Earth, a few miles from what was once the city of Fronton.

Commander Alden Trellot stood at the top of a tall mountain, looking through his viewing glass at a metropolitan city. It was interesting to see how far this world’s non-System technology had come in the years before it was integrated. He could see the remnants of metal land vehicles, and even something that looked like it had once flown—this had crashed straight into one of the city’s absurdly tall buildings, slicing it in half and making the top part of it tumble to the ground.

His viewing glass gave him readings on the number of portals within the city. As far as he could tell from his vantage point atop the mountain’s highest peak, there twenty-five portals active. As he didn’t yet consider the inhabitants of this world as much of a threat, the closest invasion force was what he’d been keeping a close eye on since he’d entered this world.

He lowered his viewing glass, depositing it back into his Storage Ring. Trellot was a born Commander. On his planet—a human world—that meant he’d been selected from birth to participate as an invasion force’s leader.

It also meant that he had been restricted from levelling up beyond Level 10. That was the safest level he could reach if he wished to enter a world within the first week of their integration. Naturally, he’d ordered one of his Level 10 soldiers to enter through the portal ahead of him once that week had been up. When he received a report that the soldier hadn’t died, he’d stepped in afterward.

It was costly, sending troops to a new world. That cost only rose with the level of the Denizen that was sent, which meant he wouldn’t be getting any more reinforcements unless this planet proved to be worthwhile.

But that wouldn’t matter. He would be strong enough to take on the locals. The only problem was, he wasn’t the only planet that had set its sights on this one. In fact, there were far too many contenders. It wasn’t every day that a newly integrated planet was even visitable until their introductory five years had come up.

Everyone and their uncle wanted in on this opportunity.

It wasn’t just empires, conglomerates, and the like. It was independent outfits, too. Any Denizens of the appropriate level who thought they might have something to gain by getting onto the ground floor of an emerging planet had come here—it’s easier to become the big fish in a small pond, after all.

Exactly my plan.

The light from the closest portal inside of the city’s borders flickered out. It had been visible even without his viewing glass, and now it was suddenly gone. “What?” Trellot muttered. “Why are they closing their portal?” He got his viewing glass back and peered to where the portal had been only a moment ago.

What he saw was death. The invaders in that area had been humans, like he was, though they were from a different world. A rival world. He’d observed them mere moments ago—and somehow, they’d all been killed.

Did another invading force move on them?

Either way, it wasn’t anything to worry about. The invading forces he’d observed so far within the city were nothing compared to his. Their numbers were small. Some had only dozens, others hundreds, perhaps a few thousand at best.

None had the numbers of his. That’s why he was out here, in the world’s wilderness, testing his soldiers on the beasts that had evolved since integration, boosting their levels what his father called “the old-fashioned way” before he moved in on the city.

Soon, his force would be ready.

~

Alistair Reid stared at the carnage he’d just wreaked over the invasion force. In each hand, he held a dagger. Dark energy seeped from his blades, licking the air like smoke from burning tar. They were the perfect weapon for the way in which he liked to work—up close.

Personal.

This wasn’t the first time he’d come up against invaders from another world. He’d faced many different threats since the System had integrated Earth. Some of them hadn’t even been human—there were more than a few elves around.

But these were the first human invaders he’d killed.

He took a deep breath and read over all of the notifications he’d received. God, it felt good. The special title he’d been granted let him gain more Mastery Points when he killed members of his own species, which was why he’d cleared this part of town of every single tutorial group he could find.

Each tutorial group had a thousand members. Taking them down had been easy enough, as they never seemed to have any fear of him when he wandered into their midst. He wasn’t an invader, after all. He was just another earthling.

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Why would he be a threat to them?

The invaders had been a different story. He couldn’t simply walk into their camp and pretend to be their friend, they had far better defences than any of the tutorial groups.

He’d had to take them head-on.

He ripped every piece of valuable gear he could off the corpses, depositing it all within one of his many Storage Rings—he’d gotten more than a few off the enemies he’d faced from other worlds.

This was only one of the baby invasion forces, however. There seemed to be different tiers of enemies. None of the different invaders he’d encountered seemed to have come from the same place. The biggest difference he’d found was the size of their portals.

The bigger the portal, the more powerful a force stepped through it.

So far, he hadn’t encountered a force more powerful than himself.

~

The enemy invaders were ruthless. Kelly Jacobs had learnt that lesson quick enough. She also didn’t understand the System. At first, she thought that it was trying to protect them from the invaders that had turned up on Earth. The notification had said that it had integrated Earth because invaders arrived, as though it were trying to give them a way to defend themselves by giving them access to the System—something she had learnt was very advantageous—but then it had scrambled the entire world.

Kelly loved her family more than anything in the world. When she’d chosen to defend her world, she’d picked Support. She’d never been much of a fighter—her husband, Howard, he was the fighter in the family—but she’d always been one to lend a helping hand. She volunteered at soup kitchens, helped stock neighbourhood pantries, brought blankets and soup out to the homeless in winter, and chilled bottles of water and sandwiches in the warmer months. Support. Help. It was what she did, and when her children were old enough she’d brought them with her, teaching them how to be kind and sympathetic to those who lacked the same advantages as them.

The moment she’d chosen support, the System had given her the option to be sent to where her children were. She’d jumped on that option, of course, selecting it instantly. Her children were both under the age of sixteen—Rebecca was fourteen, Michael was twelve. They did not yet have access to the System. Something that, at first, she’d been grateful for.

There was still no sign of her husband.

The System had sent her to what it called a Safe Zone. An entire city—one she honestly didn’t recognize. It certainly wasn’t Fronton, as it had the Seatle Space Needle and the Chicago Tribune Tower standing right next to one another, an interesting sight, for sure.

The city contained no fighters. Only children, and support classes like her own.

There were far more children than support.

The city was deserted other than them. No people. Not a single one other than those the System had sent here. When she’d arrived, a massive hologram of a woman in white had stood in the centre of the city, where millions of people had been gathered, and explained their situation.

She had no idea who this hologram was. Some sort of god? Or just a representation of the System? No one else had known, either.

The first few hours—hell, the first few days—had been absolute chaos. The kids, especially, were out of their minds with worry. The System hadn’t dumped her near her children, only in the same area, she’d had to find them herself. Then there were thousands and thousands of children whose parents weren’t with them. It had only been after she’d chosen the support path that the System had even informed her that she could be sent to her kids.

Howard chose Champion. I know he did. The fool of a man thinks he’s responsible for everything.

It was what had made her fall in love with him. She’d always been generous, and he’d always been protective. Not just of her, but of others. He’d been a cop when they’d met. He’d broke up a fight at one of the soup kitchens she’d volunteered at. One of the first things she’d noticed about him was he wasn’t as brash, or harsh, or downright violent as the other cops she’d been around. He looked as though he truly wanted to help people, he just did it in a different way to her.

She sighed. She couldn’t begrudge him for his choice. She just wished he were there.

Almost two weeks had passed since Earth had been integrated into the System, and Kelly Jacobs now knew that the System didn’t care about their wellbeing. The city that she and the others had been placed in that served as a “Safe Zone” was surrounded by enemy invaders. A barrier of energy stopped them from entering the city, but that barrier would only last for so long, and the barricade of invaders stopped anyone else from Earth from getting inside.

Even if Howard were on Earth, how in the world would he get to us?

The Safe Zone had a time limit. Three weeks. Apparently the System thought that was long enough for the world to get itself in order.

From what Kelly could see stuck in here, she knew that was wrong.

Where are you, Howard? And when are you coming home to us?

~

The forest was hers.

Melissa Donavon stalked through the trees, her bow in hand, an arrow nocked, her gaze glancing left and right.

She’d succeeded in her mission. At least, one of her missions. After she’d caught that Obatri beast and the elves in the bog, picking them off one by one with her arrows, she’d grown in strength enough to take out everyone else at their camp. Slowly but surely, she’d whittled down the enemy’s forces until none of them of those pointy-eared bastards survived.

Then, when they were all dead, she’d stood watch over their portal as it shrunk. She didn’t entirely understand how it worked, but the System had told her that if she killed every last one of the invaders, their portal would close. Melissa couldn’t help but wonder if it was a reward the System gave to her, or if it was simply that those on the other side of the portal weren’t going to send more troops through now that they’d lost contact with everyone they’d already sent.

When the portal had shrunk to the size of a penny, then disappeared completely, she’d smiled. Oh, it felt good to clear her forest of rats.

My forest.

It really was hers, now. As long as she kept protecting it.

Once the portal had closed, the System had given her another quest. There was something called a dungeon in the area, with a powerful boss beast in its depths.

If she were to clear that dungeon, the System said it would reward her with something called a Seed Sanctuary. She didn’t know what it was, but she liked the world sanctuary.

Maybe it will be somewhere that I can finally feel safe.

All she had to do was find the dungeon. She wondered if anyone else on Earth had one of these Seed Sanctuaries, or if she would be the first.