"Morning."

Samantha looked up at Nathan, surprised he had actually greeted her. He was sitting atop the stacked bleachers, eating fruit from one of his containers. If she wasn't mistaken, he had even more blood drying or dried on his school uniform.

After stretching, Samantha poked her out and looked at the track, and confirmed that there were only a couple of monsters on there, before looking back at him, her gaze traveling to his arm, noting where part of his sleeve had been ripped, though no cut was visible there. Either it hadn't made it through his Health, or his rapid healing had already mended his flesh.

Samantha wished she could heal as fast as him, especially since she was pretty sure he had broken his arm, despite his denial of it.

"You really went and fought all of them?" She asked.

"No."

"The ones on the track?"

"Yes."

Sighing, she sat down and ate a small breakfast, and Nathan watched her, closing his container of fruit and pulling a package of jerky out of his bag. He pulled out a single strip of jerky and resealed the package, then returned it to his bag and ate the jerky, downing it with water. They had refilled their water bottles the day before, so he didn't worry about using up too much.

"Nathan," Samantha said, and he looked down at her. "Have you used the bathroom at all since the Challenge began?"

"No."

"I need to go," she told him. "And it's not good to hold it."

Nathan rolled his eyes, shoved his backpack over a little so it was behind the bleachers instead of on the step, then descended. When he walked over to her, she poked at his cut, and he quickly slapped her hand away with a glare. It had definitely already healed, but she could still see the ointment he'd used resting on his skin.

"Just checking," she said. "Stop fighting on your own."

"I prefer it."

Samantha sighed, knowing she wouldn't get anywhere arguing with Nathan. He did what he wanted and at his own pace. There was no stopping him.

They walked down to the locker rooms, and Samantha killed the two monsters inside on her own, then used the toilet. When she finished and washed her hands, Nathan left, and she followed him into the boys' locker rooms.

Ignoring the three monsters in there, Nathan made his way into the stall inside. Samantha didn't question why he didn't simply use the same stall as her – it wasn't like he couldn't use the girls' restroom or locker rooms. Instead, she just accepted it as Nathan being Nathan.

No sooner had Nathan locked the door to the stall than Samantha heard the sound of him punching something and it slamming into the wall, as well as the sound of his knuckle's Burst. Less than thirty seconds of fighting later, and Samantha heard the monster land on the ground.

Three minutes later, Nathan flushed and exited stall, washing his hands in the sink and stretching, looking at the fading remains of one of the monsters that had been in there when he'd gone into the stall. The other two had already faded away by that point.

He looked at Samantha and nodded, and they entered the lower level of the Dome, working together to take out the monsters lurking around down there. Forty-eight monsters, all of them One-Pointers or Two-Pointers.

Nathan took down most of the monsters, though Samantha did keep up with him. Despite everything, she still had some reservations.

Besides, he was the only person who had ever managed to beat her, until whoever started at the dojo a few months ago began there. He never stopped practicing, just kept to himself as he did. Being at the dojo with someone who'd said what she'd said to him made it hard for him to focus, so he simply quit and found a private teacher.

When they finished cleaning out the lower level of the dome, they repeated the process for the upper level, then returned to their safe space, where two of the monsters had gathered.

Before Samantha could react to their presence, Nathan had struck, attacking both swiftly and with as much force as he could, ending them with a minimal amount of hits.

The two of them settled back down into a quiet companionship, fighting a monster roughly every twenty minutes with no other disturbances.

Exactly seventy-two hours after the Challenge began, Nathan received a notification alerting him that the Points Shop was available for access, and "PS Available" appeared in his vision in small text, just beneath his Health and Mana bars.

According to the Tutorial, which he had already completely memorized to ensure he knew everything once it was gone after this Challenge, he could access the Points Shop at any time it was available, but once he purchased something from it, then he'd be unable to access it again until the cooldown ended.

However, he wasn't limited to buying a single item. He had until he closed it after purchasing something to continue purchasing things. He wasn't sure he'd buy anything just yet, though he knew that other students were probably hastily spending their points on the Food Restocks.

"Points Shop," Nathan muttered.

Points Shop 348 1 Stat Point: 10 Points Weapon Level 3 Upgrade: 20 Points 1 Skill Point: 25 Points Food Restock: 25 Points Drinks Restock: 25 Points Toiletries Restock: 25 Points Medical Restock (Basic): 25 Points Mana Potion (20 Mana): 40 Points Health Potion (50 Health): 40 Points Medical Restock (Adv.): 50 Points Item Drop: 50 Points Weapon Repair Kit: 50 Points Weapon Mod Upgrade: 50 Points Additional Weapon: 75 Points Weapon Modification: 100 Points

"Food Restock," he muttered.

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Food Restock 3/3 Beef Jerky Dried Fruit (choice) Nutrient Bar x3 Apple Cookies (choice) Baby Carrots

Yeah, he thought to himself. Definitely going to be spending it on Food Restocks.

He knew most of them wouldn't have near as many points as he did, but even if they did, they'd probably still be wanting to go after Stat Points, Skill Points, and Food Restocks. Health and Mana Regens were abysmal, so some might also purchase those, if necessary. They could only select three items from the list, if his assumption about the three-of-three was correct.

Nathan himself still had plenty of food leftover – he'd been conserving it, even if it meant he was hungry. A small handful of fruit, no more than three pieces of jerky, and a single nutrient bar per meal. He had enough food to last another day, though he knew that Samantha needed more.

Though he wasn't completely sure of it, Nathan felt confident that they would not be spending another night past the current one in the Challenge. The third night, he felt, would be their last one in the Challenge.

He believed that the only reason the Challenge would last that long was to prove that foresight was needed for the game. That, and to cull out a few more morons, and give them all open game on hunting.

Nathan dismissed the Food Restock option and checked Item Drop, which was similar to Food Restock in that it allowed him to select a set amount of items from a set list of them. He closed out of that, moving on to something he wanted.

"Additional Weapon," he muttered.

You have received a Voucher for another weapon!

Nathan frowned, but dismissed that message. He had assumed it would be like the Food Restock and that he'd receive an option for it, but that turned out to be wrong. The same thing would likely occur for Weapon Modification, though he selected that anyway.

You have received a Voucher for a weapon modification!

Confirming his suspicions, Nathan dismissed that message, then selected Food Restock again and picked out another pack of jerky and two packs of fruit, then looked through the other options. Judging by the list, Weapon Modifications did not remove the weapon's primary abilities.

Moving the Points Shop to the side of his vision, Nathan accessed his Inventory, where the two Vouchers rested.

"Weapon Voucher."

The Voucher appeared in his hands, a slim piece of paper with those two words printed on it in curled script. He tapped the paper and a new message appeared in his vision.

Select an Item Shadow Sword Return Knife

The same options he had before, only without the Burst Knuckle. Did that mean that it counted the shields and cloaks as weapons as well? Or were those a one-time offer, and someone who didn't select them but had them available would receive only the other item they had been offered?

"Return Knife," Nathan muttered without hesitation, and a the paper glowed faintly, reshaping and gaining form and mass, becoming a short dagger slipped into a simple black sheath that had a clip for a belt on one side.

Nathan accessed the plain-looking dagger's information.

Return Knife Level 1 Always returns to the owner's sheath. Return Cooldown: 30 seconds (minus 1 per Level of this Skill, minimum of 1 second)

At the same time the weapon appeared, Nathan noticed a shift in his Points Shop, and looking over, confirmed that Weapon Upgrade Level 2 had appeared. He promptly upgraded the Return Knife, then upgraded both weapons again, spending another 40 Points, leaving him with just 48 Points.

Someone else might purchase a second weapon, but Nathan was sure most wouldn't have, needing their Points for food. After buying a Health Potion, just in case, Nathan closed the Points Shop, unable to buy anything else. He doubted he'd be able to access it again, but he couldn't simply leave the Points Shop open. According to the Tutorial, it would only remain open for sixty seconds without activity, or five minutes without purchase.

Which meant, of course, that someone could cheat the system and go hunting if they needed another few Points by making sure to access something in the Points Shop and buy something cheap – like Stat Points – every minute and five minutes, respectively.

Nathan didn't care for that.

There was always the chance he'd need more food, but he was willing to risk it in favor of his own assumptions. The kitchens were empty here, they knew, and they had only a limited amount of food to access.

While the game was highly unfair, it was also logical and followed a certain sort of pattern, as far as Nathan could tell. Which was why he felt confident that Challenge 3 would end the following day.

When night finally fell once more, Samantha took first watch again, needing to fight every fifteen to twenty minutes. It wore her out, but she persisted, wondering how Nathan would fare that night. He had gotten hurt the previous night, and if he went off to fight everything outside again, there was a good chance he'd end up dead.

However, she also knew that he received fewer Stat Points than everyone per Level. He was likely the weakest of them all, physically. Or at least, would be compared to someone of the same Level, even if his starting Strength was likely high due to his actual strength being pretty decent.

The only reason he had proven so dangerous so far was his own talent. She might have been gifted and trained her skills, but he was a true prodigy and trained his skills. He could identify a weak spot in one moment and strike there the next.

At three, Samantha woke Nathan, and warned him to be careful and not go out and fight everything again. He shrugged, and she settled down to sleep.

Nathan watched as Samantha attempted to stay awake and keep an eye on him, but her exhaustion won, and within a few minutes, she was sound asleep.

After performing a series of stretches, Nathan stepped past the curtain and onto the track, swiftly striking at the nearest monsters, taking them down. He was careful, knowing most of them were Two-Pointers and that there would likely be a Three-Pointer or two nearby.

He knew that the monsters had a 'range' they could detect things in, and so kept himself near his safe zone, lightening his load by only fighting that which came to him. It was tough to do it, but he managed, then gave himself an hour-long rest before moving around the track, drawing in a few more.

By the time Samantha had woken, Nathan had successfully killed everything on the second level, plus a few that traveled up to it, and returned. Without taking injury.

I should've just fought them like that before. Wouldn't have gotten hurt, probably.

Samantha woke around ten the next morning, later than she had the nights before, and the first thing she noticed was Nathan's bloodier attire and the dried fruit he was eating out of his hand. She sighed in relief in that he at least didn't seem to have done too much outside, his clothes didn't have that much more blood on them.

She stood and stretched, then opened up her backpack for breakfast.

They had made it through the third night.