At seven o'clock on a Wednesday morning, Peter had a dilemma. It was the day of their first third-floor trip—whatever that meant—and he had to sort out what to do with the warg: leave the pup alone in the apartment or at Shadow’s shelter. The students were informed by mail they would return before evening, so leaving Shredder at home was possible. On the other hand, he felt it was his duty to help the pup socialize and expand his horizons.

  When I’ll be a parent, I won’t lock my kids in the house, right? My folks took me to the summer camps as soon as I could walk.

  “How big will he grow?”

  

  “That big, huh?” Peter sighed.

  

  "Wow…" Peter widened his eyes when noticing ten vanity styles and colors he could use for the pet. "Anything for me too?"

  

  "Neat… I have to check it later…" Peter accessed the pet settings and opted for an off-white, making the pup's fur less fluffy at the same time.

  "Woof!" Shredder objected. Or at least that's how Peter interpreted the warg's furrowed brows.

  Nevertheless, the pup was at the shelter within the hour, and Peter joined the rest of the students on the main lawn. Five hundred normies or cultivators were there, those who opted for the Summer school instead of the extra semester. A fraction of what the college had before the Awakening and half of the current students. The campus security guards also accompanied the group, and they had shotguns and ballistic shields. Kostel looked ridiculous, the bulletproof vest barely covering the upper half of his prominent belly.

  "Hey!" A warm hand grabbed his fingers, startling him. "Regina."

  Hey," Peter smiled back, his heart filling with warmth. "You're Mind?" he asked, noticing the color of her scarf. "I thought you were Spirit."

  "No, I'm a Mind Cultivator… I like more the Spirit Curricula, but… it is what it is…" she shrugged.

  

  Yeah, buddy, whatever you say…. Now shut up for a second.

  "Listen to me!" Alchemy moved in front of the group, amplifying her voice through magic. "From now on, we will farm plants on another Realm each Wednesday and Friday. There will be dangers and various challenges. Cultivators specialized in teleportation will take care of the voyage. There will be two jumps. Stay within the boundaries of the lawn. That's all."

  Four people appeared out of nowhere, one in each corner of the group, with a staff in hand. "Jumping in ten… nine…" a tall man began shouting the countdown.

  At zero, a blinding light enveloped them, and suddenly, they were on a platform built from large slabs of stone, surrounded by desolation. The sky was pitch black, and a giant blob of blue and white floated above. A planet with oceans and continents, their form familiar. They were on the Moon… and yet, they could breathe. A bluish hue above suggested they were under a forcefield’s dome.

  "Second jump in ten, nine…" the man started again.

  The second blinding light brought them to an Earth-like landscape. A grass sea, tall up to their waist. There were rows of low hills everywhere, some forested. Clouds ran fast over the blue sky, but the wind at their level was soft, barely moving the tips of the grass.

  Alchemy shouted: "The time is about the same here, so we will use the same hours. We have coverage through a satellite network. Phones work. If you get lost, call your supervisor. We will move in different directions, in ten groups of fifty people, each led by a teacher. This zone is deemed safe, but stay vigilant."

  To Peter's relief, he and Regina were in the same group, Alchemy's. The grass was getting in their way, and it took the most of an hour to organize. After a while, their group started to walk to what seemed to be East, with Alchemy ahead, floating twenty feet above the ground, to be seen by everyone.

  The first half-an-hour was uneventful, and Peter and Regina took their time at small talk. They held hands often. It became a tiring stroll after a while, and silence replaced words for everyone.

  

  Still dormant?

  

  "Stop!" Alchemy shouted. "Incoming, two o'clock. Defense, be ready."

  The guards with guns and the Body Cultivators advanced to the front, with the Spirit ones taking position in the second line. Peter tried to put himself in front of Regina, ready to protect her at a moment's notice.

  "What are you doing, moron? You want to get killed?" Jack scolded him, shoving him away and taking his place. Peter decided not to argue, staying behind the girl and staring into the distance. Soon, a little black mound appeared, moving toward them. It became a buffalo of sorts, only bigger. A rumor grew among the students, and the why was obvious. The beast had a rider.

  "Do not speak with it, no matter what. Don't attack it, no matter what! If you engage in combat, you’ll die," Melinda yelled. “That’s not something you can fight at your rank, and I'm bound not to intervene.”

  "Hiding behind Mommy's skirt, little ones?" the rider laughed. A giant warrior, looking like a humanoid lion, eight feet tall. The voice sounded male, but Peter could not swear on it. There were spears fixed to the saddle and a wide and long broadsword on the rider's back. The apparition continued his taunting. "I challenge any of you to a fair fight… To the first blood, if you're scared. No one? A lot of pussies here, and it's not the girls."

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  Jack growled and tried to unsheath the Jian sword he carried, but a hand grabbed his arm at the elbow. Kostel. The Body Cultivator tried to break free from the hold, but somehow, the guard pulled him back.

  

  Inspect (Uncommon, novice tier) unlocked. Name: Kostel. Class: Guard (Uncommon). Level: 14

  "The fuck? Level fourteen?”

  

  Peter was jealous. He was only level thirteen, from hunting countless jackalopes, running about a dozen errands for Daniel and the bikers, and having a few arm wrestling matches or fistfights with the same.

  Throwing an Inspect at the rider, he got only Lionfolk, level ??? Barbarian, Bounty Hunter, Master of Arms (equivalent of Legendary tier)

  

  No kidding, Miss Marple.

  

  Somebody like Sherlock Holmes, only different. I don’t want to repeat myself.

  Disappointed no one answered the challenge, the barbarian spat on the ground and spurred their mount, soon disappearing behind the next hill. The group continued the trek for another five minutes until they met a river, the tall grass transforming into a meadow with countless small and charming flowers.

  Melinda shouted: "That’s our allocated spot. Security and Body cultivators form a perimeter. Spirit and Mind students, comb every square foot for valuable plants."

  That's great! I can help her.

  

  Leaving Regina alone in a danger zone?

  

  If something happens to her, I'll delete you for good, no matter what it takes.

  Once the sneaking out was done, Peter changed into his leather attire and ballistic helmet. "What now?"

  

  “A what?”

  

  

  Warp (novice tier): Warp yourself between two points in space. At higher tiers, you can take other people with you. Range: 0-100 miles (at current tier).

  Short-range destination selection: Focus upon a point of arrival within sight distance.

  Medium and Long Rage destination selection: Focus on the direction you want to go and the specific distance.

  Obstacles: This skill cannot pass through forcefields but can phase through some physical obstacles and avoid collisions. Warning: If you are moving before you Warp, your speed and movement direction will continue afterward.

  Activation: Think or say Warp. Instinctive activation at higher tiers or stats.

  “Whaaat? Let’s try it!” Peter exclaimed with the joy of a child receiving a new cool toy.

  

  “So, all I have to do is to look somewhere and say Warp?" Peter ignored the System. A second later, he emerged a few hundred feet farther, trashing his arms like a kid trying to learn to swim and barely stopping himself from colliding face-first with a tree.

  

  "Don't tell me you want me to fight that monster?"

  

  True… Warp is a neat ability.

  Taking the drone from his backpack, Peter sent it up and in the general direction the lionfolk had taken. Four minutes later, after some searching, the barbarian was in sight. It had dismounted the buffalo—which grazed freely—and smoked a cigarette; its back rested on a tree. Peter recalled and stored the drone and Warped a few times, stopping a hundred feet from the lionfolk, who unsheathed their sword in a blink.

  "I just want to talk!" Peter yelled, raising his hands in the air. “May I approach?”

  "Then talk. Who are you?" the creature hissed.

  "I just need some information."

  The Barbarian's attitude relaxed a bit. "Are you a straddler?"

  "Straddler?"

  "Stranded from your group? You must be with those cubs I met earlier."

  "I’m not stranded, I was exploring… It’s our first trip here. We were only recently Awakened. What is this place?"

  "Our planet, duh," the lionfolk snorted.

  

  “Can you elaborate? I'll make your time worth it,” Peter’s soul shrank on itself, wailing on the inside. Due to his recent jackalope hunting, he had doubled his savings to about twelve thousand dollars, changing all in gold. Yet the smallest bullion he had was worth about a quarter of that.

  “You have a deal, little one,” the barbarian rubbed their hands. “So… where do you want me to start?”

  “Were you invaded by the cultivators, too?” Peter said.

  “You can say that, yes. They trapped our planet in the Tower, and we had only blimps. That’s useless against spaceships, you see.”

  Bit by bit, a larger picture emerged. The local planet was inhabited by all sorts of catfolk and had Mana and Magic before, but no System. Their culture was the equivalent of a late Renaissance period. However, they knew about spatial travel because visitors came to trade for medicinal plants—the best local resource—and they were integrated into a loose local alliance made of a few star systems.

  In the end, Peter found out the Barbarian was a female. The females of the species worked, while the males guarded the family.

  “Now… You were saying something about making my time worth it?" Throwing the cigarette butt down and squashing it with the sole of their boot, the Barbarian displayed a predatory grin.

  "One second…" Peter raised a finger. "Why did you taunt us?"

  "There was a bounty about it. Catch up with a group, provoke them, and kill anyone taking the bait. That teaches them about real danger. Or so the cultivators say."

  The bastards… "But you said first blood!" Peter accused.

  "If I kill somebody from a single strike, it's first blood, isn't it?" she shrugged.

  

  "Are you paying me or not?" The barbarian's hand slipped toward the greatsword's hilt.

  "You take gold, right?" Peter sighed.

  "Does a bilghie eat grass?"

  

  Squeezing his hand backward into the backpack, the young man willed a half an ounce bullion out and threw it to the mercenary. The barbarian bit into it, then smiled and bowed. "A pleasure. If you need my help in the future, go to the nearby village and leave a message for me through the billboards. Name's Redroar. Free advice: when night comes, stay out of the haze."

  Without any more ado, Redroar whistled, making her mount come to her. She jumped up and landed on its back, an impressive display of skill and athletics, then rode away, the bilghie surprisingly fast for its size.