James glared at the screen in front of him. In his sleep impaired state it seemed reasonable enough for there to be a screen floating in front of his face. He had read stories where that could happen. The Lit-RPG genre was full of helpful screens taunting the characters with all kinds of information.

[Congratulations! You have awakened! We have determined that you belong to a rank 3 unawakened species. As a member of an unawakened species below rank 10 any advancement points you earn for your species have double the effect.

You are currently in an area the threat system judges to be a danger level of 1. This implies you may encounter a number of mundane dangers. Your mortal threat rating for this area is less than 1 percent.

The tutor system recommends that you familiarize yourself with your guardian systems interface and begin working for the betterment of your species and the collective as a whole. To this end the tutor system instructs you to access your wards and vitals interface. A scan of your psychological profile suggests you establish a keyword to aid in this process. Recommended keywords include “status” “vitals” “character” or other similar words.]

James decided that the best choice would be to ignore the screen. With his decision made he willed the screen to disappear before rolling over trying to fall back asleep. After a few minutes he decided to get up. He glanced at his alarm clock and it read 5:49 AM. This was a normal enough time for him to wake up, even on a weekend

James made his way down the hall to the bathroom absentmindedly. As he relieved himself he started wondering how he should spend his day off.

[The tutor system recommends that you familiarize yourself with the guardian systems. Your present psychological profile is stable and your lack of obligations for the day means this task will not interfere with your lifestyle. The tutor system advises that preparation is the key to safety in the event of unexpected circumstances.]

James willed the screen to disappear by reminding himself that it was just the product of his half asleep mind. He instead chose to focus on the sound of one of his roommates waking up. After a short while he heard the blender running which told him it was Darrel, an amateur bodybuilder who often asked James to workout with him. When James arrived in the kitchen he threw a cheap frozen breakfast into the microwave. When it was finished James bit into the cheap bacon cheeseburger to the disgust of his muscular friend.

“Hey Jay, I need a gym partner today. Know you aren’t busy.”

[The tutor system recommends you accept the invitation. Your strength rating among members of Rank 3 species is below the bottom 25 percentile and is less than 70 percent of your strength potential.]

James growled at the annoying screen. Darrell gave him an odd look which James answered saying, “Still half asleep. I keep imagining a floating screen thing. I think it called me a wimp.”

Darrell pat his cohabitator in the shoulder and said, “Some exercise will wake you right up.”

James gave him a vague grunt before opening the refrigerator and pouring himself a glass of orange juice. The tart flavor of the juice helped him clear his mind. Whatever the screens actually were, he had been feeling a quiet sense of dread for several weeks now. They were right that preparation was the best way to ensure his safety in the event of a disaster. Perhaps, he decided, some physical exertion would help put the slowly growing unease to rest.

By the end of the day James had decided that he had never been less happy to be right. Throughout his workout with Darrell more of the screens had popped up in James’ vision. The tutor system kept advising him to familiarize himself with the guardian systems. James decided to cool down and take a break when the screens warned him that he was beginning to over exert himself. It wasn’t until he was at the grocery store buying his food for the week that James even considered that he wasn’t simply imagining the screens.

James was walking through the freeze section when he noticed an old woman on a power scooter glancing at her own screen like it was some kind of shopping list. The moment he got home he put his groceries away and went to his room. He sat on his bed for three long minutes before he spoke to the screens. “Vitals.”

[Alias: James Renault (Awakened)

Species: Human (Rank 3 unawakened)

Status: Passive, Uninjured

Vital Energy: 0/0

Arcane Energy: 0/0/0

Strength Rating and Potential 15/34(30)

Vitality Rating and Potential 36/45(38)

Intelligence Rating and Potential 30/120(100)

Arcane Rating and Potential 10/12(4)

Wards: No Active Wards

Vital energy is a measurement of the arcane energy your body reserves for the rapid recovery of injuries. Vital energy is tied to your Vitality and Arcane Ratingings. If you find yourself running out of Vital Energy during combat improving both of these Rating are easy methods of maximizing your pool.

Arcane energy and is a measure of the Arcane power stored in your aura. This is used to effect magic and to bind wards to your aura. This is tied to your Arcane Rating and your Intelligence Rating. If you often find yourself lacking Arcane energy improving both of these ratings are easy ways to maximize your pool.

The three numbers in your ratings and potentials represent your personal rating, your current potential and the current standard potential for your species. As you approach your potential, training your ratings gives diminishing returns. You may improve your potentials however, as you begin to exceed the standard for your species this becomes progressively more difficult to do. Improving your potentials is one way to earn advancement points for your species.

The tutor system advises you to access r