The day started like any other. I woke up, got dressed, brushed my teeth, put on my shoes and my mask, and went to the nearby animal shelter to volunteer. Oddly enough, I didn't pass anybody on the way. I found out why when I walked through the door. The instant my foot hit the floor, a screen popped up.

Choose a skill cluster. Any following skills must be earned.

Skirmisher Skills

[Acrobatics] [Stealth] [Daggers (General)]

You will receive two daggers upon selection.

Swordsman Skills

[Swords (General)] [Sword (Specialized)] [Sword Maintenance]

You will receive the sword you have chosen to specialize in and a whetstone upon selection.

Knight Skills

[Swords (General)] [Shields (General) [Riding]

You will receive a sword and shield upon selection. You must find your own mount.

Archer Skills

[Archery] [Stealth] [Arrow Making]

You will receive a bow and three quivers, each with 30 arrows. Once you use all of your arrows, you must make or find your own.

Mage Skills

[Mana Manipulation] [Mana Sense] [Magic Missile]

Healer Skills

[Heal] [Diagnose] [Sedate]

Crafter Skills

[Smithing (General)] [Tailoring (General)] [Engineering (General)]

I would like to say that I remained calm, but all I was thinking was: holy fuck, it's a system apocalypse. I knew it wasn't a dream; I didn't have lucid dreams. I went further in; there should be people inside. Even in an apocalypse, somebody needs to take care of the dogs and cats.

I was right Stacey, the owner of the shelter was there. She saw me and asked, "what are you doing here, John? Haven’t you seen the screens? Cuomo sent out a shelter-in-place order."

“It just showed up when I got here, and my phone is still being fixed. I haven’t seen the news. Should I go home?” I was uncertain; this wasn’t like any system apocalypse I’ve read. For one, there were no monsters, and we had yet to be teleported to a tutorial. There was no mention of levels, nor of other worlds. If I ignored the screens, I could almost pretend it wasn’t happening.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“No, stay here. It might be dangerous outside; prisons aren’t exactly designed to handle criminals with magic powers.” She said, raising a valid point. Crime would likely spike in the coming weeks. Hell, prisons would need to be redesigned. “Choose a cluster, and acquaint yourself with it here before you go out.”

A bit calmer, I nodded and walked to a bench deep in thought. I smelt an opportunity. If I could stay on top of the system, learn all I could, I could make millions. No, I could make billions. I knew what class I had to take. Healer would provide a safety net, guarantee access to magic, and would mesh with a veterinary career, what I wanted to do pre-system. Perfect for my needs.

The system said that this was a one-time thing and that skills could be learned. That meant that it could be taught. And there lied opportunity. If I could learn mana manipulation, I could teach it.

You have selected the healer cluster.

You have gained the following skills:

Heal - convert mana to vital energy and pump it into a target’s body.

Diagnose - release a pulse of mana into a target’s body to receive information on what ails them.

Sedate - pump soporific mana into a target’s body to induce sleep.

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I huffed in frustration. Manipulating my magic was proving to be difficult, even more so than I expected. I could shape it and use my skills, but I couldn’t get it outside of my body. So I decided to ask for help. Stacey had mentioned that she chose the mage cluster, meaning she had the mana manipulation skill. I looked through the shelter for her and found her in the kennel filling up water bowls amongst barking dogs. I ignored them with practiced ease.

"Hey Stacey," I called. “I chose the healer profession, and I don't know how to get my mana out of my body.”

"Try pushing it outside your body. I can't help you if I don't know what you are doing wrong.” She said, looking up at me.

“Sure,” I replied. I closed my eyes and focused on my core. It was in the middle of my sternum; and “looked” like a bright blue ball. I drew out a tendril of mana and managed to get it up to my skin, but it wouldn’t pass any further, just like the last time.

“Your problem is that you aren’t separating the magic from your core, do that and try again.”

I nodded, thanked her, and left the room. Dogs aren’t good for concentrating; they are too cute.

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I smirked in satisfaction. Thanks to Stacey’s tip, I had managed to push my magic outside my body. Now I was attempting to shape it into an oval, and it was going well. I had just shaped it into a sphere when I heard a ding.

Through continuous effort, you have learned the skill mana manipulation.

It disrupted my concentration, and I lost control of my mana, but I wasn't angry. How could I be? My hours of effort had paid off. Giddily I tried again and shaped the mana. I almost startled myself with the difference. Before shaping the mana was like trying to divert a river with my bare hands. Now? Now it was clay, and I, a sculptor; an unskilled one, but a sculptor nonetheless. I molded the mana into an oval with ease, and with a flex of my will, fired it. It broke the linoleum floor with a loud crack.

You have earned the skill magic missile. As you now have five skills you may check your skill list.

“John! I heard a crack; are you okay?” Stacey shouted, and I could hear her running.

“Yes,” I shouted back. When she rounded the corner and saw the crack. I grinned sheepishly. “Sorry about the floor. I just learned mana manipulation and got excited.” I clapped my hands together and bowed my head. “I’ll pay you back I promise.”

Stacey sighed and said, “it’s fine, you don't have to pay me. Linoleum isn’t that expensive.”

“Thank you, but I'll pay you back.”

She gave me a look and said, “seriously, don’t worry about it. A linoleum tile is less than ten dollars. I’m not going to lose a volunteer as hardworking as you over that.”

I smiled at her, “I should be going now.”

“Goodbye, John.”

“Bye Stacey,” I said over my shoulder, already walking out the door. Once I was out of sight, I started running. She couldn’t return the ten I left behind if I wasn’t there.