You have five minutes to prepare for Challenge 2. For Challenge 2, you will be divided into twenty-seven groups of nine and sent into separate instances. Each instance will have an amount of monsters totaling 220 Points. The first eight students to earn 25 Points will pass, while anyone who does not manage it by the time the others have or not enough Points remain will die. If a student in an instance dies and three hours have passed without more than two succeeding, all others alive will succeed immediately. Intentionally attacking or bringing harm to another student is forbidden and will result in death.

Nathan sighed as he read the message, leaning back into his seat. According to the Tutorial, monsters gave varying amounts of Points. It was possible, then, that only seven could pass due to the way the Points worked. There were enough Points for everyone in an instance to earn twenty-four, with four students earning twenty-five.

However, that relied heavily on if the students earned them evenly, or only one student earned Points at a time. It was also possible that if all monsters gave two Points, then only four would pass. And it wasn't unlikely four monsters to give two Points, he knew.

Of course, it was also set up so that eight could pass. It just relied on the kills, and whether or not there were enough Points leftover after the seventh victor.

Then there was the condition that they could all succeed if no more than two had succeeded and someone died. It made no comment about if someone died within three hours, so it was likely that if someone did, they'd all be stuck there until either they passed or they died.

However, the System made it clear that intentionally causing that would result in one's own death. It was possible that someone could be tricked into it, but Nathan suspected the System would register that as intentionally causing them to die, which would result in three deaths.

Then there was the chance someone would suicide that way intentionally.

So many factors to account for, before even considering that they had to play this twisted game and kill the monsters.

The timer ticked down to zero, then disappeared, leaving a message stating their second Challenge had begun.

Nathan looked at the other eight remaining students. Samantha and Keith were among them, but the rest were from other initial instances. He knew most of them, too, though instead of talking further, he simply stood up and left.

Keith had already moved, and when Nathan reached the hall, he bore witness to a series of slashes of air cutting through the several monsters already in the hall. Knowing that following Keith would mean taking longer to kill things, Nathan turned and walked in the opposite direction, towards the front of the school.

When he reached the first monster, he quickly jabbed at it with his right fist a few times, and the creature flew backwards, slamming into the wall. Nathan pushed off with a foot, springing forward, and connected his fist with the monster's throat, performing the final strike to it, as noted by the counter in his vision going from zero of twenty-five to one of twenty-five, along with the appearance of a message.

+1 Point

Ignoring it, Nathan continued his path to the front of the school, killing four more monsters and earning five more points by the time he reached the doors, in addition to two more Levels. He gained another Point when he hit Level 4, though his Point Counter for the Challenge didn't increase, meaning he'd have to earn all of the Points for the Challenge through killing the monsters.

Pushing the doors open, Nathan quickly struck down the monster lurking just outside the door, managing to score another two-point kill, bringing his total up to nine.

Nathan then ran across the parking lot and towards the small field beside it, taking down monsters as he passed. They were tough, but he was fast enough and strong enough to handle most of them with only a few strikes, especially if he struck at critical points, dealing extra damage as a result.

When he finally earned his final kill, earning two Points, Nathan found himself immediately inside the cafeteria again, with the only other students present being Keith and Madeline. The two of them weren't arguing this time, but sitting as far away from each other as they could, with Keith in the main section of the cafeteria, Madeline in the side section, the two of them facing away from each other.

They must have fought again, Nathan thought to himself. They're like a pair of lovers.

Nathan made his way to a spot in a corner and sat with his back to the corner, facing the rest of the visible space as he read the notification in his vision.

Challenge 2 Completed! +2 Stat Points +2 Skill Points +20 Points Challenge 3 will begin after Rest 2 concludes. The next stage will begin 60 minutes after all instances have completed. Restock allowed through the tables in the MPR. You may take up to two of each item you began with. Attempt to take more or items you did not start with will result in death. You must be within the MPR when the 60 minutes end.

Restock? Nathan frowned, stood and made his way into the MPR, which did, indeed, have tables upon tables of supplies. Up to two for each of the potential two hundred sixteen students. However, based on the lower counts of supplies for the respective sexes, that meant that it factored in who actually had them.

He was sure that if tried to take a razor, he'd die, the same way the student did before he'd entered in Rest 1.

If we're being allowed to restock when we likely haven't had anything…

Nathan added more food to his bag, as well as two more water bottles, resting the latter objects on top of everything. With his bag filled with what he could get into it, Nathan sat in a corner and faced the room.

Without a doubt, the next Challenge would take longer. There was no other explanation as to why they were allowed to restock then, which suggested it would be a good idea to at least stock up on food and water.

He contemplated checking Guciardo's classroom to see if his backpack was still there and full of what it originally had. If it did, then he had a little additional food at his disposal. Same with his locker.

In the end, he decided to just rest until the next thing happened. If his backpack and locker were the same as when he arrived, it would be useful to check if that was the same during a Challenge. If so, that would extend his food supply in Challenges.

Closing his eyes, Nathan took stock of his current allowance. He had six Stat Points to use, as well as eight Skill Points. Without hesitation, Nathan added three to Strength, two to Speed, and one to Mana.

A message that appeared when he reached Level 10 informed Nathan that he had acquired access to the Skills Shop, so he accessed that next.

Skills Shop 8 Scan: 5 Skill Points Item Box: 5 Skill Points Impact: 5 Skill Points

The first two seemed pretty obvious to Nathan in what they were and did.

The first one was likely their way of allowing them to see the Health and Mana of others – he could see bars of them in his own vision at all times, as well as their numerical values, but he couldn't for anyone else.

It was possible that it also allowed the viewing of them on monsters, which was a better reason for getting them. He knew how many hits it would take him to take down something that earned one Point and something that earned Two Points just from fighting so far, but that would give him a better gauge for when he came up against something stronger.

Item Box, the second available Skill, was likely the System's version of the Inventory in games. So far in the game, there was no mention of an Inventory, which only added to Nathan's suspicion. Knowing things so far in the game, however, he believed that it would likely have a strict limitation on how much it could contain.

For the third available Skill, Impact, it could go either way, based on the game's nature so far. It was possible that it increased impacts given to him, but the most likely result was that he would be able to increase the force of his impacts, making it perfect for his martial arts.

"Impact," he said, and it immediately spent 5 Skill Points, reducing the number at the top down to three.

He would acquire Item Box next, as he would reach enough for it after just four more Levels, or another Challenge completion. With the Skill obtained, Nathan read its information.

Impact Level 1 Damage increase: 5% of your Speed per Level of this Skill. Cost: 10 Mana

Good thing I have a bit more than ten, now, he thought to himself, clearing the notification and pulling up the Tutorial to see if it added in a section on Skills.

Reading through it, he learned that every tenth Level, three new Skills would be added to the Skills Shop based on his actions so far, costing Skill Points to obtain. Skills went up in Level by investing Skill Points into them, though they only required a single Skill Point per Level. It also listed that most Skills had Level Caps.

Finishing the Tutorial on Skills, Nathan closed it, then opened up the Points Shop.

Points Shop 51 1 Stat Point: 10 Points Weapon Level 3 Upgrade: 20 Points 1 Skill Point: 25 Points Food Restock: 25 Points Drinks Restock: 25 Points Toiletries Restock: 25 Points Medical Restock (Basic): 25 Points Mana Potion (20 Mana): 40 Points Health Potion (50 Health): 40 Points Medical Restock (Adv.): 50 Points Item Drop: 50 Points Weapon Repair Kit: 50 Points

So we can see what we can afford, then.

He could afford to buy five Stat Points, if he wanted to use those, but he could also upgrade his weapon or buy another two Skill Points. It also allowed him to restock his supplies, though he did not have enough room left in his backpack to risk having extra.

In the end, he dismissed the message without spending his Points. Would upgrading his weapon be worth it over buying more Stat Points? The only change would be adding another 5 damage to its Burst, or half of its current value.

While he wasn't able to access the Points Shop in a Challenge unless seventy-two hours had passed, depending on how long the next one took, he might need to use his Points during it, and he didn't know how many Points he would have.

At least it looks like we'll be receiving decent amounts of Points after each Challenge.

That meant they would be able to at least restock a bit better, even if they weren't able to through something like the MPR's current supply run. The game had likely counted on them buying Item Box to stock up more, but Nathan was a combat guy. Obtaining weapons and combat techniques was more his style.

Closing his eyes, Nathan leaned back against the wall, resting. He listened as some of the other students showed up, a few of them adding to their stock based on the sounds they made, though overall, most didn't sound like they did.

Samantha tried talking with Nathan at one point, though he didn't respond. Fighting the monsters, while it might have been 'easy' for him, took a fair bit of energy, especially since he killed nineteen in the second wave and had done so quickly.

He needed to utilize his energy more efficiently. His new sensei, who had begun training him after he quit the dojo, was always on him about that. Nathan had a massive amount of stamina, which meant he could spar for an hour or more, but he never really saw the point of maximizing its usage, since fights often ended fast for him.

Here, however, that was different. They seemed to be launched from one fight to another, so he needed to rest and focus on using his energy more efficiently. Not a big change for him in fighting style, but the rest was needed.

Once everyone had arrived, they assembled in the MPR, and the timer appeared once more. Samantha sat down beside Nathan, mentioning that it looked like he'd stocked up his bag. He simply nodded in response, not bothering to speak.

"Looks like everyone," she said. "Or nearly everyone, reach Level 10 during Challenge 2. That was probably the intent and purpose behind it. Counting… we lost another forty-three. sixteen more than the minimum losses. With the Skill Shop, everyone had Scan and Item Box available, as well as one additional Skill."

Nathan nodded, knowing she was asking if his was the same.

"Did you buy anything from the Points Shop?"

Nathan didn't respond, and Samantha let out a small chuckle.

"Keeping it a secret, huh?" She asked, and he nodded. "I don't blame you – I wouldn't trust half the students here. Some of the students received healing spells as their third Skill, and took it, which was good, I suppose. Being able to use your Mana to heal yourself would be a definite boost, though they don't know if it'll work on their bodies and not just the Health."

Nathan nodded. He knew that was true, though that also meant one expected to receive enough damage to their Health during a Challenge that it was needed. Nathan knew that the Challenges would likely only grow harder and that he'd eventually start taking significant damage, but that would likely be a ways off.

If the healing spells only worked on Health, that would be a negative. There was no point to it if they couldn't heal their bodies as well.

Instead of responding to Samantha's continued low chatter, Nathan continued to rest until the timer ticked down to zero. He'd need all of his energy for what was coming next, whatever it was.

Another opportunity to eat, which he and many of the others accepted, though Nathan noted that the crowd surrounding Michael stuck around. The jock was discussing his exploits and how easy it was for him to make it through the Challenges so far.

After the meal began, they had two more hours to rest up, then another twenty to gather in the MPR. When the final timer ticked down, the next challenge began.