“I hope that we meet again soon,” Kenji bowed to the team. “It was an honor to fight alongside you.”

Nick opened his mouth to reply. But before he could bid the others farewell, reality dissolved into an endless horizon of white light, and he was dragged into the space between worlds.

When his senses unscrambled, Nick found himself sitting in the waiting room of a dentist’s office, staring up at cartoon diagrams outlining the proper steps to brushing one’s teeth. There were blank walls where the doors should be, and through the windows he could see a featureless plain of roiling mist.

Spread out on the table in front of him, stacked between piles of magazines filled with images of a civilization that no longer existed, were all the items that he’d removed from his pack before entering the portal that had taken him to the arena.

Before he started repacking his gear, he took a long look around, seeking any sign of other people or some clue as to what was happening. After determining that he was alone and checking for messages floating in the periphery of his vision, Nick refilled his canteen from a water cooler standing in the corner, then made himself a meal out of the remaining scraps of provisions sitting in his bag.

He had already noticed that his wounds had vanished. His host of cuts and bruises had healed, and the skin that had been ravaged by frostfury venom was whole once more. His stamina and mana were topped off as well, leaving him feeling more refreshed than any time in recent memory. He was still grappling with what had happened. Having witnessed the deaths of two people and nearly losing his own life in the process.

As traumatic as the experience had been, he felt a fierce buzz of satisfaction as well. Somehow, against the odds, they had done it. Nick and his team had won their arena battle. Secured class upgrades for not only themselves, but for all the humans of Earth. Hopefully, most of the other volunteers had won their matches as well, providing humanity with its first wave of sorely needed elites.

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While he sorted through his feelings and waited for the System to let him know what was going on, Nick sifted through the magazines, taking in the images of his old life, awash in bittersweet nostalgia. He picked out several volumes featuring art and famous buildings, relieved to discover that he was able to store them inside his pack.

He had no idea how much of old Earth had survived integration. If these safe rooms he found himself within were bits that had been stolen by the shroud of annihilation, or if they were reproductions crafted by the System.

Either way, it was nice to have a tangible piece of his old life. A record that might preserve a few scraps of Earth’s history and culture once he made it back to his people.

Eventually, Nick figured out what was causing the delay. He had forgotten how many people had taken Taltos up on his offer. Volunteered to fight for their lives for the chance of gaining a better class. But then he remembered that over a hundred matches were taking place at the same time. Some of them must have taken longer to conclude. He assumed that the System was waiting for the last contests to be over, before addressing the survivors as a group.

Sure enough, half an hour later, a System message blinked into existence in front of his eyes. Although Nick was emotionally raw and drained to the dregs of his mental reserves, he read the words with excitement, eager to unveil the rewards he’d won after risking his life time and time again.

System message: Cumulative updates.

You have multiple issues awaiting resolution. They will be resolved in the following order:

First, the outcome of Taltos’s challenge round will be announced.

Then, the rewards for completing the tutorial will be distributed.

Finally, the offer from Taltos regarding the fate of the Earth will be outlined in detail.

Despite everything, all the pain and loss he was still in the middle of processing, Nick found himself grinning, eager to gain a new class and receive the rewards the System had in store. He knew that this was a pivotal moment. A chance to grow stronger. To climb several rungs of the power curve in the blink of an eye.

He was certain that he would need every advantage he could get if he wanted to survive the fight for the fate of Earth, let alone whatever awaited humanity on the other side. Vibrating with excitement, sitting on the edge of his seat, he scrolled down and continued reading.