Wolf

By the time I can see again, I find myself surrounded by several dozen people in various states of distress. We appear to be in some sort of small village made up of several dozen huts surrounding a clearing. At the center of the clearing is a strange looking totem with the same symbol that was on those stamps located on all sides of the totem.

The symbol itself looks like a crescent moon, although I am not sure if it’s our moon or one from a different galaxy.

Is that the System Store that the Administrator spoke about?

Also, the climate feels almost exactly as it was back in Colorado. Is it meant to be like that? Or is it just a coincidence?

Although the time of day is slightly different. It was nighttime back home, but it only appears to be about afternoon here. At least, judging by the position of the blue sun in the sky.

“Wolf!” I hear a familiar shout from behind me before I turn around to find both my sister and my dad walking over towards me through the snow from the other side of the clearing.

I simply nod my head before walking in their direction to meet them halfway.

On my way over to them, I pass by a teenager who is repeatedly changing his arm into a sword and back again, so I take the time to look around the clearing some more as I walk.

Most of the ‘players’ – as the System calls us – appear to either be freaking out or playing around with their new abilities as more and more people continue to teleport in.

Their reaction is understandable.

We did just get sent to another world and told that it would be full of monsters after all.

That said, it's better to act rationally right now instead of flipping out.

I recognize several of the people in the clearing as our neighbors, but I also find quite a few people that I don't recognize at all.

They were probably passing through or visiting someone in our area.

After sending them a brief look of pity at their poor situation, I proceed to ignore them, focusing on the people nearest me who are messing with their abilities.

That's not actually a bad idea.

I glance down at my hand before trying to figure out how to work my own ability.

As soon as I think about it, knowledge about my ability fills my head, making it seem as if I had always known about it.

"Holy shit..." I mutter as I begin to lower the temperature around me through what the System refers to as 'ice element.'

I'm not sure why they don't just call it ice...

Right as this thought comes to mind, a brief explanation of the ice element fills my mind before I mutter, "Oh. That's why."

No one around me questions my talking to myself as they are all preoccupied with their current situation, nor do they seem to notice the change in temperature.

Soon enough, Katie and dad arrive at my location, only to pause as they begin to look around in confusion.

Did they notice what I’m doing?

I should have guessed that they would notice.

A look of confusion spreads across their faces for a few seconds after I stop manipulating the temperature around me before they focus on me, giving me a nod of greeting. I nod back and turn my attention to the crowd around us in order to find mom with the two soon following suit.

As I am searching for mom, I pay attention to the many different abilities being used around us.

The first interesting ability I find belongs to an old man. He seems to have some sort of injury in his left leg, but, under the eyes of myself and several other people in his vicinity, he lowers his hand to the injury and releases some sort of golden light onto it before the wound slowly begins to heal at a visible rate.

A healing ability?

That could come in handy.

Another person I find – a young woman this time – has a bunch of green vines growing out of her arms.

Interesting. Although not as interesting as the next person who has the appearance of a stone golem from a video game.

Did he turn his skin to stone or something?

Because if he didn't, then he should probably get that checked by a doctor.

Assuming there is one nearby.

My thoughts are interrupted as Katie says out of the corner of my eye, "There she is!"

I turn to find her pointing in the direction of the totem at the center of the village, where I quickly find mom standing with one of her hands on the totem and another holding onto her sword with a frown on her face. She looks a little bit out of place considering her attire of sweatpants and a hoodie as she holds that sword. And I’m not the only one who seems to think this, considering all of the strange looks she is gathering from the people around her.

Katie briefly snorts in amusement at her appearance before calling out, "Mom! Over here!"

Mom looks in our direction before smiling as she starts walking over here to join us.

As she approaches, I take a moment to study the village’s surroundings. The small village is surrounded by snowy fields on all sides, with snow covered trees at the edges of said fields.

Forests? Or would those be considered taiga?

I go back to studying the abilities being activated in the clearing until mom finally reaches us and asks, “Is everyone alright?”

We all nod in agreement as I turn to look back at mom again, who is turning to look back at the strange totem with an irritated look on her face.

"That strange totem over there is the System Store that we were told about, but apparently we can’t use it unless we have killed a monster," she coldly says before turning back to us and continuing, "so with that in mind, I think we should leave the safe zone for now to find a place without any other people."

I nod my head in agreement as dad says, "That sounds good."

Katie nods her head as well before we begin to walk out of the village.

None of us say anything until we are at least a couple dozen meters away from the village.

“Is this far enough away from the others?” Katie asks as she suddenly stops walking and turns around to face the rest of us.

Both mom and dad pause for a second before nodding in agreement.

“I think this is far enough,” Dad says, "I know that you are probably surprised by this whole thing, but we should leave that for later. For now, let's go ahead and share the details of our abilities with each other. Who would like to go first?”

Katie raises her hand and says, “I would!”

Dad nods his head and waves his hand for her to continue.

“Alright!” Katie starts, “My ability is called Nature’s Touch, and it can heal anyone I touch by an amount that is determined by my level.”

Another healing ability like the one I saw that old man use?

That will be useful if we ever get into trouble. And considering how that Administrator painted this world in his description of it, we will probably get into a lot of trouble in the future.

Dad goes next as he pulls out his knife and begins twirling it while describing his ability, “My ability is the ability to make slightly inferior magical copies of any knife I have in my possession and launch them in any direction I choose. I also have a small ability to manipulate them beyond just throwing them, but that isn’t going to matter until I level up enough. The ability itself is called One with the Knife”

A glowing blue knife - similar in appearance to the one he is currently twirling around - suddenly appears in the air above his shoulder as he finishes talking.

My eyebrows raise in surprise as I think of all the situations that ability could help with.

Not to mention that it’s probably the perfect ability for dad to have…

He does love his knives after all.

We turn to mom next before she drops her sword and begins to explain her ability as the sword suddenly begins to levitate next to her, “My ability is called Telekinesis. If you can’t already tell what it is by this floating sword or the obvious name, it allows me to levitate and move objects around with my mind.”

That one is pretty good too.

I’m surprised that we all got useful abilities.

Although I feel as if mine is stronger than theirs… At least, based off of the information I was given about the 'ice element.'

Everyone turns to me in anticipation.

“My ability is called Ice Reaper,” I begin before pausing at their surprised – and slightly amused – faces.

I knew they would be amused by my power having something to do with ice… Not to mention the ability name itself.

I ignore their amusement to continue with my explanation, “The ability allows me to create and manipulate the ice element to a certain degree based off of my level and stamina.”

Their amusement fades away into a mixture of confusion and interest.

“The ice element?” dad asks, no longer twirling his knife.

I turn to him with a nod as I explain, “I’m not sure how I know this – probably because of my ability and the System – but the ice element is the element that controls everything cold in existence, and it is released by anything that has a temperature below water’s freezing point. With it, I should be able to manipulate anything that is cold with my mind, while also creating the element myself, and decreasing the temperature of anything using said element.”

Everyone looks at me in surprise before Katie suddenly seems to realize something as she points to me and says, “So that was you earlier!”

Dad looks at her for a second before understanding dawns on his face.

Meanwhile mom just stands there looking confused as she wasn’t with us earlier when I played around with my ability to lower the temperature.

Dad notices her confusion and explains, “Earlier, while we were waiting for you, the temperature suddenly dropped near Wolf. It seemed too weak to be an ability, so I ended up writing it off as a sudden gust of wind or something along those lines.”

He then turns to me and says, “So that was you.”

I nod my head before closing my eyes.

Let’s see how good this ability actually is…

I force the ice element in the air to converge into half a dozen foot-length rough blocks of ice a couple of meters above the ground that all immediately fall to the ground and shatter. After that I try it again whilst focusing on my control a little bit more than the last time, making the blocks turn into round spheres and holding them all in the air instead of letting them go after creating them.

My families’ eyes all widen in surprise as they stare at me in silence.

I raise an eyebrow in amusement at their reactions before launching the spheres of ice at the ground to shatter and asking, “What do you think about that Administrator Dungeon competition?”

This breaks them out of their stupor as mom answers without any hesitation, “Ignore it. The chance of one of us getting picked is too small to even consider.”

Dad seems to agree with this as he nods his head.

Katie even looks a little bit frightened at the prospect of going into that dungeon, which, if I’m being honest, is a little surprising to me. Knowing her, I would have thought that she would jump at the chance to try something like that.

They are right though.

The chances of any of us getting picked for that are way too low to worry about.

In fact, I think I might feel bad for whoever does end up getting picked.

I am with my family here, and we already have experience fighting as a group, but most average people don’t have that experience. Many of them might not even have anyone with them at all, and if they – or anyone else for that matter – were to end up in that competition, then they would be stuck going through it completely alone.

Katie changes the subject as she says, “What did you guys think about that Administrator person? I thought they were really weird.”

You’re one to talk…

I do agree though.

“They were quite eccentric,” I admit, to which both of our parents nod in agreement.

A howl suddenly echoes from the direction of the forest on the other side of the snowy plains before we all turn to look.

Dad then glances at us with a smirk stretched across his face as he asks, “Do you guys want to go hunt some monsters? It’ll be a good chance to try to raise our levels.”

That does sound like a good idea.

Both Katie and mom nod in agreement before we all turn towards the forest.