Alan sat up from his hospital bed. It had been several hours since the investigation people had left. He thought back to the event. How he'd found his best friend lying dead. The panic he'd felt seeing that. And finally, how that... thing. That crystal thing had suddenly attacked him out of nowhere. He supposed that thing had to have been the cause of his friend's death. Looking at the two stumps he had where his hands used to go, he felt a bit overwhelmed. He'd vowed vengeance upon it, but how was he supposed to achieve that?
He thought about the words that he'd seen pop up in front of him.
CONGRATULATIONS ON SURVIVING YOUR ENCOUNTER WITH PLANET EARTH’S FIRST DUNGEON! SYSTEM ACCESS GRANTED! ASSESSING FOR BEST FIT CLASS….
ANALYSIS COMPLETE! ARTIFICER CLASS GRANTED!
Honestly, he was half sure that he was hallucinating at the time due to the sheer sadness, rage, and physical trauma he'd experienced at the time, and the words had long since faded. However, he was honestly starting to think there might be something to them. In the two days he'd been in the hospital his healing rate was exceptionally fast. The doctors had commented on his unnaturally fast recovery, but he'd chalked it up to him being a naturally healthy person at first. Now however, he wasn't so sure.
Hmm.... I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try things out. Alan thought about Jeff and the crystal thing that had killed him. Alright! Let's see... I guess that if this system thing exists, I should figure out how to tap into its power. Giving it some thought, Monks meditated a lot. He'd seen a documentary or something with a monk walking around a mountain with no gear for warmth in freezing temperatures, so that might be a good place to start. He began to meditate, when all of a sudden, a message popped up in front of him.
WE ARE NOT DOING THIS AGAIN. ABSOLUTELY NOT! ARE ALL HUMANS THIS OBSESSED WITH MEDITATION? I DON'T GET IT!
AHEM! SYSTEM HELP MESSAGE: TO UTILIZE SYSTEM FUNCTIONS, PLEASE USE THE SIMPLE COMMAND MENU! THAT'S ALL YOU HAVE TO DO. MENU. YOU CAN THINK MENU. YOU CAN SAY IT OUT LOUD. YOU CAN EVEN SAY SOMETHING ALONG THE LINES OF "HEY SYSTEM, PLEASE CHANGE THE MENU COMMAND TO (INSERT WORD HERE). NO MEDITATION IS REQUIRED! JUST THE WORD. MENU! AMAZING HOW SIMPLE IT CAN BE, RIGHT? ABSOLUTELY NO NEED TO DO SOMETHING LIKE MEDITATION. ESPECIALLY NO NEED TO MEDITATE FOR SOMETHING LIKE 12 HOURS. MENU! MENU! MENU!
Alan stared at the message.
And stared at it a bit more.
And a little bit more.
He found himself a bit confused and couldn't help but think to himself that the system would probably greatly benefit from putting that information in the notification when a person gained access to the system. Sure, there were probably people who would figure it out really quickly, but most people probably wouldn't.
USER SUGGESTION UPLOADED. ANALYIZING...
USER SUGGESTION REJECTED BY ORDER OF THE HR DEPARTMENT. THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTION. AS A CONSOLATION REWARD, HERE YOU ARE!
CONTRIBUTION REWARD: +25 STAT POINTS. +SKILL: TELEKINESIS
Alan sat there dumbfounded for the second time in as many minutes. Well.... I'm a bit confused on what exactly that was all about. At the same time, might as well try out what the system said. MENU!
MENU:
Stats
Skills
Skill Shop
The words popped up on a screen in front of him. Okay. I guess let's try out stats first. STATS!
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
CURRENT STATS:
LEVEL: 1
XP: 0/100
STAT POINTS: 50
VITALITY: You look like you need a hand! (Or two!)
DURABILITY: Slightly less squishy than an average flesh bag. (At least you're not a rock!)
STRENGTH: Enough to get out of bed!
DEXTERITY: Would play horrible piano music at the moment
WISDOM: Better than a certain rock!
INTELLIGENCE: Less than the amount required to say the word menu without prompting. Greater than the amount required to realize that most people would need the prompt. (Sadly, that suggestion was rejected by the HR department on the grounds that most of the people with access to the system are criminals that would cause undue chaos. I really wish they would let me, but here we are.)
That... was highly insulting. Now that he thought about it, based on the system messages, he wasn't the first person to gain access to the system it seemed. That... wasn't good now that he thought about it. The investigator had said that a criminal disguised as a cop had survived an eight-ton vehicle hitting them. That was not good to say the least. Furthermore, it seemed a rock had gained access to the system. Kind of confusing. How would that even work? Maybe the system was comparing his wisdom to a rock it had found very disagreeable? Some people had favorite rocks. Apparently, the system had a least favorite one. Oh well, that was a question for another time. Alan decided to continue looking through the menu. SKILLS!
Skills: Telekinesis Lvl 1
Skill Points: 100
Okay. Not really a whole lot to go off of there. At the same time though, I do have telekinesis apparently. No idea how to use it though. Might as well try out the last option. SKILL SHOP!
SKILL SHOP:
Format: Skill/Skill Point Cost/Description
* Guidebook/20 Points/Originally meant for a certain idiot rock to get acquainted with the system, it has become abundantly clear that it is not the only one who would need such a thing. As a matter of fact, the second person to even realize that the menu function exists was due to prompting by the system, and the only reason that even happened was due to the HR department breathing down my neck about how despite the dozens of people that have gained access to the system, everyone seemed to be taking the default buffs with no thought of how to properly utilize me. How dumb is your species? I mean, seriously! Out of the people who have gained the system, several just shout, "GRANT ME STREGTH" at the top of their lungs and I'm left to put all the stat points into strength. (Note: Stregth is not a misspelling. That is literally how they say it. The first person to try it was really high at the time and said that. Everyone else followed suit. I hate it, and my hopes for your species gets lower by the day.) At any rate. This will help you get acquainted with the finer points of the system.
* Vitality Regen/20 points/Allows for healing at even more unnatural speed than gained by access to the system! Have you ever thought to yourself, "Wow, I really wish that I could recover from my heart being ripped out of my chest by an angry giant spider!" This skill is for you! Disclaimer: This skill requires evolving to super vitality regen and further leveling to super vitality regen level 10 before a traumatic injury as described is able to be survived. The system takes no responsibility for any death, dismemberment, or decapitation suffered by the user due to the mistaken belief that this skill will save them before they take the time to significantly level up the skill in order to survive such injuries.
* Mental Strength/30 points/Aids in the use of psychic related skills. Requires psychic type skill Aquisition in order to be an option in the shop. Side effects of using psychic type skills without this one may include, but are not limited to: Headaches, Vomiting, Nausea, Constipation, Dizziness, Diarrhea, Massive brain hemorrhage, and/or death.
* Mana Capacity/10 points/Allows access to mana. Higher levels increase mana capacity.
* Mana Regen/10 points/Regenerate mana over time. Each level gives 1 mana/hour regen rate.
* Meditation/1 points/This skill does literally nothing. It was added it to commemorate the 12 hours of time wasted by a certain rock. It has a nice calming effect when used by individuals who are not a rock. The price is incredibly low for no reason whatsoever. Enjoy! -System
Well... these are some options to think about. Furthermore, the information he had found out was... concerning to say the least. Based on what he saw that crime syndicate he'd encountered had access to the system. And furthermore, he thought with a grin, he did have the means to get revenge on that creature that had killed his friend. But first things first, he had to prevent the crime syndicate from causing issues. He had other people he cared about after all.
He called in a nurse and asked them to contact the investigators that had come in to let them know he had further information. And now to figure out what skills to buy. Also, he had stat points to allocate. He laid back in the bed. Don't worry Jeff. I'll avenge you eventually... As soon as this crime syndicate is taken care of...