No monsters attacked.

Of course they’d wait until I got distracted. I glanced into the sky. “Promise you won’t keep my menus open when I get attacked again.”

“Fine.” Cyrus sounded like he was pouting. I could deal with that, as long as he kept his word.

I risked peeking at my stats page Sure enough, it now showed me at level 2. I noticed I had received 1 more stat point in each of 4 of my 5 base stats, which resulted in some changes to my other stats too.

“Why didn’t I get another point in intelligence? Have I maxed it out, or something?”

“Not at all,” Cyrus responded, his cheery humor returning instantly. “As a baby human, you receive 4 base stat points with each new level. They will get automatically allocated across your 5 base stats. Once you progress enough to choose a class, you will have the opportunity to adjust the totals and allocation choices.”

“When do we get classes?”

Cyrus’s voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. “I know the Colonel’s secret recipe.”

Again he’d dodged the question. I didn’t even have pants, so a secret chicken recipe wouldn’t help.

“So we can’t change any of the numbers until we get a class?” That seemed annoying.

"Look who’s an expert after an hour in the game,” Cyrus teased. “No, Lucas. We've learned the hard way that baby humans don't make wise choices. They either put all stats in strength or all stats in intelligence. They end up as enormously powerful idiots who run off cliffs, or super geniuses who die from the first armored porcupine who crosses their path. So no, until you gain a bit of experience, we can't trust you."

How had he known I was thinking of maxing strength? Since I had so much in intelligence, it seemed like a good idea. Or it had until he mocked that plan. Maxing out a second stat often worked in video games. I reminded myself this game was life or death. We didn’t get respawns here.

“How do classes work?”

“Now is not the time.”

“What do you mean by baby humans? You’ve used that phrase more than once. We’re all adults, though.”

Wait. Were we? I hadn’t seen any kids at the movie shoot, but Cyrus had said he’d kidnapped a thousand of us. The thought of young children getting slammed down onto this monster-filled death planet made me sick. They’d get eaten by the first angry acorn that found them.

“Indeed you are. Children are not allowed to participate in the game, so none were included when you were all chosen.”

“Were there any kids in that section of the state you ripped into space?” Even if they weren’t chosen, they could have been killed by that eruption.

“There were 27 humans below age 18. All were moved out of the area and transported to their nearest relative or a childcare facility.”

I wanted to ask more about that, but a flash of midnight scales from the corner of my eye spun me around just in time to catch a midget demon with my face.

Shouting with surprise and pain, I fell back to the grass. I lost my stick and snatched at the monster.

It had wrapped its tail and hind legs around my neck, claws sinking into my skin with agonizing pain. It smelled like rotten Old Spice cologne, and the powerful scent made me gag. Its body was surprisingly cold and slick, like it was covered in invisible massage oil.

It reared above my face, hissing from a mouth overflowing with sharp teeth. Its head was weirdly flat, its face filled mostly with that enormous mouth and two huge, yellow eyes. Spiky ears stuck straight out from either side of its scalp.

It raised taloned, 3-fingered hands and slashed at my face. I caught its wrist and grunted at the monster’s strength. I was stronger, but not by much. It hissed again, its tail tightening around my throat as it started to choke me. Its hind legs dug into the muscles of my neck and I groaned with pain.

“Get off,” I growled, shifting the grip of one hand to its throat and squeezing with all my strength.

It didn’t like me choking it back, and raked at my forearm with its free hand, leaving bloody gashes in my skin. I gritted my teeth against the flash of new pain, but squeezed harder.

My initial shock from the unexpected attack was replaced by anger that fueled my strength. My fingers tightened on its neck, and its tail loosened slightly.

With a twisting heave, I hurled the little demon away. Its hind claws ripped free of my flesh with sprays of blood. The pain nearly blinded me, but I forced myself up to my knees and spotted my stick.

The demon landed on all fours and launched back toward me instantly. I snatched up my stick and clubbed it away, sending it tumbling across the clearing.

“Congratulations, Lucas! You have defeated a level-3 Irritable Imp.”

Again with the stupid names. Groaning, I triggered the minor healing potion in my hotlist. Instantly, soothing warmth spread through my body before focusing on my neck and arm. In seconds, I felt much better, but not totally healed. That little devil did a lot of damage.

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If I hadn’t hit level 2 already, it might have killed me. I’d only started with 8 health points. The thought sent a shiver of cold fear trickling down my spine.

“Is there a way to see how much health and mana I have?”

“I was going to activate the rest of your HUD after you completed your quest, but you’re doing so well, here you go.”

That was doing well? I felt beat up, bloody, and panting.

Two glowing status bars appeared in the top left corner of my vision. One read HP, the other MP. The HP, or Health Points bar, was green and mostly full. When I focused on it, a number 95 appeared.

95% health. So I’d healed most of the injuries, thankfully. The Mana Points bar was full at 100%.

I didn’t have time to ask more questions as the ground erupted right next to my thigh and a pitbull-sized gopher lunged out.

Over the next few minutes, I defeated the gopher, a poisonous hummingbird the size of a pigeon, a scorpion that could jump farther than a wolf spider, and a salamander that spit bolts of ice.

By that time, I was battered and exhausted. My feet ached. I wasn’t used to running around without shoes, especially outside. The grass of the glade was soft, but branches and rocks on the ground hurt. I might have to resort to wrapping them in some of the bandages, but I hoped to win a pair of shoes in one of the loot boxes.

My wooden club had saved my life more than once, but the constant threat of death took a surprising toll. I had a lot of martial arts training, but that was training, not death matches. The stark difference was driven home by one suicidal monster after another.

Thankfully I got 3 more minor healing potions as I looted the monsters. I already used 1 of them. I also received 4 more sets of bandages, 2 self-lighting torches, a dozen more mana crystals, and a skin thaw salve that was a lifesaver after the icy salamander.

I also received skins and other monster parts that added to my crafting inventory. Better than that, I received a new stick when I looted the scorpion. Listed as a basic fighting stick, it was the perfect length and thickness. I’d been taking Kali stick fighting for several years and could wield the new stick so much faster than the heavy club I’d made out of the branch.

I still kept the club in my inventory. I might find something I needed to hit harder. Those monsters had all been between levels 2 and 4. Killing them all also netted me another level. Again the new points were placed in all the basic stats except for Intelligence. That worked. I needed the points in my more physical-focused areas anyway.

As I used part of a flask of water to wash my face, I longed to hold Isabella and tell her about this insanity. Would she want to hear it? She didn’t like martial arts or any kind of fighting, but that training had just saved my life. If I did get a chance to tell her, would she even believe me? I doubted I would if I wasn’t living this insanity myself.

Thinking of her helped keep me grounded and focused. I was stuck alone, mostly naked, on an alien planet with a friendly AI and ravening monsters.

“Tell me more about the game.”

“You’re so impatient. I applaud your enthusiasm, Lucas, but I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until I announce details to everyone.”

“Can’t you share anything?” I felt like we were wasting time. I needed to find Tomas.

“Learn to enjoy the moments of peace after slaughtering monsters.”

I took a deep breath, then focused on how cool it was to have an inventory spatial storage, and how amazing it felt as my base stats continued to creep upward. I could feel subtle improvements with every point. How high would they go? What would I be able to do when my strength reached 50? I bet I could bench press a car.

“Mister Incredible,” I muttered to myself.

“Wrong team,” Cyrus said.

“What?”

“Never mind. We’ll talk about that later.”

That was weird, but I still needed to kill 1 more monster. I paced around my clearing, searching the shadowed depths of the forest, on high alert for the next little beastie.

Nothing appeared, so my thoughts turned again to Isabella. God, how I wished I could see her, hold her, kiss her again. I would find Tomas and our friends, figure out how to beat the game, and get back to her.

I refused to accept any other option.

A centipede the size of my thigh bit me on the calf.

“Oh, you little monster!” I screamed and kicked it. Idiot! I knew better than to get distracted.

Trying to kick the centipede only gave it a chance to wrap a lot more little spiky feet around my leg and bite me again. The pain almost made me collapse, but I gritted my teeth against a scream and beat the giant bug’s head in with my stick.

Luckily looting it got me another minor healing potion, which I used immediately. Maybe I should have tried the bandages, but while I had healing potions, I would use them. That instant healing was unbelievable. Besides, if I left myself weakened, the next monster might gain even more of an advantage. I couldn’t afford to hold back.

Looting the centipede also randomly got me a basic pair of tongs. I was glad the loot boxes contained so many healing items. They were only copper, so the loot was pretty crappy, but healing potions were literally life saving.

“Congratulations!” Eva announced. “You have completed a quest and receive a copper loot box.”

I immediately opened the box, which revealed the promised shirt. It looked like a plain white t-shirt, except it was made out of some kind of linen. I used the rest of the partial water flask I’d used earlier and cleaned the blood and filth from my torso as best I could. Then I donned the shirt and sighed. That felt good.

It was short-sleeved and fit me as if custom-tailored for me. It wasn’t armor, or anything, but having more clothes gave me a lot more confidence than I would have expected.

“Ready to party now,” I muttered, glancing down at my pristine shirt and my blue boxers, which were already looking grimy.

I’d bled more than I liked to remember, and I’d gotten splattered by monster blood. Most of their goo evaporated when I looted them, but random dark smudges still stained my shorts.

I needed more clothes.

A new status bar appeared at the bottom left side of my vision. Surprised, I focused on it and “Remaining Earth Contestants” appeared over it. The number showed 950 out of 1000.

“Have 50 people already died?”

“Yes they have,” Cyrus said cheerily. “Not bad for the first hour. It’s not uncommon to see a full 10 to 15% death rate. I’m impressed by you plucky baby humans.”

“You never explained about baby humans.” I preferred focusing on that rather than thinking about the fact that 50 people had died in the last hour somewhere in the mountains around me.

Just that morning, we’d all been focused on taking part in a movie. Now we were fighting for our lives, and some people had already failed.

I thought of Cyrus’s comment about some people just screaming non-stop. The shocking change of our location was terrifying and mind-bending. I could understand panic, but to just refuse to react to our new reality seemed like a terrible response.

It had proven fatal for some. For me, it was weird, but I focused on living in the moment. My firefighting training helped me respond with an open mind to the unexpected. Besides, I’d recently changed the entire course of my life in response to an unexpected situation. I could do it again.

The world we now stood in was totally alien to our home on more levels than the physical differences of the planet. In our country, we were used to soft lives where a lot of times one could avoid consequences or responsibility. Lots of people skated on the goodwill of the system.

We couldn’t do that here. We had to find a way, or we’d die. I refused to die to a rabid squirrel or something stupid. I would find a way to leverage the new system and grow strong enough to thrive and protect others.

Cyrus interrupted my thoughts. “Baby humans is not a derogatory term. It just means you’ve still got a tier-0, basic body. For now, let’s finish your orientation.”