“The only thing that makes life unfair is the delusion that it should be fair.” ~ Steve Maraboli

A drop of sweat ran down Jack’s forehead; the heatwave was a pain in the ass. His hand rested on top of the steering wheel. The sun blinded him. The empty highway in front of him faded into the horizon, all around him there was cactus, shrubs, and withered dirt.

He saw a man, drenched in sweat, hunching his way forward on the sidewalk. He slowed down the car to match his pace, and rolled down his window. The man smiled as he saw Jack. He had a fancy golden watch on his wrist

“Thank god. I thought I was going to die, open up the door.”

“Sure. It’s going to cost you that watch”

“Wait what?” The man said.

“I said it’s going to cost you that watch”

“Are you serious? I’m going to die if you don’t open the door up.”

“You’ll die someday either way.”

“You can’t do this? It’s robbery. This watch is worth ten thousand dollars. How about this, I’ll give you two hundred dollars, how about that?”

“Wrong word. I can, and it’s not robbery, it’s a deal. Here you are, dying from dehydration and you have a fancy watch. That watch is worthless to you if you die. Hence, the deal. I could even fairly charge you one million dollars. That's the beauty behind the word fair, it's easily exploited.” Jack said.

“No. I don’t agree. You..”

“Well then.” Jack began rolling the window up.

“Stop.” He took off his watch and threw it at Jack. “Now will you open the door?”

“Done.”

The man got into the car, he saw a water bottle and reached to grab it.

“Wait.” Jack said, the man looked at Jack clearly annoyed. “200 dollars for the water bottle.”

“You can’t b....” Jack took the water bottle and held it outside his window. “Okay. 200 dollars. Fuck you, give me the water bottle.” Jack chuckled.

....

It was midnight, Jack sat in front of his computer. Between the old candy bags and emptied cans of coke, his hands stretched out to his keyboard and mouse. Jack’s nose had become used to the rotten smell in the room caused by sweat, leftover Doritos, and old food.

His desktop was covered in all types of games. He loved well-made games, they were the most fun to exploit. He was one of the most influential members in the hacking community, his name was ThePotatoFucker420

Suddenly, a message appeared in the middle of his center monitor. It was a pop up from a random site he'd visited, it had a large X button in the corner. He was about to click it but stopped because a certain word caught his attention.

“We have created a new system. We would like you to beta-test it for us, do you think you’re able to find any exploits?”

“Yes, No.”

His mouse jerked towards the yes. He thought about it for a second and pressed it. If it were a virus, it wouldn’t crack his anti-virus.

His sight twisted three times. Darkness all around him. He heard the sound of a newborn duck jumping into the water. He smelled curry. His sense of touch disappeared, his limbs felt deaf and unmovable. For a few seconds, all he had was his thoughts.

The feeling disappeared. He felt his back up against a rough cold surface. He was laying down. His eyes could see darkness, his hands could feel the cold air. He fumbled up, his head hurt as if a nail had pierced the middle of his brain. He felt the blood strain down, his sight turned bleak and he almost fell over.

“What the fuck happened?” Jack said.

A blue box appeared in his sight. He could see it, and read it clear as day. “Quest gained ~ escape the stone box. Reward: common loot box.”

“Hello, I am the system that will aid you. Currently, you are stuck inside a stone room in the middle of the forest. In twenty-four hours the oxygen supply will end and you will die. Your task is to escape before then and I wi…”

“Shut up.” Jack interrupted.

“Excus....”

“What commands do I have?”

“what…”

“What commands do I have?'' Jack said.

“You have multiple commands. Status shows you your status, where you can see your progress. Shop shows you the shop, there you can buy abilities and items. Quest shows you your active quests. Inventory for opening up a place to storing space. Inspect, will give you information on whatever you want to inspect. There are more commands that will ope…”

“That’s enough. I get the gist of it. It reminds me of RPG games.”

“Now, I don’t know where I am or what’s happened, but cluelessness won’t help me. It feels real, maybe it could be real. I’ve heard of stories like this. Nevertheless, I’ll return to this later.

“Before I can leave you alone. I have to ask you what class you want, this is a mandatory assignment that cannot be changed later.”

“Oh really. What will you do if I don’t give you an answer.”

“I will give you a random class.”

“What’s the time limit?”

“There is none.”

“Well then it can wait.”

“Wait, you can’t jus…”

“System.” He interrupted. “Rpg’s usually have some sort of levelling system. How does the levelling systems work here?”

“You level up from gaining experience. You gain experience by completing quests, killing organisms, or gaining proficiency in actions. The levels give you stat points which you can spend.”

“Huh. Okay I’ve got an idea.”

He brought his hands up and felt for a wall. He walked forward like a blind man with a stick. He felt the cold stone wall. He dragged his hand back and shot it forward; it hurt like hell. Pain and damage were real, he couldn’t grind it out like in Minecraft.

Jack thought out loud, “I have to escape within 24 hours, is that a rule?” He had an idea and hell his breath until it felt like his lungs would suck his throat in. He took a deep breath and started again.

“What are you doi...” A sound interrupted the system.

“Ding! +5 exp, +1 lung capacity.”

“Level up! +1 stat point.”

“Wait but it’s not supposed to go this way.” The system pleaded.

“Doesn’t matter. I’m a beta tester right? I’m gonna mess this game up so bad. Status.”

-------

Status:

Name: Unspecified.

Class: Unspecified.

Level: 1

HP 10/10

Mana: 0/0

Stat points: 1

Strength: 0

Agility: 0

Luck: 0

Charisma: 0

Stamina: 0

Intelligence:0

Perception:0

Perks: None currently. Purchase available.

Exp needed for level up. 0/10

-------

“What are perks?” Arne asked before holding his breath.

“Perks are like stats but more unique. They will give you a permanent bonus and they cost stat points to unlock.”

“It says “purchase available,” can I see the perks?”

"You’re supposed to…”

“Can I see them?”

“Yes.” The system sounded resigned.

A list opened up in his sight. There was a name, a small description and beside it the number of stat points required to purchase. Jack scrolled through the list. He saw a perk that intrigued him.

--

Pickpocket

Rank 1: Your quick hands and sticky fingers make picking pockets 25% easier.

Rank 2: Picking pockets is now 50% easier.

Rank 3: Picking pockets is now 75% easier, and you can steal equipped weapons.

Rank 4 Picking pockets is now twice as easy, and you can steal equipped items.

--

He could imagine all the different ways he would exploit this tree. Rank 1 cost 2 stat points, and currently wouldn’t do him any good. He’d purchase this once he reached a town. He took another breath.

“Ding! +5 exp, +1 lung capacity.”

He pushed himself, hitting twice as fast. He wanted to see how quickly he could break the game. Blood leaked from the left hand and then from the right hand, it wasn’t long until the entire wall was covered in blood.

He pushed himself, telling his lungs to go fuck off, and almost passing out of oxygen defiiceny. He held another breath and thought, “Lung capacity doesn’t necessitate that my body uses the oxygen more efficiently. That means I still only have twenty four hours to get out.

“Ding! +5 exp, +1 lung capacity.”

“Level up! +1 stat point.”

He opened up his stats and invested the two points into strength. His heart loudly thumped, a strange liquid tickled as it spread all over his body. He felt stronger. He kicked the wall with everything he had. It didn’t crack. He kicked again. Nothing happened. He’d have to increase his strength more.

He would break this game. Break it like he’d broken everything else.

“Wait a second! You need to select your class!” The system cried out.