“But as with much of our early scientific exuberance, things were much more complicated in practice. Without going into too much detail, the crux of the matter was that we were limited by our evolutionary history.”

Alex closed his Status screen and dismissed his notifications with a thought.

“I would love to tell you the story of how this happened, but I have somewhere I need to be.”

The middle-aged Midwestern woman did not look pleased. “Where are you going? Also, you don’t really look like you’re well enough to go anywhere.”

“I need to catch a thief,” Alex intoned. “And I’m starting to feel better.”

They looked a bit surprised, but then the young man spoke up. “I have some tracking skills, if those may be of use. When I was young, I often hunted with my father.”

Alex was taken aback by the generous offer. “Actually, that would be great. I’m looking for someone who would have stolen the shell off of that creature.”

The others gasped upon hearing that. Revealing the information was a bit of a risk, but Alex knew that it was unlikely that the newcomers would be able to defeat him. To confirm this, he focused on the young Indian man, and a tooltip popped up. The man’s Mental Resistance was no match for his Mental Power, so he couldn’t obscure his stats.

Human

Level: 5

Combat Rating: 16.45 (Tier 0-D)

Value: 4.11 Ł

Wow, Alex thought, it could be very profitable to kill humans. Admittedly, this man was level 5, while the kaphdor were only level 2. But still, his value was almost ten times as high. He was sure that some psychopath out there would soon level up with great speed by killing other people.

“How do we know that the shell belongs to you?” The young woman piped up for the first time. Upon closer look, she was a girl of high-school age, and he felt a pang of sadness.

Alex was unsure of how much to reveal. If he told these people that he was ranked first in the world, then a target would be placed on his head. On the other hand, he was starting to feel a bit insane after the bloodbath, and he wanted to get back to society, at least to see what it was like after the Integration. Besides, the tracking skills of the man would be useful. Furthermore, it was always safer to travel in a group, even if that meant sacrificing speed. So Alex settled on a half-truth.

“I stumbled upon this scene after having killed a few kaphdor back in a clearing where I woke up. Upon seeing the giant corpse, I immediately suspected that it was a Hirar, so I went to take the shell off. But after a few minutes of struggling to take it off, I was attacked from behind, and it looks like someone else took the shell.”

Apparently Alex’s act convinced them, because it looked like the middle-aged woman and the older man were moved by his statement. The younger man looked a bit skeptical, but he had offered to help out in the first place, so Alex wasn’t worried. And the girl looked thoroughly convinced.

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The older man stepped up. “I’m sorry to hear that. Let us properly introduce ourselves. My name is Deacon, and this is my wife, Katrina. We were lucky enough to wake up in the same place, which unfortunately seems to be an uncommon occurrence. Many families have been split up.

“These two were with us in the same area when we woke up, along with four others. It looked like we were in some sort of warehouse. Soon after awakening, the warehouse was attacked by several dozen vingli. I’m not sure if you’ve encountered them yet, since we haven’t seen any around these parts. The vingli are foxlike creatures, not too powerful, but quite fast. We managed to kill them, but the other four people died.

“Since then, we’ve been wandering in search of other people. It seems that we’ve been transported pretty far from home. All of us are from different states. We’re from Wisconsin, while Caitlyn here lives in California, and Vishal lives in New Jersey. I have no idea how we all ended up in the same place. Anyway, we are willing to help you find this thief. Even if the world has gone to shit, we shouldn’t let our society descend into disorder.”

Alex absorbed the information intently. It was interesting to hear of other species of creatures, and the fact that about half of their group perished in the initial wave was sad but unsurprising. The most interesting part, though, was that everyone was from somewhere different. Even though the System had seemingly broken so many laws of physics already, it was always surprising to hear of another exception.

“Thank you for telling me, and I appreciate the help. We do have to set out as soon as possible. The thief already has a significant head start.”

Vishal began to inspect the tracks. There were drips of black ichor and broken branches that Alex would not have been able to spot on his own, and he thanked himself for deciding to travel with the group. Luckily, the tracks went in the opposite direction as the stampede of kaphdor, otherwise they would have been nearly impossible to follow.

As the group made their way through the forest, Alex’s increased Mental Speed gave him a lot of time to think. It had been almost a day since he had undergone the Integration, but Alex didn’t feel hungry or thirsty in the slightest. Also, the Sun was just now starting to pass its midpoint. At this rate, a full day would be more than twice as long. What kind of world were they now in? He considered asking, but the group was traveling in silence, constantly checking for threats. Out of nowhere, he heard his Assistant’s voice in his mind.

[By the way, you have met all of the requirements to unlock a Skill. You passed Level 16 and have obtained an Insight. We are just waiting on the System-issued Quest. Usually, the Quest is nothing other than paying a simple fee in lucens and it is issued immediately. But in some cases, if you have attracted the attention of the System, it may be more involved, and there is a delay.]

Alex gave an appreciative nod and continued running. Before long, the group’s wariness paid off. Katrina spotted a group of dozens of kaphdor through a gap between the trees. Alex knew he would be able to deal with them easily, but he still didn’t want to break his cover. So they started running, and he ran with them. Unfortunately for his desire to keep a low profile, he didn’t even break a sweat — something that his fake heavy breathing couldn’t hide.

“You’re really putting us to shame,” Caitlyn said. She was panting, and her face had turned red.

“I invested most of my free points into speed,” Alex quickly covered up. “I’ve had to run away from these things more than once.”

“Speaking of free points, what level are you? My Assistant said that it can’t get a good reading on you,” Vishal said, a bit suspicious.

“You already have an Assistant? That’s pretty expensive. The other main place I put my points was Mental Resistance, since I kept feeling this oppressive aura coming from within the forest. Not sure if that’s relevant.”

It was starting to sound a bit too convenient, but it eased their suspicions for now. After a few minutes, they slowed down, and Vishal had fortunately been able to locate the tracks once again. The forest was getting thinner, and through a gap in the trees, Deacon spotted a road. It was a winding road on a large hill, and Vishal pointed in the upward direction. From the edge of the forest, Alex could finally get a sense of the landscape. It looked like a several thousand foot high mountain rose above the surrounding area, which was covered in hills and valleys. The road went up and down the mountain.