[Chapter:1][Island Castaway?]

"What the hell…"

Looking around, Max felt his lips twitch.

Just a second ago, he had finally reached the house he had been dreaming of going back to for almost a decade…

But before he could even knock or ring the bell, he found himself staring at the vast and seemingly endless ocean while standing on a small island…

((Congratulations, you have awoken the Talent [Absolute Skill Mastery(G)]. Please check your 'Status' for more details.))

"Who!?", he shot up in alarm, but realised that he was all alone on the island.

Not only that…

"That voice, did it just ring directly in my mind? But how…"

Just then, his vision changed, as three icons similar to those in computers appeared in it.

"These are…"

Although alarmed, curiosity won out as Max 'selected' the very first icon mentally, resulting in a hologram like screen appearing in his view.

. . . . . .

[Max Riggs]

Race : Human

Age : 27 years

Sex : Male

Tier : 0

Strength : G (0/1)

Physique : G (0/1)

Agility : G (0/1)

Spirit : G (0/1)

Talent : [Absolute Skill Mastery(G)]

Skills : [None]

. . . . . .

"This is…"

Max's eyes widened as he slumped down, and began to do push ups.

As a mercenary, although he had only fought for 8 years and participated in less than 15 war zones, his body was certainly far, far stronger than ordinary people.

In normal times, he would easily be able to do a hundred push ups with just ragged breathing and some tiredness in his arms, yet now…

"Tw…twenty…!"

*thud!*

Max felt his arms burn up, his chest heave as his body dropped to the ground, unable to even finish the twentieth push up. And his heart dropped along with his body.

"I…I became weaker…!"

Feeling the result for years of hardship, of sweat and blood and tears, disappear so suddenly…

((Conditions met. Learn skill [Breathing]?))

((Conditions met. Learn skill [Training]?))

((Conditions met. Learn skill [Rest]?))

"Huh?"

Looking at the prompts which suddenly appeared before him, his shock and heart wrenching pain at having his efforts wasted disappeared.

"This is…"

Looking at the Skills, Max's eyes widened as he hurriedly looked at his Status.

"My Talent…"

Tapping his 'Talent', a descriptions popped up.

. . . . . .

Absolute Skill Mastery(G) : Increase Level of any 1 Skill(s) at or below Grade G to max. Talent Grade increases with Tier. Number and Grade of Skills increases with increase in Talent Grade. Once selected, a skill cannot be unselected or replaced.

Note : Due to restrictions, number of Skills that can be learned is limited to number of Skills affected by Talent. Current number : 0/1

. . . . . .

A very simple description, but it made Max's heart a little excited.

"Max level skills…although I have no idea what that means, at least it sound good…"

Of course, without any available example, he had no idea what the benefit of a max level skill was. But at the same time, he could only select a single skill, making him hesitant.

"Let's wait for a moment, and take a look at the other icons first."

Deciding not to be hasty and accidentally waste a good opportunity, Max closed his 'Status' and swatted the 'learn' prompts away before looking at the other icons.

"This is…Mail? And there's an exclamation mark next to it, so does that mean someone sent me a mail?"

Blinking his eyes in confusion, he selected the Mail icon, and the corresponding window appeared before him.

. . . . . .

[System : Welcome to the Game] (!)

. . . . . .

There was only one unread Mail marked by an exclamation mark, which Max selected.

. . . . . .

System : Welcome to the Game

Hello Player, welcome to the Game of Gods and Men. The Game has been created by the Supreme Will of the Universe in order to facilitate growth and progress of Mortals, as well as giving them a chance at Godhood, and heights even higher.

The Game begins with you, the Player, stranded on an island in a vast and infinite Ocean. Do not attempt to reach the 'end' of the Ocean, for there exists no such thing. The World you are in is quite literally 'infinite' in length, width, depth, and height. And no, you are not on a spherical planet, but that is all I'll tell you for now, you have to find out the rest on your own! Spoilers are no fun, don't you agree?

The purpose of the Game is, in simple and concise words, 'Survive, Develop, and Conquer'. Survive the harshness of the Ocean, Develop your tiny island into a small island, big island, large island, small continent, big continent, even a landmass larger than planets and stars. And Conquer the myriad beasts and Monsters that exist in your world, which exist under the sea, on the land, in the sky, and even among the stars.

The Player can unlock more functions as they progress in the Game, and can even meet with other Players in other Worlds! All the population of all Sentient Races in the Universe have been enlisted as Players, so if you want to meet up with your friends, relatives, family, etc…, you better develop quickly~!

Basic tools to help you in your hopefully eternal journey are attached to this mail, and will be given to you once every day. Live long, live hard, and live FREE!

Oh, by the way, if you die, you will be re-spawned in another world on another tiny island, and all your progress / regression from the beginning of the Game will be deleted, so try not to die too many times!

So long!

. . . . . .

Max looked at the message in a daze. Unable to believe his own eyes, he read the Mail over and over again.

Yet nothing changed, causing him to take a deep, long breath as he looked at the 'tools' mentioned.

"A unit of wood, a unit of stone, 500 grams of food, 3 litres of water, a unit of fibre, and a unit of metal."

Selecting them all and choosing to bring them out, Max looked at the items that appeared before him.