A group of 22 people made their way across an abandoned street. Three of them were in police uniforms. The one leading the way was a young woman wielding a shiny silver blade. Swarms of monsters of all varieties launched themselves at the small party, but all they could do was delay the group’s advance.

“Get out of my way!” A survivor, now a player at level 2, growled in frustration before reaching out and shoving a fellow survivor in front of him who was walking too slowly. The survivor yelped in surprise and fell over. He hadn’t even reached level 1 yet, and all he could do was turn and glare at the player who pushed him in anger. When the level 2 player stared back at him, the level 0 player had no choice but to divert his eyes and lower his head.

The level 2 player smirked. He waved his spear in the air before proceeding to engage a level 1 skeleton.

The weak had no voice.

Shaw dug her sword into the belly of a troll. These giant beasts were common in this area, and both she and the players behind her have gotten really familiar with killing them. The beast growled and slammed its club down on Shaw, only for the young warrior to dodge out of its way. Her hand was still holding onto her Silver Sword, and with a small smirk, Shaw pulled the blade to the side, opening a giant wound. Guts poured out as the troll collapsed dead on the ground.

Most of the monsters have been cleared. There were still a few NPCs here and there fighting against the players in the team, but the players were winning. Shaw had no intention of taking away these players’ exp, especially since these exp meant little to a player at her level.

“How much further until the precinct?” She turned to Emily, who was in the middle of comforting the young girl she was carrying. When she heard Shaw’s question, she gave the young girl a small smile before looking around.

“Since we’re walking...maybe twenty minutes?” She shrugged. Without the help of vehicles, phones, and GPS, calculating time and location became a very challenging task. Plus, there was also the somewhat minor issue of the monsters that wanted to eat them alive.

Shaw looked up into the sky. The day was already getting late. From what she remembered, by the end of the day of the Launch, all the NPCs across the world would receive a significant upgrade. The first day was meant to be a perk for the players. A chance to level up with ease. After midnight, most of the NPCs would reach level 3, with quite a few being even more powerful. For her, it wouldn’t make that much of a difference. For the players who leveled up, it would be a challenge. But for the players who did little on the first day, players like Emily, this could be a death sentence. The effectiveness of firearms would drop significantly as well, further weakening the chances of the government and the military.

She had no intention of being in the open when these monsters got their upgrade. Thankfully, this mission should be done by then.

“Very well.” Shaw nodded. She waited a few more seconds for the players to finish up their opponents. As that was done, just as the team was about to continue, one of the level 0 survivors suddenly called out something.

“Can we wait here for a few minutes? Take a break?”

Shaw’s brows darkened. She turned in the direction of the man who spoke. The survivors, sensing her death glare, quickly parted ways and revealed a man in his forties. The man was clearly far from athletic. He wore a pair of glasses, and his breathing was so loud and labored that even Shaw could hear it from a distance away.

“Excuse me?” Shaw asked again despite having heard exactly what he said.

“Uh…I am just saying that maybe we should take a break.” He repeated. “I mean...many of us are tired. We need to get some rest before we can keep moving...”

“That sounds like a you problem.” Another survivor cut him off before he could even finish. Unlike the man, he wasn’t tired at all. Why? The spear he was holding onto in his hand explained everything. He was a level 2 player with the Soldier career, and his strength was nearly double that of a normal human.

“How can you say something like this?” Another level 0 woman in the group cried out. “We don’t have your superpowers! If we can’t keep up with everyone, we will die!”

“Oh, and who’s fault is it that you don’t have our powers?” The level 2 Soldier retaliated fearlessly. It was really difficult to be scared of someone he could kill within ten seconds. “There were so many NPCs out here, and you didn't even get one of them! You are a bloody coward, all of you! And that’s what you deserve!”

At this moment, the team was divided into two parts. There were a dozen or so level 0 survivors and another ten or so leveled up players. The survivors believed they deserved a chance to live, which was fair enough. The players, on the other hand, saw the level 0 survivors as weak and even as liabilities. After all, they themselves were level 0 not long ago, and they got to level 1 or 2 all on their own. They took some risk, and it paid off.

Plus, many of the players, despite killing plenty of NPCs, were still afraid of staying in the wild for too long. They desired the protection of the precinct, and they wouldn’t let anyone get in their way.

Shaw observed this conflict in silence. trying to resolve the division here would be pointless. First of all, she agreed with the Soldier. She knew many of the survivors were afraid, too afraid to take on the NPCs, but neither the NPCs nor the Developers would care about that. The facts were that those who didn't level up today would pay for their weakness in the months, if not years, to come.

As for the conflict between the players and the survivors...that would be extremely common in the future. The players were stronger, and in this lawless world, many of them believed that their strength allowed them to do whatever they wished. This wouldn’t be the first instance of conflicts like this, and it wouldn’t be the last.

Finally, Shaw raised her voice and made the decision for everyone else.

“We will stop here for two minutes. Once those two minutes are up, we go back to moving.”

She didn't care about anyone in this group, survivor or player, but she needed them to survive until she got her reward.

The survivors and players all nodded in silence. Some of them were still disgruntled, but all of them have seen what Shaw was capable of doing.

Shaw’s eyes caught a glance of the old woman who believed the Launch was the Devil’s work and all the players who have leveled up have become disciples of the Devil himself. She wasn’t doing so well. Apparently, while Shaw decided to ignore her idiotic rambling, one of the other players wasn’t too happy about getting called a servant of the Devil. He took the liberty to punch the old woman a few times, and now, the woman was no longer in a talking mood.

She was still alive, thankfully. Yet.

The team started getting ready for a break. A few of the players sat together, believing in strength in numbers. This included the two male police officers. Some of the survivors, terrified of potential attacks by the NPCs, tried to sit as close to the players as possible.

Shaw stood next to Emily. She watched as the officer chatted with the girl and checked her ankle. A part of Shaw had already given up on Emily. She didn't know what Emily did last time on the first day of the Launch, but she doubted it was something this...meaningless. She did see value in Emily, but if she continued to act like this, then she had no choice but to give up.

As the others sat down and rested, Shaw was still standing, and she was vigilant. Her eyes scanned the surroundings like a radar. A more experienced squad of players would’ve sent out Scouts or Vanguards or even Assassins to maintain control of the surroundings, but that was too much to ask for this phase into the Launch. Still, she kept an eye on what was going on around her.

Suddenly, barely a minute into the break, Shaw suddenly frowned. She quickly raised her voice at the scattered players and survivors alike.

“Get up!”

“What...what?”

“It’s not even a minute yet!”

“I said get up!” Shaw repeated again, this time even louder. One by one, the survivors got up to their feet. They turned to Shaw, who simply pointed down the street with her Silver Sword. The survivors turned around, and when they saw what was approaching from the other end of the street, they were horrified.

“Oh god…” The level 2 Soldier’s mouth hangs open in utter terror. At this moment, he was no different than the survivors he felt so superior to. He was just another weak, powerless, and very mortal human.

In front of the survivors, a giant arachnid made its way down the street. Now, spiders were already scary, but what truly made this particular one terrifying was its size. This spider was at least three meters tall, with black and blue patterns all over its back. One of its appendages landed on an abandoned car and casually cut right through, resulting in an ear-piercing sound that made many of the survivors growl in pain.

Shadow Spider

Level 5

Experience Provided: 1,000

Strength: 35

Reflex: 24

Regeneration: 14

Psychic: 0