The route back to the bunker was something of an arduous task. Even though the System told me my HP was full, my body was in a bad state.

  Once the come-down from the battle lust had finally evaporated from my soul, I was rewarded for my reckless actions with constant pain. I ached. The parts of me that weren’t stiff and numb were bruised and sensitive. It was like I was recovering from an impromptu marathon gym session but got hit by a train on the way home.

  Had it been worth it? I was easy to say yes, given that I had survived it. Not that the alternate me who ate shit would have an opinion buzzing around after their brains had been spread across the arena.

  Of course, the Rare Skillbook had been… good. I was trying not to over-hype it, lest I just ended up dying in my next battle. If a monster found me as I shuffled my way to the bunker, that would be likely. Something that made the paranoid part of my brain scream at me constantly.

  I was learning to ignore it.

  To distract myself, I brought up the skill description once more.

  [Deathforged 1]

  [Killing a target restores 5% HP and Temporarily grants +1 Stamina (Max +5)]

  Something to keep me in the fight for longer. Not as great as some passive regeneration or an active healing skill, but I’d take anything at this point. This was just the first level of the skill as well, and while I didn’t think it would give another +5% at level 2, it would surely get more beneficial. An attack would have been nice, but given the way I approached combat, this might just keep me alive.

  ‘Temporarily’ was capitalized as it had a set definition within the System. Thirty seconds. Before reading everything carefully, I considered trying to get the maximum bonus before selecting my Class… but temp stats probably didn’t affect the options.

  I sighed loudly. My venture off to the motel was looking more miserable now. Even the prospect of a shower might not draw me into action. I could just live stewing in dried sweat and flaking blood. The others would love to get rid of me then.

  While I continued to trek through the dry dirt, I accepted that I should probably work my way through the notifications flashing in my fucking vision constantly. After I took a deep breath and calmed.

  [Milestone Reached: Ahead of the curve. You are one of the first Players to reach level 5]

  [Reward Received: Hairpin of Speed]

  [Milestone Reached: Another close call. We warned you about making that a habit]

  [Reward Received: Half Restore (4)]

  [Milestone Reached: Cleared a Challenge Event area]

  [Reward Received: Uncommon Weapon Chest]

  [Milestone Reached: Cleansed more than 5 Corruptions]

  [Reward Received: Solar Shard (2), Lunar Shard (2)]

  [Milestone Reached: Elite is just a name. You have defeated an Elite over level 5]

  [Reward Received: Bandage (5), Daily Meal Box (3)]

  [Milestone Reached: It’s time. Class selection awaits you]

  [Reward Received: Weapon Upgrade Stone]

  I pulled a face and almost stopped in position, trying to take it all in. That would have been a mistake, as momentum was the only thing keeping me going forward.

  The fact that I was again ahead of the curve was humbling. Sure, I had risked my life a few times scraping through monsters to get experience… but there would have been a lot more people with longer daylight hours around the other side of the world by now. Maybe Richard had been right, and that the nighttime jaunt had really given me a step up.

  Or it just meant the pre-level 5 death count was staggering. My hope was that people were grouping up and taking things slowly, being a lot safer than me. That wasn’t a high bar.

  I slipped the hairpin through my hair, which was a struggle given how grimy and matted it was in parts. Another extra percentage of experience, and +25% Luck. I didn’t have any indication of what my base Luck was, so had no idea how effective that increase was.

  More shards and consumables. Half Restores did just that. Half of my max HP and then it cut and poisons and disease durations by half of the remaining time. I gave my status screen a quick check to see if the zombie curse was still there. It was.

  Using the upgrade stone on Threadcutter might get me more Morale for my Class selection, or I could save if for if I got any better weapons in the near future. Hoping my Luck was good for something, I opened up the weapon chest.

  [Intrepid Knuckledusters]

  [+1 Power, +1 Stamina]

  This time, I did stop walking. I drew the weapon out of my Inventory and into my bruised hands. A polished chrome lump of metal with loops for fingers to go in. My fingers. I slid the cool metal onto my hand and formed a fist. It felt familiar and comforting. With a humorless smile on my face, I went to offload it into my jacket pocket from muscle memory before remembering I didn’t have one anymore.

  Instead, I slid it into my slacks pocket, not yet equipping it to my third weapon slot.

  There were still a few items I hadn’t inspected yet, but I didn’t have the mental fortitude for it right now. I started walking again, the bunker in clear view but not getting close quite quick enough.

  Thankfully, my desire to rest overwhelmed any apprehension I had about being around the others and having to choose a Class. I had ignored whatever messages Bernie had sent me, which was rude… but I didn’t want to get chewed out for my poor decision making. Also didn’t want people to be caring about my safety… but that ship had apparently sailed.

  My palms ached as I turned the handle of the first door. Second door was quicker, if only because I almost flew down the stairs on legs that didn’t want to bend normally. With one last long sigh, I pulled it open to greet the others.

  Sally was already over by the door, having heard it being opened. She had the shotgun in hand just in case it was someone unexpected and hostile, but in seeing it was me, she instead glared and tried to cross her arms.

  “Scarlet,” she said. “We thought you were dead.”

  Amusingly, despite the clear attempt to maintain best firearm practices, she was muzzle-checking Richard with the weapon - so I knew she hadn’t taken the STAR up yet. As I tried to come up with a decent excuse for being a bit of a ghosting bitch, I assigned two stat points to Morale and cast Adjustment.

  [Adjustment 1]

  [Active: -2 Stamina, +2 Morale]

  “Oh my god,” Richard complained, holding his face in his hand. Clearly, he had just read through my logs.

  “Sorry,” I managed. “Have a little faith in me.”

  Bernie looked tired. “You need to reply if you can. We are cut off down here and we need to know you’re still okay. I trust you, but you need to trust us.”

  My mouth opened and closed as a pang of guilt hit my core. “I’m… you’re right, Bernie.” I sighed. “This is way outside of my comfort zone, and I didn’t want…”

  “Accountability,” the Guide interjected, now having regained some of his composure. “Like it or not, you’re in part responsible for anyone taking shelter in this bunker. What you did was reckless and irresponsible.”

  I glanced at Bernie again, being that he was the only other person that could see Richard. Any smarm I was loading up about needing a better guide faded away in seeing the look in the old man’s eyes. My hands formed painful fists before I relaxed again, and I attempted to give the pair of women a reassuring smile.

  “Our Guide is giving me a telling off. I seem to have a compulsion to put myself in dangerous situations, which isn’t fair to you all.”

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  Sally narrowed her eyes. “Does that mean you’ll stop doing it?”

  “Doubtful.” I bit my tongue before blurting out too much information about how much I was enjoying the violence. “But I’ll do my best.”

  “Hmm.” The waitress looked back at Doris and Bernie, before turning back to me. “It’s decided, then. I’ll be joining the System.”

  I shrugged. “If you’re eager to come back home looking like this every day—if at all—then be my guest.” For effect, I extended my arms to show off the destroyed clothing, dried blood, and visible bruising.

  “No, because I’d be more cautious about how I’d get my experience.”

  For all our sakes, it was maybe a boon that I was exhausted. Stopped me from saying things that I’d regret. I gave her an exasperated shrug. “Fine. You got the route to the motel mapped out, Bernie?”

  “Yes. Just one last scout to do very soon and it will be all unveiled.”

  “Good.” I pulled my chair from my Inventory and sat down, grimacing the whole way. “Focus on finding some easy-as-shit monsters for this dweeb to level up on while I’m out.”

  Sally tilted her head. “Giving up that easily?”

  “Eh. It’s on the condition that you do this all after I’ve left. I have enough on my plate keeping my own dumbass alive without having to check in with you lunatics every five minutes.” I palmed at my eyes, but it didn’t give my brain the massage I was hoping for.

  “Alright, that’s a decent compromise.” The waitress beamed, either without worry or able to hide it expertly.

  “I still think it’s a stupid idea,” Doris murmured from the back.

  While the two of them started trading barbs, I turned on my chair to look at Richard. He still had his arms crossed and a disapproving look on his face.

  “You know, your luck will run out eventually.”

  “Funny.” I gave him a humorless smile. “I always felt like I had the shittiest luck with everything.”

  He glanced over at the trio in conversation before shaking his head at me. “I’ve known a few people who act the same way. Work on actually becoming invincible before you test it out.”

  “Help me.” Perhaps one of the rare occasions I used the h-word, and it briefly stunned me. I really was exhausted. “Don’t treat me with kid gloves. I’m a survivor.”

  The Guide pulled a face and hesitated. Another glance at the others before he sighed. “We’ll work into it. Give me some time to fully analyze your logs, and I’ll know better what your limits are. I’ll push you to them, if you understand the risk.”

  “Sure. Just funnel trouble my way and I’ll turn it into bloody experience.” I flexed my aching fingers. “Go scour my journal, then. I’m going to see what my Class options are.”

  He nodded, clearly wanting to fill me with exposition about the whole process. I was getting the hang of how all these things ran. The selection icon was a pulsing annoyance in my left eye, and only twisting the Guide to my way of thinking had prevented a migraine clawing its way into my skull.

  I closed my eyes for a few seconds, before opening them up and clicking it with my mind.

  [Level 5 Class Selection]

  [Recommended Classes]

  [Public Executioner 1]

  [Field Judge 1]

  [Dreadknight 1]

  [See other Class options…(63)]

  For a few seconds, I just stared at the screen. I had been expecting… warrior or rogue. The classics. Given what I had seen of the System so far, I wasn’t sure why that was my assumption. There was no chance I’d be perusing through over sixty different choices. Richard had mentioned before that the suggested were usually the most powerful and aligned with the stats and skills I already had.

  All three sounded like they were aligned with Killing Blow and my Morale focus.

  Although I already had a good idea of what I wanted to pick, I checked each selection to give them the time of day. Seemed fair since the System had made the effort to present them to me.

  [Public Executioner]

  [Passive: Grim Spectacle 1]

  [Passive: Death Aura 1]

  [Active: Final Example 1]

  [Field Judge]

  [Passive: Penance Decree 1]

  [Passive: Investigate 1]

  [Active: Mark of the Guilty 1]

  [Dreadknight]

  [Passive: Shroud of Fear 1]

  [Passive: Heavy Arms 1]

  [Active: Deny Life 1]

  I hadn’t even had a chance to dig into each ability, but they all sounded pretty… edgy. Cool, but edgy. As long as they were effective, they could have whatever name they wanted.

  The Public Executioner was like something from the middle ages. Both Grim Spectacle and Death Aura reduced enemy Morale - the first when I killed someone with the executions that Killing Blow provided, and the second just passively all the time. An imposing presence that was easy to pair with the active skill - Final Example.

  This was a melee strike that had an increased chance of activating Killing Blow, although there was no indication of actual degrees of change. Typical.

  Field Judge was more of an inquisitor. Investigate increased the chance of making monsters more likely to comply or provide information when pressed. Penance Decree allowed me to reduce my HP by 5% to increase my damage by 10% for ten seconds. Assuming I could pair that with Deathforged, then that would make for a decent group fight buff.

  Mark of the Guilty was a skill that cursed a single target with reduced Speed, Stamina, and Morale. It was percentage based, so would probably scale well in the future. If I had a future.

  Last on the list, Dreadknight was something else that conjured up more of a fantasy image than the prior two. Less realistically medieval. Shroud of Fear was a defensive passive that gave a point of Vitality for every 5 points of Morale I had. Heavy Arms was a generalized Mastery that worked for any two-handed melee weapon. Not only did it give +1% damage at the first level, but +1% attack speed as well.

  Deny Life seemed so broken that I had to read it three times to make sure I wasn’t missing out a conditional or limitation. It had a cooldown of five minutes, but even then it was impressive. It gave me an automatic Killing Blow on an enemy that had less than half the amount of Morale that I had. Wasn’t useable on Elites or Bosses… but I imagined it in action.

  Against three ratmen, with my boosted Morale, I could step in and immediately murder one without recourse. That would have a knock-on effect with Killing Blow also reducing the Morale of the other two, potentially giving them a status effect that made them easy to dispatch. Not only could I use it as an opener but also an emergency kill, allowing me to get a second wind with Deathforged.

  My eyes left the screens to look over at Richard.

  “Want my opinion?” he asked.

  “Actually, a question. The Classes have a level next to them - do they level up like skills?”

  He shook his head. “At level 10, and every five after, you can pick a Class again. It could be the second level of this choice, or a different Class altogether. It depends on whether you want to double down for greater power, or diversify.”

  Even if I didn’t like the choice I made now, there would be a chance to pick up on some of the nice skills later on. Maybe an even more powerful Class would crop up later on to change my planned route.

  “There are… other ways in which you can get Classes outside of leveling, but they are often very niche and limited. Not something you should expect or aim for.”

  I nodded along. Much like all the skills I had been gaining through my exploits, it was a matter of hoarding as many bonuses as possible rather than relying on one or two. Even with my current spread of skills only level 1 or 2, having six or eight that affected my axe strikes added up.

  While my thoughts circled to the inevitable, I looked up at the Guide again, to see that he was waiting. “Go on, then. Give me your advice.”

  “Go with your heart.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “I really don’t have the energy to tell you to go fuck yourself. You mean it earnestly, right? Fine, but…” I glanced over at Sally and Doris. “We need some time alone to talk soon. You owe me some explanations.”

  Richard pulled a face, but nodded. “As you wish.”

  Actually, I’d much rather be doing anything except trying to pry information out of a wireframe person who I wasn’t sure if I could really trust.

  He had said it himself. The cockroach alien fucks wanted strong humans to fight and collect. Richard was training me to fight and get stronger. Make me worthy of sitting in some off-world combat zoo. Did I want to believe him? I’d been fooled plenty of times in my life…

  So why break the streak?

  I took one long breath and gave the System my selection

  [Class Selected: Dreadknight]

  [New Passive: Shroud of Fear 1]

  [New Passive: Heavy Arms 1]

  [New Active: Deny Life 1]

  Out of the three, I felt it gave the most options for survivability. I was planning on pumping Morale as high as I could, so converting more and more of that increased my Vitality and kept me away from the edge of death. Every little helped.

  Plus, instantly murdering motherfuckers sounded… oh, I was starting to lose it.

  I glanced around the enclosed space. The others had finished their conversations. The way they were looking at me, I wasn’t sure if they were expecting me to do anything… or my new Class had changed my appearance.

  A quick look, and no. Still the same old me in ragged, smelly clothing. Claustrophobia kicked back in and I stood up from my chair, feeling like the movement just tore the fibers of my legs apart.

  “Welll,” I said, trying to hold in the groan of agony. “Day isn’t getting younger. I’m a fucking Dreadknight now, which is peachy. I have to get out to the motel as soon as possible.” For several reasons.

  “Map is now updated,” Bernie said, giving me a glum smile.

  Once we were sure the nearby area was clear, I’d have to take them outdoors for fresh air. As much as I griped about being stuck underground, they were here as well, without much option. Of course, if Sally was about to join the fight, then… I didn’t know if that was better or not.

  “Oh, I have an item for you, Bernie.” I went through my Inventory to bring out the gloves I had gotten from the arena. “Adds some Knowledge.”

  Doris pulled a face as I passed them over. “Just looks like normal gloves.”

  I couldn’t disagree there. Clearly she wasn’t buying the whole System thing just yet, despite seeing the zombie horde at the diner. It wasn’t my place to educate her, but I had a feeling her ignorance would be short-lived.

  Unlike me. I was a fucking Dreadknight.

  “Alright, I’ll keep up with messages and let you know how things get on.” I even smiled to sell the lie. “Maybe if you have more patience than me, Sally, you’ll let Richard talk your ears off about how all of this actually works.”

  Chances were she’d get a useless skill and then would have to stay here or take things slow. Even if she had something useful, she’d need to learn how to fight and survive. Get used to killing. Her level would be far behind mine… I couldn’t waste time helping.

  Or could I?

  My mind clicked out of this train of thought as I gave them a nod goodbye. Bringing up the map, it looked like there were only two areas that needed cleansing on the way. Some level 4 monsters a little past where the graveyard had been, and then after that, there was…

  I narrowed my eyes and zoomed in on the map icon.

  [Level 5 Rare Treasure Chest]