Standing in front of a large projector board was a well-put handsome old man with speckled brown hair and stern amber eyes. He met the many eyes of the audience--which consisted of Patrolmen, Cops, Detectives, and various other Department Personnel--head on, unfazed by the density of the crowd.
"Now that we're all gathered here this Evening, we can begin this meeting." Conrad--Doug's Boss and Police Chief--announced.
"We have two major cases that we need to tackle at this current moment. One of them we've had on our radar, and the other is one that has just popped up, but comes with an increasing level of severity. I'll start with the one we're all most likely familiar with."
Conrad steadily ran his eyes across the crowd. "The 'System' case. I'm sure you've all seen the news articles. Perhaps you've even seen the damn thing itself..."
He was silent for a contemplating moment before he gave a command. "I want all of you to say 'System' aloud or in your head."
A few in the crowd muttered the word while some remained silent. A few quiet gasps ensued.
"Now you've seen it. It's not a hoax, nor is it some random conspiracy theory. It's a real thing that effects all of us.
"You may be wondering--what the hell is that thing? What is it for? Is it dangerous? Where did it come from? Why? And to all of those questions I only have one answer."
He sternly gazed at the crowd. "I have no fucking clue. And that is what we've been tasked to figure out."
He clicked a button on the remote control he was holding.
What was initially a blank screen changed to a page titled: "System's Potential". Below were a series of bullet points.
"Thanks to the Trolls and Commenters on Witter and other social media platforms we have figured out a bit of the 'System's' potential.
"For instance, you can change the color of the System window. It doesn't matter the wording, as long as you intend to change the color, it will change."
Doug discretely nodded his head. Having changed the color himself two days prior, he wasn't surprised by this bit of information.
"You can not, however, change the System's design to a complex image or video; therefore making any attempts to meme-ify the System meaningless.
"If you focus on the word 'Skills' it will show the skills you've mastered in your life. So if you're good at cooking, you will have a Skill level for it."
Doug furrowed his brows in thought. If Skills are something you've mastered, then what Skill would the Skill [Urgent Callings] represent? Persuasion? Doug began to chew on his lip.
"As for Inventory..." Conrad paused, silence dominating the room. With a wave of his hand, the remote he was holding disappeared in thin air.
"As long as you intend it, you can place anything into the System Window and into the Inventory. If you focus on the word 'Inventory' it will show anything you have stored inside the System, the Item's Statistics, and an image of you, pointing out what you're wearing."
He crossed his arms and shook his head. "Convenient, isn't it? However, I advise you practice caution when placing things inside. As a researcher I talked to recently pointed out, we don't know how the System's Inventory works. If we were to, say, place a car inside of it, who's to say we won't be crushed to death?"
Doug gulped. He regretted imagining it.
"Besides checking your Skills or Inventory, you can also add whoever you want into your 'Friend's List'."
"Friend's list?" A random audience member asked, astonished.
Conrad eyed that particular audience member intensely. "I just sent you a Friend Request."
"Holy--!" They yelped out, alarmed.
"By the way, you better accept it."
An audible gulp could be heard. "Y-yes sir!"
"With Friends, we can add each other and form what's called a Party. What you can do with a Party--I am not sure; but with enough time I'm sure we'll figure it out.
"Not only can you form a Party with your Friends, but you can also check their... for lack of a better term: 'Profile'."
Doug raised his hand, a burning question on his mind.
"Yes, Doug?"
"Boss, are we able to check the 'Profile' of those we're not friends with?"
"No. You are only able to view their Name and Title."
"Title?" Doug blinked, confused. Was that what he saw earlier when he saw Administrator Petrolia?
"Thank you for asking that question." Conrad nodded his head approvingly.
"'Titles' are something that the System randomly assigns to someone." With a flick of his wrist, the remote appeared in his hand in the blink of an eye. He deftly clicked a button on the remote again.
"The Title could refer to anything--something amazing you've accomplished recently or something as unimportant as enjoying a piece of toast." He knowingly gave the crowd a side eye. "Isn't that right, Toaster Boy?"
Doug gaped, surprised. Someone here had the Title "Toaster Boy"?
"Depending on the Title you get, it could effect what we'll call your 'General Statistics'. Through interviewing a few hospital patients we were to able to figure out a couple of important things." He clicked on the remote once more.
"One. HP represents your life force. If you were to get injured, depending on the severity of the injury, you may lose a fraction of your HP displayed. Or it could deplete your HP completely--killing you."
A series of hushed whispers overcame the audience.
Conrad, ignoring the interruption continued. "Two. Strength represents your body's capability to exert a certain level of force. If you gain the Title 'Crippled' then depending on the severity of your disability, your Strength will be depleted appropriately. It seems you can increase the Strength Statistic by simply working out.
"Three. Dexterity determines how fast you are physically. Be it your active speed, or your adeptness when performing certain Skills.
"Four. Intelligence seems to be the Level of your IQ; however, we have yet to figure out why all of us seem to have the base Statistic of 10.
"And five. Wisdom. Wisdom seems to represent our subconscious instincts, muscle memory, and understanding of a concept. It also seems to represent the strength of our beliefs. Those who are religious seem to start out with a higher Wisdom Statistic--we're not sure why at the current moment."
An audience member raised their hand.
"Yes, Polly?"
"What about this Statistic called 'Mana'?"
Conrad sighed. "As of yet we haven't figured out what that Statistic represents. If we follow the line of thinking the Netizens seem to have, then Mana should represent our adeptness in all things magic."
"Magic, seriously?" Someone asked in disbelief. Once more, whispers dominated the room as they discussed this absurd possibility.
Magic... that could help to explain the current situation... But if that were true, and there was Magic and Spells to be acquired, then where did it come from? And why now?
"And lastly, Levels." Conrad spoke over the crowd. Taking the hint, the audience quieted down.
"During our interview of the hospital patients, it came to our attention that one of the individuals we interviewed was Level 2. It turns out that that individual in particular was the perpetrator of a vehicular accident that ended up killing the other driver."
Conrad grimly glared at the audience. "The only way to Level Up is to kill somebody."
Doug's eyes widened, shocked. The only way to Level Up... is to kill somebody? That's insane!
"When an individual Levels Up, they are given the opportunity to increase one of their 'General Statistics'--effectively making them stronger in that particular Statistic."
This time, the chatter amongst the audience was even louder. Everyone was rightfully confused, indignant, and even anxious as to what this could mean.
Doug, within the chatter, overheard a random Detective in the audience nearby begin speaking, pointing out something very dangerous. "Then that means, going forward, any and all criminals we encounter that has recently murdered somebody will be stronger than us. Depending on how many they've killed--it could be by a large margin."
A chill ran down Doug's spine upon hearing that realization. That means, for the past three days, ever since the System was discovered by the public, things got a whole lot more complicated...
Conrad took this moment of organized chaos to take a sip from a water bottle nearby. "Alright," he started once he was done drinking, "settle down. I'll answer any questions that you may have at the end!"
The audience barely took control of themselves once more. Although a few quiet whispers still slipped through, they were relatively quiet enough to continue the meeting.
"With all this in mind, this brings us to our second major case. The case we'll call for now: 'The Gusto Case Extended'.
"Four days ago a civilian brought to our attention a robbery that occurred at a local Gusto joint. Following this robbery, in the dead of night, one of our officer's--Officer McLane--was struck unconscious and subsequently robbed after trying to assist, no doubt, what he considered to be an innocent civilian. Luckily our Suspect was dumb enough to also steal his car." Conrad clicked a button on the remote. An image of a blonde-haired woman with grey eyes appeared on the screen.
"This is our Suspect. We do not know her name. We do, however, have an idea of her last location. An apartment complex called: The View Side." An image of an apartment complex appeared on the screen.
"We unfortunately had to stop our search here as we do not know which apartment they had stopped at. Fortunately we do have some good news. After retrieving the stolen vehicle from the parking lot we were able to extract their fingerprints from the steering wheel. We also managed to find a strand of hair. Both of which we currently have under inspection. Once the results come back, if they have a documented record, we should have a name.
"Now you may be wondering, why do I consider this to also be a major case? Taking what we've learned about the System, and the rising Level of their crimes, I have reason to believe we may be dealing with the beginnings of a potential spree killer. If that is the case, and if left unattended, the following consequences would be extremely dire..."
Doug held his chin in thought. Didn't Conrad think about that spree killer idea before they investigated the System?
"Now that you're all aware of where we currently stand, I am going to split all of you into two teams!" Conrad announced.
A few in the crowd groaned, no doubt preferring to work alone.
Conrad began to go through a list of names. "Those that I have called out, you will be working on finding out the origins of the System--by order of the Governor! The rest of you will be working on 'The Gusto Case Extended'!"
Doug did a little jig inside his mind. Thank God he got assigned to the easier case. He didn't know what he'd do if he was assigned to investigate the System...
"Now, any questions!" Conrad concluded his speech.
A series of hands shot up as the audience became raucous once more.