Reborn: Apocalypse
Chapter 3: The Holy Shop

After a few moments, Micheal overcame his emotions. There were only minutes left till the next Wave of Chosen were transported away from Earth, never to return. In that brief period, he knew exactly what he needed to do. He could not afford to let himself get emotional right now, no matter how raw his feelings.

His deep, blue eyes gleamed as he looked over to the left, his short brown hair rustling slightly. He rubbed his strong chin lightly, feeling the scraggy stubble that had appeared.

"Shin! Shin! Wake up, quickly!" His voice was authoritative as he rushed over to a tent that was set up right next to his, throwing it open. The brisk scent of the morning air filled his lungs, a refreshing smell that he hadn't tasted in years.

"Y-yo what's up, man? How early is this?" A bleary-eyed, blonde haired 18-year-old stared at him through the open tent in confusion.

"Shin, I need you to listen to me." Micheal's eyes were deadly serious as he spoke, his voice containing a certain level of pressure and force that Shin had never heard before.

As Micheal looked at Shin, the scene of Shin sliding to the ground, dead, flashed in his mind. He blinked as he looked at the blonde teenager, taking a deep breath as he forced himself to focus. All of that had yet to happen, it wasn't real. At least, not this time around.

"What's happening?" Shin's eyes became serious too as he nodded at Micheal, settling down. Shin had always been better at adapting to things, Micheal had always noticed, taking things as they came. He, himself, had always been bad about that.

"Shin, we are about to be Chosen. We are part of the Fourth Wave of Chosen, which means we will be three years behind the other Chosen." Micheal's voice was cool as he continued,

"I need you to listen and remember everything I am about to tell you. This is not a joke, this is not a game. If you don't listen to me, you may very well die." He had already changed the future now, so he might as well go all out.

"…"

For the next several minutes, Micheal talked without pause at Shin, telling him various things and explaining what was about to happen.

In particular, he explained what the Shop was.

The Holy Shop, as some called it.

When the apocalypse took hold and people were transported, the first thing they saw when they vanished from earth was a small, floating blue screen. The infamous Status Screen.

Apart from that, there was a white screen that appeared as well.

The Holy Shop. A shop where one could spend 'Points' to gain powerful Abilities or Artifacts, tools that affected whether or not one could survive at all as they moved through the Seven Layers.

Every human being in the world had access to the Shop.

However, none of the other Races had access to the Shop. Only the Human Race did. Researchers theorized that this was because the Human Race was considered the weakest race in existence, and that the Heavens had created the Shop to rectify this, to make this final struggle a fair one.

Of course, in the end, it hadn't been enough. Humanity lost, and lost pitifully.

'But I will change that, this time around.' Micheal swore, his eyes full of fire.

'I won't let it happen like last time.'

'I won't.'

"This is all about to happen?" Shin's stunned voice, full of shock and surprise, caught Micheal's attention as he finished musing.

"Yes. I had a vision of the future. I need you to keep that a secret, and remember exactly what I said." Micheal responded, his voice warm as he looked at his longtime best friend, a man that had stayed by his side for more than 10 years of harrowing survival. For now, he decided it was easiest to explain his situation as a vision of the future. He lacked the time to dive deeper, not right now.

As he looked at his best friend, he knew that there was no way in hell he would leave Shin to die. He hadn't even met up with Shin again till the 2nd Layer, originally, the two being lost and clueless like all of the other Chosen initially were.

As for his family…

He had never met up with them, but had known that, at the least, they weren't part of the Fourth Wave. They had died in one of the Layers, he wasn't sure which. If only he or Shin had brought their phones with them on this camping trip, it would've been worth it to hear his mother or father speak, or to talk to his little sisters.

He sighed.

'I will save them. I will save everyone.' His eyes widened, full of determination.

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

A few moments after they finished speaking, a loud, but familiar, whirring noise shook the air. Particles of energy seemed to flow, visible to the naked eye as bright light surrounded Shin and Micheal.

And not only those two. But, instead, 1,000,000,000 people total, an entire billion people. From China to America, Russia to South Africa, Australia to Brazil.

In that instant, one billion people were surrounded by light.

1,000,000,000 people were Chosen to be part of the Fourth Wave.

All of those people, Shin and Micheal included, vanished.

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

Micheal blinked, his vision clearing as he found himself in a familiar setting once more...

An ethereal, fogscape where he floated in mid-air, right in front of two stationary screens. His body felt cool, as if he was swimming in a pool of water. It was comfortable and relaxing, quite peaceful.

.

— - Shop — -

Available Points: 48,200

Abilities - Artifacts

.

— - Status — -

Name: Micheal Care

Points: 48,200

Race: Human

Age: 18

- Stats -

Strength - 11

Endurance - 11

Recovery - 10

Soul - 10

- Abilities - (0/7)

"Please spend your allotted Points till they are completely used up. You have one hour to choose. After that hour, all unused Points will be discarded, and you will be transported to the First Layer."

An ethereal, feminine voice sounded off, another familiar voice. A voice from the 'Spirit' that ran the Shop, a being some theorized was God, while others declared was something akin to a magic computer program or Ai.

Micheal ignored that voice, however, as he immediately tapped upon the 'Abilities' option in the Shop, ignoring everything else.

.

—-Abilities—-

Ki Cultivator (God Tier) - 1,012,800,500

Ki Cultivator (Emperor Tier) - 256,850,600

Ki Cultivator (King Tier) - 31,402,800

Ki Cultivator (Lord Tier) - 5,288,000

Ki Cultivator (Sky Tier) - 606,500

Ki Cultivator (Earth Tier) - 95,000

Ki Cultivator (Mortal Tier) - 5,000

High Werewolf Type – 10,250,000

Werewolf Type – 556,000

Lesser Werewolf Type – 12,000

High Vampire Type – 11,350,000

Vampire Type – 688,000

Lesser Vampire Type – 16,000

Steel Body Type – 40,000

Herculean Strength – 2,500,000

Enhanced Strength – 20,000

Enhanced Recovery - 20,000

Dragon Blood Type – 16,340,000

Ice Caster Type – 245,000

Fire Caster Type - 245,000

… (1/41 page)

.

"It's all the same." He thought, breathing out a sigh of relief. The Abilities you could buy, some of them upgradeable while others were enhancements or unique 'Types' who's users would come to be known as 'Adapted Humans.' Everything was the same.

He even had the same 'Point' total as before, a total that he had lucked out with. The average Points that most humans started with was 20,000. To start with 48,200 was a huge boon and the luckiest part about his starting position. How the Point totals were decided was a hotly debated topic among researchers that had no answer. Some thought it was based on potential or talent, while others thought it was random.

Of course, that was nothing compared to those that started with 100,000 Points, or even a few that started with 150,000 or 200,000. Some of the legendary leaders of the Last Army even started with close to 600,000 or 700,000 Points, a ridiculous sum.

In an instant, he flipped to one of the last pages, in the very back. These pages were full of Abilities that could only be purchased a limited number of times, for some reason. Many of these had been largely taken up by the users of the first three Waves. After the Fourth Wave finished, almost all of these were gone.

As he scanned through the list, however, he found the Ability he was looking for. It had already been chosen three times, one of the few Abilities that had a limited supply.

…

Life Orb Master – 40,000 (3/4)

…

"Ability select, Life Orb Master!"

"Are you sur-"

"Yes, I'm sure! Purchase it immediately!"

.