"Possibly the most confusing part of system integration is leveling up. Even with all the pop culture understanding of levels in video games, the question still remained, how should I spend my points? What will spending points unlock? It bugged me so much I petitioned for a tutorial and basic build suggestions to be added for newly integrated planets. Our integration was chaos. I was one of the lucky few who had a starting ability that was a big blinking sign saying 'raise these stats.' Even then, it took me way too long to understand how important the other stats were." --- Erick the Immortal.

  Erick was really enjoying the ability to talk to someone besides himself. It had honestly been a long time, even before the apocalypse, since he had last talked to someone in person who shared interests. While the end of the world was a shared experience everyone had nowadays. Being able to reminisce about pre-apocalypse hobbies was a new experience for him. "so, what level are you now? I can't imagine getting all the way here from the Walmart was a quiet or safe experience." He said curiously.

  She smiled a little, "Level two, it's been very hectic. I can mostly avoid the canine monsters, but it seems like the felines really don't like Cujo, or me, or honestly anything that breaths. I know cats are supposed to be anti-social but this is bordering on psychotic." They both shuddered at their memories of cat encounters. "What about you?" she asked looking at him curiously.

  Erick smiled and stated proudly "Level 1! not bad for being unconscious for most of yesterday." He trailed off as he brought up his character sheet and notice the bold plus sign by his level. "Oh, I, uh, forgot to spend my points." He facepalmed and focused on the plus. A window popped up informing him he had 2 stat points to spend. "uh, two? wow, that's really not a lot." he muttered.  

  Tasha nodded, "Yeah I was pretty underwhelmed, but you get a skill point at level two. I'm hoping it's every even level and not just a low-level gimme to help you stay alive. Oh! and I learned from one of the other survivors at the Walmart that the whole 'peak' stat thing is a hard cap. Humans can't go past ten in a stat passively. Skills can push you past it though. Guy was a professional football player. He started with a fortitude of nine, when he put his level up point into it, it greyed out. He has an ability called 'Hold the Line' that boosts his fortitude though. We tested it out a little and someone got a little too excited and bent a crowbar over his skull. Didn't even bruise him." She widened her eyes as she spoke.

  "Jeez, how did someone get so excited they took a crowbar to the guy?" Erick winced at the mental image and glanced back at his stats. His fortitude was pretty decent, but if he was gonna defend himself and not die in the process he needed to either avoid more attacks and hit faster, or hit hard enough that he never took damage, to begin with. Mark of Caine raised all his physical stats, so any of the three would be getting multiplicative gains. He wasn't happy about his mental stats. They didn't feel particularly important when none of his class abilities required them and he was trying not to die.

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

  "Oh you know how people get. Someone does something cool like break a wooden board over a guy's chest, and monkey brain kicks in and people just start grabbing things to try out. It was pretty scary though cause the guy who grabbed the crowbar had a pretty decent strength stat. Everyone had one of those, 'oh no what did we do' moments when he swung it. And then they cheered when Billy was fine. Billy is the football player by the way." she said, shaking her head. "oh if you haven't spent your points yet don't get too excited, they don't apply until you sleep. Apparently, the system has to put us in a coma-like state to adjust our bodies."

  Erick had just thrown both points into might and braced himself like he expected rippling muscles to suddenly swell all over his body. He'd clenched his jaw and flexed his arms and legs while closing his eyes, giving him a somewhat constipated look. When her words registered he relaxed and pouted a little. "Drat, I was hoping to suddenly lose all this extra fat and become ripped!"  

  Tasha tried to keep a straight face but a girl giggle snuck out and she quickly covered her mouth with her hand. "You didn't hear that!" she said staring daggers at him.

  Erick held up his hands in defense. "Nope definitely did not hear a cute giggle out of the Amazon with the monster dog. I like having all my parts attached where they're supposed to be." he winked at her to show he was just kidding.

  She snorted daintily and nodded. "As you should." The mention of her dog brought her attention back to him. Cujo was currently chewing on the iron railing by the stairwell. While at first glance this seemed dumb, the monstrous canine was making some headway on it and there were dents and scrapes all over the metal bar. "Cujo! stop that!" The dog sat up at his name and stared guiltily at her. Sad puppy dog eyes were still effective even when the dog was the size of a brown bear. Tasha reached over and ruffled his ears before turning to Erick. "We should get going, you saw the message earlier right? There are quite a few of the refugees that are still level zero. We've got to get groups together and start helping them level or who knows what they'll turn into."

  Erick nodded and took one last look at his door. "Yeah, lead the way. I've already lost a bunch of time, we should do what we can to help others." He winced at the thought of people, but it seemed like the major players in this group were alright. If the football player was laid back enough to let others test out his skill, he was probably an ok sort. He did admit to himself, if only in his mind, that the tall, beautiful, and powerful woman asking for his help struck a chord. You don't play as many RPGs as Erick had without having at least a little bit of a hero complex.

  Cujo stood at the word going and his nose began to twitch as he made his way down the stairs. Erick watched him go and began to wonder out loud. "He seems, smarter than I would expect. Did you send some kind of command to him I didn't notice?"

  Tasha shook her head. "No, I've noticed it too, he just, pays attention to my conversations it seems." She shrugged as if that wasn't that out of the ordinary. Erick wasn't so sure, most dogs only understood a handful of words, and while Cujo had been very well trained before. He had seen Tasha making the dog do tricks on their walks sometimes. This was closer to understanding the context of the sentence than picking up on keywords and body language.

  "I don't suppose you could tell me the exact wording of that ability you have? I know that's asking a lot, but I'm curious." He said as they began to follow the dog. "well, maybe later when we're not trying to avoid getting ambushed. I'm going to try to learn my lesson and shut up."