I walked out of the room into a short hallway with two other doorways, each leading to another bedroom identical to the one I was in. Except they looked like people lived in them. But I walked out of the hallway into a dining room. A simple wooden table sat in the center of the room. On the table were three place settings and a small vase with a sunflower sticking out of it.

Is someone expecting a lunch party or something?

"Ah, you’re awake again." Bark’s voice came from the corner of the room, where he was sitting on a large, comfortable-looking chair. He looked up from the book in his hands. There was no label, title, or artwork on the cover. "Did Killa put you into a food coma?"

My stomach growled. "Uh, no. Actually, I’m still hungry."

"How is that possible?" Killa screeched as she came running into the room. "What do you need to eat now, my foot?"

I gagged. "Please, no. No more."

Bark laughed and closed the book as he placed it on a small round table next to him. "Slimes are an acquired taste for most."

Killa narrowed her eyes on Bark. "That’s not what you would have said last night. Not in the middle of all that squealing as I..."

"Stop!" I covered my ears. "I don’t want to hear about any of that. Nobody wants to hear about that. Seriously. What you two do together is none of my business."

Bark shrugged. "I guess I don’t have to worry about asking for a three-way."

I glared at the four-armed hermaphrodite. You’re disgusting. Here I was thinking you were almost a reasonable person.

Killa giggled and then crossed her arms as she eyed me from head to toe. "Honestly, how much do you need to eat? And where are you putting it?"

I swallowed dryly. "Well, I’ve just learned a lot. One thing I learned is that I can’t eat too much anymore. I have these things called nanites in my body. They are the reason Cushin and the wererat thing didn’t kill me."

The room went silent. My heart pounding was the only indicator that any time had passed. I shouldn’t have said anything. This was stupid.

"So you’re saying these nanites kept you alive and you should’ve died?" Bark’s voice broke the silence first.

Killa turned her head towards Bark. "She needs to see Gary now."

Bark started pacing. "We can’t leave now. We’ll have to wait until nightfall."

I saw the panic in Killa’s eyes. Only one word escaped my lips. "Why?"

Killa walked up to me. "Do you mind if I see?"

"See what?" I held my arms out to push her back if I needed to. "Tell me what you’re talking about."

Killa stopped. "Sorry. I would like to see you heal from an injury. Because that will then help either confirm Bark’s worry or dispel it."

I eyed her closely as I took a step back. "Would telling you that my heart was shot, and I still lived, be enough?"

Killa frowned. "Yes. And now we can’t let anyone see you get injured. Who knows what’ll happen to you?"

"Why?" This is getting frustrating. "Just tell me already."

Bark walked over and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Because we’ve never seen anything like that. If someone gets wind of that, who knows what others will do to extract that power from you. If these nanites are powerful, you could find yourself with some even more powerful, or endless, enemies. Some people can’t hold their jealousies in check."

That’s terrifying. I don’t want to get dissected so someone can collect the nanites. "But why do you care?"

Bark smiled as he nodded to Killa. "Why don’t you get her some normal people’s food? She said she was hungry." He didn’t answer the question. But I am hungry.

Killa sighed. "Fine." She headed out the way she had rushed in. "But let Gary explain the important stuff. I know how you get with details." Her words came from the other room before I heard a door open and close.

Bark motioned towards the table. "We might as well sit while we talk. It’ll be a bit more comfortable." He flashed a nervous smile before taking a seat at one of the table sets.

I looked around the room and didn’t see any other good options. So I sat down across from him and pulled a plate and set of utensils in front of me. "Why are you doing all this? It can’t be just because you’re nice."

Bark frowned. "Why can’t it? Does everyone have to have an alternative motive for being nice? Maybe I don’t enjoy seeing others suffer." He folded his arms on the table. "Yes, I’m what most in the Nexus would call ‘odd,’ but I think all their survival of the strongest is far too archaic to make it to the top."

"So, you have a wish you want to be granted too?" I saw the longing in his eyes as I asked my question. I didn’t need to hear the answer. "Everyone here does, don’t they?" Bark simply nodded. "Then what are you doing here and not heading towards the top?"

Bark lowered his head slightly. "Because everything I’ve seen of the Nexus so far has led me to believe that I can’t climb it by myself, at least with the rules as they are. So I’m trying to bring together those I can trust to help me." He sighed. "That’s why I’m here, working with Killa and Gary. We’re not enough. And maybe, if you were up to it, I was thinking about asking you if you were strong enough. Whoever reaches the top may have their wish granted. Nothing says only one person who reaches the top. So if we all work together, we’ll all get what we want."

"Why me?"

Bark chuckled. "Because you’re naïve." That’s blunt. And a bit hurtful if I’m being honest. "And that’s something others will take advantage of. Now that I know there is more to you than meets the eye, I have little doubt you’ll struggle to contribute."

I leaned back in the chair. "Being called naïve hurts a bit. But what I’ve figured out about you is you are either the world’s best manipulator, or you’re just as naïve as me."

Bark laughed as he wiped his face with one hand. "Yeah, me? A manipulator? That’s a good one. But I’ve been called naïve before. So maybe that’s it too. I see a little of myself in you too."

I couldn’t help but see the alien individual in a new light. That makes sense. Could it be that he wants a daughter, a son, or whatever—a child he can protect? And I’m guessing since there are so many of his kind in one place, they are social people.

That Killa lady seems to think he’s a gentle soul too. She told me he was kinder than most people. She seems to be a bit more practical in how she sees people. Her curiosity was the only reason she was helping me to begin with. But when I told them about the nanites, their attitudes changed. Maybe this Gary knows more.

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"Can I save my decision until after I meet this Gary?" I started fidgeting with the spoon in front of me. "It seems like both Killa and you think that it’s important if I meet him."

Bark scratched his chin. "That’s fair. But yeah, Gary is the brains of our little group. Killa’s our medic slash infiltration expert. Me? I’m just the dumb fighter who deals with the dangerous monsters."

I raised an eyebrow. "So, where does that leave me?"

"Don’t know." Bark gave me a playful smile. "But I can feel it. You’ll fit right in."

Convincing. "About the system…" I started, but Bark clapped all four of his hands together.

"Right!" He tapped the side of his head with a fist. "I forgot you’re a newbie. So, you’ve seen your stats, right?" I nodded. "Well, what level are you?"

"Five," I answer tentatively.

Bark stares at me silently for a moment. "Sure. Okay. That’s fine. It’s fine." He shook his head. "The basics are that if you kill someone close to your level, you receive five stat points. If you kill someone five levels higher than you, you’ll get ten stats. But if, by some fluke or kill poaching, you can kill someone ten levels higher than you, you get twenty stats."

I received thirty stats when Orange showed me my status. That means either the elf or the wererat were at least ten levels higher than me. Yeah, a fluke is right.

Bark continued. "The same is true if you kill someone lower than you. If they are five levels lower than you, you only get two stats. Don’t bother killing anyone ten levels lower than you. Unless you’re in desperate need of shards. Because that’s all you’ll get."

"What level are you?" It’s only right that I ask since he asked me first.

"Thirteen," Bark answered without hesitating. "And Killa’s level seventeen."

I’m less than half his level. Well, it looks like I’m still going to be useless. But he missed one. "Gary?"

Bark laughed nervously. "Gary’s not what you would call conventional." He started scratching at the back of his head. "You’ll see when you meet him tonight."

I blinked. Bark blinked back. "So, stats…"

He slumped his shoulders. "That’s pretty much it. It keeps track of our shards, and we can distribute stats." He tilted his head. "So how did you get to the second floor if you’re only level five?"

I could feel something shatter in the back of my mind. "I’m… I’m on the second level? But this is where I started? I haven’t been anywhere else."

"Gary’s going to love you." Bark leaned back in his chair as he crossed his arms. "How is it that every time I ask you something, you say something impossible?"

I looked around the room, checking for exits. There were two. One was where I woke up in. The room had a window. Then there was the doorway Killa left through. "I don’t know."

The sound of a door opening and closing broke the tension. "I’m back!" Killa sang as she skipped into the room. She stopped as she looked at the two of us. "Did I miss something interesting?"

In her hands was a cloth bag, and I could smell something new in the air. It smelled delicious.

"Well, you two can tell me all about it over some food." Killa opened the bag and placed in front of me, several sealed clay bowls.

Then she pulled out more. My eyes opened wider with each bowl she pulled from the bag. I don't know how, but she kept pulling more and more bowls, one right after another. Until I was looking at a spread of twenty-five bowls, all sealed, each one would have been a meal back on earth.

Killa giggled. "I didn’t know what you would like, so I ordered their entire menu. Hopefully, this will be enough for today." She pulled out another two bowls and placed them in front of Bark, who rubbed his hands together as he eyed them.

I pointed to the bag, then to the bowls, and back to the bag. My mouth flopped open and closed soundlessly.

Killa turned the bag inside out. "No more. Sorry. We can see about getting you something else later if this is still not enough."

The words finally clicked in my mind. "No, how did all this fit in that?"

Killa looked at the bag and then back at me, confused. "It’s a bag of holding; that’s what it does. It’s magic."

No, no, no. Let it go. I’m supposed to have gone insane. Nothing is supposed to make sense anymore.

My stomach growled even louder. "But, what are you going to eat?" I asked as I pried open the first bowl. The smell of rice, meat, spices, and herbs was almost heavenly. My drool almost escaped my mouth as I lost myself in the aroma.

Killa sat down and waved her hand. "Don’t worry about me, kiddo. I’ve already eaten about three pounds of sand on the way back." Did she just say three pounds of sand? She had all this food but chose to eat sand? Killa started laughing. "Kiddo, I can eat anything. But unfortunately, I can’t taste anything like you can. So I eat whatever is the cheapest. Usually rotting garbage, dirt, sand, or evidence that needs to be destroyed."

Go insane. Go insane.

"Right." I tried to ignore everything she just said and grabbed the spoon for my first bite.

It was amazing. All the flavors were balanced yet distinct. Maybe it’s better that I don’t know what it is made from, especially after what Killa just said. Ignorance is bliss, after all. I dug in, shoveling bite after bite. After greedily shoveling the food into my mouth, I was still hungry. I barely recognized the empty bowl as my spoon hit the bottom. There was a brief moment of sadness that swept through me until I looked up and saw twenty-four more bowls and Bark staring at me with his mouth wide open.

"You were hungry, weren’t you?" Bark finally stopped gawking and took another bite of his food, which was still mostly there.

I pried open the next bowl and shoved the empty one to the side. "Still am."

The second bowl was as delicious as the first. It was spicier, but still really, really good. Killa laughed as she watched me eat and occasionally asked Bark to fill her in on our conversation. Bark did most of the talking, and I just ate. And I continued to eat even after they finished talking. I was only through a dozen of the bowls, but I still felt hungry.

"She’s going to eat them all, isn’t she?" I heard Bark ask, but I was too busy stuffing my face to answer.

Bark’s question was answered somewhat later, as I finished eating the twenty-first bowl. The hunger that drove me to eat had finally subsided. Yet as I finished eating the diced white meat in a white sauce with a green vegetable that looked like a cross between asparagus and broccoli, I didn’t feel full.

I ate all that! Where did it all go? I looked down and saw that my body was still the same. Maybe the nanites are speeding up my metabolism and breaking down the food faster, too. Then I looked at the remaining four bowls. Orange did say they would save extra energy for later uses. I reached out and finished off the last four bowls with the same fervor as the first four.

Killa sat watching me with an amused look on her face as I finished the last bowl. It was the best one yet. I didn’t know meat could be a dessert, but yikes, that was sweet. It looks like my sweet tooth is still going strong. I surveyed the collection of bowls I had emptied. A week ago, I was planning where I could afford to eat. But just now, I ate an entire month’s worth of food in one sitting, and I don’t feel "full." That’s right, I’m going insane. Normal doesn’t exist anymore. Things happen. Things are happening to me that don’t make sense. But that’s fine. Just go with it. It’ll be fine, right?

"I’m glad someone enjoyed themselves." She drummed her fingers on the table. "Wait until you see the bill." My jaw dropped. But before I could say a word, Killa started laughing. "That’s priceless. It's totally worth it to see your face like that. I like you already, kiddo."

I pouted as I let Killa laugh. "I’m not a kid."

The slime lady settled down and smiled at me. "Well, you feel like I’m taking care of a kid. So, I’m going to keep calling you that." She reached to brush my hair behind my ear. "Think of it as a form of endearment. Besides, you’ve only been in the Nexus, what two days? I’ve been here for eighty-seven days."

So age is based on days. That’s terrifying if eighty-seven is considered a long time. The mortality rate must be pretty high. And given my first day, I can believe that.

I sighed. "Well, since I ate it all, and you paid for it, I might as well do the dishes."

Killa pulled my arm away from the stack of bowls before I could take them. "Allow me, kiddo."

I need to get her to stop calling me that.

Killa’s arm deformed and ballooned over the stack of bowls, swallowing them all. Then, one by one, they separated and dissolved. They dissolved? Killa had a bored look on her face as she pouted. "That’s my wish—to taste everything I eat. I can see, hear, and touch, but I can’t taste or smell. I want to know what that’s like. When I saw the look on your face as you were eating, I got jealous. I want to experience that joy—that bliss."

That’s quite the bomb to drop on someone. But I guess I kind of take my five senses for granted. What would it be like to never taste or smell anything? Even as shallow as that sounds, it’s a life-changing wish. She wants to experience more of life. Me? I just want to live, period. These two might not be so bad after all.

Killa finished "consuming" the clay bowls and clapped her hands. "Now, let’s get you changed into something a little less raggedy. You can have something from my collection. I’m sure there’s something you’ll like."

Bark stood up and headed to the door. "Just don’t get lost in the forest of clothes she calls a collection."

Why do I have the feeling he isn’t exaggerating?