality is the only one I've experienced.

Although I do know about how things used to be, I can never taste that reality.

This fantastical world is where my story started.