Chapter 1

It's a very disconcerting feeling to realize you're in a completely different place than you were a second ago. For instance, I know that I was just in my car, listening to the radio and enjoying the cool breeze coming through my window as I rolled down the street. I know that I was just starting to pass through an intersection, and I know that I wasn't paying very much attention because I knew I had a green light. Lawful carelessness really.

And in the next breath, I'm here in a dark room devoid of any windows or any visible light sources. However there is still a low level of ambient light even though I can't tell where it's coming from. Looking around showed me that I couldnt see any walls or a ceiling, just a low lying layer of fog that only reached high enough to cover my feet but far enough to seem endless.

Am I dead? Unconscious? Drugged? I didn't remember eating or drinking anything in the past few hours so certainly not drugged. And I've never fallen asleep while driving, certainly not with my favorite radio station on, so im not unconscious. Which unfortunately leaves death. I was just passing through an intersection. Maybe my one second of carelessness made me miss something vital.

A soft chime, not unlike my notification sound on my phone, reached my ears. Even though the sound seemed very out of place, it wasn't what held my attention at that moment. Right after the chime sounded, a little box appeared in the bottom corner of my line of sight. It was a neon blue color and had a flashing exclamation point in the center. When I looked directly at it, the box expanded in my vision and I saw it filled with text.

[Through clever deductive reasoning you have earned one point to your wisdom! +1 Wis ]

Though I read all the words without issue and I knew what they all meant, the meaning of the sentence eluded me and I was left with a sense of confusion. After I finished reading through it, the box shrunk down until it disappeared.

Before I could ponder on it for long, a chime much louder than the first sounded and echoed through this grey space. Accompanying the louder alert was a box that matched the volume. In front of me was a massive blue box filled with three words in a font that was far larger than itneeded to be.

[CONGRATULATIONS, You Died!]

I sighed. Well I guess theres that answer. I knew I had no real reason to believe it, but as I didn't see any other options I just rolled with it. Surprisingly, I felt more exasperated at the boxes cheerful announcement of my demise than I did about my actual death.

The box faded out and another took its place.

[Well you're certainly quick. You've already gotten an alert of your own before I could begin the into.]

I rolled my eyes and continued.

[As you can obviously tell, you're no longer in your realm of the living. You were randomly chosen out of all the living being in your universe to participate in our game. We were kind enough of pull you from your body right before your death to save you a little discomfort. Pretty cool of us right? ]

My head would have been swimming if I hadn't already guessed half of it. My attention was held by the words game and your universe. Though I wasn't sure what game the box meant, the second phrase alluded to something I thought was pretty cool. The multiverse theory.

A small alert told me I had gained another point to my wisdom and it was followed by another big box.

[Wow kid, you're on a roll. Anyway, yes, multiverse confirmed. And as for the game, all you really need to know about it is that participating makes you a gamer, and being a gamer gives you all sorts of cool advantages and perks.]

I found myself nodding as I was reading, until I got to the last part. I got that I was a gamer, but how can I participate without knowing the game?

[That's a fair question. There is really only one rule. Enjoy. That's it. Being a gamer means you have unlimited potential. Nothing is really off limits to you. You are only restricted by the rules you aren't strong enough to break, so grow strong to rewrite the rules of all creation and let nothing stand in your way.]

I started getting more and more excited the more I read. This is the dream really. Of course, everyone is born with the potential to shape their lives as they want, but they are also born with shackles that make it almost impossible.

[Now, what makes it a game is that there are many other gamers. You have unlimited potential, but so do they,and because there are no rules, there s no telling how a gamer will react. So grow strong and grow fast because there are many that have a huge head start.]

Though that didn't curb my enthusiasm any, I did take the warning to heart. I nodded and asked aloud, "what are the advantages and perks you mentioned?"

[That leads me to my next point. Your abilities. First, you now have Gamer Body and Gamer Mind. Gamer body converts damage you take into a numerical value and that gets taken away from your health bar. When your health is depleted, then you start taking actual damage. It also let's your body be affected by your point gains, like the two that you've already got. Gamers mind gives you immunity towards abilities or effects that target your mind. It also let's you control your emotions, which is probably why you're not an emotional wreck right now. They let you live your life as a video game.]

I had expected something good but this was well beyond all expectations. I looked down to see if Gamers body made me look any different and was deeply shocked by what I saw. I had no body. Before the shock could progress into something worse, I felt the emotion get whisked away into the back of my mind where it didnt bother me anymore. That's pretty convineint.

[As your about to go to your next universe, youll be given a new body so don't be too worried. Your next abilities all go together. Your menu. Think about opening your menu.]

I did as was instructed and was only mildly surprised when I menu popped up. I was getting used to this. On top of the menu I could see several tabs. Stats, skills, equipment, inventory, and settings.]

Stats was the first tab.

Name: (undecided), The Gamer

Title: (None),(none),(none)

Level: 1

Exp: 0/100

Hp: 0

Mp: 210

Strength: 0

Dexterity: 0

Intelligence: 21

Wisdom: 24

Charisma: 5

Luck: 19

Points: 0

It was strange to see my physical stats at zero but I understood why. I had no body, duh. The equipment tab was next. I tapped on it and it showed a 3D model of what I assumed was a male body. It was human shaped, but shadowed out like a character in a game that I hadn't unlocked yet. On each side of it were empty squares that I figured represented what I would have equipped in each slot.

Next was inventory. A click on the tab showed a screen filled with empty boxes. So far there were only twenty five. Hopefully I would get more later.

[To put things into your inventory, all you have to do is push the item into the screen and Ito take care of the rest. To take it out, put your hand into the screen with the intent to take it and you'll be able to grab it.]

That seemed easy enough. I clicked over to skills and there were only two. My gamers body and gamers mind. A description of them was typed underneath them, stating exactly what the game had told me earlier. And last was settings. When I tried to tap it, I got an error message that told me that tab was unavailable for now. I just shrugged and left it alone.

[So far, that's pretty much it. After this, you'll be dropped into your new universe and you'll be free to go. Now you'll be reincarnated into a child for this particular universe. As a kindness, other gamers will be prohibited from your new universe till you're ready. The last order of business is your name. What would you like it to be?]

Though I wasnt super excited to be reverted to a child, I was eager to start. The question sent me through a loop though. Do I want a new name? Or my old one? I had no real attachment to my given name as I wasn't close with my family. After a minutes deliberation, I had my decision. I wanted something new.

"My name is Alex."

[So be it. Ready?]

I felt butterflies in my stomach for the first time in years and nodded. "I'm ready"

The darkness of the room started to brighten. It reached a blinding level of white and then suddenly I was in an actual room with walls and a ceiling. It was dark so I couldn't really make out any details. A window with the curtains open on the far wall told me it was night time. Looking down at myself, I saw I was in a bed with the blanket pulled up to my chest. I was indeed a child. Maybe eleven or twelve. "Stats." I thought. My stat page pulled up and I saw that it had changed.

Name: Alex Morgan, The Gamer

Title: (None),(none),(none)

Race: ?

Level: 1

Exp: 0/100

Hp: 100 ( 2.5 min)

Mp: 420 ( 21 min)

Strength: 4

Dexterity: 5

Endurance: 5 ( 20 hp per point)

Intelligence: 21 ( 20 mp per point)

Wisdom: 24 ( 24 mp regen/minute)

Charisma: 5

Luck: 19

Race bonus: +2 strength/Dexterity/endurance per lvl

Description: Alex Morgan is the son of Tom Morgan and (?). He is a (?) because of his shared genes with his mother. Being the son of (?) gives a 100% bonus to total mana and 100% increase in mana regeneration and increased exp gain with all mana related skills and abilities. Being a (?) Gives him a 25% reduction to physical damage and immunity to the effects of the Mist. Because your (?) genes are more dominant than your human genes, you have a strong case of dyslexia but you can also read, speak, and understand ancient Greek.

Well that's pretty interesting. I wonder who my new mom is and what that makes me. Suddenly a new alert popped up.

[New Quest!

Find out about your parentage and what that means for you!

Rewards:

* 1000 exp

* 1 skill book

Failure:

* Delayed storyline.]

Well that's new. Pretty cool though. I was ready for that exp because I wanted to level up already. I looked back at the description. Greek, huh? That's as clear a hint as any ive ever gotten. Whoever my mom is, she is definitely Greek and a master of magic all the way down to a genetic level if even I get the bonuses. Speaking of magic, I have mana! That means I can do magic!

Wait... How do I do that? How do I access my mana? Unfortunately I hadn't even the faintest idea how to go about doing that.

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.

.

.

After what felt like an hour of trying out how to find it, I had almost given up. My mind was drifting and my thoughts were slowing. A small part in the back of my brain noticed that my breathing was slowing with my heartbeat.

U of like a continuous pulse deep between my chest and stomach. I could feel it with my mind, and when I mentally poked and prodded, it reacted almost like it was alive. I mentally grabbed it and started to mold and shape it. It didn't go far before it started to resist, almost like a rubber band pulled too far. But I worked at it and I could feel it became a tiny bit more manageable.

I heard another chime and I reluctantly let it go, knowing I could find it again later. I came out of my mental trance and looked around the room and was surprised to see the faintest hint of sunlight coming through the window. How long had I been in the trance? I guess it didn't matter, it was a good way to pass the time anyway.

I looked at the alerts and the first one told me I had developed a new skill.

[New Skill earned!

Meditation: lvl 1 72%exp (active)

The user enters a calm and relaxing mental state. Going into this trance increases mana regen by 50%. Deactivates while in motion.]

I was actually pretty excited about that one. It would make training my skills more efficient. I looked at the second box.

[New Skill!

Mana Manipulation: lvl 1/100 89% exp (passive/active)

Active Cost: 99 mp/min

Current control: 1%

Grants the ability to passively and actively shape and manipulate mana at will. The cost varies on what you want to do. Your control over your mana increases by one percent per level of this skill.]

I looked over the skill descriptions and started to mentally prepare myself to start the arduous grind for those two skills when the door to my room opened and a man poked his head in. He looked to be in his early thirties, with dark hair. His eyes showed his surprise as he said, "Oh youre already awake. Did you sleep okay?" He quietly opened up the door and walked over to sit on the corner of my bed. What caught my attention though were the words floating above his head.

(Tom Morgan)
(The Librarian)

Huh. Neat. He leaned a bit towards me. "Alex? Are you feeling okay?"

I focused on his face and nodded. "Yes, sorry I'm still waking up."

He seemed to accept this and leaned back. "I'm about to start making breakfast. By the time you wash up and get dressed, it'll be ready." He leaned over and turned on a lamp that was beside the bed that I didn't notice. In the bright light I could finally make out the rest of the details of his face.

He had a full head of brown hair, only a couple inches long but it was swept back. A deep set of lines around his brown eyes told me that he smiled and laughed often. His nose was well shaped but had a slight unevenness to it, like it had broken when he was younger but wasn't set right to heal. He has an angular face that ended in a pointed chin.

He patted my foot and went to stand up. As he was walking toward the doorway he called over his shoulder, "it's time to get up. Chop chop, we have lots to do today."

At first I was dismayed by this. What I wanted to do was make more skills and level them up, but as I thought about it, I figured it was better this way. Now I can try to find out about the world that I'm in now.

I got up and went to the dresser against the far wall and started going through the drawers. I found a pair of shorts and a black T-shirt with a colorful logo on it that I didn't recognize. I left the room and started walking down the hallway till I found a bathroom and went in and saw myself for the first time.

Where Tom had brown hair, mine is black. I have his brown eyes though. My face didn't have the same shape as his but it was slightly difficult to see the shape of my face because I still had a little child chubbiness left to grow out of. The differences between my father and I made me wonder what my mother looked like.

I washed up and brushed my hair and went to find my new dad.

I found him just as he was setting the table. I sat down on one of the chairs and he set down a bowl of oatmeal and a small plate of cut fruit in front of me. He headed back into the kitchen and to the refrigerator and called out to me, "what would you like to drink? Juice or milk?"

I answered that I would like juice and I bowed my head quickly while he was occupied and said a quick prayer to any God that was listening. I prayed for luck and the hope to not stand out too much and to not get any questions I couldn't answer, or at least for it to not be suspect when I couldn't answer it.

I heard footsteps headed over and I picked up my head in time to see Tom come back in with two cups, one of which he set in front of me. I looked down at my plate and felt a momentary confusion. It almost seemed like there was less fruit than there was a second ago. I shook my head and dismissed the thought and started eating. It was pretty good. The oats had just the right amount of sugar and cinnamon. We both ate in the comfortable silence for awhile before Tom cleared his throat.

"Do you remember what today is?"

Uh oh. "Nuh uh. What's today?"

He chuckled before replying. "You'd think you remember. Today is the day you start your next year of school. When you finished last year you said you wanted to be homeschooled from now on. Is that still what you want to do?"

Oh thank you, thank you thank you thank you. I won't have to pretend to be a kid in a room full of kids. I took a few seconds to pretend I was thinking it over before I looked up at him and nodded. "I still want to be homeschooled. I don't want to go back there."

He nodded in agreement. "Okay then today will be the first day of your new school year. We will start after breakfast." He said this calmly and kept eating like it was no big deal but the way his eyes were lit up told me he was more excited about this than I was.

I soon found out why. After breakfast I followed him to a new part of the house and into a room that looked like a study room. Shelves that were stuffed with books filled half the walls and an assortment of chairs and tables filled the others. A single desk was in the far side of the room.

He walked over to the desk and pulled two chairs up to already had a stack of books and two notebooks resting on its surface.

"This is where I planned on giving you your school work. What subject do you want to start with?" He sat down in one of the chairs and started spreading the books around so we could see them all. They were all the same subjects from regular school. There was a math text book as well as history, geography, literature and social studies.

I pointed out the history book. "This one. I want to know more about the world we live in." I said truthfully. He took the other books and stacked them on one of the other side tables.

"Syllabus time. We will study the material, have a quiz on Wednesdays, and the tests on Fridays. Because it's only you and I, we will be able to go over a lot more info way more quickly so you'll probably go through the grade levels faster than normal. But that's the good thing about homeschool, you get to progress at your own pace."

It was the most I had heard him speak at one time, but what he said made sense. I was still floating on the relief of not having to go to school. He opened the book and started flipping to where I guess he thought we should start.

A few hours later we paused for a break and he went to get us something to drink. I leaned back in the chair and with a deep with I started closing the notifications I had gotten.

( +1 intelligence for paying attention to your studies! )

( +1 wisdom for being taught by someone who understands the subject very well! )

( Student title unlocked! While equiped, you gain skill points twice as fast and your skills gain exp twice as fast when being taught by someone with higher intelligence and/or wisdom than you. )

( By paying attention and being taught by someone with a high level teaching skill, your dyslexia ailment has been reduced 5%! You can also lower it more by studying on your own time. )

(Reading comprehension: Grade 12+)

( 95% dyslexic)

I smiled as I was closing them and I immediately equipped my student title. Entirely too useful to not use it.

I was happy to see that I could get rid of my dyslexia. It's a pain to have to read through. When I get rid of it, I'll be able to grind out stat points faster.

We've been going over social studies and history so ive learned pretty much all I needed to know about the world I'm in. And that is that its almost exactly the same as the one I died in. The only difference is that its 1999 here, and I died in 2019. I couldn't find any other differences.

I started looking at the other text books, wondering what subject would be next.

( Skill created through repetitive action!)

Observe: cost 10 mp

Lvl 1 : 25/100% exp

Gives information of target. Info gained scales with skill level)

Awesome.

Before I could experiment with my new skill I heard Tom coming into the room. He set a tray of little snack sandwiches on the table and our two drinks beside it. While he was doing that, I cast my first observe on him.

(Tom Morgan lvl ?)

( The Librarian )

Strength: ?

Dexterity: ?

Endurance: ?

Intelligence: ?

Wisdom: ?

Charisma: ?

Luck: ?

Well that wasn't very helpful. Maybe I can't see the info if the target is way higher than my level.

( +1 wisdom for a clever deduction! )

I swiped the box away and picked up a sandwich, unsure if I even needed to eat anymore. Eh, something to test later when it wouldn't be suspicious.

We made small talk until we finished eating our sandwiches and drinking our sodas, and I wondered how I could direct the studies towards Greece to see if I could get a hint as to who my mom is.

Tom leaned forward and put the history book away and pushed the others forward and asked, " Which one do you want to study next?"

I looked at the books and chose geography. Maybe I could point out Greece and ask about it. He opened up the book and he started teaching me. He really was pretty smart. The way he taught made it easy to understand everything. I guess that's the evidence of a high teaching skill.

I noticed a little symbol pop up in the corner of my vision. I looked and saw that it was a little icon showing 2x Exp. I thought about it and realized it was telling me that my title buff was active. How convenient. I made sure it looked like I was studying the book as I silently opened my skills menu and scrolled down to my reading comprehension skill. I could practically see my dyslexia bar reducing down.

Right after I closed my menu, I had another idea. Would my title bonus stack with the bonuses I got for magical skills? No way to find out except try.

I activated my meditation ability to increase my mana regeneration speed and started using my mana Manipulation skill. Nothing crazy, just moving mana around the inside of my body, over my muscles and across my bones.

It couldn't have been more than a few minutes before two alerts popped up.

( Mana Manipulation lvl up!)

Mana Manipulation: lvl 2/100 23% exp (passive/active)

Active Cost: 98 mp/min

Current control: 2%

(Meditation lvl up!)

Meditation: lvl 2 28%exp (active)

The user enters a calm and relaxing mental state. Going into this trance increases mana regen by 55%. Deactivates while in motion.]

It took quite a bit of effort not to bust into laughter at how great the double buff is. I settled in and kept both of my skills up for as long as I could. I would take advantage of this for as long as I could.

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A few hours later I had several more levels into each skill and four more points into intelligence and wisdom.

Mana Manipulation: lvl 9/100 49% exp (passive/active)

Active Cost: 91 mp/min

Current control: 9%

Meditation: lvl 9 31%exp (active)

The user enters a calm and relaxing mental state. Going into this trance increases mana regen by 90%. Deactivates while in motion.]

Observe: cost 10 mp

Lvl 8 : 37/100% exp

Gives information of target. Info gained scales with skill level.

Unfortunately we only talked about the geography of the Americas so there wasn't a chance to naturally bring up Greece. By now the sun was starting to head downward towards the horizon and the sky was changing hues from a brilliant blue to a deep purple. Soon it would be night and the stars would show up.

My dad and I stood up and stretched out legs and backs and shared a laugh when we groaned at the stretch. We headed into the kitchen and I sat at the table and watched as he started making dinner for us.

All in all today was pretty productive. I found out how to abuse some of the game mechanics. I learned where I am in the world. I still have a lot that I need to find out though, like who mom is and who the enemy of this game is. There can't be a game without bad guys, right?

Which brings up another point. I want to grow I want levels. I wasn't one for playing games in my last life, but one day in and I'm already feeling an itch for it. I felt so restricted my entire life, and here I have a chance to grow as big as I can, and as free as I have the power to be. So, power. How can I get it? I'm currently a child, I can't exactly leave the house unattended.

( New Quest! )

Gaining power!

Develop 6 active attack abilities before your next level up!

Rewards: Create/Destroy ID skill

+10 stat points

500 exp

Failure: No skill gained

Awesome. That's what I'm talking about, thanks Game.

Later that night after dinner and a shower, I said goodnight and went to bed. At least, that's what it seemed like. I turned the light off and got into bed and practiced my meditation and mana manipulation skills till I heard Tom retire to his room and I waited a little longer just to be sure he was asleep, and gained a level in each skill for my trouble, bringing them both to level 10.

(Skill requirement met, Mana manipulation level 10. Skill created!)

Mana reinforcement: level 1 01% exp (active)

Cost: 25 mp/min

Reinforces your body with your mana, enhancing your physical attributes.

Increases Strength, and Dex 5%

Alright that's one down, and I didn't even need to really work for it. I was fairly sure that Tom was asleep by now, so I sat up in bed and crossed my legs and contemplated what I needed. My physical stats are terrible for now, so I'll need a way to fight at range, and my only weapon right now is my mana.

I opened my hand and turned my palm upwards and focused on gathering my mana there. It took me longer than I would have liked, but I had gathered a little sphere of Mana. It wasn't dense enough to be used in any way yet, so I kept working. I focused on making it more substantial, and after another minute, I had made my first Mana sphere.

(Skill created!)

Mana ball: level 1 0% exp cost 50 Mana (active)

A simple ball made of Mana. Does [Int] damage.

Not bad, but not good either. I tried again, this time making it more compact.

Skill created!

Mana sphere: level 1 0% exp cost 65 Mana (active)

A dense sphere made of Mana. Does [Int] x 2 damage.

Mana manipulation level up! Level 11

Two birds I guess, can't beat that. That skill is good, but I think I can make it better. I push more Mana into it and in going so, the sphere starts to spin slowly but getting faster and faster.

Skill created!

Spinning Mana sphere: level 1 0% exp cost 75 Mana (active)

A dense, spinning sphere made of Mana. Does [Int + Wis] x 2 damage

Now that's what I'm talking about. But it's still not good enough. That's not a ranged attack. At least, the description doesn't say anything about range, and I can't exactly experiment here. I thought about what I could do to make it ranged, and I had an idea. I stopped the sphere from spinning and I stretched it out and rolled the mana till it was smaller and smaller. After a minute I had what I wanted.

Skill created!

Mana arrow: level 1 0% exp cost 65 Mana (active)

A simple arrow made of Mana. Range 75 feet. Does [Int] x 2 damage.

Making it spin, I finally had what I wanted.

Skill created!

Spinning Mana arrow: level 1 0% exp cost 75 Mana (active)

A dense, spinning arrow made of Mana. Range 75 feet. Does [Int + Wis] x 2 damage.

Quest completed!

Create/Destroy ID skill book added to inventory!

+10 stat points

+500 exp

Level up! x2

Heck yeah. I opened my stat page and looked at my new stats.

Level: 3

Exp: 200/400

Hp: 180 ( 2.5 min)

Mp: 420 ( 21 min)

Strength: 8

Dexterity: 9

Endurance: 9 ( 20 hp per point)

Intelligence: 26 ( 20 mp per point)

Wisdom: 30 ( 30 mp regen/minute)

Charisma: 5

Luck: 19

Skill points: 20

I was about to start using my stat points before I stopped myself. I need to save those. Im raising my stats fast enough as it is, I may need to use those in a pinch.

+ 1 intelligence!

+ 1 wisdom!

Thanks game. I opened my inventory and pulled out the skill book. When I had it in my hands, a prompt asked me if I wanted to learn the skill, so of course I pushed yes. The book dissolved into bright blue light and flew into my chest.

Skill learned!

Create/Destroy ID: level 1 0% exp: cost 100 Mana

Creates an Instant Dimension layer directly over the original. Destroys it by recasting the skill.

Dimensions available: [Empty]

And that's where I'll practice. I put my hand out and and said, "Create Empty ID."

I could tell something was different as soon as I cast the skill. The light that was coming through the window changed from pale moonlight, to deep red. I looked outside and saw a bright red moon. Other than that, there really wasn't a difference. The street was the same, as was all of the other houses. I crept out of my room and over to Tom's door, and slowly pushed it open. I couldn't see him anywhere. I guess it's just me here. I walked out of the house, and out tongue front yard. I looked across the street at the neighbors house and tried to mentally calculate the distance to their front door. 60 feet? 65? Within my range for sure. I started my meditation skill and did some math. I could fire this spell five times before I'd have to wait seven minutes for my mana to fill back up. I spun up a mana arrow, aimed at the door, hoped the damage wouldn't carry over to the real world, and released the spell. It flew much faster than I expected, also alot higher. It flew into the wall a good two feet above the door and stuck there. I re-aim the next spell and this one hits right on the door frame. The next hits the actual door and the last two hit dead center.

I walk up to the door and see the arrows start to dissapate into the air. Good to know they don't last forever. I wonder if I can make them do more damage. Exploding arrows, maybe?

Skill requirement not met! Elemental Mana needed!

Elemental Mana unlocked at Mana manipulation level 80!

Huh. Good to know that I'll be using Mana manipulation 24/7 then. I mean, exploding arrows? Why not.

I spent the next few hours in the dimension trying to level up my arrows. My mana Manipulation skill gained four levels, but my arrows didn't. Maybe they needed to do damage to something living to level up. That wasn't very good but it wasn't the worst thing. I went back to my room and crawled into bed and cast the ID skill again to go back to the real world. I closed my eyes to go to sleep, but I didn't feel tired. My eyes opened. Do I not need sleep anymore?

I let the obserdity of that question run its course and then I thought about it. Maybe it's not so crazy. I mean, the whole concept of the game might seem crazy to me before I died, and yet here I am. So I started my mana Manipulation and started a loop of using it till I ran out of Mana and then using meditation till I was full again. I did this until the sun came up, gaining three levels to meditation and two in Mana Manipulation.

I watched my clock and when it hit seven o'clock, I got out of bed went to the bathroom to shower and clean up. Afterwords, I went to the kitchen and saw Tom was already up. He smiled at me and started fixing me a plate of the food he had made.

The next three months passed by like that without incident. I'd study with Tom during the day, spamming wall the mana skills I could, like my reinforcement, my manipulation, and meditation. I'd gained stat points very fast for the first few weeks, but after that it slowed considerably.

Level: 3

Exp: 200/400

Hp: 180

Mp: 2920

Strength: 8

Dexterity: 9

Endurance: 9 ( 20 hp per point, 10 hp/min)

Intelligence: 73 ( 40 mp per point)

Wisdom: 80 ( 160 mp regen/minute)

Charisma: 5

Luck: 19

50 intelligence reached! Minor perk gained!

Mana pool: (passive)

Doubles gained with intelligence.

50 wisdom reached! Minor perk gained!

Wisdoms Reach: (passive)

Doubles Mana regeneration

Mana reinforcement: level 20(max) (active)

Cost: 25 mp/min

Reinforces your body with your mana, enhancing your physical attributes.

Increases Strength, and Dex 100%

Mana Manipulation: lvl 80/100 42% exp (passive/active)

Active Cost: 20 mp/min

Current control: 80%

Elemental Mana unlocked!

Types of Mana unlocked: Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Light, Dark

Meditation: lvl 50(max) (active)

The user enters a calm and relaxing mental state. Going into this trance increases mana regen by 300%.

Max level perk: doesn't deactivate when moving.

... So alot of good things have happened for me, stat and skill wise, but I still haven't been able to level up. I was still going into my IDs every night, and I was scary good with my arrows now, but it wasn't good enough. My ID skill was only level 14, but I guess that's only because I've been using it twice a day. Once to go in, once to get out.

That night, I opened my ID like usual, and was surprised when I got two notifications when it leveled up.

Skill level up! Create/Destroy ID level 15

New dimension unlocked!

Dimension [Zombies] now available!

What... If I had known I would have spammed this a long time ago! I was only frustrated for a second before the feeling was smothered and dissapeared. I closed the empty dimension and only hesitated a single second before opening the zombie dimension. Like the empty one, the zombie dimension had a red glow about it. I looked out my window and saw several humanoid shaped shambling and stumbling all over the street and through the yards of the culdasac.

I flew down the stairs and opened the front door to poke my head out. About thirty feet away was my first zombie. I cast observe on it and got it's stats.

Zombie (human)

Level 9

Hp: 450

Mp: 0

Strength: 16

Dexterity: 8

Endurance: 12

Intelligence: 3

Wisdom: 1

Charisma: 0

Luck: 0

Bio: A basic zombie spawned from the void.

Thoughts about you: None

It was facing away from me so it hadn't noticed me yet. From it's health, I knew it would take two arrows, so I cast an arrow into each hand and let them fly at the zombies head. They both connected at the same time and the zombies head exploded into gore.

+ 25 exp!

Skill gained!

Critical hit: level 1 0% exp (passive)

When damage is done to an enemy on a critical spot, damage is increased by (100%)

I smirked and walked over to the body. As I got closer, it dissolved into blue motes of light, and all that was left was a five dollar bill, a random bone, and a lump of what looked like rotten flesh. I disregarded the gross lump and put the bone and money into my inventory. Gotta love loot drops. Now that meditation could be active all the time, I was always full on Mana. I can spam arrows now and as long as I don't go crazy, I can have reinforcement active too. I smiled and walked towards my next victims, spells spinning up in my hands.