Their total loot from the dungeon came to 2 mana restoratives, two of stamina, a pair of weather stones, and a hood. Levi stored the potions, a little disappointed not to be able to replenish his stock of health elixirs, but the others would still be good to have on hand. The hood wasn't traced for active effects yet, but it could be upgraded later on. And even a base material would be much sturdier than an earth equivalent. The weather stones were used in crafting, but apart from 'store them securely when not in use' he wasn't sure of the specifics.

“Before you assign your new stat point, we should discuss your future advancement options,” Levi said, halting Gordon before he could make his selection.

“What do you suggest?”

“You’ll want to put at least one point in each before you specialize. Are you planning to continue with fighter, or do you want to reclass before you get too high?”

“I don’t even know the options. How am I supposed to make that kind of choice?”

“Classes are fairly limited for newly Awakened, but you’ve probably already unlocked several throughout your fights so far. If you’d like a skirmisher or scout class, you’ll want to do some stealth kills, either up close or with a ranged weapon. If you want to optimize for close combat, you’ll want an even spread of stats for at least the first two thresholds.”

“I only got about half of that.”

Levi sighed. “Then let’s start at the very beginning and take this one step at a time. Do you want to continue fighting and leveling, or not?”

Gordon looked down at the bloody rag tied around his leg, the scratches and cuts down his clothing, some stained with blood, others only catching the cloth. “I really don’t.” He made a strangled sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob. “But if what you’re saying is true, I don’t have a choice, do I? Either I take advantage of the head start to get stronger, or I’ll be slaughtered with the rest.”

“You’re doing amazingly well so far. Most people would have frozen or panicked or lost it by now.”

“Doesn’t feel that way to me. I got your gremlin killed.”

Levi shook his head. “Not your fault. And we’ll be able to get him back tomorrow.”

“Still, that’s how many dungeons away?”

Levi managed a small smile. “You’re starting to get it.”

“I don’t know, man, it’s still so weird… but as much as it’s terrifying and… horrible, it’s also… thrilling? And knowing that it’s the only thing we can do to prepare for this… apocalypse that’s coming up, it feels so much more real than anything else. I see the buildings around us, and it starts to feel like they’re… off somehow?”

“It’s the lighting. Dungeon light gives everything less shadow.”

“Shouldn’t that make it feel less realistic compared to reality?”

“Intense emotions tied to the experience make it more real… or something. I don’t know the science of it. I just know that once you’ve been in a few dungeons they start to seem more important than reality. It doesn’t usually last forever, you can adapt to it, but it can be disorienting at first.”

They exited the dungeon and walked back toward the car, neither speaking for a time.

“I’ll keep fighting,” Gordon said at last. “At least for now.”

Levi exhaled slowly, more relieved than he’d expected. He was already starting to think of Gordon as a comrade. “In that case, we should determine your preferred role in the team and optimize your stats accordingly. We could use a ranger or mage if you’re amenable.”

“Oh, yes please. The less I have to be up close…” Gordon shuddered. “Yes. I like ranged. Let’s go with that.”

Levi passed him the hood. “Not quite my style."

Gordon took it, raising his eyebrows. "You think it's mine?"

"It'll protect you better than nothing, and we can get it inscribed once crafting is up and running. Have you ever been hunting, or played a sport that involves throwing things?”

“Ever? Yeah, of course. Both. Not very well in either case.” He put on the hood. "It makes me feel like a two-bit thug. Should be out robbing grandmas."

“Would you prefer to use a weapon, or the unfiltered energy of the universe?”

Gordon hesitated. “Is a gun an option?”

“If you have time to inscribe your bullets.”

“And there’s no way to feed it a… mana cartridge?”

“There may be a way, but if there is, I don’t know about it. Why bother when manabows can fire just as fast and with more accuracy?”

“This is America, you know.”

Levi made a non-committal sound. “Not for much longer,” he said with a straight face.

“Really?”

He held his serious face for another second before breaking into a half smile. “No.”

“If it was a joke, it’s not funny.” Gordon turned on the car and backed out of the lane, heading back toward the highway.

Levi laughed quietly. “Kinda is.”

“You know you’ve been saying so much crazy shit I have to either believe or disbelieve you wholesale. Don’t mess with me like that, man.”

“If you really believe the US will lie down over something as trivial as a demon invasion annihilating 90% of the populace, you deserve to be laughed at.”

Gordon snorted a chuckle at that. “Fine. You got me.”

“So, ranger?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s your current stat spread?”

“2 strength.”

“Put the next one in Spirit. You’ll also want some Psyche for the mana soon, but as long as we’re only facing level 1s we can still overwhelm them by force.”

“What’s up with the names of things? Strength should make you stronger, and Spirit sounds like some kind of mystical thing.”

“Strength increases health and makes you more durable. Think of it more as material strength than muscle strength. You become capable of withstanding more, your body is less vulnerable.”

“That’s not what Stamina does?”

“Stamina, which increases with Spirit, is more related to the internal workings of the body. If you need a burst of speed or to keep running past when you’d normally drop, if you need to absorb an impact without breaking something, that’s stamina’s job.”

“Wouldn’t an impact be health?”

“Depends on the impact, but generally if it’s external it’s health and if it’s internal it’s spirit. Jumping from a high place, or jumping higher, are both stamina. Getting punched in the face would be both. Stamina to keep your neck from breaking, and health to prevent greater damage. Same thing if you jump off a building and don’t try to absorb the fall. If you land in a bad posture without crouching at least a little, it may shift from stamina to health.”

“You break people’s necks by punching them?”

“Not usually, I prefer swords. Which reminds me, we need to get you a bow.”

“In the morning.” Instead of getting back on the highway, Gordon pulled off into a motel parking lot.

“What are you doing?”

Gordon parked the car. “Look, I know you’re in a rush, but I’m running on five hours of sleep. I nearly ran off the road back there. I know we’ve only got two more hours to go, but I need some sleep. Coffee only goes so far. And then I need to make some phone calls.” He glanced pointedly at Levi. “I think you do too.”

Levi shook his head. “No no, sleeping is a complete waste of time. We can’t do that. Here.” He handed over a stamina potion. “Drink this, you’ll be good to go.”

“How certain are you?”

“Very. I’ve had to fight for days on end without pause, and that’ll get you through. We can reach the next dungeon tonight, I know it. Just keep going.”

Gordon stared at the pale green liquid shimmering in the bottle, then at Levi, then longingly toward the motel’s front door. “You sure this is safe? It looks radioactive.”

“The glow is normal. Stamina elixirs are the safest restoratives of all. It only diverts your regens instead of draining strength like healing or dizzying and blinding like mana. Since you’re already at full, it’ll reinvigorate your default body.”

“Default body?” Gordon looked even more hesitant now.

“You know, the one under all the layers of enhancement. Stamina, Health, Mana, they’re all additional power from outside of normal human limits. It’s not you that’s leveling up when you fight system monsters and demons, it’s your enhancement layers. Which do get integrated into your body and mind, but underneath it all, when everything else is drained to zero, you’ll still have your default body to fall back on.”

“Health isn’t dependent on your real body?”

“They’re interconnected, but not directly analogous.” Levi shrugged. “I don’t know exactly how it all works, it’s just something you get a feel for after a while. Like how far you can fall before your stamina won’t be able to absorb the impact, or how long you can sprint faster than any default human could ever hope to match. How many crippling injuries your health can repair before you’re left on your own, when you need to retreat to use restoratives.”

Gordon held the potion back out to Levi with a grimace. “I think I’ll take my chances with normal sleep.”