I didn’t respond to the mysterious figure at first. Partly due to the fact that this felt like some weird dream. It couldn’t be real. The other reason was that my eyes felt like they were about to burst out of my skull and any attempt to gather enough strength to stand was taking up what few mental processes I was able to hold together.
The odd wireframe figure gestured towards Bernie. “If you’re worried about your friend, he isn’t dead.”
“Who the fuck are you, and what did you do to us?” I managed to ask, my eyes still swimming with visual artefacts. Bernie wasn't technically my friend, but that didn't seem important to establish at present.
“That’s… a complicated thing to answer, Scarlet.” The man clasped his hands behind his back. “Oh, I assume you do prefer ‘Scarlet’ rather than your real name?”
“Yes,” I responded through clenched teeth.
“Based on responses from other bunkers, I feel the easiest way to explain what is going on is something concise and simplified, with familiar pop-culture references.” He sighed and tried to give me a sensible stare. “Earth is being attacked by aliens, and those pods gave you superpowers that you have to level up like a video game.”
I returned a completely blank stare, the ire he had earned unable to change my disbelief.
“You… are familiar with video games, I hope?”
My head nodded as I blinked away the blur again. “Sure, I mean it was back when my kid brother was…” I paused and tried to focus on the small blobs cluttering my vision. “Shit, are these icons?”
It was all becoming slightly more clear now. Wherever I looked, these small symbols were clinging to my eyesight as though I was wearing a virtual reality headset, or like one of those augmented reality games. Once I stopped fighting their appearance, my eyes ached less.
“It will be physically exhausting for fifteen or so minutes before it feels like you’ve always had them,” the man tried to reassure me. “Once you’re settled, you should receive your first notification.”
I wasn’t entirely sure how to respond to him, or all of this in general. He was in the way of the door for me to flee. Not that I had the energy to make a run for it. Just as he had said, however, a blue box appeared at the top of my vision.
[Welcome to the STAR System]
[Please report to your Guide for induction.]
After shaking my head to get it to go away, it vanished—either the physical action or my intense willpower doing the deed. Focusing on reality for a second, I glared at the wireframe figure. “I suppose you’re supposed to be my Guide?”
“I’m afraid so.” He gave me a bow. “Each bunker has their own Guide, and my role is to get you started out in the world. So that you don’t die immediately.”
“Ignoring that part, who exactly are you? What is your name?”
He tilted his head and gave me a slight smile. “I’m not really beholden to any title. Why don’t you name me as you see fit?”
With a grunt, I pushed myself up to my feet. I wavered slightly, but managed to maintain stability. My strength was slowly returning, but I wasn’t in the mood for whatever games this man was playing, nor for his casual attitude toward whatever was going on in the world.
I rolled out my shoulders and gave him a dull glare. “How about Richard, since you’re being a bit of a dick?”
He shrugged. “Fine with me. I’ve certainly heard worse.” Richard gestured to the filled pod again. “Bernie here is currently the oldest to have survived the process, although it was quite the ordeal for him. He’ll be asleep a while with what we call ‘System sickness’.”
“So he will… have superpowers too?” I pulled a face as I looked between the sleeping man and this holographic Guide giving me exposition. “And this ‘System’ thing is like the rules of the video game?”
“Clever. Yes, to both questions.” Richard grinned. “I’m glad I won’t have to hold your hand too much. You can imagine how difficult this ordeal is to explain to parts of the world that don’t have video games or access to popular media like alien invasion films.”
Just as I was about to address that statement, another notification came in through my intangible screen, causing me to wince.
[Milestone: You have joined the System. A new world of opportunity awaits you.]
[Reward: Welcome Chest]
[Milestone: More eager than most, you have killed a monster before even joining the System!]
[Reward: Your Welcome Chest Skillbook has been upgraded to Rare]
After these two notices vanished away, the small round icon that looked like a backpack in the bottom left of my vision pulsed as if it was after my attention. I turned my eyes back to Richard. “This is… rather overwhelming. Even so, I feel like I should be more panicked than I am. Maybe I’ve just hit the limit of what I can understand and my brain has given up.”
He nodded. “This is a lot - I can appreciate that. Part of the System induction includes a Buff… ah, it’s not exactly a sedative, but it has a similar effect. Helps suspend your disbelief.”
I gave him a dull glare. “Does it also stop me from being mad people injecting weird shit into me?”
“Technically, yes.” He gave me a sheepish grin. “This isn’t exactly a perfect solution, but to give Earth a chance, it’s the best we could do.”
Jerking my thumb back to the pods, I furrowed my brow. “Who’s ‘we’? STAR? Does this mean you’re not from Earth? Are you an alien as well?”
Richard sighed. “It’s complicated. STAR is the name of the System that we adhere to, and before you ask, it’s not an acronym. I wouldn’t say I’m an alien, but… let’s say if you get to level five, I’ll give you more information.”
I gave him an exasperated shrug. This was still beyond what I was capable of processing. It felt dream-like, but the aches in my body told me it was real. I didn’t know whether it was the Buff I had been given or not, but I had a gut feeling that he’d be able to point me in the right direction to survive this than if I just bolted at this point. A glance over at the sleeping Bernie had me double down on that decision.
The truth was, I wanted to survive.
“So what’s next, Richie?” I deflated and looked around for somewhere I could sit. No such luck. “I have to go and punch some little green men with laser guns?”
“Nothing quite so… generic? Yet, sort of even more so.” He pulled out a chair from thin air, equally made of blue light and wireframe, and sat on it. I couldn’t tell whether he was oblivious to my need for rest, or perhaps was living up to the name I had given him. “The aliens in question are known as Radochs. Tall fellers that look like cockroaches. Six arms. Insatiable desire to invade and conquer worlds.”
“They sound… gross.”
“Indeed. Now they’ve found Earth, and have started softening it up for the main course. You’ve already fought against something they sent.” He gestured to the blood and dust covering my suit.
“I was going to ask about that. That boar was part of the invasion?” I pulled a face as I shuffled over to lean against the nearest closed pod. The appearance and aggression of the animal was surprising, but it didn’t seem particularly… alien.
Richard nodded. “We are in what is known as phase one. The Radochs are collectors by nature, and as they have gone conquering worlds, they take small slices. Often groups of people, monsters, or places that amuse them. They then send these down to worlds they are preparing to fight, both to thin out the weaker populace, grow some worthwhile adversaries, and expand the power of their System so they can arrive in full force.”
“So…” I rubbed at my head. “By fighting and growing stronger, I’m still playing into their hands?”
“If you don’t, you’ll die anyway. Given the Milestone you received and the state of your outfit, you seem like you’re a fighter.”
I rolled my eyes. “My key skills are getting in over my head and then running from my problems. I’d be surprised if I don’t bounce from this as soon as there’s an opportunity.”
“Aren’t your legs tired?”
My mouth opened and closed. He didn’t mean it literally, despite the answer being…
I looked over at Bernie, and my thoughts wandered to the diner. Abandoning assholes was nothing, but I’d hate to leave a bad impression on the decent people I had met. They deserved some common decency. I exhaled through my nose before looking back at the Guide.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
“I’m in for now, then. Just don’t push your luck.” I stretched out my ankles, one after another. “So you want me off to the city in the morning to gather some… experience?”
Richard shook his head animatedly. “Not at all. In fact, I would advise never going near the city. High population density areas have both a lack of bunkers, and will have higher level monsters and a lot more of them. You are… lucky to be somewhere more remote.”
I didn’t feel that lucky, all things considered, but the look on his face made me realize it could have been a lot worse. The city would be a war zone, with people who hadn’t been able to get their STAR System being cut down by monsters. People like Bernie. Young families. People who didn’t take the risk or couldn’t even find the pods. The heavy weight in my stomach made me feel ill.
“It… really is an apocalypse, huh?” The pod I was leaning against felt cold now, as if my body heat had dissipated as the reality of our situation blew through me.
“Unfortunately, yes. I wish we could have done more. It sounds big-headed to say Earth wouldn’t have a chance without the STAR, but in a way, it’s true.”
“Couldn’t you have made us stronger? If this is a video game, make us max level?” I shuffled away from the pod, shivering. My legs were feeling better now, although my chest still ached from the boar fight.
He shook his head. “It’s a matter of compatibility. The rules of the System expect new members to start from the bottom. Even a handful of bonus levels would drop your compatibility rating to single digits. Your survivability of the process. There's only so much we can control.”
I looked over at Bernie. He looked so peaceful, although now I considered it a good idea to bring him down out of the pod before he fell out. Unconscious or not, he had managed to stay in an upright position, but that might not last. I didn’t know how he was going to keep up with me—not that I had a clue what I was doing—when it came to… fighting monsters? It still had an odd taste to it. Unbelievable.
Richard watched as I shuffled the older man out from the pod and sat him down on the floor gently, up against the one beside the open one. “There’s a lot of information I need to give you. How open are you to learning?”
I shot him a glance. “We have time? I doubt I’ll be able to sleep just yet, but by the morning…”
“Actually, I’d like to suggest you go out this evening.” He shuffled awkwardly on his chair before leaning forward. “Normally I wouldn’t tell you to go out at night, but getting a few levels before the new day starts will put you ahead of the curve.”
“Assuming I don’t die,” I replied. “I almost ate it just from a random boar. Tell me if I’m wrong, but I imagine I’ll have to worry about more than aggressive wildlife.”
“The fact that you did succeed gives me hope that you’ll do fine. You are correct - actually if you open up your Map icon, you’ll be able to see there is a Den nearby. Thankfully, you got in here before it arrived.”
My hand hesitated toward my phone, before realizing that he meant the Map icon in my own twisted vision. Down the bottom left was another round icon that looked like it had a folded map on it. I furrowed my brow and focused, and a new window bloomed into my vision, almost taking up the entirety of my left eye.
“Fuck’s sake,” I murmured, trying to move my head back away from it.
“You will get used to it, I promise. Right now, you won’t be able to see much, but as you explore, it will populate. See that red dot just off to the side? That’s the Den, which is like the lowest tier of what you might refer to as a dungeon. More of a hovel that contains a Boss.”
With my unobscured right eye, I gave him a dull glare. As much as I had been trying to ignore the vernacular for a while, it was probably time to accept this was going to be something fantasy adjacent. I had been thrust into signing up for a roleplaying game to save the world. Perhaps one of my favorite kind back when I was younger… although that was for escapism. Actually living it was something different.
“Even better,” Richard continued, ignoring my glare. “They are level one. If you pick off enough of them, you should get a couple of levels… but do not, under any circumstance, try to kill the Boss.”
I sighed and shrugged. “Sure, whatever. I’ll be sure to gather a party at the local tavern before venturing forth.” I felt a pang in my chest. “Oh, but what about the diner?” As Richard gave me a quizzical look, my eye checked the map - but either I couldn’t zoom out enough or there wasn’t enough detail to give any hint as to what happened there.
“Diner?”
“A mile or two back up the road. There were two others there but they haven’t shown up. Is there another bunker?” I flexed my fingers, halfway sure of the answer already.
“I… can’t say for sure.” Richard gave me an apologetic shrug. “Technically, I only exist within this bunker, and can only be seen with those with the STAR System installed. If it’s that far away, I suggest checking out in the morning. Traveling that distance in the night is asking for trouble.”
As much as that sounded like a me thing to do, I begrudgingly accepted that he was probably right. The fact that the world over was probably suffering casualties in the millions overnight was just too overwhelming to really process. Locked away here in this small room, it was easy to think it couldn’t be true. Yet I made myself the promise to check out the diner as soon as I could.
“So I just have to wander out and hit a few… monsters. Isn’t this something the military can handle?” I looked around, feeling like I needed a seat again.
“To some degree, sure. There will come a time where guns, tanks, and bombs won’t put a dent into the things coming to Earth. With the STAR, you can learn literal skills that will allow you to stand against the looming threats.”
“I can learn fireballs and shit?”
“Yeah, actually.” Richard gave me a humorless smile. “You get passive skills by interacting with the world. Hit things with a sword and your Sword Mastery goes up. Passives usually are just small percentage bonuses, but it depends. Active skills can only be learned from Class selection—which is every five levels—or from skillbooks.”
I nodded slowly. “I have one of those, I think. The Milestone notification said it was upgraded to rare because I mashed the brains of an animal in.”
“Ah.” His intangible form wavered slightly before he smiled. “That’s good. Very good, in fact. A rare skill straight out of the gate is potentially a big boost to your starting progression.”
Using what patience I managed to gather together, I glanced down at the icons on the left again. “I understand the Inventory and Map. What are these other three?”
“Stats, Health Status, and Skills.”
I focused on the Stats and it brought up another screen to replace the map I hadn’t bothered to dismiss. The fact that it knew my government name aside, it seemed as though I was a level 1 human with no classes.
With a grunt, I closed that window down. “I am almost disappointed that there is nothing telling me I have low charisma. The statistics it tracks are more basic than what I know from games.”
There were Power, Guile, and Knowledge. Beneath those after a small separation were Vitality, Stamina, and Morale. I had a single point in them all, which made me feel rather average.
“It’s a simple but flexible setup. You stats will influence what Classes you get, the Classes will influence your stats.” Richard leaned back in his chair. “They should be relatively easy enough to understand.”
“It’s basically melee, ranged, or spellcaster, right? The defensive three are more abstract, but sure, I get it.” The fact that I was discussing this so matter-of-fact-ly with an intangible wireframe person while aliens dropped fantasy monsters from orbit to take over Earth was… well, thank fuck I had those sedatives.
“Roughly,” he agreed. “Some Classes can be spellcasters that use Power as their main stat, or there are melee Classes that use Guile… but I wouldn’t worry about that for now. Any bonus you get would be beneficial until you can choose your first Class.”
Which was level five, if my brain was working correctly. Skills screen was empty, so I switched to the Health Status.
[Injuries]
[Right Hand - Minor Lacerations (Healing)]
[Torso - Heavy Bruising]
[Buff Effects]
[Soft Landing - Your disbelief is being suspended. (Expires in 2 hours)]
My Guide seemed content enough to let me potter around the various screens by myself for a moment, and I had to admit that I was getting used to them. Could still use a good sleep. Maybe a vacation. As my eyes hovered towards my Inventory, I gave Richard a glance.
“There’s no option where we can just stay in the bunker and ride this out?”
He stared at me blankly, his eyes moving between Bernie and me. “Honestly, if that was an option, I’d recommend it. But - you have no food, water, or facilities to stay here long term. Wouldn’t you rather take your fate into your own hands?”
I wavered slightly as I chewed on this question. He made it sound easy. Like I could just pick up a sword and become a world saving adventurer. Even ignoring how ridiculous that sounded, I had never been a hero to anyone. Maybe if the world was really ending, carving out a safe space for Bernie could at least earn me a little reprieve before… a dragon or some other bullshit tore my head off.
A shrug was the only answer I gave, but I opened up my Inventory. It was a grid of squares. Mostly empty aside from one box that looked a little like a treasure chest up at the top left. A few tabs ran across the top of the upper row, but they were grayed out. Some manner of sorting facility, which sounded… neat.
“This is like some intangible pocket dimension I can throw all sorts of shit in, huh?” I asked idly, more to try to ground myself than to reach for an answer.
“Anything that gives you an Inspect option if you focus on it, at least. There’s nuance, but you’ll work it out with trial and error. Nothing living or larger than what you can carry.”
I looked at the Welcome Chest and selected the option to open it.
[Healing Potion(1)]
[Torch]
[Rare Skillbook (Random)]
[Basic Chair]
After the notifications of new items came in, I glared over at the Guide. “There was a chair in here all this time, and you didn’t tell me? Isn’t it supposed to give me a weapon as well?”
He returned a sheepish grin. “You already have one, Scarlet. Check your pocket.”
My hand went down to my jacket pocket, where the hammer still sat holstered. I pulled it out and observed the smeared and drying blood around the head. It prompted me to inspect it, which I accepted. What choice did I have, really?
[Magic Hammer]
[+1 Vitality]
[Now everything looks like a magic nail.]
“I’m pretty sure this wasn’t magical before. How does Vitality work? It's not directly my health, right - as I’m sure I don’t have a bar telling me how close to death I am?”
He nodded his head, his eyes on my held weapon. “Correct. It’s one case where video game logic doesn’t really transfer. An arrow to the neck will kill you no matter how strong you are, but higher Vitality levels will lower how lethal the attack is. You can get a health percentage readout if you like, but again it’s rather abstract.”
I was sure I was going to learn the hard way by getting the shit beat out of me. Somehow I felt responsible for Bernie, despite only just meeting him. This was a far cry from my city-hopping escapades, and I still longed for a shower and a hotel room.
Mostly, however, I wanted to go and see for myself. That this wasn’t just a weird dream or whatever. Maybe take some pent out anger on some hapless monsters and feel grounded. Build up a foundation where I could be in control and address my issues as they came up.
I shook those thoughts out of my head and went into my Inventory. Focusing on the skillbook, I indicated that I wanted to withdraw it—and found the tome now in my hand.
A leather jacket of deep blue, accented with silver clasps on the edges. It had some weight to it. With a long sigh, I held it up to Richard.
“Here goes then. Let’s find out how lucky I really am.”
With little need for ceremony, I opened the skillbook up to learn my first skill.