As usual, great kills came with great loot, and as perhaps the first person to kill a level 5 NPC on this entire planet, Shaw was in for a giant payday the moment she dug her blade into the Shadow Spider’s skull.

Congratulations! You have received 1,000 experience!

The first thing she got was, as always, 1,000 units of exp. That was more than enough to bring her to level 5. In addition to giving her the usual 5 Disposable Attribute Points, her ascension to level 5 also came with another surprise that Shaw was already aware of.

Congratulations! You have reached level 5! You are given an opportunity to choose one of three random abilities in the Warrior career. Click the ‘Abilities’ tab to make the selection!

This was one of the special rewards that players get when they reach certain levels. At level 5, the players would get to choose a random ability. At level 10, the players would unlock the class attribute, which gave them additional specialization within their careers.

Shaw glanced at the ‘Abilities’ tab, which was blinking, but she put it aside for now. Instead, she focused on the remains of the Shadow Spider. A silver box had appeared in front of the body. It was a loot box, and loot boxes would only show up when NPCs level 5 and above were slain. These boxes were ranked from platinum to gold to silver to bronze, with different levels of boxes for different levels of NPCs killed. The Shadow Spider was at medium power in its level, so it left a silver loot box after it died.

Shaw tapped the box and opened it instead of returning it to her storage space. Four messages popped up.

Congratulations! You have opened a level 5 silver loot box!

Congratulations! You have received a new weapon: Web Spitter.

Congratulations! You have received a new weapon: Acid Grenade * 2

Congratulations! You have received the following attributes: Regeneration +2

The Web Spitter was a piece of weapon that Shaw could attach to her wrist. Once triggered, it could fire projectile webs at the speed of bullets. It reminded Shaw of the superhero Spiderman. Of course, the similarity was in name and appearance only. Spiderman could web up his enemies without killing them. Shaw's newly gained Web Spitter was a lethal weapon that could melt clean through a man on contact. Shaw wasn’t too sure how many times it could be fired, but the Spitter would be a great last resort against unsuspecting enemies.

The Acid Grenades were quite straightforward. When they explode, they could shower everything within a certain radius in acid, maiming or killing everyone in the surroundings. When used correctly, it could do a significant amount of damage in an instant. At the same time, Shaw was well aware of the impact of acid on people. Most high-level NPCs and human beings would find themselves at least a little horrified as they are engulfed in the screams of their slowly dissolving comrades.

The two Regeneration attributes, in comparison, were a little trivial, but they were able to somewhat close the gap between her Regeneration attribute and her Strength and Reflex.

Finally, Shaw turned her attention back to the random ability.

Choose one ability below:

Ability Name: Resilience

Category: Passive

Effect: 35% increase in the pain tolerance of the player.

Ability Name: Hawkeye

Category: Passive

Effect: 20% increase to the vision of the player.

Ability Name: Warrior Spirit

Category: Active

Effect: The player is possessed by the deceased spirit of a veteran warrior, gaining additional battle experience and instincts.

Three abilities. Two passive and one active. As she stood in front of the body of the Shadow Spider, Shaw took her time and went through her options.

The Resilience passive ability was clearly a top choice. It would work very well with Fortify. Fortify would reduce the damage she would receive, and Resilience would make sure she could stay in the fight as long as possible despite the damage she did receive. It would make her a lot more, well, resilient. To be fair, Shaw already had a high pain tolerance, but she was still human. Cut off her arm, and she would still be gravely impacted. Resilience would make her a lot tougher in all aspects.

Hawkeye. Another awesome option that could make Shaw a lot stronger than she already was. It was especially good at spotting potential skirmishes or ambushes. In most cases, players needed to choose when to fight and when to run, and this ability would help with that significantly.

And then there was the only active ability among the three choices. Warrior Spirit. Shaw never had any experience with this particular ability, but she had seen it at play. When the ability was activated, even the youngest and most inexperienced Warrior would suddenly turn into a battle-hardened veteran. Their attributes were still the same as before, and they could still be killed, but they would be able to use their existing skill set to the maximum efficiency. Of course, this ability could only be in effect for a short duration. Once that duration was over, the Warrior would be back to their former selves.

All three were decent choices, but Shaw could only choose one.

The first option Shaw eliminated was Warrior Spirit. She was confident she already had more skills than this ability could ever grant her. She didn't need help in that area.

The second choice she got rid of was Hawkeye. Hawkeye was a great choice, especially for potential Scouts, Vanguards, and Assassins. It also made Archers a lot stronger. The issue was that Shaw had no intention of choosing these classes when she reach level 10. Having better eyesight would never hurt, but it wasn’t worth her spending this precious opportunity on.

That left only one choice for her. Resilience. 35% increase to her already impressive pain tolerance. Shaw estimated that with this passive ability, she would be able to stay in the fight for a while even with a limb missing. A reassuring thought.

Finally, after making all the proper selections, Shaw’s character profile changed again.

Amy Shaw

Level 5 (850 / 3200)

Strength: 29

Reflex: 33

Regeneration: 18

Psychic: 0

Disposable Attribute Point: 5

Career: Warrior

Sub-Class: None

Abilities: Charge. Fortify. Resilience.

She had 5 Disposable Attribute Points left. She would distribute them between Strength and Reflex, as usual, but she decided to keep them as they were for now. At this point, it was unlikely any NPC would be able to kill them before she could put up a fight. In that case, she preferred to save up these points and spend them based on the challenges she run into.

After checking over her rewards once again, Shaw turned her attention back to the real world. She gave the body of the level 5 NPC one final look before turning around and leaving the field of wreckage. She knew there were likely survivors looking at her from the other buildings, possibly cursing her for leading the Shadow Spider here, but she had no intention of talking to them.

The day was already getting late. Initially, Shaw was hoping to find a way to get back to the precinct where Emily came from. Perhaps she would be able to find safe shelter there, and maybe she could find a few potentially valuable assets among the survivors. When she was still with Emily, she got a distinct idea about which way to go. Her plans changed as darkness fell.

She knew from experience that on the night of the Launch, all the NPCs would get a huge power-up. Most of them would reach level 3, transforming them from free exp packs for the common players to fierce and deadly predators. Players around the world would be caught off guard, and a lot of them would die.

Shaw didn't want to be out in the open when these NPCs level up. She could cut a way out, but at this level, she was still human. She could still get tired and injured and disoriented, and fighting at night without sleep was hardly something she looked forward to. She wasn’t afraid of dying, but falling at the hands of a bunch of level 3 NPCs because she got careless wasn’t the death she was hoping for.

As for Emily and the survivors...she had no idea how close the survivors were to their precinct. In fact, she didn't even know where they were or who was still alive. All she knew was that judging from her mission panel another 5 survivors had died. In other words, she just lost one DAP in reward. And if they couldn’t get to shelter in time, all of them would die at the hand of the NPCs. Unfortunately for all parties involved, there was nothing Shaw could do about them other than to wish them the best of luck.

Using the short time before nightfall, Shaw did her best to look for a good place to stay in. In the end, she made her way into a multi-story tall five-star hotel. The front desk had been devoured by a horde of level 1 giant rats. Shaw killed them all, avenged the poor woman, and found the room card to the Presidential Suite after some brief searching.

As pessimistic and stoic as Shaw was, she did prefer to be hedonistic whenever she could. After all, she was only human.