[ WP ] It suddenly becomes possible to gain XP and level up in the real world , but you can only do so by getting kills .

No one really understood how it happened, but the leading theory was that a new sort of virus, One that interfaced perfectly between our cognitive implants and the actual biology of the brain had been unnaturally created, possibly as a weapon, and infected the population. 
 
 Social institutions declined slowly at first, then at an increasingly apocolyptic rate. Things held together for the first month or so, but after a lone bomber boosted himself to level 40 by killing hundreds in a single strike, and then evaded capture using his newfound super-abilities, shit hit the fan. Cities are now flaming warzones. Suburbia is a blood-soaked no man's land. Until there is a winner, no civilization will function again. 
 
 The funniest thing about the entire clusterfuck was the enormous advantage gamers held. We understood how to farm. My physically inept group of friends and I took the first opportunity we could to head to a slaughterhouse. Granted, a pig gives you less EXP than a person, but it's a hell of a lot easier and less dangerous to kill 5 pigs than 1 person. The results were astounding. Leveling up was natural selection on insanely powerful steroids. The virus mutated to each individual's strengths and weaknesses. My friend Alvin with diabetes and asthma, who turned out to be dynamite with a shotgun, immediately leveled out of both. By level 5 he looked more like The Terminator than the pasty kid who liked 40K I had known him to be. To watch someone level up is to witness instantaneous euphoric mutation. By the time Alvin died he could have been a space marine. I like to think that made him very happy, even as I ripped out his throat. 
 
 I was always a quiet kid. Before the game I had made it my business to avoid any trouble or negative attention. These days I can turn entirely invisible, and no, I do n't have to `` reveal myself'' to attack. The last thing my victims see is a slight shimmer in the air if the sun shines brightly, or nothing at all if it is dark. My shape has become more lupine, my teeth are now fangs, and my knuckles hide retractable claws. My wounds heal faster than physically possible, and I can go for extended periods without eating, drinking, or sleeping. I spend my my days far out in the wilderness. Places man never really touched before the game, and have since been long forgotten. I hunt. I eat. I level once in a great while, but my life is lonely, and devoid of much of what you might call `` living''. In the end though, it is better than death.
