Dan and Mark looked at their screens in confusion:

Main Menu:

Body

Mind

Pathway

Powers

Properties

Shop

Quests

Overview

Well, Dan thought, might as well see how they rate me. He selected "Body":

Current Body 43% Aging rate 1/1 DNA Integrity 87%

Options:

Additional Body Physical Potential

Improved Regeneration

Aging Control

DNA Repair and Control

Additional Body Features (locked)

So it WAS a game-type stat system, Dan thought, but on a relative scale instead of absolute, so it would be hard to compare with others. Most of the options showed a 1% improvement for 1 improvement point. Checking with Mark, he had a 46% current body and an 85% DNA integrity (whatever that meant).

Mind:

Current Mind 34%

Options:

Improved Memory

Improved Processing

Interface

Energy Control (locked)

Sense Enhancement

Again, it seemed to have basic gaming elements, and (quickly glancing at sub-menus) the 1 point per 1% improvement seemed to be the general rule. The big exception was Interface - the menu was offering "virtual" screens and controls, and if Dan was reading it right, it would mean no need for an access device - but it cost 10 ip that he didn't have right now.

Pathway:

Researcher, level 1, 92% complete

Specialize

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Enhance Specialty (locked)

This one looked wide open, since Specialize just had an open "field" to assign points into, with a warning that each specialty would reduce research ability in all fields outside of the specialty by 1%. The odd thing here was that Dan was nearly finished with level 1, so it looked like it was already in effect.

Powers:

Unlock Potential

This one just didn't give away anything. Only the usual - 1% for 1 point, with no clues about what could be gained.

Properties:

Home Base (not active, please touch to activate)

Claim

So, Claim claimed ownership of an object or area, with a base of 1 point. But Dan had no idea what such "ownership" entailed. Maybe he could find out more when he activated his Home Base.

Shop:

Shop was just a search engine for items, and anything Dan put in seemed insanely expensive, from 2 points for a glass of water to 100 points for a 1 oz gold bar.

Quests:

Contact and activate Home Base

Conduct Research (2)

Well now! It seemed that just reading the Menu counted as Research, because just then a "ding" sounded and a notice came up that he had been awarded 1 improvement point for Research activities! Selecting "Conduct Research" just gave a progress bar (he was now at 2% of the way to the next level).

Overview:

Dan Foster, Anon, Viewership - 0, Impact Rating - 1, Researcher Level 2, Health Max (43%)

Digesting all this, Dan checked in on Mark and compared notes. The big difference was in the Pathway, of course, with Mark having Spell Research Rate in his menu as well as Specialization. He also had Mana Awareness and Mana Pool in his Mind menu under Energy Control, which was not locked for him. But Mark had been getting next to zero progress in his Pathway, and was still stuck at 1% of level 1 as a Mage.

The power was still out, and Mark was getting worried about his parents, since they had no way to contact anyone. So Dan suggested he get his pickup ready for a road trip to the Home Base areas, while Mark would go guide his parents through what they had found out so far. It was about 7 pm, so it shouldn't be too much trouble to get them up to speed on events. The power outage was very suspicious, and Dan wondered if it was caused by the aliens or the government - both lines of thought led to bad places as far as the near future was concerned. Mark would try to get extra gas and supplies while he was out, and they planned to leave town by 5 am - before whatever was going to happen to the morning commute happened.

Being a Researcher now, Dan decided to investigate all he could while Mark was out. First, he started up the pickup and started recharging anything he could via its USB plug while he tried to find a radio station for more information. None of the usual stations were broadcasting, but he found 2 emergency broadcast bands informing the public that the USA was under cyber-attack, that martial law would soon be imposed, to stay in place if at all possible, and under no circumstances was anyone to connect to any form of wireless network. Checking his menu, Dan found he was at 47% of the way to being a lev 3 Researcher!

He also discovered that GPS still worked, which would help a lot in tracking down their Home Bases. Dan had written down the longitude and latitude of each base, which had been displayed on the screen when it had zoomed in, and he found the App DID have a "back" control that let him see previous screen displays. In fact, the controls seemed almost TOO intuitive, as if he had designed them himself - and right as he had that thought "ding" and he leveled up to level 3 Researchers, gaining 2 more improvement points. Ok, scary-level interactive, based on his thoughts and not just his actions. No hiding things from the App named "Dan Foster".

Mark made it over to his parent's house with no issues, but the only open gas station (on backup generator, he was sure) had a very long line, and his car still had nearly half a tank. Mark was sure that going with Dan was the only way his parents would be safe - the guy was chill, but super-competent and no-nonsense practical. Mark was sure the government would try to control whatever was going on - and that they would fail and panic. His dad was an old school survivalist and it shouldn't be too hard to convince him that bug-out time was now.

His dad was going to rake him over the coals a bit for going with Mage, once he understood what was happening, but Mark planned to live the dream, not just survive. His dad was welcome to rant - the choice had been made.