Awakening a 10,000x Skill Proficiency Multiplier in the Apocalypse

The heavy titanium doors of Warehouse 4 shut with a loud clang. Sebastian felt the vibration on the soles of his boots.

It was midnight in the real world. The industrial district of 2077 was usually busy, but tonight it felt like a graveyard. Inside the massive bunker, it was completely quiet and smelled simply of wet concrete.

Sebastian leaned against the table in the center of the room. He rubbed his face. The five percent physical synchronization with his avatar was a blessing and a curse. His muscles felt incredibly strong, but his brain was completely exhausted.

”Generator three is online and stable.” Valerie’s voice broke the silence.

She walked over from a stack of wooden crates and wiped grease off her hands with a ruined silk cloth. She wasn’t acting like a corporate heiress anymore. Her jacket was tied around her waist and her hair was tied back. She looked exhausted, but her eyes were entirely focused.

”We have enough high-calorie ration bricks to feed us for five years,” Valerie reported while tapping a solar-powered tablet. ”The antibiotics are stacked below, and the water filtration system is fully tapped into the deep aquifer. Baron K’s manager was crying when he dropped this off. Thought I was going to shoot him.”

”You didn’t, did you?” Sebastian asked with a tired smile.

”I considered it,” Valerie admitted. ”He tracked mud into the sterilized zone.”

Sebastian chuckled. It was strange how quickly they had adapted. The world outside was turning into a monster infested nightmare, yet they were joking about mud in a bunker.

”You did good, princess,” Sebastian said softly. ”We have the supplies. We have the anchor. Now we just need to survive long enough.”

BZZZT.

The heavy-duty diesel generators suddenly stuttered. The bright overhead lights flickered twice and died completely.

The warehouse was instantly plunged into complete darkness.

”What the hell?” Valerie whispered. The click of her silver magnum being drawn echoed in the dark room. ”Did a generator blow?”

”No,” Sebastian said calmly. His heart rate remained perfectly steady. His synced biology fed him a steady stream of adrenaline. He didn’t need light to know what had just happened. ”It’s the grid. The whole city just flatlined.”

He walked over to the massive steel blast window and pulled the heavy iron shutter back.

The view outside was terrifying. The megacity was completely dark. The only light came from the bloody crimson sky above. The internet was gone. The power was gone. Humanity’s safety net was completely unplugged.

”Right on schedule,” Sebastian murmured. ”The Second Wave.”

”Sebastian...” Valerie breathed as she stepped beside him. She pointed her gun toward the glass. ”Look down there. By the perimeter fence.”

Outside, a lone figure was sprinting toward their warehouse. It was a man in a torn security uniform. He was screaming and his eyes were wide with pure terror. He kept looking back over his shoulder at the empty air.

”Help! Open the doors! Oh god, please!” The man shrieked as he slammed his bloody hands against the outer fence.

”Should I let him in?” Valerie asked. Her hand hovered over the manual override switch for the gate.

”Do not touch that button,” Sebastian ordered with a dead voice. His eyes narrowed as he stared at the empty space directly behind the screaming man. ”He’s already dead.”

Right on cue, the man’s screams were cut short.

The survivor was suddenly jerked backward. He was lifted three feet into the air by an entirely invisible force.

Valerie gasped and took a step back from the glass.

The man thrashed wildly as his legs kicked empty space. His right arm was twisted behind his back.

CRACK.

The sound of his bone snapping echoed all the way into the bunker.

”No! NO!” the man gurgled.

SQUELCH.

The man’s arm was ripped from its socket. A massive geyser of blood sprayed into the air. But the blood didn’t hit the ground. It splashed against an invisible surface in mid-air. The crimson liquid coated the empty space and briefly revealed the outline of a monstrous insect jaw.

”Phase Spiders,” Sebastian stated without emotion. ”Level 25 stealth mobs. Intangible. Invisible. They bypass physical armor and deal true conceptual damage. You can’t shoot what you can’t see, Valerie.”

Outside, the invisible monster went to work. The man was pulled apart like wet tissue. His torso was ripped in half. Intestines fell onto the concrete. The blood continued to spray, slowly painting the multi-legged outline of the massive spider feasting on his remains.

Valerie turned away from the window and pressed her hand over her mouth. Her stomach rebelled against the absolute butchery she had just seen.

”Bullets won’t do anything against that,” she wheezed while gripping her gun tightly. ”Sebastian, this building is just concrete and steel. If those things are intangible, what stops them from just walking through the walls and eating us?”

”Nothing,” Sebastian said simply. He closed the iron shutter and plunged them back into the dark. ”Physical walls mean absolutely nothing to the Void. We need magical walls. We need the conceptual defense grid of the Sanctuary.”

He walked over to the table and clicked on a small flashlight. He aimed the beam at the two black VR headsets resting on the table.

They weren’t plugged into anything. The power grid was entirely dead.

Yet, the headsets were glowing with a soft blue light. They were drawing power directly from the ambient mana bleeding into the real world.

”The server is forcing the connection,” Sebastian explained as he picked up his headset. He brushed his thumb over the glowing needles. ”The tutorial is over. The game is becoming reality. If we don’t bring the True City Core out of the digital world and plant it in this floor by tomorrow, we are going to be spider food.”

Valerie looked at the glowing headset and back at the heavy metal shutter. She didn’t hesitate and grabbed her helmet.

”A massive PvP tournament against the most arrogant aristocrats on the server,” Valerie summarized. Her voice steadied. ”To win a digital rock. To stop invisible spiders from eating us.”

”Just another Tuesday,” Sebastian deadpanned.

He slid the helmet over his eyes. The cold needles bit into the back of his neck.

”Link start.”