I land a solid punch, knocking the little fascist off balance.

Solid hit!

You have done 5 damage.

Opponent HP at 19/24.

Opponent is Unbalanced

This surprises me. Thirty-five years old, level 22, and this is the first time I’ve thrown a punch since that one fight as a kid. The dice rolls of the universe must be going my way.

The notifications scroll across my vision, not so distracting that they take me out of the fight, but unfamiliar enough that each one grabs my attention for a half second.

You have gained 240 EXP to Punching, Strength.

Your Punching skill has reached level 6!

Then again, I’ve never been this Confused or Angry. The events of the past few days have given me status effects that I rarely experienced, all stacked on top of one another. And then this little fascist had gone and insulted Mecha Stalin.

“You party stooges always come in here so self-righteous,” he spits. “You’ll figure out soon enough that in here, you’re just like us.”

He’s recovered from Unbalanced, and is now coming at me and throwing a wild punch.

Solid hit!

You have received 7 damage.

HP at 13/20.

You are Unbalanced.

He’s already done more damage than me, and that was with me landing as lucky of a blow as I possibly could.

You have gained 240 EXP to Resist Impact, Constitution

Your Resist Impact skill has reached level 8!

Your Constitution attribute has risen to 17!

I’m not cut out for camp life, but that is okay. Mecha Stalin will fix this error. Mecha Stalin will save me.

I recover my balance — the throng of zeks surrounds us and quietly chant my opponent’s name, so he doesn’t seem to be in a big hurry to finish me off — and proceed to throw another punch at my opponent.

Glancing blow.

You have done 1 damage.

Opponent HP at 18/24.

You have gained 240 EXP to Punching, Strength.

Your Punching skill has reached level 7!

Your Strength attribute has risen to 15!

At least, after Mecha Stalin has saved me, I’ll have gained some EXP from this. It’s been so long since I’ve gained more than the minimum 10 EXP from a task that I forgot how good it feels. Even this low-level exchange is revitalizing.

That is, if I don’t drop below zero HP… at that point, I would pass out, and he could keep beating me until I hit -10 HP. No coming back from that.

The fascist quickly returns a blow.

Solid hit!

You have received 6 damage.

HP at 7/20.

You are Unabalanced.

You have received 240 EXP to Resist Impact, Constitution.

Your Resist Impact skill has reached level 9!

One more hit and I could be Knocked Out. Once that happens, it is fully up to my opponent whether I live or die.

I back up while unbalanced, into the circle of chanting zeks that surrounds us, and I realize there will be no escape. They push me back into the makeshift ring.

“Don’t do this, comrade,” I say to him. Is that pleading in my voice? I do not mean to plead. The status effects have even effected even my strongest abilities. “We should be working together for the good of the Motherland.”

You have attempted Persuasion.

Your opponent is not effected.

You have received 870 EXP to Persuasion, Charisma.

I’m surprised that I receive EXP — his Wisdom and Discernment are low enough that this shouldn’t be a challenge — but then I remember the other factors at play. I have no reputation with him, as I have just arrived at camp. Our ideologies are opposed: I am an upstanding party loyalist who show the proper love towards Mecha Stalin, while he is a dirty fascist, although he calls himself something else. Finally, I have several Status Effects which drag down my ability to reason and persuade.

The Status Effects only effect my success rate, but reputation and ideological alignment effect both success rate and how EXP gain is calculated.

It is nice to have someone to test my abilities against, a way to gain EXP. How long has it been since I’ve leveled up?

I’ve taught the same subjects, to the same type of loyalist student, for ten years. The gains to my various Intellect, Wisdom, and Charisma skills had been substantial in the early years. It had been a challenge. Then had come the comfortable years where, though the objective EXP gains stayed the same, the skill increases had happened slower due to the increased demands of the higher levels. If I wanted to keep leveling at the same rate as before, I would have to seek more difficult challenges, but I was content to do the same tasks over and over, with greater and greater percentages of success. Finally, when my tasks were no challenge at all, my EXP gain per task had dropped to 10.

Now, now that I am surrounded by fascists, I can finally start levelling again.

Of course, this will do no good if I die, which is looking increasingly likely.

My opponent moves in and trips me, knocking me to the ground despite my best efforts to stay up.

You have been successfully Tripped.

You haved received 5 damage in the fall.

Your HP is 2/20.

You have received 400 EXP to Grappling, Strength.

Your Grappling skill has risen to 2!

Your Grappling skill has risen to 3!

Your Grappling skill has risen to 4!

He straddles me. “Be sure to greet your precious Mecha Stalin when you see him in hell.”

I reel from the blasphemy. Hell isn’t real. God isn’t real. The only reality is Mecha Stalin and the party. I receive the Status Effect Righteous Indignation, but it is too late. He punches me one last time.

Critical hit!

You have received 10 damage.

Your HP is -8/20.

You are KOed.

I lose consciousness and accept my fate.