There was always a calm before a storm. When the so-called calm consisted of trying to smash the wall apart, what the actual storm would look like was obvious. Panic ensued and people shouted at each other. Working stressful jobs did that, especially when everyone else was just as stressed as you were.

Meanwhile, Blair thought about the implications of being effectively homeless.

Everyone else was in the same situation unless they lived in their office. There were no beds or blankets, and that was assuming that they hadn’t decomposed. As good as she was at school, it was only because she never came close to Chemistry or Biology electives. The mandatory courses were more for show than actual study and failed to teach them anything more than Math dressed up as Chemistry.

“I’m actually alone,” said Blair, standing on the rooftop of a nearby building.

It was one of those fancy restaurants in Gloom Town that students couldn’t afford to visit because of the price. The rooftop was used for events and there was no shortage of them in the area. The Gloom Town operated as the hub of office jobs for Coat City and there was no shortage of events arranged by the companies.

Standing atop the fourth floor of a building let her get a proper look at the surroundings and it was easy enough to process. She was ready for all the nonsense the moment she was whisked away from the interview room.

The fact that she wasn’t in some intergalactic slave trader’s cargo ship was good enough.

There were others on the rooftop as well, most of them the restaurant staff. It was the smoking area whenever guests weren’t around, most likely. Or they took it upon themselves to ignore the ‘No Smoking’ sign that hung near the door that led to the rooftop.

“Oh, hey, Blair,” said a male voice from behind, urging her to turn around. It was a voice she’d heard before but she couldn’t place her finger on it.

“Yes?” she said and caught one of the waiters coming up to her.

He was wearing a white shirt and a black vest over it. The uppermost button was unbuttoned and whatever tie that was a part of his uniform was no longer present on his person. He had a round jawline that made his face look fatter than he was and had round glasses with a gray rim. It was one of the few people Blair had seen that had distinctly brown hair. It reached his jaw and was visibly wavy, giving off the illusion of being wet.

“We went to the same high school,” he said and added for further elaboration, “Olympus High, right? You didn’t change at all.”

Blair didn’t recognize him at all but the school matched.

“Oh, right,” she said and nodded her head a few times. Acting like she recognized someone was easy. She just had to point at them and use the line that she learned online, “Yeah, I remember you. You’re that guy. Like… you’re you. What was your name again?”

There was no shortage of people that knew her while she didn’t know them. Being valedictorian meant that they’d heard of her at least a few times but chances of Blair hearing about them was slim. The only ones that she remembered were the ones that she actively hung out with or was in the same team as.

“You totally don’t remember me,” said the waiter.

The jig was up.

“I remember your appearance. As in I passed by you in the corridor several times but I don’t actually know you,” she said.

“We took Chemistry together,” he said, an eye narrowed.

“Ah, I didn’t pay much attention in class, actually. Makes sense I wouldn’t remember your name,” she said and nodded while licking her lips. That reminded her of her parched throat. Food ought to be spoiled but the water had to be fine… right?

“And you still aced it?” he asked and chuckled.

“Well, the curriculum was so slow and I’d already read everything required for the class by the second week so there wasn’t much need to pay attention,” said Blair and turned her gaze to the door. She’d accidentally flexed yet again —an annoying habit of hers that she was trying to get rid of. To change the topic, she asked, “Do you know where we can find some water? I’m parched.”

“Well, unless you’re fine with drinking water straight from a toilet bowl covered with moss, no,” said the waiter and as if he finally remembered, he introduced himself, “I’m Dexter, by the way.”

“Dexter. Okay, I probably won’t forget that. It’s hard to do that, given the situation and all,” she said and huffed.

University helped Blair become more sociable but it was still draining. She had little trouble talking on a stage or in debates, but the moment it started becoming informal, problems arose. It gave off the illusion of her being a social butterfly when in reality, she was the complete opposite of that.

“You in college or?” she asked. All her social expertise came from talking about school and that was her idea of small talk.

“Yeah, it’s summer vacation now and I’ll be in my fourth year of university,” said Dexter and sucked his teeth, then corrected, “Would have been.”

“Chemistry?” she asked.

“Mostly Physics, actually,” he said and one of the other staff shouted for him. He gave a quick wave and a goodbye before dashing off.

It was finally over.

Blair let out a breath that she forgot she’d been holding and turned around to stare through the transparent walls of light. She came to the conclusion that several Zones had been copied and arranged in haphazard manners.

In the distance, she saw a replica of the restaurant she was standing on the rooftop of, and the buildings near it were the same as well. That meant this particular Zone had several other copies and if her theory about the number of Daily Rations provided was correct, then there were only a thousand people in a heavily populated area that had a length and width of 5 miles.

The only possible explanation for that was that the people in the area were haphazardly split into the different copies of this particular Zone.

“Blair!” shouted Dexter from near the door that led to the interior of the building, now all alone rather than with his coworkers. He beckoned her with an arm. Almost grumpily, she walked over and raised her eyebrows to ask why he’d called her, “They’re apparently trying to figure out the Mayor and the Council Members, whatever that means.”

“Look at your Status Card. There’s an Objective there. It says if we elect them, we’ll get food. If we choose a Town Hall, we’ll get some glorified phone thing, and if we survive ten Monster Waves, we’ll be upgraded to a town,” said Blair and Dexter nodded along.

“Survive?” he asked.

“Yeah, survive,” said Blair and descended the stairs that the door directly led to.

What was undoubtedly a luxurious hallway was now shabby. The paint had peeled and the carpet was tattered. She’d spotted claw marks on the carpet and the walls on the way up, which added up with how there were Monsters. What she didn’t know was what Heralds meant.

After checking the Objective himself, Dexter cursed like a sailor.

“What’s this supposed to mean?” he grumbled.

“The Tutorial was preparing us to kill things, Dex. That was obvious,” said Blair and closed her mouth abruptly after finishing her sentence. She breathed in and asked, “Sorry, I have another friend called Dexter so it just came out that way. Are you fine with being called that?”

“I mean, everyone calls me that. There ain’t a problem,” said Dexter.

“You’re not uncomfortable?” she asked, just in case.

“Being called my full name is uncomfortable at this point,” he said and she heard a sigh, “It’s always something bad whenever anyone uses it. Like bad grades and whatnot.”

The stairs led to the highest floor of the restaurant barring the rooftop. The tables were dusty but weren’t covered in plants, courtesy of being on one of the higher floors. However, through the cracked windows, some ivies had managed to crawl in, covering a portion of the walls. The metal chairs behind the table had some rust on them but seemed safe to sit on.

“Scary what nature can do, huh?” asked Dexter, to which Blair only responded with an absent-minded nod. Her eyes were focused on the creature pouncing at the wall. It looked like an oversized wolf, almost the size of a small car. Slowly, she raised her finger and pointed at the wolf that had fallen on the ground.

“We’re supposed to fight that?” he asked with a trembling voice.

“Apparently,” she whispered back.

She wasn’t ready to fight but it was within her expectations to see Monsters. It was obvious that the walls were there to protect them from those monsters. Whether it’d open up when they completed the first part of the Objective or not, she did not know but it was threatening.

It took her a while of watching the wolf stumble around comedically in typical animal fashion before she pulled herself out of her stupor —it was just an overgrown wolf. They had weapons and magic. The field was as even as it’d get. If Tier 10 Monsters were simply overgrown animals, then they’d manage.

“Well, it’s out there for now so it’s as good as it gets. It’s when it comes in that it’ll be a problem,” Blair said and peeled her eyes away from the wolf. It almost looked cute now, rubbing its head on him.

There was no use worrying about it when it wasn’t an issue yet. Food and drinks were, and her parched throat made her biased. They had to elect a mini-government if they wanted to eat or drink, which was as bullshit as it got. That didn’t mean they wouldn’t do it, though.

Even if she wasn’t going to participate in the discussion for who’d be Mayor and Council Members, she had to be present there. Knowing who got elected was a necessity and more importantly, she wanted to watch the show.

A peek through a window on the opposite side of the wall showed that there was a crowd of people out in the streets. It looked filled to the brim and considering that it was the main road, that was impressive. At the center where four roads met stood around ten people, encircled by the others.

The third floor over fifty meters from the scene was a perfect vantage point and they’d found it. From above them, it was clear that most of them had formal attire on. The ones that had comfortable clothes, like Blair, were few.

Oddly, there seemed to be a nigh-perfect balance of men and women. It couldn’t be that close unless some of the companies had gender equality policies but if there were any, she’d have heard of it.

“That’s the manager,” said Dexter and pointed at a man with a gray suit after staring at the people at the center.

“So the bosses will become the bosses. Makes sense,” said Blair and nodded her head. She wouldn’t have it any other way. People that knew how to be in charge had to be there, or everything would devolve into a mess.

“Okay, people!” shouted one of the people in the center —an elderly man with white hair, probably close to the cutoff point but not quite there, “I say a majority vote is the fairest method of determining who should be in charge.”

Blair could bet that it was past lunchtime and the orderly manner could be attributed to hunger and thirst. All the candidates introduced themselves and their positions. It took them only a few minutes to determine who’d be Mayor and who’d be the Council Members, much to her relief.

In the end, the old man that spoke out first became the Mayor. He was on the Board of Directors of one of the larger companies in the area, and apparently quite influential. Blair, of course, was out of the loop —she didn’t know the first thing about corporate hierarchies, let alone who was who.

The Council consisted of the restaurant manager, some middle-aged woman from HR, a manager at a nearby chain store, and two other members of the same Board of Directors as the Mayor.

Now, they came to the harder part: finding Guards.

If the name implied anything, it meant they’d be fighting for the town, and finding volunteers for the Guard position seemed like a challenge. There were a thousand people there and the System required fifty Guards. That meant 5% of everyone had to become a Guard, or in simpler terms, one in twenty people.

“Alright, then. Anyone that wishes to volunteer as a Guard, please raise your hands,” said the soon-to-be Mayor after the officials were selected.

There were some volunteers —almost twenty of them. They raised their hands moments after hearing the mayor but the other thirty was where it turned into a slog.

“You gonna volunteer?” asked Blair after staring at the scene below. The number increased almost glacially and that irked her. Why were Guards even mandatory?

“Me? Fight? No way,” said Dexter and gave her a grin, “I’m a lover, not a fighter.”

“Yep, good choice,” said Blair and nodded along. Fighting giant wolves wouldn’t be on anyone’s bucket list unless they were psychopaths or morons.

It took them another ten minutes until a total of fifty people volunteered. Before anyone even thought of how they’d deliver their verdict to the System, it took the situation into its own hands and a notification popped up.

You have completed the [1st Step] of Main Objective: [Found a Town].

You have been granted a [Citizen Card] and [Daily Ration Card (C)]. They have been stored in your Inventory.

“Did you get that?” she asked to make more small talk as she stepped back. The cards of her Skill Deck floated in front of her and if the Inventory was the same, having any of her cards fall down the window seemed like a recipe for disaster. Before she got her answer, she commanded, “Inventory.”

That formed a black deck holder on her right palm. Without a second thought, she pressed on the button and the slammed open. From within, several cards flew out and formed a neat semi-circle in front of her.

“A notification that says we got a credit card for food? Yeah,” said Dexter, his tone full of sarcasm.

The card that contained her spear was there, the Blank Card she’d been given and the one she won in the Ante was next to it as well. Finally, there were two new cards. The first one had a picture exactly like her Status Card but the outline was black instead of white. She grabbed it and it stopped floating to let her pull it away.

Blair narrowed her eyes and on the back, she found several lines of text.

Settlement: Gloom Town

Status: Citizen

Rights: Undetermined

Duties: Undetermined

This card may be used as Ante in a Duel for a [Guard Card], [Council Card], or a [Mayor Card].

“It actually used Gloom Town,” said Dexter after a round of chuckling.

The fact that there was a portion for Rights and Duties meant that the System enforced laws of sorts. How it would achieve that, Blair had no idea but she was sure it would do that somehow. Its capabilities couldn’t even be from a sci-fi setting anymore. It was too much like Magic. It gave them Magic.

The next card had the picture of a loaf of bread with three cuts on it —what you’d expect to see on a vector art of bread. It had a black outline like the Citizen Card. She grabbed it and turned it around for the information. For all its complicated functions, the System was intuitive.

Level: Common

Three times per day, you are able to summon [1 x Bowl of Soup], [1 x Loaf of Bread], [1 x Canteen of Water (1 Refill)].

This card may be used as Ante in a Duel for a [Daily Ration Card (C)] to provide more rations per usage. This card may be dropped upon death.

Allowing Daily Ration Cards to be used for Ante was an evil move but it was consistent with everything the System did. Thankfully, it didn’t allow their Status Cards to be used for an Ante. It would be the equivalent of betting their IDs and passports.

“It’s wild, yo,” said Dexter from behind her.

“It’s dumb is what it is. What happens if you force someone into a Duel and steal their only source of food and drinks?” asked Blair, almost seething.

“Oh, there’s that as well. I was just like, you know, testing this,” said Dexter and that made Blair turn around. There, on the table, was a loaf of bread, a large bowl of soup, and a large canteen of water that looked like it could fit two liters.

“Well, they make a card turn into a weapon so it’s well within the realm of possibility,” she asked, stressed —being wrong or mistaken was what she hated most. It was her own fault but admitting that she was wrong was something she was never taught and never learned.

Before she’d even opened her mouth, Dexter had already started digging into his meal.

She walked over to Dexter’s table and took a seat after dismissing the cards other than the Daily Ration Card.

“I meant that it lets you choose what kind of soup and bread you want. That’s the cool part,” said Dexter after she took her seat. Half of his loaf of bread and most of his soup were gone.

“That is kind of cool,” she said and whispered the name of the card underneath her breath.

Please choose your [Soup].

There was a list of soups that had their images to accompany them. There was an option for beef, mutton, chicken, fish, pork, and vegetable. All of them had enough meat or vegetables in them but were clear otherwise, meaning there was no noodles, rice, or anything to accompany the soups. That was most likely where the bread came in.

She could see that it would become boring and repetitive later, which higher levels mitigated.

In the end, she ended up choosing chicken.

Please choose your [Bread].

There were nine types of bread: White, Wheat, Whole Wheat, Multigrain, Whole Grain, Sprouted Grain, Sourdough, Rye, and Pumpernickel. The System provided had a large variety but in the end, it was only the illusion of choice. It was still limited to soup and bread.

Please wave your card near a straight surface to activate it.

Blair swiped the card across the table and specks of light gathered en masse to form the shape of a canteen, a bowl, and the rough shape of a loaf of bread. It was the same as when it formed the spear but it appeared straight on the table while the spear floated in the air.

Before digging in, she emptied the canteen once and placed it back on the table, at a loss as to what to do. That’s when it started to vibrate for a few seconds to conveniently refill itself, bringing a smile to her face.

It was the small conveniences that made her appreciate this System.

By the time most of the meal was complete, Blair could hear people ascending the stairs. She threw most of her decency to the wind and instead of tearing parts of the bread to eat, she ate straight from the loaf.

If her mother was near, she’d have gotten an earful but she lived alone now. One of the blessings of moving out was escaping the constant nagging of her parents —it helped her sanity and stress levels.

That’s when another pop-up appeared before her face.

You have completed the [2nd Step] of Main Objective: [Found a Town].

You have been granted a [Communication Card]. It has been stored in your Inventory.

Unsurprisingly, it came in the form of a card. If this was any indication of how many Equipment Cards she’d accrue, then she’d get too many of them to count. At some point, the semi-circle would make a full circle. As far as she was aware, there was no real limit to how much Equipment or Skills she could have unless the size of the deck boxes was the limit.

“This communication thing costs Credits. It says 1 Credit buys 10 minutes of speech and the Ante thing which lets you increase the length per Credit if you take someone else’s,” remarked Dexter, having finished his meal long before she did. The moment he emptied his bowl, it scattered into light but the loaf and canteen remained.

“And we still have no idea of how to gain Credits,” she said.

“Yep, no idea at all. This System thing needs better developers for their Tutorial,” said Dexter and lounged on his chair. It creaked uncomfortably but it didn’t break.

“If it has developers at all,” said Blair —she’d already started to assume it was the work of something arcane.

“Well, it has to be. It’s a system. Someone or something ought to have designed it. They were just bad at it is all, even if was God or whatever,” said Dexter and that’s when people started to swarm into the room. Some of them were his acquaintances and he left Blair to talk with the others.

If the Second Step was complete, it meant that they’d chosen the Town Hall building. She assumed that it’d be the office that the Mayor worked in before. She didn’t remember the name of the corporation but she’d seen the building a few times on the news.

Once again, she had some alone time but the noise was deafening. After finishing her soup, she grabbed the canteen and three-quarters of her bread for air. This time, not on the rooftop but outside, away from people.