Ricky did not even think when he pulled the kids to the corner and used his body as a shield to protect them. With his new body, he was almost seven feet tall and had a large muscular build, while Yu, Mike, Becky, and Desaray were all around four feet tall and on the small side. He hovered over them with his eyes closed, waiting for the impact from the light wave.

Up in the sky overhead, Desaray could see the liquid light once more building up, but unlike before, it did not seem to be forming a water drop. She watched in horror as the liquid light suddenly fell from the sky as if the faucet had been turned on full blast. It rained down and crashed into the ground. The buildings directly underneath were blocked by the blinding light making it impossible to see what had happened to them. The liquid light spread out in a massive tsunami in all directions. 

The entire time Desaray’s eyes were locked onto the huge golden-yellow wave that was rushing toward them. She instinctively reached out and held on to her father’s arm, her eyes unblinking. She could not bring herself to close them. 

As the wave got closer and closer, Desaray wondered if this was the end. Before things could even really get started, they would all be swept away and crushed by the impact as they mashes into buildings. But to her surprise and against all expectations, the wave of light slammed into them, but there was no impact. The wave itself had little to no resistance. It swept over them as if they were not even there. What was even more surprising was the notifications they were getting.

[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]

It was not much, but each one of them gained 6 levels instantly as the wave of light swept past them. Desaray shot up to level 10 from 4, while her father, Ricky, went from level 2 to 8. Becky, Yu, and Mike shot up to level 7. All their stats increased as well by leaps and bounds.

[Name]: Desaray Harris
[Race]: Ice Dragling 
[Age]: 14
[Level]: 10
[Monster Rank]: F 

[Evolution Requirements]: Reach level 20 and kill 3 Rank E Elites
 
[HP]: 500/500 
[MP]: 375/375 

[Skill Points]: 30
[Skills] 
{Ice Breath (Lvl 1)} {Ice Immunity (Lvl Max)} {Apprasial (Lvl 1)}{First Aid (Lvl 1)}             {Toughened Skin (Lvl 1)} {Spark (Lvl 1)} {Cleanse (Lvl 1)} {Drink (Lvl 1)} {Dig (Lvl 1}     
{Dry (Lvl 1)} {Ice Arrow (Lvl 1)} {Fireball (Lvl 1)} 

Before, Desaray had 200 Health and 95 Mana, now, she has 500 Health and 375 Mana. The huge jump was very much unexpected. This also halved her evolution requirements as well. 

“This….” Desaray was the first to react. She could feel a huge surge of strength within her. She looked up at her father, who was looking back at her with wide eyes. He, too, felt a huge strength increase. 

“Look!” Becky cried out, causing everyone to turn toward what she was pointing at. 

What lay before them was no longer a world of destruction but green overgrowth with many flowers covering the fallen city debris. Golden yellow balls of light rose up and danced in the air from this new beautiful greenery. 

“Did that light wave do this?” Mike asked in confusion. Everyone began walking towards the edge of the building. The apartment they were in now had a carpet of grass growing on its floor. The furnishings were also covered in overgrowth. It looked like the aftermath of an apocalyptic world ten or so years in the future.

“I can only assume….” Desaray eyes were wide. Living in New York all her life, she rarely got to see such greenery. She took a deep breath and could feel there was something in the air besides the normal gases that made up the air around them. It felt invigorating to take a deep breath. 

As they were in awe of their new surroundings, another message popped up in front of them.

[System Upgrade Commencing….]
[Download 5%….]
[Download 10%….]
[Download 40%….]
[Download 70%….]
[Download 100%….]
[Updating 1%…..]
[Updating 20%…..]
[Updating 50%…..]
[Updating 100%…..]
[System Update Complete….]

[New System Function: Team Window Now Available….]
[New System Function: Raid Window Now Available….]
[New System Function: Guilds Now Available….]
[New System Function: Inventory Now Available….]

[New World Function: Dungeons Now Available….]
[New World Function: Raids Now Available….]
[New World Function: World Bosses Now Available….]
[New World Function: Monster Camps Now Available….]
[New World Function: Quests Now Available….]

[World System Notification: World Changes Will Soon Occur.]
[Changes will result in drastic changes to the terrain. Please prepare to avoid disasters.]

Everyone stared at the long list of notifications with wide eyes. Their world. The world they were living their everyday lives in had suddenly become a game world. It was no longer just as simple as getting a system. The world itself was about to undergo drastic changes that would make the place they had lived in for years become unrecognizable.

“Desa, what do you think?” Ricky asked. He knew about games but never had time to play them. Only his daughter played them, so he would go with what she decided.

“I think we should head to the park for the time being. It is the only place with the lowest amount of debris from the buildings. We should gather as much food from the surroundings as possible, as we now have inventories. We need to hurry since there is no exact time frame of when the terrain will change, we need to take advantage of this time to gather food and water. 

“We will go through the buildings and the store at the corner of 5th Avenue, what’s left of it anyways. Stash as much as we can away and hope we can get by for the time being.” Desaray paused for a moment before looking at her father and saying: “If we see anyone else doing the same…. We should ignore old morals and take what we can even if it means killing.”

“Understood.” Ricky, at this point, cared more about keeping his daughter and her friends alive than anything else. So even if it meant killing those who used to be humans, he was willing. Food was now scarce due to the light waves destroying things. They had to get everything they could.

“You three get the basics for now. Appraisal will come in very handy now that new flora and fauna have appeared. We can see if there is anything edible as well. Right now, our main course of action is survival. As for your parents…..” Desaray felt sorry for the three, but right now was not the time to be looking for parents.

“Desa, don’t worry, we understand,” Becky replied with a pained smile. While it was tough, they knew it was not time to be searching for anyone. Not in this situation when they do not know what will happen next.