Suddenly, there came the sounds of frantic rustling of leaves and the violent shuddering of shrubbery as Gabriel bolted, driven by a surge to escape. His instincts had proven correct as Vance signaled for retreat to his fellow Anointed. Mort remained rooted in place. His shock mirrored that of the other MHS workers, who were slow to grasp what was happening, each of them watching the Anointed suddenly break away from battle.

Laughter that could be felt in their bones emanated from the Boss Monster as it bounded toward them, its sub-bosses at its side.

“What about us…?!” Mort exclaimed, his hand held out to the departing Anointed.

“Don’t leave us!” Jeff implored as more workers began begging to be saved.

Yol turned from them to Vance with an expression riddled with guilt.

“Leave them,” Vance responded to his remorseful look with a frown, “They’ll slow the Boss Monster and the sub-bosses for us. They’re just Monkey Harvesters anyways, no big loss.” Vance had never cared about the MHS workers and had always planned to cut them out of their share of the profits.

Being physically superior in speed and strength than normal humans, the Anointed took no time to disappear into the jungle.

Screams of agony and horror erupted from the workers left behind. The hyena-like monsters fell upon them, tearing them apart. Manic laughter escaped the monsters’ throats as the beasts engorged on the fallen humans.

Lucian was running through the jungle when he heard the continuous laughter and cries of pain from his fellow MHS workers echo through the thicket. He bit his lip, regretting that he hadn't convinced Gabriel to come with him. He had assumed Gabriel would understand the gravity of the situation when he saw Lucian run for dear life.

Animalistic grunting ahead caused Lucian to abruptly stop. Spotted fur moving among the trees sent a wave of trepidation through him. His eyes darted around, searching for a hiding place. He spotted a hole beneath a tree’s roots wide enough to fit him and slid into it like a baseball player stealing second base.

Hyena snickering reached his ears, along with movement from above the hole. Gnolls appeared with searching gazes, their wet black noses sniffing the air. However, they soon moved on when they heard the feast underway with the Boss Monster and the sub-bosses feeding on the humans.

Lucian let out a sigh of relief, leaning his back against something soft. He straightened up when he heard low growling all around him. Tiny eyes the size of sunflower seeds began to glow gold all around him. Several small creatures surrounded him with white fur and pink faces, their ears pointed and their bellies round.

“How cute,” Lucian commented, seeing them. He had never encountered such monsters and had never seen them in any Monster Gate books. “You guys look like imps but a lot furrier.”

Their golden eyes suddenly turned red, causing Lucian’s brow to furrow in uncertainty. Their once-round, adorable stomachs transformed into hardened muscles, their fur bristled upward, and their teeth sharpened. They then began to jump on Lucian, biting him relentlessly.

“You little shits…!” Lucian yelped in pain as he scrambled out of the hole. He ran until the tiny creatures finally relented when they traveled too far from the hole they came out of. Lucian could only guess that the hole was their burrow.

Feeling unsafe out in the open and covered in bite marks, he moved through the jungle with the purpose of finding a place to hide. He only stopped when he heard the sound of clinking coming from around a rocky outcrop, where a cave had formed. Inside, Lucian could hear the sound of metal striking something hard.

When he peered within, he saw his fellow MHS workers, mining Gateshard ore from the walls of the cave.

“Well look who it is!” a snide voice said, “It’s the cowardly smarty pants. I can’t believe you still have the gall to show your face to us.”

Lucian frowned upon seeing Mort among the miners but felt relieved at the sight of Gabriel, knowing that he had survived.

“Where’s the Scavs?” Lucian asked.

“Probably regrouping to come and save us,” Mort answered, nodding with certainty.

“Dumbass.”

“W-what was that?!”

“They probably abandoned us,” Lucian fumed, then scanned the faces of everyone. Nearly half of the original seventeen workers were missing, most likely killed by monsters. The sight of a wart on a forehead caught his attention—Jeff seemed to have also survived. “Why are you all still working?”

“Can’t you see?” Jeff said excitedly, mining a glowing blue cluster on the wall, “Gateshards! Just this clump alone will make me rich!” The other MHS workers agreed with fervor to the sentiment.

Lucian thought they should be waiting around the Monster Gate for an opportunity to escape when the monsters returned to their dwellings. However, he also wanted Gateshard. Need for safety and the need for money collided within him. He concluded that even if he escaped this place alive, he had nowhere to go and no money as well. Lucian needed the Gateshard.

The only problem was that he had no Gatetech pickaxe. If he tried to cut the shards out with his cuttter, he would have a greater chance at ruining them.

“Hey, Gabriel,” Lucian prompted, walking up to him with a well-meaning smile, “Do you think I can borrow your pickaxe after you’re done?”

“No,” Gabriel denied, “I’m leaving as soon as I collect enough shards.”

“Are you serious? Even if you leave right after, just leave me the pickaxe. I can always give it back to you at Meager Palace.”

Gabriel shook his head and continued to work. Lucian went to the other MHS workers but they denied him as well. Gatetech tools were a MHS worker’s way of making a living. No self-respecting MHS worker would lend their tools to anyone.

Lucian went to the cave’s entrance disgruntled, sighing as he watched a toucan with teeth land on a branch and eat a beehive whole. Monsters were always odd, he thought. A sudden movement near a cluster of trees caused Lucian to stiffen. A plain and flightless brown bird, taller than Lucian, strutted around the shadow of the canopy nearby.

“Hey, you guys, stop!” Lucian warned those hitting Gateshard with their pickaxes. They ignored him. “It’s a monster, dumbasses.” They immediately halted. Gathering around him, the MHS workers peered over to see the flightless bird and began to sweat.

Stolen novel; please report.

“I thought only one kind of monster showed up in a Monster Gate,” one of the less experienced MHS workers whispered nervously.

“No, a whole habitat lives in each Monster Gate if it’s large enough,” Lucian explained, “That’s why Monster Gate breaks are so devastating since it could release an untold amount of monsters.”

One of the workers began to laugh but stifled it quick when the others chided him.

“Sorry,” he apologized, still smiling, “It’s just that bird looks so suspicious, like it’s up to something.”

Lucian had to admit he was right. The bird wouldn’t stop looking around as if checking for anyone that could be watching. Its eyes would move back and forth as if it were a cartoon character up to no good. Continuing its peculiar behavior, the bird suddenly collided with a tree, causing a massive fruit resembling a green mango to plummet to the ground.

The fruit's impact created a commotion, causing the bird to fret and scan its surroundings anxiously.

“I think that monster is actually up to something…” mused one of the MHS workers.

When the bird found its courage again, realizing the coast was clear, it began to devour the fruit voraciously, without stopping. The fruit's flesh was as red as that of a grapefruit. Before long, the fruit had been devoured, and the bird appeared quite satisfied.

“Alright, now leave,” begged Jeff, hoping for the bird not to linger and possibly find them.

Fortunately, the bird seemed to be leaving. It gazed upward as if contemplating flight, despite its seemingly inadequate wingspan. The onlookers' eyes widened as they witnessed the creature undergo a dramatic transformation. Its brown feathers elongated and burst into vivid red hues, while its short wings expanded to a thirty-foot span. Lucian and his fellow workers collectively gasped in astonishment as the bird ignited in flames before soaring into the sky like a crimson comet, leaving a fiery trail in its wake.

“What the hell…” one of the workers whispered in shock, “It changed by just eating that fruit?!”

“Hey, where’s he going…?!” another asked, seeing Lucian run. The other MHS workers thought Lucian may’ve been running from monsters and looked around worriedly, only to find no threatening presence near them.

Lucian nearly stumbled in his haste toward the remains of the colossal fruit. This was it. This was the opportunity he had been dreaming of since he was an orphan working in the Gladkid sweatshop. What he wanted more than life itself was to become an Anointed, and then become a Warden. He could see his destiny residing within that strange giant fruit.

Lucian heard footsteps approaching from behind and turned to see Gabriel, who had similar thoughts to Lucian, both having dreamt of becoming an Anointed since childhood. Lucian soon grasped the wet fruit in both hands and without hesitation, let the chunks of it slide down his throat. Gabriel became reluctant at the monster bird saliva covering the fruit but seeing Lucian still eat it, he did the same.

“What the hell are you two doing?” Mort asked with fear and anxiousness, running up to them.

“What the—they’re eating that bird’s leftovers,” one of the workers blanched.

“Is that bird spit?” another asked with disgust.

Lucian and Gabriel suddenly felt a burning sensation in their guts and groaned loudly, writhing in the dirt.

“Oh, no,” muttered Jeff who began backing away, “I think they’re dying.”

Heat began to build up within them, feeling as if someone had ignited a furnace inside their bodies. A profound physiological transformation was underway, altering them from the inside out. Their skin toughened, their muscles developed a rugged resilience like leather, and their bones strengthened to the point where they could snap a metal pole with ease.

When they finally stood up, astonishment filled their eyes. Lucian reached out to a nearby tree, effortlessly tearing away a chunk of wood with his bare hand, leaving behind a hole of exposed fresh wood.

“We're Anointed!” Gabriel gasped in disbelief, his face lighting up with excitement. With a sudden leap, he tore through the underbrush, leaving the surrounding greenery a blur as he moved with incredible speed, astonishing those who watched.

“Holy hell! He’s like moving 30 miles per hour,” a MHS worker sputtered in shock, the others crying out in surprise as well.

Gabriel returned, kicking up dirt as he slid to a stop. When he was about to address them, a sudden appearance of a screen popped up in the air in front of him, causing him to yell out in Spanish.

“Oh,” he said, calming down, “It’s the Master System. What’s up, Master System?” He stared at the open air for a moment, “Oh, you can’t talk…”

“‘Master System’…?” echoed one of the workers.

“He really is Anointed!” cried out another.

One of them charged for the fruit and began to eat. Frantically, the others soon joined him and began scarfing down what they could.

Lucian watched Gabriel poking at empty air. He knew from his own research into Anointed that the Master System each of them personally interacted with was invisible to everyone else, even to other Anointed. Lucian then looked to the air in front of him.

“Alright,” he said out loud, “Show yourself, Master System!” Nothing appeared. “I said, Master System, show yourself!” Again, nothing. Worry began to set in. “Uh, Master System…? Are you there?” Lucian started to fret as he repeated different commands for the Master System but remained disappointed. He even began to run, much slower than Gabriel, but quicker than a normal human, attempting to mimic the conditions Gabriel had used to activate his Master System.

“I’m Anointed,” Lucian mumbled to himself, “Why won’t the Master System show itself to me…?”

The workers who had just eaten the fruit began to groan as they collapsed to the floor. Minutes later, they rose as new men. They tested their strength like Lucian and could rip off chunks from trees. Some shattered rocks with punches.

“I don’t see it…” one of the workers commented, looking at the open air in front of him, “The Master system won’t show up.” The others agreed they could not see it either, allowing Lucian to calm down somewhat, recognizing as he wasn’t the only one without the Master System. Those without the system went to Gabriel to ask him but he had no answers.

A worker broke off a branch from a nearby tree and begun swinging it only to let it go and have it crash against someone’s back.

“Hey!” shouted the one who was hit.

“Sorry,” apologized the worker who hit him, “It’s just that the Master System just popped up out of nowhere and surprised me.” Others immediately gathered around him, including Lucian. “It’s weird. It looks like a video game…” His fellow workers began hounding him to explain how he did it. “Oh,” he replied to them, “I just swung that branch over there and suddenly a pop up window showed up like a computer screen saying I unlocked a ‘Combat Art’ called, [Basic TwoHanded Sword].”

Just then, they noticed the man who had been hit by a branch poke at the air in front of him. When asked to explain his actions, he answered, “I see it too, the Master System game thing. It’s in front of me. I unlocked ‘Combat Art’: [Basic Guard]. I don’t know what it means.”

“It’s the basic ‘Combat Art’ all defense type Anointed gets,” Lucian explained, “You should be able to get the system to explain it by focusing on the word [Basic Guard].”

“Oh, it worked!”

The man who unlocked [Basic TwoHanded Sword] sputtered, “Oh, he’s right. Another screen is telling me that [Basic TwoHanded Sword] is the basic ‘Combat Art’ that focuses on using two-handed weapons.” He broke off another branch and began swinging and became shocked using moves he’d never practiced before.

Lucian nodded in acknowledgement. That was the magic of the Master System. It could unlock abilities in users that the user themselves had no prior knowledge of using, like the ability to wield weapons.

“I can do magic!” someone shouted, someone who was holding up his hand and staring at snowflakes floating above a palm of his hand. “The Master System showed up! I have…” he took a moment to read, “…what’s called a ‘Magic Art’ that has listed under it: [Basic Ice Magic]!”

“It looks like we’re supposed to discover our abilities and only then the Master System will unlock,” Lucian mused. At his explanation, everyone began to test abilities to try and unlock the Master System. Lucian saw Gabriel move with great speed as he tested his abilities.

Gabriel had become what he always wanted to be, a speed type Anointed. From what Lucian could see, Gabriel had unlocked an amazing Skill already, allowing him to move incredibly fast. A famous Anointed named “King Rusher” was known to have a similar skill but his was blindingly quick. Luckily for Gabriel, a Skill gained by the Master System had a chance to upgrade.

When his and Gabriel’s eyes met, Gabriel looked away, his face indifferent but clearly his body language showed he was in no mood to interact with Lucian. Lucian only shrugged and continued to try and figure what skill he would unlock.

After half an hour, while nearly everyone else had successfully unlocked the Master System, Lucian still struggled to activate it.