Tom watched as the Firefighter and the police officer wandered off, never losing his posture. However, the moment the Major walked out of sight, he slumped back, collapsing into his chair completely boneless, his back covered in sweat and completely exhausted.

  "Oh my god, that was intense. I am never doing that again. You assholes can try being the face of the party!" Tom muttered.

  His friends chuckled at his outburst. Chloe hadn't even noticed she had completely lost interest in the conversation and was now enjoying feeding Lucy pieces of meat and giggling as the dog ate them. Tom ignored the ribbing of his social skills as his actual social skills levelled up.

  <[Contract] has Reached Level 2>

  <[Contract] has Reached Level 3>

  <...>

  <[Contract] has Reached Level 9>

  <[Wordsmith] has Reached Level 19>

  <[Analyze Person] has Reached Level 13>

  <[Analyze Person] has Reached Level 14>

  <[Analyze Person] has Reached Level 15>

  <[Best of Both Worlds] has Reached Level 9>

  "So why do we need to be in charge? Why not just dump the job on Major British and Sgt. Killjoy? While we go adventuring?" Skippy asked.

  "Fuck that," Tom said as he tried to steady his heart. "I'm not leaving myself at the mercy of assholes who fucked up the world in the first place. Do you really trust them to do anything other than a half-assed job? How many hours are we going to have to spend getting them to do basic in-game tasks that we know we need to do? Do you think they'll help us with the next event? A blood moon? Will we even be able to make it to the next event with them in charge?"

  "Ok, ok, I get it. Don't bite my head off. What do we do now?" Skippy asked.

  "We're building up our base," Tom said as he slumped against the chair. Abbadon gathered up all of our alchemy supplies, not just the Noralon stuff but stuff from the chemistry labs as well. Find a place for an alchemy lab."

  Abbadon nodded, cracking his knuckles before he got up to leave.

  "Skippy, I want you to go scavenging, grab as much as you can, and rob as many stores as you can. We are going to need food, medicine, clothes, weapons, and supplies. So scavenge whatever you can before it's all gone. No fighting. This is a smash-and-grab. If there is too much heat, you leave." Tom stated.

  "Oh, come on," Skippy groaned. "I'm trying to get away from the rogue thing. This isn't even Noralon stuff. It's just normal stuff."

  "Well, that's too bad. We can handle the apocalypse ourselves, but they can't. We need people to upgrade the settlement, and right now, we can't feed those people," Tom said.

  "Ugh," Skippy groaned but stopped arguing; instead, he got up and walked away.

  "Well, now that that's beans decided, I think I'm going to go help skippy with ---"

  Tom cut off Alex with a look.

  "No dice, Alex. I need help with managing all of … this. These two couldn't get past the Iron Age in civilizations. So you're helping me with the shit show."

  "I hate you," Alex huffed as she sat back down. "Couldn't you just stab me? Honestly, that sounds less painful than dealing with other people. We're going to be so under-levelled if we spend all our time managing noobs."

  "Actually, I'll probably get some XP for it," Tom said. You could always take a few leadership classes."

  "Find me one that isn't worthless for me," Alex shot back.

  Tom rolled his eyes at her. Despite Alex's position on combat-only classes, every class had the potential to be dangerous. While not every class needed combat to level up, every class could level up through combat.

  But she was right about one thing. Doing all of this management work would slow them down, but they needed to keep control of Hopkins. Owning a settlement presented too many opportunities and dangers. They couldn't afford to wait for someone to learn how to do it the right way, and if they need to waste time on the responsibilities, they need opportunities to keep up.

  "Alright, the first thing we'll do is teach people a couple of spells from your grimoire. That will help settle people down," Tom said.

  That perked Alex up.

  "I might get a level or two from that."

  "You could pick up the [Pharaoh] class. It's the magic leadership class."

  Alex rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I could do that, but then I wouldn't be able to pick up more levels to blow stuff up. You're the one who's going full [Words of Power] build. My build is focused on overwhelming magical powers. I can't really take inspiration from your build for my own."

  Tom sighed, and their conversation ended as they reached the gym doors.

  "Alright, now remember the plan. Alex, you're going to be handing out spells. I'll use [Augurs Eye] to record everyone's status in [Library of Akashic Records], at least until I have enough paper to keep everything on. This is going to be mandatory for everyone to get a [Appraisal] once a month so we can know if anyone is going in a dangerous direction with their build," Tom said as he fired off his quest.

  "Did you say all that for my benefit or your own?" Alex asked.

  "I honestly have no idea," Tom admitted as he entered the gym.

  "This might have been a mistake," Tom muttered to himself as he sweated bullets.

  Tom found himself in front of a crowd of people with a beautiful woman at his side. If he had a choice, he would have preferred to be fireballed again. Anything was better than doing a speech. He was an antisocial nerd. He wasn't supposed to be in these kinds of situations. Part of him found it funny how the Demon Lord had been less intimidating than the crowd of people.

  Of course, the Demon Lord would have slaughtered everyone in the room; most of them had yet to push past level 5. The highest-level people were Luke, Major Adams, and Sgt. Thorn and the larger medic who had helped him. He was pretty sure his name was Chester. They were the only people level 7 and above. Based on the class's rarity, he could see only Chester and Luke had anything worth mentioning.

  Practically speaking, they were a bunch of noobs with no idea what they were doing, and most of them were going to have to [Sunder] their classes. He just needed to remember the formula for speeches: introduce himself, give them the bad news, give them good news wrapped in hope, and give them a choice of his way or to do it on their own. He let out a steady breath as he prepared himself.

  Tom stood up straight and did his best to project as much authority as possible. He hoped no one would notice the sweat stains he was developing. The armour he had gotten from the tutorial had received a slight upgrade. The white robes and black leather chest pieces contrasted with each other nicely as he stood above the crowd. Before he said a word, he cast two spells. The first was a small fireworks display to grab their attention. The second spell was a simple air cantrip to turn his voice into a megaphone.

  "Alright, everyone. I am Tom, the guild master for Awoken Myths." Tom said as he tried to hide the tremor in his voice.

  "The world as you knew it is gone. Welcome to the system apocalypse. If you don't know what that is, look it up. The simple fact is the world is now a video game, complete with quests, monsters, and classes—specifically from the MMO Legend of Noralon." Tom said.

  That caused a round of murmurs as people started talking to each other.

  "Let me be clear here. Outside of the Hopkins field effects, the world is a dangerous place. It's filling up with monsters and psychos, and it's only going to get more dangerous as the mana levels continue to increase. Today, you're fighting level 5 monsters; in two months, you'll be fighting level 20. If you don't believe me, check the news channel. It's going to start escalating, and anything pre-system is going to be destroyed," Tom said.

  The atmosphere of the gymnasium quickly turned grim, and people started to become scared. That was his cue to reel them in.

  "But you do not need to be afraid. We know how this game works. We know the cheats and the exploits. We know not only how to keep you safe, but more than that, we are going to show you how to use the system to become strong." Tom raised his hand, letting two pillars of ice form to his sides like two great arms reaching for the roof.

  "It doesn't matter if you're a [cook], a [janitor], a [hunter], a [scribe], a [soldier], a [doctor], a [gamer], or whatever. With magic, levels, and hard work, you can become great if you join the Awoken Myths guild." Tom said as he captured the imagination of the crowd.

  "For those of you unwilling to put in the hard work or expecting the government to save your ass, you can stay here until the guild can clear additional settlements for you to move into. For those of you who want to work hard, join the Awoken Myths guild and embrace power. Stick around, and we'll be getting into the technical details of how you can cheat the system for power."

  A few people actually cheered, and no one left, so Tom started on with the technical information.

  "Alright, the first rule of the Legend of Noralon: You need to allocate your free stat points in specific groupings for optimal results. Aim for groupings of either +4, +4, +3, +3 or +4, +3, +3, +2, +2. Which stats you choose depends on your classes, but you must consistently assign the same number of stats to the same attributes at every level. Let me say this again. The same stats every level; otherwise, you're going to have to start over." Tom could already see some people shuffling their feet, clearly afraid they might have already screwed themselves up.

  "If you didn't do this, that is fine. You can [Sunder] your class. Just say the word [Sunder]. You'll get the option to be reduced back to level 1. But you do not need to lose your skills, and we will help you build yourselves back up better than before," Tom explained.

  "What if we don't want to do that?" Chad's voice echoed across the room.

  "Well, then, Chad, you can accept mediocrity. I wish you the best of luck, but if you don't fix your foundation, you can no longer participate in this event," Tom said dismissively as he removed the Awoken Myths title from Chad, causing Chad to go red.

  "You can't do this?!" Chad shouted.

  "We already did," Alex said. "Now fuck off, asshole."

  Chad looked at Alex in confusion.

  "You're the Bitch?! How the fuck are you hot?! You were a fucking fugly bitch before. What did you do? Scrap off the --- GAAAAAAAAY."

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  Tom blasted Chad with a Flash spell to his face.

  Chad dropped to the floor, screaming as he held his face in his hands.

  "My eyes. The bitch burned out my eyes!!"

  "Actually, the nerd blasted you, you moron. Don't worry. You're fine. You're just blinded temporarily. Would someone please remove him from the gym?" Tom called out.

  Chad was dragged out by his friends as they gave him dirty looks.

  Alex leaned in close, giving him a quick side hug.

  "Thanks for that," Alex said. That hurt more than I thought it would."

  "Don't worry. I got your back, fam." Tom said.

  Alex leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Tom felt himself go completely red as a tomato. He turned to find Alex was equally red and looking away from him.

  That scene seemed to put the rest of the audience at ease, and Tom quickly tried to control them.

  Once most people returned to level 1, Tom moved on to the next part. He needed to bribe them as much as possible, so he spent one of his skill points.

  DING!!!

  "Alright then. Everyone form up a line. You will first meet with me, and I will record your status and grant you the [Storage] skill. Then, you can meet with Alex, who will help you pick up some magic spells for self-defence. Then, you can talk to one of us, and we will work with you to help you plan out your build based on what you want. Finally, if you need additional help, I have the skill to let me further help you with your classes if you need it." Tom said with a grin on his face. Now, who wants to go first?"

  There was almost a rush as people tried to form a line. Tom created three tables and chairs out of earth magic, which cost a lot of mana. This way, everyone could move from one table to the next one, and they would have a place to take notes.

  Tom gave them a few moments to sort themselves out as the notifications came in.

  <[Wordsmith] has Reached Level 20>

  <[Wordsmith] has Reached Level 21>

  <...>

  <[Wordsmith] has Reached Level 23>

  <[Universal] has Reached Level 17>

  <[Analyze Person] has Reached Level 16>

  <[Analyze Person] has Reached Level 17>

  <...>

  <[Analyze Person] has Reached Level 20>

  <[Best of Both Worlds] has Reached Level 10>

  <[Art of Earth] has Reached Level 2>

  <[Art of Earth] has Reached Level 3>

  <[Art of Earth] has Reached Level 4>

  <[Leadership Ⅱ] has Reached Level 12>

  <[Leadership Ⅱ] has Reached Level 13>

  <[Nascent Guild Leader] has Reached Level 11>

  Tom silently basked in the wave of skill growth notifications. He had managed to get through that speech without falling on his face. Thank the gods he had pulled this off. If it weren't for his enhanced stats, he would have collapsed to the floor then and there. Even if he was still standing, he wanted to go upstairs, hide under a bed and sleep for a week.

  Unfortunately, he didn't have time to think of a way out of the mess he had placed himself in as two people approached him. He recognized both of them, even if he had never seen them together. When he used [Augurs Eye], he realized why they were together as Chester and Samatha Mato walked towards him as a father-daughter duo.

  "Hello," Chester said as they approached him. "Before anything else, I just want to express my gratitude. Your beacon helped reunite me with my daughter."

  "Dad," Samatha hissed at him as Chester held her close.

  "I won't apologize for being happy about you being safe," Chester stated.

  "Don't worry about it," Tom said as he reached out and shook each of their hands while teaching them the [Storage] skill.

  They blinked at the new notification.

  "Now then, I noticed Samatha here already assigned your points properly," Tom said.

  She was level 6, and her point distribution was good for a ranger build.

  "It's just Sam, and yeah, you can thank Theo for that," Sam said. He was insistent.

  "I'll need to do a reset," Chester said apologetically.

  "Let's put that off for now, Mr.Mato. I want to combine your [Life Mage] and [Death Mage] into the class [Arbiter of the Cycle] this class ---"

  "Why?" Chester asked concerned.

  "Combining and then sundering the class will unlock it in your menu. That way, you won't have to gain levels in Life and Death Mage class in order to regain the [Arbiter of the Cycle]," Tom pointed out.

  "I mean, why that class?" Chester clarified.

  "Oh, well, I guess I should have asked this first: What do you want to be? What do you want to do? You picked [Life Mage] to heal people. At least, I assume you did. Are you trying to become a [Necromancer] or …" Tom trailed off as Chester shook his head.

  "No, nothing like that. I live in harmony with the land. I won't destroy it."

  All right then, but unless you want to ditch the [Death mage] class, I would still recommend [Arbiter of the Cycle]. This class focuses on the natural cycle of life and death, returning the dead to the land so they can nourish the natural world. It's good for healing and killing. It's also a good class to pair with a [Healer], [Druid], or [Shamen] class.

  "That sounds pretty good," Chester admitted

  "That's great. Do you want to do it now? We can sunder your class afterwards, and you can just pick it."

  "I'll do it now," Chester said, offering his hand.

  Tom took it and activated [Soul Forge]. He was immediately drawn into Chester's soul space, with the common nebulas and stars coming into view. He dragged everything together, allowing them to fuse.

  DING!!!

  "Damm," Chester muttered as he looked at his hand.

  <[Soul Forge] has Reached Level 19>

  "Great, now you're going to want to sunder your class. You'll drop back to level 1, and it will suck. Trust losing stats suck. But you'll be able to get those levels back quickly." Tom said.

  Chester nodded and tapped at the air a few times before he collapsed to the ground.

  "DAD!!!" Sam grabbed her father, catching him before he hit the floor.

  "I'm okay," Chester wheezed as he tried to stand up properly. "I just wasn't expecting that."

  "What happened?" Sam asked.

  "He just lost all his stats. It sucks a lot," Tom said as Chester stood back up.

  He seemed to be handling it better than Tom had expected.

  "It feels like gravity just got worse," Chester groaned.

  "Now Sam has levels in [Rouge] and [Ranger], yes?" Tom asked as he turned his attention to her.

  "Yeah, but that's not why we're here. You see, my dad and I have the bloodline of the Ursa Nox in the system … Do you know what that means? I know Luke's Bloodline is from his dad, but I don't think I have any bears in my ancestry," she asked.

  Tom froze his mind, screeching to a halt as he looked at her using [Augurs Eye]. Then he remembered that [Identity] skills like [Augurs Eye] couldn't see bloodlines, so Tom activated [Thirst for Knowledge] and [Visions of Akashic Records] for good measure. He immediately regretted it as his mind seemed to shatter from the endless stream of information.

  You may skip to the next chapter.

  Base

  Personal: +4 PER +4 WILL +3 INT +3 CHA

  Racial: +3 WILL +2 CON +2 CHA +1 SPIRIT

  Bloodline: +5 PER +5 INT

  Level Bonus: +1 to all Stats

  Mini-Character List

  Tom: Our Protagonist, the party healer

  Alex: Tom's best friend and the group's wizard

  Skippy: Tom's friend, the squirrelly duelist

  Abaddon: Tom's friend, a tanky lizardman

  Chloe: Tom's little sister

  Lucy: Alex's former dog and Chloe's animal companion

  AN: