We do a quick headcount before heading over to the dirt ‘road’ that leads back to the actual city. It’s a road in that cars can drive there, but it’s a service road. It’s comfortable to walk on and gets proper cross-country skiing tracks in the winter. There’s also not many places to turn around, and after tonight there might be stuff blocking it.

We make good speed, considering some of the injuries, and as we expected there are things in the road here and there, including a deer-like thing with spiked antlers. The wolves killed it before we even saw it though.

I inspect it and relay the info to the others. “ It’s a [Thorn-antler Buck], apparently. You can use the antlers and pelt to make decent weapons and armor, I think.”

“How do you even know that?” asks one of the boys, David if I recall correctly.

“I have a skill called [Inspect]. When I concentrate on something I can learn a little bit about it. It’s not terribly useful, though.”

The wolves have already started digging into it. On the other hand, it seems parts of the group aren’t exactly fond of blood and viscera. I sit down to inspect it. As in look at, not using the ability.

I notice with my [Mana Perception] that there is a mass of mana in its chest, and there is also fading remnants of mana spread through its body.

“What are you doing?!?” someone exclaims when I reach my hand into the corpse. I shrug. “Probably what it looks like. You guys can keep going, I’ll catch up with you in a minute.”

“It’s a real life monster isn’t it? I wanna see as well.” David sits down on the other side of the dead buck. The rest of the group seems quite happy to leave, though.

I retract my hand, unable to reach my goal. David sees my empty hand, “What are you even looking for?”

I take my knife out of the sheath. “There’s a dense clump of mana in here.” I start cutting away the flesh and organs in the way of my expected treasure, throwing loose pieces to the side, to eager wolves. It’s quite tough, but easier after I experimentally cover the knife with mana.

“You mean, like a mana crystal or mana core or whatever?” I smile at the question. “That’s exactly what I’m hoping for.”

He nods. “So these skills, how do you even get them?”

“I don’t really know. I think you get them from doing related actions. Pretty sure I got inspect from y’know, inspecting things.” I gradually get closer to the core. I take note that the wolves seem to like eating organs. Not all organs. They stay away from the digestive system.

David seem to be thinking. When I finally cut away the last offending piece he exclaims: “I did it! I [Inspect]ed it!” He has a pretty wide grin.

“Congratulations!” I clap, causing a wet sound and splashing some blood on me. Oops. “If you learn three abilities you should partially unlock the system.”

I reach into the corpse and grasp a small, hard, roundish object. “If you can sense and use mana you should have that already.”

“Really? How do I know?” He looks at the small stone in my hand. “Wow, it really is a [Mana Stone]”

“Remember that feeling in the back of the head I mentioned?” Almost as soon as I finish, his eyes go wide.

I leave him to go through the information he surely just gained. I drop the stone at my side and start working on getting the antlers free. It’s hard, but with a little practical application of mana I soon get them off the skull.

When I put the antlers next to the stone, David speaks up: “I got three abilities and a class now. And I can even see my status. This is so cool!”

I notice that I failed to have my flask ready and that both my hands are pretty bloody. “Hey, can you get my water flasks and rinse my hands?”

He obliges, and not soon after we’re walking at a brisk pace to catch up with the main group. I put the cleaned magic stone with the one Tåke gave me in my bag and hang the antlers, also cleaned, on the side of the backpack.

We go through all my skills and how (I think) I got them. I also mention what I’d learned on the internet. I ask about his leg, but it seems the treatment worked.

Upon further inspection the bite marks are already scabbed over. I re-apply the magic. This time, I have at least a vague idea of how this works.

By the time we reach the main group, they’re standing by the ambulances. I did not think of David’s wound when I said I’d catch up, but when we started walking it was clear he could not move 100%.

As for the wolves, it seems they don’t wanna leave the forest, with the exception of Tåke, ever present by my side. Is she going to become a beast companion or something? That’d be cool.

They are covering the forest in mist again. I tell them to not make the road misty, but I don’t know if they understand, nor if they care. They are wild beasts, after all, if magical in nature.

When we get to the ambulances there is a small crowd gathered. They seem to be the teenagers' family, as well as some onlookers. People react to Tåke, as expected, but she’s in stealth mode and not everyone seem to notice her.

David is quickly greeted by the EMTs and soon guided to an ambulance. All the while, he’s telling about his newly acquired skills and unlocked [System] to anyone who’ll listen, mostly the other boys.

After telling the health care workers that I’m unhurt and that the blood is not mine, I turn my attention to my misty companion. I pet her, foregoing the usual baby-speak people use with animals in favor of the [Beast Empathy] skill’s wordless communication.

Soon she’s laying on her back while I rub her belly, tongue out and all. “Some terrible beast you are…” I mumble absently, focusing on the notifications in front of me instead.

Ability Learned: [Dismantling] [Dismantling] lets you take apart corpses, be they formerly alive, undead or machines. Beast Companion acquired! Having raised affection with a named beast and increased your [Beast Empathy] skill, you now have a bond with Tåke, a [Juvenile Mist Wolf]. Through this bond you can sense her status and location, as well as communicate.

“Thanks for the help.” I look at the newcomer; it’s Hilde, the sober girl. She smiles and continues “Really, though! When you suddenly came out from the fog like that it was scary. I didn’t even think of thanking you.”

She laughs a little, but her eyes do not. “Not that you’d let us once you got started. Still, without you, Hanna might not have...” She looks at the happily panting cloud. “Can I pet… her?”

I nod “If she lets you. Can’t promise she doesn’t bite, though. I just got a notification that she became my beast companion, but she’s still a beast.” The girl has already started petting her, though.

“A terrible magical beast that can turn nigh-invisible.” We share a laugh at my comment. “Seriously though, she happily devoured the corpse of that deer-thing.”

“Unlike dogs she’s not been bred to domestication over centuries. People forget that about zoo animals, with tragic results, sometimes.” I elaborate.

“Hilde!” someone shouts. By the looks, her family. Two of the three ambulances have left, the crew of the third is discussing with the gathered adults and some of the remaining teenagers.

I finally enter my apartment, after some questions by the worried parents and then asked to testify to the police. The police seemed apologetic about it, but this isn’t really within their jurisdiction. Or anyone’s, really.

The teenagers themselves also asked me questions, primarily the boys who had questions about the [System], since David was unable to answer most of them. Of course, there were questions I was unable to answer, but I might very well be a local ‘expert’ on the topic, by virtue of knowing something.

Tåke was left with the pack. I don’t want to have the responsibility of taking care of another living being. I still sense her whereabouts and that she’s fine, thanks to the [Beast Companionship] link.

After a refreshing shower I get dressed, as much as I get dressed at home during summer, anyway. I sort out my backpack, again being very careful with the magical antlers. I will see what I can do with them later.

For now though, I sit down at the computer to share what I’ve learned with the communities, and to properly read up on the new developments. The event tonight has been dubbed “The Upheaval”.

While there has been amazingly little damage, largely because it seems to have affected populated areas significantly less, it is believed that the planet has grown about 30% in size. Gravity has stayed the same obviously, so the mass must have increased too.

Surprisingly, satellites still work and have stable orbits, so they must have been moved by whatever happened. Overall it wreaked havoc on GPS systems and made maps less accurate, but humanity marches on.

Many big firms have already updated their GPS software, but it will be a while until maps and hardware are updated. Google has been cited saying ‘expect two weeks until we have roughly updated our maps then a few months until most areas will be back to the current level.’

I share my new knowledge on the [System] and skills on the websites for that, while taking in what others have learned: Dungeons are a thing now, you can form parties to get boons similar to my animal companionship, and increasing your abilities can make you superhuman, as one video demonstrates.

On the video is some asian guy using a katana to cut down trees like nobody's business. Apparently he has a [Swordsmanship] with power level 4 and skill level expert.

That’s another thing: Some skills are ‘awakened’ rather than learned, starting with an increased skill level. The power level still starts at 1, though.

After eating dinner and reading some more I go to bed, early and exhausted, on this fifth day of what the internet has coined a gentle apocalypse.