Tim Campy was a young man with messy, curly, black hair that fell over his face and almost reached his shoulders in length. Every time He did his side job, he always wore a red jersey jacket which featured white stripes on its sleeves over a white v-neck T-shirt with dark jeans pants and white Converse sneakers.
Just like the other night, Tim went home from his side job with 8,000$ on his pocket. For the celebration of his winning, as usual, Tim was eating a cheeseburger from the yellow clown chain store with his left hand, while his right hand was busy playing a virtual card game from the small indie company.
And just as Tim finished his cheeseburger, there was a blinding flash of light along with a vague chilling sensation at his spine.
Game on.
Then the word 'Game on' echoed inside of Tim's skull. The streets, that had previously been lit by dozens of phone screens and streetlights, went completely dark. An image appeared before Tim, staying in the same place even though Tim turned his head. Words scrolled like the opening scene from the famous sci-fi movie, minus the epic soundtrack.
Scan commencing...
Scan complete.
Health Point: 54.
Mind: 3.
Muscles: 2.
Bones: 3.
Nerves: 4.
Heart: 4.
Spirit: 2.
Tim may never score more than 40% on his mathematics tests, but that didn't mean he was stupid.
Flash of light + ghostly voice + having video game style menu appeared in his vision = some real shit was going on right now. Even Tim could make that simple equation.
Tim blinked the messages away. Funny, the street was completely black, yet he clearly saw the dimly light blue screen. He waited several heartbeats for the numerous streetlights on the sidewalk to turn on or for someone to turn on their's phone feature called a flashlight.
Five seconds had passed and nothing happened.
"..." It wasn’t the complete blackness that scared Tim though. It was the silence.
Then another five seconds, ten, then twenty passed. No one was talking, or asking, or protesting why they couldn't access their Instagram. The only sound Tim could hear was his own heartbeat.
Until...
"What the h...Ugh!" Someone words cut off as another line of text appeared in front of Everyone. Their entire body going paralyzed as an electric surge flowed through their blood for about 2 or 3 seconds.
Majick function initialization.
Majick function initialization concluded.
Majickcasting Tool: Dice.
Dust (Dust generation per hour): 100 (1)
As soon as the initialization was complete, Tim's body unlocked from its paralyzed state and he reflexively letting out a deep sigh of relief. This is just a dream. I must have fallen asleep. Tim thought for himself. It didn’t sound like him, but he couldn’t think of any other realistic explanations.
Tim pinched his cheek, "Wake up Tim." Nothing changed. He pinched himself again, harder this time. "Wake up."
Still, nothing happened.
Don't tell me alien is attacking the power plant?! Thought Tim. No, there hasn’t been an explosion, no ground shaking, and no loud noises. Then is it an EMP blast? But it doesn't explain the blue screen.
Please select one Majick before the time limit is up. A penalty will be waiting for anyone who doesn't select a Majick.
Time left: 29 seconds.
Alteration – Enhance: Sprint
Conjuration – Dagger
Destruction – Fireball
Enchanting – Fortify: Iron
Illusion– Ghost Sound
Mysticism – Minor Detection
Restoration – Minor Healing
Another screen appeared, and the screen showed some kind of list. He shook his head in suspicion. "What’s going on?" Tim muttered in the darkness, his voice bordering on panic.
Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.
Tim used his confused mind to think. No, actually Tim did know what was this. This was a skill list, no... a Majick list, just like in the video game.
"What a nasty system..." Tim muttered. This sort of game system did exist in reality, and some of these games would even hide the character’s ability.
25 Seconds left.
But this wasn't the right time to think that.
The ground beneath Tim began to shake violently and, for the first time, doubt begins to creep in. He'd never heard of hallucinations that were able to simulate an earthquake, and he was sure he didn't drink any alcohol or use any drugs.
This doubt was only solidified as the ground began to crack, hard and smooth tarmac crackling like a lightning fork. Tim couldn't see it, but he had enough idea from the crackling sound alone.
20 seconds left.
BOOOM!!
Tim quickly turned his head from side to side, looking for any source of light and not finding any. The suffocating lack of light added weight to explosion sound he had just heard.
15 seconds left.
The earth rumbled and shook with a terrifying intensity. Someone crashed onto Tim, hard enough to make him stumbled forward before violently got thrown onto the floor.
10 seconds left.
Managing to stand up wobbly, Tim tripped once again and landed on his bottom. Needing to hold onto something tangible and real, He grabbed something in both hands, presumably the street sign.
5 seconds left.
"The penalty!!"
Tim didn't know what kind of penalty would come toward him, but from the name 'penalty' alone it definitely wasn't good.
4 seconds left.
Tim at least grateful to have for his eyes to focus on in the darkness.
3 seconds left.
Without focusing or giving a single thought, Tim chose the very first option.
2 second left.
Majick Name: Enhance: Sprint.
Majick Type: Alteration
Majick Difficulty: 2
Initial Cost: 10 Dust
Effect: Uses dust and gives you +10 m/s speed boost to normal sprinting for ten minutes. This has no effect on other methods of movement, such as walking, jogging, climbing, or swimming and et cetera. As with any effect that increases your speed, this majick affects your jumping distance, but this majick doesn't reduce the strain on your bones if you choose to do that.
Critical Success: Double your speed boost to normal sprinting. Stamina consumption is halved.
Failure: Temporarily crippled your legs for ten minutes. Double the amount of the Dust used.
1 second left.
Time's up.
Two billion one hundred twenty million four hundred thousand and four people have been eliminated due to the failure of picking majick.
To facilitate a satisfactory survival rate and as the repercussion from the massive loses at the human side, human will not drop dust for 100 days.
"What the..." Tim muttered but immediately holding back his tongue when he heard the small coffee shop on his right began to creak and see a massive beam of white falling from the sky.
While the tower light was shining the country of freedom, almost turning the night into the day, Tim saw something running toward him.
"...Dog? No..."
It felt strangely big for a dog. "Is there someone so rich in this neighbourhood that he can raise such a big one, why doesn't he just donate some money to me?" Tim sneered in jealousy.
The dog crimson fur’s flavoured with wilderness, Tim wasn't a dog person but he knew it wasn't a dog, wasn't a wolf, wasn't a foreign breed, in fact, Tim wasn't sure this kind of animal existed on Earth.
Why?
As the dog came closer, Tim noticed it had a size semblable to a person and Tim's heart began to beat faster as he noticed a few words above the beast that said Blood Hound [Lvl 22]. The moment Tim realized this, he didn't waste any second to double check or take another glimpse at the dog. Running away was the only option!
Is this the state of mind of the last girl?! Tim thought as his feet already rotated to the maximum rpm.
"G-gaaah!!"
From behind, Tim could hear a man screaming in pain as life was slipping away from his body. And another Blood Hound charged forward from the nearby alley.
"N-no!!! Don't leave me!"
Another scream, this time a woman. Tim didn't have the time to look at her, but he knew it wasn't the scream of a woman who'd just been getting dumped by her boyfriend, no... it was a scream of terror as another Blood Hound had joined the party.
"HHa... HHHa... Hah."
Tim had just left a plumptious middle-aged lady who seemingly already ran out of her breath. Rather than a scream, the only thing Tim heard was the sound of bones getting crushed. From the corner of Tim's eyes, the one he'd trained to peek on someone's card, Tim saw another Blood Hound closing in.
Time seemed to slow down as he imagined his impending death moved closer and closer.
Until...
"Keep running!"
Tim stared at him for a few seconds before noticing another Blood Hound, though this time it was getting served as a well-done steak. The way Tim saw it, the man had managed to kill a Lvl 22 Blood Hound.
The man stood at around 1.9 meters tall and seemed to have a muscular figure wrapped behind his Armani jacket. There was nothing on his head, and he had greyish goatee surrounded his mouth. His hands pointed his right hand to the front and aiming it to the Blood Hound.
"Fireball!" The man shouted.
Five cards appeared from out of nowhere, floating around at his hand as it created a glowing line of systematical patterns.
"Motherf-"
...There was an enormous explosion. It was as though a fist of orange flame had decided to punch its way out of the man's body.
Out of this shock, Tim felt himself issuing amid a mass of terrible sensations: the thick smoke of the explosion, the smell of charred skin, the hoarse howl of dying men as he was spitting blood from his mouth; His glare alone clearly showed he was asking for help. Yet, Tim kept rushing forward. The way Tim saw it, there was no way to save him or rather, there was no time for Tim to save him; It seemed one of the Blood Hound was enjoying rare human meat as its dinner.
But whoever that man was, Tim didn't know how to express his gratitude toward him.
Up until now, Tim was too panic, panicked enough to even didn't realize the way to use Majick.
"Enhance: Sprint!"
Rather than a card, six-sided dice was created out of nowhere. A different kind of floating pattern appeared near on Tim's legs for a second before it shattered to a cloud of dust, and his legs began to give a delicate orange light.
Spoiler: Tim's Dice (Design not mine.)
Tim's Dice [https://cf.geekdo-images.com/large/img/XpoFugZZvhGcU-cXpXjEtq4bVpM=/fit-in/1024x1024/filters:no_upscale()/pic2786387.png]
At that time, for the first time in his life, Tim was running up to 115 km/h, leaving several human-sized dogs behind him.