Just as I finished reading the screen, another screen appeared in front of me with a myriad of weapons. Scrolling through them, I thought about which one I would pick.

What are animae? Spawning is a game word, right? If we’re getting weapons, then we’re probably expected to fight, and I’m assuming it will be the animae, whatever those things are. I don’t feel confident in picking up a weapon without formal training, and my high endurance stat and trait seem to be begging for me to take up a shield. I guess I’ll trust it and take up a big fat shield.

With that, I selected a shield and pressed the large Confirm? on the bottom of the screen. I looked around and it seemed like almost everyone had already chosen, except for Arjun and Richie. John had picked a spear and Maolei had picked what seemed like a quarterstaff. I quickly yelled at Arjun and Richie, a sinking feeling enveloping my gut.

“Pick a weapon already! I’m pretty sure this screen just said we were gonna fight those animae or whatever, so you two need to hurry!”

With that, Richie automatically picked a weapon, a simple bow with a quiver given full of arrows. Arjun just shrugged.

“No worries, my dad will come with his fleet of goons anyways. Don’t worry so much Kai, we’ll be outta here in no time.”

I groaned involuntarily.

What is this kid talking about? We’re nowhere near civilization by the looks of it, and we’re probably in this place called Ortus! Where the fuck is his daddy going to even come from?

“Whatever.” I grumped.

With that, a screen appeared,

Stage 1 has now begun.

Stage 1 || Act 1

Kill all the Animae, or Survive for 5 minutes

Reward: Skillbook *Identify* and Skillbook *Inventory*, Increased access to Systema

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Penalty: Death

and five white lights streamed down in columns.

“There must be one for each of us! Fight together, there is strength in numbers!” John screamed out. “Watch each other's backs. Damn these things are ugly!”

They were indeed ugly, these ‘animae’ were crosses between dogs and bats, and they all looked like they had rabies. They started to run at us in a frenzy and Arjun started screaming. The dog-bat breeds all turned their eyes on the indian and sprinted for him. Richie and I both were in shock, not really processing what was going on, nor doing anything about the situation. The only two mentally solid were Maolei and John who went to intercept the animae. John also hit Richie and I on his way to try to snap us out of our stupor.

“Kai! We could really use that big shield of yours! And Richie! Snap out of it and start firing some arrows! This is no time to be standing stupid!”

I gasped and nodded, rushing to join them in the front, while Richie shook her head and began to nock an arrow.

As I rushed in front of John and Maolei, Richie fired an arrow off into the animae. It flew true and struck the thing in the cheek. It wailed loudly but did not stop its course towards us. Time seemed to slow down as I started to panic a bit, bracing for impact.

Holy shit. Is this really happening? I hope this shield holds strong. Man, I wanna go home.

The dog-bat hybrid slammed into my shield, almost jumping above it, nipping at my face. I pushed it back with all my strength, until another, and another slammed straight into the first one and pushed me off balance. I fell down in a frenzy, but Maolei and John were already on the case, slamming and slicing the bat dogs. Before I could even stand up, they had dispatched two of the animae with fluid movements and solid footwork. That’s when one of the animae came jumped at me and bit my leg, my shield was useless because I had lost focus and misplaced it. The pain was hot and sharp, but not as terrible as I thought it would’ve been. I growled and started smashing the bat dog with my large shield until it died, teeth still in my thigh.

Fuck! That stings a lot. I hope I don’t get infected by this rat of a dog.

“Nice job Kai!” I heard from John. “Don’t take those teeth out yet, we can’t patch the blood that’ll flow loose after yet!”

I yelled my affirmation and waited for the fight to be over since it was impossible to move. John and Maolei were working on the last two animae, while Richie was hovering around, seemingly too nervous to take a shot. Arjun had finally piped down and was watching in horror, a crooked staff gripped by his hands.

Within a couple minutes, and a couple of bites and scratches later, Maolei, John, and Richie emerged victorious.

“Damn, those buggers were tough.” John remarked. “Let’s get you patched up, Kai.”

He tore off his shirt and started ripping it into a long strand of fabric.

“I’m gonna tear this guy’s teeth outta your leg, it’s gonna hurt a lot. Here, bite on this.” He offered me some cloth and I accepted, stuffing it in my mouth. “Hey, everyone! Come over here and hold this dude down. We can’t have him sprawling around while I’m putting this bandage on him.”

Two others, Arjun not included, came over to hold my arms down.

This is the most female interaction I’ve had in months.

John pulled and quickly applied his makeshift bandage. It hurt still, but I didn’t scream nor did I struggle throughout the whole process. He made a face after he finished.

“Did that not hurt?” He asked me, almost flabbergasted.

“Nah, it did. Just not that much I guess? Probably something to do with my trait, Masochist.” I explained.

“Wow. You’re one weird dude, Kai.”