Atreus pushed the buttons on the radio and marveled as a variety of foreign and almost alien kinds of music were played through the car somehow and Atreus was loving what he recently learned was ‘rock music’. Gary on the other hand had been robotic since he gained his first level. Barely speaking as he white-knuckled the steering wheel. The worst part is that Gary felt the difference in his body and mind. He felt more focused than ever before. His body didn’t feel sore from going to the gym yesterday, nor did his ankle feel tight from an old injury anymore. Leveling changed him and how his body worked now. Gary had been the one who got Arthur into video games, especially real-time role playing games that he still took the time to play on his off hours. But now when he thought about it, he saw a blue screen with a red bar that put a number to how much life he had in him.

Gary snapped back to reality as he pulled his car into the apartment’s parking lot. He still never understood how Arthur could handle living in such poor living conditions; he loved his brother but they never got along very well when they lived together. Atreus rushed out of the car, slamming the door into the neighboring car and denting it without even noticing. “I can’t wait to put on real clothes again.” The former berserker smiled as he said it. He jogged over to the stairs and rushed up them to avoid time in public with nothing but a hospital gown on, He knocked on the door to the apartment and very quickly after the tall blond woman that had seen him collapse at this very spot opened to greet him. “Oh shit, Arthur? Are you alright dude?”

Atreus held out his hand to shake hers, a practiced fake smile on his face. “Hello! My name is Atreus, what’s your name?” The lady scowled at him. “Are you fucking with me?” Atreus growled in annoyance and lowered his hand. “Whatever dude, can I get my clothes and stuff?” She stared at him for a few seconds and then stepped aside, which let Atreus see another lady was in the apartment, much shorter. She wore some kind of stitched gray loose hat almost over her square pink eyeglasses that contrasted with her black hair. Her outfit seemed to mostly be black as well that clashed with the brighter colors of the blond lady.

“Sam told me you got rushed off to the hospital, are you alright? We found your phone to send over and tried calling a few times.” The shorter woman said. Atreus strode past her while waving absentmindedly. “Delighted to meet you! I’m Atreus!” Both women saw his asscrack through the gown as he quickly entered Arthur’s room. The shorter woman named Marie looked up at Sam and raised her eyebrows in concern. “I really hope he didn’t have a full mental breakdown, babe. He was just starting to get good at melee!” Sam shrugged and put an arm around Marie “Maybe he went insane because you got him into fighting games.”

Atreus quickly tore off the hospital gown he was in and pulled on some of Arthur’s clothing. He tightened the sweat pants he found and tied them. He looked in the closet and found only a couple clean shirts hanging, He quickly snatched a loose fitting shirt with nice silky cloth, a pink summer shirt. Atreus pulled it over his head and something caught his eye. It was a white shirt with pinstripes, he took it from the closet by the hanger and inspected it. On the back it read “TYSON” with the number thirteen in huge text below it. Atreus recognized it as a baseball outfit. Somehow the shirt felt important to Atreus, he did enjoy the game when he had watched it but he started to get a weird tingle in the back of his head.

He just shrugged and tossed it back into the closet without even hanging it up. He thought it would probably be fine where it was. He also noticed the wooden baseball bat standing against the corner of the closet and picked it up. It was Heavy and nicely carved but it would probably break pretty quickly after a few swings. “If I were as strong as I should be.” In a moment of anger as he was reminded how weak he was Atreus considered feeding mana into the bat until it exploded. A few single digits of mana fed into the wood before he reconsidered getting shredded with splinters. Atreus and just tossed the inert wood onto the bed and sighed.

He collected Arthur’s wallet and quickly counted the cash inside. Paper money felt weird to Atreus who had always used coins for everything. Atreus groaned as he counted only fifty six dollars. “Better than nothing, I guess.” And shoving it into his pocket. He found a cleaner pair of socks from a drawer and put on a pair of black velvety boots. He didn’t really like the look of the black and white shoes that were the only other option. They looked too closely like clown shoes in his opinion. Atreus emerged from the room a moment later to see Gary staring in his direction, but not at him. He was looking at his status screen that only he could see; Atreus recognized the particular absent stare people got when they were looking at it. Sam and Marie were standing there looking at Gary, then Atreus in confusion and concern. “What the hell have you both been smoking?” Sam questioned him with a scowl on her face. Marie just seemed more interested than concerned.

Atreus took a few deep breaths. It was a common technique to help maintain your stamina bar. Breath control is incredibly important for berserkers as well as mages. There was more than once that Arthur got so mad he forgot to breathe. He raised his hands palm out and calmly pushed out mana from his hands. Both of the women gasped and Atreus marveled as he watched his magic manifest as a beautiful violet glow that radiated from his hand like a dim light bulb. Sam wrinkled her nose “It smells like ozone.” she said under her breath.

Both her and Marie didn’t understand what was happening. Then they both got notifications in their visions that told them that they had gained a level. Sam went blank and Marie literally jumped in joy. “Am I dreaming!? It's like a video game! This is so cool!” Atreus caught his breath. Losing Mana was a completely different kind of exhausting then making his muscles burn. He wanted to take a long nap instead of shoveling food down like usual. As he thought about it he realized he was starving. “I need food…” He complained out loud and pulled open the fridge. He reflexively found himself pulling out a beer. Atreus looked at the can. “Huh, muscle memory.” He opened the beer and took a long sip.

Marie came over and hugged Atreus suddenly. She was about as tall as him so she almost knocked the beer out of his hand with the force of it. She broke the hug just as quickly, Atreus was stiff as a board the whole hug and for a few moments after. “Thank you for giving me magic dude! Are you really a different person now? Like a metamorphosis kinda thing?” Atreus frowned at her. “No It’s not like… why am I thinking of the word ‘Gandalf’?” Atreus said, then he shook his head as his brain started tingling again. Gary spoke up for the first time in a while. “I think the word would be ‘Interdimensional’.” Sam slowly nodded her head. “Like a Freaky-Friday situation?” she asked, still halfway between disbelief. Gary shrugged. “According to him, yes.”

Marie smiled wide, she felt like her heart was going to burst out of her chest with pure excitement “Let’s go get you some food, Atreus. In return you need to tell me all about how magic works. I want to be flying as soon as possible!” Marie exclaimed and turned her bright smile to Sam. Who blushed and brightened up when she looked at Marie. Atreus shrugged. “Sounds like a deal. I can tell you what I know about the system. It seems like it followed me here and it’s spreading like a virus…” Somehow his own words scared Atreus. He just realized he probably shouldn’t have given magic to the first people he met. Good thing that the three he had met seemed to be happy to try and help him for now.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

Marie drove them this time in a bright yellow jeep. Atreus loved the open top on the car and had to be yelled at multiple times to not kneel or stand on his seat as he took in the alien world he was in. Soon after they were all in the parking lot of a burger place; where Atreus was presented with a greasy burger. Atreus looked at it apprehensively. It looked busy and kind of messy before he even started eating it. He slowly took a bite out of it when he realized the smell was actually pretty appetizing. Before he could stop himself he was chomping down on it and eating it fast enough to draw looks from his new friends. “Did they even feed you in the hospital?” Sam asked with a chuckle as she saw his face get smeared with ketchup and caramelized onions. Atreus slowed down as his stomach rapidly expanded. He wiped his face with a napkin and switched over to the starchy french-fries that were given as a side and nibbled on them.

Atreus looked around at the people looking at him with a wide range of expressions. Gary looked blankly at him, though Atreus could see the turmoil behind his eyes. Sam looked at him like he was an alien while Marie just smiled with raised eyebrows. “I guess I should just start again since you are all leveled now. “ Atreus took a deep breath in and squared his shoulders a bit. “My name is Atreus Penfold. I was a indebted adventurer on a planet called Earth.” Sam looked like she was about to get mad, as she opened her mouth to deny reality

Marie burst out in excitement. “Interdimensional, like Gary said! Our world is also called earth, that’s so cool!” Gary rubbed his eyes

“My brother works at a gas station. How could he possibly have gotten involved in inter-dimensional body-swapping?” Gary asked. Atreus shrugged. “I have no idea how magic works in this world.” Sam huffed in exasperation. “It didn’t, until now I guess!” Marie rubbed her girlfriends back and Sam immediately calmed down. Marie turned to Atreus “Well how does it work in your world?” She asked. Atreus chewed on fried potato as he thought about how to describe it. “Magic spells are something that can be learned. You can do some really amazing stuff with it. I guess the system itself is magical in a way I never really thought about. It can’t exist without mana, which is just pure magic stuff.” Sam and Marie glanced at each other. Gary nodded his head slowly. “Mana is a fantasy word here. Magical energy,” Atreus snapped his fingers “Energy! That’s the word I was thinking of.

Marie was typing rapidly on her phone and writing down everything that Atreus said, then turning her head in his direction. “How does somebody level up? And what’s the difference between skills and abilities?’ Atreus took a sip of his soda and smacked at his lips with a slightly disgusted expression, he would almost prefer water over something that was mostly sugar.

“You gain levels by doing a ritual and spending experience, you gain experience through anything you can call an achievement, that’s the general understanding.” Sam tilted her head as she heard that. “What kind of ritual? Better not be sacrificial in nature.” She looked suspiciously at Atreus. He shook his head as he replied. “Nah, a ritual can mean a lot of different things. The most common rituals that trigger leveling are either praying at an altar, or setting up a sleeping space like a campsite.” The three other people at the table stared wide eyed at him. Gary was the one who spoke up first. “Praying at an altar?” Marie cut in suddenly and waved her arms over the table. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves with religious stuff! Atreus, keep explaining!” Her insistence plus the fact he was eating food she bought him compelled Atreus to keep talking.

Abilities are …they can be special attacks, or actions that are boosted by the system and what you’re good at. I had an ability that raised my damage by a…” He tapped the table as he reached for the word. “Percentage! based on how much health my enemy had.” Marie nodded in almost rapturous attention while Sam and Gary shared a look of concern. Atreus continued. “Skills are what you’re good at, You increase your skills by getting better at whatever you’re doing. Are any of you really good at something?” All the eyes at the table drifted over to Marie, She looked back at everyone until she realized what they were thinking of. “Let’s test it?” She said jovially.

Soon after Marie and Sam sat in front of a glowing screen connected to the wall and a little electronic device that was hooked up to the television. Atreus watched as two colorful characters clashed on screen that the women controlled through what they called ‘controllers’ which made sense to Atreus. It was obviously some kind of advanced competitive game and Atreus was very interested in it. It wasn’t an entirely one sided match but even if Atreus didn’t understand the game very well he could tell Marie was quickly pulling ahead and soon Sam’s character flew offscreen and exploded into a beam of light for the last time. Sam looked over in anticipation as Marie’s jaw hung open as she stared off into space. “No way…” Marie muttered as she read over the system notifications. Both of the notifications.

You have performed a hidden talent

Skill: Competitive Gaming (Originator) gained

15,000 skill exp. gained

You have earned access to a Class

Gamer (ORIGINATOR)

Do you accept this class?

Marie’s breath shook as she re-read the notifications. “Yes!” She screamed out loud which made everyone in the room jump in surprise. She shook in excitement as yet another text box appeared in her vision.

You are now the Originator of the class: Gamer

You are the first in your class, and thus considered the origin of the class

You are the one who forges the path for every Gamer that comes after

As the originator, you gain unique and powerful abilities that are formed from your skills as the original Gamer.

Unique Abilities: True Read (Action) , Perfect Control (Passive) ,

Mental Stack (Action/Passive)

100,000 Experience gained

She was convinced this was a dream now. Marie felt like she was about to have a heart attack from intense, confused euphoria. She looked up at Atreus “How many levels does a hundred thousand experience get me?!” Atreus’s face changed as he heard that number; his face showed disbelief, anger, and sudden jealousy all in one. “What the fuck?” Atreus exclaimed with some fire in his throat. “You just got a class from a single match of this fighting game? What tier is your skill?”Marie read over her status screen again “It just says ‘originator’...” Atreus paced back and forth as Sam looked between her girlfriend and a familiar looking stranger with magic powers. “What does that mean?” Atreus threw up his hands in exasperation. “I’ve never heard of an originator class. The amount of experience she got is insane!” he shrugged as the temporary adrenaline quickly left his system. He looked at Sam, and then Marie. “After you level you will probably be the most powerful person currently in this world.”

Marie’s excitement was suddenly gone and she looked blankly at the ceiling, “The most powerful person? Probably not literally… What would actually powerful people do when they find out about this? The system?” She looked at Atreus. Concern tinting her expression. Marie was starting to see the big picture and Atreus saw it in her eyes. Atreus just shrugged. “I’ve never been one to respect authority to begin with.” Atreus replied with a grin.