The plan was simple. Naginata and Big Mac were on one side of the bridge, and the rest of us were on the other. If the bridge guardian could only defend one direction at a time, that meant it would be vulnerable while its attention was focused on the other direction. Maybe we could clear this blockade. I’d already marked a bunch of things on our squad map, but I used my squad beacon marker on the bridge. Whenever I looked in that direction, I saw a bright column of light shining up into the blue sky.

I'd seen my son Seth do similar things in open world video games like Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It was a vast, expansive world where you could literally go anywhere that you could see. The game designers made it in a way that rewarded you for climbing to high vantage points and seeking out interesting things. It had a very similar mechanic where you could mark something on your map, and a coloured column of light would guide you to whatever cool thing you’d seen.

Just how much knowledge of humanity’s technology did the Alarendei Empire have? Is it possible that they could have deliberately made the interface for this contest based on popular mechanics from real video games?

There was no way to know for sure, but the similarities were far too coincidental for my liking. It had been quite some time since I’d kept up to date with current game releases, and I hadn’t worked in the industry for about seven years. That was the equivalent of a few decades in other industries which didn’t moved as fast.

As I scrambled down from the stack of boulders, a new notification appeared on the global channel.

Three high-value targets have now spawned. Destroy these targets for useful rewards, and an increase in your squad’s score. All players who participate in the kill will receive a reward if they survive, but only the squad that lands the killing blow will receive a substantial addition to your squad score.

Reminder: The squad with the highest score at the end of each day of the contest will receive an extra reward box.

The three targets are:

* a Rancid Shardhide in the Verdant Hills.

* a Proud Archfiend in the Soulburn Mountains.

* a Starving Umberhorn in the Beastmaw Plains.

I quickly sent a message to the squad.

Hatchet: I’m in the Verdant Hills Zone. I’m going to try and find this high-value target before I head to the bridge.

Kaiser: You don’t have to find it. It’s marked on your map.

Hatchet: Whoa, for real?

Kaiser: Just check your map.

I opened the map interface and immediately saw the locations of all three high-value targets. The Rancid Shardhide was to the north of my current location. The other two were far away to the north, presumably both beyond the river, but I couldn’t tell thanks to the fog of war that obscured most of the map.

Naginata: Why would they show everybody where these enemies are? Doesn't that defeat the purpose? It's not about who takes the target down but who it spawns closest to.

Macuahuitl: I can think of a couple of reasons. If you show someone exactly where they can go for a specific reward, there will always be people who just rush in without thinking. Especially when they know that they're being scored on what they do. The ones who stay back and watch so they can use the situation to their advantage are the ones who will come out on top in the end.

Hatchet: Altessa stopped Grendel from killing Kaiser back in the temple, but they didn't numb the pain when that monster’s claws sunk into me. Inter-squad combat is definitely something we need to be wary of. If everyone knows where these enemies are, that will give the other squads an excellent chance to pick off the weakest of us.

Naginata: And if they get rid of us early, they can dominate this whole competition and out level us before we even have a chance to fight back. We’ll always be on the back foot.

Kaiser: Would you humans really do that to each other?

I laughed.

Hatchet: Buddy, wars have been fought for less than this. Sometimes I think that the whole human race is just one ideological difference away from nuking themselves into oblivion.

The squad chat was awkwardly silent for almost a minute, and by that time I had reached the bottom of the boulders.

Macuahuitl: So you're saying that we really need to level up. We need to get strong enough to fight back if any of the other squads decide to pick a fight with us.

Hatchet: The only other people I know in this fight are Bastard and Scythe, and I still don't trust them.

Naginata: The Starving Umberhorn is just to the north of my location. X will rendezvous with Felix and Willow from his squad, as they’re all pretty close. They’re going to take on the Umberhorn. Should I go with them?

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Hatchet: If it’s close, go for it. They were all pretty standoffish back in the temple. If we can work with them and chip away at that icy exterior, then all the better.

Naginata: X is incredibly strong. I don’t know how they do what they do, but they can convince matter to take other forms. They turned the air into a glass shield to protect against an attack earlier, then turned it back into air.

Macuahuitl: You keep saying ‘they’ – is X non-binary?

Naginata: They are.

Macuahuitl: Sweet. Just thought I’d ask. It’s uncool to make assumptions.

I understood what non-binary meant, thanks to my daughter Lorelei. She was always happy to correct her ignorant old Dad when he made a misstep. Alex, one of her best friends, came out as non-binary about a year ago. Well, almost two years ago now that I’d been in stasis for ten months.

Anger boiled up in my chest, and suddenly my fists clenched shut as the wave of fury rushed through me. Ten fucking months of my life were gone. I’d missed both of my kids' birthdays. Lorelei would be sixteen already, and I would have missed it. Seth would be ten years old now.

I’d never get that missing time back.

I found myself marching in the direction of the nearest high-value target before I knew what I was doing.

Hatchet: I’m going to check out the Rancid Shardhide. I’ll keep my distance, but if we’re going to win this, we’ll need to take some risks. We need to have faith that the others chosen to fight in this contest will do the same for us. If we don’t trust them, they won’t trust us. We’ll show them we’re all in this together.

Naginata: Yes. You’re right. Perhaps giving the other combatants the chance to reveal their darkest sides on the first day will ultimately benefit us before this is over. We’ll know who we can trust.

Hatchet: We just need to be prepared to fight back.

On my way down from the mountaintop, I sheared some saplings off and collected the sticks. I slipped them into my inventory, then gathered some long wiry grass from nearby. I wove strands of that grass together as I walked, keeping my head on a swivel for any incoming threats. The grass soon converted into an item called woven fibre, which I then used to fix the bone blade to a thick sapling to make a brand new item: the bone hatchet.

To my surprise, I actually got a little bit of experience for crafting the fibre and the weapon, which then glitched out and increased the experience value by 25%. It was nice to know that the anima battery supercharge Miranda Cullen had given me back on Mori Island still worked. If I was killed, and I didn’t plan on allowing that to happen, but my experience boost might let me close any gaps caused by untimely death.

The anima I’d absorbed from the bladeface was still in my anima tank, and I didn’t actually have any abilities that used it yet. Or did I? I still hadn’t checked my skills list, so I did that while I walked.

To my surprise, I actually had a pretty robust list of options at my disposal. All of the anima abilities like Forest Strider, Death From Above, and my Anima Grenade were all still there. The double claws and increased anima draw rate were still in effect too. Plus, there was the Balaran Knight armour that I could activate whenever I needed it. Summoning the armour and my claws didn’t cost me anima, but was there a way I could power them up through this new interface? They clearly counted as skill because they were listed there, but would the Alarendei Empire’s skill upgrade tokens let me level up my Balaran powers?

I’d have to explore that later on.

But the fact that I had my anima grenade to draw on was a huge benefit right out of the gate. It had a huge explosive power that could level the playing field against super powerful monsters. I just needed time to charge it up.

I’d gotten all of these powers from various monsters I’d killed and harvested in the Carpathian Mountains. Did the Alarendei Empire know about these abilities? They would have to, as they were integrated and itemised inside the Empire’s own interface.

If I was this powerful at first level, just how powerful were the other combatants that were chosen? It seemed strange that only three EDGE Force operatives were chosen as warriors for this fight. Surely EDGE Force had hundreds of competent soldiers. What separated them from us?

Well, Naginata and I had both received blessings from Balaur, the great seven-headed dragon of legend. EDGE Force routinely stripped their operatives of power once the missions were done, so maybe none of their warriors caught the eye of the Alarendei Empire. Maybe because our power belonged to us and not to EDGE Force, maybe that’s why?

But that didn’t explain Big Mac. There had to be more to that story.

I almost went to ask him about it, but I decided against it when I heard the roar of battle coming from nearby, further down the slope.

Something roared, which was answered by another roar. It sounded like I was on the set of a real-life monster movie, which I suppose wasn’t that far from the truth. Back in the real world I wrote horror novels, but I was still coming to terms with the monsters I’d faced in real life.

I headed through the trees until I came to the edge of the forest. I stayed there while I surveyed the events in progress.

Two warriors were engaged with a great beast with a hide that looked very much like shards of rock. Little openings between the armour plates spewed forth toxic green gas. This had to be the Rancid Shardhide.

Each of the monsters I’d seen so far had names that included a descriptor – the Ornery Bladeface and now the Rancid Shardhide. It was like the contest gave us some clues about the nature of the more dangerous enemies so we might anticipate their actions.

The two warriors already facing off against the Shardhide were Lockjaw, the dinosaur-looking dude I’d met earlier, and another woman that appeared to be partially made of slime. Her nameplate showed her as Marilyn Bywater. Their squad name was displayed under their nameplate: The Monster Squad.

The shardhide reminded me of a giant snub-nosed crocodile with enormous teeth, but with legs held in an upright gait to cross great distances on land. Its colossal tail lashed out and slammed into Marilyn, cutting her in half. Her torso exploded into green slime, and her top half went tumbling to the ground. I thought she was done for, but both halves of her just melted into puddles of green goop before reforming.

Damn, that was a hell of an ability. Defensively powerful sure, but I couldn’t imagine being made of slime was a very good offensive skill.

Lockjaw lashed out with his claws and his jaws whenever the shardhide gave him an opening, but the big dinosaur boy was already looking worse for wear. A green bubble icon next to his name showed a debuff. He’d been poisoned by the shardhide.

Somehow both Marilyn and Lockjaw were already Level 3. Two levels higher than me, and they were having trouble with his high-value target. Hopefully I’d be able to turn the tide of battle. I selected Anima Grenade into my anima power slot. I could only select one anima power to use at any given time, which was consistent with how my powers had always operated.

I started channelling anima into the palm of my right hand before sending an update to the group.

Hatchet: I’ve found the shardhide and two members of the Monster Squad. I’m going to set the shardhide as my beacon target. Kaiser and Spook, if you’re out there, come and help. The experience gain you’ll get from participating in the fight will be worth it, I’m sure.