Like many in the Americas, Olivia had been asleep when the Manapocalypse hit. The awakening had been a shock to say the least, but what came after made it tiny in comparison.

Olivia's trip through the Tutorial wasn't anything amazing. When she reached the second phase she chose Beginner Mana Manipulation, Inspect, Novice Heal, Magic Missile and Basic Enchant. She had played plenty of RPG's in her younger days and if the new world worked in a similar way then she definitely wanted to go the magical route.

During her third phase she was fortunate, the monster she faced was a Pebble Golem. The monster would have been a nightmare for many fighters, its physical defences and lack of weak points making non-magical attacks an exercise in futility. Olivia managed to take it apart with Magic Missiles, taking advantage of the golems slow movement to keep out of its reach. The fight took over an hour to finish, most of that time spent waiting for her Mana to regen. By the time the fight had finished Olivia was absolutely exhausted, the constant running to keep away from the golem had worn her out.

When it came to choosing a trial Olivia chose to go for the Crafters Trial. The fight had shown that, even though she had won, she wasn't yet ready to face a serious fight. Mages were often weak in the beginning of RPG's and this was proving to be true. If the golem had been faster, or had a ranged attack, then she may very well have died. Besides, she was interested in trying out enchanting.

The Crafting Trial required Olivia to select the skill she would be using to craft with and she naturally chose Enchanting. After she did so several tables appeared, bearing the tools necessary for Enchanting. Three Mana cores, three vials of water and three leather breastplates rested on one, as well as small brush.

The enchanting skill had given her basic information on how to enchant and it seemed to be a somewhat similar concept to most RPG's. Using ink made from a mix of mana imbued water and Mana cores an enchanter would draw a symbol and imbue it with the corresponding concept. The first level had given her knowledge of the six attribute symbols but left out the concepts.

Making the mixture was as simple as dropping the Mana cores into the water and stirring. Once the mixture became an even glowing blue Olivia dabbed the brush and started drawing on the first breastplate. The symbol for vitality, something that Olivia believed she would need as much as possible, was a spiral inside a diamond. She managed to draw the symbol relatively well and used an image of a bull as the concept she infused into the symbol. once she was done the symbol flashed before disappearing. Inspecting the breastplate showed that it had a +1 Vitality enchantment.

Olivia grimaced, the enchantment had a maximum of ten Vitality so one was the worst version of it. She had completed the Trial, barely, but she wasn't happy with it. She tried to put another Symbol on it but the Mana in the two symbols interacted and destroyed the breastplate. With the next breastplate she gave up on trying for a double enchantment and focused instead on getting one enchantment as powerful as possible.

She tried to refine the concept of Vitality she used but despite pondering on it for over an hour the enchantment she ended up with only reached +4 Vitality. It was a good item, almost enough to reach Superior Quality, but Olivia felt she could do more. With one final enchantment Olivia chose to switch tracks. Rather than a Vitality enchantment she went for a Magic one. She had always loved the idea of magic, the idea of something wondrous and amazing that could be used for destruction and healing alike. The symbol for the Magic Attribute was a circle within a circle bisected by a diagonal line. When Olivia channeled the concept of Magic into the symbol she didn't go for a specific image but rather the various feelings and emotions she felt when she thought of Magic. The wonder of what she could do with her new skills, and what she would be capable of in the future. Before her plans for the future included a family, house, a career. Now, now she saw an image of herself wielding powerful magics, bending the elements to her will. This idea, the feeling of Mana flowing through her, is what she channeled into the symbol.

The symbol flashed, the enchantment complete. When Olivia identified the breastplate she found the enchantment gave seven Magic. She was overjoyed, the enchantment nearly doubled the Mana she had at her disposal. Best of all, the item reached Superior quality, earning her the second level of rewards. When the rewards came she was able to keep her breastplate and gained a necklace with +3 Agility and +5 Vitality. Best of all, she got a chance to learn two more skills. After mulling over her options she chose to gain the Imbue Mana skill and Novice Unarmed Combat. The Imbue Mana skill would likely help her with enchanting and Novice Unarmed Combat to shore up her lack of fighting skills.

After she left the Tutorial Olivia found a shattered world. It wasn't the buildings, they were gone, leaving behind a miles of empty grassland. It was the people that were shattered. The city of Roseburg, the place Oliva had grown up in, had previously had over eight thousand families. After the Manapocalypse hit, not a single family remained whole.

The first few days were the hardest, the ones that remained had to deal with the death of loved ones as well near constant Monster attacks. 13,869 Roseburg citizens left the Tutorial, by the end of the first month less than 7,000 remained. Some died from Monsters, some from bandits and some simply gave up, the weight of everything becoming too much. Olivia had almost been one of those, the loss of her parents and brother nearly crushing her. She pulled through in the end, the Monster attacks and new magical abilities distracting her from her loss.

Things started to get better after that, people gained levels and got organized. Most of the people who had survived were in their early twenties and thirties and were either strong enough to survive or they had adapted to the new rules of the world. By the time that Mark Turk created Turkton Olivia had formed her team. She'd met Sam during the first month, the Dwarf Tank standing out amongst the sea of people.

Anne was next to join. She had already gotten her Healer class and was in high demand but she chose to join them. She later confessed to Olivia that she had a bit of a crush on Sam, apparently the dwarves did it for her. Olivia wasn't going to judge, Sam was a good guy and if it meant they had a healer on the team she wasn't going to complain. Damien was last to join, he had bounced around a few other teams but said he didn't feel at home in any of them. They said it was because he was annoying, which he quickly proved to be true. Damien respected almost no one, including Olivia, which made things tense for a while until Anne finally had enough and had a chat with Damien. Olivia had no idea what Anne said to Damien but after she said it Damien was a changed man. He was still a dilk to others, and sometimes to the team, but he started to actually respect the team.

Over time other people joined and left their team but the four always stuck together. As one of the strongest, and smallest, teams in Turkton they started going on 'booster runs' with various non-fighters. The team helped those who hadn't reached level ten to do so, letting them get a profession so that even if they weren't able or willing to fight they could at least grow stronger in their Profession.

By the time they had reached a year in the Manapocalypse the few who still wanted to do the Booster runs were those who had just turned fifteen and unlocked the levelling system. It was on one of those runs that the worst happened. Ambush Monsters had always been an issue, their stealth and powerful attacks making them a serious threat, but they were usually rare in this area, most teams seeing one a month at most. Two almost simultaneously had been an impossible scenario, the sort of thing that no one trained for because why train for something that would likely never happen. Anne and Sam both blamed themselves but Olivia knew it was her failure. Her hubris had led to her failing to anticipate the possibility, and Andrew payed the price.

Then they met Michael. Michael was an oddity, something Olivia couldn't figure out. At level 1 he had more Attributes and skills then most do after getting to the second Tier. He had survived an unsurvivable trial, defeating literally thousands of higher level Monsters without any help. By all rights the man should have been arrogant, or at least more self assured, yet he didn't act like it. He was humble, down to earth and stupidly generous. When Michael had given her the Advanced Boon Olivia was about 80% sure he was hitting on her but the reason he gave, despite sounding corny and dumb, seemed to be sincere.

When Michael started fighting Olivia was impressed by his skill with a bow, especially after he gained his class. She'd seen a few archers fight and while there were some decent ones none of them could match Michael. Despite being under levelled for the dungeon he tore through it quickly, no doubt aided by his ridiculous Attributes. When Anne got the wolf cub Olivia wasn't in the least bit jealous, her heart filled only with happiness for her friend. Okay, a bit of jealousy may have been in there, the pup was adorable, but she was mostly just happy for her friend. Anne had taken Andrews death hard and it was nice to see the look of pure joy on her face as she held the bundle of furry cuteness.

The Bösegroot was a surprise. As soon as Damien said that he had found it, with none of Marks men around, dread had crept into Olivia's heart. She wasn't scared of the Field Boss, not even slightly, but she was scared of what it could represent. Open defiance. If they killed the boss, and got a Town Token, it would be a direct act against Mark. She was prepared for this, especially with Michaels help, but now that it was here she couldn't help but feel scared for the uncertain future. The fear wouldn't stop her from helping her friends though. They may not have known it, but her friends, even Damien, had saved her life. Not just from the Monsters, but from the crushing despair she had felt when she lost her family. The weight of that sadness had never left her but, little by little, her friends had helped her to lighten the load. The steadfast Sam, the kind Anne and the flippant Damien. They had helped her through her darkest days and she would do anything for them.

Which is why, as Olivia issued the challenge, her thoughts weren't on the battle ahead but on the friends behind her.

The challenge arena exists in a space so complicated it could give physicist an aneurism. There was only one arena, located near the center of the universe, yet it existed in countless dimensions at once. Whenever a challenge was issued, anywhere across the universe, the participants along with the audience are moved to another dimension.

When the occupants of Turkton appeared in the arena they were greeted with a sight of shocking majesty. The Arena was floating in the middle of space, separated from the cold emptiness by only a clear impenetrable barrier. Looking up people could see the majesty of the heavens, countless stars as well as dozens of planets. The citizens weren't paying much attention to the sky though, they had seen the sights during previous challenges. Their attention was on the two fighters standing in the Arena, and the counter slowly counting down.

Olivia stood at one end of the arena, facing Mark who stood at the other, each held within their own barriers. The arena itself was 500 meters in radius, large enough for fighters with their kind of Attributes to go all out. Someone with over 20 in Agility could easily move from one end to the other in just over ten seconds. With the various bonuses he gained from his gear Mark had an Agility of 26, meaning he could reach Olivia in just under 8 seconds. It was the reason Olivia had never faced him before, she simply couldn't do enough damage in those eight seconds to stop him.

Mark stared at Olivia, confused. "Seriously? You? I might have expected Damien or Sam to challenge me, at least they can take a hit. You though? You'd be dead within seconds. Have you finally lost it?"

Olivia looked back at him, her face blank. "You don't need to worry, I haven't lost anything. You will though, I'm going to make sure of it."

Mark laughed at her. "Hah, let me guess. You have some sort of trick up your sleeve, some new skill or item that will let you defeat me? Well bring it on. I've beat plenty who thought they could take me on and you'll be no different. Oh, and don't think I'll go easy on you just cause you're a girl, I'll rip your head off all the same. And then I'm going after your team. No one disrespects me and lives, not anymore."

Olivia sighed, sadness filling the gesture. "Do you even hear yourself? You used to be a good man, someone that was worthy of leading. Now your just a bloodthirsty tyrant who'll kill anyone in your way. What happened?"

Mark clenched his hand around his sword, anger clouding his face. "What happened? The world changed, that's what happened. Wake up! This isn't a world where being nice is worth a dome anymore. Power is the only thing that matters now. If you're strong you can do anything and if you're weak you get stepped on. You're just pinched that you're too weak not to get stepped on."

No more words were said in the remaining seconds before the countdown finished. Mark was too filled with anger, Olivia too filled with sadness, to say anything more.

When the countdown finally hit zero, and their barriers disappeared, the silence shattered.