The next morning Kai found the group headed to Donnyton and joined it. The pace they set was rather intense. An hour into the march Kai noticed his notification alert blinking. He accessed and got a pleasant surprise.

Congratulations! You have learned the skill Running Lvl. 1.

Congratulations! Running is now Lvl. 2.

A huge smile plastered itself onto Kai’s face. He jogged a little faster and moved towards one of the guards. He noticed none of them seemed to actually be sweating from the running or the heat. “Hey, did you guys set this pace intentionally to get us to learn and raise our Running skill level? And is it this easy to level all my skills or get new ones?”

The guard looked at him and started to move towards the front of the column, he waved Kai to follow when he noticed Kai’s hesitation. They reached the front of the column a few minutes later. “We got one asking questions sir. Said he leveled Running a few times and wondered if we set this pace intentionally.” The guard saluted the man he’d spoken to, nodded to Kai, and then returned to his original position.

“What’s your Running skill at?”

“Uh, it’s at 4 now. Is this what it’s like now? Always learning new things and improving.” The smile on Kai’s face showed how he felt about it.

The man nodded. “Yes. That, along with the blood, guts, people dying around you. The constant struggle to stay alive and help those around you stay alive. Yes.” The man looked hard at Kai. As the words came out Kai’s face had lost the smile and been replaced by grim determination. The man saw the change and nodded. “Good. You’re not just a punk gamer kid. I’m Lance. Glad at least one of you noticed the skill gains and figured it out. We have learned enough in the past months to get a lot of the basic skills we’ve discovered so we do training geared toward that specifically. You interested in the fighting life? Or do you plan on the crafting route? Nothing wrong with either mind you. A good soldier relies on well crafted equipment so both groups are appreciated in Donnyton.”

Lance’s words sobered Kai and he realized the excitement had overwhelmed everything he had seen yesterday. He banished those images. “I want to fight, but in games,” he paused hoping Lance wouldn’t think him a gamer punk, “well, in games I always crafted my own equipment. Can’t I do both?”

“You must have missed the introduction assembly.” At Kai’s nod the man continued. “You can only have so many skills. At least once you get a class you’re limited. Since crafting skills don’t really help a person fight and fighting skills don’t help you craft specialization is better. You can always learn a little before getting a class but there are dangers that route as well. What other skills do you have? And what paths?”

Kai checked his status page. “It looks like Running is at level 5 now. I also have Gun Mastery at level 3, Physical Fitness at 3, Acid Resistance at 2 and Sword Mastery at 2. Damn, I forgot Emily has my bokken. Uhm, yeah. So that’s what I’ve got. Oh yeah the paths. It says I have the Newbie 0/7 path and some question marks that have a 0/10 after them. That’s not a lot of options. How do I get more Paths? And what will I get from these two?”

Lance chuckled. “Constant questions. That’s good. Well the Newbie path is one everyone gets. You’ve got 10 PPs so I’d say go ahead and complete that one. The other one you must have unlocked by doing something specific; it could be anything. Those are usually pretty decent though. When we get to Donnyton you’ll need to talk with Daniel, or one of his people so he can try to figure out how you unlocked whatever it turns out to be. He’ll also want to know the rewards so I’d recommend waiting on that one.” As Lance said everyone got the Newbie Path Kai went ahead and dumped the 7 points needed to complete it.

Congratulations! You have earned 1 stat point(s).

Congratulations! You have earned 1 stat point(s).

Congratulations! You have earned 1 stat point(s).

Congratulations! You have earned 1 stat point(s).

Congratulations! You have earned 1 stat point(s).

Congratulations! You have earned 1 stat point(s).

Congratulations! You have earned 2 stat point(s).

Congratulations! You have completed the Newbie Path! +1 to all stats, +1 stat point per level, +4 Health per level, +2 Mana and +2 stamina per level. You have learned the active skills Mana Bolt Lvl 1 and Heavy Blow Lvl 1!

Continue using paths to explore this world! Remember, there will always be a path open to you.

“Wow!” Kai almost stopped running but caught himself and got back by Lance’s side. “So that Newbie Path is pretty awesome. Are all paths this powerful? Damn, people’s stats have to be in the hundreds if every PP gives a stat point. What should I put these stat points in to? I’m thinking Vitality or Endurance for physical fighting right?”

Lance laughed harder than before, from deep in his belly. “Kid, you’ve got to slow down. I’m no expert and I don’t know the math on the results. I recommend waiting to talk with an expert. I can say those two will help with physical fighting but there is a lot to think about. We will be to Donnyton about tomorrow afternoon. I’d suggest you hold your stat points until then. Did you get a new path when you finished Newbie? Or do you only have the question mark Path?”

Kai checked. “I only have the question marks. Should I start putting points in it now?” Lance shook his head no. “Ok. So just keep running with the group then and level my Running huh?”

“Yup. I’m guessing you were in pretty decent shape before the change? Most people that were seem to level the skills they had before the change fairly quickly at first like the system is catching up to where they were naturally. When we get to Donnyton come see me I’ll introduce you to Daniel.” Kai could tell a dismissal when he heard one so he just slowed a little and rejoined the main group of refugees. As he jogged Kai checked his status:

Kai Jameson

Class: ---

Level: N/A

Health(/R per hour): 40 (20)

Mana(/R per hour): 19.5 (8)

Stam(/R per min): 22 (10)

Vitality: 5

Endurance: 4

Strength: 4

Agility: 5

Perception: 4

Reaction: 4

Resistance: 3

Willpower: 3

Intelligence: 4

Wisdom: 2

Control: 2

Focus: 2

Path Points: 3

Paths: Newbie 7/7, ??? 0/10

Skills: Gun Mastery Lvl. 3, Physical Fitness Lvl. 3, Sword Mastery Lvl. 2, Acid Resistance Lvl. 2, Running Lvl. 5

A smile crept onto his face already stronger and he still had 8 points to add to stats that he hadn’t distributed yet.