As soon as the portal opened on the other side, Logan rushed out, water gushing and pouring down his body as he stumbled into a room full of oxygen. He took a second to glance over what looked like an empty corridor with a glowing portal on the opposite side, before he rushed to the lodestone next to his own portal and slammed his good hand into the palm print.

Ernie had to be alive; Logan refused to believe otherwise, and if he could return, he might be able to distract the serpent and save him. His thoughts were a chaotic mess, rationalization out the window. In the back of his mind, he knew this was a Hail Mary that would just as likely result in his own death, but he couldn’t live with himself if he abandoned Ernie. It was antithetical to everything he believed in.

Logan knew Ernie would have done the same.

[Welcome, Idiot!]

[You have arrived at your destination! Enjoy your trial.]

Logan blinked, thinking the blood loss was making him see things. He slammed his hand into the lodestone again, his knees wobbling as blood dripped from the wet, soggy towel wrapped around his stub of an arm.

[Welcome, Idiot!]

[You have arrived at your destination! Enjoy your trial.]

“Take me back, asshole! I don’t want a trial.”

[Enjoy your trial.]

“Fuck! FUCK!” Logan screamed, a scream of frustration and rage. Kicking the wall with his bare foot, he screamed in rage once again when yet more pain shuddered through his toe.

Ding!

[Idiot’s Paradox is Level 11!]

Just great. Swaying, Logan slumped to the floor and leaned against the wall. Ernie couldn’t be dead. He just couldn’t.

Pulling up his stat sheet, Logan squinted at his skills while holding his breath.

* Idiot’s Paradox Lv. 11

* Idiot’s Inspect Lv. 4

* Deepwater Explorer Lv. 3

* Life Cycle Master*

* Regenerate Lv. 4

* Mimicry Armour Lv. 1

The skills he’d obtained from Ernie were still there, but the problem was, he had no idea how this worked. If a bonded companion died, did he lose those skills? Or did they continue regardless?

There was one more thing he could try.

“System, bring up the Settings Mainframe.”

[Entering the Settings Mainframe.]

Logan toggled through the screens and then he straightened, his heart beating faster. He could still see the bonded companion message:

[Until you obtain an equal or higher level than your bonded companion, XP distribution will be reduced. To share in XP, both parties must be in the presence of the other.]

It was possible this was confirmation that Ernie was alive, but it was just as possible that it meant nothing at all.

Logan closed his eyes, and putting every ounce of force into the thought, he sent, “ERNIE? ARE YOU OKAY?”

But nothing came back, only the worst migraine in the world.

A lump in his throat, Logan swallowed and wiped his face with the back of his good arm before biting the bullet and staring at his injury. It was dripping blood. A lot of blood. He needed to staunch it so his constitution attribute and [Regenerate] could get to work.

Logan removed a fresh towel from his spatial collar and then held his breath as he removed the soggy, wet, gory makeshift bandage.

Oh shit, forget his regrowing finger, this was the grossest, most foul thing he’d seen in his life.

He could see the end of a bone shard sticking out of the stub of his arm! Logan gagged, turning his face away as he wrapped the fresh towel around the wound. Shock and cold water had worked to numb everything, and now that he was in a warm room, nothing stopped the agony from coming back. It throbbed in time with his heartbeat, waves of pain hitting him one after another. What’s worse was that it wasn’t a continuous stream; oh no, instead, he was hit with pauses, then a sharp jab, then a pause. Fuck’s sake, it was this bad even with [Idiot’s Paradox]?

Logan tied off the towel, the room spinning even though he was sitting down. He tried to focus and concentrate on pulling out a bottle of water from his spatial collar, but everything was starting to become vague and fuzzy, as if his thoughts had slowed to a crawl.

He just needed to remember how to… it was just out of reach….

It was a simple matter of….

Oblivion took over and he knew nothing but darkness.

***

[Countdown: Day 6 of Day 365 before species culling. Only the worthy survive.]

[Current rank: 18,723 out of 6,198,195,319.]

[You are currently in the 1%.]

[Advance and grow.]

At this point, waking up after hearing the System Ding! was a Pavlovian response.

Logan woke up with a gasp, sitting straight up, urgency shooting through him; he’d forgotten something important; he needed to…

It came back to him in a rush.

Ernie.

Ernie was gone.

Logan held back a swallow, a crushing weight of sorrow making him feel as if his limbs were held down by iron. Based on the System wake up call, he’d lost a whole evening and night. There was no way to save Ernie now.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Logan glanced at his list of skills again—no change from yesterday.

A tiny, tiny spark of hope stopped the wave of grief from becoming a tsunami. There was a possibility that Ernie was still alive. And he had to have hope, or he’d drive himself insane in this brutal, unfair world.

Logan stared across the corridor at the other glimmering portal. He knew Ernie wouldn’t want him to wallow in worry. If he were here, he’d be slapping Logan with a tentacle, telling him to pull himself together. There was no use dwelling on his absence when there was nothing Logan could do. Lara and the kids needed him. Tasha and Jack needed him.

Even though Logan knew he was needed, it was still difficult to pull his focus away from Ernie when every fibre of his being wanted to rush back through the portal and find him on the other side.

But it was a moot point. He was stuck here. There was only one way forward.

Through the other portal.

Rubbing his face to wake himself up, Logan looked down at his wrapped injury. Ah man. He so didn’t want to do this. Nausea threatening to rise, he loosened the towel. He didn’t want to see it. It had to be the—

Holy crap.

His hand had regrown in the night.

Shocked, Logan stared, beyond stunned. Perhaps that was the reason he’d passed out. It must have taken a ton of energy to regrow.

His new hand was nasty, but more because it was flesh-pale, so pale he could see the veins underneath his hairless skin, his fingernails baby pink and only half-grown. The contrast between his tanned arm and his new hand was grotesque, as if a ghoul-hand had sprouted from his body. Logan had to assume it would start to look normal as time passed. He was in the sun so often that eventually it would take on color and look normal again.

Still, he was coming around to the massive power of [Regenerate]. It had helped to heal that missing chunk of flesh on the back of his neck after the snake fight. It had regrown his finger and toe. And it had only needed one night to regrow a whole hand. A hand! Eventually, as he leveled up the skill, would his limbs grow back so fast he wouldn’t notice they’d been gone in the first place?

After swallowing a mouthful of green beans, Logan looked down at his bare chest and then mentally shrugged. If he went into combat, he’d be using his armour anyway, so his wardrobe didn’t matter. He didn’t like the idea of this ‘trial’ bullshit though. Knowing the System, a trial could be anything, from a life-or-death fork obstacle course to a pink sock fashion competition. Asshole.

He also didn’t have time for this shit. Lara and the kids needed him. He was on a deadline. If this took…

Wait a minute. Could he contact Lara in here?

Logan removed his cellphone from his spatial collar and powered it on, but he wasn’t holding his breath.

He was right.

No network bars.

If the network had been giving him trouble outside, there was a shit’s chance of it working in here… wherever ‘here’ was.

The room he’d entered had only one other exit—the other portal. If he couldn’t leave through the other sphere and it kept welcoming him to his ‘trial,’ the portal at the end of the corridor had to lead directly to it. There was no reason he couldn’t prepare beforehand.

Logan walked down the corridor. It was the length of a long hallway, with polished, marble-like stone on the floor and walls. The glowing spheres reflected a dizzying kaleidoscope of light that glinted off the walls and ceiling. Unlike in the cavern, the spheres no longer gave off that dangerous aura; rather, they felt welcoming, as if beckoning him in.

Logan didn’t trust it.

Pulling up his full stat list, he conducted a full review.

Name: Logan Hart [Hidden Name: Idiot]

Rank: 18,731 out of 6,198,185,412

Level: 34

Class: None

Grade: F3

Species: Human

Skills:

* Idiot’s Paradox Lv. 11

* Idiot’s Inspect Lv. 4

* Deepwater Explorer Lv. 3

* Life Cycle Master*

* Regenerate Lv. 4

* Mimicry Armour Lv. 1

Titles:

* Eager Beaver

* Mass Murderer

XP Progress: 2,000/68,000

Karma: 510/510

Intelligence: 85

Constitution: 41

Strength: 40

Agility: 36

Dexterity: 21

Endurance: 40

Perception: 20

Wisdom: 60

Luck: 40

Free Attribute Points: 0

KarmaCoin: 2600

His rank had dropped again, which pissed him off. He’d leveled up four times in the cave! How was that fair? Things had to be brutal out there if others were overcoming his score so quickly. If this ‘trial’ let him return to the cave, he would have no chance against the serpent unless he continued to progress. And to compete against a monster like that, he’d need massive improvements.

Logan had thought his Karma pool had been respectable at 510, but that was before he knew the portal cost. He was way behind the average if 1500 Karma was normal. A portal in the lake was still a mystery. No one normal would have been able to stumble upon it with it being so deep underwater. Factor in the long, winding tunnel, and it was impossible. It was as if he’d stumbled across something that humanity wasn’t supposed to see, which meant of course he wouldn’t be ready for the cost.

By now, Logan knew the power of Karma. For [Mimicry Armour], but also for [Life Cycle Master]. Rated as an epic skill, he’d known [Life Cycle Master] was a powerhouse. But he’d assumed that power was in its money making and food growing capabilities, not in its offensive possibilities.

The battle with the larvae had proven him wrong. He’d used [Life Cycle Master] to pin the larvae down, and that was with a raspberry plant. Who knew what he could do with that skill if he put his mind to it. As he increased his Karma pool, there had to be other uses that he wasn’t even thinking about yet.

For now, Logan decided to experiment with [Mimicry Armour] to form a full suit of Logan-exoskeleton and to also figure out how long he could hold it without draining his Karma pool.

Logan grabbed a bucket full of sand and willed it out of his spatial collar, amazed that he could do this instantaneously. Without the fight in the cave, he never would have been able to master taking control of the sand so quickly, forcing it to pause mid-air before it had a chance to fall and molding it to his body with a snap.

It would be amazing in a pinch. He wasn’t quite at the point where he could do it without thought—it needed concentration—but he would only need less than a minute to form the suit in a life-or-death situation.

Logan molded the sand into the flexible sandstone, spreading it from his chest to his arms. This was the hard part. The armour was flexible and lightweight, but would it be the same for his fingers and hands? He needed dexterity in a fight, and if the armour were a barrier to that, this wouldn’t work.

But surprisingly, once he’d spread the exoskeleton to his hands and fingers, it felt like he was wearing supple, thin leather gloves. Without consciously doing it, he’d also incorporated the mimicry effect. Every part of his body that was covered by the armour shone like white marble—invisible against the white marble walls and floor.

Logan removed his baseball bat from his spatial collar and grasped the handle, excitement surging. It was as if his fingers were bare! Even the wooden handle which had grown smooth with sweat and blood, the small notch on the top of the handle. He could feel everything! Holy shit, this was kickass!

Now for his feet.

Logan glanced down, his brow furrowing as he continued spreading the armour from his chest to his hips, and then over his upper thighs and legs. As the armour reached his ankles, he stopped, thinking about the best way to go about this. Unlike his fingers, he didn’t want to form toe-gloves. He wanted a boot, something that would give him an added cushion if he ended up doing things like kicking a wall. Or a monster.

That would need extra material.

Willing out another bucket full of sand, Logan peered down and concentrated on forcing the grains to mold to his feet. It was only a matter of desire and need. If Logan could envision it, he could create it.

He spread the exoskeleton to the sides of his ankles, pushing the armour over the top of his foot and his toes as if he were spreading a layer of plastic. Then, parting his lips in concentration, Logan told the armour to wrap around his foot, creating the bottom of a boot.

With a slight wobble, Logan shot up a half inch as the material created a cushion, as if he were standing in the soles of a pair of shoes. Peering down, he made sure that the whole thing was seamless, covering his foot in a layer of reflective, mimicry white marble, his foot shimmering as he lifted his new boot.

Pleased at his success, he concentrated on the front of his boots, wanting to thicken the armour to give him added protection. It multiplied as he watched, his boot now a half inch longer than before.

That gave Logan an idea.

If he could do this with a boot, why couldn’t he do the same with his fingers? [Mimicry Armour] protected him against attacks and also caused him to blend in with his surroundings. It was strictly defensive.

What if he made it offensive?

If Ernie could see him now, he’d be swinging his tentacles in a slaughter dance, pleased as punch. With a pang of heartache, Logan grabbed a fistful of sand and spread it to his covered fingers, but this time, he didn’t want to just cushion the ends of his fingers.

Oh no.

He wanted talons.