Samuel wished the world had chosen to end on a Monday.

  Not that he would ever admit that to Rose. Her ego was certainly big enough already.

  There were, however, much more pressing issues he had to deal with than what day the world should end.

  Most important, was the text floating in front of him.

  You have slain [Venomous Snake - Level 3].

  You have reached Level 1

  Commencing System Integration…

  Seeding World Dungeons…

  Commencing Tutorial…

  Attempting to Transport User to Tutorial Dimension…

  Error. User Level too High to enter Tutorial…

  By the time he finished reading all the words before him, Samuel was struggling to keep himself awake. His senses quickly became muddled, and he could feel his thoughts start to slow as his brain tried to keep working.

  Somewhere at the back of his mind, the realisation that a snake had bitten him finally took hold, serving as an anchor to prevent him from falling further into the abyss of fog that threatened to encompass his mind. Even then, it was only just enough to let him retain some of his critical thinking.

  What little brain power he had left to spare was quickly put to work, trying to find a solution. A daunting task, even if he was completely lucid.

  He could barely walk as it was, which meant trying to go anywhere by himself was out of the question. There was only one real solution to the problem, so he picked up the phone that was now beside him.

  As he tried to make a call, a pit formed in his stomach and anxiety filled him. He remembered the strange words that had appeared before him.

  They felt oddly similar to a video game. Perhaps he was even more delirious than he realised.

  The doctor’s phone rang, which managed to get his hopes up. That was, unfortunately, all that happened, as the phone simply continued ringing till it stopped. Calling a few more times made no difference, except pushing Samuel’s anxiety to new heights.

  In all the years he had known his doctor, the man had never missed any of his calls.

  With little else to do, he tried calling emergency services, though he placed little faith in their ability to actually answer.

  They did not answer.

  Just to confirm his suspicions, he dailed Rose and even some of his coursemates, yet just like the others before, he received no response. He supposed it was possible that they were all busy, but he somehow doubted it.

  Between the door refusing to open and not a single person picking one of his calls, there was something wrong.

  The image of words floating in the air in front of him flashed through his mind for a moment before it was dismissed. His already sluggish mind didn’t have enough brain power to deal with that.

  He tried to stand up, but that ended with him crashing to the ground, so he quickly gave up on that attempt. The strength required for his legs to carry him was simply beyond what he currently possessed.

  After trying to rack his brain for a few moments, he simply lay on the ground, the venom rendering him too weak to do anything. Briefly, he wondered whether he was about to die .

  He was just a few moments from unconsciousness when a sharp pain racked his gut without warning. It gradually rose in intensity, eating at him till he could no longer hold it in.

  A savage scream ripped itself out of his throat, the only reasonable response to the pain that gripped him. He had no idea how long it went on for, just that it was far too long. Still, it was not quite as painful as his appendicitis had been. Which meant he was able to maintain his wits through the entire process, if barely.

  After the pain finally stopped, he was barely given any time to relish the sweet release when a wall of text appeared in front of him once more.

  Congratulations on being the first human to kill a levelled monster!

  You have unlocked the Title [Spearhead]

  Universal Quest Completed:

  Witness the integration of your world into the system. Reward: Adaptive Healing.

  Hidden Quest Completed:

  Reach level one before the tutorial commences. Reward: Authority Token, Bound Weapon.

  Samuel had many questions. A natural thing, given the new information he just received..

  The entire thing felt like a video game, which was very strange, and he briefly wondered if his brain was somehow conjuring some hallucination based on his earlier guilt for spending the entire day gaming.

  He quickly dismissed that theory though. The pain he had just gone through had been too real, and for some reason, he had felt very clear headed the moment it subsided. A quick glance at his leg revealed smooth and supple skin that was very clearly devoid of any bite wounds.

  Shock jolted through him at the realisation, and his eyes quickly went over the text still floating above him. Spotting the likely reason for his miraculous recovery was easy enough.

  One of the ‘quest rewards’ he had supposedly won, was adaptive healing. He was willing to bet that had healed him somehow. A great reward, all things considered, one that quickly led him to a chilling realisation.

  This was real. He could not be sure of what things like ‘system integration’ meant, but he would have to treat this entire fantastical situation like it was very real. If the snake he’d killed was any indication, doing otherwise could be fatal.

  As he stared once more at words in front of him, he wondered who would be so cruel as to thrust people into a situation like this without a guide of some sorts.

  The thought of a tutorial made him remember something. Just after he killed the snake, words appeared in front of him too. Though he wasn’t sure he could remember all of them, things like world dungeons and system integration stuck with him. There was also something about a tutorial. It mentioned that he was too high level for the tutorial.

  Seeing as he was only level one at the time, that meant the tutorial could only transport below without levels or there was some bug in whatever system was running the entire thing. Given the power he had seen on display and the implication that it was potentially global, he could only hope it was the former option. Having buggy software that could warp reality did not sound safe.

  It also made sense when he considered there was a hidden quest that rewarded people for reaching level one before the tutorial. The fact that it was hidden likely meant that few people would fulfil it and the vast majority would go to some sort of tutorial.

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  For a moment, he took note of his situation. Locked inside the house and unable to reach anyone outside while the world was apparently being integrated into some sort of system. A system that could give quests and fix wounds in an instant. All without access to any kind of tutorial that could give him some idea of what was happening.

  He hoped the rewards were worth it, at the very least.

  Even though his mind had become clear after the gut-wrenching pain he went through, he was still wary of the poison in his body. He was not sure if the reward would solve that problem, but he suspected as much.

  Not really sure what to do, he stretched a hand out to touch the text, hoping to get some more information on it. Alas, his fingers passed through the words like they weren’t there. Seeing as the text stayed fixed in his vision even when he turned his head around, perhaps they were actually in his mind. If that was true, then there was an obvious way to see if he could get more information from it.

  Adaptive Healing

  Just as he hoped, the lines of text in front of him changed as he focused his mind on those two words.

  Adaptive Healing - This is a single-use boon granted by the system to all sentient life at the start of an integration. It heals whatever injuries, toxins, sickness or curses afflicting its target and grants some resistance against it. Starting level of resistance will vary based on the severity of the affliction.

  The confirmation of the boon’s ability to cure toxins calmed his mind. It was one less thing to worry about at least. He didn’t seem to have received any notifications about a resistance though. He had no idea why that was, so he decided to look at the other rewards instead.

  He turned his attention to the rewards from the hidden quest. Unlike Adaptive Healing, the possible functions of an Authority Token were lost to him.

  Authority Token - From the highest of kings to the lowest of squires, there is one thing that elevates nobility above other users. Authority. This token unlocks your authority at Very Low, granting you some resistance to mundane weapons.

  After reading through the description, he quickly came to the conclusion that he did not completely understand what it meant. Unlike the other two options, this one was unlike anything he could remember coming across, which meant he would be going in blindly.

  His lack of knowledge did little to make the reward seem less tempting. His opinion on nobility aside, he was not going to reject any opportunity he got to gain an advantage. Not since he decided to adapt to his new reality.

  There was also the topic of granting some resistance to weapons. He was not sure how much that actually entailed, but that alone made it something he could not reasonably reject. Something he would soon need all the help he could get.

  Even with all that, he supposed it would do him little harm to try checking the internet for any information on authority tokens. After all, unlikely as it might have been, the new world seemed to have some similarities to existing games. Perhaps the concept of Authority tokens was not unknown. He took his phone out to do just that.

  Ten minutes to seven,

  The knowledge of what time it was greeted him the moment he turned on the phone screen. It had been fifteen minutes past six when he tried calling his doctor, which meant he had spent about thirty minutes in that excruciating pain.

  It certainly could have been worse, he acknowledged, but it was still entirely too much.

  After confirming the time, his eyes drifted to the service bar, which was noticeably empty. Attempting to connect to the wifi network yielded similarly fruitless results.

  With a sinking feeling in his gut, he tried calling his sister once more. This time, however, it did not even ring, as his phone seemed to receive no signals at all.

  Moving around did nothing to change the situation. He tried to go outside, but found the door still locked. It was strange, as none of the other doors seemed to have any problems opening aside from the two that led outside. Even his admittedly clueless attempts to force them open yielded no results. The doors simply did not budge.

  Confused and with rising panic, he rushed to one of the windows and opened the curtains.

  “Oh.”

  His jaw dropped.

  Instead of being greeted by the familiar view of his backyard illuminated by the setting sun, Samuel was met with darkness. It was not the darkness of the night , or something that could be mistaken for some kind of natural phenomena, of course. Instead, he found himself gazing into a pitch black void that stretched on as far as he could see. Even the very ground was black void.

  It almost felt like he was floating in the vast depths of space, yet even space was not so dark. At least it didn’t seem so according to all the pictures he had seen. The sight sent shivers down his spine, yet he found himself unable to look away.

  When he finally tore his eyes away from the sight, Samuel was left with a cold sense of dread. He had no idea what he just witnessed, but it felt absolutely terrifying. He was already mostly convinced that there was something supernatural happening. The healing had already proven that.

  This, however, was different. Whatever was happening, he had evidence that this strangeness was affecting the wider world in some form.

  The windows also didn’t budge, regardless of how much he tried to open them. He thought of breaking the glass, but a chill crawled up his spine the more he stared at the empty blackness, making him abandon that idea fairly quickly.

  He would monitor the situation for the next few hours and only try more extreme measures if nothing happened by the next day.

  Accepting he was trapped in for now, he decided to use the token. Getting more information online would have been ideal, but he had to stick with what he had, and a possible advantage could end up being helpful.

  Fear rose up in his chest at the thought of being eternally trapped, threatening to overwhelm his mind.

  Not the time, he thought, and squashed it down. He still had things to do before worrying about what he could not control.

  A strange feeling overcame him the moment he activated the token, and he felt something happening to him just beyond the reach of his ability to properly sense. What little he could perceive was like nothing he had ever felt before. He did not even know if there were words to describe the experience.

  When it was complete, however, he could feel the effects immediately.

  He had become more.

  The feeling was also difficult to put into words; as if his brain was incapable of properly processing it. Nevertheless, he knew he was somehow more significant. Like the very world finally recognised his existence.

  Thinking back to the description of the token, he picked up the walking stick that remained near him and used it to hit his leg with some force.

  “Ow.”

  Pain shot up his leg, and he wondered if he had been scammed. Or perhaps the system did not see the walking stick as a weapon. He was tempted to take a knife from the kitchen before deciding against it. Perhaps he would try it tomorrow, as it was, he had already gone through enough pain for the day. There was little point inflicting more on himself.

  Besides, it would be wise to assume that he still had no resistance to weapons. It would be great if someone tried to stab him and found themselves unsuccessful, but better not to bank on it.

  Distantly, he wondered when he had accepted the possibility of getting attacked with weapons as a normal thing.

  He tried to explore the feeling of being more for a few minutes but inevitably stopped when he got no results. Instead, he turned his attention to the last reward.

  Bound Weapon.

  If his suspicions about what it did was true, then it would be vital to his survival. Especially if the world outside was going to be anything like what he read earlier. Being stranded in an apocalypse with dangerous monsters and no weapon was far from ideal.

  Though he supposed it was still far from ideal even with weapons.

  Bound Weapon - A proper weapon must be like an extension of your body, one with whom its wielder is very familiar. This boon creates a link between you and your weapon, letting you wield it more freely and always keep track of its location.

  Sure enough, the description was similar to what he already suspected. He activated the final reward, feeling some apprehension. Perhaps he should get a knife from the kitchen, he did not have any actual weapons, but even a simple knife was better than nothing.

  He was about to go to the kitchen when another screen popped up in his vision.

  Identifying Weapon used in quest completion…

  Weapon found - Standard walking cane.

  Commencing binding…

  A loading screen appeared before him, then turned into a small icon at the top right corner of his vision. Glowing symbols covered the walking stick, with an energy shield surrounding it.

  He tried touching it, but the golden field of energy was like a solid wall, stopping his had from reaching it.

  Seeing as there was nothing he could do but wait, he went to the kitchen, where he found his plate of noodles waiting for him. Hunger reared its head at the sight, and he used his fork to take a piece of it.

  Cold.

  The electricity had gone off at some point, and he could not gather the strength to heat it, so he forked the cold food down his throat, uncaring of the temperature as it filled his belly.

  The binding was still not over when he finished, so he sat down to wait for it. As he went through the bizarre events of the day, something finally struck him. An action so basic, it should have been the first thing he did the moment he saw the system.

  ‘Display status,’ he thought.

  Before any status could appear, however, another screen took its place.

  Binding complete. You have successfully formed a bond with [Grandma’s Walking Stick]