In the streets of New York City, a golden-haired young man walked along the sidewalk, his green eyes shining with delight as he listened to music on his headphones.
"4 rings before 40, he's still pushing, that's why he's the goat," Alex sang to his favorite remix out loud, attracting the bystanders with his melodious (horrific) voice.
Noticing all the weird looks he was getting, he lowered his head and started speed walking 'I did it again," he thought.
Soon, he reached a moderately sized apartment complex; stepping inside, he walked through the hallways and entered the elevator.
"4th Floor" he politely informed the grumpy elevator man on which floor he wanted to go to.
One awkwardly silent elevator ride later, he reached the 4th floor, pulled out his keys, and walked towards the room at the end of the hall, 403.
The door spun open, a nauseating draft assaulting his nose; looking at the lumps of trash and garments all over the apartment, his face contorted.
"Why me? Why couldn't I just have a pretty maid to clean all this up for me!" He lamented his fate of being born into a middle-class family with no cute maid in sight.
He took off his headphones, putting them on his desk, sinking into his gaming chair, imported from IKEA.
"What's new? This damned update is just changing the mob skins! Rip off," he groaned, looking at his favorite open-world game releasing such a worthless update.
Closing the games tab, he started going through his social media.
'No replies today either.' Jobs are a precious commodity nowadays; it seems that even being a janitor requires three years of job experience; why do I need the experience to mop?
Closing his social media, he instead put on some YouTube videos, wondering if there were any new videos he'd be interested in.
Nope, another dud. Everything was so plain nowadays; it got so bad sometimes he'd wonder if there was even a point in trying to experience anything new anymore.
He shut off his PC, genuinely bored out of his mind. Nothing, nothing to do, not even a job he could work overtime for or someone he could talk to; after all, his family was old-fashioned and didn't use technology aside from him. As for relationships, even though he was pretty handsome, the culture nowadays disgusted him, so that was a no-go too.
In truth, life was a dull mess, and though he had the conviction to change, there weren't chances, not for someone like him.
If only he could get isekai'd, a magical world full of monsters and dungeons, a land he'd conquer with a sword in hand. Oh! The delight that would have been.
[Transport Arranged, No 7389.]
[Talent, Approved. Welcome, Mortal.]
Alex felt his eyes grow heavy, and not because of his usual all-nighters. A glimpse of the strange text floating in front of him was caught by him; what arrogant troll was this? Mortal? Is he an Immortal? 8th grade syndrome I swear-
A burst of light filled the apartment room, Alex's visage disappearing entirely, along with many others in different parts of the globe.
Alex felt his mind go blank, and a second later, he was in a vast field, the majestic sunlight falling on him; a quick spin would tell you that he wasn't the only one in this field. There were many others, presumably thousands, possibly more.
"What the hell is this? I was on the toilet damnit" A grumpy old man complained
A woman's scream was heard, her clothes messy and her hair falling off, revealing a sliver of her bald scalp. It seemed she had been caught mid-dressing up.
In another group of people, a small child was crying as he held onto a dinosaur plushie.
Similarly, many other situations were taking place throughout the vast expanse of grassland. Some are more awkward for those involved than others.
[SILENCE]
A giant blue screen popped up above grassy plains, everyone turning their heads towards it simultaneously.
[THIS WILL ONLY BE SAID ONCE.]
[YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN TO REPOPULATE THIS WORLD. YOU ALL HAVE TALENTS THAT MAY BE OF USE TO YOU; DO NOT OFFEND THE 7 TEMPLES; ASIDE FROM THAT, DO AS YOU WISH.]
With the disappearance of the blue screen of text, a wave of confusion and anger shot out. "Hey, I've gotta head to work soon; let me out! I'll get fired if I'm late again."
"Yeah! Let us out! Stop wasting our time!"
"Yeah-"
But as time passed, the sun began dimming, signaling night's eventual arrival.
Alex, as a certified keyboard warrior, knew exactly what this situation was.
A classic Isekai, you have talents from what that screen thingy said, and you grow stronger and beat some boss-type monster, like a demon king.
"Status" he called out confidently.
(...)
"Inventory!" Worry crept into his words
(...)
"Shop?" Disbelief plagued his speech...
People began to look at him strangely; everyone landed safely,, didn't they? So why did this guy seem to have a screw or two loose?
"He's not crazy, guys; I tried it just now; try thinking "Talent" really hard." A black-haired young man stepped forward, he flashed a smile, ruined only by the fact that his clothing choice was....illegal.
The parents, who had luckily been transported with their children, quickly covered their little one's eyes and moved away.
'Weirdo, I didn't know people still wore shirts with anime girls on them.' Alex thought as a blue screen appeared in front of him after he followed the questionable man's advice.
Name: Alex Edward
Age: 19
Talent: Cloning [F] [Growth Talent]
Level: 1
Exp: 0/100
Class: Not Selected
Hp: 100/100
Hp Recovery: 4/M
Attack: 10
Defense: 0
Mana: 7
Mana Recovery: 0.01/S
Stamina: 4
"Eh? It's not that bad; the stats are seemingly decent. Talent is an F Rank but a Growth Talent, I'm obviously the protagonist in this situation." Alex smirked at his status
"Oohhhh I'm S rank!" The black-haired young man shouted triumphantly.
"Move aside, you side characters. It's my turn to shine." He mocked as he pushed through the crowd, charging into the forest confidently.
A few minutes passed, and the young man had yet to return. But an old guest did make an appearance.
[GO TO THE VILLAGE, EAST OF WHERE YOU ARE.]
It didn't take a genius to realize why that extra little bit of help was sent down, so violently.
The crowd, nervously looking at the setting sun seemed to finally catch air of the seriousness of this predicament.
Naturally, they began walking towards the east, aiming for the village. As for how they figured out which way was east, they just had to look at the Sun to find out.
Alex followed behind the pack, albeit a bit sluggishly, as he was furiously staring at his Talent Panel, trying to understand how this broken thing was rated F Rank.
[Cloning Talent]
Level 1:- Grants the ability to summon a clone at the cost of 5 mana; the clone is identical to the player, and any items or weapons will be duplicated and received by the clone. This is only possible once per unique item. XP is also transferred to the host.
(Author Note: By unique item, it means any object; they can be two similar items like a health potion, but they will still be unique compared to one another. Example: if he has 10 potions, each potion counts as a unique item, thus there will be 10 duplicated potions for the clone)
Cooldown:- None.
I mean, he had 7 mana so it meant he could already summon a clone. Add on the item-sharing feature, which seemed like a potentially exploitable bug.
Not to mention! This was the [F] version of his talent, what about S? Like that weird idiot who died in the forest? What if it surpasses even that??
He let out a relieved breath "Things are finally getting interesting for me."