Before starting another round of bug extermination, Lucius wanted to experiment with the magical system, that had appeared when everyone saw the vision of the ancient man, and shadow monster. He wasn't entirely unfamiliar with stories featuring a video game-like guiding mechanism, but it was hard to believe that was what was happening to them now.

"If this was a game, the first thing we should do is use our attribute points, and maybe learn how our abilities work, right?" Lucius suggested.

"I guess so. How do we do that? I don't suppose we can just think something like, 'status window'." replied Jack.

"I'm going to try communicating with the system. It seems magical, so maybe it can understand me." Lucius said, as he spoke to the system.

“He... hello? Status messages? System?” Lucius tried speaking aloud, but nothing happened. However, when he repeated the same thing, using only his thoughts, he got a response.

Greetings, ally of the light! How can I be of service?

Lucius jolted, he hadn’t expected such a quick breakthrough.

"It worked! You can use your thoughts to talk to it." he told Jack, explaining his discovery. "I'm going to try asking it some questions."

Lucius focused, and asked the system what it was.

I, am a magical construct, created by agents of the forces of light.

"Okay… I guess, that makes sense. But why, are you suddenly in my head?"

My purpose is to aid those who resist the Abyss.

"What? What is the Abyss, and why did you suddenly show up now?"

Your planet was previously shielded from my influence. That shielding ceased to exist at 0114 hours Earth time, on Friday the 26th of October 2024.

"That was a few hours ago, when we all saw the vision! Do you know what that was all about?

Insufficient data.

"Okay, but what is the Abyss? You didn’t answer that."

The Abyss is our sister universe, a realm that is home to powerful eldritch terrors, whose terrible might even threatens the Gods of this realm. To resist the Abyss, the Gods created me. Creatures of the Abyss are currently entering your world through small dimensional anomalies. These anomalies will grow over time, if they aren’t closed. The larger the anomaly, the more powerful the creatures that may pass through.

“Oh god, this situation is worse than I thought. If that’s true, our world will never be the same…” Lucius concluded, then asked, “Okay, I think I understand the situation. What about abilities and attributes? Can you help me understand that?”

Focus on an ability, to learn more about it. Focus on the concept of ,‘status’, to access attributes.

"Okay, uh... Status?"

Strength 4 Vitality 3 Dexterity 3 Intelligence 5 Creativity 6 Luck 1 Stamina 3 Magic Power 0 Free Attributes 2

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"Whoa, Magic Power? That sounds interesting, but I'm no mage. If anything, I'm closer to a thief, than some noble wizard. That’s who I have been in this life so far, anyway." Lucius reasoned, “Let’s try this out. I’ll put my two free attributes in Dexterity. I have a feeling there will be a great deal of running away, and dodging, in my future...”

As soon as he thought the command, Lucius felt a rush of strange energy course through his body, like someone was flushing ice-cold water through his veins.

"Whoa, holy crap!" Lucius almost fell over, the bone chilling infusion of power was overwhelming. "I'm not going to get used to that, anytime soon" thought Lucius, as he steadied himself. "Okay, now I want to know about abilities."

Sense Danger Level 2 Heightened danger sense, passive. Assassinate Level 1 +20% damage to each successful attack, stacking, stacks are lost when you are damaged or leave combat.

"What? The Assassinate ability seems very strong! With this ability, each attack will do more, and more, damage. As long as I don't get hit, or leave combat...Is there no limit, to how much damage it can do? So if a God was willing to stand still and let me hit him, would I eventually do enough damage to kill a god?" Lucius pondered. "This would pair great with a stealth ability, or at least high evasion, and speed, so I can dodge better. I'm Glad I just spent my attributes on Dexterity!"

Lucius began feeling a growing thrill, about this new world. His old life, living in rags and begging for change from indifferent strangers, was a soul-numbing existence. He had no power, no dignity, and no hope for the future. Now, he had a chance to change everything. He could be useful, and there was a path to gaining real power, right in front of him. Sure, it was terrifying, dealing with these strange monsters, but it was a night and day better deal than his life so far. He felt a sense of excitement, that he hadn’t felt since he was a child!

"Yeah, that’s what I'm gonna do." Lucius decided. "I’ll throw myself into this new world, terrifying though it might be, and make something of myself. I would’ve ended up dead, on the streets, soon anyway. Risking my life, for a real shot at something, is a gamble I'm willing to take!”

Now that Lucius understood his situation better, he turned back to the task at hand. He was eager to get back to work, test his new abilities, and see how strong he could get by killing these nightmare creatures.

“How’s it going, Jack? You done chatting with the system?” Lucius asked.

“Yeah, I put my free attributes into Strength. I’ve never been the smartest guy, so I think I’ll just try to get as strong as I can.” Jack replied.

"Are you ready to get back to work? I am excited to farm some more experience, from these monster!" asked Lucius

Jack gave a thumbs-up. Together, they cleared the dead creatures from the cage, and stuffed the bodies in the freezer, as Jack had suggested earlier. But, before they started another round, Lucius had an idea.

“Hey Jack, you must have some knives in this store somewhere, right? These sharpened broom handles are kind of weak, you know?”

“Uh, yeah, we have kitchen knives. But wouldn’t we have to, you know, get too close, if we used those? Those insects are terrifying, and they might be venomous. Even a small wound could be deadly.” Jack hesitated.

“Just show me to the knives. Trust me, I’ll show you what we can do.” Lucius responded confidently.

Jack took him to the food prep area, and opened a drawer full of knives. Lucius grabbed the two that were the largest, and used a roll of duct tape to secure each blade to the end of a broom handle, creating makeshift spears. He also grabbed a smaller dagger-sized knife, and slipped it into his boot, for good measure.

“See? Now we have some spears, that don’t suck quite as much! They’ll probably fall apart, eventually, but we’ve got plenty of tape, so who cares!” Lucius said with a grin.

“Why didn’t I think of that…” Jack mused.

By now, Mary and James had come over to see what they were doing. The pair still looked tense, especially Mary.

“Please be careful. If anything happens to you, Patrick is doomed! You’re his only hope at this point!” Mary pleaded, her voice wavering. After talking with the system herself, she understood that no one else would be coming to help them, in the foreseeable future, this was a worldwide disaster! It would be every person for themselves going forward.

“Don’t worry, Mary. Just keep James safe and wait for the good news!” Jack reassured her with a grin.

Jack and Lucius headed back into the bathroom, locked the door behind them, and got ready for round two.