Illusion

As he walked back home, Ralph thought about the skill he gained.

-If this is like a game, then I can use this skill, right?

He stopped a few meters from his house and concentrated.

"Beast Skill: Illusion."

However, nothing happened.

Ralph frowned and thought the reason was the low level of skill, but how was he supposed to increase?

Ralph started walking towards the house again, but then he noticed a change.

-My thoughts... Aren't they strangely fast?

He first found it strange, but in a blink he understood.

-That must be because of the stat point.

Ralph thought for a while and came to the conclusion that thoughts are at least 10% faster, and somehow... more efficient? He's not sure how he came to that conclusion, but his instincts seem to agree.

-I don't think it's normal to suddenly have this notion of speed... is it because of the system?

Ralph stood in front of the house thinking, until he was interrupted by someone.

"What are you doing standing still like a pole?" Tom asked as he looked at Ralph strangely.

Ralph finally woke up and said:

"Thinking ..." Right after saying that, he was surprised.

-Why the hell did I say that?

Tom was surprised and said:

"In front of the door? Aren't you afraid of being mugged? Get in just before the neighbors think you've gone crazy."

Ralph can only sigh and enter the house.

He spent the next few days exploring the system, while also resolving his dealings with the police.

BD was concealed with something and cannot meet Ralph, much to the wrath of the latter.

Ana, however, visited Ralph several times, for the understanding of the rest of the family, who did not seem very surprised.

The world was changing rapidly, and what governments were trying to hide was finally leaked.

The world trembled at the news that wildly extremely powerful and strange abilities were appearing all over the world.

"The world has become an RPG board, we are just the pieces of the board." A commentator said.

"I heard that when you kill one of these beasts, you get a stat point, and you also unlock ..."

While the world was learning, Ralph was also making progress in exploration.

He finally learned how to use the beast's ability, maybe because his intelligence has been improved.

Instead of saying the name of the skill, he has to visualize something with a great deal of mental effort, or perhaps [Will Power], and can thus create simple illusions, but he thinks that, as in a game, depending on the level of skill increases, the power of the skill will also increase.

He also realized that the longer he uses the skill, the more he gets tired.

Although he has an idea of ​​why, he can't prove anything yet.

After several weeks of practice, he manages to create bats or even weapons with the skill, but it is all an illusion, of course. Ralph thinks it can be very useful nonetheless.

He hasn't yet told his family that he gained the skill, since he wants to avoid having to explain.

The global situation in general has shown no signs of complete stabilization, and everyone is concerned that things will continue to deteriorate further with the appearance of the beasts.

Ralph's classes have not yet returned to normal, so he continued to stay home.

*

(Brazilian Department of post-dawn intelligence)

At a military base heavily guarded at the bottom of the Atlantic forest, officials from the Brazilian government and from neighboring countries came together to discuss new discoveries and problems.

Among them was General José Santos, a middle-aged Brazilian officer. He has black hair and eyes, with fair skin and rounded facial features.

"Sir, the biopsy result for bird 002 has been released." A lieutenant spoke in the general's ear.

Upon hearing this, José stood up and looked at the smartphone in his hand.

"This data ... Real !?" José murmured to himself.

José was not the only one who was surprised, all the other officers had strange expressions.

Some time ago, it was discovered by governments that the genetic material of possibly all living things is undergoing a major mutation.

Fortunately, this news they managed to block for now, or else the general situation would be much worse.

"The biopsy of bird 002 confirmed our suspicions ... Not only the genetic material, all organic matter seems to be changing. Elements previously unknown are emerging, along with numerous variables ..." A Brazilian officer who was standing spoke.

"God help us." A Chilean officer murmured.

José shook his head with a bitter smile and then said:

"God... I think you are praying to the wrong God."

The Chilean officer was silent.

"As representatives of our nations, we need to face these problems head on, and not wait for divine help." José continued.

"Sigh ... We know that, but the general situation is getting more and more worrying. It's not just the beasts, many civilian and military people are gaining strange skills by killing a beast, it can easily get out of control." An Argentine officer spoke.

José shook his head and said:

"We must not just stay in trouble, we also have to think about how to overcome them all ... You should know that some nations are already making great strides on this" platform ", we cannot be left behind and our superiors know it."

Everyone was thoughtful and José hit the iron while it was hot.

"I suggest that we create a special force, where military or civilians with these skills can serve their respective nations."

A Bolivian officer laughed after hearing this:

"And I'm sure that you Brazilians want to lead this special force."

José looked at the Bolivian with disgust and said:

"Ridiculous, you don't even allow me to finish explaining and jump to conclusions. How the hell did you become a colonel in your country?"

"You ..." The Bolivian was about to reply but was stopped by his colleague, who shook his head.

"Anyway ... This special force will not be led by any country, and its members will be under obligation only to their respective nations." José continued.

"But then, what is the purpose of this force?" A Peruvian officer asked.

José then projected an image on the wall with a datashow.

"I am not the first to have this idea, many other nations are coming together."

The image of a heavily armed group in a desert was shown.

"This is the joint special group of the USA and Canada."

He then showed the image of an unarmed group but fighting beasts.

"This is a special joint group of the European Union and the United Kingdom, probably the most advanced in the world, that can fight beasts with their own abilities."

The officers were impressed and had dignified expressions, were they that late?

José realized this and said:

"I'm sure that each of our nations has capable individuals, and we have to take advantage of that ... while we can."

"We cannot decide this alone." A Chilean officer spoke up suddenly.

José nodded and explained:

"I know that, so I have already prepared the necessary documents for you to hand over to your leaders ... I hope you can convince them, otherwise our situation will continue to worsen."

After answering questions from officials from other countries, José decided to end the meeting and said:

"As I explained earlier, this will work better if we open up this idea to the civilian public, we have to give the opportunity to our people, we cannot fight alone."

The others nodded, and one by one withdrew.

José sat tired and put his hands on his head.

"But how problematic, of all, why me !?"

*

The days passed, and Ralph went deeper and deeper into the skill he had gained.

Now he realized that he could not only create images, but also sounds, despite being much more difficult.

But his results paid off and, to his surprise, the skill level changed from 0 to 1.

"So it really increases with practice."

But one thing was bothering him, the fact that his [Level] hasn't changed, continued [-].

He has tried several ways to get information out of the platform, to no avail despite.

He thought that if his skill went up, his level would go too.

Even so, he was satisfied that his effort paid off.

If he speculates correctly, the ability to illusion is not limited to sounds, but also thermal sensations, as he remembers the "snake" exhaling a cold breath.

He began to imagine his scene frightening beasts while false flames circled him, like a fire wizard.

Ralph shook his head and got rid of distracting thoughts, he can't even make an illusion of an image together with a combined sound. He can only make one kind of illusion at a time.

"Ralph, lunch is ready!" Ingrid shouted from the kitchen.

Ralph got up from the bed and went to the kitchen.

The days have been peaceful, he basically wakes up, eats, pisses and shits, practices illusion, eats, bathes and sleeps. Every single day, except for the exceptions where Ana visits him.

Ralph has had no more contact with BD in the past few days, which worried him a little.

After arriving in the kitchen, Ralph did as usual, ate until satisfied and was about to go back up to the room but was stopped by Torvi.

"What's it?" Ralph asked in a tired tone, the girl simply abuses his computer every day by threatening him with the gun.

Torvi smiled genially and said:

"If I were you, I would look at you for a while."

Ralph didn't understand for a moment, but he realized what she was referring to.

He has done nothing but practice illusion for the past few weeks, and even forgot to shave and cut his hair.

Torvi laughed mischievously and suddenly pushed Ralph away.

"What are you doing!?" Ralph shouted.

"You really don't care? How can you consider yourself a man with such a weak body?" Torvi said in a cold tone as she went to Ralph's room.

Ralph was paralyzed for a moment, since when he left that place, he never worried about his physique.

"Sigh ..." Ralph smiled bitterly and went to the living room to watch television.

"Attention citizens, the armed forces have raised the flag of alert throughout the national territory, and urgently request the support of people with special skills. If you are not a person with special skills but know someone, inform the army, the number is..."

The corners of Ralph's mouth twitched.

-Is the situation that bad? To resort to that ...

Ingrid, who was also watching television, said:

"I hope that those who have these" skills "will have the courage to help the nation ..."

Ralph frowned even more, thinking that he must be more careful in the future when creating illusions.

"I think so, too. If a son of mine had that kind of skill and didn't help society in any way, I would be extremely disappointed." Tom suddenly appeared and commented with a sigh.

A chill went down Ralph's spine.

"Cowards don't deserve that kind of skill, if I gained a skill I would certainly help !!" Torvi also appeared suddenly and spoke.

Ralph sensed that something strange was happening and looked at Tom, then looked at Ingrid and finally at Torvi.

-Fuck !!

Everyone was looking at him.

After taking a deep breath, Ralph said:

"My skill is useless."

Tom scoffed and said sarcastically:

"But of course it's useless, creating things out of thin air is certainly useless."

"I don't create things out of nothing, I create illusions!"

"And you find it useless !? You're just lying to yourself!" Torvi spoke.

Ralph's face suddenly darkened.

He was trapped, anyone with a minimum of neurons knows that illusion is not a useless skill.

You can scare beasts by creating images of predators, or even bluffing against bad guys while creating the illusion of a machine gun.

Despite having no "real" use, the illusion ability itself can be very useful in any situation. Of course, as long as the enemy doesn't know.

"I realized that you are learning to create sounds with this skill of yours, if you evolve it further, I bet you could scare anything." Torvi hit the iron while it was hot.