That brought my first smile, at least this weird place had air conditioning. So, I looked around a bit more. Riding mower, push mower, edger, bush trimmer, one wall was dedicated to power tools for taking care of the lawn. The back wall was a large tool bench with an assortment of hand tools that looked as extensive as any DIY box store.

  To my left in the corner just after I walked in was a rake, a pair of shovels, posthole digger, and a stack of fifty-pound bags of grass seed. I reached out and grabbed the rake as I was absently looking through the stuff.

  I sighed. The inside of the shed was fifteen by twenty, so even with the various tools and machinery against the walls, there was room for my bed, tv, game console and even a nightstand. I saw a couple power outlets in the wall, so I wouldn’t have to completely rough it out here, but what I didn’t see was a toilet.

  I noticed a spot where the light coming up through the floorboards was a bit brighter than other places and took a step towards it. Fate favors fools sometimes because my hand was still on the rake as I started to move.

  Behind me, I heard a noise and whirled around. There was no time to scream. I wish that I’d managed some movie hero style move, but all that I managed to do was pull the rake in front of me just as it leapt at me.

  It was impossible, but there it was. Or rather, now it was trying to push past the rake. I’d call it a squirrel, but that sorta felt like calling a dinosaur an iguana. It was three feet high and standing on its two hind feet.

  Its front legs reached for me. I felt searing pain in my left thigh as long nails ripped through my jeans. Its face was a slavering nightmare. The general shape and bushy tail may have belonged to a squirrel reminiscent of Scrat from those Ice Age movies, but the face was straight out of a nightmare.

  The skin was pulled taunt. The mouth opened sideways and was filled with rows of teeth which I hoped to never discover the true sharpness of. The pole of the rake was between it and me, and was still the only thing keeping it from reaching me with its first lunge.

  Dad had insisted that we all learn some self-defense. I wasn’t an expert, but muscle memory took over and I snapped out a front kick into the monstrosity's chest. I was sent flying backwards. Sorta.

  It turned out that the primary reason it hadn’t mauled me yet was the same reason that my kick couldn’t knock it away. One of its oversized rear feet had been impaled on the tines of the rake when it leapt at me. I was quite literally saved, even if only temporarily by something out of an old cartoon.

  I don’t know quite what came over me, I just know that I acted. I didn’t scream for help even after my initial shock. I didn’t want mom or Cece to come running and end up getting mauled by this thing.

  I leveraged the handle to knock the creature off its feet, before reaching out quickly to grab one of the shovels from the corner. The creature screeched when it fell backwards, and I saw purple blood oozing from its foot. It seemed furious and ravenous all at the same time.

  Without even knowing what I was really doing, I brought the shovel down on its head. It was so feral it didn’t even have the sense to protect itself. I was cut and ripped into a couple more times, but with each impact from the shovel against its head it became more sluggish.

  I kept beating at it feverishly. I rained blow after blow down on its head and clenched my teeth to prevent myself from shouting with each solid whack. Soon it was just twitching, but I didn’t stop. A part of me said it was dead. Its skull was crushed. But it was still moving, so I didn’t stop. Purple blood and brain matter were splashed over me, but I was driven by fear and instinct to keep going until there was no chance it was alive.

  It would be cool if I could have said that this was some epic struggle in which I dodged the attacks of a fiendish beast and finally prevailed due to skill, but nothing could be further from the truth. I was all cut up from numerous claw attacks, mostly across my abdomen and thighs, and I’d killed the evil squirrel with a pair of garden tools. At least I didn’t have to use an evil trowel.

  In the moment, I wasn’t hurting, but that was only a matter of time when the adrenaline wore off. I only really won because the rake had impaled it and slowed it enough for me to smash its head with the shovel. From there, it had just been brute force. I hit it and hit it while it frantically clawed away at me.

  There was nothing pretty about this as my red blood pooled with its purple blood. Its head was shattered. The teeth were either cracked or shattered, spread along the floor in gory trail of saliva, blood and bone. The eyes were only so much pulp. Still, I couldn’t look away. It was morbidly disgusting, yet, oddly captivating.

  This couldn’t be any kind of natural creature. Upon closer inspection, I saw that it did have a lower jaw, which hinged down, but the upper part of its mouth split to the sides. Maybe it was the odd experience with the lawyer and maybe it was the freakish monster in front of me, but my first thought was to wonder if my uncle had been some kind of mad scientist.

  All that was pushed from my head as a blue screen opened behind my eyes. I waved my hand for a second to bat it away before I realized it was in my head. Rather than freaking out, I read it. This was rather game like. My inner nerd squealed even as the surreal situation swirled around me. I wanted to laugh hysterically, and then my body started to shake as the adrenaline started to fade. In a world where I had just slain a mutant squirrel, I clung to the blue screen in front of my eyes like an anchor. An enigma for my conscious mind to dissect and unravel. Something the gamer in me approved of.

  From the Committee for New World Integration. Greetings, human. You have become the first human to slay a mana infused monster outside of a dungeon. Congratulations! You have gained XP.

  Error… you can not gain XP as you have not yet been fully integrated into the system. Alternative rewards being considered. Decision pending.

  To say I was excited in the moment would have been an understatement. I’d read more than my fair share of books or watched cartoons all about people who got sucked into a new world. Sometimes it was more like an apocalypse as the system came to the Earth.

  That got my heart pounding. Committee for New World Integration. That definitely sounded more like the apocalypse style. Shit… if this was happening to me then did that mean that my sister and mom were experiencing the same thing now? Was the entire world? My heart was pounding and my blood pumping. I might have been prepared for this, but they weren’t. Hell, I was looking forward to it.

  Fear for them caused me to push the blue screen away. It responded while still flashing in the corner of my eye to show me that there were still more notifications. Then I moved towards the door, except it had shut behind me and I wasn’t able to open it.

  Chapter 3- System Integration

  The last couple years had been a whirlwind. Dad’s death—looking after the family, school, then my 22nd birthday—and finally finding out about the house and the stipulations my uncle had. It almost seemed surreal. Maybe that was part of why I was so quick to accept what was happening to me at that moment.

  It was also why I wasn’t going to lose any more of my family. I yanked on the shed door with all the might that my tall and lanky, 6’3” frame could muster. I didn’t have the broad shoulders of my father or his well-formed biceps. My build was more that of a runner.

  …And it didn’t work. I wasn’t strong enough or something. The flashing green light in the corner of my vision turned red.

  I cursed. Why did this have to happen now? I should be loving life turning into a game… well not a game. The wounds left by that mutated squirrel were more than mere scratches. This was very real, yet, a part of me was feeling nothing but exhilarated. That was the lone gamer in me, but life couldn’t be compartmentalized so easily. Love for my family and my immediate excitement were in direct conflict.

  Still, flashing red couldn’t be anything good.

  I focused on it and once again, the blue screen opened up. As I read the text from it, I pondered. I mean, the blue screen was a video game element and a feature in many of my books, but if there was technology or magic advanced enough to enable this data to be pumped directly into my mind, then why would it go with something as old-school as a pop-up menu?

  The thought was fleeting as the text prompted more focus while at the same time allowing my racing heart to slow down even if only slightly.

  Leaving the vicinity of the gate prior to system integration and upgrade will result in your mutation and probable death. Your world does not contain sufficient mana to survive, and has not yet begun a worldwide transition.

  Countdown to worldwide integration: 392 days, 11 hours, 41 minutes, 23 seconds.

  That changed everything.

  For a moment, I wondered if I could believe the notification. What if the world outside this shed was being torn to shreds and for some reason it simply wanted me inside here? Then I snorted, something I had been teased about growing up. It wasn’t a very attractive way to laugh, but it was genuine, and it was me. Besides, what ‘aliens’ or system would want a twenty-two-year-old kid who’d barely managed to make it through junior college, anyway?

  Heck, I struggled to find a date. I somehow doubted that I was worth being lied to by whoever was doing this—the Committee for New World Integration or whatever. So, if mom and Cece were actually safe, then I could approach this entirely differently.

  That brought a grin to my face.

  I glanced at the notifications. With the adrenaline slowing, I was starting to feel the burning pain of my wounds. I’d have to do something about that soon, but like any true gamer, I pulled up the notifications.

  The first was a simple question.

  Do you wish to accept the XP awarded as a result of your battle?

  I wondered why it used the term XP, but felt strangely calm about it all. Actually, I had to admit, even if it was only to myself, I needed this outlet. I felt guilty for feeling it, but beneath the guilt, undeniable excitement bubbled. It would have been a waste of time to try to sort out whether I was having some type of complex hallucination. It hurt too much, and it was all more detailed than anything I could have made up.

  It was easier to just go with it. If it was a dream, I supposed I’d wake up in a hospital bed at some point and learn that I’d knocked my head on the shed door and then, fallen into a coma where I dreamed vivid dreams… anyway the point was I decided to just go with it.

  I thought, “Yes.” Or more precisely, “Hell yes.”

  That was all that it took.

  This will require system integration into your body. You will be altered to allow your body to absorb and generate mana. Do you accept?

  Who knew that these aliens or whatever they were would be so big into consent? I chuckled at my own not really funny thought. Then I once again accepted.

  Planet – local designation: Earth has not been integrated into the system. Your world is only in the competition phase. Only 5 candidates known as Forerunners are allowed. Earth currently has 4 of 5 Forerunners.

  Determining qualifications to be granted a Forerunner position…

  Wait, so the system asked me if I’ll accept it and now it’s deciding if it’ll accept me? That’s so backwards.

  Two paths to Forerunner have been determined: Inheritance and Achievement. Which path do you wish to take?

  Now, I was scratching my head. Inheritance? I got it that killing the mutated squirrel thing was probably what it meant by accomplishment, but inheritance… that I wasn’t nearly so sure about.

  The only logical conclusion I came to was that it had something to do with Uncle Dan. The guy had been acting weird the last couple years. What if he was one of these forerunner guys? The more I thought about it, the more I decided that had to be it.

  So did I inherit from him or stand on my own accomplishment? On the one hand, maybe, I’d get some cool stuff from him, but I didn’t really know how any of that worked. No, that just didn’t feel right. If I’d won the right to do this on my own, then I wanted to claim it on my own. I triggered the accomplishment path.

  You have slain a level 2 mana-infused squirrel. As you have no level prior to this, all benefits are doubled. XP gained: 40. A portion of the mana which infused the monster will be absorbed by you. This process is not optional. Brace yourself.

  What?

  But, I didn’t even have time to protest before pain ripped through my body. It was sheer agony as though I was being remade from the inside out. I had watched my dad fight a losing battle with cancer, and this was what I would have imagined if the cancer ate him all in the span of a few seconds. In a way, that macabre thought helped me focus and center myself. I literally felt muscle and ligaments shift and twist in ways they shouldn’t have been able to.

  Now transformed, I found myself lying on the ground in the pool of purple blood. With my eyes closed due to the pain, it was hard to say for sure, but it felt like some of the purple blood was absorbed into me. I could literally feel my skin sucking it up beneath me.

  Thankfully, it was over as quickly as it had begun. What was more, was that I didn’t feel any of my injuries. I ran my hands over myself quickly, and sure enough all the wounds were gone. That was bizarro, but I ignored it as a character screen filled my mind.

  Congratulations. You are now a mana infused life form. Further integration is necessary to confirm Forerunner status.

  Then, without me having to click on anything, I found that I had a status sheet. The information just came to me though, rather than having a blue screen appear in front of my eyes. I still felt like I was reading it, but in some ways it was more like it was being directly uploaded into my brain, and I suspected this would make it much faster than if I had to ‘literally’ read it.

  Name: Silas Renner

  Race: Human (Basic)

  Age: 22

  Height: 6’3”

  Weight: 172 lbs.

  Class: None (Shards 0/4)

  Level: 1

  Total XP: 40

  Occupation: N/A

  Level: 0

  Total XP:

  Stats:

  Strength: 12

  Dexterity: 9

  Agility: 13

  Vitality: 10

  Durability: 10

  Endurance: 13

  Mind: 14

  Will: 10

  Charisma: 10

  Perception: 9

  Available Stat Points: 8

  HP: 100

  Stamina: 130

  Mana: 140

  Titles:

  Permanent:

  One Small Step/One Giant Leap: Double level related stat gains

  Blood Bather I: Gain an evolution by bathing in the blood of an enemy

  Competitive:

  Inheritance:

  Evolutions:

  Mana-infused Squirrel: 10%

  Skills:

  Running: 6

  Throwing: 3

  Jumping: 3

  Blunt Weapons: 1

  Piercing Weapons: 1

  Slashing Weapons: 1

  Active Quests:

  1) Induction Candidate Rebirth

  Active Abilities:

  1)

  Passive Abilities:

  Spells:

  1)

  2)

  Relevant skills are granted as a summary of your life up to this point. No academic skills are being added as an Earth based understanding of so-called science is irrelevant to the multiverse. Some of your “natural laws” will continue to function, but the further the induction process goes the more they will change.

  Stats are only consistent within a race, so do not feel the need to compare to other races. 10 is deemed the average of an adult human in each of the stats with 20 being the peak of natural human achievement. This factors every human from age 18 until death.

  The last paragraph of the stat sheet provided some context but also made me feel pathetic about my Dexterity and Perception. Some of my physical traits seemed low to me, given that I was also being compared to eighty-year-old grandma’s, but who was I to argue?

  The sheet also told me about my title, well make that titles. At least it explained it a bit. The title for being the first human to kill a mana-infused monster was pretty awesome. I gathered that I would have gotten three stat points for leveling, but now I got six. I wasn’t gonna complain about that.

  I did click on Blood Bather I and almost wished I hadn’t.

  Blood Bather: your fixation with strange legends of your world such as vampires has been noted. Being exposed to mana-infused blood while still a non-inducted life form was bound to have some impact on you. It could have been much worse.

  Level the title by covering your body in significant quantities of blood from mana-infused or multiverse inducted creatures. The type, level, and quality of creatures whose blood you bathe in will influence the potential evolutions. At level 1 of this title, you may only adopt one minor evolution.