While everyone moved closer to form a ring around the pale pink glow of the regeneration crystal, Nick took in the image of weary faces and disheveled clothing. He looked into each of their eyes in turn and saw glimpses of fear and resignation. Of guarded hope and determination harder than steel. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one who had gone through the wringer during their tutorial. The people with fresh wounds began to dress their injuries, although Nick hoped that the crystal would have time to heal the worst of it before the fight began.
Although he was thrilled to see other people after a month of isolation on the Searing Isle, Nick honestly wasn’t sure how to proceed past this point. He only knew that they couldn’t afford to waste the handful of minutes they had been given to prepare. He wanted to help bolster their morale, to begin formulating strategies and prepare for the challenge ahead. But in that moment, his exhaustion caught up to him, threatening to pull him down into a numbed daze, despite the crystal’s magic propping him up. Even if he had been feeling up to the task, Nick wasn’t much of a leader outside of online gaming, and this was the first time he had spoken to anyone in weeks.
Nick struggled to shake off his fugue, trying to decide how he could help, when the older man rose to his feet and began speaking once more. “My name is Kenji,” he said. “It appears that this is going to be some manner of team competition. Judging from the extent of your injuries, you have just completed your tutorials as well. Eat up and drink your fill, then start grabbing any gear you need while we go over our strategy. Feel free to jump in if you have anything to add. Unless anyone has any objections, I will facilitate this meeting so that we don’t squander the little time we have.”
Nick was glad that someone competent was taking charge. Most of the others appeared to be equally relieved, although the woman in the blue robes still had a mistrustful glint in her eyes.
“I know that I don’t need to remind you, but winning this fight is crucial.” Kenji met each of their gazes in turn. “Not only for our own survival, but for all of humanity. We don’t know each other and have no reason to trust one another. But right now, here in this moment, we’re in this together. Whether we live or die will be decided by how well we can work as a team, and we only have a few dwindling minutes to get ourselves sorted out. I’m fine if anyone has a better approach, but I suggest that we introduce ourselves, summarize our powers, and lay out our preferred fighting styles first.
“While we go around the room, start sorting through the racks. I advise that everyone picks out a set of full body armor, a helmet, and a spare weapon that expands your options for attacks. Stick to leather and chain unless you have prior experience wearing plate. Even though our new bodies are remarkably strong, it takes long hours of training to be able to fight effectively in heavy armor, especially with a sheet of iron strapped to your chest.”
Nick took a closer look at Kenji, who was walking over to the racks lining the walls. He had medium skin and appeared to be somewhere in his early fifties. That was when Nick remembered a detail from integration that he hadn’t thought about until now. The System had set the maximum age of contestants to fifty, which meant that Kenji could be significantly older than his appearance would suggest. In addition to his face, his arms were covered with a patchwork of scars, many of which appeared to have been acquired decades ago, well before their recent trials had begun.
Kenji reached up to remove a massive tower shield from the wall, a behemoth slab of deep, burgundy wood. He began pulling on a suit of chainmail as he continued to address the team. “Since we don’t know who or what we’ll be fighting, diversifying our selection of weapons is critical. Daggers won’t do much good against creatures made of rock, and clubs will be ineffective against opponents like jellies and slimes. Other enemies might be resistant to slashes or piercing points.”
Nodding along with Kenji’s words, Nick turned and began sorting through various suits of leather armor, seeking something that was close to his size that wouldn’t restrict his mobility in battle. He soon found a likely candidate, a set of medium leathers with metal rings sewn into the chest, and pulled the armor free from the rack. After a bit of consideration, he began strapping on the suit piece-by-piece.
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“When you have everything else picked out, select a ranged weapon or two if you can fit them into your kit. I recommend a short bow, crossbow, or javelin if you don’t have any training with something else. Don’t pick throwing knives or longbows unless you already know how to use them. They aren’t as easy to handle as the other weapons I mentioned, and we can’t afford to take any friendly fire.”
Nick continued pulling on pieces of treated leather, immensely relieved to have something guarding his legs besides the mangled, gore-splattered blue jeans he was wearing. Unlike System-generated rewards, these armors came in a range of sizes and were not preconfigured to the contours of his body. He walked back to the middle of the room and sat on the bench beside the crystal, fumbling with various straps and buckles, until the armor lay flush against his skin without impairing the mobility of his joints. By now, Nick’s heart was racing. Fear and excitement swirling within his chest to form a heady rush of anticipation, like two pigments of paint blending as they whirled round the drain.
While the others were busy pulling gear free from the walls and strapping it onto their bodies, Kenji continued to offer advice, which Nick sensed was built on years of firsthand experience. “I suggest that you stick with light or medium leather unless you have invested free points into both strength and toughness. We don’t know how long these fights are going to take and running out of stamina mid-match will be a death sentence as surely as taking a blade through the gut. Pick out a helmet that won’t restrict your field of view or significantly hamper your hearing.”
Kenji continued to offer his guidance as he made his way through a row of spears, selecting one that was half again as tall as himself, then picking out a second, shorter weapon. When he was satisfied with his selection, Kenji hefted his tower shield to test the weight.
It was the largest shield that Nick had ever seen, even in games, formed from thick wooden planks the color of old blood, banded with strips of titanium to make it even tougher. He doubted that he would even be able to lift it. Kenji’s strength must be well into the double digits.
“With that out of the way, let’s finish introducing ourselves. Like I said, my name is Kenji. With my current attributes and abilities, I’m effectively a support fighter. I’m also a strategy and tactics buff. I can project an aura with a minor regenerative property, like a baby version of what that crystal is providing. I won’t be healing any critical wounds, but it should be sufficient to forestall death by a thousand cuts. It should also help a bit between the rounds, when we won’t have access to the regeneration crystal. If I take a central position, I can help stretch out our health over the course of the fight. Otherwise, I’ll prioritize protecting our casters and ranged attackers. I’ll let the rest of our melees focus on offense.
“Full disclosure. I’ve done my fair share of fighting, even before the System entered our lives, and I have at least some experience with most of the weapons on these walls. Ask me if you need any help deciding which pieces of gear to take with you. When we finish our introductions, I want to use the rest of our time going over five basic strategies and assign a code word to each. It’s the best that we can do until our next break between the rounds.”
Nick nodded along with Kenji’s words, placing his sword into his pack for now. The strategist’s advice made sense and the man’s intense focus was helping them use the limited time they had available as efficiently as possible. While he was figuring out how to tighten the last row of straps along the back of his leggings, Nick turned to take a closer look at his new teammates, focusing on their equipment this time rather than their faces. When no one immediately spoke up, he rose to his feet and broke the silence.
“My name is Nick. My main weapon is that big sword I just put away, although I’m still a novice at using it. Other than that, I can cast four mana darts out to about twenty feet; ranged attacks that do a bit of damage and cause a fair amount of pain. I have a wand that projects a cone of force I can fire three times, which works best if the target is less than ten feet away. I also maxed out my size up skill, although I’m not sure if it will be useful here.”
At the looks of confusion he clarified, “Sorry. The skill was originally called evaluate threat. I renamed it. My toughness and mind are pretty high, and my dexterity is decent, but my strength is only middling. I’m well-versed with tactics as well. Most of what I know I learned from games, but I spent a lot of time in the tutorial learning how to translate what I know to the battlefield. However, I’m happy to defer to Kenji’s experience. Oh, and this bag can hold a lot more than it looks. I can use it to carry some extra supplies with us when we head into the arena.”
With a weary grin, Nick yielded the floor to the next person, with thirty-eight minutes left on the clock.