Writer's Note: It might seem long, but it is because of the tables and how I list some things. Side project so no set releases. Enjoy.

Chapter 2: Magic and Levels

*Beep. Beep. Beep*

"Ugh. My head. Oh, I feel sore," Rex groaned as he got up and turned off his alarm clock.

*Ding*

System AnnouncementRex Valentine has chosen the mage class

Stat distribution unlocked. Night Hunter status updated. Titles: none.

Please note that mages can only wield staffs, scepters, and enchanted swords. Mages are unable to wield other magical weapons unless specified by class.

Next available class upgrade at level 10.

"Eh? What!?" Rex cried as he saw the blue box and thought of something. "It's...true. Levels. This is just like a video game. Oh man. Look at all the stuff on the floor! It must have been the items the man mentioned that were int he ring. If this is a game....Display status screen."

Name: Rex Valentine

Level: 1

Class: Mage

Title: None

Health: 285 (225+60)

Mana: 140

Ki: 190 (150+40)

Stats

STR: 12 (10)

AGI: 15

SPR: 14

STA: 19 (15)

Stats available: 3

"Whoa! Look at all the stamina! If I have three stat points, that means I get three for each level. The man did say there are rogue, warrior, and mage classes. If I think like that, it makes sense only four are available. I was on the basketball team. It explains why that stat is higher than my strength stat," Rex said as he stared at them. "What are those numbers in parenthesis?.....Are they my actual stats? Oh, I must be wearing something to enhance them, like an accessory. It must be the medallion!"

As Rex studied them, he realized what each stat stood for. The more he learned, the more he realized how dangerous his new life was.

STR meant strength. The higher the stat, the stronger the person was. Some items, weapons, and armor had a strength requirement. It was essential to warriors and rogues as the higher the stat, the more physical damage was done. It also included pain resistance and physical defense. Warriors and rogues use Ki for their warrior or rogue skills. Ki was also spirit energy, like mana, but was more like physical stamina instead.

AGI meant agility. The higher the stat, the faster the person with also an increase in reflex and dodging rates. Like the strength stat, this stat was also required for some magical treasures. For mages and especially rogues, this stat was a must as they did not have the strength of warriors and had to constantly move in order to survive.

SPR meant spirit. The higher the stat, the higher the magical attack and defense. It was essential for all classes, but was the primary stat for mages as each SPR equaled 10 mana points. Only mages consumed SPR.

STA meant stamina. This was the single most important stat for any person as it determines health and Ki pool. Once the health points reach zero, you died. No revives. No do overs. Ki points are determined by stamina. It was also the representative for health points. Each stamina point equals 15 health and 10 Ki points. Ki techniques, on average, consumed less stamina than magic spells consumed mana. Both are forms of spirit energy.

"So this explains why my health is so much higher than my mana. Wait! My mana....is it enough for me to survive?" Rex panicked as he thought of the high mana costs in video games.

*Ding*

System AnnouncementWelcome to the Night

You are a non-magical human (mundane) who became a Night Hunter. Night Hunters and creatures of the Night will sense the mana (form of spirit energy) in you and know who you are.

*Ding*

System AlertWarning

You have lost the Protection of the Day. Wandering between night time and sun rise makes you fair game to the creatures of the night. If outdoors, you have no choice but to fight for your life. Maybe something might take pity on you and give you a quick death.

Note: You must kill creatures of the Night to level up. Night Hunters have different methods to increase strength and might not see the world as a game.

"........fuck," Rex said as he read the system alert. It meant he could not go out at night. Not even his 10 o'clock curfew was an option anymore. How could he enjoy his senior year now?

"It would be best to save my stat points until after I get a grasp of the situation," Rex muttered as he heard another familiar ding.

*Ding*

System AnnouncementMage Abilities

As a regular mundane turned Night Hunter, you gain the ability to pick your first four active skills and one passive skill without the need for a skill book. Lucky you. Choose wisely. Only eight active and four passive skills can be learned, regardless of the class (including class upgrade) restrictions, up to level 40. If you are lucky, all of the four skills you learn today are class skills.

Failure to use your head results in getting your head bitten off during your first night as a Night Hunter. Abilities increase in skill level mastery to level 10. You are newly registered as a mage. Keep up the good fight and survive the night to see another sun rise!

Number of Night Hunters in the city: one hundred and sixty seven

Number of creatures of the Night:.......good luck to you

Available stat points: 3

All of a sudden, the system boxes disappeared for a white box similar to the one that displayed his status screen. Like the system said, it contained skills for him to choose from. A total of fifteen active and five passive skills were available. So many boxes appeared for each skill, Rex could not even see what was behind the tables as they formed a giant square.

Based on all the skills, they were all ranked. From low to high, they were: common, uncommon, rare, and legendary. Unique skills were only available to certain individuals, should they learn them, and were unofficial ranks as no one else can learn them.

*Ping*

Heal: Costs 20 mana per cast. Recover 70 health per use. The essential magic spell for all mage classes. Skill: rare

Mana Shield: Costs 10 mana on cast. Sustaining the spell costs 5 mana per second. Impervious to all physical attacks for as long as the spell is sustained. Skill: uncommon

Life Drain: Costs 40 mana per cast. Recover 50 health while doing spirit damage. Skill: rare.

Rock Blast: Costs 20 mana per cast. Hurls rocks at target. Skill: common.

Water Bullet: Costs 15 mana per cast. Blasts a bullet of water at the target. Chance of slow effect and drains 10 stamina on hit. Skill: uncommon.

Wind Cutter: Costs 25 mana per cast. Sends three blades of wind at the target. Skill: common.

Meteor: Costs 100 mana and 20 health per cast. Sends a giant meteor onto the enemy. Cannot be blocked. Guaranteed chance of burning and bleeding damage. Skill: legendary.

Mana Shards: Costs 15 mana per cast. Sends tiny shards of mana. Does minor spirit damage per hit. Skill: common.

Holy Smite: Costs 20 mana per use. Sends a ray of light that strikes the target. Chance of blinding effect. Skill: rare.

Witch Fire: Costs 20 mana per use. Create and control purple flames. Does minor burning damage. Skill requirement: possessing witch energy and grants fire immunity. Skill: unique.

Burning Star: Costs 30 mana per use. Sends a giant star of fire. Normal burning effect and drains ten mana from target, sending it back to the caster. Skill: rare.

Ki Blast: Costs 10 Ki points per use. Strike the target with hands, feet, elbows, or knees with explosive Ki. Weapons also applicable to use skill. Stun effect of three seconds. Skill: Common.

Rock Fist: Costs 15 Ki points per use. Turning your Ki into earth, you strike your foe with your staff. Higher output of physical damage than regular strikes with added minor earth damage. Can collect rocks into a giant fist, sending them at a target to explode for the cost of 10 mana. Skill: uncommon.

Lightning Slash: Costs 15 Ki points per use. Cover your enchanted sword in lightning to hurt your foe for additional physical and minor lightning magic damage. Can send condense the lightning and create a small wave of lightning for 15 mana. Skill: uncommon.

Wind Crusher: Costs 15 Ki points per use. Turn your scepter into a might mace, doing higher physical damage with minor wind damage. Chance of knock back effect of 2 seconds. Consume 20 mana to send a small tornado at your target. Skill: rare.

Prey Instincts: Passive skill. Able to perceive danger from five yards in any direction. If your eyes see areas of black and white, dodge it or risk immanent damage from unseen or seen foes. Wisps of energy swirl also around you, permanently increasing your AGI by 4. STR and SPR also increases by 2. Wisps can only be seen others by will.

Golem Body: Passive skill. Decrease physical damage by 5% and magic damage by 15%. Become an unstoppable fortress like a real golem. Pain resistance increases by 10% and all elemental resistances increase by 5%. All increases are permanent with a permanent STR, SPR, and STA increase by 3.

Mana Master: Passive skill. Permanent increase in mana points by one hundred. All magic spells decrease required cost by 5%. SPR permanently increases by 10. Become an invincible mage of legend and show the true power of magic.

Shaman's Touch: Passive skill. Mana and Ki are both spirit energy. Any Ki or mana consumption is split between both, increasing the amount of times you can use your abilities. People will have no choice but to fear and respect your potential. All stats permanently increase by 1.

Warrior's Pride: Passive Skill. Who said mages are weak in close range? Regeneration increases by 10% and physical damage increases by 2%. Become the next warrior mage of legend. Permanent increase to STR and STA by 3.

"Holy crap. Well, there is no crap that is holy but damn! Those passives are all great and I really want to pick more than four of the fifteen active skills," Rex shouted, quickly covering his mouth as he might have woken up his parents, sister, and grandpa down stairs. Since no one shouted, he was lucky.

"I really don't want to get hit. I am no masochist. So, I'll pick the Prey Instinct skill. The Meteor and Witch Fire spells are a must as one is legendary while the other must be because of that strange energy the staff sent into me that knocked me out all night. After all, who hasn't thought of controlling fire?" Rex nodded, closing off the other four passive skill windows. "Life Drain is also another must have skill. Heal is good, but I can also do damage with Life Drain. That leaves one active skill left."

He thought about learning another magic spell as he would not be using the Meteor spell anytime soon. However, he had Ki and decided it should be used to fight people or monsters that entered close range. His first choice was Rock Fist, as he had a staff. However, he chose Ki Blast as it had a low cost and was a common skill with a neat control effect. Control effects, like stun, often determined the battle's outcome.

He also did not want other Night Hunters to know he learned such powerful skills like Life Drain and Meteor. There were a lot of jealous online players that PK (player killing player) others because they were jealous of their skills or equipment. Witch Fire, he could not hide as it would be his primary magic spell. As he picked the four active and single passive skill, runes flowed from the windows and flashed through his mind. So much mysterious knowledge flowed in his brain and wisps of blue, indigo, and purple energy swirled around him.

He still kept his three stat points in the event he found a skill book with stat requirements. He knew all four of his active and single passive skills could not possibly exist in the same mage class. That meant he could learn, at least, four more active and and three passive skills. As he gained 2 STR, 4 AGI, and 2 SPR; the effects were evident.

His body seemed to become slimmer and contained less fat while toughening his muscles. He could also move faster, his reflexes much better than before. The best part: his mana pool increased from 140 to 160. He could now cast Life Drain 4 times and Witch Fire 8 times. For mages, every little bit of mana helped.

"I should really sort these stuff out, but there's no time," Rex said, storing them all in his ring. To his surprise, he could summon his new staff as a black tribal tattoo remained where the ring was worn. This meant his items were actually stored in the tribal tattoo now, not the ring.

As the dying Night Hunter had said, the ring adapted to him. Not only that, the tribal tattoo extended, forming a tribal tattoo of a dragon's head on the back of his left hand. He could turn the ring invisible, but not the tattoo. His parents would seriously kill him, if the monsters didn't get him first. It was a good thing he was right handed.

"Crap! I need to eat now or miss the bus!" Rex cried as he saw the time.

"Wait, aren't you going to eat breakfast?" his mother asked as he raced downstairs.

"I'll eat some coffee bread in school," Rex said and his eyes widened as he saw levels above all four of his family members' heads. His dad, grandpa, and Sarah were both level 0, but his mom had a question mark above her head. In video games, it meant his mom's level was too high for him to check the status completely.

"Night Hunter?" he whispered, his mom turning to him in shock. as he said, "Check status."

Name: Mary Valentine

Level: ?

Class: ?

Titles: ???

Health: ?

Mana: ?

Ki: ?

"Rex, you..." Mary said, stunned. "Honey, I'll drive our son to school as he will miss the bus."

"Alright. I'll drive Sarah to school on the way to wrok.," his father, Ramon said as he readied Sarah's lunchbox while Grandpa Raymond watched over Sarah.

"How do you know that word?" Mary asked as she and her son sat in her black BMW. "What happened to you? Was it last night?"

"You.....really are a Night Hunter? Why?" Rex asked as his mother silently started the car.

"It was a long time ago, before I met your father. What class are you? Mage? Rogue? Warrior?" she asked as she sped along, cars breaking abruptly as she cut them off.

"I became a mage," Rex said, not telling her what happened. He could not believe the entire conversation. His mother never liked staying out late, but he never knew why. Now, he finally got his answer.

"A mage. No doubt, word will spread another mundane became a Night Hunter," Mary murmured. "You must have become a Night Hunter sometime last night. A mundane turned Night Hunter usually learns two to five active skills, more than two if he is lucky. I know you learned something. What is it?"

".....Ki Blast and Witch Fire," he answered.

"A common skill. The other one must be a unique skill, based on one of the energies inside you. Most unique skills are like that and everyone always chooses a unique skill as one of the skills they learn. Ki Blast is a common skill, but has a low Ki cost. When you become a Night Hunter, you see system announcements. There are some rare individuals who develop a closer link, seeing the whole world as a game. You could not possibly detect my spirit energy. Thus, you are one of the latter," she surmised, shocking him. "I did not expect you to become a Night Hunter. I cannot keep you at home anymore. Since you are like a video game character, you probably don't need to sleep at all. I need to let you roam at night to increase your level. I have my enemies and you no longer have the Protection of the Day."

"What is that exactly?" he asked as she pulled up in front of Jefferson High School.

"It has to do with the truce between humans and creatures of the Night far older than the first surviving record in known mundane history. You will be stronger, faster, and more powerful than your mundane, non-magical, friends. Be sure to not expose yourself. I do not think the children of other Night Hunters will know who you are as people like you are extremely rare. Act natural and avoid sports," Mary warned.

"But mom, I joined the varsity basketball team last year. I planned to join it with Geo this year," he said as he opened the door.

"You cannot! Night Hunters are forbidden from taking part in any mundane competition. This is to hide our existence from the mundane. You know those witch hunts in stories? Some of those people were real Night Hunters who did something stupid and exposed themselves. To compensate, I will allow you to join Geo's band," she sighed, Rex grinning as he took out his acoustic guitar from the trunk, finally seeing it after she caught him once three months ago. "Don't get a swell head young man. I know you signed up for guitar class for your visual performing arts requirement to graduate high school."

"Yes," Rex sighed as he closed the door.

"Rex, you are not a mundane anymore. You have to be careful. Promise me," she said, staring him seriously in the eyes.

"I promise. I...don't want to die," he nodded, waving as his mom drove off.

As his mom drove, she connected her bluetooth to her cell phone and dialed a number, a voice saying, "Little Mary! My beloved daughter. I remember you saying seventeen years ago that you would cut off all ties with me. Did something happened? Did someone kill my beloved grandchildren? Wait, are you finally allowing me to see them?"

"I wouldn't have called unless it was extremely important, father," Mary said indifferently. "However, yes, I am allowing you to see Sarah and Rex. Rex in particular because he became a Night Hunter."

".....what? He did? Ha! I knew it. I knew he would become one. Seventh generation. Good lad. What class?" her father asked.

"A mage," she answered. "Father, I'm going to need you to live in the city to prevent the creatures of the Night from gathering in large numbers. I will not allow my son to die."

"Of course! He is my only grandson. Don't worry. I'll settle my affairs and be at your home within the hour," he answered.

"You know where I live?" she asked, mildly surprised.

"Of course I do. I am not called Sean the Terrifying for nothing? The amount of mages more powerful than me can be counted on twenty hands. In the U.S., a quarter of that number. I am not the best, but I am an elite in my own right. Not even ten of you can defeat me on my worst day," the voice laughed. "My beloved Gretel, you cannot hide from me. I only stayed away because Hansel needed me. You knew that. If you called me, than the boy has to be like me. He sees the world as I do: as a game. How fun. I have much to teach him."

"You will not hurt him," she cried, but the call disconnected. She gripped the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white, thinking of her father. She never wanted to see him again, the man who treated the people of the world like characters of a game: as a means to an end that could be disposed of at any moment.

That was how Sean Gorgon dealt with the world, even more terrifying than the legend behind his clan name. He was a man controlled by his emotions. His own clan wanted him to kill Hansel and Gretel, he used his magic and turned them all to stone when they killed his wife. Such a man, Mary did not want to meet again. She had cast him and her real name aside to keep her children out of it. But now, it was in vain.