Achievements Tallied!

5x Ghouls Slain

3x Kobolds Slain

2x Named BOSS encounter

4x Skills Gained

First 25 to utilize Resource

Recommended Reward

175 Glint, Ability Stone

-or-

Alternate Reward

175 Glint, 50 Shimmer

The low rating of survival punched Castor in the gut. All his life and death struggles amounted to a tiny window—the paltry reward felt like a confirmation of his small deeds. He also hesitated on choosing the recommended reward, leery of coming into contact with more unbearable pain. Castor could already feel his back sweat just thinking about the [Altar of Substance], so instead he focused on the lessons Micah was giving him.

“So there are no actual dimensional rifts in Rifts and Boundaries?” Castor interjected. Blue whined behind him, only quieting when he reached out to scratch his back.

Micah stared at him, dumbfounded. “You waited until I was about to go over the Tutorial Guide to ask that?”

“My bad, my bad. Continue with what you were talking about.” Castor motioned to go on with his free hand.

“As I was saying, this might not be the same scenario of the original game, but a lot of things stayed the same,” Micah said as he drew a few lines onto the dusty ground. Castor could see his eyes squint hard as he tried to see in the dark.

“We just need to get to the Obelisk; there we can get some information about the quest. Then, we grind and explore. After we get some decent power-ups, we’ll be ready for the dungeons and BOSS monsters.” Micah animatedly went over his plans. The excitement was apparent, and Castor could almost see the determination.

Well, more like broad goals than an actual objective. Castor thought, but it was better than aimlessly wandering around, going from danger to danger. A sense of direction was vital; after all, this isn’t a game. Castor’s low survival rating hung in the back of his mind. “You’re forgetting about supplies. What about food and water?”

“We can just loot the buildings, or hunt animals for food like you did with all of that stuff.” Micah pointed to the pile of loot lying deeper in the artificial cave.

“All I could find was those things.” Castor said, pointing at their assortment of supplies in the corner. “Everything else was basically turned to dust.”

Micah paused. “What does that mean?”

“It means I don’t think we can count on finding supplies lying around. There’s something about this place… Not only that, the weather is just as deadly as the monsters. It rained earlier—while you were sleeping—and I don’t know how, but I could just tell something was wrong with it. Moreover, there’s zombies everywhere.”

Micah paused, and fixed his glasses. “Even more of a reason to find the Obelisk . We could trade with the shop, and get whatever supplies we need, although we might need to do a few quests first,” Micah trailed off towards the end.

The teenager continued to mumble to himself, fantasizing about who knows what. “Micah. Micah,” Castor snapped to get Micah’s attention. “What rewards did you choose from the quest?”

“Choose?” Micah asked, confused. “All I got was 50 Shimmers and 150 Glint, whatever that means.” He swiped at the air, searching for something, before he dismissed the supposed screens altogether. Finally, he audibly sighed, “The Tutorial Guide doesn’t say anything about this, and Rifts and Boundaries didn't have this type of system. This is new territory for me.”

“Well, I don't know why, but the quest reward gave me two options. One was recommended—giving me a stone and Glints, while the other had Shimmers and Glints.” Castor explained.

“Hm. Which one are you going to choose?”

“I was hoping you could give me your opinion.”

Micah paused, weighing both of the options. “If I were you, I would choose the other reward. Having more of those points would benefit us when we can spend them in the future.”

It was sound advice. Sacrifice a tangible reward now for a greater one, albeit currently more abstract.

Recommend Reward

175 Glint, Ability Stone

-or-

Alternate Reward

175 Glint, 50 Shimmer

The prompt slid into Castor’s focus. He stared at the screen, coming up with tens of scenarios that could happen in the next day, let alone for however long they were stuck here.

It was too bad he couldn’t invest in the future.

Reward Chosen!

Tiny motes of white light gathered in front of Castor. Once it had enough mass to condensed into a lumpy shape, a blinding radiance exploded in their tunnel. Blue cried out in pain beside Castor, while he could only hiss as the burst of light blinded him despite his attempts to protect his eyes. By the time he could see again, he caught the last wisps of light fall to the ground, leaving an uneven rock in its place.

“The light show was as impressive as ever,” Micah commented. Castor rubbed his stinging eyes, and suddenly realized Micah didn't seem blinded.

“Could’ve told me about that.” Castor grumbled as he picked up the lumpy rock. It was just as unimpressive as the Awakening Stone. Gray and rough; it looked like any other rock on the side of a street.

Ability Stone

Use? Y/N

Duh, Castor pressed yes, and the stone dissolved into a pile of glitter in the palm of his hand. The clump dissolved into his hand, sending a refreshing shock of energy up his arm and into his spine. The energy flowed through his nerves, alighting his entire body with ripples of new sensations.

It traveled up and down his limbs, zipping through his body like electricity. He could almost taste it as the energy pulsed in his skull—the same tang from sticking your tongue to a battery. Stars incessantly danced across his vision, pressing into his eyes despite closing them.

A sudden bout of lightheadedness assaulted Castor, his ears pounding as the pressure in his head mounting—

—then the pressure was gone, leaving an intense dizziness in its place.

Ability Revealed!

Aural Synesthesia (Hidden)

“I feel like complete shit.” Castor heaved. The world spun as he knelt on the ground, emptying the meager contents of his stomach onto the concrete. His guts squirmed as he gripped his stomach to no avail.

“I told you not to choose that one,” Micah said as-a-matter-a-factly.

Castor groaned, too nauseous to even refute him. He kept his forehead on the cool concrete, gasping for fresh air, yet refusing to move a single muscle. Castor didn’t so much as entertain the thought until his head stopped spinning and his guts ceased to squirm.

A warm presence lingered beside him—dutifully guarding him, Blue assured him through their bond. He demanded love and scratches for being a good boy.

“Spoiled brat,” Castor commented, yet not refusing his demands. Blue huffed in contentment.

“Are you ok now?” Micah asked, gently placing a hand on Castor’s shoulder.

Castor was about to reassure him that he was fine—if only instinctively—but paused as a tremendous weight settled across his body. The air suddenly felt sluggish and buzzed in an uncomfortable frequency. He turned, unable to draw a breath as the weight crushed his chest. A flash of blue light—

“Are you ok?” Micah shook Castor’s shoulder, repeating his question.

“...yeah, I think so.” The strange burden was gone. It vanished—along with the blue glow—when Micah shook him awake.

Another strange power. He hoped the ability functioned properly in the future instead of giving him hallucinations. Unless the ability literally gives me hallucinations. It was possible, since the ability still didn’t provide him with information, only more questions.

“What did the stone give you?” Micah asked, sparkles in his eyes.

“It was an ability. [Aural Synesthesia].’

“Oh,” The excitement visibly died in his eyes. “That’s cool, I guess.”

The apparent disinterest struck a nerve with Castor. “What’s that supposed to mean?” He asked defensively.

“Nothing, just didn’t think your resource was monk-type. Aura Warriors are pretty good for newbs. No weapons or heavy armors to worry about for their Roles. Maybe you can get [Aura Palm] too; it’ll be just like one of those old kung-fu movies.” Micah stated while squinting in front of him.

“Keep staring at the screen, you're gonna get stuck.”

Micah stopped and gave Castor a scrutinizing look, as though he could see Castor in the darkness. “...okay, boomer.” He said, and returned to his status, like nothing happened.

Castor—shocked—silently followed Micah’s example, pretending a child didn’t absolutely demolish him.

Castor Dark Human

POW:0.4

MND:0.1

ATM:0.6

Twilight: 175G

RP:14/14

Abilities: Aural Synesthesia

Skill List: Alter (Ra), Blunt Weapon Proficiency (Ba), Intuition (Uc), Bond (Inc),

Blue Canine

Skill List: Guard (Ba), Bite (Ba)

Congratulations, Survivors.

Day 2

Reap those who have fallen,

More shall grow in their place.

Achievements shall

be calculated for rewards.

22,526/37,471 Survivors

Survival Rating: Low-Medium

Castor pulled up all the windows he could, a whole two. His status wasn’t anything impressive, but the quest was still disheartening. He closed the screen, unable to bear more than a cursory glance. Castor did note the increase in survival rating; with his new ability being the only difference between now and then, he hoped it proved to be useful.

A pale blue light exploded into existence, and Castor jumped in fright. He wasn’t prepared for a fight, but that wouldn’t stop him—

Micah sat on the ground, his back casting a wide shadow as he controlled a coil of power with his bare hands. It almost seemed dangerous, and Castor would’ve said so as he approached if it wasn’t for the pure look of concentration on Micah’s face as he manipulated his resource with broad strokes of his hands. The barely visible energy was made even less so by the bright orb, but it felt just as charged, if not more.

It was like hovering over an exposed wire, with a current ready to jump the final distance at a moment’s notice. Blue followed behind him, but kept his distance. A bundle of emotions filtered through their bond. Fright. Danger.

“What are you doing?” Castor chimed in, unable to help himself.

Micah didn’t answer immediately, continuing waving his hands around the [Mana Bolt]. “I’m doing a few tests. Like if I needed to say the name to use it.” He had took off his glasses, and looked straight into the source or light.

“Well, did you?”

“Nope.” Micah’s grin was audible, obvious even without Castor looking directly at his face.

Curiosity had its reward, Castor supposed.“What else did you find out?”

Again, Micah didn’t answer right away, but his slow strokes changed to a forceful press on each side. The aurora in his hands intensified. “I’m trying to see if I can inject more RP into this to strengthen it, but it’s harder than it looks.”

From Castor’s perspective, it seemed less of a matter of strength, and more of finesse, as the energy slipped on either side of the orb. His [Intuition] caught something—not an idea, but a half-formed thought. “What are you doing with your energy?”

Micah flinched, almost letting the bolt fly out of his grasp. He gasped for air, before he dismissed the skill altogether and fell to the ground.

“Micah! Are you okay?” Castor turned Micah on his back and ran to grab a bottle of water. In the few seconds Castor was gone, Micah’s breathing calmed to frequent huffs instead of desperate gasping.

“It’s. Okay.” He said between breaths. “Resource. Exhaustion. Don’t hit. Zero.” Blue sniffed him and turned away—clear disinterest after the magical light.

Castor tried to let him rest—feeling sorry since it was his fault Micah’s experiment went haywire—but the teenager grabbed his arm, intent on not letting him go. “Can you, see mana?” Micah asked, still winded.

“Kinda.” Castor hesitated. “I can see it, but it's more like seeing the heat coming off a car than seeing the car itself.”

Micah drew a long, deep breath and exhaled just as long. “In the game, only the highest level NPC’s could see mana. Top-tier mages.” He paused, letting the new information marinate a bit. “You’re saying you can do that?”

“I don’t know if I can do that, but I could see whatever you were doing to that [Mana Bolt]. It looked like you were going about it the wrong way.”

“... What do you mean?”

“You said you were trying to inject more mana, right?” Castor received a nod. “Well, that’s not what you were actually doing; your energy was sliding around it.”

Micah sighed. “That's exactly what it felt like.”

[Intuition] hummed in the back of Castor’s mind, his mouth moved before he could even finish the thought. “How about spinning your resource around the skill next time.”

Confusion rested on Micah’s face before it blossomed into understanding. He jumped to his feet, only to stumble to his knees. “After your Resource Exhaustion goes away, man.” Castor reprimanded.

“It’ll go away in two hours. There’s a timer on my status and everything.”

“Then you gotta wait for the next two hours before you start anything again.” Micah protested with a groan, but didn’t do anything else.

The exhaustion began to creep on Castor, which was understandable since he wasn’t sure how much time he slept. He stifled a yawn, and made a spot near the supplies; Blue followed close behind, cuddling next to him when he laid down.

It wasn’t comfortable in the slightest, but the warmth between them was. He felt safe in his familial embrace—like someone had his back no matter what.

Castor captured the feeling and did his best to return it to Blue through their bond. He was such a good boy—especially in this kind of situation. He wanted him to know that they were family. Not all the scratches in the world could convey that, but it couldn't hurt.

A shudder suddenly ran through Castor, deeper than a mere muscle spasm ever could occur.

As it almost began to hurt, it was followed by an intense heat that grew between the man and his dog. Castor tried to push Blue away while gasping for air, but his body wouldn’t move. He couldn’t do anything more than lift a finger. Liquid power roiled through his belly to reach Blue, who slept soundly through whatever afflicted Castor. The energy moved through their bond on its own, demanding equilibrium.

Bond Expanded!

Unranked 10

New Paths Revealed!

Resource Exhaustion I Afflicted