23 Changes on Zhreta
This year is undoubtedly full of disasters. Present tense, because strange things still occurring.
One of the first changes on Zhreta was the number of military vehicles. Their increase became noticeable at the bare eye. At some point, even tanks appeared.
This happened before the announcement of the truth about portals worldwide, barely a few weeks after the Clericland Forest incident. So naturally, the citizens didn't understand what was happening.
All negative words like distrust, fear, incertitude, etc. could fit the mood of Zhreta's people.
They called for an explanation from the local government, who turned out to be equally or more confused than the habitants because these soldiers were sent by the Federal government and the local authorities only received the order to provide all the support demanded.
By this time, Sebastian was busy with two things: the funeral and selling the ice cream store.
Then, 'that' happened.
Government agents separate from the soldiers knocked door by door throughout the city to ask a single question:
"Do you have any pets?"
If the answer was 'no', they'll leave without disturbing.
But if the residents responded 'yes', these people will open their black briefcase and hand to the pet owner a perfect-sized collar.
Then they will say something like:
"If this collar beeps, procure to get away from your pet and notify the nearest trooper or police. This is for the safety of you and your family. The next part of the protocol will be explained to you when the time comes. In addition, if you destroy or attempt to destroy this item, you will be fined $20,000 under public property damage clauses."
They usually leave afterward.
…
Monday.
As Sebastian unfurled the curtains and opened the windows to ventilate the room, the first thing he saw was the child of his neighbor playing with several black cats on the grass.
The girl ran holding a feather teaser, and the small felines jumped enthusiastically to catch the small object tied to the string.
However, despite the clear reality he was witnessing with his eyes, Sebastian knew that his neighbors only had one cat.
The extra number of kitties counted were only duplicates of the original.
Soon he looked away.
Sebastian woke up in good time this morning.
Normally, with his schedule a mess, he would fall asleep at 6 a.m. and wake up at 3 p.m. or so, but since today was important according to Thomas, he tried sleeping pills and connecting his phone alarm to the huge salon speaker.
It worked!
Yet the light of the morning feels odd to him.
If he closes his eyes just for a little longer, he might fall asleep again.
…
For breakfast, he had a cup of coffee and a granola bar.
Since no decent restaurant was open yet during this time, he had to improvise with that and a bag of chips.
Knowing perfectly that those snacks would only satisfy his calorie needs and weren't real food, the teen has already decided how to compensate for his effort of getting up early by going to an expensive place later to have a meal.
To the ones that don't have delivery options, but he's been craving for a while now. Maybe he can invite some friends too, so he doesn't look like a loser eating alone in a family restaurant.
With only a notebook and a pencil in his backpack, Sebastian has no intention to stay for classes, he might just see what the important thing with the MDW (Ministry of Different Worlds) is and skip the rest. It's not the first time he does it anyway, as the chaotic months in Zhreta made attendance no longer as strict as before, only the old-minded teachers get upset for absence.
The problem is who may skip classes with him.
…
…
It didn't take long for the bus to arrive. He found an empty place to sit and opened the system of boredom.
The result of four days playing videogames from morning to night looked like this:
…
[Host: Sebastian Bercic]
[Manifester Level: Novitiate III>>>Novitiate IV]
-
Initial ability: Sentimental (S)
Sub-abilities: [Remorse - If it wasn't me (A)], [Remorse/sub - A decent weapon (D)], [Fear - I don't want to die (C)], [Sadness - I'm alone (D)], [Suicidal - Put an end (B)]
Ability slot (0/4): -
-
Game skills:
<—Neutral skills—>
[(AR) FN Scar 17 mastery Lv.1]
New:
[Handgun 1911 mastery Lv.1]
[(SMGs) MP5 mastery Lv.1]
[Shotgun 725 mastery Lv.1]
[Shotgun Model 680 mastery Lv.1]
[Parachute mastery Lv.1]
[Fast roping mastery Lv.1]
[Dager mastery Lv. 2]
<—Mana skills—>
[Inventory Lv.1>>>Lv.3]
New:
[Summon weapon - pan Lv.1]
[Viper's pit. Lv.1]
-
[Game coin: 147]
…
Even though he had many ideas on how to use the system and which games he could extract abilities from, during the weekend, Sebastian only played different kinds of shooters to get fire weapon skills and other military-related knowledge, such as equipment and close combat understanding.
The reason is: as he obtain his second mana skill right after the first day, he realized that these abilities consumed too much mana and after one use, he ends up like an ordinary human without force to fight any unexpected thing.
So, considering his choices and alternatives, default skills were his best option for now.
The two only mana skills he got were [Summon weapon - pan] and [Viper's pit].
What these two are about is pretty straightforward: one, as its name says, can summon a pan with very good durability, and the other, creates a toxic smoke sphere that exists as long as the user stands inside.
Unfortunately, he does not know how effective the toxicity is on living beings, because at the moment he uses this skill, he becomes immune to this specific venom. And since the skill is not actual poison, but some kind of creation of mana, after he cancels the ability, the toxic smoke disappears from the flask he tried to keep on.
Afterward, the other thing that Sebastian tested from the system was leveling up skills. The [Inventory] skill for example, after playing several hours and obtaining 10 XP for this game, becomes an Lv.2 skill.
The benefit of that is that another space exactly like the nine others was added to the inventory. Then for Lv.3, the XP needed became 30, and in the future when he wants to improve to the next level, he will need 90 XP. Basically the triple the previous time.
However, [Dager mastery] cost 10 XP in the first level up, but it'll need 100 for the next time. So depending on the skill, the amount of XP required is different.
Also, the XPs are not transferable to other games, so leveling up a skill means to play the game you obtained it from over and over again. The only good thing is, you're free to play whatever game mode you prefer as long as you're in the game.
Finally, the last change he found was on his Manifester Level, from Novitiate III to Novitiate IV. About that, he doesn't know much, when the notification popped up, he felt more mana than usual in his body and also feeling less tired. So it probably has to do with the physical condition.
…
Twenty minutes later, Sebastian arrived at school.
As he walked past that same gate he has seen for years, there were new faces that he has no intention to remember.
How noisy the entrance became explained that there were more students than before. Although it wasn't because his school gained popularity these months, they wish, but the real reason why the student density increased was that many other schools in the suburban area were closed due to lack of students.
In the end, most of the kids had no other choice to sign in to this high school.
All this was due to four months ago when on TV, news of the 'Manifesters' and Portals came to light.
Realizing that their hometown had become the location for 'alien invasions'. Panicking, many people abandoned the city after putting their properties on sale. And it was competence, the lower the price, the fastest people might sell it.
For the first time in decades, estate prices dropped to unimaginable numbers.
That, brought other consequences like many companies that profited from bringing up the real estate value to go bankrupt. And in a nutshell, other than the properties confiscated by the bank to pay the debts, these houses were sold at even lower prices to restore lost.
In a circumstance like that, Sebastian bought some apartments with the money that was left from his parents. It was necessary to convince Thomas, but after he expressed his zero intention to leave Zhreta and phoned his grandparents a couple of times, the deal was sealed.
Today, the teenager enjoys the benefits of that decision.
Because a few months later, the situation took an anticipated unexpected twist.
People with the opposite feelings to the ones that left put their eyes on the portals. Opportunity seekers and risk-takers have never lacked, so, with the proper sheep leaders, the other side of the portal was pictured as a gold mountain, adding that the government approves Manifester volunteers, Zhreta recovered its original vitality and even started to have signs to become a city equally as important as the capital.
All this was related to the fact that currently in Lhyno, this is the first and only portal opened next to an urban area. Compared to the others, that have been located on desolated lands and soon become surrounded by military bases, this portal is open to the public under uncomplicated restrictions.
Still, on the same page, security issues feared with the arrival of so many 'superhumans' to town didn't occur, or at least it wasn't as bad as people thought firstly.
With military patrolling, no one was as dumb as to break the laws, especially when these soldiers were Manifesters of much higher categories.
Indeed, the apartments Sebastian bought became increasingly popular and expensive. The leasing contracts had to be signed for the short term to fit the growth of the state value. If someone decides to not rent anymore, almost the next day a new candidate arrives.
