10 "Vegas"

Marcus closed the notification to realize that everything was still. He wondered when the car had stopped and leaned forwards to ask the guy why they weren't moving anymore. As he leaned forward he realized that the guy wasn't moving a single muscle.

"Hey, what's wrong? Why did we stop?" Marcus said.

He turned towards the two girls and noticed that they were stationary as well. They were as still as statues.

"What the hell?" Marcus asked to no one in particular.

He tried to look outside the car but noticed that they were still on the highway with other cars, but none of them were moving forwards.

"What's going on?" He pondered as he opened his passenger door.

He wondered why everything had stopped and could only come to one conclusion.

"The System must have done this!" He exclaimed.

He quickly attempted to open his menus, but they didn't appear.

He quickly exited the car and stood out in the open. He was feeling a sense of peace despite the lack of presence. He began to walk along the path of cars on the highway.

He continued walking along the road for a few minutes before stopping in one place and turning back to the city. He didn't know what to do or how to get back, and he couldn't even use any of his abilities.

Suddenly he heard a voice. It didn't seem to be coming from any direction but rather from inside of him.

[Marcus, you've done well to grow.]

The voice continued to speak to him.

[We are one Marcus, and we have been together for a while now. I am what you call your "System".]

Marcus was visibly stunned by this statement, and had to sit down before continuing to listen.

[I have been with you all this time, yet you could not hear me. It is only now that you have grown this much that I have also evolved.]

"Wait, so because I leveled up y-you did too?" Marcus asked the system.

[Yes, we will have time in the future to discover what has changed together, but for now you should get back in the car with those people. We can still communicate with each other through your thoughts.]

Marcus was shocked, but he felt like if he didn't get back in the car soon things wouldn't go well for him.

He sprinted back to the car and hopped in, and the second he got his seat belt back on things resumed as if they had never stopped.

"Well, we're almost there guys." The driver told them. The girls looked anxious, but Marcus was still in shock from the system.

'So if I think something like this you can hear me?' Marcus thought to himself, hoping that he wasn't going insane.

[Yes.]

Marcus sighed and began to rest against his seat, feeling exhausted despite barely beginning his day.

'What should I call you? "System" feels a little forced now that you can respond.'

[You can call me "Jocelyn" Marcus.]

'Wait, you're a girl?' Marcus' eyes widened.

[No, I do not have a sexual construct, but I am fond of the name.]

'Oh.' Marcus sighed and looked around the car.

The girl sitting to his left remembered something and pointed it out to them.

"We never told you our names did we?" She said with a smile on her face.

"I'll go first, my name is Audrey." She pointed at the blonde girl sitting in front of Marcus and said "Your turn!"

The blonde turned towards Marcus and told him "My name is Enzie, and this guy over here." she said pointing at the driver "His name is Joel."

"Nice to meet all of you, what are you visiting Vegas for?" Marcus asked, despite basically knowing the answer.

"The casinos!" the trio shouted in unison.

Marcus smiled and decided to shut his eyes for some rest while they traveled.

6:00PM

"Hey Marcus, wake up. We've arrived." Audrey said as she shook Marcus awake.

"Huh? Oh yeah, thanks for the ride." Marcus told her as he rubbed his eyes.

"Why not join us for some gambling?" Enzie offered.

"Alright sure, if it's alright with you guys." Marcus replied. He knew he couldn't make it back home today even if he ran without stopping.

The four got out of the car and were greeted by a huge building with blinding lights.

'Wait, I don't have any money on me.'

[Sell something in the Store]

'There's a Store?'

As Marcus thought the word his watched popped out a menu. It was a market-type menu with an array of items.

'Sell... I don't have anything to sell to the shop.'

[Sell one of your potions then, whichever one is the least useful.]

'Then I'll sell the Intelligence potion, it doesn't have a real use to me.'

Marcus moved throughout the shop and sold his potion for 100 coins. He didn't know how much coins were worth though.

He found the withdraw option and clicked on it.

"1 Coin = 100USD"

'W-wait a minute, I'm rich now!'

[That amount of money is practically useless later on.]

'Oh, well for now I'm rich!' He thought to himself gleefully.

He withdrew 10 coins and pulled 1,000USD in 100$ bills out from the menu.

With a smirk on his face, he walked into the casino.

7:30PM

Marcus was incredibly lucky, he had already more than tripled his money.

As he won once again on the slot machine, he felt like he should get out of the casino.

It seemed like the casino staff thought he was cheating somehow.

He quickly gathered his earnings and deposited them into the shop which gave him a total of 325 coins. He kept 200$ in cash so that he could purchase a hotel room for the night.

As he left he thought he saw two men wearing black follow him, so he took a quick turn into a dark alleyway.

The two men walked into the alleyway and saw him standing at the end of it waiting for him.

"What do you want from me?" Marcus asked them, remaining calm.

"You were cheating in the casino, return your winning!" One of the two security guards shouted.

"How was I cheating? I'm just a little luckier than your average guy." Marcus replied with a smirk.

The guard that had stayed silent so far told Marcus that if he refused to return what he had won, they would have to use force to get it back.

'Hey Jocelyn, do you have any cool abilities related to combat?' He asked, not caring about the two in front of him.

[Not really. I'm more of a guide for you at my current stage. You do have new abilities though, try concentrating on one of them.]

Marcus followed Jocelyn's instructions and focused on the smaller one.

Name: Jeremy Colletta

Age: 35

STR: 13

AGI: 32

'Are those good stats? How do they compare to me?'

[Try focusing on yourself now Marcus.]

Marcus tried, but it took far less effort to check his own stats. A small menu appeared in front of him that told him the same information as the guard's.

Name: Marcus Holloway

Age:18

STR:123

AGI:324

'Woah.'

[You should have no problem with weaklings like this but don't get cocky. You're bound to eventually meet stronger enemies with your abilities.]

"Alright fine, I guess we have to get physical." one of the guys said as he approached Marcus. The other one followed suit.

Marcus decided that he shouldn't toy around with them too long, so he began to approach them as well.

The larger guard threw a heavy right hook that Marcus could see coming with no effort. He decided that instead of dodging it he should meet it and show them the difference between the two fighters.

He swung with his own right fist intending to intercept the fist.

As the two punches collided there was a loud CRUNCH sound made, and the guard's whole right arm bent backwards

"AHHH! WHAT THE FUCK!" Jeremy yelled out as he watched his friend's arm bend in unimaginable ways from the collision.

The guard fell to the ground unconscious.

Marcus began to walk towards Jeremy with a grin on his face.

"So, you said we had to get physical?" He remarked.

"N-no I mean, what the fuck dude! How did you do that to Remy's arm!" Jeremy shouted at him as he began to be backed into a corner.

Jeremy knew what was happening and decided he would run away. He was sure that he could escape easily since he used to be a rising track athlete.

He turned left and ran out of the alleyway as fast as possible. He turned back once to check if the guy was following him.

Marcus not only followed him, but had gotten in front of him to block the alleyway.

Jeremy couldn't stop and decided to tackle him. He ran as fast as possible and put as much strength as he could into one thrust with his shoulders.

THUD! Jeremy fell back against the ground completely out of breath.

Marcus hadn't even flinched as Jeremy ran into him. Jeremy couldn't understand what was wrong with this monster.

"What the hell are you!" Jeremy shouted at Marcus.

Without responding to him, Marcus began dragging him towards his fellow guard.

He set him down next to his friend who was apparently called "Remy".

"So, you guys seem to have failed miserably." Marcus told Jeremy, who was still conscious.

"I'm not a violent person, but you guys instigated this fight." Marcus continued ignoring Jeremy's fear-stricken face.

"Tell you what, I was never here. That sound good to you?" He told Jeremy with a tone that very evidently meant that if he refused Marcus would finish the job.

"O-okay, you were never here!" Jeremy assured him, hoping he would leave them alone already.

"Sounds good to me, what's your name?" Marcus asked him with a grin.

"J-Jeremy." He responded. He was obviously afraid of the monster in front of him who had beaten two security guards in a matter of minutes.

"Alright Jeremy, have a nice night!" Marcus said kicking Jeremy's face once. Jeremy was unconscious before he even touched the pavement.

"Alright now that that's over, lets try something new." Marcus said to no one in particular.

'Hey Jocelyn, what's the Healing ability I've got?'

[You can heal people, although at a slow rate.]

'How good is the healing? You think I can fix that guy's arm?' Marcus asked pointing at Remy.

[Not at your current level. You'd have to spend hours to fix it at this point. You can however heal any internal injuries you may have given the other guard.]

"Alright, I'll heal Jeremy and then I'll try healing the other guy even if I can't fix it."

He walked over to Jeremy and focused on him once more. This time there was information detailing his injuries.

"Jeremy Colletta"

[Multiple Bone Fractures]

[Internal Hemorrhaging]

[Broken Nose]

Marcus bent over the guard and attempted to heal him.

"What the hell Jocelyn, how do I do this?"

[You need to imagine reconstructing the damaged parts of the whole, as if rebuilding a broken toy.]

"That's a fucked up analogy."

Marcus began to follow the instructions given to him.

[An Hour Later]

A green glow faded as Marcus finished healing the guard. He now looked as if he was simply taking a nap.

Marcus walked over to the other guard and checked his status as well.

"Remy Terell"

[Broken Arm]

[Severe Blood Loss]

"Jesus, I shouldn't have let his arm bleed this entire time."

Marcus began to attempt to heal the man, and could only fix the blood loss.

'Jocelyn, any way that I can heal him? I'll feel bad if he has to deal with that arm because of me.'

[You can check the shop for anything that can help you, and don't forget that you have a healing potion.]

'Come on, this guy isn't worth that potion. I just wanna make him feel a little bit better because I didn't hold back.'

[Suit yourself.]

Marcus browsed the shop and found Healing skill books of all colors. A blue skill book of Healing costs 350 coins. If Marcus deposits the last of his money into the shop, he'll have barely enough.

'Jocelyn, if i buy this, will I be skilled enough to fix his arm?'

[Yes, it should be a minor problem at that point.]

Marcus sighs and deposits the last of his money into the shop. He now has enough coins for the book.

He buys the skill book and reads it, instantly gaining 5 levels in Healing.

With his healing ability stronger than before Marcus attempts to fix the man's arm.

10 minutes later and his arm is back to normal.

'Dude now I'm broke, but at least I leveled up my skill.'

[Why not take some money from their wallets?] Jocelyn asked Marcus.

"Because, what if they needed that money for something important? I can find a way to survive, but I'm not sure that they could." Marcus responded.

With one last goodbye to his money, Marcus began to walk out of the alleyway.

As he turned the corner, he bumped into the trio from before who saw that he had blood on him.

"Marcus, are you okay?" Enzie asked running up to him.

"Yeah I'm fine, just had a bit of an problem." Marcus said chuckling.

"Well, we were heading back to our hotel, where are you staying at?" Joel asked him.

"I'm not currently staying anywhere, and I just used the last of my cash. I'll have to go make some more somehow." Marcus replied, getting ready to leave.

"No bro, you should come stay with us, I have a spare bed in my room." He offered Marcus.

Marcus was wary of the offer. Why would someone who he'd only met earlier today offer him refuge for the night?

[It's due to your charm ability Marcus, they'd probably give you the money you need if you asked them to.]

'Oh. Well I guess for the night I can rely on them, but I'll have to repay them some time later.'

[You seem to enjoy taking the moral high ground]

"Alright sure, I'll stay with you guys for the night." Marcus replied.

The four began to walk together towards the hotel, smiling and laughing the whole way.