At the base of the iron brazier, nearly obscured by the shadows cast by the flickering red flames above it, sat a small, dark, metal chest. Morgan whistled and walked over to it. “That rat bastard must have been curled around it when we first came in.”

Issa nodded, walking over closer to Morgan, “Thank you for not leaving me with that thing, Morgan. You could have escaped while it was chasing me.”

“Huh?” Morgan looked at Issa, “The thought didn’t cross my mind. You should know me better than that by now. Besides, you could have done the same after it whipped me against the wall. Instead, you chopped its damn tail off!”

Issa smiled hugely, her grinning, fang-filled mouth looking truly, sinisterly, happy. “It really didn’t like that, did it?” She laughed, and Morgan did too, reveling in the moment. After they’d collected themselves, the two of them knelt by the chest, studying it closely. It had a metal latch but no lock. “I don’t see anything dangerous about it. I’m not an expert on traps, though,” Issa said.

“I’m not either,” Morgan said. “Stand back a bit; I have an idea.” To be honest, he hadn’t thought about the chest being trapped, but he figured it made sense that it might be. Morgan pulled a long leather cord from his pouch. One of the many scraps that he’d collected from dead Urghats. He carefully tied the end of the cord into a loop and slipped it over the latch to the chest, then he moved around to the back of the chest, stretching the cord as far as he could - about four feet. When he saw Issa standing back by the stairs, he pulled, and the top of the chest flipped open. At the same time, the brazier tipped, pouring burning fluid onto the stone floor in front of the chest. “Well, that would have hurt!”

Issa nodded, gingerly walking around the flames to join Morgan looking into the chest. The inside of the metal chest was lined with dark, soft fabric. Nestled in the folds of the material were a red leather pouch, a folded, silky, blue garment, and a dark stone ring with a thin silvery band of metal running through the center of it. Morgan whistled again. “A lot different from the stuff we’ve been finding on these Urghats.

“This chest, with these fine-looking items, feels like a System-generated treasure. I think we’re being rewarded for making it this far in the Crucible.” Issa leaned down and picked up the blue cloth, it unfolded as she lifted it, and he could see that it was a deeper blue color on the reverse side and that it had a white, wood, or bone clasp, carved in the shape of a serpent’s head, meant to fasten it around a person’s neck. “This is beautiful,” she sighed.

“You take it,” Morgan said, smiling. “It’s a little fancy for my taste. Besides, it looks like it will be a proper cloak on you but would look more like a cape on me, and that strikes me as kind of funny.”

Issa smiled again, this time emitting a tiny laugh that almost sounded like purring. She swung the cloak around behind her and fastened the clasp around her neck. She pulled the sides close in front of her and did a little spin, preening in front of Morgan. “Hah, it looks great! Perfect fit!” Morgan crowed and clapped. He didn’t know why he felt so giddy; it didn’t make sense, considering the hell they’d been through over the last day or so. He supposed it had to do with many factors: the thrill of victory, the actual euphoria of absorbing Energy, and of course, the System could be messing with their heads. He shrugged inwardly and decided it was better to enjoy small moments when he could than to debate whether he should be smiling or sobbing constantly. “Does it do anything?”

“Let me bond with it, one second,” Issa replied, grabbing ahold of the cloth and concentrating. “Oh, this is great!” she said, walking over to the stone wall near the base of the stairs. As she got close to the wall, the cloak shimmered almost imperceptibly, and Morgan took a second to realize it was a dark grey color, perfectly matching the wall.

“Wow, that’s cool! Pull the hood up and stand still,” Morgan said. Issa complied, and she almost disappeared from sight. If Morgan didn’t know to look for her there, he’d have a hard time spotting her. “Really cool! You aren’t invisible, but it’s damn good camouflage!”

“Okay, your turn; see what that ring does!” Issa was still smiling as she pulled the hood down and walked back over to the chest, sidestepping the puddle of oil that was smoldering on the stone floor.

“Alright,” Morgan said, bending over to pick up the stone band. It was a big ring, maybe half an inch wide, carved from some kind of dark stone. The silvery river running along the center of the band looked almost like a natural vein in the stone. He looked at the inside of the ring and could make out thousands of tiny markings - some kind of alphabet that he didn’t know. “Should I bond with it before I put it on?”

“It wouldn’t hurt. I think these items are System generated, not made by an Artificer. When I bonded with the cloak, I had a System message tell me what it was, almost like I’d cast an Identify spell,” Issa replied. Morgan nodded and sent a trickle of Energy forth into the cold, stone ring.

***Ring of Shielding - Base 2. This item will absorb damage intended to hit the wearer up to a certain threshold. After use, it will regenerate its potential over one day.***

“Oh, nice! It’s a ring of shielding; it will absorb some damage that comes my way.” Morgan slipped the ring over his middle finger, and the cool stone contracted to fit snugly. “It says it’s ‘Base 2’. What does that mean?”

“The System categorizes everything on a scale. Base 1 is the lowest; Base 2 is next, then Base 3, etc., up to Base 9. Then, after some kind of breakthrough, the next tier is reached, which is Improved 1,” Issa explained.

“How many tiers are there?”

“I don’t know. The highest I’ve seen is the Town Stone in my village, which is Improved 5.”

“I have so many questions, but let’s see what this last thing is first,” Morgan said, reaching into the chest and picking up the red leather pouch. It weighed about a pound and clinked familiarly. “I think it’s more of those beads like the shaman had.”

Issa moved closer, watching as Morgan undid the drawstring and poured some of the pouch contents into his other hand. Sure enough, small, glimmering beads flowed out into his palm, but these were shining with a deep red luster, not the green of the other ones. “Fire attuned,” Issa breathed.

“Is that good?”

“Well, it would be very good to certain Energy users who are attuned to fire, but for you and me, they’re just as useful as any other Energy source. Best to hold on to these, for trading, or until you can use their full potential.” Morgan nodded and closed the beads back up in the pouch.

“How about I hold on to these, and you keep the green ones from the shaman?”

“Thank you, Morgan,” Issa smiled. Morgan nodded and pulled up his status screen:

Status

Name:

Morgan Hall

Race:

Human - Base 1

Class:

—

Level:

7

Core:

Vortex Class - Base 1

Energy Affinity:

9.2

Energy:

240/240

Strength:

10

Vitality:

15 (17)

Dexterity:

8

Agility:

13

Intelligence:

20

Will:

10

Points Available:

5

Titles & Feats:

Human Champion

Skills:

System Language Integration - Not Upgradeable, Spear Mastery - Basic, Dagger Mastery - Basic, Stealthy Maneuvers - Basic, Backstab - Basic, Energy Drain - Basic

“The System indicated I’d get to choose a ‘class’ at level 10. Is that normal?” Morgan asked.

“I don’t know how normal it is, but my people also get to choose a class at level 10,” Issa replied.

“What exactly does that mean? I mean, I know the System definition for a class, but how many choices are there? Does it affect a person’s abilities a lot?”

“Well, your choices are dependent on many factors. I know some of them, but remember, the System is also fairly new to our people, so I don’t know everything. My teachers explained that my abilities, skills, Core, and experiences could all be factored into what classes the System offers. Some people believe that a large part of it is just random luck.” Issa shrugged, then stared into space, and Morgan assumed she was also looking over her status sheet.

Morgan thought about it and decided to hold onto his extra ability points for now. He felt it would be nice to reserve points to spend when he hit level ten and had a better idea about classes. While he was thinking about classes and advancement, he decided he’d review his current System generated quests, so he thought about them, and a screen appeared in his vision:

***Quest: Survive the Crucible. Reward(s): Commensurate with achievements. Continued existence. Location of other Human entities.***

***Quest: Don’t let Issa die within 1 week (2/7). Reward: Energy Core Cultivation Manual (Improved), Improved Relations with Ardeni faction. Penalty for failure: Diminished Will efficacy - permanent.***

Morgan did a double-take when he read through the second quest. It looked like he’d already made it into the second day of his week of keeping Issa alive. If only the system knew she had saved him as much as he’d saved her by now. He also noticed that the reward had changed. He was sure that the (Improved) part of the cultivation manual reward was new.

The two of them spent a few more minutes catching their breath and going through their belongings. Morgan had to work for a few minutes to dig his dagger out of the dead rat monster, but he finally pulled it free. “How do you feel about getting some sleep here? I know it’s kind of risky with the open staircase, but we could drag this guy’s corpse in front of the door at least and then take turns getting some shut-eye. I feel dead on my feet.”

“It’s not a bad idea, and this oil burning here hasn’t given any signs of slowing down. The light is good, and it’s warm enough,” Issa replied. The two of them took a few minutes to drag the enormous corpse in front of the door, blocking it and holding it shut. The rat-beast had seemed a lot bigger when alive; in death, with its skinny limbs pulled in and its long tail chopped off, it seemed much smaller, almost pitifully so. It couldn’t have weighed more than a few hundred pounds. Still, anything trying to come through the door would be very noticeable. After blocking the door, they moved to the farthest point of the room and took turns sleeping at the edge of the curving, stone stairway. Morgan let Issa sleep first. He didn’t know how long, exactly, he watched her sleep, but he tried to give her as much time as he could, only waking her when he absolutely couldn’t keep his eyes open any longer. When she was awake, he took his turn laying his head on the rolled-up, thick, grey animal fur that they’d taken from an Urghat just hours earlier, though it felt like a month ago in Morgan’s mind.

In his dreams, Morgan was once again back on Earth, taking the computer exam to join the Arkship expedition force. However, this time, he couldn’t think of the answer to a question that seemed very basic, even though he couldn’t even make sense of the words. It was like they were written in another language. He sat and stared at the screen, panic making his heart race, and a cold, uncomfortable sheen of sweat started to soak his pale blue dress shirt, the only dress shirt that he owned. He frantically tried to think of an excuse to get out of the test and try again at another date, but he feared he wouldn’t make it past the psych eval a second time and be allowed to test again. He clicked a random answer on the screen and read the following question:

***What formula is used to calculate a person’s maximum Energy?***

Morgan woke up with a start. His eyes were wide and panicked as they glanced around the unfamiliar room. Slowly things came back to him, and he realized where he was. He groaned and sat up from the hard stone floor. Issa was sitting nearby, leaning her back against the stone staircase, her eyes were closed, and her chest was rising and falling in slow, steady breaths. She’d fallen asleep. Morgan looked around the room. Nothing seemed different, except that maybe the strange oil that burned with the red flames was a little dimmer. He had a thought and pulled up his quest again:

***Quest: Don’t let Issa die within 1 week (3/7). Reward: Energy Core Cultivation Manual (Improved), Improved Relations with Ardeni faction. Penalty for failure: Diminished Will efficacy - permanent.***

Well, that settled that - they’d slept into the next day. He fished some bread and a canteen of water out of his pouch and was eating it quietly when Issa woke up. “Good morning!” He’d decided to make light of her falling asleep rather than throw a fit about it. What was done was done, and clearly, she’d been exhausted.

“Oh!” Issa’s pale blue cheeks reddened with embarrassment. “I can’t believe I fell asleep! I’m so sorry, Morgan; I was just watching the flames burning in the oil, and the next thing I knew, you were saying ‘good morning’!”

“Don’t beat yourself up about it. We’ve both been through hell the last couple of days, and nothing bad seems to have come from it. Here, have some bread.” Morgan tossed her the loaf of bread he’d been breaking pieces off to eat. After they’d both had as much of the dry, hard bread as they could stomach, they gathered their things and began their trek up the steps toward the next level of the Crucible.