When the Olivia issued the Challenge, and all the residents of Turkton were transferred to the Arena, there was one person left behind.

Michael was surprised by the sudden silence. Where there was previously shouts and the sounds of spells being unleashed now Michael actually thought he heard the sound of a cricket.

Looking around realised he was alone, the entire town was empty and silent. Well, almost. Michael had just stood up and was busy brushing himself off when he was tackled by a fuzzy brown bundle of joy.

[Dad! You're okay! Wait, are you okay? You better be, you promised! That was so much fun! All those bad men tried to get me but they were too weak, I kept swatting them and they kept flying all over the place! Hah! That'll teach 'em to mess with us! Then they all disappeared, just like Aunt Liv said they would! Can we do that again!]

[Hazel, I'm glad you're okay but I will need to breath at some point.]

The fuzzy brown bundle of joy looked down to where she could see a hand poking out from between her forelegs. She thought for a second. Then she nodded having made up her mind.

[Maybe, but not yet right?]

[Umm, yes?]

[Good]

Michael eventually got out, almost blacking out in the process, and gave his self-adopted daughter/companion a hug. He had been worried about her reaction to all the fighting but she seemed to be fine.

Now that he had the opportunity to look around he found that there was a barrier, both over the entire town like a bubble and coated over every building like a film. Michael felt conflicted, on one hand he was happy that Olivia had managed to get to the console and make the challenge but on the other hand he was worried for Olivia. He had slammed Turk in the face with a Boulder Toss and had barely phased him. Knocked him down, puffed him off, but hadn't actually done much damage to him.

Michael shrugged, no sense in worrying over something he couldn't change. Michael had a whole year's worth of practice letting go of things he had no control over.

Walking over to the system console with Hazel Michael decided to get a few things done that he had been sitting on for a while. In his inventory was several tokens that he had been holing ever since he got out of the Tutorial. Specifically, 5 upgrade tokens, one of which Olivia had taken, along with a Tier 1 and Tier 2 skill Token.

Placing his hand on the console a screen popped up, displaying a single option, System Store. Clicking on it Michael was presented with three more options: Buy, Sell and Exchange Tokens. Smiling at the simplicity of the design Michael clicked on the third option and a message popped up asking him to place a token on the console.

Taking out the Tier 1 Skill token Michael placed it on the console and another screen popped up with a massive list of options along with a list of filters on one side. Scrolling through the filters he found options for almost everything. There were crafting skills, combat skills, weapon skills, magic skills, gathering skills and more. There were so many options that Michael would likely need a long time to think through what he wanted.

Fortunately he'd had months to think about it; he had a list. He started with a Mapping skill. Specifically he wanted a skill that would present some sort of map or at least a mini-map of some kind so that he would be able to track where he was. He wanted to get to Sarah but the world had changed, maps and landmarks were no longer reliable. Even basic directions might not be usable anymore.

Michael searched and searched but found nothing resembling what he wanted. He wasn't discouraged, the likelihood of a skill that useful being Tier 1, or even Tier 2, was small. With the mapping skill not panning out he went for the second item on his list, an ice spell. He'd seen the value in having Control skills but his Vine Trap had been broken too many times and relying on just the single skill seemed like a recipe for disaster. When it came to slowing or stopping a target there was nothing better than chopping off the targets legs, but ice spells were a close second. Less murdery as well.

Michael filtered the skills by spells, then attacking spells, then ice element attacking spells before sorting them by slowing/freezing effect. As he did so Michael once again felt amazed by the sheer usability of the system, everything was just as he expected it to be, like the screen was reading his thoughts and altering the format to best suit him.

That though pulled Michael up short, was the console reading his mind?

A small message appeared on the screen saying No long enough for Michael to read before disappearing.

...

...

Michael shrugged. If it said no it said no, he wasn't about to argue with a console. He'd done something similar once and he'd vowed never to do it again.

Michael continued with looking through the skills, though there wasn't many. Tier 1 Skills apparently didn't have a big selection. There were several options but after a bit of search Michael found one he immediately liked the look of. With little hesitation he bought it, the skill notification appearing in his mind.

New Skill Learnt!

Chilling Touch

Tier 1, Level 1, Ice Magic Spell

50 Mana Cost, Touching Range, 60 Second Cooldown.

Imbue your touch with the power of frost freezing the target for level x 10 seconds and dealing damage equal to Ice Affinity x 2.

The spell was perfect. Out of all the other ice spells this one had the longest freezing time, likely due to the terrible range. For most melee fighters it would be extremely useful but expensive, for mages it wouldn't be too expensive but it would be almost unusable with the range. For Michael, and his Spell Arrow skill, it was perfect. His Ice affinity didn't even appear on his Affinity list so the damage would be pitiful but he already had plenty of Damaging skills.

Moving on, Michael placed the Tier 2 Skill token on the console. Michael once again searched for a mapping skill and once again came up empty. Michael wasn't particularly bothered as he had been expecting it, but it was starting to get worrying. If he couldn't find some sort of Map in the System Store then he might just have to aim for the direction Michigan used to be and hope for the best.

His original idea for the skill was some sort of traversal skill like the Blink spell in some of the RPG's he'd played. Plans changed when he got Hazel. Traversal might still be useful but he didn't want to escape a situation just to leave her behind. He'd given some thought to the problem and realised that his answer lay in a D&D favorite; Polymorph.

Unfortunately the idea didn't exactly plan out. There were a few body altering skills but most were either the wrong kind or restricted to self use. Michael could have grabbed one and used an Upgrade Token on it but that was equivalent to a shot in the dark.

Fortunately, he had a lot more ideas. Looking through Companion Skills Michael found one that suited his needs.

New Skill Learnt!

Companion Teleport

Tier 2, Level 1, Companion Magic Skill

150 Mana Cost, 100 Minute Cooldown

Teleport your Companion to yourself or vice versa, Cooldown decreases per level.

The skill wasn't be the most amazing skill that Michael could get, Firefall came to mind, but it was a potential lifesaving skill for both himself and Hazel. It also solved Hazels mobility issue.

With the skills out of the way Michael moved on to the Upgrade Tokens. When he placed a Token on the console it pulled up a list of his items and skills asked him what he wanted to Upgrade. He was sad to see that his bow and quiver weren't on the list but happy to see that all of his skills were.

Michael wanted to save some Upgrade Tokens as a backup so he chose to keep one and spend the other three on his most used skills.

Wizard Arrow

Tier 2, Level 1, Upgraded General Spell

100 Meter Range, 50 Mana Cost, 50 Damage, 25% Armor Penetration.

Create an Arrow made from Mana and imbued with an effect. Number of effects available increase with level.

Current effects available: +25 Ice Damage, +25 Fire Damage.

Spell Arsenal

Tier 2, Level 1, Upgraded Bow Magic Skill

Infuse any weapon or armor with a spell, applying either a Temporary or Permanent effect. Number of Permanent effects limited to level.

Temporary effects cost Mana equal to Spell cost, Permanent Effects cost Mana equal to Spell cost x 5.

Maglavin Archery

Tier 2, Level 1, Way Of The Bow Skill

Within the ranks of the Rangers there are those with a gift for Archery that goes beyond the norm. Those Rangers are known as the Maglavin, and this is their Way.

Michael was practically drooling over the new skills. Wizard Arrow made Michael giddy, Spell Arsenal made him tingly and Maglavin Archery knocked him out. Not metaphorically; literally.

When the Skill upgraded Michael's world turned black and an instant later he was somewhere else.

Michael found himself in the middle of a forest, towering trees all around him. He started freaking out but before he could really get going a deep voice sounded out, seemingly coming from all around him.

"So, another comes along who managed to find his way onto the Maglavin's Way Of The Bow?"

Michael looked all around him, trying to see who had spoken, when a new, angrier voice spoke.

"A child, blindly stumbling on to the Way with no clue what he is doing. He hasn't even earned the power he already has, not truly. I say we strip him of the skill."

Now Michael was really starting to get freaked out. He had no idea how these people had kidnapped him or why. He didn't even know if they were people. A third voice spoke out, this one sounding soft.

"Oh let him keep the skill, it won't do any harm. His civilisation hasn't even entered the second Tier, it will be decades before he will be able to leave his world. By that time he will have either earned the right to call himself Maglavin or he'll have lost the skill. Besides, he has already discovered his Path. If his journey should have him walk along our Way then it was meant to be"

The second voice responded.

"What! How could he have discovered his Path already? Even I hadn't done so until I was in the Fourth Tier! You really expect me to believe he has done so at the Second Tier?"

Michael had by now gone so far past freaked out he was approaching calm from the other side. The third voice spoke once more.

"Indeed, I do. I do not know how he has done so only that he has. You know of my skills, and you also know I cannot lie, so you need not doubt me. I suggest we give him a quest to let him prove his worth. He may have stumbled n to the way by accident but that does not mean he is not worthy."

The second voice spoke again, it's tone carrying less anger than before.

"I apologise, I did not mean to doubt. I agree with your idea of a quest, but it needs to be worthy of our way. Do not go easy on him just because he has discovered his Path, go harder."

The first voice spoke again after having stayed silent for most of the conversation.

"We have an agreement. The one named Michael Volker will keep the Maglavin Archery skill on the provision that he completes a quest which the two of you will design jointly. If he fails the quest, he will be stripped of his Skill. If he succeeds, he will be given the opportunity to take the Maglavin's Trial when he reaches the Fourth Tier.

Michael ws so confused by what was going on but before he could even open his mouth to ask a question the world turned black.

When Michael awoke he found that he was no longer standing in front of the console. To be more specific, he was still in front of the console but he was no longer standing. He was flat on his back, with a terrifying sight above him.

Standing above Michael, with a look of fury that terrified him to the core, was Anne.

"I told you not to do that again."

The next few seconds were very painful for Michael and involved too much kicking for his liking.

Eventually Sam pulled Anne away and a hand reached down to help Michael up.

"You gave us a scare Michael." Olivia said. "What happened? Why were you unconscious?"

"I, uh, I have no idea. I upgraded one of my skills and then I was ... somewhere else. Nevermind that, what happened with you?" Michael asked.

Olivia smiled. "Mark's dead, I'm the new Mayor."

Michael thought he detected sadness in her smile. "You okay?"

The smile stayed, but it turned genuine. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. Come on, you're missing the celebration."

The celebration was short but lively. A lot of people had been unhappy with Mark recently and Olivia had made a lot of friends. As one of the strongest Mages in town she had been at the forefront of a lot of fights. The sight of Olivia standing on the wall raining down fire on Monsters had given a lot of people hope.

But there was still a lot of work that needed to be done. Mark had dozens of men and they hadn't just disappeared, Olivia needed to make sure they couldn't cause issues. There was also the issue of the Town Tokens.

The buildings Mark had previously built could be remodeled into more helpful ones. The restaurant could be change into a Mess Hall with a few minor changes. The Bathhouse and Tavern didn't need any changes except for the rates, Olivia would make the Tavern more affordable for everyone and the Bathhouse free for everyone. The Mayors house was a difficult one, the building could only be modified so much, but the idea was to make it a meeting hall for the various teams until an Adventurers Guild could be made.

The decision on what to use the Town Token in Olivia's possession would be decided at a town meeting later on. Olivia's preference was for a Crafters Hall but she knew that she couldn't be a dictator. Decisions for the Town would be made by the Town, though Olivia would keep a firm hand on the rudder so to speak.

The coming days would be very busy, but today was for celebrating. The restaurant was opened for everyone and made free for the night, all the Cooks, Chefs and Bakers worked hard to crate a feast for everyone. Ale, beer and wine was shared, the products of Brewers over the previous months, with a healthy contribution from Michael via the System Store.

Not everyone was happy, Mark had saved a lot of people and not everyone had wanted him gone, even less had wanted him dead. But life had been harsh, the experiences of the past year had made people practical and no one was going to argue with the new Mayor over a dead one.

The night wound down quietly. When Monsters attacked the Town it usually happened at night so even the non-fighters kept their drinking to a minimum.

Michael found Olivia standing on the wall, staring into the dark. He walked up and stood next to her, joining her in the silence. The night was quiet, everyone had already gone to sleep, other than the ones standing guard. Hazel was currently sleeping, having discovered the joys of barbeque and subsequently discovered the perils of overeating.

The silence stretched on, both Olivia and Michael comfortable in the silence. But every silence was made to be broken.

"You're leaving aren't you?" Olivia asked.

"Yeah, I need to find my sister." Michael said.

Olivia hesitated, but said "You might not want to hear this, but she might be dead."

"I know. I have to try."

The silence returned for a few minutes, a multitude of things were left unsaid in that silence.

Eventually Olivia broke the silence. "You'll get your portal skill working soon right?" Michael nodded. "Then remember to visit. I'll miss Hazel if you don't."

Michael grinned. "Deal."