Chapter Two

Jason stared absentmindedly at his phone for a time at the new app that seemed to download to his phone of its own accord. Though within the string of events, it was the least remarkable thing to happen. "What the hell was that light?" He thought to himself as he slowly recovered from his shock.

The pure white light which seemed to be brighter than the sun had only subsided minutes ago. Within the span of a few seconds later, Mage's Academy was downloaded.

Even though such a bizarre occurrence happened, Jason couldn't bring himself to uninstall the application. Within his boring monotonous life, something impossible seemed to have fallen into his lap.

As he stared at the plain looking app on his home screen, his finger hovered over the piece of parchment with the two simple words.

"It may be a virus that's been downloaded onto my phone in the moment of confusion." Jason tried to rationalize. "If I click on this application, it could access my identity." Yet, even though he tried to fight against the urge, his curiosity won him over in the end.

He lightly pressed the picture on his phone and held his breath. The phone went dark for a moment before a prompt came to life.

Welcome to Mage's Academy, Jason Reese. The application had already found his name even though it did not ask permission to search his phone as other games did. "I guess it's not that weird." Jason thought to himself as he waited for another prompt. What came next surprised him slightly.

'Current Level: 1

HP: 50

MP: 50

STM: 50

Armor Rating: 2

Current Skills:

English Scribe: Intermediate

Cooking: Beginner

Cardio: Beginner

Hunter: Beginner

Hand to Hand Combat: Beginner

Spellbook:

Novice Fire: level 0.0

Novice Water: level 0.0

Novice Wind: level 0.0

Novice Earth: level 0.0

Novice Light: level 0.0

Novice Dark: level 0.0

Novice Time: level 0.0

EXP Bonus: 20%

EXP to next Level: 1,000

Spells Unlocked:

Temporal Shift: Mastery: 100%

Arcane Thrust: Mastery: 0.00%

Hurricane Kick: Mastery: 0.00%

Flash Heal: Mastery: 0.00%

Revive: Mastery: 0.00%

Other spells may be unlocked upon experimentation and advancement in rank.

INT:5

STR:5

AGI:5

WIS:5

DEF:5

Currency: $30,549'

"What the hell?" Jason looked at the parchment screen and gasped. "That can't be right." He pulled his laptop to him and checked his account. Under available funds, he noticed the same number as was shown on his phone. "That's not a red flag at all." He was about to uninstall the program when a notification flashed on his screen.

You have an incoming message. The alert flashed red on his screen.

Before he exited the application, he hesitated on the red envelope on the top right of his screen. "Maybe there's an explanation waiting for me." He said as yet again, he did something he wouldn't normally do.

Jason didn't understand why, but he couldn't bring himself to get rid of the application, even though it gave him no reason to trust it.

For some reason, the supposed game knew his current comprehension of the English language. It knew he was a horrible cook and that he always sucked at running. These things were private to him, not even his phone would have such information stored. It was this mystery which urged him to press the small envelope.

What he had expected was a notification or a welcome letter from the admin, what he got was entirely different.

Jason threw himself stomach down atop his bed to make himself comfortable while the message loaded. In most games, there would be a 'please wait' or a circle which loaded in the center of the screen. Yet this game had a black hole in the center which didn't seem to be loading anything. Instead it seemed to have landed in the center of the screen, showing no signs of disappearing.

Jason focused on the dark blotch on his phone with interest. The hole seemed to be completely devoid of light. He tilted his phone to his window where there was light shining through. The phone's glossy screen reflected the light from the outside, all except the hole.

"What the-" Jason started as he stared at the hole. As he watched, a small form had shown within the center. It grew rapidly as he watched. In mere moments he made out two small feet which grew to the extent that the tiny screen couldn't possibly hold them. "-Hell?" Jason could barely finish before the two feet sprang through and kicked him suddenly in the face.

"Wha-?!" As the feet collided with his face, Jason was propelled backwards, his head hitting the pillow of his bed. When he looked up, he saw something impossible.

Somehow in the span of two seconds Jason went from being alone in his room to having a beautiful robed girl straddling him on his own bed. Dark red curls of hair dangling over him. His mind tried to come up with an explanation of the situation he had just encountered. It was almost as if a girl had just popped out of his phone. But that was impossible, right?

"Who the hell are you?" Jason half yelped as he tried to get out from under the girl. "Did that frat party put you up to this?" Maybe the party that he had broken up was trying to get back at him for calling in the police. He didn't remember her face from the many girls near the beer kegs.

The girl looked down on him with a questioning look. She seemed to have a hard time understanding him. "Fr," She sounded out. "Fr-at? Frat!" Her questioning look turned to one of achievement as she sounded out the word.

Jason was at his wits end as he listened to this strange beautiful girl try to sound out words that he said. Suddenly, his phone vibrated from under him.

Jason reached behind him and located the phone that he must have sat on when the girl appeared. Clicking the phone to life, he noticed a new notification on his phone.

'You have gained a new companion.

Level: 30

Name: Selena

Age: 18

Would you like to accept a language transfer?'

Jason looked at the screen which had a normal yes and no prompt on the plain parchment. He quickly clicked yes.

A stream of blue energy left his body in a wisp of what looked like dense smoke. It flowed around him a few times before going to the girl whose name was apparently Selena. It swirled around her a few times before she caught it.

Looking at the small wisp of blue smoke thoughtfully, she put it in her mouth and swallowed it down.

"That's better." She tested her voice. "This is an odd language, it will take some time to get used to it."

"Uhm." Jason awkwardly said. "Could you get off of me and tell me what's going on?"

Selena looked down at him for a moment. Her legs were straddling him on either side. Her robes seemed to hang on every curve of her body.

Jason looked up in annoyance to the young woman and brought his leg up to sweep out one of hers. Catching her off balance, he pushed her off to the other side of the bed. "Who are you?" He demanded. "How did you get into my home? What are you wearing?" He looked at the old style robes she wore. She looked like she had crawled out of King Arthur's court.

"I'm Selena, obviously." She rolled her eyes as she sat up on the bed, ignoring all other questions. "Where are we?"

"East Grand Washington State Park." Jason said as he got up from the bed. "You still haven't told me where you came from."

The girl thoroughly ignored Jason. Instead she began to pat her robes. "Where is it?" She panicked while looking around her. "Where is my book?"

"Book?" Jason thought back to the book he found in the woods. The book that had disappeared into his phone. "I think it's here." He showed Selena the new application on his phone.

"You activated it?" Shock crept into her face. Jason saw the look of thoughtfulness replace her initial shock as she looked him up and down. "I guess the book could have chosen worse."

Selena stood up from the bed and knelt to Jason. "My name is Selena Davereaux. It has been my family's main duty to protect the book until the rightful owner is found. Then it is our job to serve and protect the chosen one." She said solemnly.

"Woah hold on a minute!" Jason put his hands up defensively. "I'm just a groundskeeper at a state park, you've got the wrong guy!"

"The book is never wrong." Selena said indifferently. "My family has been the safekeeper of the tome for thousands of years, not once has it activated."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you are a part of a prophecy as old as time itself." Selena walked towards the door. "It means that the book has chosen you to be the protector of time."

"What?" Jason scratched his head nervously. "Look, I just found this book in the middle of the woods during a patrol, a blinding light came from it when I got a paper cut and all of a sudden you fell into my lap. I have no idea who you are and I think I'm losing my mind."

"Surely you have mages in this world, it shouldn't be too surprising." She rolled her eyes as she left the room.

"Mages?" Jason followed the girl who was looking around his home. "Like Harry Potter or something?"

"See? It shouldn't be too surprising."

"He's a character in a book!" He felt exhausted as he followed her to the kitchen. "A make-believe wizard in a fictional series, there is no magic here!"

Selena turned towards Jason with a condescending look. "There is magic, you just haven't been able to see it."

Suddenly, a loud rumble came from the girl. She put her hand on her stomach and looked at Jason. Her face turned a light shade of pink. "You wouldn't happen to have any food around here, would you?"

"A mysterious girl comes out of my phone, tells me there's magic in the world and then asks for food." He smacked his head a few times. "I must be dreaming."

Jason went to his pantry and took out a thing of tomato sauce and spaghetti noodles, then took a thing of ground beef from the fridge.

Selena watched intently as Jason boiled the noodles and fried the meat. The meal took fifteen minutes to prepare, then he put a pot of spaghetti on the table and sat the girl in front of a plate, which he served a steaming pile of spaghetti.

Picking up a fork, Selena dug in as if she hadn't eaten in years. "Not bad for a beginner." She said between bites.

Jason's phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it out and looked at a notification from Mage's Academy.

'Pot of Spaghetti has been added to your list of recipes.

EXP gained: 10

Level 1 0.1%'

"What is this?" He looked at the notification. "How did it know that I cooked something, and what is this leveling system?"

Selena finished up her plate of spaghetti and went to dish up another plate. "That device you have monitors every action you take and gives you the proper amount of experience for that action." She loaded up a larger pile than the last and started eating again. Jason looked at her slim figure in surprise as she began eating again. "You might want to eat some of this before I finish it."

Jason sighed as he sat at the table and dished himself up a plate. "And what about level 1? What kind of leveling system does this thing operate off of?"

"Operate? That isn't what you consider a system. It is the ranking you have in your life. If you reach the next level bracket, your strength will double, as will your longevity."

"But this is just a game, you mean my character that was made for me, right?"

"There is no character, there is only you." Selena took another bite of her food as she looked up meaningfully at Jason. "As you grow, your abilities will manifest, and you will become much stronger."

"So, a looney falls out of my phone and speaks gibberish. You have played too many games." Jason mocked.

Selena sighed and stood up. He looked at her questioningly as she grasped the table. With about as much effort as it takes to pick up a pencil, she lifted the full table over her head.

Jason tried to back away, resulting in him toppling out of his chair, landing flat on his back. "What the hell?" He gasped as he watched the young robed woman put down his solid oak table. She had not spilled a single noodle off the plate as she sat down and continued eating.

"Believe me now?" She raised an eyebrow. Jason stared wide eyed and nodded his head. He had finally gone crazy.

"To answer your question, the ranking in your cultivation consists of levels. Each level attained is 5 to health, strength and stamina. You will get 5 attribute points per level to distribute to your characteristics. To level up, you need to gain experience.

"How do I gain experience?" He couldn't believe he was asking, but he was starting to believe it was not a dream.

"You can do the quests that the book provides, cultivate your abilities, gain enlightenment within your magical affinities and kill magical beasts." She set down her fork and sighed in contentment. "You can also temper your body on your own."

"Wait," he brought up the Mage's Academy screen. "You said something about quests?" He saw a tab on top of the parchment with quests written. He pressed it and a single quest came up.

'Level 1 Quest: Kill 10 Fierce Rabbits.'

Reward: $500, 500 EXP and a Common Item.'

"Wait," he hesitated. "500 dollars?"

"That's this world's currency, right?" Selena smiled as she folded her hands on the table. Jason nodded his head. "Then you shouldn't be surprised by being paid. All magical beasts drop a little money along with their corpse."

"Where is the quest located?" Just as Jason asked the question, he heard a rustling outside the house. Going to the front door, he opened it to see a group of what looked to be rabbits tearing at the grass. "Woah, what the hell?"

He tried to shoo them away, but the moment he left the door, they stopped moving and looked at him. "Uh, Selena?!" He called into the house. "Help?"

Selena went to the front door and laughed. "This is your quest, not mine." She pushed him out into the yard. "Why don't you take out your sword?"

"Sword?" He thought out loud. "I don't have a sword!" Suddenly, the rabbits attacked him. He tried to pull up Mage's Academy on his phone. He saw a new tab.

'Inventory:

Rusty Iron Sword'

Just as he was about to press the sword prompt, the first rabbit attacked. Jason was surprised at the rabbit's strength as it launched itself at him and knocked him over.

Suddenly, the whole horde of rabbits pounced together on top of him.

"Looks like you are in trouble." Selena said casually.

Jason felt the small animals tearing at his skin, taking chunks out of his side. "Help!" He yelped as he could feel them burrowing into his abdomen. "Hel-" his voice gurgled out as his sight went dim.

Soon, he no longer felt the rabbits tearing at his flesh. He felt his body go limp, occasionally he could sense his body rocking back and forth as the rabbits dug deeper, pushing him to get at more of his insides.

Before his thoughts dimmed to nothing, his only thought was the look of boredom on the robed young woman's face as the rabbits tore into him.