The sounds of rustling paper and the scratching of notes were interrupted occasionally by a mumbled word or sentence. The only light in the room was from a small lamp sitting on the desk; the blinds were drawn to keep out the sun. Scattered along the desk were: mythological reference books, stacks of notes, and many crudely drawn maps.

Hunched over the desk was Jack, his long hair pulled in a bun, the usual sign that he did not want to be bothered. A very important D&D session was tomorrow, and he was preparing his climactic boss fight. “Ok, when they kill the water titan, the island will sink into the ocean. I can cut it off there, and leave them in suspense.” He let out a short evil laugh, then was back to his preparations.

As the Dungeon Master, his job was to run the game and come up with challenges for his players. Jack loved it, building worlds and intricate plots, it's what brought him most of the joy in his life. His preparations for a session were normally just a mild outline of where he wanted the party to go and maybe a battle idea or two. He loved the idea of a big master plan but he knew he would always have to improvise a majority of the sessions. Any good Dungeon Master knew that trying to get a group of Player Characters to do what you want, was akin to herding blind and deaf cats.

Looking through his notes on his players, he rubbed the dice tattoo on his right arm as he contemplated how best to manipulate one of them into triggering a particular trap.

Sarah: Shy, naive, easily motivated by doing the ‘right’ thing.

Keith: Min-maxer, a crafter, easily motivated by loot and power-ups.

Sam: Doesn’t pay attention, can’t individually motivate, natural follower.

He didn’t need notes on Emily and Jay they were the two constants in his life.

Emily had started dating Jack six years ago when they both were in college, after a month Emily told him she loved him. It took Jack a little over a year to say it back, he had to carefully assess his feelings to make sure what he was feeling was true. Jack did not like to say things he didn’t mean and told her so when she first confessed. He spent an hour trying to explain how he did care about her, but not to that level yet. Years later, she told him that during his entire nervous ramble all she could think about was how adorably awkward he was and just cemented her feelings that much more.

Jay was Jack's best friend they had known each other since high school. Jay was the one person, besides Emily, that he trusted implicitly. If Jay needed his help, all he had to do was ask and Jack would drop as much as he reasonably could and head over. Jay was always the one to come over and pull him out of the house when he was in a funk. While at that moment Jack would grumble and moan about how he didn’t want to be around people, afterward he’d always appreciate Jay’s efforts.

Emily was sitting in the living room working on a cosplay she was going to wear to an upcoming comic convention. Hearing Jack’s voice she started to giggle. She couldn’t hear what he said but loved the way he would talk to himself when he was deep in thought. He would always do so when he was trying to figure out a problem or was stressed in some way. Even when he first asked her out, she waited patiently next to him for almost ten minutes. All the while suppressing her giggles when she heard him whisper, “just do it” or “she's already told you she likes you why would she say no.”

She ran her hands through her hair pulling a small section to examine it. This color wasn’t her favorite. As a hairdresser by day, cosplayer by night, her hair changed every other month, this time she let Jack pick. ‘Cosmic blue’ is what it was called. It was too dark, she normally preferred bright colors like orange or neon blue. Maybe her contrasting pale skin would make the dark color look nice.

Before she dyed it, she had cut her hair into a long pixie style, she planned to eventually cut it into a mohawk. She joked to Jack that with his hair going down past his chest that he had enough hair for the two of them, plus shorter hair made wearing wigs for costumes easier.

Hearing the kettle start to screech she went to go finish making tea. Taking the kettle off the stove she reached towards the top shelf to grab a mug. Jack’s main domain was the kitchen, so he naturally was the one to organize it, he sometimes forgets not everyone is over six foot tall like him. While Emily is tall, she isn’t quite that tall which makes getting her mugs a pain. Having just pulled one down, she was suddenly startled causing her to jump and drop it. She blinked her eyes a few times not believing what popped up in front of her.

Jack was brought out of his thoughts of the way his players might try to ruin this boss fight, by the sound of the kettle. Thinking it might be fun to sneak up behind her and attack her with kisses while she makes tea, he started to stand. He stretched trying to pop his back, closing his eyes while he did. Only to snap them open at the sound of breaking glass, instead of looking at his desk he was staring at a large blue screen, two feet away and about the width and height of his shoulders.

**World Alert** Initializing world incorporation.

He turned his head but it followed, staying in the center of his vision only to disappear after a few seconds to be replaced by another.

**World Alert**

During initialization, you will experience a full takeover of your motor functions.

Along with administering a mood dampener.

This is to reduce panic and prevent bodily injury.

He tried to move away but his body wasn’t responding. His heart rate quickened and it was like something in the back of his mind was screaming run.

Starting in his chest, waves of blissful calm flowed through his body. All he could think about was how fascinating the screens were.

**World Alert**

Congratulations! You all have been saved by the almighty Miseth.

Your world’s well of magic had crumbled and was starting to pour magic into your environment at levels dangerous to all inhabitants.

Noticing this, Miseth went to work channeling and filtering the magic into less lethal forms. As such your world has been chosen to be incorporated into Miseth’s system; a highly sought after honor! Understandably, this is distressing news, please note that the mood dampener should help your mental and emotional processing.

**Alert**

Your body has been analyzed.

Your attributes, traits, and abilities have been logged for convenience. You can access this information in the; ‘Status’, ‘Skills’, and ‘Modifiers’ screens.

He didn’t understand what was happening but he knew that this was real and the world was forever changed. He momentarily wondered how much of that was his thoughts or were these the effects of the mood dampener. In this state, he honestly didn’t care. What he knew was that he had an overwhelming desire to explore what this system had to offer.

**World Alert** World Incorporation Complete. Warning: World-size set to increase by 20%

Time estimate for full expansion: 200 years.

Planetary lock applied: Unlocked requirement: Break the Level 100 threshold.

Feeling the weight of his bodily control come back to him, he fell into his chair. He sat there as the forceful calm of the mood dampener faded. There was a heavy silence all around. Birds were not singing, no honking cars. Just calm, quiet. He almost wished this serenity could last forever.

Like a rock through a window, the slam of a door shattered the silence. And the world once again erupted with noise. His neighbor in the apartment above him started stomping around. A smoke detector went off downstairs.

Emily came rushing in the door. “Did you just see something fucking crazy?” He nodded. “Jack, I need you to use your words.”

“Yes, I just saw some screens pop up saying the world has been saved, there is some sort of system and our attributes have been logged.” It almost sounded like a video game with skills and status scr-

As soon as he thought ‘status’ a screen appeared.

Name Jackson Calder Race Human Age 26 Level 1 Health 12/12 Stamina 4/4 Experience 0/100 Strength 6 Dexterity 7 Endurance 4 Vitality 12 Perception 8 Intelligence 15 Available Attribute Points 3

“No way.” for the first time since the screens appeared, he smiled. This was a character sheet. He immediately felt more in his element. Emily gave him a questioning look. “Think status.” her face switched from confusion to shock in an instant. Reading the status twice he reached out and touched the word ‘strength’. Feeling only the slightest resistance, like breaking the surface of water. Quickly telling Emily to do the same he dived in and started reading.

Strength 6 Strength is the amount of force you can exert on the world. It controls how much you can lift, push, and pull.

Strength was pretty self-explanatory. Figuring the rest of them might be too, he went down the line to check.

Dexterity 7 Dexterity is your balance and reflexes. It controls movement, speed, and accuracy. Endurance 4 Endurance is your ability to exert yourself and remain active. It controls how much energy it takes for you to perform activities. Vitality 12 Vitality is your lifeforce, how much damage you can take while holding together. It controls your resistance to poison and disease Perception 8 Perception is your ability to take in your surroundings and process them. It controls all your senses like sight and hearing. Intelligence 15 Intelligence is your ability to learn and adapt. It controls your memory and retention rate.

He took in his attributes, happy with how they reflected him overall. Intelligence was high, but his endurance was abysmal. “It’s not like I enjoyed running anyways.” he murmured. He checked to see if anything else would give him more information.

Race Human Humans are one of the most common races there is, for good reason. They can and will mate with almost every sentient race, and their traits are extremely dominant. Traits Resilience Abnormally high natural healing for a sentient creature. A trait some show off by stabbing their skin repeatedly with ink-soaked needles. Adaptability Travel to the most inhospitable area, with dangerous temperatures, and no food. Do you know who you’ll find living there? Humans. Invasive Humans have almost no connection to the forces around them. As such they tend to throw off the balance of any ecosystem they populate. Skill Limit 10

Smiling, he thought back to the system saying it saved ‘your world’. “Welp, that definitely seems to support the idea that there are other worlds with life.” He had always taken the side of math and probability when it came to the belief in aliens. He just never thought it would be to the extent that the system implied.

Health 12/12 Regeneration 2% per hour Stamina 4/4 Regeneration 5% per minute

Looking at his health regeneration, He didn’t understand why it said humans have a high regeneration. It seemed low to him.

A full health recovery would take a little over two days. Although if being at one health meant you were near death. Then that was scary high, he felt no temptation to start experimenting with health regen. A quick look and a sigh was all the attention he gave to his stamina. He began to frown, normally when a character sheet showed health then stamina, it would also have mana or magic points.

He held out hope that this was the kind of system that would reveal stats when you could use them. He thought of the possibilities of real magic. In most games, his go-to character was any kind of spellcaster. Bursting down his enemies, reversing the tides of battle, conjuring storms of lighting. Although if he was being honest with himself, he just really enjoyed the idea of molding the very essence of creative energy into something new and exciting.

Emily tapped him on the forehead bringing an end to his daydreaming. She had pulled out her laptop and set it up while he wasn’t paying attention.

The next few hours were spent on the internet looking for any information that people had gathered. The news had some stories of mass panic, but most of the world seemed to be coping as well as the two of them were.

The major source of panic was reports of minor natural disasters all over the world. Every major country was reporting earthquakes of three and under on the Richter scale. Tornados and hurricanes lasting only a minute appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Volcanos, while not erupting, suddenly started showing more activity.

The US government released a statement urging citizens to go about their daily lives and not interact with the screens.

The real information though was on social media. People bragging about attributes scores. Confirmations of three known screens, ‘Status’, ‘Skills’, and ‘Modifiers’. After reading that, Emily and Jack took a break to look at the other two.

Skills

Emily started giggling to herself, assuming her skill tree was also empty, he figured modifiers must have something funny.

Perks Buffs Human Resilience Afflictions Depression Carpal Tunnel - Minor Right Wrist Human Resilience Health Regeneration increased by 400% This stacks additively with other bonuses Depression Wisdom -1 Trigger: Upon waking up or mental strain dropping below 50% Effect: A stacking 0.5% chance of being afflicted with ‘Depressive Episode’ This resets once afflicted. Carpal Tunnel - Minor Right Wrist Trigger: Strain or use of afflicted area over 5 minutes A 10% chance of being afflicted with ‘Nerve Compression’.

Looking at the quantified breakdown of the disease that plagued him for years, gave him a sense of relief. Jack loved to find out how things worked. Understanding something was the way you learned to modify it or to make it better. So whenever he was given a washy answer to something, like ‘it’s a chemical imbalance these pills might help,’ it frustrated him to no end. While he was still disappointed to be affected by it; the understanding made the weight a little lighter.

“What were you giggling about?”

“Oh,” she giggled again. “I am afflicted with pyromania - minor. While around an open flame. I gain a negative to my wisdom and a chance to become ‘Fascinated’ with the flame”

Laughing with her, he had always known she was a bit of a pyro, just not to an extent that it was considered an affliction. “That reminds me, can you view your wisdom?”

She looked forward as she viewed her stats. “Nope, I know I can get negative to it. Maybe it’s a hidden attribute?”

With no answer to that question, they quickly exchanged the rest of their afflictions and attributes before getting back to work.

They found some forums talking about skills and theories. A surgeon had unlocked medicine, a chef got cooking. Some of the theories think that if you are already good at an activity, it makes it easier to unlock and level up. They also had a small and growing list of afflictions mostly physical, mental disabilities, and various diseases. He quickly had Emily send the link to his friends.

Years ago, Jack and his friends started a group chat. It was an easy way to plan events like going to the movies or upcoming D&D session. While he was on the computer searching for information, Emily was taking notes and sharing the information in the chat. Everyone had agreed to meet up at their normal D&D location, Jay’s house, the next day.

Emily had the idea to check if anyone was organizing information groups around where they lived. Since they live in the pacific northwest of the United States, squished right between a busy city and an expansive forest it was reasonable to assume someone was organizing something. Unfortunately, there was not any information on groups organizing, Jack pointed out that it had only been a few hours and they shouldn’t expect much yet.

With most of the information sources exhausted; Jack and Emily decided to spend the rest of the day trying to unlock skills and figure out how to gain experience.

**Skill Unlocked ** Baking Would you like to learn this skill Yes No **Skill Acquired** Baking Level 1 Preparing baked goods for safe consumption.

“Finally! Emily, I got baking.” Emily was cleaning the living room. She had already unlocked two skills before Jack got his one, which frustrated him to no end. He thought somewhere in between preparing, shaping, and literally baking his cookies he would have gained the skill. But it wasn’t until he was pulling them out that the notification appeared in front of him.

Emily turned to him with a grin that could rival the Cheshire cat. “Oh that’s so great, I'm proud of you! I just unlocked the cleaning skill; along with tailoring and sprinting, that leaves me with three skills. You have just the one right? Now, I can’t remember which is bigger, one or three?”

He rolled his eyes sarcastically “oh har, har” before he went to load the next batch of cookies on the tray. He paused. He could ignore the notification and it went into his peripheral vision, but it was still there, like a minimized window.

He brought it back up and thought every command word he could think of, to close it. It wasn’t this difficult with the status screen. When you were done looking at it, the screen would close itself. He tried to pull up his status but it wouldn’t open, neither would any of the others. “Hey, how did you get the skill notification to close?”

She looked at him confused. “You just press your finger to it. Why, did that not work?”

Jack could feel the blood rush to his face as he quickly pressed the screen and it closed. He quickly checked that he could open his status and it was working again. “Oh yeah, I probably should have tried that...” To run away from his embarrassment he focused back on his cookies. Thinking about it, he may have gone overboard with how much cookie dough he prepared. While his cookies were baking, he decided to get dinner ready.

**Skill Up** Baking Level: 2 **Skill Acquired ** Cleaning Level 1 Removal of unwanted debris and contaminants. **Skill Acquired ** Researching Level 1 Systematic study of materials and sources.

Sitting in bed Jack exited out of the skill menu after choosing to learn his two new skills. Someone posted online about hitting the skill limit, confirming that you can replace skills with new ones. This had been a worry for them after Emily acquired cleaning without realizing there was a limit to skills.

With the laptop on the bed, they watched a live stream. It was reporting about the change, which they were calling the “Genesis Wave.” Some people claimed they had found a way to level up, and at level three they got a perk called the “Genesis Wave.” The internet seemed to latch onto the name, so they made it official. It was a little too biblical for his taste.

There wasn’t any reporting on how to level up. Jack was pretty sure he knew how. In most games, the only way to gain experience is from combat or killing. Emily came up with the idea to try boxing for a bit; all they got out of it were a few bruises. The reporter went on to give more details about the multitude of natural disasters. Uneasy about it, Jack thought back to the original message; the system said the earth was going to be expanding. He didn’t know how that was going to happen, but it didn’t sound good.