Survivors of Earth. This is a planet wide message to all. Congratulations for surviving the Tutorial phase of the integration process. There are many of you out there who have gone above the standard, and more who have fallen into despair.

This marks the beginning of Phase 1 of the integration. All benefits and protections granted from the Tutorial Phase are now gone. Dungeons are opened, healing and recovery rates are no longer magically enhanced by The System.

When you first were introduced to your new way of life, a quarter of your population instantly died. Since then, hundreds of thousands of you have perished, reducing your old world's population to a measly 39% of what it once was. For those of you still alive, as a reward, receive an upgrade to your [Survivor] title.

Phase 1 has many new changes introduced. Monsters from other worlds, new items from shops, and lastly a way to see progress amongst your peers. There are new options available at Hearth Crystals within safe zones.

In 365 of your planet's days, Phase 1 will end. Those who hold ownership over Hearth Crystals, Dungeons, and several other important structures will be granted additional titles, powers, and more.

Your planet is in chaos, at the end of Phase 1, the process of bringing it to the standards of other planets begins. Good luck Survivors.

Title: Survivor II - For surviving the claim of The System, and the Tutorial Phase you have been awarded an increase to overall health. +10 to Vitality

Mathew was in the middle of his morning run when the boxes appeared. He stopped and after reading over it three times he swore. “This is not good.”

He instantly turned around and went to where the General’s office was. He knew Payne would want him there, and decided to save himself a bit of annoyance by going there now. Upon entering the building he didn’t see the chaos he expected. It seemed like everything was the same.

He did see a group escorting Payne out of his office. A few of them pointed guns at Mathew, but Payne started to shout at them. “Knock it off! That’s Mathew. Killing him is just as bad as killing me.”

Mathew was about to start running away at the sight of the guns. Payne’s demand to not shoot him was a nice relief. General Payne pointed at Mathew. “You, with me. We are going to the Hearth Crystal to see what the hell changed with it.”

Mathew nodded and was soon next to Payne being escorted on foot across the base. Mathew noticed three familiar faces of Holly, Lucas, and Samuel. He then realized this was going to be the raid team that would invade the Dungeon.

“Have enough protection?” Mathew asked snarkily.

“Quiet you, you saw the message. I’m in danger now. More people are going to risk attacking me for power. I can’t risk the safety of others now.”

Mathew shook his head. “Then why am I within stabbing distance of you?”

“Because, you can’t harm me, or suffer some bad punishments from the contract, or did you already forget those? Out of everyone, you are one of the few I know that can’t harm me without getting away from a punishment.”

Mathew didn’t say anything else while they traveled, keeping his plans to himself. The base had several people out and talking about the newest announcement from The System. Dozens were flocking toward where the Hearth Crystal was.

At the sight of the large group and General Payne, the sea of people split, most of them stopping and going a different direction. Payne was not in his normal military uniform, sporting gear commonly seen inside the shops.

Mathew was curious as to why he was already dressed for battle, but didn’t say anything aloud. For now, he kept himself. He just prayed Payne was not already going to the Dungeon this quickly. That would be a huge hitch to his plans.

The Hearth Crystal had long since become a public space. Guards still remained constantly around it to ensure nobody attempted to damage or take it. It was the same open courtyard, the sight of it all too familiar with Mathew by now.

A few rumors of people attempting to steal it did exist. Even with Paynes warning, people craved power, no matter the warnings. They were all shot instantly, with various explanations from Payne ranging from they were attempting to damage it, to they were a horrible criminal attempting to escape into the shops for safety.

Right now, a large group of people were by the crystal, and Payne started to bark out orders.

“Get out of our way!”

“Move, or you will be arrested!”

“If anyone else touches the Hearth Crystal I will have you shot on grounds of terrorism!”

Soon everyone was several feet away from the crystal. Mathew was slightly impressed...only slightly. He did have to admit Payne had an aura of leadership, but it was not respected by everyone, only feared.

To Mathew, the Hearth Crystal visibly looked the same. A large red crystal that floated a foot off the ground. It was the same car sized object he saw for the first time over a month ago. Payne put his hand on it, and his eyes unfocused for several moments.

Mathew just stood there next to Mr. Melton and the others, not caring too much about what he was doing. Instead he looked at the others around, whispers from those who already touched it and accessed it were whispering what they saw.

The few things Mathew heard were interesting. However, until he saw it himself, he would wait to form any final conclusions.

It was a full ten minutes before Payne let go of the crystal. He stood there with his eyes wide. “It’s gone, the shop is gone.”

Mathew shook his head disappointedly. “So that’s why you made that deal, Di. Clever bastard.”

“Melton, Mathew, you too Holly. I want your opinion on the situation, you three check it out.”

Mathew didn’t need any further push, since he was excited by the situation. He placed a hand on it and was amazed at what he saw.

Firstly he confirmed that the option to go to a store was indeed gone. Secondly, the option to claim the crystal for himself somehow seemed even more enticing. The promise of further rewards at the end of Phase 1 were almost something he could taste.

The new options were two tabs. Both equally interesting: Ranking Board & Territory.

Mathew selected Territory first. The name ‘Military Base - Payne’ was in the middle. Followed by a spider web of other names all linked to one at the top labled ‘New White House’. Mathew realized it was a dominion claim of some sort. A way to know which crystal was owned by who, and who were allies, enemies, or higher up in the chain of ownership.

Sadly, there was no geographical overlay to see where each of them were, but the list was massive. Mathew had to guess that nearly every military or government owned area that had a Hearth Crystal had been linked up to each other, all under the ownership of the current President.

Seeing this now led Mathew to wonder what other options Payne had available. The System mentioned buildings being now available to purchase. So that had to be something he could do, but what about other things? Could Payne see a map? What about communication relays? The internet seemed to be down, would this thing replace it? Or did he still have access to it?

Mathew set aside those questions for now, he had no way to answer them. He opened the Ranking tab and froze.

Name

Level

Zachary Man

29

Ekaja

20

Ju-Long

19

Peter Adrews

19

Jasen Beck

19

Zoey Beckham

18

Christian Smith

18

Mark McGonald

18

Bethany McGonald

18

Flippa Orloff

18

Kris Bolotin

18

---

---

Yu-Shin

15

Mathew McGonald

15

Elizabeth White

15

Mathew stared at the list of names for several moments. It was a lot, almost too much. Not only was the current highest level ten more than his own, but two names stared at him like the eyes of a snake.

Mark, his eldest brother and Bethany, his niece. Out of all his nephews and nieces, she was the one he tolerated the most. Was it because she was only a couple years younger than him and they grew up as close? Maybe, but he wouldn’t admit it. She was, after all, a spitting image of her grandmother, Mathew’s mother.

Seeing both of their names was an emotional sledgehammer to Mathew. He hasn’t thought of his family since the first night. He scrolled to find more names of his family, and was surprised to see all his brothers there. The lowest in level at 10, Mark being the highest at 18. Just what has he done to warrant such a level? Mathew nearly lost his life twice and was three whole levels lower. Just how strong was he?

Mathew clenched his jaw and composed himself before closing the tabs. He turned back to Payne and locked eyes with him. Instantly he knew the general also saw the names. Mathew played it off that he didn’t care. He almost didn’t, but seeing one of his brothers being better than him was one thing. Seeing Mark up there? That is what did him in.

Mark was the only brother Mathew used to look up to. He was, after all, the ultimate big brother. Being nearly twenty years older than you, he was a full adult with a family before Mathew could even read and write. It was shortly after his trial that the two stopped talking.

“This isn’t good.” Mr. Melton spoke up. “A ranking system puts people as targets. When people see they are higher leveled and stronger than someone who holds a Hearth Crystal, they will attack them to take it.

Mr. Melton almost hid his glance toward Mathew from him...almost.

“That’s why we have our current objective,” Payne spoke up louder and turned to his team. “Are you all ready to move?”

One of the men with a pair of wands strapped to his legs nodded. “Give us thirty minutes to finish packing and we are moving.”

The group headed back toward Paynes office. Mr. Melton and Mathew were to remain there and wait there until Payne returned. They only made it halfway before alarm sirens started to blare across the whole base.

Typically one or two alarms would go off when creatures attacked the walls and the guards were getting overran. Once a group of troublemakers attempted to attack the base, when they saw how outmatched they were, they fled back to the city.

Hearing all the alarms across the base could only mean something far worse was happening. Mathew looked around and caught a glimpse of something in the sky flying. It was near the north gate, the gate that was closest to the dungeon.

Payne barked orders for the group to go to the flying creature, and to help take out whatever is attacking. Mathew was included, which put a smile on his face. He could get in a fight and truly test his newest powers.

As they ran, Mathew summoned his two orbs, channeling it through his rod. It was awkward to do so while moving, and he almost lost his focus, but he had no time to stop.

Two balls of blue floated out with a small difference than in the past. The two wisps were denser in color, and slightly larger. The one Mathew called Wispy was darker in color, the only way he was able to tell them apart. While Whis seemed to have a more aggressive blue flame surrounding it. Only Mathew could notice the difference, since he was with them so often.

Others only noticed it when Mathew pointed it out. Zack called him crazy, unable to see the difference, but Leo could, or said he could. Sometimes his horrible poker face worked in his favor. It was hard to tell the difference between a lie and someone not caring.

Mathew sadly didn’t have his armor, and knew he would have to play it safe. Luckily his entire fighting style involved sitting back, and letting others get hurt.

Once they were within sight of the gates, more flying creatures were around. Small balls of fire rained down onto people. Payne cursed at the new type of enemy. These were not forest creatures they were used to, no these would be a much formidable enemy to fight.

In the sky were fat and ugly child sized pigs, with wings and horns. Their skin was pinkish red, and had no clothing of any kind. One or two held staves or wands that looked like pitchforks, blasting stronger flames down on the people. Leathery wings protuded from their backs.

Mathew looked at the closest one, and whipped out his Rod to blast a black bolt of energy at it. Either it was weak, or didn’t have enough time to defend from the attack because it was soon falling to the ground. A slight splat came from it once it connected with the ground.

Mathew commanded his wisps to start attacking while maintaining his own barrage. The soldiers that were surrounding him and Payne started to shoot their guns. The flying creatures were very agile in the air, able to move in all three spatial directions. It was hard to aim properly.

Payne himself pulled out a handgun and fired while barking orders. Mathew decided to leave the group to find safe cover from the overhead attacks. He glanced around and ran to a few trees nearby.

He used the branches to hide himself while he blasted attacks, causing the winged creatures to continue to fall out of the sky. He lost count after the tenth one he blasted and smiled. “I am going to get so much experience for this!”

The defense against the monsters was a great test of himself and his new weapon. His wisps seemed to be on par offensively with previous tests. Mathew noticed they had a hard time hitting the more agile creatures than larger wolves.

He peeked out from his cover and a pit opened up in his gut. He saw twice as many of the creatures travel in a large group right over the wall and toward the rest of the base.