Chapter 8: Chapter 8: A Glitch in the System

I returned to the cruiser and tossed the keys to Kira, who caught them with ease.

“You drive,” I said, settling into the passenger seat and resting my rifle between my legs. “I’m going to figure out what’s going on with that weird screen.”.

Time to see what was behind curtain number one.

Menu, I thought.

The blue screen snapped back into existence, more detailed this time.

Name: Elias Stormson

Age: 26

Level: 1

Class: None

Title: First Kill

Stats:

Strength 28

Health: 30

Agility: 24

Stamina: 24

Mana: 14

Available Stats: 10

Access inventory to view items

I’d played enough video games to get the gist of it. Strength, Agility, Stamina. Those were self-explanatory. But Mana? What the hell was Mana? Some kind of wizard juice? I filed that question under the rapidly growing category of ‘Things That Make No Goddamn Sense.’ My eyes locked on the last two lines. Available Stats: 10. And Access inventory to view items.

Inventory? I thought, focusing on the word.

The screen flickered, shifting to a grid of empty grey boxes under a single heading: Inventory. All of them were empty except for one in the top-left corner. It held a small icon of a wrapped gift box. I felt a surge of morbid curiosity. Without thinking, I reached out and tapped the icon on the intangible screen.

With a soft thump, a physical object dropped into my lap.

It was a blue and white box, about the size of a shoebox, and it felt impossibly light, almost weightless. I nearly threw it off me, my heart hammering against my ribs at its sudden, impossible appearance.

Kira jerked the steering wheel, the cruiser swerving slightly. “What the… Where did that come from?” she stammered, her eyes wide as she stared at the box sitting on my thighs.

“It was in my inventory,” I replied, my voice a quiet murmur. My own shock was a cold weight in my stomach. This was real. Not a hallucination. A real, physical thing, summoned from a screen that didn't exist.

A new white screen materialized above the box.

Reward Box. The first reward boxes will be based on the Player’s attributes until the player chooses his class. Future reward boxes will then be based on the Player’s class.

The screen vanished after a few seconds.

“You going to open it?” Kira asked, her voice a mix of awe and trepidation.

My caution was at war with a curiosity so intense it was almost a physical ache. Curiosity won. I pulled the lid open.

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A brilliant white light, clean and pure, poured from within, shining up into my face. Hesitantly, I reached my hand into the glow. The inside of the box felt warm, and strangely, much deeper than its physical dimensions suggested. My fingers brushed against something hard and cool. I instinctively curled my hand around it; the object’s grip fit perfectly in my palm.

I pulled my hand back slowly. The first thing to emerge from the light was a hilt, wrapped in dark, practical leather. I kept pulling, revealing a gleaming, two-foot-long, double-edged sword. A small blue label hovered over the blade like a price tag.

Rare Jian Sword

Jian. Sounded like a brand of cheap knockoff sneakers. I glanced down at the box. It was empty now, and as I watched, it flickered and faded into nothingness, leaving the sword resting across my lap on top of my rifle. I had a magic sword. On top of my police-issued AR-15. The absurdity of it all was starting to feel less terrifying and more exhausting.

Now, how to put it away? Did I have to tap an empty square on the screen with the blade?. As I pondered the logistics, the sword vanished from my hands. I looked at the inventory screen. The sword icon now occupied the square where the gift box had been.

Cool, I thought. I focused on the icon again, picturing the sword in my lap. It rematerialized with the same soft thump as the box.

“Very,” Kira breathed from the driver’s seat. The wonder on her face was so genuine it almost made me smile.

I made the sword disappear again and brought back the main menu. Available Stats: 10. I didn't hesitate. I pushed five points into Strength and five to Agility.

It wasn't a tingle. It was a deep, cellular hum, like every muscle fiber in my body was being re-written, overclocked. A jolt of pure energy, clean and hot, flooded my system, washing away the last dregs of my earlier exhaustion. My uniform suddenly felt noticeably tighter.

I looked over at Kira. “Do I look any different to you?”.

She glanced away from the road, her eyes doing a quick, professional scan before they widened in shock. Her mouth actually dropped open.

“You’ve gotten bigger,” she said, her voice full of disbelief. “I mean, you were always in shape, but… now you look like you have more muscle than you did this morning. What did you do?”.

“I assigned the stats to Strength and Agility,” I said, the words feeling utterly insane.