I quickly ran to the voice with Niels lagging behind me. When I arrived I saw a woman being attacked by a level 2 spider. The legs of the spider were extremely sharp, and the legs cut the woman. If we didn’t step in, she was sure to lose the fight soon.

I ran in with the pole is my hand and stopped a swipe that was sure to strike the woman. Niels helped the woman through the maze of suburban houses. I was on my own with the spider. I tried hitting its legs but the spider blocked it. It swiped at me and I just managed to dodge the attack. I tried swinging the pole upwards, and the spider flipped onto its back. I smashed it as hard as I could and once again the spider disappeared.

First I was disappointed that there were no drops, besides the 15 dollars I had gotten, but a few seconds after I had killed the spider a large window took up most of my vision.

Level Up!

You have levelled up to level 2. Select a skill from the list below.

Melee damage I (passively increases melee damage by 5%)

Melee boost I (increases next melee strike damage by 20%. Cooldown of 10 seconds)

Range damage I (passively increases Range damage by 5%)

Range boost I (increases next Range attack damage by 20%. Cooldown of 10 seconds)

?#$#% damage I (passively increases &#$#% damage by 5%)

!$%^$ boost I (increases next $!#!% attack damage by 20%. Cooldown of 10 seconds)

I looked over the options carefully, knowing that any decision I made could have large consequences down the road. While a ranged weapon would be nice, I didn’t have one, so adding any bonuses to it would be a waste. While later, a range bonus might be useful it wouldn’t be useful now. I needed to think short term to make sure I survived long enough for it to be useful. Also, I didn’t want to use the glitched stat, as I wasn’t sure that was what it was, and I wanted to make sure I could use it properly. As such, a melee skill would make the most sense. I liked the idea of doing more damage on every strike better than only being able to boost an attack once in a while better, so I decided to pick the Melee damage I skill. I selected it and pulled up my status.

Level 2

Stats

Strength:

3.9 (5.1 is human average)

Speed:

6.1 (5.2 is human average)

Endurance:

9.2 (5 is human average)

?#$#%:

0.1 (0 is human average)

Skills

Melee damage I (passively increases melee damage by 5%)

Balance

$35

I was pleased with the result. I hoped that I would get a skill every time I levelled but I knew that that would not necessarily be the case. I got lost in my thought but eventually realised that I needed to meet up with Niels and the woman.

It took me around half an hour to find them. Niels was trying to help the woman, but almost nothing worked. The rules of the world seemed to have changed. Luckily, eventually, I had an idea.

“Niels, I’m going to try to go to the shop that the tutorial mentioned. There might be something that can help.”

“Hurry Alex, she’s losing a lot of blood. They're killing people for entertainment. This isn't right,” he replied his voice wavering as he spoke.

Shop I thought. Suddenly, I wasn’t standing where I was before.