The conversation between Johann and Mrs Aya had been a brief one. She had asked for assistance with finding a way to bury her husband and Johann assured her they were working towards a solution, not only for Mr Kando, but for all the people who had passed away today. I didn’t feel like it was my place to get involved in the conversation, so I just stood to the side and gave them space. After the brief exchange, Johann left Mrs Aya as she remained seated beside Mr Kando’s remains. She had covered his face with a silk cloth, probably something she carried in her bag.

“Do you want to help, Leo? There is plenty to be done. I could use your help. We all could.” Johann said as he stood beside me. He motioned to the buzzing people a few rows away from us.

“Also, I think Aya could use some time for herself. I understand you have good intentions, but unless you can bring Kando back, there is nothing you can do for her right now.” Johann’s words rang true inside me. He was right, I would probably do her more good by helping the group than standing here and brooding.

“It will be better if I can make myself useful. Gotta keep moving forward, right?” I said halfheartedly. The dark mood still lingered in me.

“That’s the spirit, Leo. C’mon, we got plenty to figure out. Seems like the surreal has become the norm and we need to adapt.” Johann’s words carried a somberness that felt refreshing. Instead of dwelling on what was and wasn’t supposed to happen, he dealt with the situation as it was.

Johann approached the center of the group with me in tow. After speaking with a few people that I didn’t recognize, he clapped his hands loudly in a call for attention.

“Everyone, If I may have your attention, please.” People stopped what they were doing and turned to Johann. Some even stood from their chairs and moved closer. In a few moments he was surrounded in a loose circle.

“I know it's hard to accept what just happened, but we must do so. I already spoke with most of you in private, but now I need to address the group. We need to throw away our preconceived notions about what is and what isn’t real. If we keep trying to compare what is happening here to our previous life experiences, it will only lead to more unnecessary deaths. I know it’s a big ask, but our lives are literally on the line. We lost eleven people today. Eleven people.” Johann let the realization sink in. His eyes moved from one person to another, making sure that everyone understood the severity of it.

“We were fifty four this morning, and now we are forty three. We also have wounded, some gravely wounded. We might have gotten lucky and found some medical supplies, but they aren’t much. And we also don’t know if there is more in this place. We can’t count on the unknown. That will only lead to more deaths. What this new reality demands from us is that we adapt. We adapt or we die. It’s as straightforward as that.” Some of the people in the group were visibly shaken by Johann’s words. They probably had already known everything he said, but hearing it out loud, and from someone in a position of authority, it had a whole different weight.

“Now, let’s not fall into despair. Some of us here are better equipped emotionally and physically to adapt, and they will help others who are a bit slower in the process. We will not abandon our fellow humans. I promise you that.” Johann did his best to sound reassuring, but he was throwing a bucket of water in a house fire. I guess as a fireman he understood that better than I did.

He closed his speech by calling the people who were responsible for fighting, exploring and gathering. It became clear they had already established and divided roles among the group. Johann’s organizational skills were really good. He motioned me to follow him as the less physically capable stayed behind, helping with the wounded but mostly just keeping to themselves. Everyone else started moving to a somewhat distant spot I hadn’t paid attention to before. It seems they had brought a small table from the outside and large sheets of paper with drawings were strewn across it.

Was that a map? Goddamn. That was a fucking map. It had the auditorium drawn in great detail, including what I assumed must be the exact location of each side door. As I had imagined, the hallway went all the way around the auditorium but there was nothing behind the stage.

They also seemed to have the buildings immediately surrounding the auditorium figured out. Their floor plans were included in the sheets. A large area spanning outwards with the auditorium building as a center was also included. It only outlined the streets and building as rectangular forms. This was seriously impressive. Whoever designed this was a tremendously competent architect. I doubt this one was made by a colleague of mine, the level of detail and attention made it unlikely. I was itching to ask Johann who had made this, but as people flocked around I felt it wasn’t the right moment.

“Where is John, Johann?” A tall light skinned man asked. He had dark eyes and brown hair. He was well built, but not overly muscular. In fact, he was more likely naturally strong than the product of training and proper nutrition. His accent was familiar. Maybe Italian?

“John left earlier. He didn’t tell me where he was going, but feel free to interrogate him when he gets back.” Johann spoke dismissively. The man seemed to deflate at the answer.

“Alright, now that we have calmed our nerves we need to figure out how to deal with what is happening here. A few things we need to discuss. First, how are we going to handle the deceased? We need to find a way to properly give them a respectable funeral. Even if a very brief one. I assumed none of you have found a soft earth spot since the last meeting, right?” No one came forward. Johann kept going.

“John told me he tried to pry the pavement or the flooring loose in some places, but they seemed to be too hard even for him. Although we can’t be sure everywhere is like this, we must assume it is until found otherwise. Anyone have any experience with cremation?” Again, no one came forward.

“Alright, I will ask the rest of the group later.” Johann paused for a few moments, as if organizing how he was going to approach the next topic.

“We need to figure out how to better defend ourselves. The sky clock is still ticking. We need to assume the next time will be the same, or even worse. Clearly what happened today was a mess. We fucked up, but we were also never going to be prepared for something like this before seeing it first. I can say that I wouldn’t have believed it if someone had told me what was going to happen earlier this morning. Let’s not deal in the past, but look to be better for what is to come. We are still stuck while that wall surrounds us.” Johann paused in his speech to let it sink, but Igor decided it was a good time to interject.

“You are not suggesting we forget what the fuckers who ran away did, are you? Things would have been very different if they hadn’t, Johann! We need to punish these cockroaches instead of patting them on the back!” Igor's indignant voice prompted mixed reactions from the group. The people who had ran away grew smaller, without any argument to defend themselves. At the same time, a few voices of agreement arose from around us.

“No, I am not saying that. But we can’t just kick them out or ‘beat the shit out of them’ as you suggested, Igor. We need everyone here to work in harmony if we’re to pull through this. They screwed up? Yes. But ostracizing them will only make the whole group weaker and vulnerable. Plus, we won’t make any decision on this matter until John is back.” Johann's decisive tone put an end to Igor’s antics.

As much as I sympathized with the overall feeling of resentment, Johann was right. It would hurt everyone in the short and long term if they lost such a significant amount of their numbers. And, considering everything, I think some leeway was warranted, but also combined with some proper incentive to not make the same decision again. I was curious to see which decision the group would take.

“Back on the topic, we need to find a better location to defend and even fortify. We have found plenty of furniture pieces we can maybe disassemble or use as is to make barriers, but this place is too open for just us to defend. We also need more provisions, we only have enough food to last us the day. Since we already looted most of the buildings in the nearby area, we will need to start expanding. Any suggestions on how to solve these issues?” Johann looked up from the map and around the group. This time someone came forward.

Taller than the Italian accent guy from earlier, this dude was built like a professional basketball athlete. Long arms, big hands and a frame that exuded agility. He sported some very cool dreadlocks with his dirty blond hair. He was tanned and tattooed on his arms all the way to his chest. He had the standard loot jacket tied around his waist and wore the thick denims with a branded sleeveless t-shirt, although I didn’t recognize the brand’s logo.

“I have an idea, dude. Ya see, we could move to the other side of this place and look for a better location. Once we settle there, we will have a new fresh location close to home to keep looting.” He said pointing in the general direction of the pyramid. “I can take care of finding a new place for us. I move fast and I have a sense of direction.”

Johann seemed pensive for a moment, but nodded in agreement. “Alright, I can work with that. I will tell you the kind of place we are looking for so you can keep it in mind when going around.”

“Bet”, the tall guy said in agreement.

“Now, we got a lot of messages after the fight earlier. Did any of you spend any time exploring the system and finding what they mean or what these points are for?” Johann's question surprised me. I suddenly perked up to listen if anyone would contribute. This was something I was very curious about. A young boy, probably not older than 16, raised his hand. He had bowl shaped hair and the thin eyes characteristic of some Asian ethnicities. He was skinny, but not short.

“I have been trying a bunch of stuff, Mr Johann. I found some interesting things.” The kid said somewhat awkwardly. Somehow I had the impression I was back in my classroom in high school.

“It's alright, Chen. You can speak. No need to raise your hand.” Johann spoke in an unusual comforting tone.

“Yes, Mr Johann. Well, I have been trying a bunch of different stuff. A few have worked. If you concentrate really hard on an element of your status sheet it will provide you some extra information. But nothing eye opening. It's just basic common sense. I didn’t earn any points during the fight, but…” He paused for a longer breath. I could feel he was a little embarrassed in admitting that. But I am sure no one expected a school kid to have done much. He soon recovered and went on. “But I found out if you concentrate on the word ‘points’ a sort of menu will show up with many options for you to spend your points on.” As Chen finished his sentence, everyone seemed to have a far away look. I didn’t waste my time and also did it.

[Point Shop

Food:

1-day ration - 5 points;

12-day ration - 50 points;

Protection:

Resistant Beanie - 5 points;

Resistant Boots - 10 points;

Resistant Clothes - 20 points;

Riot Gear - 100 points;

Riot Shield - 50 points;

Weapons

Common - 50 points;

Magical - 500 points;

Random artifact - 1000 points;]

...

That was a lot of new information to process. I tried to apply what Chen had said earlier and an extra message panel appeared on top of the shop menu with details of the item. The kid had found out something super important.

Ration consisted of random edible food and water. It didn’t specify the amount of food nor water. Was the system smart enough to determine the amount by personal needs? That would be an interesting experiment. The implications of the result could be serious.

In the protection section, the resistant options were some of what I had already found. The jacket and the denim pants were the resistant clothes reward, but I hadn’t seen a beanie or boots yet. I was still wearing my social shoes, so my feet were starting to hurt. They were certainly not made for this intense usage. I am afraid they would tear very soon.

I had found the clothes, did it really make sense for me to invest points in the boots? And if I was going to invest in that, why not gather enough and invest on the riot gear already? It included the full outfit from the riot police. I hadn’t seen anyone with anything that remotely resembled riot gear. If I were to assume they could be found, they would definitely be rare by this point. Even if it had only been a day, at least fifty people had spent the better part of yesterday looting these buildings.

The weapons were quite interesting, especially the magical ones. It seemed the system allowed you to pick whatever weapon you preferred for the same price. There was even the option of a bow and 12 arrows. How was it fair that a bow and 12 arrows were the same cost of a mace? The magical weapons weren’t clear on their difference. It only said they were magical weapons. The options were pretty much the same as the common ones.

Surprisingly, the random artifact option wasn’t so straightforward. The detailed description was [The system will determine the best suited artifact for you.] That didn’t sound very random. Why such a name? I guess it could be said it was random, depending on the perspective. Since I was already checking the system I decided to check my status sheet. There was nothing new beside my level indication, which was now two, and three stat points for me to allocate.

‘Unallocated stat points?’

Oh! I had gained one by being first on the contributor rank, and the other two must be from a level up. If a level up gave me two, and the reward gave me one, wasn’t it the same as gaining another half level?

I wondered what the reward was for the lower ranks. Maybe there was none. But then why would the system go through the trouble of announcing those places? Too many questions and too little information to formulate answers.

“Alright, this is a lot to process. Thank you, Chen.” Johann clapped his hands to bring back everyone’s attention.

“I know we are all very intrigued by this system, but we’ve got to move on. You know your roles, so go out and do your gathering and exploring. Remember to pay attention to your surroundings and report to Gabriela when you come back.” Johann’s authoritative tone got everyone moving.

He was right, we couldn’t stay here thinking about the system when there was so much to do. Most of these guys probably didn’t have any points to even buy resistant gear. Maybe not even a day’s worth of food. But I had another issue, I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t have a proper role in the group. I guess I could go back to my spot to grab my stash and bring it here. I wouldn’t be holding back now that I was in.

When I was about to speak with Johann about my stash, the dreadlocks guy showed up and started talking about his task with Johann. Johann explained what he was looking for; a large enough building with reasonable choke points that they could set up barriers and properly man with their numbers. Dreadlocks guy seemed to understand and was about to leave when Johann brought me into the conversation with a hand gesture.

“Noah, this is Leo. Leo, this is Noah. He will be going with you on the recon mission. I am sure you two will work together just fine.” Johann quickly introduced us as he laid out my task.

“Hey, dude. How you doing?” Noah said with a smile and offered me a handshake. I returned the gesture.

“Doing alright, all things considered. When do we leave?” I asked, eager to get my body moving again. Some walking would do me good to clear my head and think about how to better spend my stats points. I couldn’t be sure how much of an effect they would have, but I was going to take my decision very seriously.

“Right now, if you are ready.” Noah's tone showed how eager he was to get moving as well. I told him I was ready and we immediately set out towards the exit. After a few steps, he commented. “Sick hammer, bro.”