Despite his hopefully rousing speech, no-one answered him, and they just gathered around the rapidly shrinking pile of snacks. The rate at which they took food made James doubt his maths. Maybe they had less than two days worth of food. Maybe they would need more by tonight. But he hoped Callum and Annie would start scouting again and possibly allow them to reach the canteen. If there were any other survivors at the college, a possibility with a rapidly decreasing chance, then they would likely have boarded themselves up with the biggest source of food and drink.

But putting planning aside, James' hunger bested his logic and he joined the others around the appropriately dubbed 'Food table', where they had started talking about what they were planning to do with the next twelve hours of light. Dom seemed to be able to plan for everyone else fairly easily, as he appeared to be the most experienced.

James thought that not even 24 hours ago if he had heard a similar conversation, he would have thought less of the party, and maybe even voiced his thoughts. But now he was glad that they were here, and that Dana was with them too. He owed the four nerds his life already, and he chuckled as he reflected on how quickly his views of them had changed.

"Something funny James?" Dom asked with a deadly serious face. "Just because I can have the seamster occupation available doesn't mean I'm going to take it. But even if I would, is it really a laughing matter?"

James backpedalled as much as he could, as he realised his self-induced laughter had been misunderstood.

"Woah, um. No. I uh... No. You would make a great seamster, and I would appreciate your work."

James was red in the face and looked down in embarrassment. Too hassled to explain himself properly, he had likely made it worse.

But about of laughter made him raise his head again, and he was greeted with Callum, May and Dom laughing. Annie was even smirking, and Dana had betrayed him by barely being able to hold back her giggling.

"I'm just messing with you man, I knew you weren't paying attention."

James was speechless. He had dug himself a grave so quickly by accident that now he was just confused. But he was still kind of happy that Dom felt he was able to make a joke at James' expense. Though it meant essentially nothing to him, he felt as if he was becoming part of the group.

"But seriously, we're talking about group dynamics and efficient grinding techniques. Come on, ill fill you in."

So James joined the small circle, and as he ate way more junk food than he meant to, he was educated on what makes up a fighting party. Dom led the lecture, and Callum or May interjected with their own views occasionally.

"So every good party has several elements to it. And despite everyone in the party having their own specific speciality, it is important that everyone knows how to adapt. Versatility is key. You want a tank or two. People with high health and defence who draw the enemies attention and can hold their own against high damage."

James chewed thoughtfully on a handful of gummy bears as he processed the incoming information. He likely had the highest health at this point, so would he have to be the tank? The idea of being hit more than everyone else sucked, as did the idea of being hit at all.

"Next are DPS's. These are people who do high damage, usually at the cost of health, or maybe speed or magic ability. Though a DPS player can be a magic user, this is at the cost of physical ability and health too. Then you have support. The more support the better, but they need to be defended at all costs. Support players mainly heal and buff. Positive buffs for allies, negative buffs for enemies. Finally, ranged. These are magic users and rangers usually, but as long as the main method of attack can hurt something far away, you're a ranged player. Again, they need to be defended more. These are the four main groups, though you can usually manage without rangers or without DPS's as long as there is a good mix of skills and spells."

With this huge info dump, James struggled to fit everyone into one of the aforementioned groups. May and Dana were likely to support or ranged magic users. Annie would be a DPS most likely. He would inevitably be the tank against his wishes, and he would maybe put Callum in a tank/DPS role. Though he had no idea where to put Dom. He didn't even know much about Dom's stats and abilities.

"I know what you're thinking James. Where do we all fit in?"

James had to hand it to Dom, he was one observant guy. But he kept talking before James even had a chance to agree.

"The answer is, nowhere. Yet. It's far too early to be dropping us into the group stereotypes. We don't even have classes yet."

"Well..."

May started somewhat reluctantly.

"I've already chosen my class. I mean, I have to be magic, and I want something to do with alchemy. I'm already almost there with the knowledge. I just need to do more alchemy or try to make potions."

Callum stopped her rambling speech with an open hand. And a slightly irritated look.

"Let me guess. Witch?"

May looked down at the pack of sweets in her hand and didn't say anything.

For a reason James couldn't guess, Dom put his head in his hands and even Annie frowned.

Callum slowly put his hand down flat on the table and took a deep breath before continuing.

"Absolutely not."

May still wasn't talking, and he and Dana shared a look of utter confusion.

"What... what's up with the witch class?"

Reluctantly involving himself in this... whatever this was, James asked the most innocent question he could.

Callum appeared ready to answer him with something loud and likely curse-filled, but stopped himself and walked away. No one went to stop him.

Dom answered James eventually using a slightly quivering voice.

"We play RPG's a lot together. Or used to play them a lot. But we let anyone be whatever class they wanted. It was usually fun, developing strats based on our abilities. But we let May play as a witch once..."

Dom trailed off and walked away towards where Callum was sitting in the corner, apparently meditating.

May was still motionless, but James thought he saw her tremble a little as Dom stood up. Annie sighed and picked up where he had left off.

"She was a witch. In this game, the witch was the least picked class because of repeated power patches. The developers couldn't decide if the witches potions caused friendly fire or not. May ignored the news updates and repeatedly ruined raids for us with her crappy timing and buff use. This was one of our favourite games for a long time before she did this."

James' disbelief at their reactions to this was apparent on his face because Annie's frown deepened and she spoke with a distinctly more pissed off tone.

"I know you won't understand this, but it was big thing across our guild. The guild was disbanded and enough hostile complaints got her account banned. Because she couldn't play the game, neither could we. That's why she can't."

With that, Annie decided to join the others in the corner and joined their group meditation.

May looked up slowly at Annie's departure, and James saw tears in her eyes.

"I'm... I'm not shameful of much, but that was my lowest point. I was new to the RPG scene, didn't take it seriously. I was new to their group, and almost got kicked out because of this whole witch thing. The only thing that kept me in was Callum's ridiculous crush on me."

She laughed dryly at Callum's expense, but James felt it was directed at herself somewhat.

He wanted to comfort her, say something, anything. But he drew a blank. He couldn't relate at all, and he didn't know her well enough to make any jokes to relieve the tension. Having an idea, he activated comforting and hoped it was at a high enough level to help.

Almost sensing her boyfriend's inability to help, Dana did her best.

"Hey, don't worry about it. Things have changed since then. We're adults now. Kinda. And it's not like you were doing it on purpose."

Dana reached across the table and put her hand on Mays trembling shoulder.

"Me and James are going to talk to them. We need everyone to be as strong as possible, and a magical potions class is best for you. It would be stupid to not let you choose this class."

May sniffed a little and nodded. Even smiled a little. But Dana wasn't done.

"Let's go to the bathroom, get you some tissue and calm down. James?"

He attention swung to him, and he jumped a little. Comfortings effects making him docile.

"Huh? Oh, um yeah?"

"Start off the conversation with the others. And keep up whatever you're doing. It feels really soothing."

James nodded a little too eagerly for his own liking, but she was already off towards the door with May in tow. The three in the corner didn't even register them leaving.

James on the other hand was nervous. He understood that they had to get over this whole gaming history and the baggage that came with It, but he didn't want to argue with three angry people who were probably strong enough to kill him in a hundred different ways.

But he steeled himself and took a deep breath before beginning a tense walk towards the source of a nearly visible aggressive aura.

Skill learnt: Aurora lens ©

Skill learnt: Fear factor (B)

James' step faltered when he saw these, but he didn't check them out yet. They were self-explanatory enough, and fear factor helped a little when activated.

Upon reaching the group, James cleared his throat loud enough for them all to hear, and hopefully, break their concentration.

"I want you all to know, you're being pretty shuttup people right now."

This statement earned him three sets of very pissed off eyes, and Callum was about to defend himself before James pulled the same stunt that he had used earlier in May.

With his hand up in front of Callum, he continued.

"I don't care about your gaming history. Really, I don't. Equally, I'm sure you don't care about my history with my friends."

At this, Dom was about to add his piece, but James again held up a hand in front of him, giving Dom an expectant look. Thankfully he stayed quiet.

"Now. Using your hands, who among you thinks that May will do the same thing this time round?"

Dom instantly raised his hand, and Callum and Annie slowly joined him.

James sighed inwardly. He was hoping to bring at least one person on his side.

"For God's sake, she's your friend. That was a game. This is real life. Stop acting like kids, and let her choose that class that will benefit her the most. Trust her. Please."

The three lowered their hands, and looked at each other with questioning faces.

A few subtle nods and shakes later, they all looked back at him, and in an ugly sounding chorus, gave an amalgamation of OK's and Fines.

With Dom having more to say.

"This is on your head though James."

"Fine. But can we move past it and get on with today. I need help picking a class, and more batteries for the machines. There are plenty of those in the storeroom though. My main issue is that I don't know what to make. Dom?"

Dom understood the question and stood up, following James back to his makeshift forge.

The others stood up too, but what they did wasn't any of James' concern. As far as he knew, they had weapons they could use, they just needed armour.

He just... he was already sick of this teen angst.

Hopefully, it wouldn't get any worse.

Almost 8 hours later, as the clock was just reaching 2 o'clock, James gave himself another break. Using his skills in just the right way to actually gain from their effects was surprisingly hard.

Though he had yet to start using his metal focused skills, he had exhausted his stamina, time and time again.

But he had been given results. With Dom's help, James had managed to make 6 sets of minimal armour that Doms analyse told him have some decent stats. And he wasn't even finished with any of them.

The armour was mostly composed of leather and wood panels and plates that would likely give enough protection that some of the lizards wouldn't be able to bite them so easily. Though the corrosive

Geckos would be their downfall, that was only a problem after prolonged contact. Besides, James could easily make some large plastic riot shields that the acid covered assholes wouldn't be able to break through.

Dom sat on the floor in the middle of the room, alternating between writing on his notepad and watching James. Most likely grinding scribe, or some other skill he had learnt.

This unnerved James a little, something that got worse considering he had been like this since they stopped for lunch almost two hours ago. But James appreciated him staying in the room. Even with a spear nearby, James found it hard to relax while there might be something big lurking outside the door.

While leaning back on the wall, thinking about what metal to use to finish the plates and how to make the plastic shields he let his stamina recover again.

A few skills reaching level 5 had granted him some more points in endurance, but he still thought that he was looking it too quickly. His stomach turned at the prospect of just eating more, as he was now sick of the junk food they had. It was all he had eaten for almost an entire day, so some variety would be nice. Plus, if they could get to the cafeteria, the idea of some easy to earn and grind skills were almost as appealing as the food itself.

But that was where he had to rely on these pumped up nerds more.

Callum and Annie had decided to go scout out some more of the college situation. Annie could grind her Hunter skills easily doing this, while Callum was trying to learn the knowledge required to be a scout.

He smiled wistfully at how easily he had ingrained himself into this world, albeit begrudgingly, compared to those who had the training to prepare them for this.

But that worried him. He felt that the more he involved himself here the further away the real world seemed. And the ease at which he dove deeper at the mere offer of power made him wonder if the real world, the one he had grown up in, was the real world to him.

But he shook his head with a frown. It hadn't even been 24 hours since the world changed, so why was he so readily accepting his way in this new life.

Besides, his stamina was full and he needed to put the finishing touches on all the armour.

The metal he wanted to use to make the accents and impact resistant areas for the plates was the steel poles they had been using as weapons, just some of the ones he hadn't spent hours shaping.

But this proved too strong for the college's forge to be able to melt to the point that Mays fire magic could barely cause it to wilt at the extent of her power. So he was stuck with either using the copper pure, which was way weaker, or finding some iron that he could turn into steel while it was molten. But his repeated use of metal eye at the materials available had come up short.

He had tried to use ferrous extraction on the steel poles, but he got so little for the stamina used, that it wasn't a viable source.

He supposed that for now, he would have to leave the armour as just leather and wood, and hope that nobody got gravely injured.

To be perfectly honest with himself, the armour he had made would probably have allowed Annie to solo the Komodo lizard. The stat bonuses and defence rating combined with the fact she wouldn't have been bitten would have given her the upper hand.

James had found early on that armour pieces gave better bonuses when they were connected. Wearing a glove and a beaver were good on their own, but connecting them with even a small piece of leather gave a small set bonus.

Because of this, the entire set James had made were based on a basic frame of leather strips that wound round the wearer's legs and joints. A few buckles meant it could be taken off an put on almost in one piece, like overalls.

Unfortunately, the best way to make these leather wrap frames custom fit for each person was a little awkward, especially since the leather crossed over the chest more than once.

Callum and Annie had been fitted first, as they were eager to leave, and thankfully, Annie didn't object to Dom sewing the straps together around her. After an overcomplicated mix and match of models and those who could sew, James had what he could work from, and the others could get up to what they wanted.

The rest of the armour was easy enough to form and clip, staple or glue on. Before too long, James had finished his first set of armour for Dom and made him try it out after analysing it when it was all connected and whistling in appreciation.

Light Wooden Basic Armour:

Quality: Basic

Condition: Good

Defence Rating: D

Stat gains (-)

• STR +4

• AGI +6

• SPE +1

• END +2

• VIT +4

James was massively proud that every set of armour he had made since the first had the same name, with only minor alterations in the stats. But as this was most likely due to the armour's physical size and weight, James wasn't worried.

With Dom all equipped with his armour and spear, James had to admit he looked rather badass, but he was missing a helmet.

James hadn't tried to make helmets as the head shape was much harder to cater to, and he couldn't just strap it up and hope for the best. Luckily, the lizards they would be facing were all low to the ground.

That caused James some worry though. Due to having a blanked out luck stat, he had no idea if he was lucky or not in any of the events that had transpired. Really, he wanted the so-called random divine events to make up for it. But as of yet, nothing had happened.

James checked the clock again as May and Dana struggled to put on their armour.

At 2:24, it was approaching the 24-hour mark, and James wondered if anything would happen. Maybe he would be gifted by the gods, and wake up on his desk, thinking it was all a dream. But he somehow doubted the gods were that generous.

james pushed away his idle thoughts and shrugged on his own armour set. With the added weight of the wooden plates, he quickly noticed the leather straps being pulled in an awkward way, making some slight discomforts. The others who were also armoured up were obviously also feeling uncomfortable, as there was a myriad of pinching and pulling going on, but at least the armour was working. james opened his status, to see if there were any bonuses he didn't see with analyze that might be revealed in his equipped items.

Status

James Lander (M)

Age: 18

Class: -

Occupation: Master crafter [1]

------------

Health: 79/79 (0.6)

Mana: 78/78

Stamina: 36/36 (2.6)

------------

Strength: 13 (+)

Agility: 17 (+)

Speed: 13 (+)

Endurance: 17 (+)

Vitality: 13 (+)

Intelligence: 14 (+)

Wisdom: 18 (+)

Luck: 0 (*)

Unspent stat points: (6)

Equipped items: (-)

• Clothing: (+)

• Armour: (-)

1. Custom-made Light Wooden Basic Armour: (-)

Quality: Basic

Condition: Good

Defence Rating: D

• STR +4

• AGI +6

• SPE +1

• END +2

• VIT +4

Bonus: Master crafted components

Bonus: Master assembled

General Skills:

• Basic fitness [5] (D)

• Magic resistance [2] (D)

• Faith (D)

• Running strike [1] ©;

• Nursing ©

• Silent Step [2] (D)

• Analyse [14] ©

• Comforting [11] ©

James was glad to see his Basic Fitness had levelled twice, and had given him bonus stat points for reaching level 5, but the lack of notice was more than irritating. he could be given stats points from a skill levelling, but have no idea. maybe there was a skill for that.

The other big bonus was that components and items made by him had some kind of bonus, but even when he tried to see more info about either of the bonuses, neither caused an information box to appear. Frustrated, and hoping that he just needed to level up his occupation, James observed how the others were adapting to their armour Dom was taking a few practice swings with his spear, and May appeared to be doing some basic gymnastic moves, testing her flexibility. Dana was just admiring how the armour suited her in a polished metal sheet.

He smiled broadly. His efforts had produced some nice results, but he needed a break. He was a little bored of sanding wood.

Callum burst into the room, knocking the somewhat sad remains of a half-assembled barricade across the room.

"Guys! Guess what we found?"

Callum was more animated than usual, resulting in an almost annoyingly bright character.

And in his hand, he was swinging what looked like a bottle of champagne.

Annie was hauling a different kind of loot though and had a minifridge in her arms. Though it looked to be maybe half her size, she wasn't struggling with it. Evidence of her training her strength stat.

"Hey, the armour looks good. And we've only got like five minutes until we hit the day mark."

James checked the clock and saw Callum was right. They had less than 4 minutes.