Questionable

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Wouldn't it be great if life was a game?

Where people would have levels displayed above their heads, and be able to gain experience and skills the way they want?

If someone was to ask me these questions, I would simply answer...

Maybe.

All around me, texts stating Lvl 3 or Lvl 4, the occasional Lvl 5, float above my peers' heads, followed by their name. Majority of these people I don't even know and smack in front of me I see their full name: Leeroy Turbal, Jermaia Bern, Dan Riddy. Nope, never talked to them and I somehow know their name. In a lecture hall of 300, viewing a sea of heads and floating texts gets a little nauseating.

Lvl 42
<Soul Fist Fighter>
Alexander Wiggin
"Hey mate! How ya doin?" Said my best friend as he slips into the seat I was saving for him. I wonder how he's such a ridiculously high level. I myself am a measly Lvl 5. I acquired this ability three days ago and just recently leveled up - I finished a quest from my mother; Acquiring milk from the supermarket. Some mysterious hologram window popped up in front of me that day, indicating I allocate my skill points - I didn't since being used to pop-ups on my computer, I immediately pressed the X button. I wonder how I get that window again.

"Nothin' much." I reply. "Morning class is always a bore. Wake me up if I fall asleep again, mmk?"

"Sure will" He answers, with his trademark smirk.

Yawn. Ecology is always a bore. Don't understand how any person could actually pursue this as a living. *In Confuscious Voice* Contemplate the interspecific competition of red lizards and brown lizards in the chaparral environment. Boring!

"Alright class! Don't forget to do the required reading and homework tonight! Like always, it's due at midnight" States Prof. Bloomerburg

Quest Alert!:

I press the Yes button. Questing is one of the few, if not best ways, for me to gain EXP so far. And I really don't want a bad grade in this class, so why not?

"Why were you pointing at?" Pips Xander, cocking his head to one side in confusion.

"You didn't see that tan window pop up?" I question. This is the first time I had a notification in front of someone else.

"Nope. What are ya talking about?"

"O, just nothin. Guess I was stretching?" This ability madness is completely crazy. Maybe I'm going psycho or somethin.

“Late again, Mr. Thresk?”

“I’m so sorry Dr. Moreau,” Mr. Thresk stammered quickly, “The highway was totally packed! I don’t think having a morning class on a Friday sits well with everyone headed out of town early for the long weekend.”

“Mr. Thresk, are you blaming your personal ineptitude on the timing of my class, or merely implying you wish you were leaving for vacation as well? As you can see, the rest of the class has arrived.”

“I, um, neither sir. Just making a casual statement is all.”

“Take a seat then, and do not disrupt my class again.”

Disrupt his class? Tobias Thresk gritted his teeth as he left his place under the doorway and took a seat. Most professors were content to let latecomers take a seat at the back of the class without a word, but Dr. Moreau liked to make a show of things. Toby suspected the lonely old man of getting some perverse pleasure out of torturing his students. He wasn’t even a real doctor! He had a doctorate in the classics. As in ancient Greek and Roman stuff. Toby has only taken Moreau’s course in the first place because it sounded like a bird course. But this bird was overweight and cracking the eggs that were his GPA. Or something to that effect. Metaphors weren’t Toby’s strong suit.

Toby could have sworn that he saw text scroll over Moreau’s head.

Lvl 80
<Vile Overlord>
Lysander Moreau

He blinked and it was gone. Toby shook his head. Stuff like this had been happening to him all week. He’d gotten a “quest failure” for showing up to class late and had received a -10 stamina debuff as a punishment, whatever that meant. Maybe Mom was right, and he’d finally blurred the lines between video games and reality. He hoped nobody would find out and send him to the madhouse. He’d seen enough Alice in Wonderland ripoffs to know what would happen to him if anyone did. Toby instantly regretted spending the last night playing Alice: The Madness Returns instead of getting a decent night’s sleep.

Toby has already missed the first twenty minutes of class, so another two hours and forty minutes later the class was finally dismissed and he got up to stretch. He’d dismissed a quest popup requesting he complete next week’s textbook reading before the next class.

“Hey, Toby!” He heard a familiar voice as he left the building and turned around to greet a denim-dressed brunette, a full head taller than him. “I don’t think you can afford to show up late to class again. I think Moreau might have an aneurysm.”

The text crawl appeared again, and this time it didn’t vanish when Toby blinked.

Lvl 6
<Pegasus Knight>
Cynthia Morgan

Pegasus Knight, eh? Toby knew Cynthia’s family owned horses, but none of them had wings, as far as he recalled. Cynthia must have put at least 50 skill points in dressage though, she was that talented. He wondered if there was any way he’d be able to look at her character sheet. Was dressage even a skill, or would it be a perk under dexterity or beast taming? Toby himself was a level 4 Bard. Why a bard? He enjoyed singing, but saved it for when he was home alone or nobody was within earshot. He’d tried recording his voice several times on his phone, and every time he decided it was terrible and nobody should be subject to the inhumane treatment of listening to it.

“Er, Toby?” Cynthia said, “My eyes are, uh, down here. Heh, first time a girl’s ever said that I think.”

“Oh, uh, sorry Cynthia, I zoned out for a second.” Toby said, realizing he’d been staring at her text crawl.

“You’ve been zoning out a lot lately,” Cynthia said, concerned, “Are you sure you’ve been getting enough sleep?”

“Yeah, plenty!” Toby said. It wasn’t a lie per se, four-and-a-half hours was enough sleep for Toby to get by the next day no problem. And it wasn’t as if he was staying up late every night.

“You want to grab a coffee before heading out?” Cynthia said, “You look like you could use it.”

Quest Alert!:

“Sure, I could go for a hot caffeinated beverage!” Toby said.

“Did you just poke me?”

I follow the crowd of students out past the double doors. I question why the University Lecture Hall (ULH) does not have more doors to enter or exit from. Mid-terms and finals are a nightmare here with nearly eight-hundred students attempting to squeeze past these two tiny doors.

"Hey Xander, Tyrell, wait up!" Hollers Jericha, a fellow classmate of mine. She's extremely smart, probably why she has the class <Studious Learner> under her Lvl 7.

"Wha?" I mutter, as I attempt to turn around, still preoccupied by the thought of Xander not being able to see what I see.

She crashes into my arms, knocking me down.

Unfortunately, the intelligent architects build ULH on a hill with a wonderful flight of cement stairs leading to the actual room. Such perfect construction allows me to not-so-gracefully tumble down, head over heels, forty-two steps, indicating the year our school was build: 1942. Xander and Jericha quickly chase after me, collecting my scattered notebooks, with the latter apologizing profusely to the irritated students and to me.

A skill has been created through a special action.:

New Skill!:

What is this?! This random skill pops up right in front of my scratched face. I grudgingly dismiss it with a groan.

"Oh my gosh!" Exclaims Jericha, "I am so so so, very very very sorry Tyrell! Let's get you to the Campus Health Center (CHC) right away!"

"Yea mate," pips Xander, "You don't exactly look like your good self no more." He signals his eyebrows at Jericha's arm, where my notebooks and papers are snug. "We didn't miss nothin', so let's go."

With Xander supporting my disorientated, aching body, the three of us slowly make our way to the CHC, dead center of campus. The staff always prides in quick, efficient care within any student's reach.

"Nurse Janina! We need to patch up my friend here!" Calls Jericha. She practically knows the entire staff on a first-name basis. As she is aspiring to become a doctor, Jericha spends most of her free time volunteering at the CHC.

You've entered an Instance Dungeon!:

Really?!

“You hear that?” Cynthia piped up as the pair was heading out, “Sounds like someone dropped something down a flight of stairs. Hope it wasn’t a laptop.”

But, with a generation’s worth of ingrained apathy, neither Cynthia nor Toby were particularly bothered to check out the commotion and they were soon seated at the campus Tim Horton’s.

“You know,” Toby said, putting down a sip of coffee, “I heard that up in Canada universities are required to have at least three Tim Horton’s on campus by law.”

“I’m not sure I like that we’re jumping the Canadian bandwagon,” Cynthia replied, “But I have to admit this coffee is pretty decent. Like a J.J. Abrams movie. No heart or soul, but just the right lack of terribleness and amazingness to come out completely and utterly average.”

“I don’t think I actually remember what happened in the first Star Trek movie,” Toby said, “There were two Spocks or something? I know I enjoyed watching it, but it was kind of forgettable besides that, honestly.”

“It’ll probably be the fate of Episode 7 of Star Wars too. It’ll definitely be fun while we’re watching it, but five minutes after we leave the theatre we’ll start to forget what we just watched,” Cynthia said.

“I might actually prefer another Phantom Menace debacle,” Toby mused, “Over a decade later, we’re still talking about how bad it was.”

As Cynthia laughed Toby noticed a small notification in his upper left field of vision: +5 Affection with Cynthia. That must have been his quest reward which would mean the next notification would be… +200 EXP. Excellent! This morning, Toby had been sitting right on the verge of leveling up from Level 4, and he’d just tipped the scales.

Level Up!:

Oh right, Toby remembered, he was bard class. So he’d be stuck with all these support skills. There didn’t seem to be any skill descriptions, so Toby would just have to pick one and be done with it. Courage seemed to be a good way to go, although Vigour would certainly have garner some practical use as well… Shaking his head, Toby selected Song of Courage before his thoughts could run away from him.

New Skill!:

“Toby! Snap out of it!” Toby regained control of his senses as he noticed Cynthia hands on his shoulders.

“Did I zone out again?” He said, bewildered.

“That was seriously scary Toby,” Cynthia replied, “You weren’t responding to a thing I said. I’m taking you to see Nurse Janina, come on.”

Quest Alert!:

"Scat! You know about the strict patient confidentiatliy!" Shoos Nurse Janina, scattering the triplet with her hand. "I'll take it from here."

"Oh yes! We're totally sorry we got in your way ma'am!" Jericha said, completely embarrassed that she bothered the nurse even the slightest bit.

"I'll see ya back at home," said Xander, "With Janina, I'm sure ya'll easily be able to walk back."

"That's Ms. Vancrom to you!" Admonishes Nurse Janina. "Now move!" And she slams the door behind her.
Lvl ??? ?????
<Devoted Priest>
Janina Vancrom
I blink; Why do I see all this strange text. And question marks?

With a flick of her wrist, she throws her long, blond hair behind her into perfect position, out of her eyes and hands. "Now, with them out of the way. I can focus on you! Let's get you all cleaned up."

The majority of people range in levels from 3-6, with adults a little higher. Does the question marks indicate Nurse Janina is a significantly higher level than me? Like when I accidentally stumble upon a world boss as a newbie.

She gets some alcohol to clean the wounds, applying gauze in the appropriate areas; it stings but I don't react much, lost in thought in why she has these question marks. She's not the first to have them - my mother does too.

She takes my shirt off too. Stairs do a wonder to the body - leaving these fantastic perfectly 90 degrees bruises and cuts. I wonder if mom is hiding something. We never do talk about dad. Maybe she and he are special in some way. Am I special, having this strange ability? Or am I just going crazy. Maybe I should meet a psychologist.

"Hey. Don't zone out on me. The injuries aren't that bad. Especially when compared to when you got hit by a car on the 1st day of the semester."

"Eh he," squeezing out a chuckle, "Don't remind me." I have the worst luck at times. But I swear that car came out of nowhere!

She tosses the shirt back to me. "Well, my work here is down. You don't look to bad. Apply this ointment twice a day on your open wounds to prevent infection."

You've received an item!:

The tube promptly disappears once placed in my hand. "Hey, did ja...?" I start saying, confused about where my medicine disappeared.

"What was that?" Nurse Janina said, not even turning her head. Them nurses always have to chart and fill out paperwork, poor them. The nurses, not the paperwork I mean.

"Nevermind." I leave patient room 002, wrestling with my shirt. I slowly make my way to the double front doors.

I guess, assuming this ability includes pretty much every game aspect, the medicine went into my inventory. But how do I access it? Usually, if I was playing, I would press a key or button on screen or the controller. But in the real world, what would I do?

"Inventory!" I mutter out - not wanting to be seen talking to myself. I really don't want to be part of the psychiatric ward.

Inventory:

What is this? Fascinating. I reach to grab my medicine and my hand, as it passes the screen, creates ripples. Pulling out, my hand retrieves its prize. When I tap the screen with the Neosporin, it promptly returns to an inventory slot. I guess I have no equipment at the moment, but it looks like I can equip gear such as weapons, a chest piece, gloves, etc.

Either my hallucinations are very detailed, or this is actually happening; my world is now a video game.

I must look like a complete idiot staring into empty space in the middle of the hallway.

“You said this isn’t the first time he’s gone all blank like this?” A heavy-set student strode alongside Cynthia, Toby’s arms around their shoulders as they moved him to the CHC. Toby was not responding, but his legs seemed to be functional as he propelled himself forward with little outside effort besides the direction of the two others.

“At first I thought he was just tired,” Cynthia admitted, “But maybe he ate something bad, or OD’d on his blood pills? Sometimes he takes them, and then forgets about it and takes them again. He’s so absent-minded like that. I printed out a calendar for him to check off when he takes them, but he just forgets to mark that too. The guy’s completely incorrigible.” Cynthia caught herself and hastily made amends, “Sorry, I get all motor-mouthy when I’m anxious. Thanks for helping out, Blake.”

Blake furrowed his brow, concerned. Both he and Cynthia were hunched forward a bit, compensating for Toby’s height.

“If he’s taken his medicine twice in a day before, I don’t think it would affect him now,” Blake said.

“Unless he forgot like five times in a row. It’s a totally feasible thing that could happen.” Cynthia said.

As they neared the CHC, Toby suddenly pounced out of their arms.

“Unpause! Resume! Close menu!” He gasped between words, as if he had just come up from under water.

“Toby!” Cynthia said, rushing forward, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, fine, why?” Toby said then looked around, struggling to get his bearings. “Wait, how’d we get here? Blake? Uh, hi.”

“You mean you don’t remember? You fainted! Twice!” Cynthia seemed exasperated.

“I’m fine now, promise,” Toby said.

“You sure about that?” Blake asked.

“Look, you’re going in to see the nurse and that’s final.” Cynthia said.

“I swear, I’m feeling right as rain now. There’s really no need to see the nurse,” Toby insisted. “Hey, you,” He said, turning to the only other student in the hallway, “Do I seem ill to you?”