Sitting on the ground, Frank brought up his profile and opened the Grids tab. The previous hour's worth of training had netted him seven points, and now it was time to reap the rewards. He put five points into the Beginner grid, completing it. Which got him four attribute points and a slew of messages.

Congratulations on completing the Beginner grid. You have been awarded a rare quality Spatial Ring.

As a reward for completing the Beginner grid, the following grids have become available: Fighter, Magic, Healing.

Frank dismissed the notification and looked at the grids screen. Now, the last node of the Beginner grid led to four new grids. He tried to select the first node of each shape, then made a 'hmm” sound, as he considered how to use his remaining two points. Each grid required fifteen points to complete, and to Frank's annoyance, the rewards were now given every other point, instead of for every node like before. Additionally, while Trailblazer gave seven free attribute points, the other three grids only gave three such points, while the remaining four reward nodes had a different symbol inside.

I suppose that makes sense, these grids are specialized, so they likely reward associated attributes, instead of free ones. But, I still need more Vitality. Plus, it looks like these three are just basic grids, given to everyone, whereas Trailblazer was a reward for being the first to learn a skill in this zone. Trailblazer it is then, Frank decided. After placing the first point, he was relieved to learn that he could go back and put points into the other three grids as well. That's good to know, he thought, adding the second point to Trailblazer and being rewarded with an attribute point.

He switched to the Attributes tab and invested his five free attribute points into Vitality. To his surprise, a notification sprang up.

You have increased your Vitality by 10 points and regained some of the power of your youth. Strength +1, Dexterity +1, Quickness +1, Endurance +1.

The added attributes combined with the energy surging through his veins causing Frank to laugh. Closing the notification, he got up, then stared at his hands, flexing them. It was beyond his wildest hopes, he truly felt younger. A few boxing combinations later, he nodded in satisfaction. Still a bit slow, but it's a far cry from the geriatric movements I was making two hours ago. This System thing is pretty awesome, he thought. Oh, was that a flag? I am going to get eaten by some horrific monster now, aren't I? Shaking his head, he opened the Attributes tab.

Strength: 2

Dexterity: 2

Quickness: 2

Perception: 1

Constitution: 1

Vitality: 11

Endurance: 2

Destructive Magic Affinity: 1

Restorative Magic Affinity: 1

Focus: 2

Control: 2

Willpower: 3

HP: 48/48 (57/hour)

Stamina: 15/15 (75/hour)

D Mana: 10/10 (16/hour)

R Mana: 10/10 (21/hour)

HP is moving up, and stamina regeneration looks pretty good, but my magic is really lacking. I probably still need twenty more Vitality to get to my peak, maybe even thirty? Thought for later, for now, I need to manage to survive, Frank thought and closed the panel.

Hmm, wait, didn't I also get an item? A ring. Where is it? As soon as he thought about it, there was a notion of a question in his mind, similar to when selecting grid nodes. He affirmed the question, and a small, wooden jewelry box appeared in his hand. Made of something between wood and stone, it seemed quite sturdy, yet light. Shrugging, Frank opened it. Inside, a ring laid on dark-red velvet. He removed the ring and jerked in surprise when the jewelry box turned into dark mist and quickly dispersed.

“Freaking weird,” he couldn't help saying as he regarded the ring. After focusing on the item intently, a new panel popped up.

Spatial Ring 0/100

It said, the name displayed in blue color. Strangely, there was no mention of it being of rare quality, but Frank couldn't be bothered. Wonder how it works, he thought, still looking at the thing. Putting it on a finger of his left hand, he bent down and ripped a handful of grass, then he focused on the ring, trying to imagine the grass disappearing into some spatial dimension. After about 10 seconds of furrowing brows, the grass was gone.

“Whoa,” he said, almost sounding surprised that it worked. But how do I...

He tried to imagine the spatial dimension of the ring, in his mind, it was a ten by ten grid, and in the first square was a bunch of grass. Holding that image in his mind, he imagined the grass appearing in his hand.

Half a minute had passed, and doubt began to take over when a fistful of grass suddenly appeared in his hand. Frank doubled over and let out a long breath, trembling as the tension drained out of his body. I am definitely going to have to practice this, he thought.

“Hey,” someone said tapping Frank on the shoulder.

“Ah, what is it?” He asked, turning around to see Amy.

“Only five minutes left on the timer, they are calling everyone over to explain the plan,” she said, gesturing toward the gathering crowd some fifty yards away.

“Then let's go,” he nodded and they moved to join the others. “By the way, what's the description for your icicle spell?”

“Let me check... Summon an icicle and fling it at your target. It might be weak right now, but at a high level and with appropriate attributes it could threaten even the toughest defenses. Why?” Amy asked after reading the description of her skill.

“Ah, no reason, was just wondering how effective it would be,” he said quickly. Weird, just a normal description, no snarky remarks at all. But, there was no time to dwell on the topic, as they have joined the crowd.

Soon, everyone had gathered and were asked to sit down, creating a large ring of people, the Air Marshall and the three pilots standing in the middle.

“Thank you, everyone, for remaining calm in these trying circumstances. Although there is a lot we don't know, we'll do what we can to prepare,” the Marshall began. “There are a total of one hundred and sixty-seven of us here. Eight are children under fourteen. Before the monsters attack us, we are going to form a circle, with the children staying safely in the middle. If the attackers are powerful, but low in number, we'll attack them with spells, before surrounding them and finishing them off in close combat.”

He paused for a moment, scanning the faces of the people around him. No one seemed to have any questions. Nodding in satisfaction, he continued.

“Has anyone learned a healing spell?” He turned left and right, but no one responded. “By the way, for those who haven't realized it, HP acts as a healing pool, so long as you have HP remaining, any injury you sustain will be healed. Once you get low on HP, retreat to the center and meditate. Any questions on what I just said? Not including how we'll form the lines.”

People glanced at each other, but again, no one spoke up.

“Alright, now, here's what I want you to do. I want everyone to form pairs – a close combat fighter and someone who has learned magic. I am pretty sure there are more fighters, so if you can't find a magic caster then just pair up with another fighter. This way everyone will have a partner to back them up. Alright, fighters move to my left, magic casters to my right. Let's go, people, let's go,” the Marshall shouted.

Slowly, people got up and began to shuffle toward one or the other group. After a bit of thinking, Frank moved to join the fighters' group. While his physical attributes were quite low, he did have a good amount of HP, especially combined with his Mana Shield, in contrast, he could only cast a single Lightning Bolt.

“Good, now form into pairs,” the Marshall shouted.

The two groups began to swell forward and soon merged as people looked for each other. Few of the passengers were on the plane alone, like Frank, most were flying with someone else, naturally, they would pair up with their family or friends. Which left Frank standing there in a daze, as he considered who to ask. After all, this pairing was designed to boost their survivability, an old man like him didn't inspire much confidence. Then, a familiar face appeared, as Amy emerged from behind some people and moved decisively towards him.

“Found you,” she said smiling at him.

“I am glad we sat next to each other, or I would end up partnering with another sad excuse of a fighter like myself,” Frank replied with a stiff laugh. All jokes aside, lives were on the line here.

“Oh, you're not so bad, that right hand is pretty mean,” she offered.

“Not sure if it will be good enough, guess we'll find out soon. By the way, how many icicles can you cast before running out of mana? And that's your only offensive spell, right?” Frank decided to learn more about her capabilities while they waited for everyone to partner-up.

“Twelve, and yes,” she said proudly.

Frank nodded in response. That's not bad, she should be able to provide me some cover, should I get overwhelmed. His thoughts were interrupted by the Air Marshall's shout.

“Has everyone found a partner? If you haven't found one yet, move toward the children. Everyone else, form a circle around them!” he shouted.

People began to move, and it was soon very obvious that it wasn't going well. The line of defenders bent and wobbled, as if it was drawn by a drunk, some spots had groups of people bunched up together, other spots had no one filling them at all. The Marshall and the three pilots ran around like shepherd dogs, shouting and nudging people to move to the right spots. Slowly, the defensive formation began to take shape.

There was a single minute remaining on the timer when Frank and Amy took up their place. Curious, Frank looked to his right and left. On his right stood Amy. Next to her was a bald fifty-years-old man with a sizable beer-belly, next to him was a large woman, a few years younger than him. Judging by how they interacted, they must've been married.

On Frank's left stood a skinny man in glasses, he wore a suit, a tie partially stuck out of his jacket pocket, in his hands he held a long stick, though Frank was at a loss as to how he would attack with it. Next to him was a really overweight man, who was sweating so much that his shirt was already wet, clinging to his body. That's who I would have to pair-up if not for Amy, Frank thought and frowned...

Of course, at five feet and eight inches, very skinny, not to mention seventy-nine years old, Frank himself was even worse at inspiring confidence than these two. Still, he couldn't help but worry. Looking further to his left, there was an old, skinny woman, the type to spend hours at a penny slot machine. She was currently laughing, as she slapped the arm of a man next to her – a bodybuilder looking fellow in his mid-twenties, nearly a foot taller than Frank, and with bulging biceps, the man was an impressive sight. Satisfied with what he saw, Frank glanced at the timer, just twelve more seconds...

When the timer hit zero, a strange, purple-colored mist began to rise from the earth, quickly covering the ground, about a foot deep. Though the area within thirty yards of the humans was clear. The mist moved back and forth, like waves, the density seemingly increasing. The people stood in silence, watching the strange phenomena.

A minute or so passed, then the mist began to condense into forms – short and somewhat humanoid. It took about half a minute for the mist to fully solidify and disperse. The mist was gone, and in its place stood dozens of gray-skinned monsters, with long, pointy noses and ears. Only four feet tall, and quite flimsy looking, they were armed with all kinds of weapons: swords, axes, clubs, and spears. Regardless of their likely lack of physique, their weapons would pose a great danger to the unarmed humans.

The monsters took a few seconds to look around, then they spotted humans, and squeaked excitedly. More and more squeaky sounds filled the air as the monsters began to run toward the humans.

“Hold the line! Mages, use half your mana when they get a bit closer, then retreat and meditate! Fighters, if you run low on HP, retreat to the center, we have a few people here waiting to plug any holes in our formation,” the sound of the Air Marshall's voice carried over the group.

Squinting his eyes, Frank focused on one of the monsters, after about five seconds a notification appeared.

Young Goblin, level 1

“Goblins, huh?” He mumbled. Noticing that Amy had moved up to stay beside him and lifted her arm, he quickly placed his hand over it and pushed down. “Not yet, let them get closer, then cover me. I want one of their weapons,” he told her and got a nod in return.

Man, this is going to suck. There are like a hundred of them just in front of us, he thought as he tried to calm his nerves. The monsters were thirty yards away and closing in fast.

“Hit the one with the axe, when I tell you,” he told Amy, pointing at a goblin running toward them. He took two steps forward, as time slowed down for him... “Now!” He shouted when the monsters were fifteen yards away.

A second later, the goblin with the axe got hit in the shoulder by a foot-long icicle, yelping painfully and slowing down its advance. More icicles followed, impacting the monsters on Frank's right, slowing them down and even killing a few. Frank waited, sweat rolling down his back, what he wanted to do required perfect timing.

A sword-wielding goblin bounded straight at him and he pointed his left hand at the monsters. Still, he held off on casting. Only when the monster got into melee range and lunged at him did Frank act. Lightning Bolt covered the distance between them in an instant, hitting the goblin in the chest and killing it. Its slightly-charred corpse falling forward. Frank crouched, placing a foot on the dead goblin's arm, he grabbed the sword's guards with both hands and yanked it upwards, wrestling it free from the creature’s grasp.

The monsters on his right were slowed down by Amy and were a bit behind. However, on his left, a goblin was already swinging a club at him. There was no time to parry, as Frank just changed his grip from the sword's guard to the actual handle. With no other choice, he raised his left arm, blocking the attack. The sound of bone breaking filled his ears, just as the pain hit him. Ignoring his unnaturally-bent arm, he stepped toward the goblin and sunk the short sword into its body, then twisted it.

The pierced goblin fell, and Frank quickly retreated, slashing the sword left and right to keep the other monsters at bay. Well, got a weapon at least, he thought as his broken arm snapped back, his HP dropping to 44/48. Amy must've retreated already, he mused when he didn't see her nearby.

A moment later, the wave of goblins crushed into them, the sound of battle instantly filling the air. Using wide, wild slashes Frank was able to keep the goblins at bay. With his reach advantage, he stepped forward, stabbing at a goblin, the point of his sword sinking into flesh. Then he retreated, slashing wildly, forcing the other monsters back.

On his right, the bald man with a beer-belly appeared to be doing surprisingly well. His large fists smashing into heads, his overwhelming offense seemingly too much for the attackers. The same couldn't be said for those on Frank's left. The suit-wearing man didn't attack at all, just using his stick to push back at the swarming goblins. His partner was faring even worse – after punching a goblin, he was too slow to retreat and took several hits to his arm and torso.

It wasn't even a minute into the fight, when the overweight guy huffed “I can't... sorry,” and retreated. With him gone, the pressure on the stick-wielding man increased even more. He tried to hold on, pushing the monsters away at a rapid pace.

He can't keep it up, the way he's going he'll run out of stamina in a few minutes tops, Frank thought. His own stamina wasn't doing that well either. Despite having increased stamina regeneration to 75/hour, because of the intensity of the fight he was losing it at a rate of three per minute, even with the Fitness skill. Unfortunately, all he could do was try to slay as many attackers as he could before running out of stamina.

Stabbing and slashing, lunging forward and retreating, he continued to fight. Slowly, a frown formed on his lips. This isn't working, my sword is too short, causing me to expend too much energy moving forward and retreating. I could slow down my attacks and let them come closer, but I have no confidence in my defense... I need a better weapon.

Having come to this conclusion, he surveyed the monsters nearby. The ones in front of him didn't have anything useful, but a goblin to his left held a spear. Just as Frank began to concoct a plan for how to get that spear, the goblin wielding it stepped forward and plunged it into the stomach of the man in a suit. The guy doubled over, groaning in pain, and immediately took several more hits to his shoulders and head from the goblins that surged forward.

Cursing, Frank advanced, grabbing the spear with his left hand and stabbing the goblin wielding it in the face. He got stabbed in the ribs and slashed at the shoulder while retreating, but he now held the spear in his left hand. The suit-wearing man began to retreat, causing their defense line to collapse.

Moving a little to his left, to fill in the gap, Frank slashed in a wild arc to keep the monsters away, even as he focused on the sword. He wasn't sure what the goblins thought when his sword disappeared mid-swing, having been placed into his Spatial Ring. Unlike them though, he was ready – grabbing a hold of the spear with both hands, he stabbed forward, the sudden increase in reach catching the monsters by surprise.

He was forced to retreat, as he could no longer hold all of the monsters back. On the other hand, his attacks became much more effective, his spear finding purchase with every attack. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough and the surging goblins began to turn on the bald man and the bodybuilder, who were still going strong. Grinding his teeth, Frank began to stab faster, even as he felt his stamina drain at an alarming rate.

Suddenly, a goblin attacking him dropped its weapon and fell to the ground, an icicle sticking out of its neck. Feeling invigorated, Frank redoubled his efforts, now assisted by Amy. She seemed less frantic than before, taking her time to cast. Whereas before she would fling the spells wherever, now she would aim them carefully, hitting vital areas and killing with a single spell more often than not.

For a while, their combined efforts pushed the goblins back. But then Amy ran out of mana and had to retreat. Frank himself was down to 3/15 stamina, only enough to keep it up for a minute or two. Suddenly, an old lady appeared to his left, she was the one that paired-up with the bodybuilder. She cast a spell, which looked like she splashed the monsters with a bucket of water. However, the goblins reeled in pain, the smell of cooking meat filling Frank's nostrils.

Taking advantage of the opening, he pierced several monsters before they regained their composure. It's still not enough, Frank thought, I've stopped their advance, but once I run out of stamina, it's all over. And it's going to happen real soon, he thought dejectedly as his stamina dropped to 2/15. His gloomy thoughts were interrupted when a figure blurred past him. It was the Air Marshall.

The man jumped into the fray, delivering quick and precise punches. Seeing how the goblins flew away, his Strength must've been pretty high. Left, right, elbow, kick, he mowed the goblins like they were grass. By the time Frank regained his senses and began to move, more than ten goblins had fallen, and the breach in their defensive line was closed.

“That's some skills you've got,” Frank commented as he took his place in the defensive line next to the Air Marshall.

“High attributes really do turn you into Superman,” the man chuckled,” but, we might have a problem,” he added, gesturing at a group of approaching goblins.

There were about twenty of them, but what made it different was a large goblin in the middle of the line, right where the breach in the defense was. A foot taller and with bulging muscles, it was armed with a two-handed flail with a huge metal ball. Focusing on the big one brought up a notification.

Young Goblin Bully, level 5

“Level five. Hopefully, it's not five times stronger than the others,” Frank mumbled.

“The flail looks dangerous,” the Marshall grunted.

They waited in silence as the monsters approached, once in range, the goblins split up: the big one stayed in the middle, while the rest covered him from the side, making it impossible to surround him. The Bully advanced, the ball of its flail whooshing dangerously through the air. After another attack, Frank lunged forward with a stab, only to have one of the goblins from the side jump forward and knock his spear away.

“Damn it, I won't be able to hit him,” Frank lamented, staring daggers at the interfering goblin.

“I can't get near him either. Fuck, I knew I should've kept some mages in reserve for this type of shit,” the Marshall swore, as he moved back and forth, trying to find an opening.

“Hmm, I've got an idea. I'll take his attack, and grab onto the ball, giving you a chance to get in range,” Frank said after glancing at his remaining HP.

“Wouldn't you die?”

“I've got pretty high HP, and a magic skill to absorb damage. I should be good for one hit, just make sure you keep the little goblins from rushing me.

“If you are sure,” the Marshall offered after a brief consideration.

“Yea, just give me a sec to prepare,” Frank said, taking a deep breath to calm himself. Then he looked at his stats.

HP: 37/48 (57/hour)

Stamina: 0/15 (75/hour)

D Mana: 1/10 (16/hour)

R Mana: 10/10 (21/hour)

“Alright, let's do this thing!”