I woke up the next morning realizing I really didn't have anything special to do. My game projects were all on "auto" and I had been through pretty much all the menu system that was active. So I did something that had totally slipped my mind - I checked the mail.
It was a bit disappointing - just a power bill and a few ads, but there was also a recruitment flyer for people with healing powers. Too bad my Healing spell cost more than 5 points, so I couldn't personally cast it yet - and my Casting skill was even lower, so I couldn't cast it as a Wizard spell. Strangely enough, if I ever needed to, I COULD cast it as an "overland" spell on myself, since I counted as a "unit" that could be enhanced - but the casting time would take days. I wasn't yet sure if I could cast overland spells on unaffiliated units, but I thought I could. Much too costly and time-consuming to try it out yet, but it might be a way to recruit my neighbor as an allied unit at some point in the future.
Turning on the TV, I was immediately blasted by the news of a mass assassination at the White House. The President and VP having both been killed, along with several staffers and advisors. All they would say about the killer was that "he was a trusted senior staff member" who had been taken into custody. Washington DC was in near-total lockdown and the National Guard had been brought in. Seemingly unconnected, 2 Senators and 1 House member had also been killed overnight, so everyone was on edge.
Three other national governments had fallen - Iran, Nigeria, and Chile, but details on how were unclear. Saudi Arabia was in turmoil because someone had vandalized their Black Stone with an indentation of a Star of David. Many nearby worshippers were being held for questioning, but no answers yet on who did it.
In Egypt, the pyramid entrances were gone - just solid stone where they had been, with no explanation.
Across the world, mining and diving operations were coming to a halt due to some form of unexplained phobia striking the workers as they tried to go into the depths.
Between missing children and assorted safety concerns, some school districts were shut down and attendance was low at those that were open. Stores reported food and good flying off the shelves at record rates as hoarding ramped up. The stock market was in free fall, despite several corporations reporting access to new technology that they promised would skyrocket production.
The Gaming industry was a mixed bag at first, with both fears and hyped-up interest, but now most of them were being shut down and their source codes were being classified as part of national security. Guns and ammo were sold out everywhere, as were most weaponized sporting or hunting equipment, from bows and arrows to fishing gear.
Despite all that, the economy was mostly still running. Utilities were working fine. Food production and distribution were running well, even though much of it was being sold out the moment it hit the shelves. Same applied to gas stations.
International news was actually positive, overall - most warfare had stalled out, with very few actual attacks ongoing. Nations were coming together to try to maintain "world order" and keep those currently wealthy and powerful in position to continue running the world.
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Science was a mad tangle of speculation. Fortunately for everyone, technology still worked. The game-rule madness seemed to only apply within the scope of the individual games involved. They had even done quick genetic sequencing of Elves and other races, and found out that the base human DNA had not changed - for those who had begun as human. Testing on "minions" (as they called beings like my worker elves), found no DNA at all. How their cells worked was a total mystery, even though they seemed to have similar overall structures to normal Earth life. Phantom populations didn't even exist, according to most testing methods.
What DID exist were people with very changed and often enhanced bodies, and people with amazing, unexplained abilities, and many were either "showing off" or "selling out" to demonstrate such abilities. There was a boy whose toy trucks ran by themselves, a girl whose "pull the string" talking doll would answer real questions, a man who could mold small pieces of metal like play dough, a woman who could animate her hair to grab things. Science was baffled by all of these.
Park and wildlife areas were being inundated by various "survivalist" people wanting to set up independent homesteads, usually backed up by game abilities. Local authorities were trying to discourage such attempts, but it was a losing battle - there were simply too many of them, and they just kept retreating further into the wilds when confronted.
Most people, like myself, were just staying in place, waiting to see what happened. But unlike me, most continued to do normal jobs, with families, work, school, and even social lives being mostly unaffected.
The Empowerment was a dramatic spectacle, to the population as a whole, they didn't yet see the inevitable downfall it would bring, when games like my own and countless others would truly begin taking over the world.
Turning from TV to the internet, it was clear that many people knew the score. Alliances were forming, feelers were being sent out, people with carefully hidden identities were giving dire warnings. Social media was being more heavily censored by the hour, chats were being shut down, disinformation was growing. The powerful were scared.
A federal registry site had been set up for people to register and describe their Power, offering a base $1000 and bonus money based on utility and willingness to register with Civil Service. Ads for it were starting to appear on all game-related web searches. I didn't trust any of it.
I'll admit - I'm paranoid. I didn't even dare search the internet for answers to many of my questions for fear of being detected and flagged for investigation. My game, unfortunately, had very little technology application, especially in the early stages. I was going to be limited to Middle Ages tech plus Magic for quite some time. In the original form, my game tech would max out with airships. I REALLY hoped it could extend further as it integrated into the real Earth with all of its modern technology - or at least provide magical means of doing the same things.
Meanwhile, my Population growth kept accelerating. I now had a Production stat for my "city", which currently stood at 2. I could keep concentrating on building my Population, or I could build my first building or unit. My best options were a Granary(40 production) or Elven Spearmen(10 production), and I decided on the Granary as my Population hit 30 (and production hit 3) - it would automatically help growth and would provide free extra food for future units. Also, my tax menu was now active (a surprise, since I hadn't been counting on it until Population hit 50), and I found I could get 1 gold/day in taxes without hurting production or morale.
Also, my Casting went up to 2 and my mana in storage was up to 12. Not fast progress, but progress. I was still afraid to actually look up the details on the internet - but I could tell for sure that the game rules I was working with weren't exactly those of the game I remembered playing. At least they were close enough to give me a guideline.