Finally, it was all over. Unfortunately, or fortunately, Alex hadn't had the chance to show his skills and turn the situation around as his teenage heart had come to believe; but I'd say that was okay. After all, who would have expected that a former rugby player's savage beating would be enough to disarm the situation?

[Calculating rewards... Operation completed.] Returning to more serious matters, the System's voice resumed communicating with the team members as the now motionless body of Bolzig vanished in a cloud of lights and smoke. "This time I'd say we've risked a little too much. Eh, what do you say Counselor?" Meanwhile Roberto said before the metallic voice restarted with the communication, turning to the comrade Mario reduced in a very debilitated condition.

Once, in fact, that the emergency had gone to vanish, the strength and excitement that had kept him standing in spite of the beatings suffered was extinguished without much ceremony. Which was why the boy was forced to let himself fall to the ground and catch his breath in big gulps, feeling his throat terribly dry. "Next time do something useful," he managed to reply in spite of the heat, but was interrupted by the service announcements.

[The defeat of a One Star Mini Boss has been scored. The Team has gained 1400 Experience Points. Experience Points will now be divided equally among the Team members... Each Player has earned 280 Experience Points. Players: Alex Baggio, Mario Rossi and Roberto Maggi, have reached Level 1. The defeat of a One Star Mini Boss has been evaluated. The Team earned 200 Credits. Each Player earned 40 Credits. The System of Ancients congratulates the surviving Players].

As a result of those words, the three guys present felt inside like a warm sensation, some of it even uncomfortable if they had to be honest. It was almost like a very limited burning, probably from the same damn lineage of stomach aches that end up making you spend the night on the toilet.

In any case it passed very quickly and before they could even realize it, their physique got stronger and their stats, even if differently from each other, increased. A change that would have put even the best anabolic steroid to shame.

"Oh... So this is what it feels like to level up? It's not a bad feeling..." Commented a handsomely satisfied Roberto with the result. In fact, he was satisfied enough not to notice that another magic chest similar to the one they had found at the beginning of the game had come out of the Monster's burnt body.

"Now I feel better..." Mario said instead, breathing a sigh of relief as he felt the muscles in his body regain their vigor. Unfortunately, he hadn't been healed like he might have been in some video game, but the change had been enough to make the strain much more bearable for him.

Only Alex, the once-in-a-lifetime genius of the trio, was able to focus on more intelligent and forward-thinking arguments than his other two colleagues. Starting with a, "But why are we the only ones who have moved up a level?", said with a mixture of surprise and concern; and then looking into the distance with his gaze and adding, "What about Sabrina? What happened to her? Why isn't she here with us?" A move that created a, unsuspected, hint of jealousy in the woman at his side.

"Can I just say I don't give a shit? Let me catch my breath first, then we'll see about the useful stuff." Surprisingly, however, the Ronzinante who was only missing his tail was greeted with grace and manner by a Roberto lying on the ground, who was first of all worried about lighting a cigarette and thanking the tobacco God for having his head still attached to his neck.

"I left Sabrina behind in a safe place. It wasn't worth having her come close to the Boss," Mario answered him instead as he stood up again and beat his palms on his pants to wipe off the dust. Although in reality it was more of a conditioned reflex than a useful gesture for anything, given the state of his clothes.

Alex agreed with the choice made by the giant and stopped worrying, remaining a little bit on his own because of the tone with which Roberto had, poetically, told him to fuck off. "Ah... All the better..." It was his only other comment of note, said after a brief glance first at his companion and then at the magic crate.

"Should we open it?" Camilla then took the floor, approaching before anyone else could have time to actually answer her. No longer feeling pressured her complexion had improved quickly and even her aggressive nature had managed to return to a greeting. Of course, she would have preferred it if her husband had taken the initiative, but at the moment her biggest fear was that things might suddenly get worse again.

"That would be a good idea," Roberto entered the conversation unannounced while he was still busy contemplating the universe one good breath of air at a time. Going on to add before closing his eyes in a relaxed manner, "If you find anything good give me a ring, I'll be here." Speaking as if he was dozens and dozens of meters away from Camilla or was somehow his superior, ready to send the newcomer to get coffee for everyone in the office.

"Come on," Mario cut it short, nipping in the bud what could have become a problem. In the meantime he went to keep the girl company, already in front of the chest and ready to open it even without Roberto's lecture.

Going beyond the bickering between handicaps, Camilla stayed for a moment to look at the glittering chest and then, after a deep breath and a glance of agreement with the giant, she uncovered it with a quick gesture, even impetuous.

In response, once the lid was fully opened, a cute little hairy head appeared from inside the chest. The little creature then raised its canine paw in a sort of greeting, saying with a happy expression on its face: [Congratulations Players! Congratulations! Congratulations!], taking both Mario and Camilla by surprise.

The little creature was Assistant XK22 who, climbing as best he could out of the hole he had wanted to put himself in, resumed saying: [I was able to observe the entire fight from the Assistant's digital room. Mr. Mario, you in particular have done an incredible job. At first I was worried that he wouldn't be able to resist, but I'm glad I had to change my mind!], then clapping his 'hands' in a cheer that was nice to see live.

"Ah... Thank you." Mario took the floor, not really knowing what else to say. If he had to be honest in fact, he didn't perfectly remember the details of what he had done. From his point of view, there had been a 'boom', then a 'I'm going to open your ass bitch' and finally a 'no fucking way I'm going down'. Of how these metaphysical concepts had then manifested themselves in practice, he didn't know much.

"Oh? XK22? Is that you?" Roberto raised his voice as he woke up from his rest, hearing the little creature speak. [Of course. I am the Assistant to your Team. Of course, I came back to you as soon as the System allowed me to do so]. XK22 answered him, turning in the boy's direction.

"Great," said the boy whose good mood had just returned, lifting his ass off the ground and adding, "Fuck the crate. I want some useful information. Anything you can give us, I'm all for." Approaching the three of them in good spirits, but turning his full attention to the Assistant.

[Certainly. Passing the first test of Phase Two has provided you with privileges to be able to obtain new information regarding the System. Please, I have displayed the notification window, feel free to choose your topic]. The little creature nodded vigorously while using its little paws to click here and there on a touch screen that the Players could not see. He then moved his neck to the side to communicate to the other members: [Otherwise, if you wish, you can also use your Credits to unlock additional features of the System. You can decide what you want to invest in, the System strongly encourages Players to freely plan their spending].

[- Information about Skills (Part 1) {100 Credits}

- Information about Chest (Part 1) {20 Credits}

- Information about the System (Part 1) {160 Credits}

- Unlocking the Shop {40 Credits}

- Unlocking the Monster Trait Collection Feature {40 Credits}

- ??? {200 Credits}

- ??? {400 Credits}]

The same semi-transparent blue window appeared before the eyes of all Team members. Obviously, none of them had any idea how rare these Credits might be or how they could be obtained. So defining what was expensive and what wasn't was a bit of a leap of faith. Not that it stopped the dear smoker from commenting, "Oh... Not bad, not bad..." however, openly showing an interest that not even a nice blonde, whether it was beer or pussy, could bring out in him.

In any case; Mario seemed to be the first one to want to understand more about it. Tired or not, that was the first time since he had woken up inside the mall where he could start getting useful information about what interested him. So, pointing with his finger just to make his question even clearer, he asked XK22: "What are these question marks supposed to be? They are also the items that cost the most Credits."

[Ah, of course, of course, Mr. Mario] The Assistant returned to say, puffing up his chest a little in a fit of pride as his moment to shine had finally arrived. His idea of coming out of the Chest did not seem to be very well received by the public, so it was imperative that his next performance had to be more than perfect. Besides the fact that he was a thread gassed. It was his first day on the job at the end of the day, so his eyes still possessed that naive glow of a freshly hired employee.

[Items containing ??? have been determined by the system to be 'not critical at this time'.] He then said, even trying to make quotation marks with his fingers, struggling not a little because of the shape of his paws. [This is not to say that they will never be important. On the contrary, in the future they could be fundamental. However, Players at this very moment could hardly benefit or be helped by that certain information or functions due to the current state of the Game. Unfortunately, I can't tell you any more, even I don't know the content of the string that has been replaced by ???]

The answer was quite exhaustive for the big guy who immediately discarded the idea of targeting those items first, assuming that being more expensive they would be better than the others. But if they had been hidden to send a signal to the Players then it was best to leave it alone and go the default route.

"Oh, well. It would have been strange not to have something like that, wouldn't it?" Roberto said, slipping into the discussion and continuing right after with a, "Rather, the genius at the microphone who spoke to us before the Bolzig arrived... Eh, yeah come on the guy... Dude there..." Stopping, however, because he couldn't remember the exact title.

"The Presenter. Wasn't that how he introduced himself?" Suggested a wild Alex behind him, moving timidly in the direction of the Assistant but, paradoxically, overriding the order of precedence to ask him, "Information about the Skills what is it supposed to consist of? Isn't it a little late for something like that now?", referring to the fact that he nearly got his neck broken due to his inability to activate his own Skill until very recently.

Sure, it hadn't even been necessary in the end, and it would help him sleep better at night, but at the same time, it also burned a little. After all, if it hadn't been for that long illusion even now he would have been just an unarmed idiot.

Roberto liked the sudden burst of character but didn't quite like being ostracized. A part of him remained interested and amused by it, eh, but nonetheless his professional asshole honor forced him to grab the other guy by the collar and pull him back, saying after making clear his authority over the intellectually lower classes: "Eh, there, the Presenter. He warned us about Phase Two, didn't he? Tell us more about it. I want all the details you can give us."

Naturally, Camilla glowered at him and almost raised her hands to help her husband. It took a rather overbearing Mario to separate the unfortunate trio and restore order to the classroom. A task that would have been no big deal to him, except that he could see Roberto with an amused grin on his face.

God, I'm having a hard time deciding whether possessing cunning comparable to moths going to kill themselves electrified is a valid evolutionary trait or not. Sure, they'd survived in part because of that lack of intellect and will to live, but fuck so it didn't even seem like they were risking their lives until a few minutes before.

Ah, they shouldn't have closed the asylums.