The next morning, I considered everyone’s bids for the City Token.

River had offered me tens of thousands of coins in exchange for the City Token.

The Air Force Base offered me even more coins, and an E-ranked Rune Pattern Blueprint. It seemed they knew me well.

Ryker, to my surprise, offered me the most.

“I have two advantages,” he told me, as we were eating breakfast together in his house in Reed Town. “I know you the best, and I don’t have their ego. So here’s the deal. I’ll turn ownership of the town over to you. You turn Reed Town into a city, and you make me your right-hand man. You’re the boss. But I doubt you want to stick around managing a city. I’ll keep Reed City safe and running while you’re doing whatever shit strikes your fancy. You keep Reed City—and my Grandma—safe if any big threats come our way. Cool?”

I glanced at Ryker, surprised. “You trust me that much, considering what happened in the tutorial?”

Ryker studied me. “You’re foolhardy. Maybe you need a steady hand like mine to keep you reigned in.”

The Mayor of Reed Town wishes to make you Reed Town’s new Mayor.

Accept/Reject

Samantha practically shouted in my head.

Once I selected “Accept,” a new blue text appeared:

Congratulations! You have gained the conditional title, District Mayor (F-rank): +1 to your two highest stats when you are fighting in your District.

Ignoring the text, I focused on the new icon nested under the blue alpha symbol that hovered in the corner of my vision.

It said, “Reed Town Options.”

I quickly found myself buried in information. I could see all the structures that Ryker had purchased so far. I could see a Town Store, which would allow me to build stronger walls, or buy a protective mana shield for the town. I could also buy class shrines that would allow people to gain a basic, F-ranked class for a fee.

I shook myself out of my daze. “Wow. Thanks, Ryker. You won’t regret this.”

Ryker’s heavy hand landed on my back. “I know. Don’t forget to give me administrative privileges too.”

I smiled at that, and did.

I found the option that said “Upgrade to City,” and then confirmed it.

It was an anticlimactic moment, considering all the work I’d put in to get here.

It took some time for the town to upgrade into a city. We had to clear the nearby monsters just outside of the walls, because if someone attacked the walls while they were upgrading, Samantha said the Schema wouldn’t be happy.

Clearing nearby monsters was more of a chore than a battle.

Meanwhile, in addition to the walls, the Merchants’ Faction Store had a sign up that said, “Closed for Renovations,” and the building that housed the Teleportation Circle was also being upgraded.

Congratulations! You have upgraded the conditional title, District Mayor (F-rank) to the conditional title, Region Lord (E-rank): +1 to all stats when fighting in your Region.

It was a minor bonus, and it seemed rather pointless, since nothing in the Region could even challenge me. Except the other Hard Mode Challengers. But it was free Stat Points, so I wasn’t going to complain.

At Samantha’s suggestion, I walked into the Merchants' Faction Store first. It looked essentially the same as it used too, just a few more decorations on the walls.

The real difference was when I looked at the items for sale. I could see dozens of D-rank items on display now.

Samantha said.

I thought it was a waste of money to buy from the store?

Samantha responded smoothly.

I found it hard to wrap my mind around how anyone could have as much money as I did.

How long would it take for someone else to get 7 million coins, just from killing monsters?

The D-rank items on the Information Crystal’s display each cost around 1 million coins.

It didn’t take long to find the perfect weapon:

Vampiric Blade (D-rank): When activated, drinks the blood of enemies at or above your level and converts that blood into mana, at rate of about 10 HP to 1 mana. Duration: 1 minute. Cooldown: 10 minutes. +5 Strength, +5 Agility.

The passive Stat Point bonus was pretty much on par with the other D-rank weapons I could find. What made it truly valuable—and what raised its price compared to the other D-rank weapons—was the attached skill. It was a stingy conversion rate, and a short duration, but mana was the key to my fighting style, and anything that could replenish my mana was valuable to me, since my class didn't allow me to use Mana Potions.

Ryker had been waiting for me outside the store. He raised his eyebrows slightly, seeing my scabbard holding a new sword, but he didn’t comment. We entered the building that housed the Teleportation Circle together.

The Teleportation Circle was larger now, with more elaborate rune patterns that I couldn’t make heads or tail out of.

I pulled up the list of available cities. From how Samantha explained it, the list of cities could function as an indicator of how humanity as a whole was faring--and how many Regions still needed to be conquered in my Zone.

Daybreak (Michigan)

Dauphin (Pennsylvania)

Hope (Manitoba)

The Crucible (Colorado)

Montreal (Quebec)

Zapopan (Jalisco)

I felt a shiver run down my spine. The Crucible.

There was something I hadn’t told Samantha, when she was asking about the fantasy stories from Earth. It was something absurd, yet so personal, the reason that I had thought for so long that everything was just a dream.

I hadn’t just read fantasy novels. No, in my online reading, I had read stories remarkably similar to the post-apocalyptic reality I was currently living.

And in each one of those stories, the Crucible was the core to the development of every main character.

For Li Tian, the first human to be summoned to the Death King’s Trials, the Crucible was the training camp where he awoke his legendary physique.

For George Hytia, the Crucible was the name of the spear that evolved with him as he shielded the Earth from hordes of invaders, ultimately gaining the title Humanity’s Last Bastion.

I turned to Ryker with a smile. “I’ll be back,” I said, stepping onto the intricate runes on the floor and activating the Teleportation Circle—setting my destination for The Crucible and sending them my name and level.

For the first time since I had known her, I heard panic in Samantha’s voice.

Serves her right, for all the shit she put me through.

Reed City faded, and I appeared in what seemed to be some kind of bomb shelter. The walls, ceiling, and floor were grey, bare cement. The room was lit by torches fixed into the wall at regular spaces, casting somewhat ominous shadows around the room.

Four people had their eyes on me as I materialized through their Teleportation Circle.

They were fully equipped, arguably with a better load out than I had. Every one of them had E-ranked weapons and armor.

“Welcome to The Crucible,” the one woman in the group said. Her skin was almost completely covered in leather armor, leaving only her face visible. She was a black woman either in her late teens or early twenties, with a very compact, muscular build. I could see about four knives on her belt, and about a dozen more slotted into a bandolier. “What is the purpose of your visit?”

“I’ve read about the Crucible,” I said, vaguely. It felt strange, saying it out loud. I hadn’t been comfortable telling Samantha about it, or Ryker. But even though it felt strange, it also felt right. I was where I needed to be.

I’d read about the end of the world, in dozens of different iterations. Had they read about it too? I couldn’t help but hope for some sense of camaraderie. Someone else who had read what I had.

The woman smiled at me, walked forward, and reached out a hand. “My name is Adia, I’m glad you’re here. What stories do you remember?”

“It’s all a blur, honestly,” I said. “Li Tian, George Hytia. It’s just that everything feels familiar, and the Crucible is important.”

It was like an exaggerated version of the feeling that I had noticed after reading too many stories in the same genre. Eventually, all the stories kind of blend together. Tutorials, monsters, levels, the Crucible, dungeons, saviors, merchants, invasions. It was hard to remember any specifics--except that the Crucible always helped.

“Walk with me and I’ll catch you up,” Adia said, turning toward the only exit.

I hurried towards Adia. Chill out, Samantha. They’re friends.

One of the remaining guards reached into a pocket to pull something out and I flinched a little bit. Maybe Samantha was right.

Then I saw it was basically a glowing tile a bit smaller than his fist. He held it to his mouth like a walkie-talkie. “Adia’s on the way up with a Reader.”

I heard, out of the same tile, the words, “Copy that.”

As we left the stone room, I had the growing suspicion that I was in an underground fortress. The door led to a cement staircase leading upward, still with torches affixed in regular spaces.

It was interesting to me that the sconces that held the torches were screwed into the cement wall. It implied that someone had built this place, anticipating the loss of electricity.

“Sorry about the mood lighting,” Adia said with a wry smile. “Electricity doesn’t work, obviously. We’re working on getting everything running on Mana, but that’s a big project.

“Anyway, the Crucible City is named after a potion that unlocks each person’s natural talents. The going rate is 50,000 coins if you’re interested.

“I’d like to buy it,” I said.

“Of course,” Adia said. “Because we want to avoid ambitious resellers—obviously, 50,000 coins is much lower than market price—we ask all customers to drink the potion in our town.”

I couldn't help but appreciate the irony behind Samantha's hysterical tone. She'd been in control for so long, I had finally cracked that cool, calm, and collected voice.

At the same time, maybe Samantha was right? “I’d like to see the potion,” I said. We can Identify the potion to see if it is legit.

“Of course,” Adia said with a smile. “Let’s find some natural lighting first—I generally like to avoid talking about anything in this doom-and-gloom setting.”

To be fair, there was something unnerving about the place. The hallway we were walking through was so narrow we could barely fit side by side, and the gray concrete made it feel vaguely like a prison.

After another flight of stairs, and several branching paths, I finally saw daylight.

We were in the largest room I’d seen so far. There were rows of tables, laid out like a cafeteria. Natural light trickled in from small, barred windows placed high in the walls. The ceiling was two or three stories tall, and I had the impression that this room could probably fit a thousand people or so.

A few people were seated at the tables, eating in small groups. They all bore Schema equipment—robes, weapons, and armor.

“The Crucible is the largest organization of Challengers in the North American Zone,” Adia said, proudly. “We have twenty members who have challenged the Hard Mode Tutorial, with the number growing each day. We’ve already destroyed one Region Lord, and we are planning our assault on a second. But anyway, this isn’t a sales pitch,” Adia laughed slightly, and led me to a room not far from the cafeteria.

It was the coziest room in the Crucible that I’d seen so far. It had a carpeted floor—or, at least, rugs on top of the concrete. There were drapes on the walls, hiding what I assumed was more bare concrete. Finally, there was a desk, chair, safe built into the wall, and couch.

Adia went to the safe, turned the combination lock, and took out a potion in a vial.

I immediately Identified it.

The Crucible (E-rank Potion): When consumed, has a high chance of activating any latent talent or natural skills. Consuming more than one potion will have no effect.

What did I tell you? Looks legit, I smirked.

Adia's smile became visibly forced, and I realized suddenly that I had just smirked directly at her.

Just because I’m making decisions you don’t understand doesn’t mean I’m being mind-controlled, I shot back.

“50,000 coins, right?” I said, reaching out my hand.

Adia shook my hand, I transferred the coins, and drank the bottle.

“You may experience a brief bout of dizz—“ It was the last thing I heard before the world around me faded.

Name:

Jarek

Level:

19

HP:

29/29

Physical Defense:

18 (+2)

Strength:

20 (+5)

Mental Power:

11

Dexterity:

10 (+4)

Agility:

10 (+7)

Perception:

20

Mana Pool:

46

Mana Regeneration:

24 (+6)

Available Points:

0

Coins:

6,454,850

Class:

Mana Modulator (D-rank)

Profession:

Rune Master

(E-rank)

Titles:

Region Lord (E-rank)

Skills and Spells:

Identify (E-rank)

Mana Modulation (D-rank Core)

Death’s Defier (A-rank)

Mana Sensing (E-rank)

Healthy Magic (E-rank)

Affinities:

Internal Mana (D-rank Low), External Unattributed Mana (E-rank Low)

Equipment:

Vampiric Blade (D-rank): +5 Strength, +5 Agility.

Rune Master’s Knife (E-rank): +2 Dexterity; +2 Mana Regen.

Rune Master’s Ring (E-rank): +2 Dexterity; +2 Mana Regen.

Orc Helmet (F-rank): +2 Physical Defense

Magician’s Robes (F-rank): +2 Mana Regen.

Orc Boots (F-rank): +2 Agility

Interdimensional Pouch (E-rank):