A great cracking sound rose through the air as the intensity of the earthquake increased.

Patch 1.2.0: System Wave 2

Hello everyone, and welcome to the new world!

Have you ever wanted to grasp the power to manipulate reality? To shoot fireballs from your hands, or lift a car without breaking a sweat? With the introduction of magic to the world at large, now you can!

Become as powerful as you want to be.

Enjoy!

-H.G.

Patch Notes:

1. Mana has been released worldwide.

2. All individuals are assigned a system-based race to assist in adapting to the changes coming to the world. Race type spread is dependent on physical location.

3. Global expansion is underway. New Earth will be approximately 2.5 times greater in size, with additional landmasses and sea masses added between structures randomly. Gravity will remain unchanged as of Patch 1.2.0.

4. Class system: ONLINE.

Hello All,

H.G., the original creator of the system, has officially been ejected from his role and will no longer have the ability to edit and develop going forward.

Thanks, and Good Luck,

Luna

ERROR 910: REDACTED system ONLINE before scheduled release

I did what I could to read through the message before it vanished, floating into the air to keep my vision from shaking. I was glad that I did because I managed to get a view of just what “global expansion” meant.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

The land was shifting and changing around me. As I flew higher and higher, I could see the beginnings of patches of forest or grassland start to rise, pushing other chunks of land around. The ground cracked and crumbled across streets and through alleys, and I couldn’t help but marvel as slowly, ponderously, every building was slowly shoved around and reshuffled.

The result was disastrous. Across the city, I could see transformers exploding and wires being torn from houses. Fences and walls crumbled, sometimes taking buildings with them. Once-busy roads were now clusters of dense forests, some with trees sixty feet tall.

In the distance along the skyline, I watched in horror as a skyscraper shuddered, before tipping to the side. It fell in what seemed to be slow motion, landing against the building next to it before crashing into the ground. The shockwave hit me like a bomb blast, and concrete dust rocketed into the air.

Perhaps even worse, the earthquake didn’t end there. It continued to shake until bricks started to fall, the more unsteady buildings around the block collapsing on themselves.

Then, without warning, it all stopped. The ground settled with a groan; the plants stopped growing out of control. I took stock of our situation.

The Garcia’s store was now isolated from all of the buildings around it by close to thirty feet, the gaps bridged by tall brown grass. The small grassy patch behind the store was now the gateway to a massive forest of tall dark trees, with smooth brown bark reminding me of polished wood, and vivid green leaves as big as my hand.

Fortunately, the hotel hadn’t moved far, still taking up a position vaguely next to the Garcia’s store, though separated by enough space to fit an 18-wheeler longways. The road, on the other hand, had expanded massively, the brown grass pushing the buildings opposite two hundred feet out.

Flying higher, I decided to get a better understanding of the changes. That was what my new ability was for, after all. I quickly learned that flying through the open air was very different from flying in a closed room. The wind picked up and buffeted me around without care, and I had to pay close attention to make sure I didn’t veer off course. I was still moving faster than I could reasonably run, but it wasn’t the overpowered superhero flight I had dreamed it was.

Moving in gentle circles outwards, I carefully surveyed the area using the store as the central point. My mind picked up information like a sponge, noting possible paths through brush and around buildings almost instantaneously. As I dismissed a notification informing me that ‘Born to Roam’ had leveled again, it quickly became obvious to me that things were really, really bad.

Fires had started across the city. Gas pipes and sewer pipes were broken just about everywhere, releasing their contents into the ground and air. Water seeped from broken pipes turning the ground to mud; further destabilizing buildings already shaken to pieces from the earthquake. It looked like less than half of downtown was still standing, and none of it was unscathed.

As I flew over another patch of new trees that looked something like maple, but if their bark was made of silver and their leaves were crimson red, the air became heavy. The atmosphere had gained physical weight, and it made breathing in it feel like forcing water into my lungs.

As soon as I moved over to an adjacent building, the sensation fled. Experimentally, I moved back over the patch, noticing that the sensation was bordered precisely with the new land. As I returned to the hotel to meet with everyone, I paid careful attention.

Some of the patches of new land had that sensation strongly, while others barely had it at all. It didn’t take me long to realize that there was some correlation between the strangeness of the new spaces and the strength of the feeling of density.

In a basic grassland, the sensation was almost unnoticeable. But in a forest filled with trees that produced glowing yellow seeds that gently flitted to the ground like fireflies? The sensation was overbearing. Was this mana, as the patch notes had mentioned? I couldn’t know for sure, but I had a suspicion that it was the case.

I arrived back at the hotel in time to see a small menagerie gathering just outside of the front entrance. Landing, I moved towards the crowd. They seemed shell-shocked to say the very least. Approaching from their midst came Cindy, Taylor, and Donny, and they met me at the edge of the leading group, who still remained clustered together.

Cindy spoke first.

“Vic… what happened out here?”

I didn’t even know where to begin.