Chapter 43: Please Survive!

His younger sister, Andrea, who lived with their parents in a small, quiet town in Lower Austria—roughly 80 kilometers away from the urban sprawl of Vienna—had been frantically trying to reach him. Michael’s thumb scrolled rapidly to the very top of the log, reading the messages chronologically. Each line was a timestamped descent into absolute madness:

*Michael where are you???? Monsters just appeared out of nowhere here. It’s horrible.*

*They just tore two people apart right in the middle of the street and…*

*They ate them!!! They actually ate them!!!*

*We barricaded ourselves immediately. Locked all the doors and windows. We are in the cellar now hiding.*

*The police aren’t responding, nobody is picking up.*

*Not even you.*

*There’s no word from our brothers either.*

*Michael we managed to reach Johannes and Gabriel. It’s terrible!!! The monsters are out there with them too!!!*

*Thank God they are both still alive.*

*Gabriel actually killed one of the monsters!!! Johannes is stuck in the city, he barricaded his place too and he has a gun. He said he can protect himself and we shouldn’t worry about him.*

*Michael where are you????*

*THERE IS A MONSTER OUTSIDE*

*A MONSTEERRR*

Michael stared at the final, desperate rows of text, his heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped animal. *God dammit. Shit, shit, shit, shit.* His carefully maintained analytical mind evaporated for a few agonizing seconds, replaced by the raw, visceral terror of an older brother and a son. The last message had been sent exactly ten minutes ago. He frantically tapped out a reply, his thumbs flying across the glass screen, but there was only one mark instead of two. That meant Andrea’s phone was no longer receiving data.

*Please let it just be a dead battery… or the local cell tower collapsing,* he thought, desperately trying to force a reassuring narrative into his mind, though his rational brain ruthlessly rejected it. The final message hadn’t been a status update; it had been a panicky, misspelled scream in all-caps. *Fuuuuuuck.*

Stolen novel; please report.

Forcing a long, ragged exhale through his teeth, Michael mastered his breathing and scrolled further down the notification tray. The next message was from Gabriel, his older brother, who also lived and worked within the city of Vienna, though in a completely different district. Gabriel’s text had arrived roughly twenty minutes prior:

*Michael where the hell are you? There are monsters here, I think they are everywhere because they’ve already hit our parents‘ town too. I guess that they are in your and Johannes’s place as well. You have to survive. I am currently packing up and making my way down to our parents. I’m going to search for weapons on the way. If there is a police station near you, or at least a gun shop, get over there and secure a firearm immediately. Once you have a weapon, get to safety. Do not attempt to travel to our parents by yourself. It is way too dangerous out there. Survive and wait for us. I will come for you.*

*He’s already on the move to our parents,* Michael realized, a single spark of profound relief cutting through the dark cloud of his anxiety. Gabriel had always been the pragmatist of the family, a man of decisive action who didn’t waste time hesitating when a crisis hit. The fact that Gabriel had already successfully killed a monster proved he had either unlocked the inventar right in the beginning, or he had managed to secure a formidable physical weapon early on.

*I hope he makes it. He has to make it,* Michael thought grimly.

He immediately opened the chat window with Gabriel and typed out a fast response. To his immense surprise, after a few anxious seconds of buffering, the status icon flipped to two marks. *His phone is still running, at least..* michael thought.

Before checking for a reply, Michael quickly checked the logs for Johannes, his younger brother. There was absolutely nothing. Johannes hadn’t sent a single text or placed a single call. He was currently cut off in their parents town, but according to Andrea’s earlier text, he was heavily barricaded and possessed a functional firearm. For now, that would have to suffice as his primary line of defense.

Michael knew he had to act immediately to give his siblings the absolute highest statistical chance of survival. They needed the crucial, systemic knowledge that he had bought with blood and cold observation. They didn’t understand the rules of the game yet.

He rapidly composed a unified mass-text, copying and pasting the exact same message to his parents, Gabriel, Johannes, and Andrea, praying that the network would forward the data the microsecond their devices re-established a connection:

*You can operate the system with your mind. Call out for your Inventory in your mind and summon the spear. It all happens through mental commands. Just think about it clearly and it will manifest. THIS IS CRITICAL. DO IT IMMEDIATELY NO MATTER WHAT.*

Michael re-read the message once before locking it in. He had deliberately chosen not to include any complex explanations regarding Status Screens, Attributes, Class Selections, or the mechanics of Leveling Up.

Based on his own rigorous analysis of the Tutorial phase, he knew that the System’s blue interface would automatically force its way into their visual fields the exact moment they achieved a level up. Overloading their minds with too much information and strategic min-maxing during a high-stress, life-or-death scenario would only induce panic and hesitation. Hesitation led to inefficiency, and inefficiency meant death. The basic beginner spear from the starter inventory was the single most important tool they needed—it was a tangible, reliable lifeline that required no explanation to wield.

He switched back to Gabriel’s direct chat thread, his eyes scanning the interface to see if his older brother had read the instructions. Nothing. The message remained marked as *Delivered*, but unread. Gabriel was likely completely occupied navigating the fractured, monster-infested streets of Vienna, fighting his way through the initial waves of the systemic outbreak.

Michael slowly lowered the phone, sliding it back into his pocket. He wrapped his fingers tightly around the textured hilt of his Level 5 shortsword, feeling the solid, grounding weight of the weapon at his side. His eyes narrowed into cold, calculating slits.

The paradigm had shifted completely. He could no longer afford the luxury of sitting quietly in the shadows of the university, safely analyzing the System and its Shop from afar. If he wanted to ensure the survival of his family, and if he intended to claim his rightful place at the top of the monumental power vacuum tearing the world apart, he had to move.

He needed to strike faster, level harder, and become infinitely more lethal than any human or monster currently walking the earth. The peaceful days of calculation were over. The hunt had begun.