Maybe I did take drugs after all. No other explanation could make sense of what he was seeing. Wait it changed, didn't it? The cat had somehow gained a level.

Once again Arthur thought back to the truck that had brought him to this strange situation to see if he had missed something that explained all of this craziness. It took him a few moments to find it. Just before Arthur had died; or passed out as it currently seemed, he had seen a strange message in that same strange, blue text. System initialising or something like that. Either he'd been delirious and hallucinating at the time, a very likely possibility, or he'd actually seen the weird text. This sounded suspiciously like those strange fantasy books Matthew was always glued to or maybe it was a simulation of sorts and he'd been captured by a group of aliens for experimentation. It was a story out of the realm of science fiction except this was what his new reality now seemed to be.

Arthur was tired, dead tired and his left arm was still the wrong way around, which didn’t really hurt for some reason, so he couldn't go to sleep quite yet. And I have no idea what the fuck is going on. He concentrated and tried to recall the strange message he had seen and suddenly Arthur felt that same cold breeze he’d first felt when talking to Liz before all of this crazy had taken a dump in his life as if he'd just been dipped in an ice bath. The sensation was a little more subdued this time around but it still felt unsettling.

Something had definitely worked though as he saw blue messages rapidly filling his vision. Or maybe he was still hallucinating. The process was so sudden and unexpected that Arthur couldn't help but swear in fright. This is dangerous, stupid even. Someone could die if those messages appeared at random. What would've happened if I'd been driving? He sighed wearily as he set his grievances with the strange messages aside. Now wasn't the time for that. Taking a deep breath, Arthur looked at the first bit of floating text.

Re-Establishing link with host… Error … Insufficient… Error … Re calibrating … Insufficient energy… Link established… 27%... Integrity compromised… Recalling host's previous logs…

Arthur stopped reading at that. So he wasn't crazy, after all. Or maybe he was; he wouldn't know, either way. Either he'd lost his marbles or there was now a system that was governing reality. Or at least his. One capable of miracles it seemed if his beating heart was any indication. By all rights, Arthur should be dead and yet somehow he lived.

And if I'm not dead then…

Arthur quickly squashed that line of thinking, as well as the budding hope in his chest. There would be time for all that later. Right now he needed to know what was going on, what exactly was this strange system, and most importantly if and how he could exploit it. That was how all of Mathew's stories went at least.

Arthur braced himself and began to read the system messages from the beginning.

System initialising… Teleporting host to tutorial zone… Error… Host deceased.

So I did die after all.

Introducing host to system… Error host deceased… Assigning host skill...Error host deceased.

These errors are quickly becoming very annoying.

Determining cause for hosts death… Host's teleportation was delayed by nine seconds… Error…Error... Resulted in host's termination… Rectifying system error... Error... Insufficient energy... Reassigning system energy from normal Initiation protocols... Host revived

Arthur once again had to stop reading the system text. Taking deep breaths, he tried to calm his racing heartbeat down. The system was capable of reviving the dead. Simple. Just a single line of text and yet it was so much more. Something that went against the fundamental laws of the universe was now apparently possible. He had died and been revived by the system.

Fair enough, he'd only been dead for nine seconds, but still. His body had been a mess. This was far different from using an AED to get someone's heart beating again.

This was bloody magic.

The first thought to cross his mind in this absurd situation was obviously his sister and her recently deceased status. He didn't know how it could be done or if it was even possible at all; but as he sat there dazed on the sidewalk, tears of both relief and hope making their way down his face, he made a firm intention that he’d bring her back.

The first real emotion he'd felt in so long.

No matter what happened, whatever he may have to do, whichever line he'd have to cross, Arthur decided he would see this goal to its ending. Nothing would get in his way, and if anything did like they had many times before, he would crush them underfoot, and give them a hell of his making. Taking a deep breath, Arthur tried to calm himself down. This wasn't the time to be getting melodramatic and go all chuunibyo.

He looked back at the system messages.

Assigning host skill Identify… Skill assigned... Anomalous situation detected… Energy below acceptable levels… Integrity compromised… 30%... 29%... 28%... System preparing for failure… System survival protocols activated… Error… Formulating message to ensure host's continued survival… … … Assign host quest… Ether required to fix the system… Collect ether to establish a proper system link.. 27% integrity… Obtain ether from monsters… System activating perseverance protocols…

Collect ether 118/42,000

The messages stopped there it seemed, or at least they had until he'd reconnected with the system, faulty as his connection apparently was when he'd regained consciousness. Arthur took a deep breath as he tried to make sense of all the information he’d just heard; mentally deducing all he could from the fragmented messages. It seemed as if every sapient thing on Earth had been initiated into this so-called system, and then been transported somewhere for a ‘tutorial.’ Whether humanity was still on the planet, Arthur could only guess, but he’d put his money on them no longer being here. The tutorial sounded like an entirely different place, separate from Earth from how the system messages sounded. 

So let's get this straight. Everyone has gone to a Tutorial for an unknown amount of time. I should've gone too, except my teleportation was delayed and I died of all things before I could be transported.