“Fuck!” Kaleb's mind froze for a second as he processed what he was seeing in front of him. A glowing blue box filled most of hi vision. He couldn't count the amount of times he'd read books about this kind of thing happening. “This can't be real. I've been spiked or something.” he looked around his bedroom completely devoid of people with drugs and with his attention elsewhere the box vanished. “Maybe not.” Thinking of the box brought it back and he almost jumped when it popped into view again.

SYSTEM UPDATE

PATCH: 2.6

UNIVERSAL SIMULATION 28593

PATCH NOTES

1. Intergrated UI Deployed

2. Magic Reactivated

3. Classes Assinged

4. Fauna/Flora Evolution set: Nightmare Mode

5. Universal language pack Deployed

Message from Administrator 12: "Good Luck."

Kaleb was stunned at the implications. He grabbed hold of his bedsheets to confirm they were real, even pinched himself to really make sure. “Its all just a simulation?” he couldn't even articulate the questions he wanted to ask. 'Who would I even ask them to?' he wondered despondently. 'Who would even care.' With his world shook to the core he barely even noticed the immense reaction his goldfish was having to its own blue box. It designated the little fish as an Aquatic Devourer and its tiny fins and orange scales began to turn murky brown and grow to a huge size. It quickly filled the small ninety litre tank forcing the water to spill all over the floor. Its body scraped the sides cracking the thick glass.

Kaleb finally noticed his room getting drenched just in time to catch some flying shrapnel to the face as the tank shattered. Goldy the goldfish gave a weak roar as it took its first struggling breath of freedom. Kaleb screamed in pain and panic, he leapt from his bed and hid behind it. A status message appeared in the bottom right of his vision telling him he'd been attacked. 'At least there's no health bars.' he thought with relief and picked the shards of glass from his forehead. He suddenly thought back to the system message and frowned 'Where's my class though.' Think and you shall receive, seemed to be the law of the land as a new box popped up with his class and a brief description.

Class Assigned: Conjurer - Conjure beings and items to aid you.

“Wow. Super helpful descriptions you have there!” 'How do I conjure stuff?' The window scrolled down to a list of spells he could choose from.

Spell List Description Duration Mana Cost Rank Conjure Minion

Conjures a small minion with limited customization.

1 Hour Medium Rank 1 Conjure Weapon

Conjures a simple weapon melee or ranged.

2 Hours Low Rank 1 Conjure Light

Conjures a small light. Duration

1 Hour Very Low Rank 1 Conjure Ammo

Conjures a dozen simple ammo.

N/A Medium Rank 1

'Can't have magic without mana I guess. I like the spells though and it looks like that conjured ammo has no duration, I could start an ammo shop.' If his fish was anything to go by he didn't imagine he'd be opening a shop anytime soon. He took a second to calm himself and thought 'Conjure weapon.' while imagining a cool longsword. A blue bar at the bottom left of his vision dropped by about a fifth and plain looking sword with a blade about as long as his arm clattered to the floor. 'Need to work on catching stuff' he noted and picked up the heavy length of iron. “Why is it so heavy? People used to swing these bad boys for days!” he moaned and lugged it over to the oxygen starved fish. It tried to wiggle its fins menacingly but it was a fairly pathetic monster when not in water. Kaleb hefted the sword over his head and slammed it down on its scaly hide. The blade cut in slightly but it was the force of the impact and the breaking of bones that caused most of the damage. This time going for a stab he plunged it into the fish with all he had and it slammed into the wood floor beneath, the blade quickly bent and snapped in two before dissolving into motes of blue light.

The fish was still not dead. Kaleb stumbled back and sliced his feet open on the shards of glass, swearing he fell on his ass and rolled away from the immortal goldfish. 'Its just a fish! I stabbed it why is it still flopping around!' He had inherited the damned thing when his aunt died and it had been a constant chore of cleaning and feeding it. He was glad to have the change to finally be done with it but he never imagined killing a fish would be so hard.

He checked his spell list again and wondered if a machine gun could be considered simple but nothing happened when he tried the spell. “Minion it is.” He cast the spell and a small box popped up making him scream in fright. 'Going to give me a damn heart attack'

The window in front of him showed a grey little imp. It had and ugly face with a dog like jaw that jutted forward and was full of sharp shark like teeth. Its three fingers and toes ended in ebony and a serrated spade formed the end of its whip thin tail. To the right of the window was a list of options he could drag on to the monster at the cost of more mana per conjuring. Sadly wings were not an option so his brief thoughts of flying monkeys were out the window. He chose the option for more muscle instead of more spikes or additional limbs and the little minion became a tiny gym bro of evil.

A pained cry from his erstwhile pet snapped him out of his first build-a-bear experience and he focused on casting the spell. His minion stepped out of a magical blue haze and grinned up at him. Kaleb's mana bar dropped to half and he decided to save the rest in case he needed it later.

He stood gingerly on his cut feet and pointed at the fish monster “Kill it!” he commanded in his best evil overlord voice. His eager minion pounced on the almost dead fish and ripped it to pieces. Fins flew and gore splattered across his walls. “Stop!” Kaleb shouted and it immediately leapt of the dead pet. “Look at my room!” he shouted. Fish gunk was everywhere, even the ceiling. The minion looked contrite and stared up at him with large sad eyes. 'Really?' Kaleb sighed and pat the monster on the head. “Next time don't be so messy, ok?” it nodded eagerly and started collecting the largest pieces of fish into a pile. When Kaleb touched a piece of its meat he got a prompt

Spell List Description Duration Mana Cost Rank Spell Gained: Conjure Water Conjure a small amount of water N/A Low Rank 1

“Fuck Yeah!” He wasn't really sure why he got the spell from the fish and not from the gallons of water that had soaked into his carpet but he wouldn't complain, it was another spell without a duration. 'I can sell drinks with the ammo' he thought picturing his imaginary shop.

It took about an hour for them to get everything cleaned up and he only noticed the time when the minion he'd named Bob vanished in a puff of blue smoke. Looking around his apartment it barely seemed like the world had changed if one ignored the black bin-bag full of fish monster. Suddenly struck with a thought he turned on the TV. He was mildly surprised to find it working and for the power to still be on. In all the movies and books those things all just got switched off for one reason or another.

Unsurprisingly regular programming had been stopped and the news was on every channel, each with its own experts explaining what was happening. There was footage of mass panic and running battles in the streets as gangs which had once used guns were instead throwing fireballs and laser beams. The Prime Minister was on channel one urging people to stay in doors and not to panic while he was in an underground bunker and an army between him and the monstrous wildlife.

Despite being safe in his apartment Kaleb had the overwhelming desire to go outside and fight some monsters. Years of video games, larping and fantasy novels filled him with the need to find some adventure. Not to mention the fact that he had used magic was finally sinking in. “I'm a freaking wizard!” he shouted and jumped with joy only to drop to the ground cradling his feet. “Maybe get some antiseptic on these before I go adventuring.” he decided.

After taking care of his still sore feet and getting some proper clothes on which consisted of jeans, multiple sweaters covered by a leather jacket and a pair of well worn boots he summoned Bob back into existence and then a new weapon. He went for a morning star but apparently spikes were too much so it was a metal stick with a lumpy ball on top. He was sure it would still hurt though so he decided to keep it and crept out the front door. The stairwell was dimly lit as usual with a flickering florescent light but it didn't seem like any fights had happened out here at least.

He skulked down the stairs to the ground floor and almost shit himself when a door to his left rattled in its frame. The deep guttural barks from his neighbours old German Shepard caused the hair on his arms to stand on end and he ran the rest of the way to the carpark. The noise from the city hit him like a wave. Sirens, helicopters, roars and short lived screams hit him all at once and even Bob had to cover his spiky little ears.

That was when the sleek black cat the size of a Puma leapt at him from on top of a mini van. It slashed his chest but the leather and sweaters stopped it enough for him to only receive a shallow scratch. It was clinging to him making his mace useless. “Bob!” he screamed. Bob leapt on to the cats back which forced the three of them to topple over. The cat was furiously slashing while reaching its head back to bite Bob who's where hooked into the creatures thick fur. Kaleb managed to block his face and disengage from the scrambling pair. Without conscious thought he slammed the mace into the monster cat smashing its face into the concrete.

Bob untangled himself from the cat and began scanning the area for anything else to fight. Kaleb put a hand on the still warm cat and sighed. 'This was probably someone's pet.' He didn't receive any spells this time and giving in to the urge he thought 'Loot!' but as he expected nothing happened. They crept further out the shaded carpark but stopped to observe the street outside. People ran or fought in groups against huge birds that Kaleb thought might once of been seagulls. The road was clogged with abandoned or destroyed cars and then there were the bodies. He'd never seen a dead body in real life. He scoffed at the thought 'Simulated life.' But simulated universe or not the sight and smell of the bodies littered across the street was horrible.

He gulped when he noticed it wasn't just adults that lay still and had to force his eyes away. Not wanting Bob's timer to run out and leave him without back up Kaleb decided to refresh the spell before he stepped out. What happened however was not a new refreshed Bob but a second identical minion standing next to original Bob. 'Minion army' was the first thing he thought right before 'Need to paint them yellow' Despite what he had just seen outside he couldn't stop a dark chuckle but quickly sobered as a woman screamed and collapsed not five feet in front of him. A dark shadow grew as a bird swooped in. “Attack!” he commanded and the Bobs charged.

They leapt in to the air just as the talons came into view and pushed the beast off course and slammed into the ground in a heap of twisted wings. The minions made short work of the bird Kaleb even seen his first minion smack his little brother when it began tearing into the dead beast. 'Doubt they could make this place any messier.' The bleeding woman staggered to her feet and ran screaming from his minions, she was quickly lost in the crowd before Kaleb could tell her it was ok. He ordered the minions back into the semi protection of the carpark and huddled behind a large suv. “I need to work out where I'm going. I can't just wander the streets fighting everything I come across.” He decided to work his way to the city centre. The mayors office was there and they would surely be organising some kind of defence. He waited for Bob to expire and made a new one as well as refreshing his mace. “Right then, Lets do this.”