Quest Complete:
Get to safety
Reward:
Class Selection
A similar blue box appears before me. The blue light floating in the air like a strange projection. Sinking to the ground I read through the text of the screen before me. Once done the screen vanishes, replaced by a new one.
Classes available:
Class:
Attributes:
Skills:
Warrior
+3 to Strength
+1 to Dexterity
+2 to Agility
+3 to Endurance
+1 tp Perception
Battle Focus
Mage
+5 to Intelligence
+3 to Wisdom
+2 to Willpower
Mana Manipulation
Unlike the other windows this one didn’t disappear after being read. Instead it floats in front of me, following my gaze as I turn my head.
It reminds me of the brief window I saw when this all started. The one detailing my personal stats. At the memory of the first blue screen a new window appears before me.
Personal Stats:
Attributes:
Value
Name:
Joel Dylan
STR:
6
Level:
2
DEX:
5
To Next Level
0/25
AGI:
5
Sex:
Male
END:
7
Age:
19
INT:
9
Class:
N/A
WIS:
7
LUC:
4
HP
100/100
CHA:
5
N/A
N/A
PER:
8
WIL:
4
Free Attribute points:
5
I reread the page and after it disappears, leaving me with the previous screen of the classes available. I read through the class screen again and get the feeling that I am playing a game.
The dream did say the world was changing. If the zombies aren’t the end of the change then that would explain these screens. Whatever made the zombies might have also made these screens. That would explain why the zombies have floating boxes above their heads.
Ever since the earthquake things have gone tits up. From strange dreams, to floating boxes, to voices in my head. I want to believe this is all some dream but the pain and exhaustion I’m feeling is very real.
With a sigh I focus on the screen. No matter what’s going on this is my current reality. Dreamed up or not this is what my life is. Floating boxes and zombies. I can fight it, run from it, or embrace it. I’m done running and I have no clue how to fight this.
With my mind made up I read through the screen a third time. Understanding that it’s presenting me with two choices. To be a Mage or Warrior.
The choice seems kinda simple to me. If this is real, like I feel it is, then being a mage would mean magic. Like throwing fireballs or summoning golems to fight for me. All the possibilities of magic race through my mind. Excitement wells up in me as I imagine what I could do with magic. With thoughts of raining lightning down on the zombies I mentally select the Mage option.
Do you wish to choose the MAGE class?
Yes/No
The old window disappears, in its place a new one. I mentaly select yes and the screen fades. For a second nothing happens, then all at once I feel as if I’m being electrocuted, set on fire, having my brain squeezed out of my skull, and like I’ve been submerged into ice water.
The sensations roll over me in waves leaving me breathless and wishing for relief. Fire then ice then electrocution. Each wave brings a different sensation as my skin feels like it’s melted off, frozen in place, then shocked into being alive again. Like some weird Frankinstien.
Inside of me I feel heat in my chest as something is forcefully filled in me. The liquid fire spills out from it’s core and flows through my body following invisible lines. The liquid leaves me feeling like I’m burning from the inside out. Yet at the same time my muscles and body feel frozen solid from the cold. And then there's the mind numbing lighting coursing through me making everything so hard to focus on.
I don’t know how long I’m left to experience this. After what feels like a lifetime the fire dies and the ice thaws. The electricity coursing through me stops being painful and leaves me feeling energized and alive.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
I open my eyes to a thudding headache but I quickly forget that as I look down at my arms. Blue lines of pulsating energy criss-cross my skin. After a second they fade leaving me looking bloodied like before.
Glazing up from myself I’m shocked at the room around me. The colors popping like never before. It’s as if I’ve been living life in black and white and I’ve just been introduced to color.
The white of the walls looks more like a washed out cream. The floor’s blue carpet now looks like cobalt. The blood smearing the room now has different shades of red strewn in.
The air still smells of iron and vomit but beyond that I can smell something else. It’s as if I’m more attuned with the world around me. My senses dialed up a notch. My brain is able to process the information better.
I stand and feel light headed for only a second before the world settles into place and everything feels right. Examining my body I don’t feel like anything is out of place. However I feel something flowing within me. Something that wasn’t there before.
Closing my eyes I try to focus on the feeling lying just beneath my skin. Trying to pinpoint what the sensation is. For a second I’m left with just the strange feeling that something is flowing there. However as time passes the feeling becomes more concrete.
My mind focuses on the feeling and I become aware of streams of concentrated energy flowing throughout my body. A lake of it pools in my chest with rivers flowing out of it feeding into streams that trickle down into tributaries that supply the energy to my whole body.
I know innately that this energy is my mana. Focusing on the pond inside of me I’m able to control the flow of it. Mentally urging more to flow down one river leading to my hand makes the dull glow brighten. The energy moves sluggishly at first but finally reaches the end of the river pooling into my hand. I feel my hand heat up and I open my eyes to look at the hand.
An arctic blue light coats my palm. Blue cracks ebbing from my palm. Their glow dimming the further they are from my glowing palm. Letting my mental grip on the energy go, the light fades and the lines of energy criss crossing my arms disappear.
Calling the energy to my palm again I watch as the lines appear and grow brighter where I want the energy to be focused. Pointing my palm towards the wall across from me I focus more energy into my palm. The heat grows and grows until I feel as if my palm is burning.
Concentrating, I will take the energy out of my body. For a second I feel the energy reist, preferring to stay inside of me. With one last shove the energy leaves my hand and floats an inch before my palm.
With a simple command I’m able to push the energy forwards making it glide forwards. I command it back and it floats back. With a thought I make it do figure eights and loops around my hand.
As I do so I feel the ball shrink in size as it floats and moves about. The energy sustaining it being burnt off. Commanding more mana to flow into the orb causes the shrinking to stop but nowI feel my pond slowly draining.
Calling the orb back into me replenishes my pool a little bit. The viens only disappear when I let the mana inside of me flow naturally. Calling another orb out I play with it a bit more.
My mind races with excitement. I’m an honest to god wizard now, able to control mana. The blue ball flies around me as I forget the world. What are the possibilities of this energy? Can I make fire? Conjure spirits from other dimensions?
I feel my heart beat fast as questions explode in my mind. I’ve always been fascinated with things I didn’t understand. I would spend countless nights secretly reading books about science and history. I use to try and ask my father questions about things like gravity but it always made him furious.
Now I feel like Sir Isaac Newton or Einstein learning to understand the world around them. What is mana? What can it be used for? It feels warm in me and flows like a liquid but other than that I have no clue what it is.
I focus on the golf ball sized orb floating in front of me and my mind focuses on a single question. What can I do with this? I mentally command the orb to fly into the wall across from me. It shoots out, racing across the room faster than I expected. I feel my control over it vanish when it hits the wall.
The wall doesn’t put up any resistance as a hole is burned into it, letting me see into the hallway beyond where the orb continues to fly. Through a door and into the restroom across the hall and into the concrete wall of the exterior where it smashes into, popping with a flash and leaving a small crater.
“Damn.” I whisper, surprised at the strength of the orb.
Looking inside of me I realize that playing with the orb and forming it took over half of the pond of mana that I have. However as I wait I realize that something fills the pond up. It’s slow but I estimate it’d only take two hours to replenish the used up amount of mana. So following that logic it’s about an hour for every quarter I use.
Curious about the class I picked, I call forth my stats screen by thinking of Personal Stats. The blue box pops into existence shining it’s familiar blue glow.
Personal Stats:
Attributes:
Value
Name:
Joel Dylan
STR:
6
Level:
2
DEX:
5
To Next Level
0/25
AGI:
5
Sex:
Male
END:
7
Age:
19
INT:
14
Class:
Mage
WIS:
11
LUC:
4
HP
100/100
CHA:
5
Mana
13/28
PER:
8
WIL:
6
Free Attribute points:
5
Reading through the screen again brings only a few expected changes. The class now shows mage and I have a section for my mana. Looking through the screen I realize I have a section for free attribute points, where I have five to spend.
If this is like a game then I can use those points to boost the listed attributes but without knowing exactly what the attributes affect I’m hesitant to drop them into any. I haven’t played very many games in my life but the few I have have made me want to hoard my free points until I figure out what kind of character I’m building.
Trying to puzzle out the effects of the attributes cause new windows to pop up as I focus on an attribute.
Strength:
Your ability to exert force on physical objects. It increases your damage with melee weapons and your fists.
Agility:
Your ability to move at fast speeds.
Dexterity:
Your ability to control your body with precision, especially at higher speeds.
Endurance:
Your ability to exert yourself physically for extended periods of time.
Perception:
Your ability to observe your environment and notice minute details.
Intelligence:
Your ability to learn quickly and remember more information.
Wisdom:
Your ability to recall information and gain insight.
Willpower:
The strength of your spirit and resolve.
Charisma:
Your ability to come across as likable by others and to have commands followed by failiars, summons, and tames.
Luck:
How often events turn out in your favor. Cannot be raised with Attribute Points.
The descriptions for the attributes were fairly bland but also gave some insight into what they’re used for. Strength, Agility, Dexterity, and Endurance all affect you physically. While Perception, Intelligence, Wisdom, Willpower, and Charisma affect you more mentally.
Going off the boosted attributes from my class. Intelligence, Wisdom, and Will Power must all affect my mana in some way. Intelligence probably increases my mana if mana is anything like my memory. Wisdom might quicken spell casting speeds. While Will Power might affect my control over mana.
I wonder if there’s some way to learn spells, maybe a spell book or something. Until I can get one I’m just going to have to come up with spells on my own. Kinda like that blast I just made.
Looking at my Attribute Points I decide to dump two into Strength and Endurance and the last one into Intelligence. I feel heat wash through my muscles and a minor electric shock course through my head. Leaving me feeling slightly more than I was before. Checking my General information again I see that my mana pool grew to 30. I let all the screens before me vanish and sit back on the ground.
The world has changed and I’m changing with it. I’m not going to be prey anymore, always running and hiding, never fighting back. I don’t want to be trapped in this room forever. I want to go out and explore and grow stronger. I want to embrace this new world and find all that it has to offer.
Thinking about it logically I’m going to need a place to stay and rest. Even if I want to explore this new world I’ll still need a place to hang up my hat. A place that can be fortified against the zombies roaming outside.
A sudden idea hits me and the more I think it over the more it just makes sense. This building is built pretty well and only has four entrances into it. The walls are made of sturdy concrete and steel. The doors and windows are made with some of the industry's best bullet proof glass.
I’m going to clear this building and make it my home base, for now at least. But I still need better weapons to fight the zombies. This baton doesn’t do a lot of damage. A memory comes to me offering an idea on where I could get a better weapon.
The day shift for this building is worked by armed officers. One of which keeps his gun in the security lockers on the first floor. It may not be as useful as a sword or something in the long run, it’ll help out a lot with the few in the building right now.
Through the hole in the wall a flash catches my attention. The emergency light in the hallway flashing every few seconds in tandem with the alarm that I’ve been tuning out for a while. Being reminded of the alarm I realise that the longer it’s on the more zombies will be drawn to this building.
With a plan in mind I decide to head to the first floor while clearing the zombies. There I’ll turn off the alarm system and close and lock the front doors. That would make it so no new zombies can break in. Leaving me to empty out the building and move from there. I’ll grow stronger in levels and make this building safe to stay at.