Aaron was still poking the air when he heard a loud crash. Launched by an unknown force, a level 6 Stoneskin Gorilla crashed to the floor. Before it could get up, a short blond woman stepped around the corner, holding a gun. She adjusted her glasses. “No more monkey business.”

A cacophony of bullets followed her words. Each metal slag cracked the monster's skin in a spray of stone, revealing the Stoneskin Gorillas’ vulnerable underside. She pressed the trigger till the gun clicked empty. The monster was dead. She smiled, and the dangerous look in her eye vanished.

“Hell yeah, I did it. Take that, you stupid oaf.” She kicked the gorilla but immediately regretted it when she found out that stone was still harder than flesh. She hopped about on one foot in pain.

Despite the dangerous situation they were in, Aaron couldn’t help but laugh. She whirled around to face them; her piercing blue eyes stared into his own. “Don’t laugh. I thought I sounded cool - like an action hero.”

Tony waved his frying pan at her. “A lot of things sound cool when you’re bleeding out.”

She tentatively patted around her body. She stopped once she reached a large gash on her head, leaking blood. With all the adrenaline in her veins, she hadn’t even noticed that she had been injured. Her eyes widened. “What the fuck! I’m dying,” she screamed.

Tony took a step closer with his hands up. The non-threatening nature of the gesture was somewhat diminished by the fact that he was carrying two frying pans. “If you don’t try to shoot us, we can help you.”

She pointed at Aaron. “Why would a guard ever try to help me?”

“It’s not mine; I stole it.” He tugged at the cloth in the shirt's stomach area. “See, it doesn’t fit.” At the same time, he was pondering the same question: Why should he try to help her? Of course, it was the right thing to do, but that wasn’t a very motivating factor. Considering that she was in Alcatraz, she couldn’t be considered a trustworthy individual. It was likely that she would betray them. He didn’t want to wake up with a knife in his back.

At the same time, she could be useful. According to the blue letters above her head, she was a level 4 mage. A higher level than most other prisoners. Some extra firepower would go a long way in keeping them alive. As long as he kept his guard up, it should be safe to approach her.

“Oh, that’s kind of smart.” She stuffed the gun into her pants. “Fine, but no funny business.”

Aaron blinked in shock; his whole internal debate had only taken a few seconds. The power of an increased Mind stat was showing itself. He was able to think many times faster than before. He wasn’t sure if that made him smarter, though.

“No, monkey business shall be had. Kid, tear off a piece of cloth. I need to wrap the cut.”

Aaron begrudgingly tore off a piece of his sleeve and handed it to Tony. The old man then quickly wrapped it around part of her head, using the cloth as a bandage. As the old man worked, Aaron carefully watched, ready to release a barrage of Mana Bolts at a moment's notice.

She poked the box Aaron was carefully cradling in his free hand. “Is that raisin bran cereal?”

He moved the box out of her reach. He’d protect his treasure with his life. “Yes?” he answered hesitantly.

“It’s my favorite type. My sister used to buy it for me.” Aaron’s heart softened at her words. If someone liked raisin bran cereal, they couldn’t be a bad person. Probably. There weren’t any statistics to back up that opinion, but he felt that it was true. Cereal connoisseurs had to stick together.

“It’s my favorite too. It’s the only type I ate as a kid.” He drummed his fingers over the box. “Do you happen to like pineapple on pizza?”

“It’s the best; it really brings out the flavor of the cheese. I don’t know why people don’t like it.” Tony’s eyes bulged dramatically at the sacrilegious words they were speaking.

“I know right, people wouldn’t know good food if it hit them in the face. By the way, I’m Aaron. It’s nice to meet you,” he said, then extended his hand. “The old guy is Tony,” he added on as an afterthought.

She grabbed his arm with both hands and shook it limply. “My name is Jessica; my friends call me Jess.” Aaron spent the next couple of minutes talking with Jess, enjoying their shared taste in food. Finally, Tony ran out of mana, and his impromptu healing session ended.

She patted her head, feeling how the wound had healed.“Thanks for the healing. I owe you one.” Now came the moment of truth. How would she react once she had gotten what she wanted? Aaron’s fingers twitched as he prepared for the worst. A heavy silence blanketed the hallway.

Jessica broke it with a cough. “Do you know what caused that explosion earlier?”

Aaron shared a look with Tony. “Nope. No idea." At that exact moment, a deep rumble was heard from the cafeteria.

Invasion sufficiently damaged. Accelerating local world merge…

Stage 1 of World Merge Complete. Aliens have invaded your planet; destroy their Nexus Crystal to close their portal and stop the invasion. Points will be awarded for slaying invaders, which can be redeemed at the Prize Tower.

Act quickly; more powerful troops will be able to cross through the portal the longer it is open. As compensation for hosting a world merge, a natural resource Node will spawn. So long as the invading party’s portal is open, the Node will upgrade itself and replenish its stores at an increased rate.

The ground shook so violently that Aaron was knocked off his feet. The lights flickered, and the ground cracked. An earthquake of unknown magnitude was making itself known. With a lurch, part of the ceiling collapsed, spraying them in dust. Other parts of the structure folded in on themselves and collapsed as well. There was nowhere to run. All he could do was hope something didn’t fall on him.

To his side, Jess was sprawled out on the ground, and Tony wiggled like a piece of stale jello, trying to keep his balance. A particularly large vibration knocked the old man off his feet, directly onto Aaron. He groaned as Tony crashed into him. By the time the shaking stopped, he could see a thin ray of light shining through a hole in the wall. The building had just barely endured the earth's assault.

“I’m going to lose my mind if I have to sit through another earthquake today,” Aaron said as he shoved Tony off of him. Tony grumbled in agreement.

Spurred on by natural disaster, the sound of gunfire intensified. Additionally, in the distance, the animalistic roars of the Cervom intensified. Either someone was dumb enough to directly confront them on their home turf, or the World Merge had progressed to the point where they were able to leave the cafeteria.

He climbed to his feet. “There’s no point in staying here; we should put some distance in between us and the monsters.”

Jessica followed them as they walked away from the sounds of battle. He looked at her, demanding an answer. She shrugged her shoulders. “It’s a hallway; you can only go two directions, and I’m definitely not going to walk towards the big demon guy cutting everyone in half.”

“Fair enough. How about a truce till we get out of here. You don’t stab us in the back, and we won’t mess with you.”

“Fair enough,” she repeated his words with a smirk. As they walked, the gunfire faded to the background, hidden beneath the howling wind and torrential rain pounding on the prison’s walls. Occasionally, they encountered a low-level monster, but they were easily able to take care of them. The local monster population had been hunted to extinction in a few short hours. Level 1 monsters were no match for humanity’s most dangerous members.

On their journey, they crossed paths with inmates and guards, but they were all too preoccupied with their own problems to bother them. It made sense; there was no point in fighting another human at the moment. No one had laid claim to any valuable items; it would just be a waste of energy to fight. However, in a couple days, when food ran low, he figured that would change.

Tony shook some dust out of his hair. “What do you think we should do?”

Aaron concentrated. It was obvious that they couldn’t stay in the main wing of the prison. Even with their increased stats, he didn’t think they could survive the roof falling on their heads. However, escaping outside the prison wasn’t a very desirable option either. Survivalism told him the elements would wear them down faster than the monsters could.

“There’s a storage shed by the dock. We could hide out there,” Jessica said.

Before he could think of a response, Tony tugged his collar, pulling him back. A fireball flew past him, just barely missing his face. The dangerous concoction of mana impacted the wall, cracking it and releasing a spray of red hot flames that forced him to dive to the floor to avoid being burnt.

He rolled to his feet and took stock of the situation. A group of eight Imps stood on the other side of the intersection of hallways, a desire for blood clear in their blank white eyes. Each one of the small red creatures summoned a ball of fire to their hand. Aaron didn’t wait to see what they were planning on doing with their weapons. He unleashed a quick barrage of Mana Bolts.

Congratulations! Mana Bolt Lvl 29→30. 1 Skill Point Awarded.

The first ball of mana impacted an imp, causing their fireball to violently destabilize. However, he wasn’t sure if the rest of his Mana Bolts did anything because, at one of the imps command, a wall of flames rose out of the ground, obscuring his vision of the short red demons.

With the Imps sufficiently distracted, he turned tail and ran. There was no way he could beat all of them together in a fair fight.

“I thought I told you I didn't like running,” Tony said as he pushed himself to keep up. Keeping pace with the old man, Jessica followed them away from danger.

“Would you prefer us to power walk away from them?” Aaron said sarcastically. Using his enhanced memory, he directed them towards the dock. However, they soon ran into a problem. A locked door blocked their path. Well, calling it a locked door was a bit of an understatement. A solid wall of steel, spanning the whole length of the hallway, blocked their path. The prison utilized these impassable checkpoints to slow down any potential escapees. The only way through was with a key, at least according to the Warden. Luckily, he had pilfered a key from the safe hidden in the Warden’s office.

He took the large golden key and pressed it against the keyhole; it didn’t work. What the hell is this key for? I guess I’ll have to do this the hard way. He dropped the box of cereal and kitchen knife to the floor. “Jess, give me your glasses.”

“What, why?”

“I need to get the door open.”

“Don’t ruin them.” she handed him. At that exact moment, a skinny Cervom rounded the corner. He inspected the new type of monster. Unlike its brethren, its arms were not the size of tree trunks, but it made up for it in the height department. The cervom was easily eight feet tall, not including its deerlike antlers. The blue letters above its head cemented it as a threat.

Cervom | Rogue Lvl 7

The Rogue let out a loud howl, calling its brethren to join it. If he strained his ears, he could hear the group of Imps they had lost making their way to their position. Maybe they could have beaten the rogue in a fight, but with the addition of the Imps that would soon be joining them, the odds were stacked against them. It wasn’t a fight he wanted to take.

He had no clue how it had found them. Maybe, it was just plain bad luck. In the end, it didn’t matter. What mattered was escaping. He immediately got to work on opening the door; they were trapped, with their back literally against the wall. He shoved the stem of the glasses into the keyhole. Then he used them to scrub the teeth of the lock, feeling each of their positions and how they moved.

At the same time, he activated Explosive Mark. Knowledge appeared in his mind like it had always been there. Unlike with Mana Bolt, where the System did all the heavy lifting, Explosive Mark required him to consciously manipulate his mana to a degree. The System still heavily aided in the creation of the spell - it was akin to coloring within the lines of a coloring book. No, that overstated the amount of work he had to do. The System provided the framework and the actual execution of the spell; all he had to do was point his mana in the right direction. Admittedly, even that small amount of work was still difficult for him. He’d only been aware of the existence of magic for a couple hours; he was a complete novice.

He directed his mana into the doorframe; it sluggishly followed. The System took over the specifics as small blue engravings slowly marked themselves upon the metal. He felt that there was room for him to be more hands-on with the process, and speed it up. But, right now, that was outside of his capabilities. Directing his mana felt like he was dragging a lazy dog around the city. It simply didn’t want to follow his directions.

Thanks to his increased Mind stat, he was able to maintain a constant flow of mana while trying to unlock the door.

“Protect me while I work,” Aaron said as he glanced over at Tony. He didn't need to see the lock to open it - all the important parts were on the inside, hidden from view. Besides, he had practiced to the point where he could unlock a door with his eyes closed. It would be more beneficial to keep track of what the monster was doing than gain whatever marginal benefit looking at the lock would give him. He split his attention three ways, stretching his mind to its absolute limit.

The Cervom drew a pair of knives and roared as it charged them. The monster flicked its hand, and one of the knives disappeared. He caught sight of it once more as it cut through the air, ten feet away from his chest. If he moved, Explosive Mark would dissipate; he was stuck.

Metal clashed against metal as Tony deflected the throwing knife with his frying pan. “Focus on the lock; I got this.” The former hitman stepped forward and met the Rogue in close-quarter combat. His two frying pans met the monster's two knives in a deadly dance of steel. One pan acted as a shield, blocking and redirecting. While the other pan was used offensively. Sparks flashed through the air as their weapons repeatedly met. Cuts began to accumulate on his body. The old man was more skilled, but the monster was simply faster and stronger than him; Tony couldn’t hold out for long.

Aaron continued to caress the lock, rapidly getting closer to opening it. If he had his usual set of tools, this would have only taken him a couple seconds, but he didn’t. A pair of glasses wasn’t the optimal tool for the job. Additionally, through some strange sense, he could tell that Explosive Mark was almost fully formed. Blue lines of mana arced upward to finish the strange engraving.

Just as things were looking up, the group of Imps entered the battle. Their small stubby red legs had finally carried them to the commotion. Jessica squinted at the mages, barely able to see them without her glasses. “Can you hold them off for a couple seconds?”

She nodded. The imps wasted no time in launching a series of fireballs at him. One missed, crashing into the wall in a spray of fire, but the rest were aimed directly at him. Jess took a deep breath then stepped forward. “Focus. Focus. Focus. Seeing is overrated,” she muttered to herself.

With machine-like precision, she fired a series of Mana Bolts, intercepting the seven fireballs in mid-air. The two mana constructs met, resulting in an explosion of fire. The intricacies of the reaction alluded him. He assumed; the collision caused some part of the fireball's magical structure to breakdown and collapse. It wasn't entirely counterintuitive for two spells of similar power to be able to cancel each other out. Additionally, the ball of fire was already a fragile spell. From what he had observed, it exploded immediately whenever it hit something. It didn't take much to make them explode. He guessed a similar result could be achieved by throwing a door or another large object at the spell.

Jess ruthlessly exploited the spell's weakness. Each time the Imps would try to fire an attack, she would shoot it out of the air. A stalemate was reached for a couple of seconds, giving Aaron enough time to finish preparing Explosive Mark and unlock the door. A mental connection formed between him and the engraving; he could tell that it was unstable. It would explode soon.

“I’m done; let’s go.” Aaron swung open the door.

“That’s good, cause I’m out of mana.” Jess dove through the opening without hesitation.

Tony whacked the Rogue in the head with a frying pan, then sprinted away. The attack barely fazed the monster. Within a second, it was chasing after Tony. Aaron raised his hand and tried to cast Mana Bolt, nothing happened - the System wasn’t helping him in the way it normally did. It felt like there was a wall blocking him off from the skill. He glanced at the engraving. He didn’t have time for this. He pushed harder and forced the skill to activate.

Congratulations! Mana Bolt Lvl 30→31. 1 Skill Point Awarded.

With a crackle of power, they shot out of his hand. The blue balls of mana delayed the beast long enough for Tony to hobble through the door. However, that left him all alone to face the monsters. Now that Jess was gone, no one was there to counter the fireballs.

He grabbed her glasses then began to close the door. Before he could finish, a pair of fireballs blasted towards him. There was nowhere to dodge. However, from watching Jess, he had already learned how to counter such an attack. He slammed into the mental wall, blocking off Mana Bolt, and activated the skill. Just as the fireballs were about to hit him, his attack destabilized them, causing them to explode in a wall of fire, completely blocking his vision. Hidden by the fire, a dagger stabbed into his back. He grit his teeth and ignored the pain.

He swore as he slammed the door shut. Without even taking the time to pat out the fire in his hair, he rushed away from the wall. He didn’t want to be blast radius when Explosive Mark went off. Jess helped drag him away as the Cervom Rouge slammed into the wall.

With a flick of mental effort, he activated Explosive Mark; he didn’t look back.

Congratulations! Explosive Mark Lvl 1→3. 4 Skill Points Awarded. Cervom | Rogue Level 7 Slain! 175 Exp Gained.

He looked back - there was a massive, perfectly circular dent in the steel wall. It looked like a giant had punched it. The skill had definitely lived up to its uncommon rarity. It was almost enough for him to forget the searing pain in his back.

He put out the various small fires that burnt on him and looked at his companions. Tony was covered in cuts and he walked with a large limp. In comparison, Jess got off lightly. Her arms were covered in moderate burns, but they weren't life threatening. Though, considering that she was injured before the battle, she was in pretty rough shape.

Put simply, their first real battle with the alien invaders hadn’t gone well.