“I appreciate you guys bailing me out, but why are we out here hiking?” Oliver complained. “My hands are already numb. It’s freakin’ cold out here!”

Is he still in the vehicle?

Yes, Master.

Tell me if he gets out.

As you command, Master.

Unlike the first time his parents hiked down this trail, the officer decided to wait within his heated vehicle. Either the man had become lazy, or he feared his tires would be slashed if he left the car alone.

Blake rounded the Juniper and responded to his brother with a grin. “What, is it too cold to go see your brother?”

Oliver froze in surprise. “Blake? Holy shit, man! Have you been hiding out here the whole time? The cops have been going crazy looking for you.”

“Oh, I know. That’s why we had to go on this little trip. We had to lose the tail.”

“Tail?”

Blake gave his mother a hug and then asked, “You didn’t point out the cop following you?”

His mother grinned and replied, “No, we wanted to keep it a surprise.”

“Well, now that I’m surprised, will you guys finally answer my questions? Why aren’t you at the restaurant, why are the cops going after Blake? And, why does Blake look like he is going LARPing?” he asked in disbelief.

He spread his arms wide, “What, you don’t like the new threads?”

Oliver snorted and muttered, “Ren-fair reject.”

Before they began their explanation, Blake said, “Here, shake my hand, and I’ll explain everything.”

His brother frowned, but complied.

Invite him into the Collective.

Are you sure? This will transfer one million nano to the target.

Yes.

The transfer completed instantly, and he released his brother’s hand. “So, remember what I told you the last time we met? About me being from the future?”

Oliver groaned. “Come on, man! Not this crap again!”

Blake smiled. “Oh, it’s all true. The difference is, this time I can prove it.”

His brother turned to their parents. When he saw them nod to confirm his tale, he asked, “Why are you guys playing along with him? What the hell’s going on?”

“Just give it another minute or two and you’ll see. When we shook hands, I transferred nanomachines to you. Right now, they’re integrating with your body, but once they finish, you’ll join the Collective and get your own interface like we have.” He nodded at his parents.

Oliver glanced down at his hand, then back at his brother, doubtfully.

Blake noticed the exact moment the interface initialized. His brother jumped in surprise and then began to wave his hand in front of his face.

“What the hell is this?!”

Blake grinned. “I told you.”

“No, you gave me some stupid story about being the chosen one or some crap. You didn’t tell me anything about the words floating in my vision.”

“I never said I was the ‘chosen one’, you did. I said I went back in time.”

“Yeah, cause that sounds so much more reasonable,” he responded sarcastically as he flapped his hand in front of his eyes.

Blake rolled his eyes. “Focus on dismissing the message in front of you.” After a moment, he asked, “Did it go away?”

“Yeah.” Oliver said absently. “But that still doesn’t prove anything.”

“Okay, then check this out,” Blake gestured at a nearby pine tree. The trunk was a foot in diameter and was at least forty feet tall. “Here, I’ll show you a magic trick then. Feel this tree and see that it’s solid.”

Oliver kept his reservations, but played along with a quick glance to his silent parents. “Okay, it’s a tree. What am I supposed to do now?”

“Back up.” His brother only backed away a few feet, so he said, “Go stand next to mom and dad.”

When Oliver joined his parents, fifteen feet away from the tree he stood next to, he said, “Okay, for my next trick, I’m going to make this tree disappear.”

Blake pulled back his fist and punched it forward. When his knuckles impacted the tree, there was a sharp crack and bark exploded outward.

“Ah!” Donna squealed as she raised her arm to protect her face.

“Sorry!” He apologized sheepishly before gesturing for them to come see the tree.

They leaned forward to see an inch deep crater, the size of his fist. The missing bark revealed the wood shredded beneath.

His parents were frozen in shock, while his brother traced the new hole with his fingers. “How?” Oliver asked.

“How what?”

“How did you do that?” his brother clarified, annoyed.

“Uh… with my fist.”

Stolen story; please report.

“Let me see it then.”

Oliver reached out and grabbed his hand. He lifted Blake’s right hand close to his eyes and observed the bark-stained knuckles of his hand.

“No way…” he said in awe.

Blake wiped the brown matter off his hand and revealed the reddened skin beneath.

“Did it hurt?” Oliver asked.

“A little,” Blake admitted with a shrug, and pulled a protein bar from his pocket.

His father finally recovered from his shock and joined them, along with his mother. “You said you were strong, but I had no idea.”

“Oh, this is nothing compared to my old body. I used to be bulletproof.”

“Will I get this strong, too?” his brother asked, excitement written across his face for the first time. “Will the nanomachines fix me?”

Blake shook his head. Donna frowned at his negative response. “No, they won’t, but once we create the faction and train up an alchemist, they can brew you a potion that will cure you. As far as strength goes, you can only enhance your body twelve times with a non-combat class. What’s your Physical Power at right now?”

“How am I supposed to know that?”

“Think, ‘status’,” he explained.

“Okay. More words and numbers now. It says my Physical

Power is four. That’s strength, right? Is that good?”

Blake nodded. “The average human has a five in all attributes. A Physical Power of nine is Olympic athlete level, while one is essentially a baby.”

“Okay, so if I drop all twelve upgrades into my strength, can I do what you just did?”

“No, that’d only bring your Physical Power up to sixteen, and your Physical Resistance would still be low. You’d essentially completely shatter your hand, which would take months to heal without higher Physical Stamina.”

“The stats names are stupid. If this Collective thing is going to copy video games, why not name them Strength, Agility, Stamina, and Constitution?”

Blake shrugged and finished the protein bar with a quick swallow. “I don’t know. It didn’t ask for my advice when it created the interface.”

“Well, how strong are you?” Oliver asked.

Blake focused and mentally chose to share his status sheet with his family. It was projected before him, only visible to the three. His parents leaned in and read off the sheet.

“Uh…” Oliver drawled. “If nine is supposed to be a powerlifter, how do you have a Physical Power of twenty-three point nine? How strong does that make you?”

“I got a lot of achievements that made me stronger than I should be. I also have to eat four times as much to power all the nanomachines enhancing me. As far as my Power, I’m not exactly sure, but I could probably bench press a car right now.” He withdrew another snack from his pocket.

“Which attribute makes you bulletproof?” Peter asked.

“That’d be Physical Resistance, but that’s not until you get above twenty or so. I’m not sure on the exact number, and it also depends on the bullet. There’s a big difference between a fifty caliber machine gun with armor piercing rounds, and a little twenty-two pistol.”

“So, how do I get one of those combat classes like you?” Oliver asked.

“I don’t have a class yet, and you don’t get one. Once I get enough nano to start a faction and build a faction hall, you can choose a non-combat class then.”

“Screw non-combat! I’m all about throwing magic around.”

Blake rubbed his eyes. “You don’t understand. Trust me, you don’t want a combat class.”

“How would you know?” he challenged.

Blake paused and looked his brother directly in the eye. “Because ten years ago, right after Invasion day, you had to kill a goblin to survive. You couldn’t handle the guilt and overdosed on drugs to escape it.”

Donna gasped and tears began to fall from her eyes.

Oliver frowned. “That doesn’t sound like me.”

“Why would I lie about something like that?” Blake insisted, his voice raised. “Your death destroyed us.”

Their mother embraced her oldest son and begged, “Baby, please don’t do that to us. Please listen to your brother.”

Oliver stood there, undecided, as his mother cried on his shoulder. He first looked at Blake before his gaze wandered over to his father. When he saw the single tear falling down his father’s normally stoic face, his resistance crumbled.

“Fine, I won’t,” he conceded.

Donna sniffed. “You promise?”

Oliver nodded. “I promise.”

“Thank you so much!”

Peter nodded to his son and grinned.

“Don’t worry,” Blake said. “You can still become superhuman without a combat class. Your first twelve stats will bump you up to professional athlete level, and you can wear armor that boosts them further.”

Their father grinned. “Evidently, I’ll be able to cook food that makes you stronger, too!”

“Okay, but how do I get healed?”

“Once we recruit an alchemist and get them leveled up, they can brew a potion that will heal you.”

Oliver grimaced, “How long is that gonna take?”

“Maybe a year? It depends on how hard they work.”

“Screw that!” his brother sneered. “I’ll be my own alchemist. They make healing potions and buffs, right?”

Blake nodded. “Among other things.”

“What’s a buff?” Donna asked.

“It’s a gaming term,” Oliver explained. “It’s something that makes you stronger.”

Blake smiled sadly. It had been a while since he heard the term. His first faction had heavily used gaming terminology. However, as more and more, ‘gamers’ died, its use grew out of fashion. By the time Blake faced off against the alien faction leader, its use had been ancient history.

But he’s taking this well, it may just work out.

“If I become an alchemist, how do I level up?”

“Uh… I’m not a hundred percent sure, because I was a combat classer, but I think you just make things. You get nano for following directives and for selling your potions, which you can use to level your skills up.”

“Okay, but where do I get the ingredients?”

“Some of it you can get from nature, but the high-end stuff you’ll have to get from combat scenarios.” Blake saw the look of confusion on his face and waved his hand. “Don’t worry about it yet. We still have to build the town first.”

“When does that happen?” Oliver asked.

“Well, mom and dad already found us some property to build on. I just need three or four more days to gather the nano, and then we can start.”

His brother frowned and turned to his parents. “Uh, I thought you guys had money problems.”

Peter grinned. “That was before Blake placed a bet on the Mega-bowl. Now we’re flush with cash.”

Oliver groaned. “I missed the game.” Suddenly, his father’s last words registered. “Wait, what bet?”

Peter’s grin widened. “Your brother already knew the final score, so we placed a big bet on the game. Now we’re rich.”

“Nice.”

“Your father recorded the game. It’d be great if we could all watch it together as a family.” Donna pressed.

Blake shook his head. “Sorry. After this, I need to get back to combat scenarios. Besides, you have that cop tailing you, remember? If he sees me, the police will be all over us.”

His parents suddenly remembered their situation and searched the woods behind them anxiously.

“Don’t worry, I have Metal watching the car. That cop hasn’t left it yet.”

“Metal?” Oliver shook his head and then scowled. “No distracting me! You never did explain why the cops are after you. What’s the deal?” Oliver demanded.

“Well, it’ll make more sense if I start from the beginning.”

For the next half hour, Blake told his story.

As he explained the combat scenarios he completed, he glossed over the details. He did not want to needlessly worry his parents, but he could tell Oliver was not fooled by the sanitized version. Blake was constantly interrupted with questions, not only from his brother, but also his parents.

As time passed, his stomach began to rumble. When he was finally done, he hugged his family and said his goodbyes. As they returned to their car, he dismissed Metal from surveillance duty and slipped into the woods.

First some food, then back to the grind.