Congratulations on passing Challenge 1! You have earned 1 Stat Point, 1 Skill Point, and 10 Points. Challenge 2 will begin after Rest 1 concludes. You have one hour until the next portion.

You may enter the Multi-Purpose Room. Inside are 243 backpacks. Each one is assigned to a different person. Select your bag, then wait in there. Do not attempt to take someone else's bag or property. Do not attempt to steal someone else's bag or property. You will die. You must be in the MPR when the 60 minutes end or you will die.

Nathan dismissed the message, noted a timer counting down from 60 appearing in the corner of his vision, then watched as a few of the other students attempted to enter the MPR, finding the doors unsealed and able to be opened. He was curious how others would respond to the situation, but knew that with the rule in place about no stealing or taking, his bag would be fine.

He scanned the students, looking to see in case he missed one, then looked to Samantha.

"Katherine didn't make it."

Samantha snorted in response.

"She was freaking out when I left the room," Samantha told him. "Though it looks like nearly half did actually get to work and fight."

It was more than either of them expected, Nathan knew. He supposed that put in a situation like that, where it was the only option, meant that some people would be spurred into doing something they'd never do before. Others, like Katherine, would just freak out and not do anything, resulting in their deaths, either by the monsters or failing to continue.

The other possibility was that something had messed with their minds to ensure they fought if they were at least slightly inclined to, but he didn't want to think about that potential reason for the high survival count.

Of course, there was always the risk that this was a dream or hallucination of some sort and that dying was just removing them from the game, but many of them likely didn't want to take that risk.

Especially not after being forced to kill the grotesque humanoid monsters just to pass on. The monsters seemed human enough that Nathan was sure most people would have issues with it, but it looked to him as if everyone there had gotten past that, if only enough to fight them and kill them.

Maybe we're all monsters, on the inside, he thought to himself. I know I am.

It was something that supported the theory he didn't want to believe. He doubted it would have affected him in the slightest, but the thought that something might be influencing his actions in such a way disturbed him.

Once the other students had mostly left the cafeteria, Nathan and Samantha stood and made their way into the MPR. Blood and bits of a student were scattered everywhere, as if he'd simply blown up. A brief inquiry revealed that one of their classmates had attempted to take a bag that wasn't his and simply exploded. No fire or smoke, just his body and bones. Though he blew with great force, no one's Health went down too much from the human shrapnel.

Nathan located his backpack, a black bag with a hard-sided water bottle in a mesh pouch on each side.

Inside of the largest pocket of the bag were three resealable packs of plain beef jerky, ten nutrient bars, a small plastic container of dried apple slices, another of dried bananas, another of dried apricots, and another of trail mix.

In the smaller of the two larger pockets were a stick of deodorant, a toothbrush, a small tube of toothpaste, a small bottle of mouthwash, and a small first-aid kit with some basic supplies.

Nathan took stock of his first-aid kit, noting three adhesive bandages of each of five different types; dot, regular, small, large, and butterfly. It also contained a small tube of antibiotic ointment, ten sealed alcohol prep pads, ten sealed moist towelettes, a pair of metal tweezers, a pair of nail clippers, and a roll of medical bandage with a small bit of medical tape.

Looking at the girls and the other guys, Nathan noted that most of them received shaving supplies. He didn't, but he also didn't need them, having a fairly hairless body by nature. No need to shave his face if there wasn't any facial hair to shave.

Looking at a couple of the other students, he saw medical necessities for a few of them. Insulin pens and inhalers, for the most part, though also a couple of allergen pens. The females all received pads and tampons.

The bags were tailored to each person, then, he thought to himself.

Everyone received the same basic supplies, with some adjustments for personal needs. The thing that told Nathan they were going to be there awhile, however, were the pads and tampons. He could understand a few of the girls, but what were the odds that all eighty-nine of them were around that time of the month?

If all of them received it, then it was possible they would all be there awhile. Possibly months.

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We must have a way to eat, then.

Right when the timer in his vision reached zero, Nathan watched as it disappeared, a new message popping up which stated that they were sealed in the MPR for the next twenty minutes. The students went through their bags again or compared their 'rewards' with others, and Nathan moved off to a quiet corner.

"Points Shop," he said in a low voice, then quickly read the window, which no longer had the option to buy Weapon Upgrade Level 2. "Hm."

He bought the Stat Point available, then added it and his other into his Strength stat, before waiting out the rest of the twenty minutes. During that time, he observed the others. A few were pale and likely feeling sick. Some, like Samantha, were speaking with others, likely discussing what was going on and if there might be a way out. A few had moved to the stadium benches set into a dip in the wall with the doors, and were looking through their bags or fiddling with their weapons.

Most were doing that, scattered throughout the room. It was, no doubt, something to take their minds off of what was going on. Off of what they had been forced into.

Nathan's gaze fixed on Keith and Madeline, who had retreated to another corner and were arguing again, back to hushed tones, no doubt.

When the timer reached zero, it disappeared from view and let them know that they had two hours until the next Challenge began, and that they could enjoy lunch, use the bathrooms, whatever until then. They weren't allowed to keep any food from lunch, but the message simply stated that it would disappear if they tried to keep it into a Challenge.

Enjoy lunch? Nathan wondered, his gaze traveling to the MPR doors. Do they mean that lunch is served out there?

One of the students left, returning a minute later.

"The lunch lines are open," he told the rest of them. "No one there, the glass removed so we can grab whatever, like a buffet."

A few other students left, and over the next thirty minutes, more and more students left, until only twelve remained in the MPR. At that point, Nathan stood up and made his way into the cafeteria. He was never one for lines and had grown used to being last among the students to receive their food.

In the cafeteria, he saw that there were several pizzas set out, rows of sandwiches and boxes of fries – curly and crinkle – the whole set for tacos, nachos, and taco salad, and even wraps and boxes of chicken strips. Sides were put out and the soda fountain worked, in addition to there being milk and juice in the cooler.

Making his way to the various lines, which only had one or two students left, some of who appeared to be on their second round already, Nathan watched as a student grabbed the last slice of buffalo chicken pizza. When the student pulled his hand away, the tray for that particular pizza became encased in a box of shadows for thirty seconds. When they faded, a fresh, steaming new buffalo chicken pizza rested on the tray.

The student didn't seem surprised, so Nathan assumed that it had already been discovered that occurred. The student grabbed a second slice, then walked off, grabbing another carton of milk on his way.

Nathan reached the lines and grabbed a carrying tray, then a polystyrene foam food tray and set that on top. Following that, he made himself a trio of tacos with meat, lettuce, and cheese before grabbing three breadsticks from the basket of them. He scooped himself some pudding and mixed fruit, then grabbed two cartons of chocolate milk before grabbing a fork, some napkins, and a quiet spot away from others.

It looked to him as if around half of them were eating, which meant that most either grabbed food to-go, or had simply ignored it, their stomachs unable to handle the thought of eating at the moment.

Nathan ate the rest of his food in silence, then made his way to the nearest restroom to relieve himself before returning to the cafeteria, where he sat to wait until the timer reached zero.

"So," Samantha sat across from Nathan, who was watching some of the students who'd wandered around the school make their way to the food lines. "Some of the students exploring said that a shimmering veil of some sort surrounded the school's property – it extends all the way to the street out front, but crosses the one in the back and engulfs the parking lot back there. It wraps all the way around the parking lots by the highway, too."

Nathan thought about that, and what it meant. The game likely let them use those as added space. It engulfed the old soccer field, the baseball field, the tennis courts, the light field between the tennis courts and the street at the front, and all of their parking lots.

"Do we still have access to the back field?"

It wasn't much of a field, just a small grassy area dipping down in a hill until it reached a creek that was barely allowed even that name.

"The veil ends on the other side of the creek," she nodded. "There are no teachers here, though on one expected any, and we can't cross the veil. The theory is that we're in some sort of alternate dimension, though no one knows how we got here."

"And that it generated multiple alternates for the Challenge?" Nathan asked, and she nodded.

"We're in what's probably the 'rest' alternate," she stated. "While the others were 'Challenge' alternates."

Nathan nodded. It would make sense for that, especially since there was something like sixteen instances for the groups of battle the monsters in. Samantha informed him that for the classes that didn't already have thirty-two eighteen-year-olds – theirs was the only one that did – the students were generally from nearby classes, but each instance, as far as they can tell, had thirty-two students.

Since some of them were already dead before the others found them, not starting together, that made it hard to judge. Nothing yet suggested there was anything less, though, and Keith and Madeline seemed confident that was how it was, too.

"Something's off about them," Samantha said. "They've been arguing pretty harshly over stuff, but fall silent anytime someone gets near them. Then the robes…"

"What about them?" Nathan asked. "They aren't the only ones with those robes."

"No," Samantha said. "But the other three who actually picked them didn't have any weapons. The magical robes they're wearing simply boost magical attacks. Those two killed quickly, if they were gone by the time you left the room."

In other words, they were already magicians, and ones of considerable talent. However, from what could be gathered, this was their first time in the alternate, even if they knew of it beforehand. Nathan and Samantha processed the fact that there were people outside who were practicing magicians, as well as that Keith very well might be the reason they were going through what they were. If not alone, then he might be part of a group that caused it.

When the timer ticked down to zero, everyone received a notice to gather in the main section of the cafeteria within ten minutes. They did, waiting until the next notification appeared along with a timer ticking down from five minutes.