I dragged a badly damaged body through my front door using my phone as a torch. Once I’d turned on some lights I went back outside for the dragon. “Rasser frasser, stupid heavy bastard,” I muttered through clenched teeth.

I hauled it through the house and out the back, dumping it next to the dog. I was happy the walk home had completely exsanguinated the scaly body. I did NOT want to have to explain dragon blood staining the grout between the kitchen tiles. I pulled the bokken bits from its skull and laid them on the patio table, dropping the wisp in its makeshift containment vessel beside it. I could see the wisp’s glow through the holes in my jacket and was glad it had been entirely docile on the way home.

“Sit, stay,” I ordered the inanimate object and the caged spirit. I needed a drink and some first aid. In that order.

I grabbed burn cream and gauze from the kit, iodine wipes from the bathroom cabinet and an extendable back scratcher from beside the lounge chair. I wondered briefly if this was my natural inventiveness, or Jury Rigging kicking in. In the end, it didn’t really matter. I wove the iodine wipe through the fingers of the back scratcher and cleaned the wound on my back with the minimum of screaming, covered one side of the gauze with burn cream and put it on the floor and laid back on it so it covered the injury. I lay there on the tile for a bit as I pondered my next step and let the cold from the floor and the burn cream work their magic. I could probably have laid there all night if it hadn’t been for my phone ringing.

“Ace spea - ow - king.” I pulled the phone away from my ear and carefully picked out the piece of glass embedded in my face. I held it up to the light as I continued. “How can I help you?” The glass twisted the light in weird ways and I realised it was made of sand fused together.

“Ace, oh god mate, are you ok?” Paul’s voice came through the line tired and shaky. “Something weird is going on.”

“Tell me about it,” I sighed. “Are you okay?”

“Maybe, I don’t know. I got your message earlier but when I tried to call back your phone was off.” Paul sounded worse than I’d ever heard him before, worse even than when he’d been possibly irradiated at work. His NDA had meant he couldn’t tell us the whole story but the stress had nearly killed him before he got the all clear.

“Paul, mate, you’re scaring me a bit. What’s up?”

“She was here. Aimee I mean. Popped out of nowhere.” He drew a ragged breath. “We were all piling into the car to come over when some… thing came through the garage door. It looked kinda like a lizard person from the old tv show V. You ever see it?”

I stayed silent. Clearly he needed to talk.

“Yeah, well. Anyway, it did this thing with its hands and boom! This ball of fire exploded beside me and I must have hit my head because I woke up and they were gone. I think it’s something to do with the stuff on the news. The system, I think they’re calling it? Anyway, I need your help. I think that thing took Veronica and Aimee.” I could hear the desperation in his voice. It mirrored the feelings in my own mind.

“Paul. Stay put. I had to kill a dragon today and that’s not even the weirdest thing that’s happened in the last twenty-four hours. I’ll be there as soon as I can, but we’re going to need supplies. I assume you’ve already called the cops and they weren’t much help?” I sat up, the gauze sticking to my back where it was supposed to. I heard Paul sputter out some attempt to justify the authorities inaction, but I plowed over the top. He’s a bloke, nearly seventy and white, well, italian but in Oz these days that’s close enough. He’s never had this kind of response from the cops before. “Right, look, I’m coming over. I have to make sure the boys are safe and fed for the night, and I’ll be right there. In fact, I’m bringing them with me.”

“Right. I’ll see you soon.” I could hear the relief in his voice.

“See you soon.” I hung up and looked around. Crap, now what do I do? MENU.

I navigated over to the JOURNAL tab and checked You light up my life.

The power has gone out and while you’re not the first one to notice, you are the first one to decide to do something about it. That said, you shouldn’t wait about or someone else will do it for you. Find the source of the disruption and restore power to your neighborhood before it gets worse, or someone else steals your thunder. You might be amped about your new power, but you’re not the only bright spark in this area. Snap to it.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

-> We do what we must, because we can. For the good of all of us, except the ones who are… unconscious? You have managed to solo a potential Sector level threat without killing anyone or dying. For such an achievement you have been awarded four attribute points on top of the two you would have received if you had attempted this with a party like a normal person. You have also been granted the Attribute “Lone Wolf”. For more information check the entry in the Attributes list. Be glad you didn’t earn the “Dumbass” or “Dead” attributes.

-> Completion of this task opened Welcome to the System (Part Deux).

“Whoever is writing these, you’re a dick!” I shouted to the roof. It had no effect except to make me feel a bit better. I resolved to look into the new quest later.

I fetched a bandage from the first aid kit and wrapped myself up like a mummy to keep the gauze in place then slipped a Skinz top over it. The compression t-shirt felt like a comforting hug, great but not the most welcome where I was burned. Still, it’ll keep the bloody thing in place.

What shall we do with a buncha points, what shall we do with a buncha points, what shall we do with a buncha points sitting in my menu? I sang in my mind as I gathered up everything in preparation for leaving. I grabbed the boys travel cage, water bottles for said cage, food and blankies for hiding in. I had to carry them out through the garage one handed like a fancy waiter carrying a tray overhead but my new strength made it a lot easier than it would have been just yesterday. Thankfully the garage door was electric, so once it opened I could put the cage on the ground and open the boot of our Forrester. I knew driving would be “fun” one handed but at least we had an automatic and, for my readers who drive on the wrong side of the road, our gear shift is on the left. I’d have to reach across myself to put it in reverse or change to drive, but that was manageable.

I decided to grab some provisions for myself as well, all my tech, the first aid kit and anything not nailed down. My motorcycle gear was slightly ruined, but I had a pair of Hornee motorcycle cargo pants as well so I swapped into those, gingerly pulling them past the burn on my ass. I had a summer jacket hanging up in the garage, but it wasn’t leather. It just had some plastic armour held together with mesh so I tossed it in the boot but kept the real jacket handy in case I needed protection in a hurry.

I was torn about bringing the dragon body. On one hand, it was a dead body and what was I going to do with it? On the other hand, it was a dead DRAGON body, and every book and game I’d ever played told me it was an incredible piece of loot. I certainly hadn’t received any gold pieces or magic swords for killing it, as expected as a normal quest reward. In the end, avarice won out and I dragged it into the laneway, scratching the car as I went past, wrapped it in a tarp from the garage and muscled it into the boot beside the rat cage. I thanked the entire Norse pantheon that the bastard had only just been summoned and all it had eaten was electrical spirits. I had no idea what dragon poop smelled like, and at this point was too afraid to ask.

By this point I was five fourths of wrecked so I threw myself into a chair in the lounge and pulled out my phone. I texted Paul to let him know I was almost packed and leaving soon, and in any normal situation I would proceed to play some mindless mobile game for ten minutes untilI got my energy back. These were not normal times, in fact it could be posited that I was living in interesting times, so I hit up the menu system again. These quests weren’t going to complete themselves.

Welcome to the System (Part Deux)

Congratulations on completing your first Sector level threat. You have unlocked the ability to define your Attributes more clearly. While you may not change your past, your future is an open book. Select an Attribute to continue.

-> Congratulations on your new Attribute “Lone Wolf”. Rember, once selected these cannot be unselected. Choose wisely, some confer immediate benefits but long term detriments. Some, vice versa.

Well, ok. I guess some quests DO complete themselves. I browsed the list anyway, hoping for inspiration. I read the entry on Lone Wolf, which gave a bunch of bonuses when I operate alone but debuffs when working in a group of three or more. I was relieved that there was no penalty for working with one other person, other than not having the bonuses.

One Attribute in particular caught my attention just before I closed the whole thing down. “Physical Adept” had a big spiel that I would definitely read later but the gist I caught in the moment was that I would be able to add my Ki to strikes, and even give them elemental flavours with further upgrades. I loved playing Monks in D’n’D, and Diablo, and pretty much everywhere. I had a Tae Kwan Do black belt, I was so committed to the bit. Bruce Lee eat your heart out! I dropped the five points it demanded, cringing a bit at the cost, and the box ticked and greyed out.

I braced hard, one point in Strength had wiped me out like that wave at the end of Point Break, but I didn’t feel any immediate changes. Did it work? I wondered as I checked the menu again. The box was still ticked and greyed out, but nothing had happened. Guess I'll find out later. For now I’ll just let Mr Anxiety have his fun.

I grabbed the keys and headed out the back door, went back and checked the front was locked, ensured the whole house was secured, got in the car and drove off. Not much I could do about random mythical creatures but I could at least make sure your average Joe wouldn’t be breaking in.