Sleeping was one of the solaces that Blair had from the cruel world she found herself in.

Waking up in a bed covered by a thick blanket and grabbing a popsicle from the freezer seemed like a distant past now. Ironically, only two nights had passed but her back was aching. Whether that was because of the hard surface she’d slept on or her injured body, she didn’t know. Telling herself it was from the fall from yesterday seemed far more realistic.

She’d gone to sleep right after getting her stitches, which was early in the evening. That meant she’d woken up before dawn. There was a dim blue light that lit up the city that stretched on endlessly. Even a tiny district had been stretched to as long as the city was as a whole. Give or take, it had to have gotten over a hundred times larger.

“I feel like shit,” she mumbled and climbed up to a sitting position.

Her chest barely ached anymore, but even if it did, it wouldn’t bother her much now. Mind of Steel was a great boon. She’d managed to find another Ice Shield and a Vigor of Ancients, but she’d traded her Ice Shield with a Mind of Steel that Suzaku had found.

Paula was a liar.

It didn’t do anything to help Blair take her mind off the fact that she was wading through corpses and shamelessly taking their hearts-turned-cards. The corpses looked disgusting and smelled worse, but the worst part was that they had those expressions on their faces.

Blair summoned her Skill Deck and stared at it with contempt.

The side facing up was red but the bottom half was blue now. The button that snapped the lid open was still black and she softly on it. It was less a button and more a touch screen with how easily it popped open. The moment she did, her Skills flew out of the deck holder and presented themselves in a semi-circle around her.

Her eyes landed on a card with the sign of a brain covered in a red circle —that was Mind of Steel.

She tapped on it and it flipped itself, presenting its contents to her.

Name: Mind of Steel

Level: 1

Rarity: Common

Description: Your nerve fibers are noticeably dulled and you will feel less pain than your peers.

Pain Reduction: 10%

It had a percentage value that determined how much it reduced pain, unlike her Vigor of Ancients Skill which had no details at all. That’s when she found Vigor of Ancients dimly glowing a faint gray color. With narrowed eyes, Blair tapped on it and it flipped itself to show her its contents.

Name: Vigor of Ancients (Awakened)

Level: 2

Rarity: Common

Description: Your healing factor is significantly increased and you will heal faster than your peers.

Awakening Condition: Sustain a lethal injury and fail to treat it in time while having sufficient Stamina for healing to occur.

Awakening: If the Player sustains a large amount of damage, the [Life Support] function will be automatically activated to prevent the Player’s death. All the Player’s Stamina is drained to close the injury if possible. It is only possible to recover from injuries that the body’s natural recovery can heal if given enough time.

Acceleration Rate: 550%

It had awakened, which was a term that wasn’t explained in the Tutorial. Despite all the explanation it did, it didn’t seem that it had taught them everything. Trading only took away one level of a Skill and you had to trade it several times if you wanted to effectively swap high-leveled Skills.

Perhaps it was there to make it fairer.

The Awakening Condition nor the Awakening description were there when she last checked it and there was a percentage shown now. Perhaps actually using it may have triggered the change. It happened to the Status Card after she used a Skill that drained Mana on Earth, despite not being triggered back in the Tutorial.

The Acceleration Rate wasn't there either, and she was sure that it wasn't supposed to be at an odd number like 550% by default. Perhaps it had been at 500% and then the level had increased it to 550?

That'd make the most sense.

Or maybe it was because she used Eagle Vision and drained her Stamina. Either way, it was clear that card descriptions could be updated after usage.

Blair tapped on the Skill and flipped it, fully expecting it to still be glowing but it no longer did. There was a slight change in the border, though. Rather than being an ordinary rounded rectangle, the borders had fancy patterns now.

The colors were still the same, though.

“Maybe I can awaken the other ones,” said Blair and pursed her lips.

It was an exciting prospect. The Skills were hiding conditions from them and if they managed to find it, they could awaken it for a neat extra function. Even if the function would activate if they actually achieved it, even if by accident, just the fact that they knew that they could do it would be a major game-changer.

She stared at the two Skills she’d gotten from monsters: Eagle Vision and Claw Retraction. Just in case, she checked them by flipping them over but nothing had changed. The Fire Ball she’d gotten from trading with Diana was still there and its icon was a red circle with a yellow fire drawn over it. She flipped it over and looked at its contents.

Name: Fire Ball

Level: 1

Rarity: Common

Description: Creates a simple ball of fire that travels in a straight trajectory in front of your palm.

Max Range: [ME x 1 Meters]

Max Radius: [ME x 0.01 Meters]

Damage Type: [Burning Damage]

Cost: 5 Mana

All of the details were spread out rather than being bunched up into a single line like they had when she was choosing it back in the tutorial. From the trend, it was apparent that Blue Skills had far more details when they were being initially chosen than any of the Red Skills did.

It made sense, oddly enough.

It took a while to grow to its maximum size, and as a result, was ultimately less useful than Ice Shield but it was still a ranged attack. It gave her an option other than fighting Monsters head-on, which was always welcome.

From her experience, Wind Blade was a far deadlier Skill than Fire Ball was. Perhaps it would have its uses. If she’d found a corpse with Wind Blade…

No, she couldn’t be thinking like that.

That’d mean she wanted people to be dead. Killing Monsters, getting their Skills, and trading for a Wind Blade was better. That was the only way. She knew anyone with glasses would be dying for Eagle Vision. It made her feel disgusted at herself even more than she was, wearing a bloody sweater and drenched in sweat.

After a deep sigh, she collapsed on a hard, wooden chair that felt like the most comfortable seat in the world. The ones with cushions were tattered and looked disgusting thanks to the passage of time so it was either wooden seats or the floor. The frames were there but they couldn’t even be considered comfortable anymore.

Blair dismissed her deck holder and let go of it and the System understood her intent. It let the cards and the Skill Deck scatter into motes of light. The first time she’d seen that it was wonderful, like CGI in reality but now, it was just a part of the new life she led.

She stared at her reflection in a fragment of a broken window and saw someone she didn’t recognize. It was definitely not the Miss Perfect that her mother had trained her to be. Her usually well-brushed hair was now a mess and she was sure she smelled disgusting. She just didn’t notice it, most likely. People were surprisingly used to their own smell.

“I want a bath,” she mumbled and a realization dawned on her.

She could get a bath if she managed to heat a large enough source of water with Fire Ball if it was potent enough. Even better, she could put some wood on fire and heat up water in large pots if she could find them. The problem was that she didn’t have a large amount of water. The canteens provided by the System were a liter and a half at most, and any proper bath would require over 80 of them.

That left her with the issue of finding a natural source of water, which was rare in the city. There was a river that ran through the city but it was too far from their location. It was basically impossible to survive inside their Settlement if the Daily Rations Card didn’t exist.

If she could find a brush —any brush— at least her hair would be fixed. Maybe snatching the Daily Rations card of someone to summon an extra canteen for washing her hair was a must.

No.

Not again.

She couldn’t think about looting dead people.

That was wrong.

Blair peered out the window and at the horizon, lips sealed shut. Even through the red filter, she enjoyed the view.

The mountains that covered the horizon were gone, replaced by a few skyscrapers that stood out like sore thumbs. Beneath the skyscrapers, the other buildings stretched on forever as if it was a sea of concrete. The horizon looked oddly empty —it reminded her of that one time they cruised to England during one of her summer vacations.

She turned to the window and stared at Venus hovering in the sky, turned red by the filter that was the wall of light. It resembled a beautiful, crimson star right before dawn thanks to the wall. Straight up, on the other hand, she could see the blue sky unsullied by the wall that reached the sky.

Flying over it was a possibility, but the eagles hadn’t tried it yet. Blair remembered that the maximum height birds flew at was a little below ten kilometers, making it apparent that the wall was at least that high. It was still within the Troposphere but the mere thought of something as tall as ten kilometers standing right before her eyes was humbling.

Ten times taller than the tallest skyscraper.

She looked down at the other buildings bathed in the red light and heard a sickening splatter from the distance. The sound echoed in the empty streets and Blair turned her eye to the source. Instantly, she regretted it. It was always quiet enough to hear people talking on the other side of the neighborhood with an open window in the early mornings and it was one of them.

Near the Town Hall, in a puddle of their blood, lay a human body. The moment her brain registered it, she peeled her eyes off the body and stared off at the distance. She gritted her teeth to fight back the bile but… it never came.

Blair turned to look at the corpse again and oddly enough, she felt nothing.

No disgust, no pity, no sympathy. Just plain old indifference. It was a corpse, like many others. She’d seen them enough —a messed up corpse with its chest smashed in, another one that had been mangled by a Dire Wolf, then another one that was missing half of its head.

Not having a head at all was better than having only half of it for the Disgust Factor.

How many were dead, even?

A hundred? More than that? Less than that?

The reality of the situation was that Blair didn’t care now. She cared about her own survival. Whether anyone else did or not, she couldn’t give a damn about it. Surviving meant she had to grow stronger, and of the two methods of growing stronger, looting corpses was the less risky path.

Promptly, Blair turned around and walked out the wide-open door. There were others closer to the corpse. If anyone got to it before her, then so be it. She’d just turn it into a slight jog. It was obvious that her Stamina was below the average.

After high school, she hadn’t done a lick of physical exercise save for walking to the station to and from university.

Slightly more carried away, Blair started to slightly jog. Once upon a time, she used to love it. It was her dream to be an athlete, believe it or not, but that was shot down. Being an athlete had the smallest margin of success, as her mother had put it back then. It was perhaps the most devastating attack toward a middle schooler’s ambitions.

She slapped her cheeks lightly and shook her head.

No, blaming others for her faults was what her mother did. She’d never become an abominable creature like her. It was her own fault for abandoning her dream. It was her own fault for not exercising. It was her own fault for… well, not for having weak bones but the naive side of her never lost hope that drinking plenty of milk would fix it all up.

Maybe it would actually work with the System?

Before she even noticed it, Blair was out on the streets, jogging toward the Town Hall. She was out of breath and her shins were aching halfway through. Her wrists were no better, but the pain wasn’t because of exertion. Being roughly tossed up and down wasn’t the most comfortable experience for a broken bone but it was even more so for whatever kind of injury she’d gotten.

Mind of Steel helped her feel less miserable, but considering that she’d still be feeling miserable, it didn’t help as much as she’d hoped.

It wasn’t effective enough to tune it out but enough to grit her teeth and live through it. Even if she’d like to do without, she’d be having a child one day. Or rather, would have had one. That was why she’d learned to grit her teeth and wade through pain like a champ —it was what she was taught to do.

There, floating mid-air was a Purple Card and beneath it was a corpse. Oddly, it resembled a clam. The similarity made her inwardly chuckle, but it was no time for jokes. She wanted the card and wouldn’t have anyone else snatch it from right underneath her nose.

Blair increased her pace and before she even noticed it, she was sprinting.

Her shins ached more as she pushed herself further and her lungs stung. Inevitably, she reached it and snatched it off the air. The very second she did, a pop-up greeted her.

Congratulations! You’ve used a [Purple Card]. Choose one of the following Cards you are able to attain from [Player: Aanan Rajput].

Aanan?

That sounded like an Indian name. It reminded her of Anna, now that she thought of it. The names were close enough to draw a resemblance. Slowly, Blair’s eyes wandered down at the corpse and her eyes widened sharply.

“Anna?” she mumbled.

The resemblance was uncanny. It was the same burly body he had, but his face was facing down and most likely unrecognizable. The skin tone was similar as well, almost a perfect match for the shade. More importantly, the corpse wore the exact same clothes as him and the name couldn’t be a coincidence.

She knelt on one knee and willed for the screens to move to the side, and they did. Blair scrunched her nose and placed a hand on him.

It was clear that they’d given up on burying the corpses. They were dragged off to a corner and were left there to rot or feed the Monsters. It was simply unrealistic to bury them all. They made a small mountain, and those were the ones that were found. Combing the entire town was impossible as it was already getting dark by the time they managed to regroup.

Blair caught a few eyes staring at her through the windows, suddenly self-conscious.

Did she look like a psycho, running to a corpse?

No, no. This could easily be painted as worry for her acquaintance. Yeah, that was it. She knew Anna, even if it was only in passing and that meant she had a reasonable excuse if anyone was skeptical. For a few seconds, she just knelt next to him with furrowed brows before moving on to the Skills.

There were a few that had died like this yesterday.

The eagles had probably flew up with them and let them fall, and then proceeded to ignore them. The wolves mangled them but didn’t eat any of the prey either so it was obvious that the purpose of their attacks was not for food, but to kill.

Their corpses scattered into light instead of being left behind, so it was likely that they were created by the so-called System. No matter how unrealistic, it was something that gave them Magic —something deemed impossible. Blair wouldn’t be surprised if it created hard-light constructs shaped like animals that also behaved like them.

Skills:

- Mind of Steel (C): Your nerve fibers are noticeably dulled and you will feel less pain than your peers.

- Fire Ball (C) | 5 Mana: Creates a simple ball of fire that travels in a straight trajectory in front of your palm. Max Range is [ME x 1 Meters] and Max Radius is [ME x 0.01 Meters]. Deals [Burning Damage].

- Eagle Vision (C): Allows you to temporarily increase your Perception for the purpose of Sight.

- Avian Grip (C): Allows you to temporarily increase your Strength when gripping an object.

- Canine Tracking (C): Allows you to temporarily increase your Perception for the purpose of Smell.

Equipment:

- Daily Ration Card (C): 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)].

- Council Card (Gloom Town): Become a Council Member of Gloom Town.

- Steel Katana (C): +1 Strength, +1 Agility

- Communication Card (C): Contact any Player whose Full Name you know. 10 minutes cost 1 Credit.

- Blank Card: You may use [Blank Cards] as [Ante] material to challenge another Player that has a [Blank Card] or to match the Rarity of any other Card placed in [Ante]. They will be stored in your Inventory alongside your Equipment Cards.

He had 3 Skills he’d gotten from Monsters. That meant he’d killed quite a few of them, but that much was understandable. He had a Fire Ball and was in better shape than Blair was in, not to mention more likely to throw himself at them. Then there was the fact that Paula was having a far easier time than Blair was, which led her to the Katana in his inventory.

It increased Agility.

She didn’t know if dual-wielding was possible or if the Katana granted by the System was more durable than its natural counterpart. It was hard to break a spear fully made of metal but having a sword so thin didn’t sound all that appealing when they were fighting against giant monsters that could feasibly snap it in half.

That left Blair choosing between Mind of Steel, Fire Ball, Eagle Vision, and the Daily Ration Card for cleanliness. Becoming a Council Member seemed unnecessary and if the card being wasted meant another one would be fairly elected, then she was willing to throw it away.

Unaware of how exactly leveling up a Skill would go, Blair inevitably chose Eagle Vision. If it made it cheaper to sustain, it would be perfect. If it only increased the Perception increase, then it wouldn’t be as great of a boon. What she needed was sustainability, not more potency.

Especially when her Stamina was so low.

“Eagle Vision,” she whispered and the Purple Card’s glow gradually changed from purple to red. It then formed the eye shape that was at the front of Eagle Vision.

Before she could do anything to stop it, her Skill Deck appeared and snapped open. From within, a single card flew out rather than all of them. It stacked itself atop the new Eagle Vision and pressed down until both of them were as thin as a single card.

Nothing had changed on the front side.

Name: Eagle Vision

Level: 2

Rarity: Common

Description: Allows you to temporarily increase your Perception for the purpose of Sight.

Bonus: +11 Perception (Sight-only)

Cost: 0.9 Stamina per Minute

Its level had gone up, understandably. The Stamina cost had been decreased but it wasn’t drastic enough to matter.

Did that mean… she could have it on without draining Stamina if it was Level 11?

“That’s awesome,” Blair mumbled and let it scatter. She couldn’t just daze around, or could she?

She had to look like she knew Anna and was devastated. While fake tears were difficult to force out, she could look like she was mourning. Slowly, she looked the corpse up and down, nose scrunched in disgust but eyes narrowed, as if about to cry.

Her mother was a perfectionist and there were far too many useless lessons she’d taught Blair. Out of them, she’d taken only one of them to heart: “Keep your emotions and expressions separate.”

So she did.

But that’s when something caught her eye.

On Anna’s back, his clothes were torn. There were no other tears and it was covered in blood, making it easy to spot. Slowly, Blair spread the tear out with her thumb and index finger, careful not to dirty her hand more than necessary, and there she saw a wound.

It was fresh and hadn’t healed. It wasn’t even bandaged, as was the case with most injuries that were treated. If it wasn’t treated, though, it was deep and wide enough to make him bleed to death. More importantly, it was too thin and delicate to have been done by a Dire Wolf and not as deep as an Eagle’s Claw would've done.

Almost like a stab wound.

Maybe this wasn’t a suicide.