Seleth_: Do either of you two know what’s going on? I clicked yes for the update and then checked my stats and what not. Did you guys get weird markings on your hands?

UndeadMochi: I’m not sure about the markings you’re talking about but I got hella stats! I’m not sure how they calculated them but I have great Luck, Dex, and Charm.

Seleth_: Tilda? You’ve been a bit quieter than usual, did you get anything weird?

Tilda_Bear: Sorry I’m just thinking… What classes were you both assigned?

UndeadMochi: I got “Reaver” whatever that means. I think it has something to do with being like an assassin or rogue, so pretty much my default class for most games.

Seleth_: Did you feel anything cold?

UndeadMochi: Cold? Um well… Now that you mention it, my neck felt really cold right before it showed me my stats.

Seleth_: Then you probably wouldn’t have seen the markings… Can you go check your neck in the bathroom? Or just any mirror will work and tell me what you see?

UndeadMochi: Sure, one sec.

Tilda_Bear: And you Sel? What did you get?

Seleth_: I’m kinda embarrassed to say…

Tilda_Bear: Whatever it is I’m sure it's less confusing than mine.

Seleth_: Fine… I got set to Mage.

UndeadMochi: You’re a MAGE? Wait until I tell John about this! Watch out, Johnny boy Selle is coming for your spot!

Of course she would be the one to make a big deal about it… I rolled my eyes and tried to get back to the information seeking task at hand.

Tilda_Bear: Just ignore her.

UndeadMochi: A Mage??? ROFL

UndeadMochi: @_knightMare

UndeadMochi: @_knightMare

Seleth_: So what did you get Tilda?

UndeadMochi: @_knightMare

Tilda_Bear: I got “Weaver”

Elmwood: What does weaver mean?

UndeadMochi: Oh so NOW rich boy makes himself known lol

Seleth_: Have you just been lurking Elm?

Elmwood: s-sorta…

Elm’s always been quiet, so it's not unusual for him to lurk, but even I would have thought he’d want to be a part of this discussion. 

Tilda_Bear: So what did you get Elm?

Elmwood: I got a class called Quickshot, also my Dex is quite high.

UndeadMochi: So basically you’re a ranger again, gotcha. Don’t you and your butler do target practice at your estate or something like regularly?

Elmwood: I-Its archery, and w-we just have a target set up in the lawn. It's not like a professional setup or a-anything. And again, Mochi I d-don’t have a butler.

Seleth_: I wonder why I was the only one that got a normal sounding class like mage…

Tilda_Bear: It could just be more open, there are a lot of different types of mages, such as a battle mage or sorcerer. In regular games there are job advancements based on class, like in HWO, so it could change later.

Seleth_: I suppose so… Oh hey Mochi what about your neck?

UndeadMochi: What about my neck?

Seleth_: The markings…?

UndeadMochi: Ohhhh yea I have a couple. They look kinda wispy like smoke. Pretty cool.

Tilda_Bear: I also have some markings on my right hand.

Elmwood: My legs.

Seleth_: Elm?

Elmwood: I-I have markings on my legs.

UndeadMochi: Great so now we can form the mechazord.

And she’s back to cracking jokes. Great timing.

Seleth_: Well we’d have one extra arm cause the markings are on both of my hands.

Tilda_Bear: It must have something to do with our classes… Until we know more about what’s going on I would suggest we not waste time on the computer. My system just got a message that the servers are shutting down for maintenance here in 15 minutes so maybe we can check back in later tonight. Until then, if this world is turning into some kind of game, let’s just prepare ourselves to survive whatever’s coming next.

Seleth_: I second that.

I haven’t even checked the news, or gone outside yet. What if what’s happening is only affecting gamers? My computer fans sputter to a stop. Moving over to the couch I pull out my phone and open up the local news app. Bingo. Right there on the front page, confusion. The title reads Mass Prank or First Contact? More now with guest Nile Finberg. Great, that pompous ass of a “scientist” gets more air time while the rest of us are too panicked to care. Still though… Might as well see what he has to say. I click on the news coverage, clicking the volume up a few decibels so I can hear better.

“Hello everyone, I’m here today with world renowned scientist Nile Finberg, well known for being a show host for Universe Weekly and Astros. Today Dr. Finberg is here to talk to us about the strange phenomenon that has gripped the world. Dr. Finberg, just what is going on you think?”

“Mass hysteria no doubt,” He said as though the question wasn’t worth his time nor energy. “Either that or a massive prank, but in order to do that you’d need a multitude of the world’s governments to come together, or I suppose just the few strongest, which is nearly impossible, so you can see why mass hysteria makes more sense.”

“Might I ask, Dr. Finberg, what your screen said?”

“Uh… yes… sure. Well, as you could imagine, my intelligence and wisdom was near maximum capacity, the highest marks. My charisma was quite high as well, but one needs that to do the work that I do.”

“Of course. And your class?”

“Uh… It was ...a Sorcerer if I remember correctly, yes a Sorcerer.”

I bet he’s lying… With that thought and a roll of my eyes there was suddenly another pop up screen. 

[New skill acquired through Passive Learning: Lie Detection lvl 1] 

Huh… I wonder what he’s really wanting to say. As I looked at Nile on the screen, I tried to focus on using the lie detection skill, as he spoke again about his class a red LIE sign appeared above him. Moving the video back even further to when he was talking about his stats, another LIE sign appeared for both his wisdom and intelligence stats. When it came to charisma however, he was telling the truth, even though a part of me thought he must be down playing how high that stat was. If getting a 10/10 on a base stat meant you had to be the equivalent of an olympic athlete, Nile Finberg was nowhere near. Even me, after all my years of boxing, had only managed to score one point above the average for strength. Contemplating what this new development in the world meant not only for my friends and I, but for everyone else, I set out to prepare myself like Tilda had suggested.