My phone's alarm jolts me awake, and as I flick on the lights, my studio apartment comes into view. The room is dominated by my small, cluttered single bed adorned with thick blankets and scattered pillows. Cream-colored walls showcase a collection of photographs capturing cherished moments with my late adoptive parents and grandparents.
For a fleeting moment, I'm transported back to happier times when everyone was alive and content. I reluctantly roll out of my cozy bed and stretch, going to the bathroom to brush my teeth. The tired reflection in the mirror reveals hazel eyes shadowed by faint bags and my brown hair styled in a short bob. My hectic schedule has left its mark on me.
Leaving the bathroom, I glance through the small window beside my bed and notice heavy snowfall outside. I sigh, thinking, "I should consider relocating to a place with less snow. Perhaps Florida?" Memories of one of our homes in Florida resurface, although our constant travels due to my father's job prevented us from staying there for long.
Before I dive into my work on the art tablet, I venture into the kitchen to brew some coffee. As I approach, an unexpected and unsettling rumble, accompanied by creaking noises, reverberates through my apartment. The disconcerting vibrations beneath my feet cause me to stumble and lose my balance.
In the bustling heart of New York City, the usual vibrations from passing cars and construction machinery were a familiar backdrop to daily life due to the city's heavy traffic and constant construction projects. However, on this occasion, something felt markedly distinct. The entire apartment seemed to quiver and sway. An ominous feeling washed over me, akin to the sensation of an earthquake, and anxiety began to creep in.
"What the hell is going on?" As the lights in my apartment flicker on and off, dishes in the cabin start clanging together, and my anxiety rises. The lights have all gone out, and soon, the earthquake subsides. I hear the alarms from the cars outside going off in response to the earthquake.
This is the worst earthquake we have ever experienced. There must be a massive shift beneath New York at this very moment. A blue screen suddenly greeted my eyes. "Is this a game screen?" I've been in a VR pod before when I went to a gaming convention, and this screen is the same as the one I saw when I entered it. My attention is drawn to the text on the screen, which reads.
An outside energy source has invaded Planet No.35089. Protocol "INITIATE" has been activated.
Yeah, that doesn't sound good.
Suddenly, I experience pain in my head and a prickling sensation throughout my body. In another window, text displays
17,457,340,230 of the 20,547,648,450 population has adapted to this new environment while the To view your stats, users should think of status.
Okay, so maybe this is all a dream. Perhaps I am just sleeping and must pinch myself hard to wake up. So, I did that, and fuck, that was painful! Okay, let's go with the flow, and then I imagine the word status in my mind.
Name: Alicea Grey Sex: Female
Level: 1
Race: Human
Evolution Points: 0
Health 10/10 Mana 14/14
Stats
Body: 9
Influences both the damage you endure and the damage you inflict.
Nimbleness: 8
Affects your speed and reaction.
Vitality: 5
Determines your resilience to illness and the number of health points you possess.
Magic: 7
Shapes both your magical potency and the size of your mana pool.
Perception: 6
Determines your senses' acuity and perception of the world around you.
While viewing my stats, I heard a loud racket coming from next door, followed by a door breaking. Then I hear some of my neighbors slowly opening their doors and entering the hallway to see what is happening, only to hear them screaming.
Slowly and silently, I approach my door through the darkness and peer through the peephole to see what awaits me. The sight I witnessed terrified me. The dim light of my neighbor's flashlight reveals that the neighbors who opened their doors had been attacked by rats the size of small dogs.
The only thing I could do was freeze and watch the terrifying scene unfold in front of me. My lungs felt as if they were constricting. My heart began racing, and I realized I was experiencing a panic attack. Slowly, I moved away from the door and hid under the blankets of my bed, trying to block out the noise. As I lay there in fear, I lost track of time.
By counting numbers, I began to calm myself down. I was surprised to discover I had not heard any noise when I returned to my senses. When I slowly approached my door to look through the peephole, I observed that there were neither people nor rats outside. The flickering flashlights and bloodstains were the only evidence that what I saw was not a figment of my imagination.
In the corner of my vision, I see an icon blinking. When I focus on it, a message appears.
My valued users, prepare yourselves, for your lives are on the cusp of a profound transformation. As you once knew, the world has undergone a seismic shift, all thanks to the enigmatic force known as 'THE SOURCE.' The system has modified all living beings to better adapt to this new reality. However, for those who could not embrace these changes, a lamentable fate befell them, rendering them unintelligent monsters, unable to accommodate the shift.
But fear not, dear users, for those who have successfully adapted now possess the remarkable ability to evolve and harmonize with this ever-evolving environment. You can now create a sanctuary within a room by focusing on the icon that will manifest on your stat sheet. This haven will endure for ten days.
During these ten days, spatial rifts will emerge due to the world's transformations and the warping of its natural barriers. Once these ten days have passed, the world will stabilize, and your world will be incorporated into the multiverse. Consequently, all rifts and monsters will be transferred to designated towers within populated areas. To bolster your chances of survival, I strongly recommend strengthening yourselves by engaging and defeating these monsters. In return, you shall earn valuable evolution points that can be allocated to augment your statistics. You can discern the required evolution points for each stat by focusing your attention accordingly.
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Dear users, I implore you to embark on a journey of self-improvement, for the trials ahead demand nothing less. I fervently hope that many of you shall endure these forthcoming days and emerge from them as formidable beings. Your strength will be indispensable as you prepare for the challenges that loom on the horizon.
> System Administrator V
I gaped at the new influx of information that I had just received. What the hell is the source? Who is System Administrator V, and what do they mean that we will need strength for the challenges ahead? What challenges will we face? In any case, I need to calm down and think of a plan since all this information suggests that things will only worsen. I first need to establish a safe room, which would be an excellent place to start.
As a result, I opened my status and focused on the icon I had found in the corner of the screen. My room's power goes on, and I feel a sense of relaxation begin to take hold of me. Is it just my imagination that the safe space made my room more relaxing? Taking a moment to savor the feeling of safety, I glance at the new timer on my screen.
9 days, 23 hours, 50 minutes
The countdown took away my peaceful moment. The food and water I have now are sufficient for a few months, as I just went shopping for groceries yesterday to stock up for winter. I only need some weapons to keep myself safe and hunting to earn evolution points. In addition, I would like to wear clothing better suited to sneaking since I am still in my pajamas from my nap.
"Let's start with my clothes." I searched my closet and found dark black jeans, a white tank top, and a dark gray sweater. Then I hum, "I should also eat and drink water here just in case it takes time to return." When I get a small pot, I boil it with water. I looked in my cabinet and found Beef Ramen Noodle Cups. After pouring the water in and letting it sit, I search for my weapons.
On my bedside table, I keep my combat knives, which my grandfather had given me for my nineteenth birthday. I remember how I used to want to serve in the military. Still, the loss of my parents, who had adopted me, caused me to reconsider my desire to serve in the military. My father was killed during one of his overseas assignments, and my mother committed suicide. Having only my godparents left, I enrolled in different types of combat training classes to distract myself from my loss of family members.
The knives and belt are in the bottom drawer, and I remove them. The belt is put on, and the knives are placed in the belt. When I rummaged through my drawer, feeling forgotten, I discovered my night vision goggles. While hunting with my grandfather two years ago, he gave me some night goggles. He allowed me to keep them to have them on my next hunting trip. As a result of the sadness of losing his wife to cancer, we never went back hunting together. He passed away earlier this year. My sadness overtakes me for a moment before I stomp it out.
"Okay, let's see if this works." I turn off the lights and put on the goggles, and my entire room is covered in a green glow. It has been two years since I have used these things, but they still work well. To calm my frazzled nerves, I take a moment to breathe. 'Let's get this started,' I murmur under my breath. After I put my combat boots and night vision goggles on. My attention is drawn to the countdown.
9 days 23 hours 21 minutes
I turn off my room light. I cannot hear anything through the door, so I raise the goggles over my head.
Slowly, I open the door, making as little noise as possible as I survey the dilapidated hallway. As far as I can see, there are no corpses or rats in the hallway, only a few bloodstains that I am unsure if they are from a human or rat or maybe even both.
Looking at my neighbor's door to my right, I notice it is broken. As a result of what appears to be a heavy impact, splinters are scattered across the floor, and the hinges have been removed from the door frame. Only the sound of chewed meat can be heard when I listen closely. Taking a step toward the doorway, I peek into the open frame.
I see a rat the size of a small dog devouring a mutilated corpse's flesh.
I scan the entire area and see nothing to determine whether other rats are in the room. Since the rat faces the opposite direction, I begin sneaking up behind it and preparing my knife to stab it. When I lunged for it too fast to attack back, I stabbed it through the skull, and blood and brain matter sprayed from the wound onto my face. It feels as if I am going to vomit.
Suddenly, I hear something barreling towards me from the right. When I placed my arm in front of my neck and head, a giant rat that seemed to be obscured by shadows appeared in my vision. It then sank its teeth into my arm. My only response is to grunt in pain because I fear more rats will arrive if I make more noise. In response to the rat biting my right arm, I grabbed a knife from my belt with my left hand and stabbed the damned thing in the eye with it.
My arm was let go of by the creature, who screamed in pain as I pushed my knife right into its eye and pulled it out before stabbing it several times in the head until it stopped moving. My breathing begins to slow down, and I return the knife to the belt sheath. Slowly, I get up and go to my room, my left arm hanging and bleeding. Opening my door, I enter my apartment. I turn on the lights after closing my door behind me and locking it.
I take off my goggles and rush to the bathroom. I grab a bottle of alcohol and a gauze roll as I whimper in pain. While cleaning the wound, I dab some alcohol onto it and hiss from the stinging sensation. I apply antibiotic cream on the open wound and wrap it tightly in gauze. After cutting the gauze, I taped the end down. It took me a moment to realize that I was alive. I sat there in a daze for a moment before crying in relief.
As much as I cried for hours, it was likely only a few minutes. To prevent the gauze from getting wet, I wrapped it in plastic wrap and jumped into the bathtub. Upon turning on the hot water in the shower, I enjoy the warm sensation of comfort and begin to wash myself. Having cleaned my body for a few minutes, I turned off the shower and dried myself off. After dressing, I enter my bedroom, turn off the lights, and lie down. While lying down, I notice a blinking icon in the corner of my vision. Upon focusing on it, text appears in my vision.
The user has defeated Level 1 Large Rat.
Gained five evolution points.
The user has defeated Level 2 Shadow Rat.
Gained ten evolution points.
Gained an additional ten evolution points for defeating a foe twice your level.
As I look at my status, I see my health points and cringe. Half of my health was lost to that thing. As a result of that encounter, I became aware of my weakness. As that thought passes through my mind, I raise my stats.
Name: Alicea Grey Sex: Female
Level: 1 +
Race: Human
Evolution Points: 10
Health 20/20 Mana 20/20
Stats
Body: 10 +1
Nimbleness: 10 +2
Vitality: 10 +5
Magic: 10 +3
Perception: 10 +4
Body has reached a threshold, and the user gains skill
Entry Leech Infusion: With this ability, you can infuse four of your attacks with mana, allowing you to drain your opponent's health. Each attack siphons away three health points from your foe while consuming four mana per infusion.
Nimbleness has reached a threshold, and the user gains skill.
Entry Shadow Walk: This skill allows users to seamlessly merge with shadows, rendering them undetectable to foes with a perception stat of ten or lower. However, engaging in any form of attack will immediately deactivate this skill. The utilization of this skill consumes three units of mana every five minutes.
Vitality has reached a threshold, and the user gains skill.
Entry Vital Storage: Allows the user to stockpile 10% of overall health points to heal in and out of combat situations. This skill can be used three times. (Stock 0/6)
Magic has reached a threshold, and the user gains skill.
Entry Blood Weaponization: This skill allows the user to control blood and turn it into one chosen weapon under two pounds. This skill uses four health points to resummon, and the weapon can be dismissed anytime.
Perception has reached a threshold, and the user gains skill.
Entry Night Vision: This skill bestows the user the innate ability to perceive their surroundings with exceptional clarity. In low-light conditions, the user can see clearly within a 10-meter radius, while in total darkness, their vision extends to a 5-meter radius.
Observing my newfound abilities, I couldn't help but gaze blankly at my status screen. "These skills sound impressive and all, but why do they have to be centered mostly around blood?" I muttered in frustration. "Do you think I'm some kind of psychopath, System?" I complained with a sigh. "Whatever."
I was looking at the plus sign next to my level. Excitement surged briefly, but upon clicking it, a notification informed me that I would require a substantial 200 evolution points to level up. My hopes sank, and I sighed in disappointment before deciding to get some much-needed rest to rise early the next day. As I closed my eyes, I slipped into a dreamless slumber.