This is utterly and completely boring. Three hours! And half of that was political talk and official procedures. The other half? People going over the Reveal, Upheaval and what has happened after that. Ugh, why am I even here? I’ve just been audience anyway. At some point my phone was called, but I noticed it before the song really kicked off. I panicked a bit, but made a vacuum sound barrier by drawing the air from around my bag.

I really should’ve put it on silent. I hung up, then sent a message telling my mother I’d call back later. Well, she probably just wants me to come over for a family dinner or something. That or ask if I’ve gotten a job yet. Should I get a job? The agreements with the military might get me enough to live off, but the income isn’t that stable. Then again, I am in the process of setting up a company, just waiting for the paperwork to go through.

With that, I intend to sell New World goods and services. As far as I know, no one else has seized the business opportunities given by the [System], which means I have little to no competition. That means I could pioneer and make a name for myself, but also that I have to figure out exactly how the hell to do things. Well, selling stuff is straightforward. Selling services is the tricky part, especially since I don’t have a store where I can advertise and people can come. I suppose I’ll just go to them instead. Bigger operational range, too.

“We will take a short break. There are refreshments in the foyer, and we will start again in twenty minutes, with experts that will share their experience and knowledge, after which they will be available for questioning.”

Finally! I leave the large room with more energy than is probably socially acceptable, but among these men in suits I already stick out, wearing knee-length beige shorts and a light blue T-shirt, no footwear aside from my ankle bands and the bag. A very casual mishmash. I’ve gotta find Thomas (the military researcher) and go over what I want to say, since I didn’t have time to do that before we started.

So apparently I should first start by quickly going over what I have experienced. After that comes questions. I asked Thomas if I could go over what I see as the biggest threats and my proposals on how to deal with it, and he said he’d look into it. At the very least, he said, I should explain the more subtle challenges I’ve found, like specific magic types.

It’s a bit daunting to stand on a stage like this, with the large, amphitheater-like seating making everyone face me. Last time I made a presentation was back in high school, and that was only for my class. Well, I have a paper with notes on it, and a plan. I start before the Upheaval. I, like many others, played with magic once I found a guide online, and got used to using mana, but nothing past a bit of light, force or heat. I take my place behind the lectern, placing my notes on top.

“I had long planned a two-day camping trip to take a breather and wind down after the culmination of sixteen years of education. Having magic to practice was just more incentive to go, as I’d be in a somewhat secluded place, so even if I messed up I wouldn’t hurt anyone or destroy anything.

That night was when the Upheaval happened. Aside from nasty winds, though not worse than we sometimes have during fall, the parts of it that I experienced were a constant deep rumbling and shaking - earthquakes, I think. There might have been more going on, but after sticking my head out of the tent and feeling the wind, I decided to stay inside the relatively cozy tent. Didn’t seem like trees were falling or anything, so I went with comfort. When things finally calmed down I went to empty my bladder. When I returned from that, I was startled by a noise, which turned out to be a pale white wolf-”

I hold my hand out to the side, summoning the mistwolf puppet. “Like this one.” I make it sit, then continue. The sudden appearance of the wolf, caused a bit of a stir among the politicians and military people and lawyers and whoever else was invited, but they quickly quieted down, except for a few people apparently discussing my little trick.

“I can’t remember exactly what I thought back then, but I decided to ignore it and returned to my tent. I had been awake for more than thirty-six hours, and was pretty rattled by the violent shaking, so I think I doubted it was real. With some peace and quiet, I quickly fell asleep. When I woke up I was surrounded by more of the wolves, some of which were lying on top of me.

At that point I knew 100% sure they were real, but aside from just being there they didn’t seem all that dangerous. I mean, in my experience, the smaller a dog, the fiercer it thinks it is.” I hear someone snicker at that, and continue. “Either way, after coaxing them to get off me and out of the way, I get out of the tent to eat breakfast, leftovers from the day before I left.

I’m not clear exactly what happened, but after feeding some of them meatballs they got rather friendly, and one of them took the initiative to teach me a form of magic. Yes, the wolf taught me. A bit later, I found out that I had fully unlocked the [System], the detail of which I think two different people went over earlier.”

As I take a moment to gain my breath after speaking a bit too fast, something I do in situations like these, the person who are supposed to handle questions points to a woman in a professional-looking dress. “You were surrounded by wolves, and you just played around?”

I sigh, clearly annoying her. “I don’t consider that playing around, no, but- Okay, picture this: A bunch of dogs. One of the breeds that looks kinda like wolves” I give a dramatic pause. “It was like that. Except the wolves had magic and could make fog. But that doesn’t matter. Will there be more questions while I speak?” I look from the lady to the question moderator, then clarify. “I’m fine either way, but I can add pauses for questions.”

…

All right, add question pauses, then. What was I talking about… Oh yeah. “After that I packed up my stuff and started going home. On the way I met some teens, who had been attacked by a insect monster. Someone else went over that, too, as well as the attack the day after. Anyway, I went home after the medics made sure I was fine.

The day after that, let’s see… I went to a bunch of stores to buy stuff, including a pickaxe to defend myself with. I also started experimenting with making magic items, and practiced some abilities. After that I went to the forest again, and stumbled over the bug hive. I killed a straggler, then brought it to the nearby café to convince people that there was actual bugs, then alerted the police. The rest has been explained.”

I wait for questions, and someone asks “You mentioned magic items, what does that mean?”

“Well, items that have magic in them. I made a wand, a protective amulet I doubt will do much, and some other stuff. I’ll come back to magic items after explaining my experiences, so It’d be nice to delay any such questions until then.”

I give a pause in case anyone else have questions. “Okay. The day after that I just practiced more, and made a set of armor. Oh, and I enchanted a plank to make it appear slightly blurry. I now know an enchantment that makes things sturdier, so that could be good for construction. I’ll say more about it later.

The day after that, ehh… The [Basilisk]. Which I killed with a dropkick to the skull. That’s relevant because the scales of that thing are apparently resistant to direct small arms fire, even when dead. At the time I did it on impulse, and honestly it was pretty stupid, but it shows the power of abilities and magic, even with very little training. Again, I’ll come back to that.

Actually, I might as well mention right now that after going over my experiences till now I intend to explain a few challenges we, as a country, as well as humanity in general, will face. Back to my experience. The next few days were mostly the same, practicing magic and other abilities, learning new ones. Notable events would be that I got in contact with the military and now have a couple contracts and agreements with them. In short, I will teach some of them magic, so that they can see if they can incorporate it into the training or something.”

I pause for questions, but none come. “Four days ago, I flew to denmark, in order to gain- learn aspects. You can consider aspects as the essence of things, be it fire, water, trees, snakes, wolves. I use them for my main ability. Got back late the day before yesterday. Spent yesterday preparing for this and considering what I had learnt. Any questions?”

After answering a couple more questions for clarification and filling out a couple things I left out, I get the go-ahead to explain some of the challenges I think we will face. I start preparing a spell, and start probing people’s status, which I by this point has earned as a sub-ability: [Mana Inspect: Status Probe].

“I will start with something very relevant for a situation like this. Some of you might wonder why I have this, honestly not all that great-looking bag?” I stick my hand in it. “That’s because I made it (that will be important in a bit), and it’s a magic bag. The internal volume is about twice as much as it should be, thanks to enchantments.” I pull out the pickaxe, and lean it on the side of the lectern.

“Yes, security did check the bag, no, they did not find this. Security has just gotten much harder with magic. But this is just space expansion and a small illusion. I also have access to subspaces, essentially pocket dimensions for storing things. Subspaces will also be important for a later point. For now I’ll just say that any object can have a subspace, including living things, like my body”

I hold out my hand and summon the gun. “Which as far as I know can’t even be detected.” I swiftly point into the air and launch a slow-moving orb of light. “This magic gun is a tool for using magic, which I also made. Again, important later. Actually, just assume everything I say will be important later.” “

That said, I’ve killed some giant spider monsters with it.” I create the illusion of one hovering in the air, making it partially transparent. I quickly dispel it, and put the gun in the bag. I see that I’ve clearly made some people nervous at my not-quite threats, and clap my hands together.

((3rd person POV))

The moment Lars claps, a small red ball appears by the chest of every person, flashing like a camera, before starting to fade away. “That was one of the more harmless spells I know.” He explains, glancing at Thomas off to the side, who seems mildly horrified. Lars’ mouth curves upwards at this, unknown to himself.

“If I wanted to, I know for sure that I could have killed, or at least badly wounded, most of you. Some of you seem to have practiced magic, which would at least partially protect you, and some even seem to have unlocked the [System] as well as used magic, which might fully protect you.”

At this point security has been called, and are getting orders from the side. Lars notices them, but keeps talking. “And surely you’ve heard of the Tokyo Demon incident?” He looks over his increasingly worried audience, and tosses a small wooden square to someone in the audience, making it hover in front of them.

“My point is, intentionally or accidentally, magic can be very harmful. I’d like to compare it to surgeons and cars: Both of those are very useful, and possibly lifesaving, but they can also do great harm, and we have laws and regulations around them. I would argue we need the same for magic, but it could be impossible to uphold such laws.

Instead, I will make a case for free, and possibly mandatory, education about magic, the New World, and the [System]. The most important topics, let’s see… Health and safety when using magic or other abilities, the threat of monsters, and basic magic defence.”