When Alex awoke, the Saxan sand glider had already found him and were already on the move to the next hotspot.

“How long have I been out?” Alex asked.

“It has been three days since the beginning of the sandstorm. We were worried it would be much longer before you awoke.”

“Three days? That means I only have a few days left on my hunting trip.”

“That is true. We have guided you to another hotspot that is closer to where we have been instructed to drop you off. We should be arriving shortly. It will take less than a day to arrive at the designated location from the hotspot, so you will be able to hunt for the majority of your remaining time. We will travel through the night on your final night and arrive in the morning for your next assignment.”

“That sounds great. Thanks for keeping the glider moving while I was recovering. That would’ve been a major bummer if I had lost those days. It’s like they say, ‘time is money’.”

“I have not heard anyone say this. Who says this?”

“Well I don’t actually know who said it first, but a lot of people back home say it.”

“Seems nonsensical. Time is not money. Time is time.”

Alex was going to explain, but decided it didn’t really matter. It would be a waste of time, and as they say, ‘time is money’. Instead, he just smiled at the Saxan and excused himself.

He went over his gains from the fight. It had been particularly grueling and he was hoping for a major power up. He was, after all, going to go up against some of the most powerful entities on the planet in the coming weeks. He needed all the help he could get.

Alex Sullivan

Race- Human

Rank- Private

Grade- F

Class- Shift

Level- 78

Strength-483 (616)

Agility- 357 (422)

Intelligence- 216 (259)

Durability- 747 (977)

Endurance- 458 (538)

Health- 9,770/9,770

Stamina- 5,380/5,380

P.E.- 0/9,770

Overall, Alex was pleased. He had gained seven levels since the beginning of his hunting trip, which was one of the most efficient months he had his entire time on this planet. This was especially impressive since the relative difficulty of gaining a level had drastically increased in the higher levels. To gain seven in a month was monumental. It had helped immensely to cut down on his travel time. Before, when he had a near death encounter, he would have to rest for a few days before setting back out. Now, he could rest while they moved cutting out both sets of downtime. This highlighted the benefits of a well established support system. He wondered if he would be able to work with Earth’s government to receive similar advantages.

He was especially happy with both his durability and intelligence stat. His durability was nearly to 1,000 after all of his bonuses. That was phenomenal. Especially considering his energy pool increased due to that stat. It was easily his most important stat out of them all and each point it grew only meant he was that much more powerful.

His intelligence, while still relatively low had also hit a significant milestone. He now had two hundred intelligence points. The bonuses put him closer to three hundred, but he felt like that would equate to something. He still hadn’t really nailed down what the intelligence was doing for him, but he still wanted to keep investing in it. Maybe when he got back to Earth he would find other people who had picked Shift as a class and would be able to compare their stat distribution to his own. Until then, he could only guess and hope for the best. It couldn’t be a bad thing to shore up his weaknesses.

They reached the final hotspot and Alex was already buzzing with anticipation. He had always been a busy body, even after his accident, and he was ready for some action. He hadn’t been awake for long, but that didn’t matter too much. He felt like he had been stagnant for too long.

I probably won’t be able to sit still ever again. Luckily, I don’t need to rest as much otherwise I would probably die from exhaustion.

He blasted into the hot zone where he fought for the remainder of his time. Most of the enemies he fought didn’t pose much of a challenge, but he did find a few lizards that, while small, were actually the same level as him. He had multiple chunks missing from his body, but it was all worth it. He gained another level. He had hope to get to at least level 80 before returning, but 79 would have to do. If he hadn’t gone against the Djinn and lost three days he might have reached his goal, but he honestly felt like he had gained more than he lost. He did have two wishes left after all.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

During breaks he fantasized about what he could use his wishes on. There were so many stupid uses that he could think of, but he couldn’t get himself to wish for anything just yet. He had used it in battle and it had essentially assured his victory against the Sandstorm Djinn. While that might not have been the best use of the wish, he still felt that he shouldn’t use the wishes until he had a really good use for them. It could be a last minute trump card, or it could give him an edge in some other way. Until he thought about it more, they would remain against his chest making him look cooler. So they wouldn’t be totally useless. At least that’s what he told himself to justify not using them.

He made his way back the vessel and laid down to sleep for the trip back. He knew that this might be his last chance to really rest for probably the rest of his time on Saxar IV, so he made the best of it. He could hardly contain the excitement and anxiety he had about what was coming, that he hardly slept all night.

The next morning, Alex went straight to Krizzik’s command tent to figure out the plan.

“It is good to see you, grub,” Krizzik said upon seeing Alex.

Alex still didn’t like the nickname, but at least Krizzik said it with a slightly different connotation than before. It seemed like less of an insult somehow.

“Good to be back.

“I presume your hunt was fruitful?”

“It was pretty good. Didn’t get quite as strong as I would’ve liked, but I did make some significant progress.”

“Such is life. We can only take the opportunities we are presented and make the…” Krizzik trailed off.

“What? What’s wrong? Do I have thryntal on my face? Did I leave my fly down?” Alex started checking before he realized he was in his armor which didn’t have or need a zipper.

“What is that?” Krizzik said as he pointed at Alex’s chest. “That is new. You did not have those before you left.”

“Oh that. Yeah. Have you seen a Sandstorm Djinn before?”

Krizzik’s expression was what Alex imagined someone would like after seeing Bigfoot ride a unicycle through the streets.

“You are not serious? How can this be? None have ever gotten close enough to the Djinn, and lived to tell the tale. You are telling me that you have defeated not one, but two Sandstorm Djinn in a month?”

“Well, it was actually three. I already used up one of my wishes on accident. And I don’t know if I’d count it as a month. I’ve been getting stronger the entire time I’ve been here, so really it’s been almost a year of grinding to actually beat them.”

Krizzik blinked so slowly, Alex was worried the alien was having some type of stroke.

“So the myths are true then? If one captures a Djinn, it will grant their wish. And you have two left? Why have you not used them?”

“I used the first one on accident so I really want the last two to count. I don’t want to use them on something dumb.”

“But you could wish that we win this war? That my people would be safe? Is that not worth a wish?” Krizzik said, each word louder than the last. He was pacing and huffing in anger.

“Woah! Take it easy. I don’t think it works like that.”

“And how would you know if you have not tried it?”

“Because my first wish only had limited success. I wished to be more efficient and my rating only went up by a small margin. I don’t know if it is because I wasn’t precise with my wish, or if the wishes only have so much power. A wish like what you’re asking might be way too much and I could end up wasting a wish for a subpar outcome. After all, I was able to defeat these things. I’m not that strong. If I were able to change the outcome of a planetary war with the wish, then I probably wouldn’t have been able to beat three of these things. They would have to be several times stronger at least.”

“I suppose that is true. I apologize. I feel as though I am being pulled under the sand by a Gantrax, and no matter what I do, I can’t get my head above the sand. Those wishes are a hope in a bleak existence, even if they are small.”

“Don’t worry. I understand. But can we backtrack a little? What the heck is a Gantrax?”

“I’m surprised that you have not encountered them during your time in the desert. They are sand worms. They live very far beneath the surface. They cannot come to the surface otherwise they will dry out almost immediately. To counteract this weakness, they have long tendril like tongues they can shoot up and grab prey. They then drag them down and into their mouths. It is a horrifying sight.”

“That’s…,” Alex couldn’t even think of how to describe that. “Are there any warning signs? How can you avoid those things?”

“There are no warning signs. The tendril shoots up instantly, grabs its prey, and is already gone before you can even blink. I lost my mate’s brother this way. Now I have to care for his children.”

“Wait, you have a wife? And kids?”

“Why is this surprising?” Krizzik asked.

“I don’t know. I just kind of assumed since you have a queen, that she had all the babies and stuff.”

“Is this how queens work on your planet? Your population must be very small indeed if that is the case.”

“No. I mean the bug ones do I guess. I just thought you would be like the bugs.”

I guess I shouldn’t just assume anything. Heck! An assumption of how things should work based on things back on earth could get me killed.

“This is not the case. The queen is our ruler. She has children of her own, but she does not birth our entire hive.”

“Makes sense. Well I believe that we have gotten thoroughly off track. I hope you have some news about the variants.”

“We do indeed. We have not been idle while you were away. We are working to take back Tristix. You have helped immensely, and with a few more strategic moves in the city, we have made good progress. We have noticed something as well. There is one area of the city that seems to be held with a greater fervor than others. The building is a hospital, which was odd to us at first. We thought maybe they were trying to remove their wounded first, and then they would cede their position, but this is not the case. Their defense has not faltered one bit.”

“Is it a strategic location or anything like that?” Alex asked not really following what Krizzik was getting at.

“Not particularly. They have lost much more advantageous regions of the city without nearly as much resistance. It wasn’t until we pulled up the buidling’s schematics that it started to make sense.”