“I need to figure out how to play this “game” pronto.” He whispered to himself.

It took him twenty minutes to cautiously creep back up the hill to the ranger station. He barely heard any sounds of wildlife. It was as if the entire forest knew two champions had battled, but no one knew who had won. That should buy him some time. He was cut and scratched and battered all over his body, but for some reason, he wasn't feeling all that bad. By the time he made it back up to the top of the hill, the cuts on his hands were nearly gone.

3

The first thing Bowen did when he made it back to the station was to check the ATV. It was a total bust... After a whole thirty seconds of inspecting the vehicle, his perspective on the monsters had changed. The bear was disabling the human's way to escape! The big custom cooler he had mounted on the back was barely touched, but the engine was torn to pieces. These new breed of animals were smart!

His next act was to loot the station of anything useful and then check up on this class business. When he stepped inside the lights didn't work, the radio was out, his cellphone and tablet weren't turning on... He was starting to make himself panic the more he thought about it all. Taking a deep breath he started talking to himself. “Focus on what's in front of you. Get one job at a time done. Make it home alive.”

There was a single glowing crystal sitting on a pedestal to the right of the door. Bowen touched the crystal and was met with a prompt:

The Park's Ranger Station 121 can be turned into a fort, would you like to take control of the fort?

(Y/N)

Bowen looked up at the ceiling and back down at the crystal and said out loud,

“Yes.”

Congratulations! You are now Commander of the Park's Ranger Station 121 fort.

Population: 1/1

Assigned Guards: 0/20

Structural Integrity: 100/100

Upgrades: None

First fort won!

Bonus +3000 Experience Awarded

He looked at the sky outside the window. It was late afternoon and knew he would be spending the night there. The first thing he did was close all of the heavy metal storm guards over the windows. The heavy metal door was secured and the desk propped in front of it. Seeing his lunch from earlier made him hungry, so he wolfed it down and then he started to concentrate.

Bowen had no idea how to work the system, so instead in his head he just kept naming things he remembered from his son's video games until something worked. “Umm... Skillset, special moves, attributes, spells, mana, profile, status... A status panel popped into view.

Bowen Brownbear Shotridge:

Level 1 No Class assigned Blah blah blah blah...

100 health mana stamina...OK. 13 Str, 12 Agi, 10 Con, 16 Int, 16 Will, 12 Perception? 10 Char, 10 Luck. He saw that he had 30 points to assign, but held back on those until he had a class and knew what he needed to put his points in. He checked below the stats and saw: Unassigned perk attributes. He focused on that and saw a list of small, medium, and large perks, and a single greater one. He focused on greater and it was his class option. It seemed he was being offered a unique advanced indigenous class.

He started scrolling through the list, there was A LOT! Native Americans sure were imaginative people! For every class he recognized there were ten he did not. There had to have been 400 classes. Most were animals. Coyotes, Thunderbirds, Lechuza, Sasquatch, Piasa Birds, Wendigos, Wolfmen... The list seemed to go on and on. He had no interest in possibly being permanently turned into an animal, so he narrowed the list to humans only.

The human list had all the normal scout and warrior choices, but some unique ones also. Shaman, Spirit Guide, War Chief, Elemental Warrior, Witch Doctor…

Then his eyes spied something that caught his attention. Something that he had just watched about on a TV show. A Skin-Walker! His family had watched this show about a famous ranch where a Skin-Walker supposedly lived and it was caught on camera. Skin-Walkers were supposed to be some kind of evil, nefarious witches who could go invisible, change into any animal, and possess people. He focused on the link and read up on the class:

Heritage Advanced Class: Skin-Walker

The Skin-Walker is a unique hidden class available only to Native American Indians. So little is known of this class that it is impossible for anyone to discover any details of its abilities without choosing the class. This class is so feared by its own peoples that high charisma levels are required to maintain its use. It is recommended to never reveal this class choice to anyone.

Class abilities +2 per level in strength, agility and constitution +3 per level in intelligence and willpower. +4 per level in charisma. +1 per level in luck. Additional +3 free attributes per level.

+100% mental resistance and attack. +50% animal affinity. +50% Elemental affinity

Disguised class title.

Requirements: Class is ready to be used.

Warning: This is an ADVANCED class. Stat acquistion progression will advance from the normal level of 1 and up.

Bonus perk weapon: First nations elemental All-Weapon. This weapon may be changed at will to any weapon ever used by an Indigenous person of the planet Earth. The weapon is soulbound and upgradable.

“Wow!” The class sounded scary as all hell, not even knowing exactly what it did. Obviously, mental power was important to the class, so possession and mind damaging enemies were possible. Animal affinity was huge in his book and just the thought of being able to change into an animal like a bird, or cat, or wolf! The thought sent shivers down his spine. He needed to check his other perk options first though in case they leaned in a totally different direction.

He was going to need to hide A LOT just to make it out of the park so he searched for a camo skill. He doubted that if he was ever in an animal form he would be able to go invisible, that seemed too overpowered. He narrowed the search down and came up with quite a few, but one stood out for his needs.

Leaf Tailed Gecko skin

Gecko can adapt to any background even hiding their shadows and eyeballs at a moment's notice making them virtually invisible.

Bowen was going to need some kind of temporary invulnerable defense if the shit hit the fan and he couldn't get away. He found:

Earthlodge

Unique heritage ability

The spirit of the Earth itself forms an impenetrable lodge that sinks into the ground and all but disappears.

In group usage, it very slowly leaches the life from those within to hold its form. In single form combat use, it will surround the user with a mantle of crust able to take huge amounts of damage for a very short time.

When he focused on the large perk he was surprised to see a red blinking string of text telling him:

You have not chosen any advisory tech to this point. The most important thing you can have in the System is knowledge of it, which you have none of. There is one large perk we HIGHLY recommend you take. This will be your last chance to acquire this perk.

Ancestor's Totem

A spiritual advisor with in-depth knowledge of the system. This totem can be helpful as an advisor for you and your people if used within an indigenous city.

Camouflage, protection, and informed advice. Three things he needed.

Bowen chose all three of the perks and sat back and waited. Except for a momentary tingling on his skin, he felt nothing change. He was holding something in his hand and looked down to see a miniature totem. He held it up to his face and said, “Hello ancestor will you please come and advise me?” He got no response so he put the totem down on the floor and called out to it again... nothing. He picked the thing up and shook it. Nada. He patted the bottom like a ketchup bottle. Zilch. Starting to get frustrated and angry he started shouting at the totem, “Hey man what the fuck?! I used a greater perk for you, what is happening?”

He heard a chuckle behind him and spun around looking down to see an old, smallish, First Nations looking man sitting cross-legged on the floor packing a sacred pipe and grinning at him. He could see through the old man as if he were a ghost.

“Sorry about that Brownbear, I had to run and pick something up real quick.”

Bowen looked at him packing the bowl and said, “Let me guess, some smoke maybe?”

The man smiled at him and said, “Why yes, it has been over 200 years since I have had good smoke and I am dying to try out this new weed!”

Bowen frowned at him. “Do you mean cannabis?” Is that what that bowl is for? Just to get high?”

The man waved the pipe at him. “Don't disrespect your ancestors you little shit! This is a sacred pipe and it has been used to smoke many many things. I am just using it right now for some cannabis...”

Bowen shrugged and sat down across from him. “Just take it easy, OK? That stuff has come a long way since you last roamed the Earth and it is very strong now. I have a lot of questions and want to talk about my class choice before you get all glassy-eyed.”

The ancestor looked at him and smiled. “Sounds good to me, just let me take one puff before we start.”

The man put the stem to his lips and drew in long and hard and held it for all of two seconds before blasting out a huge cloud of smoke and coughing like mad. “MOTHER EARTH! You weren't kidding Brownbear, this is some heavy ass dank man!”

Bowen gave him a hard long stare before breaking out into a full on laugh. “Heavy ass dank?” Where did you learn such a term? I thought you have been dead for 200 years?”

The old man was wiping tears from his eyes and looked up and said, “I... I really don't know. I guess I have had recent Earth terminology uploaded into me or something. I seem to know quite a bit about recent events.”

“OK, so what is your name? What do I call you?” Bowen asked.

The old man looked up as if searching for something. “Hmm, I don't seem to recall my name, I guess you should just call me Ancestor as that seems to be my designation.”

Bowen frowned and said, “That seems a tad bit formal. I will call you Tor in private and Ancestor in formal settings if we ever make it to that point.”

The ancient nodded accepting the name and said, “Now down to business Brownbear. You need to pick out a class so your attribute points are allocated, you are going to need all of them, trust me. Now tell me what you are thinking.”

“I have already browsed through some of the advanced class choices, and have looked long and hard at two of them,” Bowen said. “The War Chief looks by far to be the strongest Native class choice, it is heavily focused on battle skills…”

The old man said, “I hear a “but” coming.”

Bowen nodded... “BUT, I am in a real pickle here, my number one concern is getting back to Juneau to my family. Just getting out of this level 110 park is going to be hard enough and take me days! The real problem is going to be trying to get back down to Juneau. There are no roads, I had to get here by seaplane! I cringe just thinking how long it will take me now!”

Tor nodded “So you are going to need something that is good at traveling swiftly as well as having stealth yes? What was the other class you looked at?”

Bowen hesitated for a second and said, “I don't know all that much about it, but the class that seems suited to my needs is the Skin-Walker.”

The Ancestor put a hand to his chest, a look of shock on his face. “Are you an evildoer in this world?” Bowen shook his head, but before he could say anything else the old man said, “Skin-walkers are evil! They possess people and do horrible deeds with other bodies! They take over huge areas and become viciously territorial! They are among the worst killers of all of the People!”

Bowen said, “A top killer huh? Sounds like that is just what this new world calls for. Besides, they can shape shift into animals, right? I can travel at a much much higher speed as an animal. Hell, I will become an Eagle and just fly to Juneau!”

The old man laughed. “It's a damn good thing you have me here. Flying at low levels is maybe the worst thing you could do right now! The air is the least safe spot on this planet at the moment, you wouldn't last five minutes before a Griffon or Manticore grabbed you! Do you know that there are dragons here now!? No flying until you are a much much higher level.”

Bowen sat down across from the man. “But changing into an animal? I am not one-hundred percent sure what Skin-Walkers can do, but from what I have seen they are very hard to detect. I also picked up a camo perk and an earth shelter to hide in, so I can slowly, but safely travel.”

Tor seemed to be considering all of this and said, “I understand your need to get back to your family, but I am thinking long term if we manage to get out of this park and back to your family.” Bowen said, “Well what's the problem long term?”

The old man sighed and said, “Bowen, there is a reason that skin-walkers are so feared. They can possess others, but that isn't the real problem. The ability to control others takes over Skin-Walkers to the point where they are not really in control of themselves. The more they use the power the more normal it feels to them until they no longer can see anything wrong with it.”

Tor sighed “This is why they are seen as evil, they have an ultimate power over others and it becomes second nature for them to use it without barely a thought for the morality of the action.”

Bowen thought for a minute before saying, “So I won't use that power unless its an emergency, what's the big deal?”

Tor said, “The big deal is that people can feel that power coming off of you in an aura. You will need to constantly waste points on charisma just to fight off the fear you will instill on everyone. These points are wasted instead of making you more powerful. More than that, the more points you dump into charisma, the more easily you will be able to influence other people, turning you into a kind of trickster. Believe me, this is a very scary power to hold over others, walking around like a demi-god, having people agree with every word you say. You could easily lose yourself to it. Have you ever heard the phrase “absolute power corrupts absolutely?” there is a real reason that it is a commonly used phrase.”

Bowen said, “Unless you can figure out a better class for me to get out of this predicament, I am going to take the class. Are there any other downsides to it besides becoming a trickster?”

Tor said, “Well it is going to become kind of expensive, you will probably not receive many actual combat skills, meaning you will have to level up the skills themselves by yourself and then buy out of class special moves in the galactic store. You will never have to buy another weapon because they are giving you the All-Weapon, so that sets off the cost a bit I guess.”

Bowen raised his eyebrows at that. “Galactic store? What is that?”

Tor replied, “The store is provided by the system in population centers where ever owners can afford to put one. They are used for buying and selling anything you can think of, food, information, weapons, etc.”

Bowen asked, “Will I get one with the city for the Native peoples?”

Tor nodded “Your notification said one city with all perks, a store will be included for sure. Our only problem will be getting somewhere for you to be able to place a city. You will need to find somewhere that the levels are low enough so that our people aren't slaughtered the second they step outside of its gates.”

Bowen replied, “That’s not going to be an issue, I’m taking Juneau regardless.”

Tor sighed, “I still think this is a big mistake, I recommend that you take the War Chief class, it will suit you much better as a future city owner. Well whatever you are going to choose, do it now. It will be painful and we will lose some time, so let's get it over with now before something comes and tries to eat you.”

Bowen said, “Painful? How painful? Why is there pain in choosing a class?”

Tor smirked and said, “Just pick one now, we will talk later over the why of it.” Bowen stared at the two choices he had favored sitting in front of him. He hesitated, thinking about how this choice was going to change him...

His mind made up he chose the class.

It felt like he was being electrocuted as pain shot through his body. His jaws clenched tight stopping him from screaming. His bones felt like they were cracking and resetting themselves. He could see Tor hovering over him looking down with concern on his face. He fell to the ground and started convulsing, flopping around like a fish out of water.

Then, nothing but the darkness again...