Chapter 1: Change Up

I’m Clive Parker a College fresh grad and I’m unemployed

Yeah I’m unemployed.

These days it’s really hard to secure a good paying job even though you have a degree

I can’t even get a job

It’s not like I get to complain, I really didn’t take my studies seriously so this is what I get

While walking on the streets after I was done shopping I received a text from Mark

By the way Mark is you could say my bestfriend I’ve known him as far as I can remember

“Yo Clive! Drinks? Game night!”

I replied to his text

“Sure, If you’re buying. Im unemployed “

“Haha sure no problem with that, it’s not like I can get you to buy anyways”

That day we were just hanging out by his place, drinking and playing games when the world started changing and the unimaginable thing that only happens in Sci-fi stories happened

We heard a noise, a sound of the window glass crashing

so Mark and I looked back to see what caused the noise

we saw a creature  inside his apartment that seemed to come from the window and was momentarily frozen shut while looking from the couch

“What the heck is that?”

Mark said on a whispering voice

“I don’t know. How the heck did that got here?  were on the 20^th floor “

 I replied whisperingly

We both cannot comprehend what was happening

It was a creature that I have never seen before

We were both terrified and I can see Mark’s legs shaking

I can’t blame him for being so afraid

Because that creature was really scary

If I were to describe the creature, It looked like a wolf but the fur is color blue of some sort, his eyes were  glowing red, has single horn in the middle of its forehead and almost  a size of a bear

After we looked onto its eyes, the wolf like creature began to growl and then attacked us

“GRRRRRRRRRR”

It ran towards us and bit Mark in the neck and killed him instantly
Mark was not able to react to the wolf's attack
It happened so fast that he was not even able to let out a word
Mark just died there instantly while bleeding out inside the wolf's mouth

I looked at the scene shocked and was not able to comprehend what happened
I couldn't move a muscle and was still processing what happened in my head

There was blood on the floor and on my face

My heart was beating fast and a cold feeling crept up towards my spine

My mind was blank and I don’t know what to do

I was really scared

After the wolf like creature was done with Mark

It changed its target and had its focus to me and jumped in to my directione

Luckily by chance I evaded the attack  because I tripped and fell on my butt

I ran to kitchen while panicking

I was desperately searching for a weapon there and then I was able to get my hands on to a knife

By the time I got a knife the wolf like creature is already behind me preparing for its second attack and then before the wolf attack begins I  threw some knives and hit the wolf’s  eyes and body

“AAAAAaaaaaaaaah”

I shouted while throwing the knives

The wolf backed away and then the wolf growled again

“GROOOOAAAaaaaaaHHHHHHhh”

But it was a different kind of growl

It was different from the growls earlier

It was more loud and monster-ish

It was truly terrifying

Then the wolf began to attack again

I was so scared and tears start to well up in my eyes

“Am I dying here?”

Those were the thoughts that float inside my mind and then I grabbed the last knife at the top of the kitchen table and tried to stab it while my eyes were shut closed

“AAaaAAAAaaaaaaaah”

After doing some stabbing in a vertical motion

The  place seemed to have quieted down

I was sure that I’m hitting him but I don’t care because I’m really scared

I opened my eyes slowly and then I saw the wolf laying down and is being surrounded by a blue light while slowly vanishing

After the wolf disappeared a small window popped out in front of me

“Congratulations!! You have been promoted into ‘ Novice’ ”

What?

a Novice? What the heck is happening? Why is there a window in front of me?

I closed the window and after doing so I saw an Icon floating on the top left side of my vision

It was a circular icon that has a person inside of it and beside the Icon there is a red bar

I gently touched the Icon and a selection appeared

“Status”

 “Skill”

“Equipment”

“Inventory”

“Party”

“Help”

“Settings”

It almost seemed like the game that I’ve played once before

 It was so unreal so I closed the selection immediately and run towards Mark to check him up as I drop the knife from my hands hoping that somehow he still alive but when I got there, there was no corpse or blood in there

There was no trace of the attack earlier except for the broken glasses from the window and the things that fell down when the commotion was happening

I was so dazed at that moment so I went to the window and observed what’s happening outside and saw people that are being chased by the same creature that attacked us earlier

I was terrified

I remembered what happened earlier

Mark died and now everything’s so messed up, people down there are dying one by one

I tucked myself almost like a curling position as I sat beneath the broken window

I got my left hand cut

 As I look closely to my hands, the dripping blood was vaporizing as the blue light seemed like it was burning the blood on my hands

My hand also healed as if nothing happened

“Amazing!”

I was astonished but at the same time I was scared

I was thinking what would happen next

Mark just died in front of me just like that

Everything can happen, now that everything became shitty

“I don’t want this, but I need to survive”

I whispered those word as I hug both of my legs while trembling in fear

After a while my mind cleared up and I began to study the options that appeared after I touched the icon

The options appeared

I first touched the “Status” bar and a window beside it appeared

It says

“Name: Clive     Level: 1

HP:150/150        

Exp %: 10/100

Str: 15                   Dmg: 15(+2)        Class: Novice     Pet: None

Agi: 10                  Def: 10(+1)

Int: 10                   Luck: 2

Vit: 10 “

I am familiar with the stats system because I played a lot of games back when I was still in college and  now at home because of me getting rejected by companies that I applied for after graduating.

I mumbled

“So your status are automatically allocated”

After that I selected skills

At the skills windows there where 3 tabs

“Active”

“Passive”

“Pet”

The pet tab is unclickable and the text is color gray

Maybe because I don’t have a pet yet

So I browsed the “Active” tab first and there was only a single skill unlocked and the skill is called “Stab”

“Stab:+10 basic damage upon casting – CD: 2 secs”

I still don’t know how to activate it but I have a hint as to how you can activate it

Well, based on my experience reading about stories similar to what’s happening to me the skills may be voice activated

And next I checked on the “Passive” tab

Also at the “Passive” tab there is also a single skill unlocked and it is called “Novice Strength”

It says

“+5 str when unlocked”

Various skills are still locked

Also the icon is the only thing that you can see if it’s still locked

well I guess the name of the skill reveals when the skill unlocks

After that I checked the “Equipment” bar

Similar to any MMORPG it’s just a window to view your equipment

Equipped to me

“Black shirt”

“Jeans”

“Rubber Shoes”

After that I selected Inventory there was nothing inside my inventory so I closed all the windows and readied myself to go out

I took the knife that I used earlier to kill the wolf like creature that attacked us and after doing so I sat at the couch on the living room and I talked to myself

“Oh F*ck, Why’s this happening, I guess I’m screwed “

It happened so fast it’s still hard to believe that my bestfriend is already dead

I was just having fun with him earlier

Just an hour ago we were just Playing games and now he’s dead

 It’s so hard to accept all that’s happened

It all happened in an instant

I opened a bottle of beer and chug it all in one go

I light a cigarette as I turned off the lights in his apartment and the light in the hall way is casting my shadow inside the room

“So long buddy, this might be harsh but I’m not gonna meet you anytime soon”

After saying that I closed the door and headed outside of the building