[ALERT!]

[ALERT!]

I shot out of bed, wondering if some fire alarm had gone off. There was a loud siren followed by a robotic voice screaming the word ‘alert’ at me. The noise sounded like it was coming from all around me. But what was even worse was when I opened my eyes and saw the words floating in front of me like a hologram.

[ALERT!]

“What?!” I shouted at the thing.

[Subject: Lucas Hudson has regained consciousness]

[Reminder: You have 10 seconds remaining to accept your Class. Y/N?]

“Sure, why not?” I said, barely awake.

*DING!* You have gained the [Basic Swordsman] Class*

[ERROR!]

[Recalculating due to extenuating circumstances]

*DING!* You have been upgraded to the [Blood Reaver] Class*

“What is…”

[Blood Reaver Class (Rare)] – An offensive warrior class primarily focused on bladework. You use stealth, agility, and ferocity against your foes. You don’t just defeat your enemies, you slaughter them. Only blood and death can offer the advancement you crave. Blood is now your power.

*DING!* You have gained [Basic Sword Work Skill (common)] – Mild proficiency with swords has been unlocked and provides a small stat bonus when handling them.

*DING!* You have gained [Basic Knife Work Skill (common)] – Mild proficiency with knives has been unlocked and provides a small state bonus when handling them.

*DING!* You have gained [Nights Eye (uncommon)] – The shadows are where a Blood Reaver feels most at home. Basic perception is enhanced to improve vision when in darkness.

I got out of bed to make some coffee. It felt too early for this. Whatever this was.

Long-standing habit had me groggily getting out of bed in my large, luxury open-plan apartment and then wandering over to the kitchen in my underwear in search of coffee. I nearly made it when the payphone rang. I stopped and stared. There was suddenly a fully functioning payphone standing in my apartment. That, it should go without saying, hadn’t been there when I went to sleep. A full black and metal box with a corded phone, a number pad, and a coin slot. It stood on a metal stand that looked like it had been bolted to my floor.

It kept ringing and I decided to answer it.

A masculine robotic voice on the other end said, “good, you’re finally up.”

“What is going on?” I asked.

“Oh, that’s right. You slept through the orientation. That’s actually part of the reason I’m calling. So, do you want the good news or the bad news first?”

“Bad, I guess.”

“Your world has ended and is no more.”

“What?”

“Well… not literally. Obviously, you’re still alive, for one thing. It’s more of a metaphorical ending. I guess the more accurate phrasing is that your world is under new management. A powerful universe spanning entity known as the System has absorbed your planet into its collection and has made some modifications. So the world as you knew it is gone. Welcome to the new one, though there’s still some debate on the name. Do you think we should keep calling it Earth despite such drastic changes?”

“I think it’s less confusing if you keep the name. Wait, what do you mean changes?”

“Just a bit of culling here, some new species introduction there. Nothing to trouble you with right now. The important thing to know is that your apartment building has been altered and will serve as the tutorial dungeon for you and the surviving residents. Congratulations, since your apartment is on the top floor, you’ve started on the easiest level. It didn’t really make sense to me to make the top floor the goal. I mean, where are you supposed to go from there? Just stand on the roof? Anyway, each floor down increases in difficulty and you have one year to reach the ground floor and escape before the tower collapses and kills everyone inside.”

“You can’t seriously tell me that was the good news!” I shouted into the phone.

“No, of course not,” the voice replied calmly. “Anybody who skips the orientation message, involuntarily or not, gets extra attention because usually it’s only the crazy ones who do. I scanned your apartment and your records and determined a special Class that would be the best fit for you.”

“Blood Reaver?” I frowned. “It sounds insane. I don’t know anything about blades and the blood stuff sounds monstrous.”

“But my records indicate that you already own a sword and the basic swordsman classes were too boring. Besides, it was either that or a craftsman Class based on the collection of figurines you made. Which I wanted to ask you about? Why do you only craft figures of young women in tight clothes and why are they always wearing skirts?”

I glanced over at my anime figurine collection on the shelf and declined to answer. Instead, I went to the closet and fished out the sword that it was talking about. It was, and don’t judge me for this, a katana I’d bought at a flea market for twenty bucks. As soon as I’d touched it, a new message came up.

*Item Identified!* [Standard Katana (common: F-Grade)] – Purchased by Lucas Hudson to use as a prop in a cosplay he was putting together to try to impress a girl (spoiler alert: it didn’t work). The blade is also so dull right now that it’d struggle to cut butter (Current state: Poor).

Yeah, it’s not creepy at all that this System seems to know everything about me. I went back to the phone I’d left hanging.

“How do you know all this stuff about me?” I asked.

“The planet was scanned before assimilation and our records are excellent.”

“How hard is it to reach the ground floor?” I asked, unsure if whether a year was a lot of time or a little.

“A year is less time than you’ll want once you get going, but don’t worry about that now. You’ll be made aware of the time you have left whenever a new floor opens up. Anyway, I am known as the Officiator of the System and can answer certain questions for you, but only with this device and future calls will require a coin. There is one payphone located on each floor where you can reach me for further queries.”

“What’s to stop me from trying to go straight to the ground floor via the elevator or stairs?”

“I’m glad you asked. The building has been modified with two types of elevator. A silver one that can only travel to the floors you’ve previously cleared or your current lowest floor. There is also the gold advancement elevator that runs on a timer and descends one floor at a time. It is considered the ideal way to descend the tower, however if you miss it, then there are the emergency stairs. Though they are highly dangerous and not recommended for novices. And if you’re thinking about climbing out of the window, you should take a look outside.”

I let go of the pay phone and pulled one of the curtains open. There was nothing past the window except darkness. It was kind of haunting in a way. Like the whole building had been teleported to space, only there were no stars. I closed the curtain again. Being constantly reminded that there was only a single pane of glass separating me from an endless void was disconcerting.

I went back to the phone, feeling nervous about the entity on the other end of the line. A being that could reshape worlds in a single night was someone I had to be extremely wary of.

“I’ve isolated the building from the rest of the world for the majority of the tutorial period, which is far more of a blessing than you realize,” it said.

“So what now?”

“Get stronger on this floor by killing enemies or clearing any quests you might have. Both will give experience points that you can use in your menu to upgrade your stats. Just think of the menu and it will appear.”

There was a loud bang at the front door. Followed by another and then another. Something was ramming it.

“Great,” it said. “It sounds like the monsters have woken up. Good luck.”

The line went dead just as my front door burst open. A creature that looked like a large black dog with four yellow eyes and razor-sharp teeth slowly stepped inside. Whatever it was, it had knocked down the door all by itself, which meant it was strong.

*Beast Identified* [Goblin Hunting Dog (common)] Level 1 – These dogs are used by goblins to catch and kill smaller, weaker prey that they’d rather not bother chasing after themselves. Damn, it’s your first day and the creatures here already think you’re a loser.

*New Quest Unlocked* [It’s your first time and no, I won’t be gentle] – It’s that kill or be killed moment where the rubber meets the road or you scream in agony as you’re torn apart.

What is it with this thing? The voice on the phone seemed somewhat reasonable, but every message the System itself sends seems to be praying for my downfall. It seems so needlessly antagonistic, but then again, maybe that’s perfectly on brand for an entity that kidnaps worlds and makes them compete in these sadistic trials.

The goblin dog sniffed the air until it caught my scent and then padded slowly into the room. A disgusting stream of drool leaked out of its mouth and onto the floor. Hungry with anticipation to find out what a nerdy graphic designer tasted like.

The closer it got to me, the more I backed away until I’d reached the kitchen with nothing in my hands but my shitty katana. I unsheathed it quietly, hoping not to provoke the dog. It growled and my hands shook as I held the sword out in a stance I’d seen in movies.

Suddenly it leapt at me.