John was struggling to care about what the system had to offer him. The magical depression was getting to him. When he looked back at various moments battling the shamblers and the mimic, he saw himself riding on an emotional high inflated by the constant use of magic stones. He was filled with fear, anger, thrill, and many more emotions that cycled through him quickly as the battle changed.

He’d never experienced combat like that before. It went beyond fighting in the ring. It went beyond any story he’d heard by people who went to war. Even the stories of his war veteran of a dad couldn’t compare. It almost felt like it would be better to keep popping magic stones and stay in the fight than suffer this crash.

But John had suffered before. His parents had suffered in their lives and gave him good tips about how to endure. Coach Jackson had shared plenty of stories about staying strong even in the darkest moments.

This isn’t a dark moment, John said. So, maybe it doesn’t even matter.

But a part of John also knew it did matter. He’d worked hard. He’d risked his life. He should take his rewards earnestly.

Based on what Xanhilt had gotten, it seemed like what the ding-dong system had to offer would be helpful for John. It didn’t take away from the nefarious things John and Xanhilt had to experience to get here, of course. But getting something worth effort was better than getting nothing.

Ding! Are you ready for it?

“What do you mean if I’m ready for it?” John asked. “I’m sitting here waiting on you.”

Ding! Sorry, sorry! I just love building the suspense.

Xanhilt hissed at the system, which was kind of freaky. “I am hungry. Unhappy. And losing patience, ding-dong. Please, let’s get on with this.”

Ding! Okay, let me just preamble a bit, please?

“Preamble?” John asked.

“To introduce knowledge before getting to the meat of what we truly want,” Xanhilt said.

“Yeah, okay, sure.”

Ding! Honestly, John, you’re a large investment. Heroes have a karmic cost that we have to budget for. We’ve splurged on costly heroes before who hadn’t panned out. But we can’t keep summoning low-karmic heroes, either.

John blinked. “Wait, I just got bought? What the fuck! Am I supposed to be a slave?”

Ding! No, no, no! Of course not. It’s just natural for there to be transactions involved. We need to outsource heroes per certain policies, but decent heroes cost a lot of karma. The low ones have the opportunity to grow above and beyond, certainly. But they’re more like shots in the dark.

So, I’m more than thrilled that you passed your tutorial with flying colors, John Wright. I drummed up some excitement behind doors and got you one of our biggest tutorial rewards. This is in good faith that you’ll make use of this as a true hero lest it is wasted.

“Whoa, whoa, that’s way too much responsibility,” John said. “I’m still trying to figure out how to balance school and boxing. I didn’t sign up for this.”

Ding! I know, I know. But when we’re called to do something, it’s our choice to answer the call or not. You’ve been called to be a hero, John Wright. You’ve been given a second chance. Now it’s your right to choose how to address things going forward after we deliver upon you some gifts to help.

“I don’t know how to take this anymore,” John said.

Ding! For showing a devoted battle ethic we’ve found admirable, we’ve helped you develop a new talent⁠—[Relentless Fighter, Rank 1]—granting you +1 Resilience and +1 Stamina with every personal level up.

For showing heroic quickness and care for another stranger in mortal peril, we’ve helped you develop another talent⁠—[Decisive Spirit, Rank 1]—granting you +1 Agility and +1 Soul with every personal level up.

With everything in place, here’s your long-awaited quest experience. John, you’ve leveled up from Lvl 12 to Lvl 13. You’ve leveled up again! From Lvl 13 to Lvl 14. Once more, you’ve leveled up from Lvl 14 to Lvl 15. How does it feel?

“It’s whatever, to be honest with you.” John didn’t feel much different. He still felt depressed. But when he dug a little deeper, he did find another feeling. It felt kind of mystified.

He didn’t wholly understand the system, rules, and everything that was going on. He was very uncertain how a saurian could exist or why all of this was happening. He tried to take what the person behind the system prompt was telling him seriously, but he was unsure of what could be truth or lie or omission. He was still bothered by the idea that he’d been bought and made to fight as part of a fantasy game.

Although, it’s good to know I’m not cheap.

John grimaced at the thought since it sounded like he was adjusting to all of this madness. The day was starting to set, the night was going to roll in, and he had an inkling things would get way worse in the dark.

Still, his parents had taught him to appreciate things as they come. It looked like the talents and new level-ups were going to help.

“Um, thanks for the talents and experience, I guess.”

Ding! You’re welcome!

Bringing up his interface, he glanced over at his attributes and saw that he had many unspent AP. The attributes affected by [Relentless Fighter] and [Decisive Spirit] had grown because of the level-ups. His attention focused on [Soul] mostly. Suddenly, his identify talent kicked in.

[Soul] - enables greater control of the central force that tethers oneself to many aspects mental, physical, magical, and spiritual; fortifies the component that motivates against the rigors of urmatian life, improving willpower

John gave it a good read-through a couple of times, ensuring that he understood what [Soul] was telling him. It was a lot of spiritual mumbo-jumbo, which he found appropriate for an attribute called [Soul].

He glanced at the other attributes, starting from the bottom.

[Intellect] - improves your brain’s information processing speed and mana channeling capacity; adds a minor boost in magic control and effectiveness.

[Poise] - improves defense against spells, recovery from mana burn; grants a slight increase in mana capacity.

[Perception] - grants greater depth of control and insight regarding all six senses⁠—sight, smell, taste, hearing, feel, and intuition.

[Agility] - adds to your speed and dexterity; improves reaction time slightly.

[Strength] - adds to your physical strength, striking power; grants minor toughness.

[Endurance] - increases your physical conditioning, adds to your ability to recover from exertion, and grants a minor boost to vitality.

[Resilience] - adds to your vitality, your toughness, your ability to regenerate from physical damages, your tolerance against sickness, disease, poisons, and other physical hazards.

Each of these seven attributes had an actual purpose that was understandable. Even [Intellect] and [Poise] had a logic to it John could understand when under the context of a game. It was also kind of cool that [Intellect] could speed up his ability to process information. However, he didn’t see himself putting too many points in it compared to other attributes he liked right off the bat. Regardless, these seven were now more understandable to him.

[Soul] stood as the exception.

Which kind of makes sense. It’s the freaking soul, y’know?

The best he could figure out was that [Soul] helped against the magical depression. Sounded appropriate.

John decided to pump 16 AP into [Soul]. Then he dumped the rest on [Strength] because he liked that attribute the most. If he could end a fight with one good hit, then so be it.

Immediately, John felt a little better. A little felt significant while suffering magic depression.

Ding! So, how do you like the points and stuff?

John eyed the system message suspiciously. “It helped.”

Ding! Good, good. Well, John, Xanhilt, this concludes our foray together. For now. I know it’s been trying, but I appreciate your willingness to work with me. Once I leave you, the system will run automatically. There’s lots more for you two to discover, of course, and I hope you find ways to enjoy yourselves. It can be hard out there, but it can also be fun!

Xanhilt hissed.

John grimaced.

Ding! Sigh. You guys are so harsh. Oh, well. It’s totally worth it after watching what you guys did today. It makes me hopeful, honestly.

Well, that doesn’t make me feel any better, John thought.

Ding! This leads me to this one last offer. Would you like me to designate a safe harbor around you? For the next two days, you’ll be encapsulated in a barrier that’ll protect you from monsters.

Xanhilt shifted in his seat, leaning forward with an interested gleam in his eye.

John was very interested, too. That sounded like a great deal. Even with the allocation to [Soul], John felt he would fall asleep and stay asleep for a long while. Two days of safety sounded more than enough to help him recover.

“I think I want to say yes,” John said.

“I find it a very much needed offer,” Xanhilt said. “It’ll give me time to come to terms with all that’s happened. And to rest.”

John nodded. “Looks like we’re both agreeing here. We’ll take the safe harbor.”

Ding! Dolala, the Goddess of Cheer, Children, and New Beginnings, has planted a safe harbor at your location. The safe harbor will stand for the next 48 hrs, protecting you from monsters. Leaving the safe harbor before the time expires will cancel the safe harbor.

John looked past the system prompt and noticed a shimmer in the air hundreds of feet away. The shimmer turned into a flash of light that traveled in an arc beyond John’s vision. What remained was a wavering dome that turned the sunset into a wiggling orange blob.

No, way.

John gaped. Out of all the things that had happened to him, he found the idea that a fantasy game goddess planting a barrier around him to be the most absurd. Yes, he agreed to the offer expecting protection, but seeing it actually happen was another thing.

Xanhilt flicked at the air with his tongue. “It just occurred to me that this is a substantial thing to happen for us.”

“Yup,” John said, still flabbergasted.

“Ding-dong,” Xanhilt called. “What is the cost of such a boon? I do not trust that you offer this for free, false-goddess.”

The person behind the system prompts⁠—Dolala, apparently⁠—didn’t respond.

“I think we’re really on our own now,” John said.

“I still feel displeased,” Xanhilt said. “I’ve never exhibited so many emotions before like this.”

“Well, maybe we should sleep it off,” John lied back against the loamy floor. It felt kind of comfy.

“Are you sure we should let things end like this?” Xanhilt asked.

A fish splashed up from the water, catching a fly. John found it interesting that the forest seemed so lifeless until reaching this stream. Heck, the mist was suddenly gone from around them. The safe harbor might’ve cut off whatever was feeding the mist.

“I’m a boxer,” John said. “Or I was a boxer. Either way, you gotta take breaks in between the spars and fights. And with the way I feel, I’m due for a… I’m….”

John couldn’t even finish his words. He felt very comfortable here. He’d been through a lot. His spirit… his [Soul]... needed rest.

Xanhilt plunged his makeshift spear through a river fish, finally catching one after an hour of trial and error. The young saurian sighed heavily with relief. He had been pushing himself to make survival preparations after the strange scale-lacking human had fallen asleep. Xanhilt felt weary, too, but he was too hungry to let himself rest right now.

He had to eat, or he would turn toward the most available meal. It was quite silly of John to fall asleep without ensuring his safety amid a hungry carnivore. Even Xanhilt’s herbivore friends ensured that boundaries were set at all times while they studied together for the star fleet exams. While in those centers of astute learning, Xanhilt found himself on even terms with herbivores. He felt less like a carnivore. It got to the point that mother had found it suspicious.

But then the accident happened, and Xanhilt found himself in a new world. A primitive and savage one. He could feel himself becoming something akin to a war carnivore, especially during the battle. His ravenous hunger wanted to nibble on John multiple times! Now he was sullen, desperate for food, and trying to keep himself from eating his new companion, John.

“Thank you, fish,” Xanhilt said reverently. “For you will aid my continued survival in this supposed second life.”

Xanhilt gobbled the fish up. It was a fresh and tasty meal. It helped him a lot. He almost felt the heavy aura that was weighing him down start to lift off of him. It still clung to him, though, which suggested that he truly did need rest. But it wasn’t as bad as before. Despite the tremendous ability to improve one’s own attributes based on arbitrary game logic, certain bodily needs remained a necessity.

It was a full night now. The mist had cleared away. From here near the creek, Xanhilt could see a sky of bent and curvy starlight. The barrier made it look more abstract than any painting he’d ever seen, and it was quite beautiful. He was supposed to be going up there once he proved himself as a cadet-worthy. He was supposed to travel on a saurian spacecraft that would explore new worlds.

But I died, Xanhilt thought.

How’d he ended up here⁠—he was unsure. But he wanted to get to the bottom of it. Dolala’s explanation wasn’t enough for him. He hoped he could investigate further without losing himself to his carnivorous urges or dying again.

He prayed to his ancestors and settled down several paces away from John.

The human was a fascinating creature. Ridiculously rash. The actions he’d committed today were both worthy of praise and ridicule depending on the carnivore or herbivore that observed. Then again, Xanhilt had acted foolishly as well when he neared the mimic.

If there was one thing that was for sure, Xanhilt felt very indebted to John. It made Xanhilt’s concerns about his carnivorous side greater. If he’d been born like a herbivore, he wouldn’t have to struggle. He wouldn’t have to worry so much to control himself while under a lot of stress.

I really am curious of what a human tastes like, Xanhilt thought. But I will not give in to my baser urges.

“He risked himself to save me, someone very different from him,” Xanhilt said. “On my ancestor’s honor, I shall aid him as best I can while we learn more of this world.”

John Wright, Lvl 15

Race: Outerhuman, Rank 2

Weapon Art:

Blessing: One Good Punch, Rank 2

Total AP: 189

Resilience: 20

Stamina: 30

Strength: 56

Agility: 20

Perception: 17

Poise: 9

Intellect: 9

Soul: 28

Unspent: 0

Talents: [Relentless Fighter, Rank 1], [Decisive Spirit, Rank 1], [Identify, Rank 2], [Urmatia Linguistics, Rank 1], [Inner Compass, Rank 1].

Weapon Skills:

Magic Cores: [Ratel Rookie, MCP 8], [Brightlight Orb, MCP 2].

Available MCP: 5

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