At precisely four-thirty, all of the students were waiting in the MPR, though also spaced out a bit, save for the top students, who had already gathered in front of the T.V.'s to see who ranked where. The reason the students had spaced out was to avoid getting sprayed with blood as much as possible.

Once the sixteen 'losers' were dead and burst, everyone made their way to the screens to view the rankings after checking out their own rewards. As the notice had said before the Challenge began, everyone received something, and the screens displayed it for everyone.

No one was surprised by Nathan, Keith, Samantha, Michael, and William taking the top spots, though Mitchell, Kendra, Tameka, and Elise also managed to kill everything, along with three others, making the count for 15,000 Point-earners a full dozen.

Nathan's public earnings for reaching first were 32 Stat Points, 32 Skill Points, 320 Points, and 16 Levels, with the values decreasing as they went down the Rankings. Any student who performed a full complete – that was, killing all fifteen thousand monsters – earned an additional 100 Stat Points, 100 Skill Points, 10 Levels, decrease to their Regenerations, and an additional fifty to each stat.

Not that we actually know our exact values, Nathan thought to himself. Just estimates.

Seeing the rewards, Nathan suspected that there would have been massive bonuses for the Survival Challenge as well. Maybe not as powerful as the Points Battles' rewards, but still high.

The game wanted them to be able to at least stand a chance in the Final Challenge. And that massive rewards told him that they would need the high boosts.

He dismissed all of the notifications, including the one letting him know his cooldown for the Points Shop access decreased by six hours again, save for two.

Level 100 Reached – New Skills may be available in the Skills Shop. New Skills are now only available every 50 Levels.

A quick check told him that he had no new Skills, meaning he hadn't unlocked anything new in forty Levels. That gave him some hope that he'd get something decent at Level 150, since it was mostly based on what they'd done between unlocks.

Then there was the second message.

Challenge 8, the Final Challenge, will begin at precisely 10 A.M. ten days from now. All Mana and Health will be restored upon its start. There will be no new Main Challenges or Secondary Challenges before then.

The game was telling them ten days in advance – well, nine and a half – when the Final Challenge would begin. Not only that, it promised them that their Mana and Health would be restored to full, meaning they could train their assess off without worry, especially the magicians.

At least, as long as the System was being honest with them, but so far, it had been nothing but honest.

The students talked for awhile, then went about their business as usual, most of them heading to train a bit after purchasing more Stat Points and Skill Points, then eating lunch.

Nathan and his group moved to the cafeteria for dinner, and remained once everyone else had left.

"Thoughts?" Samantha asked as Nathan shoved food into his mouth. "Other than Nathan, since he seems to be more interested in his food than our discussion."

"The Final Challenge is going to be insanely tough," Keith said. "There's no other explanation for why the game would just throw so many Points, Skill Points, and Stat Points at people. Those who reached the Top Twelve with the Points Battle, the strongest and best of everyone here, will probably be those most likely to survive. Whatever the Challenge is, we'll need to protect everyone else."

"You've said that six or less have survived all of the ones you know of?" Kendra asked.

"Yeah," Keith nodded. "Not many at all, and several of them have died since, though it's being kept hush-hush. We'll probably have to return to the game after we leave here, though I know a couple of them were by suicide."

"That's another point," Michael said. "Once we leave this game, we're probably done with the easiest mode."

"Easiest mode?" Elise asked.

"Yeah," Samantha explained. "We're in the Tutorial. When the five of us missed being in the MPR due to Nathan going unconscious from his awakening, our difficulty went from Tutorial to Beginner."

She explained the various difficulty increases to those who weren't in the group that were forced into it, including some of the information they hadn't shared before, such as the capacity and spawn rate increases, and the lowest ranking being increased to H-2.

"Damn," Mitchell said. "So you think we'll be facing tougher out there?"

"Probably," Nathan spoke up. "It's possible that if we're forced back in over and over, any forced returns will be in Normal Difficulty."

"If we're forced?" Samantha looked at her boyfriend. "You think that we might have the option to return, outside of any forced returns – assuming that we do return?"

"Yes," Nathan answered. "Challenge 7 confirmed to me that there are choices involved. Its purpose was to give us the opportunity to train, to become stronger. A lot stronger. Our Experience gains stayed the same for this, even if the Points were dropped.

"If we are in Normal Difficulty for all future Challenges," he continued. "Then it stands to reason that if we're given the choice to train now, we'll be allowed to train – at the risk of our lives, of course – in the future as well. The difficulties will be much, much more difficult from what we're doing now. Whatever this Final Challenge is, it'll probably be as hard as Normal Challenges that we face. As the more basic Normal Challenges."

The other students processed that, and Nathan finished eating, then suggested they train up, before he made his way to the showers to clean up from the fight. Most of the other students were either finishing up washing the blood off, or had already finished and made their way to the training areas.

Once he was clean, Nathan went to the pottery room and started shaping clay, finding himself joined by Samantha after an hour.

"I'm glad we're finally leaving," she kissed him on the cheek. "Though I suppose I won't get to see you making stuff like this. And we won't get to take the stuff you made back."

Nathan shrugged. He wasn't doing it to acquire items, but because he liked fiddling with his hands. He found it soothing. Pottery, ceramics, sculpting, drawing, painting, origami, and other such things. He could even sew or knit, if he put his mind to it.

Briefly, he wondered if Samantha still had the wolf cross-stitching he'd done when they were twelve. He dismissed the question immediately, though – she probably did, since she liked him. Plus, it wasn't a bad piece.

He burned those.

Nathan spent the next two hours creating his clay monster, then he smashed it, tossed it into a slip bucket by the pottery wheels, and cleaned off his hands. Once he'd removed the last traces of clay from his hands, Nathan walked over to Samantha and picked her up, using the princess carry on her as he walked to their room.

Inside, he gently set her down on the air mattress and climbed on top of her, pressing his lips to hers.

"You know," she break off the kiss after a few minutes. "I like the fact that you're strong enough to just lift me up as if I weigh nothing."

"You could probably do that to me," he said, beginning to unbutton her top.

"I'd never," she said, then pressed her lips to his.

Nathan finished unbuttoning her shirt and helped her out of it, then removed her bra, before taking care of the rest of her clothes, kissing and rubbing over her entire body. With her enhanced sense of touch, Nathan knew that she was likely struggling to hold back, and it took him only a few minutes to bring her to her first climax.

As soon as he did, he moved his mouth back down and began pleasuring her with his tongue as he worked one of her breasts with a hand, rubbing her ass with the other, his fingers pressing against the hole.

When she reached her second climax, Nathan slid his body against hers, kissing her breasts on his way to her mouth, and he slowly pushed inside of her, barely able to continue to holding back as he slowly moved back and forth, picking up speed as she thrust her hips up.

He finished, then pulled out and moved her to her hands and knees and knelt behind her, working his way back in and bringing them both to another, final orgasm.

Finished, Nathan pulled out of Samantha and laid down, pulling her against him. She rested her head against his shoulder as he rubbed her back and ass, closing his eyes. It only took her a few moments to notice that his breathing had slowed and become the soothing, rhythmic pattern that she had grown used to as they slept.

Rubbing his chest, she thought about their relationship. He'd given in to their feelings because of uncertainty, and because of the game, but after, she wasn't sure if he'd stay with her. He didn't seem to have feelings for others, but he did sleep with some other chicks, and she knew a couple of them, too.

Particularly the twins who babysat him when they were younger. Finding out that he'd been sleeping with them shocked her. She was sure that they were lesbians. Would he stay with her after they left? Or would he go back to sleeping with whoever he wanted?

Sighing, Samantha decided that he'd probably not tie himself down, after the game ended. It was simply a part of who he was.

When she next woke, she realized fumbled around for the phone the game gave her. Nathan was missing, and after checking the time, determined he was probably in the cafeteria, eating breakfast, so she got dressed and made her way down there, finding him slicing into biscuits coated heavily in gravy.

"Morning, Nathan," she said.

"Morning," he dipped his head to her.

"Before I fell asleep," she sat down. "I was thinking about some stuff."

"Okay."

"You're not tying yourself down after we leave here, are you?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"To me," she said. "You don't want to stay exclusive, do you?"

"No."

Samantha sighed.

"I figured," she said. "I'd rather you did, Nathan, but I'm not going to stop you. You had a thing going, and it worked for you, and we only got together because of this game. Outside, I do want to try to give us a real shot, but I won't have an issue with you doing your thing… as long as you do give me the shot."

"And if I don't?" He asked.

"Well, I'll have to deal with that, won't I?" She asked.

"You will," he stated. "As well as the baby."

"The baby?"

"We've had unprotected sex every time," he reminded her. "Pretty sure you're pregnant."

Samantha sighed, then shrugged.

"We'll find out once we're out of here, won't we?" She asked. "I'm sure whoever checks the 'survivors of the biological attack' will run medical tests on us and let me know."

"I think it's a boy."

"Have you been unprotected with the others?"

"No," he stated. "I used a condom with everyone else, every time. And they were on the pill."

"Both could fail," she said, and he shrugged. "What would you do if they got pregnant?"

"Pay them to keep quiet about it," he told her. "But I doubt they are."

"What makes my baby different, then?" She asked. "My hypothetical baby, Nathan. Stop giving me that look."

Nathan kept the smirk on his face.

"What makes my hypothetical baby different?"

"I have feelings for you other than just wanting to get off," he told her. "So I'd be happy to have a kid with you. And to kill anyone who hurt him."

Samantha knew he wasn't joking about that comment, even if most people would have only been using that as an extreme example of how much they'd care for the baby. But with Nathan, who once killed several muggers just for hurting her back before high school, she knew he was probably serious.

He'd done it with a cold fury on his face. And then, once they were done, he simply called his father and let him know that he needed a few bodies taken care of.

Despite knowing that Nathan was a murderer – and had probably killed others before – she still loved him. Envied him, in some respect. He could kill and get away with it.

Samantha gave Nathan a kiss, then went to pick out her lunch.

The students spent the next several days training and relaxing, and when it drew near to the time that their Final Challenge began, the students prepared and met up in the cafeteria.

"Are you-" Keith began.

"No," Nathan answered the unfinished question. Keith had been asking him every day about the signs of having too much mana without a familiar. "I feel fine."

"Alright," Keith said. "We'll have to see if we can get you something strong once we leave here."

Nathan shrugged, then checked his watch. 9:44:38. He had a feeling they'd receive a gathering notice either at quarter-till or ten-tell.

Twenty-two seconds after he checked his watch, Nathan was met with a notice.

You have 15 minutes to gather in the MPR. Any students not in there when the time is up will die. When the Challenge begins, you may leave your backpacks in there. They and their property will not leave with you, though any items that do leave with you that are not with you will automatically enter your Item Box, Weapons Box, and Clothing Box, with a Temporary Box forming if needed. Any items in your Item Box that cannot leave with you will be discarded automatically upon leaving. The Challenge will be performed together.

The students went to the MPR and shed their backpacks, wondering what the Challenge entailed. The message implied they'd be leaving shortly after the Challenge, possibly right after. When it reached ten, they received another message.

Challenge 8, the Final Challenge, has begun! Your Health and Mana have been refilled. Kill the dragon.