[LEVEL UP]

“I levelled up, I see…”

I didn't have enough energy to check this now, but all of a sudden, without me noticing, the sounds I was used to were back. I came out of the maze of alleyways and only to be met with people walking on the road and sidewalks in the neighbourhood, as if everything I just went through was a mere figment of a sick imagination. I quickly ran home and went to sleep, maybe everything that just happened was a dream that I’ll soon wake up from, who knows?

✶✶✶

I got up the next day feeling much more refreshed, as if I was surging with energy. Suddenly, it hit me, the events from last night.

“Was that… real?”

I started doubting my own sanity, especially with all the cuts and bruises I’d gotten nowhere to be seen. I thought of trying something one more time….

“Status open”

[Status Open]

{ James,

Health 120 Mana 50

Job: Player Lv 2 Exp 30%

Base Status

Strength: 6

Stamina: 6

Agility: 6

Endurance: 6

Allocatable Stat Points: 4

Active Skills: Stealth Lv1, Navigation Lv2, Analysis Lv1

Passive Skills: Beginner Blunt Weapon Mastery 10% }

“So it was real… wait-”

Huh, it’s different now. When I took another look at the status page it was clearly different from last night. For starters it looked like all my “base stats” had increased by one, and two of my skills levelled up, even my “blunt weapon mastery” increased up from 0%.

“What are allocatable stat points…?”

[Answer: The player can use allocatable stat points by saying “allocate status” followed by the number and the chosen status.]

Wait what? ... Can it understand me? I had never expected an answer to my question, but, I think I’ll hold off on any allocations before I do some tests, and to do that, I need to go to the gym.

✶✶✶

After getting to the gym, it was now time to start my tests. First, I think I’ll start with the easiest one to measure, agility. I hop on the treadmill and run. To make sure that everything was as accurate as possible I was going to do 3 different runs and calculate my average speed using all three “scores”.

…

…

…

“20 kilometres per hour... not bad”

Now it was time to allocate 1 point into agility, and see the difference, if any of those things show up again… well, I think I’m going to need speed and strength to either run away or fight them off.

“ Allocate Status, 1, Agility”

[Allocated 1 status point to Agility, total Agility = 7]

“Good, now time to try again”

After doing another round of tests...I was astonished, it actually worked. My average speed increased from 20 km/h to 25 km/h. That was a 5 kilometre increase! These status points actually affect reality…and not in a small manner either…

✶✶✶

I was freaking out, this made no sense at all. How could a list of numbers actually have any effect? Although now that I thought about it, it wasn’t not any weirder than fighting a zombie at night. Wait, if this was supposed to mimic a game system would this work….?

“Inventory”

[Player inventory is currently empty, to insert objects the player must say “open inventory” and put in/take out chosen object]

“It works! This makes no sense! This shouldn’t be possible!”

I tried to test this [Inventory] by putting in my water bottle, however I did this away from the eyes of others because I didn’t want to create any suspicion and cause a ruckus.

“Open Inventory”

[Inventory Unlocked]

All of a sudden a black circle appeared mid-air as if it was an illusion. I tried to put my hand through the circle and it actually went into it. I didn’t feel anything special about the inside other than how wherever I moved my hand there appeared to be no barrier. I tried to put my water bottle in and it disappeared inside the circle, when I tried to grab it but felt nothing in there. Although, as soon as I thought about the bottle I felt it touch my hand. I thought about closing the inventory and the black circle disappeared without a trace left behind.

It was going to turn dark soon so I went to the store nearby and bought a few baseball bats and a knife in case of an emergency. I didn’t want to be as unprepared as last time. I was lucky that today and tomorrow were off for school. I will have to learn how to balance this with school life. Either way, it was dark now, and I decided it was time to head out to the streets again and see what my luck brings me.

***

As James was making his preparations, a figure in the shadows of the rooftops was watching him closely with their sharp eyes.

“We finally meet, oh master of the system.”

Just as mysteriously as the figure appeared, they vanished. Leaving behind a whisper that might never reach James’ ears…