“This is a mating ritual, yes?” Jane’s excited voice sounded in Alf’s head. “I predicted this outcome. The exotic Blix is your mate, and I have obtained two characters for the price of one. Mate some more. Then I will publish my video and best all the leaders.”

“Um…” Alf repeated Jane’s words, shaking his head in frustration. “That wasn’t a mating ritual. Right, Blix? She was just trying to heal me.”

“Does she want to win this game or film documentaries?” Blix glared at him like he’d said something wrong. “I’m talking to you, Jane. If you go publishing all our strategies, you’ll kill every advantage we have.”

“Of course everything must be published,” Jane’s voice sounded in his head. “If not, what is the point?” Alf relayed the message verbatim, too exhausted to argue.

“First, we destroy the competition,” Blix insisted. “Then, after our fame has created a huge pent up demand for information about our mysterious ways, then and only then do you publish. If you share our secrets now, when there’s no demand, what’s the point?”

“You have 22.46 hours. If you do not compete, I will.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, we’re surrounded by…” Alf turned to the clearing, but the wolves were gone. A large rat was snuffling about the bloody area of his last battle. “Um… Blix? Where did the wolves go?” He turned to her, but couldn’t bring himself to look her in the eye.

She did a quick search of the area and shrugged. “Anything on your minimap?”

“I… It didn’t show them before.” He checked again just to make sure. “Um…” He risked a glance at her, and she pierced him with a predatory smile.

“Um… While the wolves are away..” He shrugged helplessly. “Maybe the mice should… try to level up?”

Blix shook her head. “You need to rest. Your HP is way too low.”

“It’s fine!” His words were practically a squeak. What was wrong with him? It was just a kiss, an act to keep their attention-span-challenged audience entertained.

“Compete now,” Jane said. “Or I will compete for you.”

“She’s not giving us a choice.” Stifling a sigh, Alf reached for the branch below him, wincing as the action tugged at his oozing scrapes. “Stay here and keep watch. I’ve got this.” He climbed down, searching the surrounding woods before dropping the last four feet to the ground. Crap. His arm felt like it was being ripped open. He crouched to retrieve his walking stick and hobbled towards the feeding scavenger. It was a lot bigger than its cousins. And it seemed somehow meaner.

He hadn’t made it five steps before the rat charged.

Gripping his cane in a one-handed lower guard stance, he whipped it around in a reverse circle that connected with the rat’s head in a resounding crack that flipped the rodent end over end to land with a less than acrobatic splat. Not giving it a chance to attack, he hit it with a series of overhead strikes until he was rewarded with another dialog.

Congratulations! You have defeated the Darat.

Reward: 75 EXP

He stumbled backwards, appalled at the ugly brutality of this new reality he was forced to endure. Was this his life now? Inflicting pain and death on every creature he came across? What if they came across other humans? Would Jane force him to fight them too?

Another rat snuffled into the clearing, attracted to the smell of the gore. Sick to his very core, he attacked the hapless creature with brutal efficiency.

Congratulations! You have defeated the Darat.

Reward: 75 EXP

He headed back to Blix’s tree, but two others that both came at him at almost the same time. The smallest of the pair, he dispatched with a single blow.

Congratulations! You have defeated the Darat.

Reward: 75 EXP

But the giant one refused to go down. Poor thing. It’s hisses and shrieks cut him even deeper than the first rat’s claws. This was what Jane’s people did for fun? It was disgusting. Time and time again he considered throwing his cane down and refusing to take part in the brutal sport, but he couldn’t let Jane take control. He’d rather die than live the rest of his life in that helpless, senseless darkness.

Congratulations! You have defeated the Giant Darat.

Reward: 200 EXP

Congratulations! You have attained Level 2 and have been awarded the following:

+ 3 Attribute Points

+ 3 Skill Points

Dismissing the dialogs, he hurried back to the tree and pulled himself up to one of the lower branches. “Just leveled up,” he called up to Blix.

“You don’t seem that happy about it.”

“I’m torturing innocent creatures for some stupid aliens’ entertainment. It’s disgusting.”

“They feel nothing,” Jane said in his head. “Mother keeps them from feeling any true discomfort. And those that aren’t consumed get recycled.”

Anger burned in his chest, but he clamped his mouth shut.

“It’s us or them, but for what it’s worth, I’m sorry you have to go through all this,” Blix called down from overhead. “I promise to help any way I can.”

“It awarded me three attribute points and three skill points.” He opened the stats tab and read her the updates.

Name: Jane

Level: 2

Class: —

Health: 22/100

Stamina: 19/100

Mana: 784/784

Exp: 100/900

Attr Points: 3

Skill Points: 3

ST: 10

DX: 10

CN: 10

IQ: 28

CH: 16

Combat Skills:

Faire du Canne 1: (Effective Skill: 1, Basis: ST+DX, Enhancement: 3%)

Grappling 1: (Effective Skill: 1, Basis: 2ST+DX, Enhancement: 3%)

Crafting Skills:

Woodcrafting 1: (Effective Level: 1.9, Basis: DX+IQ, Enhancement: 5.7%)

“What should I do with them? It looks like I have a choice.”

“Interesting!” Blix said. “This part is more like a video game than a tabletop system. The costs seem to be linear. Does it say how many experience points you need to get to the next level?”

“Nine hundred.”

“Makes sense.” She nodded. “It’s going to get harder and harder to level up so it will get harder and harder to earn points. I wish I knew whether we could level your attributes and skills by practice and hard work. If that’s the case, then it would be better to wait as long as possible to spend the points. But spending them now increases survivability.”

“Survivability sounds good to me,” Alf offered.

“Yeah, but it will probably be easier to exercise your way from ten to an eleven than exercising your way from an eighteen to a nineteen. Using your points on strength now is practically throwing them away.”

“But wouldn’t raising constitution help me heal faster?”

“Yeah…” She sighed like maybe she was disappointed he was such a wimp. “First priority, keep you alive. Put a point into constitution and tell me what happens to health and stamina.”

“Okay…” Alf focused on the three attribute points and imagined dragging one of them onto constitution.

An electric tingle passed through him, giving him full-body chill bumps.

“Weird,” he breathed. “I actually feel a bit better. And it says my health went up to twenty-seven out of a hundred and twenty-one. And my stamina went up to twenty-one out of a hundred and ten.”

“Good. Your stamina seems to be base on health and strength. Try putting a point into strength.”

Alf did as she suggested, and this time the feeling was more of physical jolt. His muscles literally seemed bigger—like he’d spent an afternoon at the gym.

“So?”

“Whoa,” he breathed. “My stamina went up again, but my effective combat skills also went up. Grappling went from a 3% boost to a 3.2% boost. Faire du canne went from 3% to 3.15%.”

“Interesting.” Blix swung down from her perch on the limb, using her left elbow as a makeshift hand. Her movement was practiced and fluid as she used the momentum of her swing to transition to first one lower limb and then to another.

“You were a gymnast?” he asked.

“Rock climber.” Her mouth puckered, but she couldn’t mask the grin lighting her face.

When she reached the lowest limb, he caught her under the arms and slung her onto his back. Holy crap. She was light as a feather. How could one point of strength make such a huge difference? “I still have one more attribute point,” he suggested. “I’m curious what another point of strength would feel like.”

“Not constitution? How are you feeling?”

“Good. Better than good. I feel fantastic. It’s amazing.” He did a quick search of the clearing and was almost disappointed not to find any more rats. No, forget rats. He felt strong enough to take on a wolf.

“Let’s save that last attribute point until we need it. If you get injured, we can use it to give you a quick burst of healing.”

“But…” Alf clamped his mouth shut. She was right. He knew she was right, but that burst of power was so… Addictive, he finally decided. It was so intense, it was scary. “Okay… But I’m putting all three skill points into faire du canne. If we run into those wolves again, I’m going to need all the boost I can get.”

“I agree. That should give you a boost of over 12%.”

He put the points into cane-fighting and was disappointed when he didn’t feel anything. The effective skill showed 4.2 and the skill boost was 12.6%, so it should have done something. Where were the rats when he needed one?

“Feel up to a little grinding?” Blix’s voice sounded next to his ear. She sounded hopeful, almost excited.

Alf shook his head, amazed that he felt a little excited himself. “Absolutely.”

* * *

Name: Jane

Level: 2

Class: —

Health: 28/121

Stamina: 37/121

Mana: 784/784

Exp: 100/900

Attr Points: 1

Skill Points: 0

ST: 11

DX: 10

CN: 11

IQ: 28

CH: 16

Combat Skills:

Faire du Canne 4: (Effective Skill: 4.2, Basis: ST+DX, Enhancement: 12.6%)

Grappling 1: (Effective Skill: 1.05, Basis: 2ST+DX, Enhancement: 3.2%)

Crafting Skills:

Woodcrafting 1: (Effective Level: 1.9, Basis: DX+IQ, Enhancement: 5.7%)