“Jason, what’s going on? Don’t leave me out of the loop here,” Maria followed Jason from behind.

Walking down the messy crumbling corridor. He stopped at the middle, staring at the only intact door. The door leading to the underground parking lot.

A chance to get out of the hotel, a chance to leave the city.

“Jason?” her voice woke Jason up from his daze.

Without him knowing, he was already in front of the door.

“We need to get back upstairs,” said Maria.

Jason turned around and saw Maria with her eyes shifting around.

“I thought I heard something back there,” staring at the other side of the bleak-looking corridor, it gave her the creeps hearing that unknown sound.

“Let’s go back,” he replied.

Standing inside the elevator, both of them stood in silence.

“So, what happened back then?” Maria broke the silence. Her eyes kept glancing at the blade horn in Jason’s grasp.

“Listen to this with an open mind,” he said.

Maria gave a curious glance and before she can even say a word back, Jason spoke.

“The whole world is changing, including us. I don’t know how to explain it but, what you see the thing floating in front of your very eyes is the key to surviving this whole thing,” said Jason.

“I don’t get it,” she replied. Maria couldn’t grasp what he meant.

“A game,” he answered back.

“A game?”

“Yeah, the whole world is changing into a game and us humans are turning into the players,” he finished his word with that stoic look stuck on his face.

“Please tell me you’re joking,” Maria was not taking it. Even with the thing still floating in front of her, she still didn’t want to accept it. Normal was fine for her, normal to begin with was the most acceptable.

Yet normal was yesterday as now was the present. The present was definitely not normal.

Jason looked at her giving her a deep stare right at her eyes. Maria didn’t budge away meeting his stare straight on.

“So to distribute your points after leveling up, I advise you to focus on strengthening your physical parameters. Agility and stamina are the major ones considering it will boost your chance of getting away from those monsters. One more thing, use one out of the ten points and put it into the parameter known as energy. The green glow you saw back then where I heal Gina was from putting a point in that parameter. So, if you’re lucky you might get something good,” he finished his word and saw Maria still staring at him in silence.

They stay in silence as both stared at each other's eyes.

“Wait, you’re not trying to convince me?” Maria said.

He didn’t reply. At this point of time, convincing others was a waste of time. Even if the other was his ex-girlfriend.

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The evidence was all around them. Lurking creatures beyond imagination running rampant through the city. The unimaginable glowing green arm that can heal and last but not least the floating blue window.

If people still couldn’t take all of these as the new reality, then it wouldn’t worth one second of his time.

“I’m not convincing, I’m just stating the fact. It’s up to you to believe or not.”

“Hmph.”

His words left Maria speechless. She looked away with her arms over her chest. She was definitely not pleased with how Jason responded.

The mood turned sour as the elevator was silent once more.

DING...

Just in time, they finally reached their floor. Jason walked away but he felt a tug on his worn-out shirt.

“You said there are ten points, but why do I only have five?”

Both his eyebrows raised. Something he didn’t expect came out from Maria’s lips.

“Are you sure? It’s under the points tab,” Jason asked just to make sure.

“Yeah, it’s five. The points tab is under the E.Resist tab, am I getting this right?” Maria scratched the left side of her temple wondering if its right.

This new information brought Jason to a daze. Then something crosses his mind.

Can it be due to my title?

He opened up his status once more and searched for the elusive title that he vaguely remembered. But no matter where his eyes went, he couldn’t find the title tab.

Where is it? Title open?

Yet with another whisk of his mind, another set of the blue window opened up. It was simple with only one heading right in the middle of the box.

Titles

The First Killer

Pioneer of Energy

He tried finding a way for an explanation regarding his title but to no avail, there was nothing he could do.

He stood there staring at his first title. A title he earned after killing a murdering goblin. That painful experience flashed by in an instant.

His whole face grimaced just thinking about it.

“Jason? You okay?” Maria called out to him as she saw the drastic change in his expression.

“No, I’m fine. Come on, let’s find a room,” he held out his hand telling Maria that he was fine. She followed him from behind as both of them ended up back at the corner end office room where they once were.

Yet as he reached the doorknob, someone called out to his name.

“Oppa, Gina woke up,” Eugene panting for her breath told about the good news.

Jason didn’t dawdle and went to see Gina. The door to a conference room opened up. It was a place used by both Eugene and her parents.

Eugene, a good person in heart. Although at times she was at odds with this older cousin of hers, yet she still took care of her.

Jason locked eyes with the person sitting on the floor. Gina stared at him in a daze, speechless of what to say.

Her evening dress was torn in shred by the glass shards yet it still couldn’t hinder her beauty. A bit of tan from a woman living on the west side of the United States only to bloom her beauty even further.

“Jason,” she got up and flew into Jason’s arms.

Those arms of her wrapped over Jason’s neck as he replied with a hug of his own. Seeing Gina was fine, soothed his heart. A light smile spread over his face, yet something felt wet over his shoulders.

His ears caught the sound of Gina trying her best not let out the sound of her crying. His hands gently pat over her back as both of them shared a silent moment.

But for some reason, Jason felt someone was staring daggers at him. It was weird, he felt it was coming from the back. His gut was telling him not to look back since for now it was best to just go with the flow.

Then something else entered his view. A bright light penetrating through the blinders of the conference room windows.

“The sun is coming up,” said Eugene as everyone turned their eyes towards the first light that broke dawn.

Even Gina with her red eyes turned her head around seeing the first light of the sun.

For some reason, people were elated seeing the dawn. Never in their life, they would be this happy seeing the sun but after going through a hard night, the sun itself was like the first sign of hope.

Eugene went towards the window and pulled the blinders up. As if attracted to the morning view everyone feet brought them closer to the window. Yet the smile on their faces disappeared quickly like the floating dust.

Clouds of black smoke rose from burning buildings and numerous scaly creatures could be seen flying through the sky of New York City.

Seeing from on top only made their hearts shook. Jason frowned after seeing for himself the magnitude of last night's invasion. Everything broke apart, from the buildings to the roads. There was even a tall building broken in half.

He didn’t want to imagine what had happened to the building. In a sense, he and the rest of the people in this building were quite lucky. The attacks weren’t that severe at his location.

His heart was beating faster as a single thought pressured him of doing so.

We really need to get out of here.

Jason glanced to his side seeing the woman who was still within his embrace. Her hand covered her mouth as she was in shock. She was seeing for the first time what had happened after she collapsed from that frightening misfortune.

“What happened?” Gina asked.

Jason could saw her eyes shaking. She was in denial as she couldn’t believe what was happening.

“Let’s get away from the windows,” said Jason as he brought her away from the room.

Maria who was staring at the view of the city felt something vibrating to the left side of her pants.

She took out her phone and saw the caller ID on her screen.

“Just in time,” said Maria.

She picked it up and left the conference room, not without leaving a curious pair of eyes trailing behind her back.

Jason and Gina sat on the black leather sofa just outside the conference room as Jason could felt the shivering hands of Gina.

“I need to call my mom,” said Gina as her hands scoured through her body searching for her non-existing phone.

She was panicking and her eyes landed on Jason. He knew what those eyes meant.

“Sorry, my battery is out,” his phone had died several hours ago.

Her eyes droop down as her heart was in turmoil. The thought of her parents weighed heavily in her heart.

Then a voice entered their ears.

“We’ve got a problem, evacuation from my current location is too high risk. I need...” Maria went away further from the duo as both of them could hardly hear anything afterward.

“She has a phone,” Gina stood up and chased Maria from behind.

Meanwhile, Jason sat there staring at Maria’s back. From those last words he heard, he had a strong notion in mind.