Second Chance

Level Up!

Noah swiped through his phone, his online banking app buried in one of many unorganized folders on his home screen. 

 "Come on, log in," said Noah toes tapping on the small pathway curb. 

Noah raised his arms and yelped, a smile stuck in place. He had indeed earned five hundred local currency. His account had five hundred dollars extra in it. To him, this was comparable to a lottery win, and the immediate thought was simple. 

"How much could I earn from these dungeons?" 

But the memories of what had just transpire flashed through his mind. The pain was real, he had come close to death, even if he didn't have the scars to show it. 

'Skill activated - Calm Mind.'

Just like before, a wave of relief washed over him before the fear could take over him. The skills could work outside of the dungeons, and this skill was one he thought would be very useful in everyday life.

"Well looks like it's true Jo. I got five hundred deposited into my account," Noah said.

Jo began to swipe through her phone and a similar look of shock and joy was noticeable through her eyes and smile. 

"It does not say who it is from though. It has just appeared in our accounts. How is that even possible?" Jo said with her thumb pushing down her bottom lip. 

"Well yesterday I was close to three hundred pounds, and now I have abs. So everything is already past the realm of possibility," Noah replied. 

Jo's cheeks became flushed, the redness noticeable against her pale skin. Noah tilted his head as she began to fiddle with her phone. 

"You have to be kidding me..." Noah exclaimed. 

Jo had turned her phone and on it was a picture, a very large woman who took up the majority of a three-person sofa. The surprising part was how familiar the person was, the blonde hair, the green eyes, the little beauty mark mole under her right eye. 

"That was me yesterday. I woke up and all the fat I had no longer existed," Jo replied. 

Noah flicked through his photos, the most recent was him and his roommate.

"I guess we have something in common now."

"Apart from our near-death experience and this app?" Jo raised her eyebrow. 

"Exactly, we should exchange information though. I think this is just the beginning," Noah replied. 

"Agreed."

 The rooftop of his building was a small slice of haven hidden in the crazy hustle and bustle of the city. Noah and his roommate would spend a lot of time here. A beer in hand, the sun rising over the buildings, a place of warm memories. Someone had set up two lounge chairs up here long before Noah moved in, along with a parasol and old coffee can filled with cigarette butts. It was rare to see anyone else up here, apart from the occasional neighbor who liked to smoke something not tobacco-based, or the old woman from the second floor who grew vegetables up here. Noah got comfortable under the setting sun, phone in hand as he began to explore and examine the Second Chance app more in-depth. 

Next to the profile button was a little plus sign, just like when he first upgraded his physical stats. The only difference he could see was a small drop-down arrow next to skills, and an exclamation mark next to social. He opened the social tab, the first thing he noticed was it opened up a new list. Friends, chat, and forum. There was the same exclamation mark next to the friend's tab and the forum. Under friends, there was a name there,

'Jo: The Tempest - Level 2'

He realized he didn't ask for her last name. Did the system know that and only gave the name Jo from what he knows? Then there was her title. 'The Tempest,' which made some sense with how her first spell was an air ability. There were three small icons, a speech bubble, a silhouette bust, and a stop sign. Noah assumed these to me be send message, view profile, and block respectively. 

Jo's profile was like Noah's, a little pixelated cartoon version of her but hers had a blue high pointed hat, and her INT stat was set to 20. 

The other thing that intrigued him was the forum. He opened the section up only to find it empty, apart from a button that said 'post topic.' He began to wonder how many people had accepted the invitation, and how many survived their first quest.  

'First day done!' 

Noah typed as the title, followed by a little few sentences. He just wanted to see if people would reply, but he noticed when he posted the poster's name was his title. The Prisoner. He waited for a few minutes but decided to see what the plus sign would give him this time on his profile. 

'Level 2: You earned three attribute points this level.'

"Wait, does that mean I can earn more?" 

He thought back on the day and decided to allocate the three points to CON to bring it up to thirteen, in the hopes he could withstand a bit more damage and not tire out as he did. 

'Confirmed, beginning synchronization of changes now.'

His body tensed up, his chest began to burn and Noah struggled to catch his breath. After a few seconds of searing pain, it began to subside. The first real breath he was able to take rushed through his body, almost like it was his first time really taking a breath. His body felt amazing, light, able to run for miles. Maybe he could now. 

When he pressed on skills, it dropped down, and underneath was a new tab labeled 'techniques." There were two icons with their own level markers. Running and brawling. They both had a progress bar in white that had filled up, the brawling especially had gone up to half. 

"So this is like proficiencies I guess, the more I do it the better I will get."

Noah clicked on brawling and the box expanded. 

'Brawling: Unrefined style of hand to hand combat. Next level - Gain 5% damage bonus when brawling.'

"Damn, so I get bonuses based on the level of these. I wonder if I should go learn an actual fighting style." 

DING

The notification put a pause to his thought process, someone had replied to his forum post. 

'The Sky Piercer says: Easy work, nobody will be as strong as me. I'll welcome all challengers.' 

DING

'The Alchemist says: I went in with three others, only one of them survived. This isn't time for a dick measuring contest.'

DING

'The Blood says: They weren't worthy.'

A few more replies came in, some who had found some pleasure in what happened, some were scared from what they had just survived, others were just confused. After about an hour fifteen different people had replied, so aside from himself and Jo. There were at least seventeen Second chance users, and not all were the cooperative type.  

Noah reached under one of the loose bricks that lay strewn on the floor, one had been hollowed out, and inside was a pack of cigarettes. His roommate hid this up here for his stressful days at work. Noah never smoked before but, the wave of nostalgia from being up on the roof filled him with the desire to have just one. A few clicks of the dusty red lighter that sat in the pack and the end enflamed orange. His head became light, a sudden urge to puke, and a sudden pressure between his eyes. 

"God who even enjoys this?" Noah groaned. 

"Trait unlocked," a familiar female voice announced. 

Noah opened up the app once more, and a new button had appeared on the profile screen, just below his character's feet. Traits. 

'Prison Smokes - Cigarettes are a valuable resource to the prisoner, smoke and gain a 5% stat boost for an hour. Cooldown 24hrs.'

"Oh, you got to be kidding me, what even is this?"

Noah began to wonder more about this mysterious app as the sun vanished behind the cities skyline.