Apocalypse: Day 1

Hearing the system's words, Samuel rubs his chin in understanding. He stretches out and walks back to the living room, where he spots his now awake reptillian companions, that proceed to rush over to him with great enthusiasm, seemingly unhurt.

"Yes, yes, I'm happy to see all of you unhurt too. Argon (Tortoise), Newt (Iguana), Moon (Snake), Sun (Snake), Shape (Chameleon), Shifter (Chameleon), and Venus (Crocodile hatchling)."

[You have bestowed names upon seven unranked (below common) creatures. Detected creature happiness to be over the required threshold. Would you like to register the seven creatures as familiars? Yes/No.]

"Damn, if they're an unranked I gotta be unranked too, huh."

[Correct. User may only enlist the help of creatures of his rank or lower.]

He was met with a quick response from the sassy system. Sighing, he could only press yes on the screen before him, causing the screen before him to change.

[You may now track your familiars through the familiars tab.]

[Reached requirements for "Beginner Tamer" achievement. Please create a brand for your followers.]

"Argh! Enough with the endless texts!"

Samuel couldn't help but complain at the endless notifications he was getting from the system, and tried to just quickly draw something to get out of here... but his perfectionism didn't let him leave with a terrible logo. What if there was no way to change it? He'd be a laughingstock to everyone then.

And so, he took thirty minutes to make a logo he was satisfied with, that being an eastern dragon coiled around a book, both drawn in great detail. He was astonished at the detail that the system's tool allowed him to draw with. As he wanted to compliment the system, it began to write again.

[Over 70% of the world's beings confirmed to be awake. Ending protection period in thirty seconds. 30, 29, 28.]

Samuel quickly grabbed all of his pets and shoved them into the back of the car before turning it on while his garage door opened up by itself. He could only utter a silent prayer hoping he didn't attract too many things... and that his family that was living abroad was alright.

[5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Grow strong, O beings of this world, so that you may live to see another day.]

As it finished its words, Samuel quickly drove out, and was finally able to see the situation outside. It was chaos in every sense of the word, where people and animals fell like flies one after another, bull-sized dogs tearing people in half with their jaws and claws, along with buildings falling like they were toy bricks.

Samuel quickly snaps out of his shock and drives away from the area, hoping to get to somewhere less insane, but it was the same scene everywhere. Screams of people begging for help, beasts wanting to tear his car apart for a snack, which he tries to weave past, and hits a few on his path, but not hearing anything from the system in response, Samuel could only click his tongue.

"How tough are these fucking things?"

[Those who work hard are rewarded, those who slack off lose their support.]

"Yeah well can I get a hint on how to spot my target?!"

[If it looks bigger and meaner than its peers, it's probably what you're looking for.]

Samuel wanted to retort, but the system's advice actually made sense to him. But first, he had to go somewhere safe and wait for the shockwaves and things to calm down, which he manages to do with several dents in his car from having some rubble fall onto him, and crashing into a dozen more beasts.

Exiting the car once he was at an old warehouse, Samuel attempts to break open its lock, and the wings, feeling his intent, returned to their normal shape before shooting out from his back, looking like a tendril with a claw at its end, to crack the lock into pieces. Samuel was happy with the result, but good lord, it hurt every time he used them.

"Do safe zones exist, system?"

[You saw the green light surrounding it, you saw the cross at the door. Yes, safe zones exist.]

"Alright, enough of your sarcasm, you bastard. What do safe zones do?"

[1. Level one safe zones are impenetrable to hostile beings below level twenty and contain valuable supplies like food and water.

2. A user may claim a safe zone for up to seven days, and can choose who is to be let in and who remains outside. However, after the seven days are over, the user must wait for a day to reclaim it.

3. The safe zone is also unaffected by events like earthquakes.

4. If the leader dies during the seven days that they control the safe zone, ownership of the safe zone is transferred to their killer.

5. Supplies are restocked at the end of the month.]

Samuel pushed the doors open and drove his car in, parking it close to the door because he couldn't put it deeper in, deciding to sit down and think of what to do. He checked his phone, but like he expected, he had no signal, so his thoughts went back to the monster he had to kill.

"System. Does the safe zone contain weapons and armor? And how do I claim it?"

[Level one safe zones contain common weapons and armor. You may claim one by saying your name, and if more than 50% of the beings in it agree with you claiming it, you may control it for the next week.]

"Like... *I, Samuel Zaya, claim this safehouse as mine*?"

[Samuel Zaya attempts to claim the warehouse for himself.

Sending notices to all residents... 8 residents found.

All 7 other residents confirmed to be Samuel Zaya's familiars.

Samuel Zaya may now access the admin commands.]

Samuel quickly changed the settings of the safe zones to only allow friendly beings in before going to check the large warehouse's wares, finding plenty of food and water, which he quickly came back to give to his reptillian passengers, which he decided to keep in the car, but some had other ideas, as Moon tried to climb onto his arm, while Argon tried to escape the vehicle, only for the two of them to be stopped in their tracks by Samuel.

"We'll cuddle later, dad's got stuff to do."

An hour later, the man came back with a change of clothes for himself, some leather armor with holes in the back for his wings, and some gloves on his hands. He also brought a small and a big blanket along for him and his little friends.

Afterwards, he began to attempt flight with his new wings, which he struggled to get used due to the leather armor not being the most helpful. You'd think he would take his armor off after crashing into the wall for the fifth time, but with the abundance of things ready to tear him to pieces that he had seen on the drive here, he decided that a little protection would be for the best.

Many hours without anything happening later, Samuel had gotten much more used to flight, before he finally got into his car and went to sleep after seeing his little scaly boys sleeping.