In the blink of an eye Wolf felt reality fade and then reassert itself. The transition was much smoother than the journey in and out of the beanstalk.

Perhaps that was because this is just teleporting within the same space, whereas entering and existing the beanstalk might involve crossing over some kind of dimensional shift. Wolf mused.

Wolf felt the hulking presence of Frankenstein and knew he had made the transition through the Chopper. In fact Wolf hadn’t even thought to check if he was capable of using the chopper and was still following him. He didn’t really know what to make of him. While he had saved his life from the zombie lords in the underground base that was more by accident than anything else.

The second thing Wolf noticed as he became accustomed to his new surroundings was that he stood in the middle of the town on a raised hill. The hill gave an excellent 360 degree view of the town. On the hill were a few building and structures and then at the base in ever expanding rings were what looked like an interlinked series of barracks.

Further outside of those rings was what looked like an insane maze spreading out into distance. It spread so far out it was impossible to see where it ended.

The other noticeable attribute of the town were the thousands of thin poles that disappeared up into the sky like electrical towers. They seemed to spiral from the hill Wolf was standing on outwards through each ring and into the mazes. A faint sheen of mana glistened from the towers as they pulsed with some kind of strange energy.

“It’s something isn’t it.” Merv whispered from behind Wolf’s shoulder. No1 and No2 walked up to the edge of the hill and also gazed out at the maze like structure that spread into the distance.

“This is why we are still alive gentlemen. We call this the Garner-Reynolds Formation. Harry Garner and Steven Reynolds invented this in the early years. Both of them were formation geniuses who unfortunately got killed before the formation could be completed.”

“The towers emit a mana-field that only effects the zombies preventing them from flying within Eureka and suppressing their strength. Because they are unable to overwhelm us with numbers by flying into our base they have to approach on foot. The maze like structures you see funnel the hordes in countless different directions into pits, traps and our men.”

“Even the energy produced by their decaying corpses is captured by the formation and used as additional fuel to power the defences. Our men are spread throughout the maze battling the hordes day and night. The zombies don’t really tire so we run day and night shifts. While some fight the others sleep and then rotate back in.”

“Even with this though we barely hold stable. In fact, we are slowly losing the war of attrition. Less and less people from earth have the requirements to enter the beanstalk and our birth rate on this side of the portal has not kept up with the death rate. The other human cities are in a similar situation.”

“You see the zombies grow from zombie nests inside these weird sacs. We send out parties via some of our Choppers to hunts nests behind enemy lines, but this is dangerous and more than often than not we end up in the losing side of that engagement. Even worse, they somehow identified our beanstalk entry points and so we are basically cut off now.”

Wolf whistled as he took it all in. The sheer scale of the formation took his breath away. The battle on the fringes of the maze were too far for this eyes to see but he almost felt as if he could hear the conflict.

“Hah! I can see you boys are like me. Just makes you itch to get out there and fight doesn’t it!” Merv laughed.

“Fuck yeah!” No1 said, while his eyes slid sideways to No2.

These fucking guys. Wolf thought. He knew No1 and No2 had as much desire to become cannon fodder as he did. No1 caught Wolf’s eyes for a moment and he nodded his head slightly.

No fucking way I’m getting stuck on the front lines.

“Alright boys. If you head down the hill you will see a small building at the bottom. Sergeant Peters is in charge of inductions and will give you a preliminary assessment and kit out before giving you access to the F-Net. Just head down their and say Merv you sent you.”

“Thank you.” Wolf said nodding his head.

Without any real other choice they began to make their way down to where Merv had indicated. Frankie lumbered behind Wolf as they descended.

Eventually they stood in front of a small booth and saw a man lazily reclining in a chair while he chewed something.

“Ahh…..we were asked to come down here by Merv.” Wolf said.

The man lazily looked up as his eyes took them all in. They widened slightly when he saw Frankie but then returned to their normal indifferent look.

“You must be the last of the new recruits.” The man drawled. “Suppose you’re here for an induction.”

“That’s right.” Wolf said.

“Okay dokey. I’m Sergeant Peters. Line up one at a time and I will assess you.” He said. Seeing as how Wolf was the closest he went first.

“Draw down on your mana and touch upon your Totem and tell me it’s name and what you know about it.” Peters asked. Carefully Wolf tapped his heart chamber and touched upon [Black Sheep]. The aura of the [Black Sheep] thrummed through him and began to spread out.

“Totem is called [Black Sheep] and it looks exactly like……well a black sheep. It seems to have a restraining effect on an enemy’s mana. My feelings are that it is related to some kind of principle of repression or suppression.” Wolf narrated.

Sergeant Peters mana probed Wolf’s mana-field as he drew in a sense of the Totem.

“Ok place your hand on this symbol here.” Peters said and directed Wolf’s attention to an interlocking set of circles which were engraved onto the front of the booth.

Wolf stretched out his hand and put his palm on the symbol and felt a spike of mana drill through him. It travelled down his bloodstream and into his heart chamber. Instantly he felt a roaring in his mind as the [Black Sheep] grew enraged at this intrusion and snuffed the thread of mana out like an ant.

The symbol on the wall grew brighter and brighter and made a bell like sound.

“Excellent!” Peters exclaimed and for this first time his face began to show some real interest. You have a Rank 5 Totem, Supressor class. While all Totems are unique, they tend to be formed from overlapping or complimentary universal principles. So we try to put them into categories, while these are somewhat arbritary they help sketch out an appropriate development path and also effect how we group soldiers into squads. [Black Sheep] is clearly in the Supressor class. It is also a Rank 5 Totem, while all Totems are fairly close in power, some are still stronger than others. Rank1 is the weakest and Rank 5 is the strongest.”

“I don’t understand how do classes work?” Wolf asked confused.

“Think of it like this. There might be a Totem based on the concept of Weakness or decay. Its effects might be very similar to your Totems concept of Suppression. All concepts that lead to Suppression we group into that category. In fact you will find that it will be far easier for you to learn techniques developed by other humans who have a Totem in the same class because the ultimate effects are similar enough. Other than that it doesn’t really mean anything, its just how we categorise and manage people’s Totems and abilities. By the feel of your Totem I would say your Supressor skill set is more close combat focused.”

Lost deep in thought Wolf stepped back as No1 strode forward. He explained his Totem’s name and its nature and then placed his hand on the symbol.

A strong glow enveloped it and a similar bell tone rang out.

“Hahaha! This is incredible! Two Rank 5 recruits.” Peters said as he wrote down furiously in a notebook. “Your Totem is in the Delimiter class. Delimiters are a grouping of Totems that have the ability to remove inherent limitations. Yours appears focused on your internal physical limits. You should be very happy Delimiters are tough and usually thrive in close combat.”

Next was No2 and he went through the same scenario as the symbol lit up. At this point Peters face was slack in shock as the familiar bell chime went off.

“What do they feed you kids? Steroids?” Peters laughed as he wrote down notes. “We usually average Ran 1 - 3 Totems. Rank 4 are rare and Rank 5, well you can count them on one hand.”

“Your [Bogeyman] is also quite rare. It falls into two classes, Shapeshifters and Emoters. Shapefhisters are uncommon, but not unheard of. Emoters on the other hand are very rare. It’s basically a class of Totems that deal with emotionally manipulating opponents or drawing power from emotions. It seems to be linked with your shapeshifting class which makes it part illusionary and part real. I’ve never something like it before. It is up to you how you develop your fighting style, however i would suggest medium to long range for the greatet versatility witha an assination type weapon for close combat. You will never have the same raw power as these other two, but you will make up for it in flexibility."

“What about your last companion? Tell him to come forward.” Peters said as he eyed Frankenstein at the back. Wolf looked at him and shrugged his shoulders before gesturing towards the symbol.

“Look Frankie, put your hand on here.” Wolf said gesturing with his hand.

Frankie just looked at Wolf with a confused look on his face. Finally after much coaxing they managed to get Frankie’s palm onto the symbol.

Peters narrowed his eyes as he saw the pure white Frankenstein lumber forward.

They all stared at the symbol for sometime but nothing happened.

Maybe he doesn’t register because he has no heart chamber. Wolf thought.

“What’s wrong with him?” Peters asked as he stared at Frankie suspiciously.

“Ahh he is a bit damaged mentally from an assault by a Zombie Duke. It scrambled his brain and damaged his body severely.” Wolf said.

“Ok well he is your burden to carry. If you don’t register a reaction from the test you are not considered an enrolled soldier, so he will not be assigned any privileges and will be your responsibility to look after.” Peters said coldly.

“Understood.” Wolf said.

“Ok take these and follow me.” Peters said as he handed a small stone to each of them and set off.

Wolf followed Peters as they wound their way through the streets until they came to a set of barracks. Opening a door he gestured to a room with two bunk beds in it that was for four people.

“Ok guys. Inject some mana into those stones.” Peters said.

As Wolf did so he saw the pattern on the stone wriggle off and embed itself into the palm of his hand.

“This is your Solider-ID. It is a unique identifier and also allows you access to F-Net. You will have five days to complete your training in the F-Net after which you will be rostered onto the front lines. So I suggest you make the most of your opportunity. Also remember that while you can train knowledge and to some extent physical skills in the F-Net it will not increase your mana. That can only come from absorbing mana in the real world.”

“As to what the F-Net is, it stands for Formation Internet. It is the single greatest asset we have in this war. It is our attempt to replicate the internet within the new physics we have come to understand now we have access to universal energy. The tower that you saw when you ported in doesn't only restrict the zombies, they are also broadcast towers.”

“Each human city is connected like a server and it creates the F-Net. When you focus on that imprint on your palm your consciousness will enter the F-Net and you can train and learn and build your own space in there. We also learned it is possible leave an imprint of skills, memories and techniques in the F-Net. Other humans if they are compatible can then learn those skills in Technique Rooms.”

“The currency of the F-net is trade and bartering. If you want access to other people’s technique rooms then you have to be able to trade something they want. The only exception is that all cities agreed on a base package of Technique Rooms you can have access to when you first arrive. That is what your basic training is. Also because you are all Rank 5 Totems you will have access to one bonus Technique room so choose carefully.”

“So log in to the F-Net, access whatever rooms you can. Learn what you can, while you can and then be prepared. In a week you will be putting those skills to the test.” Peters said as he clapped his hand and strode to the door.

“Well that is all I have to share with you gentlemen. Now that you are the last recruits we will have, I will be changing posts. I doubt we will see each other again, but I wish you the best of luck. I will report to my superiors now that you are all Rank 5, this should see that you get priority placements on the front lines and will increase your chances of surviving.”

Wolf and No1 and No2 simply stood there for awhile after Peters left as they absorbed the flood of information that had been dropped upon them.

“It appears it will be difficult to avoid the front lines.” No2 said.

“I agree.” No1 said as he sat on his bunk.

“What are you doing?” Wolf asked.

“Well you heard the man. We got a week to get jacked up on this F-Net shit. I’ll see you on the other side!” No1 said as his imprint on his palm glowed and collapsed on the bed unmoving. No2 shrugged and climbed onto the top bunk above him and also entered the F-Net.

Wolf watched them both for awhile but it just seemed like they were sleeping. He considered logging in as well before he was gripped with a sudden thought.

He left the room and found his way back to the booth where they had originally encountered Sergeant Peters. The Booth stood empty and a small door to the side was firmly shut.

Glancing at Frankie behind him Wolf tried to get him to smash down the door. It took a heart racing twenty minutes before Frankie understood what he wanted before he shoulder charged the door and barged his way in.

Wolf followed through the ruins of the door and found what he was looking for. Under a shelf neatly labelled was an extra new recruit log in stone.

Hell yeah boi. Wolf thought as he quickly pocketed it. He also saw what looked like a black marker. Picking it up he tested drawing on a wall and sure enough it left a faint black line just like a whiteboard marker.

Useful.

Escaping as quickly as possible Wolf returned to room assigned to him and No1 and No2 and slid quietly back in as if he had never left. Frankie walked in and sat in the corner gazing into nothing while nodding his head as if he was talking to someone.

Crazy son of a bitch.

Wolf was about to slide into his bunk when he stopped for a moment and took out the black marker. Moving quickly to No1 and No2 he practiced an ancient design from earth on them before climbing onto his bunk.

Actually no - fuck this. Wolf thought. Instead of lying on the bunk all prone and vulnerable he squeezed himself underneath the bottom bunk between the floor and the bed. This way he remained hidden to anyone bursting into the room.

He just wasn’t comfortable being all exposed while he was logged in for anyone to come and fuck with him. Injecting a little bit of mana into the second stone he gained a second imprint on his other hand. Now he had two imprints and IDs, one on each hand.

Hohoho. Wolf thought. He had worked out ways to create money out of thin air in his heyday. He was sure as hell he would figure out ways to scam extra benefits out of the F-Net.