Waking early, Alex dressed and headed down to breakfast. Waiting for the ‘players’ to arrive, he pulled up the menu and started ordering a large breakfast. Steak, eggs, grilled bell peppers and mushrooms and a side of bacon. He was so hungry; he didn’t even bother thinking about why.

Danny stumbled in, half awake and ignored Alex until she finally had a cup of coffee in her hands. Ty entered soon after, jumping from leg to leg, sided to side, back and forth, like a furry speed addict.

“Ty, what the hell are you doing?” Alex laughed.

Ty jumped into a chair, his four-foot height barely allowing him to sit without needing a booster seat.

“I received an Accomplishment last night!” Ty exclaimed, as he started ordering his own breakfast. “Accepting Your Inner Beast! It gave me a me another clue as to how to evolve.”

Danny had been staring at Alex’s plate while she sipped her coffee. Ty’s announcement was just enough to pull her eyes away from the delicious display before him.

“What’s the clue?” Danny asked.

Ty stood on his chair and cleared his throat dramatically.

“Ahem! Family ties that bind. While many red pandas are thought of as singular beasts, they tend to thrive in small groups. Your new family will help you grow.”

“That’s awesome, man!” Alex said, sharing a fist bump. “Look Danny! We have a pet! Can we keep him?”

Ty flipped him off with his furry black finger and Danny snorted, almost spilling her coffee.

“I’m just kidding.” Alex said quickly, getting a smirk from Ty. “It really is awesome. I also received an Accomplishment last night for my Soul Survivor Class.” He looked towards Danny. “Something about taking steps to overcome my fears. Netted an extra twenty to my Soul Points.”

Danny gave him a wink and Ty held out his furry paw for another fist bump. They ate their breakfast in silence while several people started filtering into the dining room. Once it seemed like most of the other players were there, Alex made his announcement.

“Attention everyone! Ty, Danny and myself have some news to share. As some of you might remember, Jeffrey explained that we could raise our attribute points by training. Each of us has raised each of our trainable stats by one. It took an hour for each stat, even though we were all at varying levels amongst us. Which means it’s quite likely that it only takes an hour to raise any attribute the first time, no matter what that number it is. It will probably also mean that it will take relatively longer to raise any attribute through training again.”

Toby, the young German man, stood up and addressed the room.

“I tried it last night actually. My first increase in strength took one hour, as Alex said, but the second took three hours.”

Excited discussions filtered through the dining room as the new information was shared. Alex still stood, however, raising his hands. Once everyone quieted down, he continued.

“Also, I used the training rooms last night to test out my stats and understand my new Class. The training room will change to whatever training you have in mind. I wasn’t the parkour type before, but with my high Agility and Dexterity, I was running through the course like a ninja Energizer Bunny.

“I’m saying this to explain that we are now far more capable than what we once were, but we shouldn’t trust it blindly. I’m sure many of you were gamers at one time or another. You need to get used to the way your new body and abilities work. Go into the training rooms and find out what you can and can’t do. If Jeffrey was telling the truth about all this being life or death, best not to take anything for granted.

“One last thing! Ty and myself have already achieved two Accomplishments. In Ty’s case, he has embraced his inner beast from the Lycanthropic Curse and his reward was another clue on how to keep moving forward.

“For me, I was able to face my concerns with my handguns and my Soul Survivor Class rewarded me with a plus twenty Soul Points. I think the Modifiers and Classes are much more than pick and play. Trying to further understand your Modifiers and Class might lead to Accomplishments and that will be a benefit to all of us.”

Alex finally sat down and the crowd of people resumed their excited discussions. A few people even ran out of the room, most likely to start their training right away. Rishi and Toby both walked up to their table.

“That was good info.” Toby said, shaking each of their hands. “I use to be a pro gamer. I was worried at first that people would start to splinter off from each other. Maybe make factions within the group. That can only hurt us as a whole.”

“I agree.” Said Rishi. “We need to share everything we can so that we can all get stronger. It’s not like there is only one winner here. Just one of us needs to make it to the end to save humanity. Also, when the next set of people arrive, they will need all the help they can get. We can give them the pointers that will help them thrive here.”

Alex was struck with a thought. “Did Jeffrey tell any of us when the next set of people would arrive? Or how many will arrive? Or even if there is a time limit on this game?”

Jeffrey’s sudden appearance at the table caused everyone to jump. He didn’t seem to notice as he stood there with his hands clasped behind his back.

“To answer your question,” Jeffrey stated, not paying any heed to the fact that he had just scared them half to death. “The next set of players will arrive in one months’ time. There are one hundred new players summoned each month. There is also no set time limit for the game, there is, however, a set level cap for this zone.

“Once a player reached level ten, they will have exactly twenty-four hours before being teleported to the next zone. You may teleport from here anytime during those twenty-four hours. If you do not teleport manually, the System will do it for you once your twenty-four hours are up.”

“Can you tell us about the next zone?” Danny asked.

“I’m afraid I can’t.” Jeffrey said. “All I can say is that it is far harder than the City Zone, just as the zone after will be harder than the previous.”

“How many zones are there?” Alex asked.

“Again, I am afraid I can’t say, Sir.” Jeffrey stated apologetically.

“Hmph.” Ty grumbled. “So, we are rats in a maze. Fuck this racist System, bro.”

“As succinctly put as always, Mr. Tyler.” Jeffrey said with a deadpanned expression.

“Thank you, Jeffrey.” Danny said. “It looks like we got more training to do boys.”

“You are most welcome, Miss Daniella.” Jeffrey said with a bow. “I believe you are all on the right path.”

Jeffrey disappeared and the group stared at where he had just been standing.

“Did he just…give us a hint?” Alex asked.

“Maybe?” Daniella said. “I guess it depends on whether you believe the System really wants us to succeed or not.”

That was a troubling thought. Thankfully Toby broke the silence.

“We better get moving, Rishi.” Toby said to his friend. “Train hard everyone. We will see you at dinner.”

“Oh!” Alex said. “Don’t skip meals. I think our bodies will need more calories in order to handle the massive amount of growth we are getting.”

With a wave of thanks, the group left and Alex, Ty and Danny headed to the training rooms. Several of the training rooms were already in use but there were still a few available.

“Okay.” Alex said. “So, we train for an hour and then come out in case there are other people waiting. If there aren’t, then we head back into the training rooms, if there are, then we will try adding another point into our attributes.”

Danny and Ty agreed before heading to their separate training rooms.

As he stepped into his own training room, he watched as the blank white room transformed into the same obstacle/shooting course he had tried out the night before. Walking towards the starting line of the course, his hand brushed up against the grip of his gun and his hand automatically jerked back. He felt the stirring of frustration and disappointment but he breathed in deep.

Seems like I’m not as close to conquering my fears as I thought.

Steadying himself, he walked to the starting line and drew both guns. The metal grip was perfect, fitting into the palm of his hands easily, and yet, his hands still trembled. With a few more deep breaths, he felt himself settle down. His eyes opened as the buzzer went off and he was racing through the course once again.

An hour later and he stepped out of the room, seeing Ty and Danny step out of their rooms as well. He was pleasantly surprised to see a line of people waiting for the rooms to open up.

Before he had a chance to move aside, a large man with dark skin dark brushed past him, shouldering him to the side.

“About time, doqon.” The man said, his accent thick. “Do not ever make me wait again.”

The man slammed the door and Alex could only look at his friends in confusion.

“What the hell is a doqon?” Alex asked.

Danny looked worryingly at the door the man had went through.

“It means idiot.” She spoke. “He must be Samoli.”

“I think my red panda senses are kicking in, bro.” Ty whispered. “That guy reeked of all the bad. Like predator type stuff.”

“You can sense that?” Danny asked, looking down at Ty.

He shrugged. “I think so? I don’t know. I just got bad vibes off him is all.”

Alex cracked a smile. “Racist.”

Ty scoffed. “Dude, check out my arms and legs. I’m literally half black now!”

“Want to bet he took the Tiger’s Spirit Modification?” Danny asked. “The one that talks about hunting and killing.”

“Sucker’s bet.” Ty said as he walked past the training rooms.

Congratulations! Due to your hard work, you have received +1 to Strength!

Congratulations! Due to your hard work, you have received +1 to Dexterity!

Congratulations! Due to your hard work, you have received +1 to Agility!

Congratulations! Due to your hard work, you have received +1 to Vitality!

Congratulations! Due to your hard work, you have received +1 to Intellect!

Congratulations! Due to your hard work, you have received +1 to Wisdom!

Alex fell onto his bed at the end of the day, his muscles aching more than they ever had before. They had spent the whole day leveling up their attributes since the training rooms were filled. As Toby had said, it took three hours to level up their attributes again. If the time to level the next set of attributes tripled again, that would mean it would take nine hours for a single attribute gain. Alex pulled up his Status.

Name: Alex Donner

Age: 24

Race: Human

Level: 0

EXP: 0/100

Class: Soul Survivor

Soul: 120

HP: 120

MP: 95

Vitality: 8

Strength: 8

Agility: 11(16)

Dexterity: 11(16)

Wisdom: 5

Intelligence: 7

He was happy with the gains, but he couldn’t see them continuously doing this. They would have to head out and start leveling up soon. Rishi, Toby and Silvia, the tall athletic woman with olive skin, had stepped outside the Bellevue to see what the City Zone looked like since there were no windows in the entire hotel.

Silvia had told them all during dinner that Jeffrey hadn’t been lying about the city. Outside looked almost exactly like a city would, minus the cars or people. They couldn’t tell us anything about the monsters since they didn’t see them, but they did say that while some buildings were shorter and some taller, they all were the same concrete grey with no windows or definable features. The only thing that stood out on the street was the black awning outside the entrance with the name Bellevue in gold lettering.

There was no map in the Interface so it was completely possible to get lost within the city. Alex made sure he didn’t eat any more of his MRE’s considering he might very well need them in the future.

The next morning, after breakfast, Alex, Danny and Ty decided to try training together. As they stepped through the training room door, the whole place changed into what looked like the inside of a mall food court with two levels.

“Well, this doesn’t look like fun.” Alex said as he took in their surroundings. “Best bet would be ducking behind one of the counters so we can at least have some cover.”

“That also leaves us trapped in a corner.” Danny pointed out.

A buzzer sounded and several swirling lights started to appear around the food court. With no time to discuss options, they started running for the nearest counter. As they jumped behind the counter, Alex got a good look at what could only be described as goblins. They were only three feet tall but were covered in black, tar like skin with glowing yellow eyes and sharp needle like teeth.

“Okay, Ty, you are our long range so try and hit anything coming from the second floor. Danny, you and I will focus on the first floor. Use your root spell to slow down them down.”

They all nodded and Alex jumped back over the counter. Drawing both of his guns, he aimed at the nearest goblin. Feeling the connection between his Soul and the guns snap into place, he started to fire.

The glowing blue Soul bullets dissipated before they reached the first goblin and Alex cursed, realizing that he was too far away. Ty jumped up on the counter to get a better vantage, his bow already fitted with a long black arrow. He pulled back in one smooth motion, sighted his target and let the arrow fly.

Alex was surprised by the speed of the arrow. It wasn’t nearly as fast as a bullet but it was definitely far faster than it should have been. That must have been where Ty’s strength came into effect. The greater the draw, the faster the arrow.

The arrow slammed into a goblin’s black shoulder and launched the little bastard off his feet. The fact that the goblin immediately hopped back up and tore the arrow out of his shoulder gave Alex a bad feeling. These guys were not the cowardly pushovers he had played against in video games.

Danny was already casting a spell and when she finished her chanting, vines covered in thorns burst through the concrete floor, tangling up the nearest two goblins. The goblins started thrashing about and cuts started to appear on their skin.

Alex ran towards the trapped goblins. They were squirming their way free but the thorns kept a grip on their tar-colored skin, slowing down their progress.

Alex was only a few feet away before he fired both of his guns, hitting each goblin in the forehead. They dropped into lifeless piles instantly. He wasn’t completely use to his speed yet and found himself barreling towards the still active root spell. Knowing he had no room to stop, he rolled to the left and ended up crashing into one of the tables that were spread out in the center of the food court.

“Smooth, Alex!” Danny called out.

Alex untangled himself from the table and chairs he had knocked over only to find another three goblins bearing down on him.

He jumped backwards, his stats giving him a solid edge compared to his life on Earth. He landed on a wobbly table but kept his balance as he shot at each goblin. The first bullet struck the goblin in the face, earning an instant kill, but the other two were struck in the chest which only stopped their momentum. He kept on firing and both went down after each had taken three bullets to the chest.

He grimaced. He had already used eleven bullets and they weren’t even thirty seconds into the fight. Running across the tables, he set his sights on another pair of goblins that were running towards Danny and Ty.

He leapt off the last set of tables, clearing a guard rail and shooting both goblins in the back, causing them to stumble. He rattled off a few more rounds until the stopped moving. Breathing heavy, he looked towards his teammates.

“Bro! Nice shot!” Ty called out as he hit another goblin on the second walkway.

Alex smirked as Danny cast a green bolt of light that slammed into another goblin’s leg, tripping them up.

Before he could move to the grounded goblin, a scream from above had him looking upwards, just as a goblin landed on his back. It must have jumped from the second floor and as soon as it landed on Alex’s back, it started tearing into him. The armor would protect his back but apparently, the goblin knew that as well as it aimed for his unprotected neck. The evil looking bastard started clawing and biting him and burning lines of pain blossomed on the back of his neck as the little bastard went to work.

Screaming in pain, Alex jumped up onto the guard rail along the outside of the food court and launched himself up into the air. Angling his back to the ground with his improved Agility wasn’t too difficult. When his back hit the ground, there was a loud splat! and he didn’t want to look back and see what had happened to the goblin. At least it wasn’t ripping into him anymore.

“Eww!” Danny and Ty said in tandem. Alex could only roll his eyes.

Another buzzer sounded and a score board appeared before them, each listing their individual damage dealt.

“Goblin go splat, bro!” Ty said as he held up a fist to Alex. Alex begrudgingly accepted it and looked over his score.

He hadn’t done too bad, aside from his lack of awareness. He would need to be more mindful of his surroundings in the future. His damage score was impressive compared to the others, but then again, he was in the middle of the fight. If Ty could fire as fast as Alex could shoot, Ty would definitely outshine them all.

“So, aside from your wrestler wannabe antics, how do you think you did?” Danny asked.

Alex grimaced. “Need to work on my situational awareness. Other than that, my shots are becoming easier but Agility will become important if I have to fight up close and personal.”

“I on the other,” Ty interrupted. “was amazing! Every shot was a hit and once I got into it, one shot kills, baby!”

Danny rolled her eyes and Alex laughed.

“Don’t plan on staying still, Ty.” Alex said. “You won’t always have that luxury and you need to be prepared to close in with your sword, dagger, whatever.”

“Gotcha!” Ty said.

“As for me.” Danny said. “I need to become more familiar with my spells. I need to be able to move from one spell to the next without thinking about it.”

“I suggest we all take some time to go over what we need individually.” Alex stated. “That means spell practice for Danny and melee and shooting while on the move for Ty.”

“What are you gonna do?” Ty asked. “It’s not like standing in a room and looking at stuff is going to help with your awareness.”

“True.” Alex laughed. “I think I need to work on understanding my connection with my Soul. Maybe meditate or something?”

“Yes, grasshopper!” Danny said sarcastically. “Take this pebble from my hand.”

“Laugh it up, Snarky McSnarkface. Damn Hippies.”

They all went to train on their individual needs. Tyler and Danny stepped out and got back in line for the training rooms while Alex decided to head upstairs to his room.

Alex had never meditated before. First, he tried sitting on the floor in the lotus position. Thanks to his Agility, he was far more flexible than he had ever been before. Still, he felt ridiculous. He sat there for the better part of twenty minutes but nothing had happened.

“What the hell am I doing?” Alex grumbled.

With an annoyed huff, he stood up and circled around his room in thought. Unable to come up with anything, he laid on his bed and thought about what his Soul was. He was supposed to condense it, but into what? Was it like a ball of light or a hazy mist? He closed his eyes and before he knew it, the world faded away.

He blinked his eyes open, finding himself laying on a hard, uneven surface. Standing up, he saw that he was in a cave. There wasn’t much light but he could make out the rough rock walls surrounding him. Stalagmites and stalactites doted the cave and the sound of dripping water echoed from up ahead. Unsure of what he should do, he headed for the sound.

The farther he traveled into the cave, the darker it got. Before it became so dark that he wouldn’t be able to see the hand in front of his face, he found something glowing up ahead. When he stepped up to it, he realized it was a puddle and a pathetic looking one at that. The glow was relatively faint and the sounds of dripping was from a single drop of water falling from above to land in the center of the puddle, causing ripples to spread along the surface until becoming still once more.

Alex sat down next to the puddle and started to sense his connection with it. This was his Soul! It didn’t look like much really. A tiny glowing puddle in the middle of a dark ass cave was not what he imagined his Soul to look like, but hey! At least he had found it. Now, how was he supposed to condense it?

He tried dipping his hands into the water but his hand passed through, not disturbing the surface whatsoever. Since he couldn’t physically touch it, he tried to move it with his mind. He stared at the puddle intently, trying to will it to his command. Nothing.

Alex blew out a breath.

“Just move, please.”

To his surprise, it did move. Not by much but he could tell that the puddle had been affected to a small degree as the calm surface rippled once. Whooping with joy, he settled back down and stared at his Soul.

“Condense.”

The puddle barely stirred. Not to be put out, Alex tried to visualize it as well. Focusing his mind, he tried to imagine the puddle folding in on itself.

“Condense.”

There was a splash but other than that, nothing had changed. Alex had a strange feeling that he needed more Soul Points in order for the puddle to condense. Sighing, he stood up, dusting off his pants.

“Well, at least I found you. We will try again when I get more Soul Points, little guy.”

The puddle shivered for a moment before Alex opened his eyes to find himself lying on his bed. Feeling the notification in his wristband, he pulled it up.

Congratulations! You have discovered your Soul! As weak as it may seem, it has the potential for growth! For this Accomplishment, you have received twenty points to your Soul stat!

Alex smiled wide. “One hundred and forty Soul stat. Not bad for a level zero.”