Initiation

Dakota had spent the last couple of years working as a security guard for a little call center. On the rarest days someone may need an ambulance from an allergic reaction or a heart condition.

Three years total at his current job and he was respected. Midway into his twenties and the world was moving so fast

His mysterious Quest button intrigued him more especially for the last year. He could not just give up on normal.

Well everyone's normal had changed. For him the biggest difference has been that he has been playing video games more and reading less

With the recent Florida Rift incident. He has been feeling very under utilized.

Back when this all started he was tempted not to believe it at all. Gwyn and Ollie had both avoided him. Which was not weird since he had not really known them. He had not pursued them because he did not want them to think he was some weird stalker guy trying to creep on them.

But the old lady on the corner.

She refused to speak to him at all. Not even a word. The first time he asked her about that night of the flood. She went wide eyed and would not speak to him. She always got up and went home.

Since then she had become something of a local celebrity. For the apartment complex. She had joined the B.E.C. the Bureau of Enhanced Creatures.

Supposedly she had some kind of otherworldly sight and was very useful because they offered her big money just to help them out.

Gwyn and Ollie were also tested for Ascension. They were real celebrities. Apparently both Grade A. Their mom moved them to a Guild Home about a year ago.

Dakota was tested. They told him he was just under the bar for Ascension. Clearly he had Ascended. They said they would be very surprised if he developed anything noticeable.

Dakota did not tell anyone about the Quest Button though.

Lately Dakota had been hearing more and more about the Guilds. Apparently the initiates who only went on one or three Raids a month were making anywhere from $500 dollars to $2,000 dollars each time.

The miners going into Rifts were clearing an annual pay of $100,000 and sometimes double or triple that in bonuses. Of course, they were rank D and above. It was not cost effective to hire E grade Ascended for mining. They were too slow by comparison.

They were risking their lives. Dakota was not. Still. He made about $500 a week at his job. At his dead end job that he barely cared about.

With more and more of the Riftbeasts coming into the world. He just did not feel safe not knowing what this Quest was. Maybe it was his ticket to more.

The title Demon Lord scared him. He was so afraid of what that meant. He still remembered what it felt like to pull his own heart from the Darkness that day.

He remembered dying.

Dakota had learned for certain the green bar under his health was his stamina.

If it dropped under 2/3 he started to really struggle. if it dropped under 1/3 he felt fatigued and would breathe hard and took a good rest to feel better.

He only experimented once to get it lower. If he dropped under 10% he felt like passing out and he thought if he reached 0 he would die.

Today he heard about a Riftstone being found at the bike path he runs on. A Guild had purchased the rights to it.

They planned a Raid in only three days. Dakota felt it just might be worth it to try to join as an initiate on that Raid. And had been working up the courage to hit the Quest Button.

After work he went home. He ate and washed. He stared at the Button hovering in his field of vision. He knew he could grab the button and move it. He knew he could will the Button to move so he could see better.

He decided all at once. He needed to make a choice. This. Or be a security guard forever.

When he thought of the monotony that would be. It felt like he saw the next ten. No, twenty years.

He pushed the Button. The soft bell sound he had not heard since the first day sounded.

Quest: Tutorial.

Learn the interface.

Reward: Ability points

Interface navigation options

The interface navigation options? If that meant he could finally learn what the stuff in his Status meant it was worth it already.

He accepted the quest with a nervous nod and a "yes".

The system seemed to understand the moment he had resolved to make the decision. He remembered that. That this interface could read his mind.

It explained his name. It is what he called himself. Dakota laughed aloud. It was taking this tutorial very seriously if it was describing his name.

The title was next. Dakota gulped and was trembling somewhat when he clicked on title. the info that popped up was that the title was something he had earned.

Another prompt showed him the info on the Demon Lord title.

Demon Lord : Player has no Spirit residing in his body and is Lord of an Abyssal Plane.

That took him aback. He did not have a soul anymore? He thought back to the moment where he reached into the darkness.

He clutched his chest as he realized. He must have really died that day.

The shock of the next bit kept him from pitying himself.

...Lord of his own Abyssal Plane? What the heck? Nothing seemed to change with him.

He ran and checked himself in his mirror in the bathroom. He had not sprouted horns. Or a tail. He did not even have fangs. No red skin or flaming eyes.

He could not help but laugh at his own cowardice. What a relief. Maybe the Demon Lord bit only started once he was dead. . . again.

It explained his level was a measure of his Mana Density. That made sense to him. It made more sense now why his Ambient reading was so low.

It explained his Ability Scores. If any went to zero he would die immediately. He had to stop for a second or two after that.

Strength was a measure of his bodies physical strength. It effected his speed, damage, and carry capacity?

Dexterity effected his reflexes, his gracefulness and over all agility.

Constitution effected his stamina, his ability to resist poison, disease, and negative physical conditions.

Intelligence helped him remember things he experienced and increased his Mana.

Woah, he had Mana. The implication being spells. Dakota smiled at that. Then frowned as he realized he did not know any spells. There were none listed under skills. He shrugged. He had always been more of a physical being anyway.

Wisdom helped him to perceive the world around him and understand what he perceived.

That certainly sounded useful.

Charisma was the measure of his strength of personality. Of his effect on people.

Dakota was kind of disappointed that was his lowest stat. It made sense though as a measure of what he had and not what he necessarily wanted.

Under skills he read the Devour info.

Devour lvl 1 Can Devour mana crystals to increase player level.

That certainly sounded great. Dakota imagined briefly being so powerful he could swallow the sun.

He shook himself as he realized that was a very demon lord thought to have.

Smiling sheepishly he wondered if it was indeed a very accurate title for him.

He checked his phone and did a browser search for mana crystals. He remembered there were different kinds.

Mana Shards were produced by weak creatures after death.

Mana Fragments varied in size and quality but were more powerful. The mana orb was the ideal version of the crystal and could only be recovered from B and A rank Rifts.

The Flawless Orb was something prized among prizes apparently. A perfect version of the orb. Only found rarely in A rank Rifts. The classified info on the four known S rank Rifts would not be released on the internet. So any info he could find on them was worthless supposition by conspiracy theorists or fanboys.

This whole quest got him so excited. Dakota had to calm himself before moving forward.

Under items was Voidheart. He did not know what to make if that exactly. "Voidheart?" As he mumbled the word a menu appeared.

A sort of window on the side of his status window. the words Voidheart with a small image of a black crystal next to it.

The info prompt appeared and told him that his inventory limit was his Constitution plus his strength multiplied by 10.

Dakota saw the number at the top of the Inventory list. It read 220 lbs. He smirked and experimented real quick and picked up a glass cup. He tried several times to put it into his inventory.

"Add to Inventory."

"Cup to Inventory"

"Add glass cup to Inventory"

He was starting to feel foolish when he sort of sighed and just wished the cup would go into his Inventory.

He blinked in surprised as the cup vanished and appeared on his List.

Glass cup 1 lb.

He wished for it back and it appeared spontaneously in his other hand.

He grinned wide then. This was handy in so many ways. Indeed, maybe Demon Lord was a good title. Briefly, the idea of a life as a petty thief opened up to him. He shook it off as quickly as it came to him. He just wasn't that guy.

An info tab appeared at the 3 bars under his name now. Three new numbers appeared on his status Health Points-HP., Mana Points-MP, and Stamina Points-SP.

His HP was 100 exactly. The info read that his HP was a measure of his life's vitality. At zero, he would die. Apparently his HP was 10 multiplied by his Constitution multiplied again by his level.

His MP was a measure of his ambient Mana. Mana that could be used for magical abilities or spells. of which he apparently had none.

The grey bar under the red bar suddenly turned blue and the number read 80. His intelligence multiplied by 10 multiplied again by his level.

His Stamina bar info read as he could guess. His little experiments paned out to be true.

If he keeps his bar over the 2/3 mark he felt fresh. If it dipped below he had to put put in extra effort. If it dipped under 1/3 he felt fatigue and had trouble focusing until he rested. If it dropped below 10% he was exhausted and risked death at zero.

His stamina was his strength plus constitution multiplied by 10.

His status menu read.

Name: Dakota Alain Tibor

HP: 100

MP: 80

SP: 220

Title: Demon Lord

Level 1

Strength: 12

Dexterity: 12

Constitution: 10

Intelligence: 8

Wisdom: 9

Charisma: 5

Skills: Devour Lvl 1

Items: Voidheart

The Bell toned and a prompt appeared saying [Quest completed] Access to Inventory is now permitted. 5 Ability points rewarded.

Woah! 5!? Dakota wondered if that was any good if such a simple quest could reward so much. Maybe it was because he waited so long? Would the mind reading system take his effort into account for rewards?

He thought about how to use them. Obviously he could put one in each score, but he we wanted to see how effective the points were.

Charisma, Wisdom, and Intelligence were out. He doubted it could be very obvious if any of these scores improved.

Would he just start being more likable? Or understand the nature of the universe? Maybe would be able to remember any point in his life?

Those scores were his lowest. So, he would see the biggest change. Then again, he would not be able to actually SEE the change. It was not easily measured

As he thought that, he realized his Constitution and Dexterity were the same. He could do some kind of balance test maybe or hold his breath. But was that any more reliable?

So he determined strength. He lifted his 20 lb weight in his room but it was not good enough. He picked up the 50 lb disc he sometimes used when he was feeling more ambitious.

It was a strain, but he could lift it with one arm. Well, a couple times. Well, once and a half. He must have really been giving TV and games the preference lately he realized.

Looking down he knew his belly was not very hard. Not that he ever had abs or anything. But his shirts used to look flat-ish. His shoulders were not even as good as they were a couple years ago.

He frowned and thought maybe these ability scores would help him with that too.

He dumped all 5 points into strength. His Status read.

Name: Dakota Alain Tibor

HP: 100

MP: 80

SP: 270

Title: Demon Lord

Level 1

Strength: 17

Dexterity: 12

Constitution: 10

Intelligence: 8

Wisdom: 9

Charisma: 5

Skills: Devour Lvl 1

Items: Voidheart

He did not really feel different. He moved around and noticed yeah, it was possible. His belly did look flatter and his arms were definitely a little bigger. Weren't they?

He shrugged and picked up the weight again.

Dakota had meant to grab it with one hand and use his second to help him comfortably lift it over his head a couple of times.

Whatever his looks may be. He knew he was a lot stronger. By his stats from 12 to 17, he was nearly 1/3 stronger about a 30% increase in strength.

He kept his arm straight and was lifting the 50 lb weight with little effort. It was a good exercise. It felt more like what he could accomplish with a 15 or 20 lb weight.

Dakota smiled wide and new this system really was his ticket to success and power. He had a clear method for getting stronger. Isn't that what he always wanted?

The Bell sound chimed gently and a new quest prompted.

Quest: Raise level.

Increase Player level.

Reward: Ability points.

First thing tomorrow he resolved to use his personal days at work. All three he had saved up. His supervisor respected him and would allow him to use them without notice since he never missed work before.

Dakota was going to try and enter that Rift with the Guild and earn what he could make in a week or maybe a month in a single day.

As he thought this. Another Bell chimed and a new Quest prompt appeared.

Quest: Join Guild.

Become affiliated with a Guild.

Reward: Skill upgrade.

Ability points.

Of course Dakota accepted both.

This mind reader system read his mind and was willing to reward him for accomplishing his own goals. He really liked the sound of that.