[ WP ] After brushing your teeth in the morning you go downstairs to fry an egg , but when you try the frying pan buzzes at you and text appears reading , `` level 18 cooking required to use object '' .

Timmy smashed the snooze button on the alarm clock. The time was 8:25 and he was going to be interviewed for his new job in about 4 hours. He was not going to fuck this up again. He found his energy and stood up. `` A new day, a new me'' he whispered to himself. He was confident. He went to his wardrobe and picked out the suit he had borrowed from his brother. He have n't had the money to get himself one yet, but his brother and him were about the same size and height so the suit fit him perfectly. He equipped the white shirt and the pants, and put the tie over his shoulder and headed towards the kitchen, holding the suit jacket in his hands, placing it carefully over the back of the chair in his kitchen along with the tie. He turned on the coffee machine and headed to the bathroom to shave and brush his teeth. 
 Apart from the suit, nothing was out of the ordinary, this was his morning routine. Of course, the dead-end job down at the old coffee shop he used to work at did n't require a suit, but he loved wearing one. He felt important. He felt good. 
 As he set down the razor, a distinct sound could be heard. It definitely felt out of place, a small `` ding!'' sound. He looked around, trying to locate the origin of the sound and found nothing. It was like an echo from the walls around him. A sound so faint he almost doubted was real. But as quickly as it had come, it disappeared. Fading into silence. 
 He had to dismiss it. It had to have been someone from the nearby flats. His neighbours was n't really known to be quiet tennants and he has other things to focus on. 
 As he went into his kitchen again, he opened the fridge. The old coffee shop had payed his rent, but it did n't make him rich. The fridge was almost empty, except for a couple of eggs, some milk, half a pack of bacon, and the left-overs from yesterday's fastfood order. `` A new day, a new me'', he whispered to himself again. He took out the bacon and some eggs. For the first time in what felt like forever, he was going to make himself a proper breakfast. 
 He took out the frying pan, put it on the stove and turned on the heat. He then prepared his bacon and threw them on the pan. It started sizzling immidately. He then took his eggs and tried to crack them on the side of the pan. But something strange happened. They would n't crack. It was as if they were made of metal. Suddenly he heard the sound. That sound. No, but it was similar. A bit lower and somewhat louder. But the most bizarre thing was n't that. From the frying pan's sizzling fat grew something at a fast pace. It was a bubble, but no ordinary bubble. It was n't transparent, and it was formed like one of those signs you'd see advertising by the side of the road, but it was n't bigger than a foot in width. It had text in the bubble that looked like something from those old 8-bit games he'd used to play when he was younger. It said in large, black letters: 
 LEVEL 18 COOKING REQUIRED! 
 Timmy continued starring at it. Something was n't right. Was he dreaming? He could n't tell. It was like he was in an RPG. 
 The coffee machine did n't make any more noise, but Timmy had n't noticed. He could n't have. A new bubble was growing now, but not from the frying pan. It came from the coffee machine. This one said: 
 LEVEL 18 COOKING AQUIRED! 
 `` What the fuck is going on? ``, said Timmy as if accusing the coffee machine. As soon as the words left his mouth he could finally realize the bizarre situation he was in. Here he stood screaming at an inanimate object sending him messages about cooking level. 
 He fell down into the chair behind him and closed his eyes. He could n't grasp the situation. `` This could n't be a dream'', he thought, `` I would n't be able to think this clearly in a dream''. When he opened his eyes again, the frying pan bubbled had now changed. It read: 
 REQUIRED LEVEL REACHED! 
 And then it faded. The coffee machine's bubble had already disappeared, it seemed. Partly reluctant and wildly curious, he stood up again. He picked up one of the eggs from the counter and tried cracking it against the frying pan. It worked! 
 From then on, everything was quite ordinary. Nothing strange happened again until the bacon and eggs were finished. A new bubble appeared in front of him. It said `` Inventory'' in the top left corner and the first items were the bacon and egg breakfast filling a slot. `` It is an RPG'', he thought to himself, as if he still could n't grasp it. There were about 24 slots in total, and the inventory had a window right next to it. He saw himself, as if it was a mirror showing his whole body, but it did n't mimic him. It just posed. He dropped the plate with his breakfast down on the table and saw the item disappearing from his inventory. He picked up the tie and it appeared in his inventory. He put it on and it disappeared from his inventory and appeared onto his mirror image. 
 He heard that sound again. The one from the bathroom. A new bubble appeared next to his inventory. It said `` Statistics'' in the top left corner and a `` ( +2 )'' next to `` Charisma''. 
 Whatever this was, it made more and more sense to Timmy. His mother always used to say that his video games would n't get him anywhere in life. But he was even more confident now. `` A new day, a new me'', he thought, a smug smile spreading across his face.
