It was a video call from a man in his mid-fifties. The white hair showed his late age, and the wrinkles grew a lot more when Leo last saw his father. “Dad,” he uttered.

“Thank God you’re okay,” said Vincent Hart as he let out a sigh of relief. His hand patted down his chest lightly as the old man flashed a warm smile.

Leo noticed the slight reddish color of his father’s eyes. His heart sank, knowing that his father must have been worried sick about him. He regretted not calling his father first after the building got transported. But who could blame him? Shit just hit the fan and he did what needed to be done.

“You okay, dad?” Leo finally said something. It had been a long time since he talked to his dad. The last time he spoke with him was back when his mother passed away.

“I’m fine, son, but how about you? You look like a mess, did something happen?” Vincent asked.

“Oh, this. I…” he didn’t have the word to exactly explain what happened. He couldn’t really tell his father that he was getting stronger from a game system since it wouldn’t make any sense. The old man might turn even more worried about him if he spouted gibberish like a madman. “…I went to the gym for a while and let off some steam. This whole thing is crazy dad with the whole building winding up at some other place and the earthquake before it. I’m just trying my best not to get crazy over here.”

“At first I thought you were gone with the whole building vanishing,” Vincent said in a somber tone, his head was down, his eyes wandering on the floor. Then he looked back to his son on the screen. “Then they said you’re alive and can be contacted. I don’t believe it at first seeing how a whole building of people went gone then I tried calling but I can’t get through. I thought I lost another one, yet this last attempt of mine did the trick.” Vincent smiled, his eyes glistening on the verge of tearing up.

Seeing and listening to his father made Leo choke. He too felt like crying. But he pressed his emotion down, keeping them in check. Now wasn’t the time to shed tears not until he was sure of getting back home.

“I’m just glad, you’re safe, son,” Vincent said.

“Thanks, Dad,” Leo smiled back at his father. They shared a good conversation for a good fifteen minutes, and after making sure his father knew he was okay, he ended the call.

‘That…was rough,’ Leo thought. It was tougher than dealing with the leopard in the jungle. Well, he might be exaggerating, but Leo was never good in things involving the heart.

‘This is a pretty good time for some leveling, but can I?’ He looked outside the window, and the darkness had filled the skies. He stood up and walked closer to the window walls.

The once lush green jungle under the sky was now blanketed by the night. He couldn’t see a thing without any lights. The only source of light right now was the whole building, shining in the middle of the darkness like a bright neon sign of a secluded motel in the middle of nowhere. It got him thinking, ‘I hope the building isn’t attracting, unwanted…’ he thought stopped for a while. ‘Wait, isn’t that better? If the lights can attract more animals near the building, won’t it be easier for us to hunt?’

A fire was lit in his heart as his grin reached ear to ear. Nothing felt better to him right now than gaining those points. And he had to say, getting strong this easily was really gratifying. Some might say instant gratification was not good in the long run. But for him, in a situation like this, it was better than anything else right now.

His intended rest was cut short, and he grabbed the axe leaning on his cubicle wall. This time there was no need for packing supplies as he would stay close to the building.

“You’re going out again?” a voice made him turn. It was Jim. He looked pretty concerned for Leo.

“Yea,” Leo said. “You changed your mind?”

“No,” Jim shook his head. Going out there in the jungle still scared the shit out of Jim. “I’m not crazy enough like you and Ken.”

“Fair point,” Leo replied. Thinking back, they were kinda crazy considering they had no experience in trekking the jungle. And he doubted Ken had other experiences besides the family-friendly jungle trek he did during vacation.

“So did you put any points in charisma? Because from the way you look, I can definitely say mine is still higher than yours,” Jim took a shot at Leo, grinning like he used to.

“Enjoy it while it lasts,” Leo smiled back. “Next time I’m going to be a lot more good-looking than you.”

Leo left the office, and by the time he reached the elevator, someone familiar greeted him. “Sup,” Ken said, leaning over the elevator’s wall.

“You come to get me?” Leo asked.

“You wish,” Ken got out and headed towards his office. Leo chased him from behind.

“Hey, have you used Identify on the main entrance? Because I did and what I saw–”

“Done that,” Ken replied.

“When?”

“Just now when some Indian chick hollering at Atwell at the lobby. She was telling her about how to unlock it and all,” Ken answered and briefly glanced at Leo. “And good job spreading it. I hope it’s enough of a wake-up call for those fuckers,” he smirked. His hands were quick to unlock the room to his office. It wasn’t big as the manager’s office but good enough for him to have his own.

“Wait, Atwell is at the lobby?” Leo questioned.

“Yea, she’s waiting for the SWAT team to bust down the door. They’re already on standby, but you and I know that’s not going to happen,” Ken sat at his desk and turned on his computer.

“So what do we do right now? Spread the words, or we hunt near the perimeter? Because I think with all the lights coming from the buildings, some animals might come closer,” Leo proposed.

“That’s good and all, but later,” Ken said. “Right now, I need to know a few things.”

“What do you mean by that?” Leo narrowed his eyes, growing curious.

“Well I check my phone, and I found out we’re not the only one stuck in this situation,” Ken gave a knowing grin.

“You mean there are others like us?” Leo pressed further and took a seat right beside Ken.

“And that’s what I’m about to find out,” Ken said. He opened his computer and opened up a strange-looking browser. It wasn’t the normal one that Leo used like Google or Firefox. Leo’s eyes wandered around the screen and noticed something.

“Dark web? Seriously Ken?” Leo asked.

“It’s easier to find information here,” Ken didn’t care about how Leo reacted. To him, the dark web was just another place in the worldwide web. “And here we go,” Ken clicked a button, and his screen was bombarded with different images and documents.

“What the hell is this?” Leo gazed at these pictures of empty plots of lands. Yet, it was hard to see through the pictures as what was left on these lands was just the main door or entrance.

“I’ve got a close friend who likes doing things in the dark web. And after the whole larping happened, I commissioned him to do a job,” Ken replied. “For half a day of work, he did a pretty good job. These are all possible locations of where missing buildings had been reported within less than twenty-four hours, and judging by how many it is, we’re definitely not an isolated incident.”

Ken sorted out the information and went through the essentials compiled by his friend. He was fast in his finger and also his mind. While Leo couldn’t catch up at all with Ken’s reading speed.

“Did you put your points in Intellect?” Leo had to ask.

“Why would I do that?” Ken’s answer left Leo a bit bitter.

‘I stand corrected. This dude is a lot smarter than me,’ Leo thought. His first assumption of being close to Ken in terms of brilliance was far from the truth, and it kinda slapped him right in the face.

“From what I have right now, fifty-six countries have a single larping event like us. The main buildings are gone and what left were the main entrances. It varies from a company building like us to school, hospital, university, shopping mall, and the luckiest of all, a military base,” Ken explained. “With a military base, I don’t think they would have any problem taking out leopards in the jungle. Even a nine-millimeter would be enough to take down an elephant.”

Leo understood the meaning behind those words. With a military base full of bullets and gunpowders, their level progression would be smooth sailing for them. And getting his level left behind didn’t sit well for Leo.

“What about us? What about the US?” Leo asked. And seeing Ken smirked felt like it wasn’t going to be good news.

“For you, my friend, I have good news. Out of 329.5 million Americans, we, are the sole representative of the whole country,” Ken said.

“Shit,” Leo leaned back on the chair as he knew already that they might be the only one from their country.

“Yup, shit indeed,” Ken continued. “And whatever that is going on here, they’re making a gateway for every country to this place. For what purpose is the question here.”

“You’re right,” Leo agreed. Yet both of them were clueless as to what reason for being here. The only thing Leo remembered right now was the system telling them to go to Mount Akrat. With no doubt that was their goal, he brought himself closer to the window wall and stared outside. “We need to go to Mount Akrat,” Leo said.

“So are we making a fellowship? Or do we need a ring first?” Ken joked, chuckling by himself.

Leo gave a look.

“Don’t look at me like that. I’m a larper. I thrive on quests like these,” Ken justified himself. “And who would have thought I live long enough to even experience a quest the same as Samwise Gamgee.”

“You’re liking this, aren’t you?” Leo broke a small smile as he too felt excited a bit after Ken made the comparison.

“It’s better to feel excited rather than fear. If you’re afraid, you can’t really move forward,” Ken said. “Now come on, let’s go do that thing you propose. I think it would be better if we have bait.”

“Wait, what about your forearm?” Leo almost forgot about Ken’s injury.

The Chinese man showed off his bandaged forearm. “I just check, and with my HP regenerating, I think I’m in the clear.” With that matter out of the way, the duo went back to the ground floor.

But rather than walking to the cafe, Leo heard a commotion in the lobby. He took a quick look, and the rowdy crowd in the afternoon was now making a comeback. They were screaming and yelling for help, demanding to be rescued, without realizing that the key to their escape was themselves. Then he saw a woman standing tall on a platform as she tried hard to contain the discontentment in the crowd. ‘It seems Atwell is doing her best. But judging from that frown on her face, she’s probably hating the whole situation right now.’ Turning back, Leo joined with Ken and nonchalantly entered the kitchen area.

It was empty, unlike before. Perhaps the news of them not being able to escape downed their motivation from continuing their cooking. Except there was a familiar face waiting at the back door.

“You?” Leo asked, staring at the kitchen staff that helped them before. He looked young, probably fresh out of high school or so. His curly black hair and his lanky body were the defining features of this kid, and he was definitely taller than both Ken and Leo.

“I want to help,” said the kid.

Leo glanced at the name tag on the kid’s left chest, “Luis?” his tone as if asking the kid.

“It’s Luis Pena, sir, and I will try my best to help,” said Luis.

“Hey, we got an extra pair of hands,” Leo nudged Ken by the flank.

Ken, the shortest between them three, scanned Luis from top to bottom. Scrutinizing the kid whether he was up for the task. Then he asked, “you got some fresh meat?”