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Eight years later

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Tobias moved the broom across the stables in smooth, unhurried sweeps. The air was thick with the scent of straw and of horse, overlaid with fresh manure. It wasn’t exactly pleasant, but it was better than old manure.

Around him, horses munched alfalfa with single-minded focus. They had been working hard all day, and this was the one time they could rest and eat. That wasn’t the best for a herd beast that would graze all day in the wild, but unlike the people in this town, at least they were generated a meal.

After setting the broom aside, Tobias went to the pail and started dishing out careful measures of the grain. There wasn’t much to go around.

Most of the horses were plow beasts. Good for pulling tillers straight through the soil, but too broken down to do much else. Many of the horses shied away from him, or turned to show their rumps and muscular hind legs in subtle threat. Ignoring that behavior, he spoke softly and addressed most by name when he knew them.

None had been gently handled over the years and had scars on the inside and out.

The one exception stood at the end of the first row of stables.

This horse didn’t shy away. It pinned its ears and pawed one heavy foot on the ground in a way that suggested he would very much like to drive it through Tobias’s teeth. Not that Tobias blamed him.

“Guess we’ve both had a bad day, huh, big guy?” he murmured. “Though yours is over and mine’s just about to begin.”

The young stallion bared teeth.

It was a draft beast on the scale of monstrous. Two years old with some growing left to do, he stood eighteen hands high — that was about six feet tall at the shoulder.

It was a Clydesdale. Tobias had vague memories before the System of those same types of horses pulling carts full of beer.

The System only knew how a pure Clydesdale came to be bred nowadays. For one thing, there weren’t as many horses as there used to be, and no one told Tobias how this one had been captured and brought to the Overlord’s stables.

Aside from the massive size, dishlike hooves and egg-shaped head, they were rather usual. Brown with white socks and a blaze of white going up the muzzle.

But that’s where this one differed, too. His white blaze extended entirely over the front of its head and curled around his eyes. The white grew ragged down at its nose. So the effect was by looking at the horse from the front, he had the appearance of a human skull.

The skull-like marking, and the horse’s massive size, had attracted the attention of the Overlord. That was never a good thing.

“He tried to ride you today, didn’t he?” Tobias asked, keeping his voice even as he scooped out a larger measure of grain. “I’m surprised he could get his fat ass up in the saddle, yeah? But from the looks of things, he didn’t break your spirit.”

At least, not yet.

He had seen this happen too many times before over the years.

Everyone was looking for a fast mode of transport, like in the old days before the System came. But the Overlords, Tyrants, and War Kings that had risen to power over the last few years didn’t have the personalities to ride properly. Only to dominate. They treated their horses — and their serfs — like disposable property.

Whether or not this horse’s spirit broke, his body eventually would. They said the Overlord was a level 24. Compared to level 0 Tobias who had yet to access the system, and this non-leveled horse, the Overlord was practically a god.

Feeling bad for the young stallion, Tobias added an extra quarter scoop of grain to the cup. Then he swiftly reached in through the stable bars and dumped it into the bucket that hung off the nail on the other side.

The stallion lunged forward and snapped its teeth so close to Tobias’s hand that if he weren’t already yanking his arm back, he would have lost a finger.

Tobias had been half-expecting it and was already stepping well out of range.

With a high scream of defiance, the horse kicked the stall to send dust off the wall, then stuffed his face in the bucket and began angrily chewing.

Tobias watched him for a moment, then shook his head.

“I know you don’t think so, but I would like to protect you.”

Reflexively, he checked his System message. The box showed up, grayed out as always, but that would soon change.

Time to System unlock:

0 years

0 months

0 days

5 hours

3 minutes

22 seconds…

His mother mentioned he had been born around midnight, so that tracked.

For what to have been the thousandth time, Tobias wondered what kind of class he would receive. When the System was first initialized on earth, people were given a free choice between Warrior and Support paths. Then, different subclasses appeared according to their personalities and inherent stats.

However, children who unlocked their access since System day 1 were assigned their path. Then they chose between five classes.

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If Tobias received a Warrior path, he would be executed. The overlord who ruled this area did not accept any challenges to his power.

Some new warriors were allowed, but they were the children of his already trusted associates.

Tobias was a nobody.

If his path was a Support type… Well, he would be a serf forever.

No matter what class I get, I plan to work in the stables for as long as I can, he told himself.

As usual, plans spun out in his mind. Some driven by desperation, some by hope. Maybe if he was assigned a warrior path, he could be a calvary fighter. That would be useful to the Overlord, right? Useful enough to be allowed to live? More importantly, he could still work with horses.

But the realistic voice in his mind said he would just be killed.

Shaking his head, he told himself his path assignment was out of his control.

Meanwhile, the horses still needed to be fed. He dipped the feed cup back in the grain and continued on down the line of stalls. Though he was kind to all of them, he gave a slightly extra amount of feed to two more of his favorites.

The first was a mule that, while not exceptional, at least had some spark left in its eyes. It had once kicked one of the Overlords’ lackeys and had somehow lived to tell the tale.

The third was a gray, flea-bitten mayor that was heavily pregnant. She, too, had a little spirit left. Though Tobias wondered if it was for the foal’s sake rather than her own.

These were his ‘specials’, though he would have liked to give extra grain to all the miserable beasts here.

Unfortunately, grain like this could be eaten by people in a pinch, and there wasn’t much food to go around.

People under level 10 still needed to regularly eat, but the Overlord was much more interested in war and leveling. He was only marginally interested in sustaining his population.

If these horses didn’t serve a purpose, they would’ve gone into the stew pot long ago. The ones that became sick or injured normally did.

After the horses had been fed, Tobias again checked at his timer.

He had just over five hours until his fate would be sealed.

Maybe it won’t be so bad, he thought with a sudden burst of optimism.

As if the System were punishing him, he heard the heavy front doors of the barn slam open on overworked hinges.

Tobias stiffened, though if he had been a little less disciplined, he would have rolled his eyes. That was the thing about all the warrior-levelers. They didn’t give a damn about breaking stuff because it wasn’t their job to fix it.

Then long years of practice with hiding took over. He slumped his shoulders and leaned hard against the handle of his rake, as if he were more exhausted from the day’s long work than he really was. He let his mouth go slightly slack and his eyes unfocused a little, as if he wasn’t thinking of anything at all.

He happened to be standing by the stallion’s stall, and maybe it was his imagination, but the Clydesdale gave him a derisive look.

A moment later, Brock, the sub-boss who ran the stables, rounded the corner and came stomping up to him.

Most people improved in looks when they leveled, but not Brock. Thin legs on top of a big gut and thinning dark hair that showed patches of a flaky scalp.

But only a fool would discount him or the power that seemed to roll off of him.

Tobias didn’t know his level exactly. Without access to the System, if he dared to identify — which would be a death sentence, if he were caught — he would only see question marks.

Not giving one glance to Tobias, the man strode up to the stallion and looked him over once with a pensive expression.

Then, to Tobias’s mild alarm, he whirled to face him. “You! Idiot.”

“Me, sir?” Tobias replied after a deliberate beat as if he were slow on the uptake.

It was a persona he had learned to take on as a shield after his mother died. Being an idiot around these parts wasn’t too uncommon. Many people couldn’t get past what the System had done to the world and everybody that they loved. So they just… shut down.

Or, like him, maybe they were faking it so as not to be noticed by people who would kill for a perceived slight.

Brock stepped forward and removed something from his storage ring. Before Tobias had time to react, something that felt like a brick slammed into his gut.

His breath exploded out, and he curled over, hands wrapping around the brick.

Only it wasn’t a brick. It was a box. An ordinary wooden box.

The difference between a high leveler and someone who had not even accessed the System yet was so great that simply handing Tobias an item had felt like a punch to the gut.

Tobias had to work not to vomit. He barely understood Brock’s words when the man spoke.

“You’re to deliver this to the Overlord directly,” he said, then turned away and inspected the Clydesdale again.

The horse pinned his ears to his skull and glared right back.

“Me? Deliver this to that… Overlord?” Tobias grunted out.

Without looking at him, Brock held up the back of his hand in a lazy threat. “Do I have to repeat myself?”

Tobias had seen this man kill for less. Simply handing him a box had almost knocked him flat. One slap would take off his head. Or if he were very unlucky, just break half the bones in his face and dislocate his jaw. Tobias had seen that happen, too. Those people usually starved because they couldn’t take in food.

Silently, he shook his head. And, clutching the box, he staggered out of the barn.

The moment he stepped out, the sense of peace he always felt around the horses fled. His heart began to race.

Normally the high levelers paid no attention to nobodies like him. What was this about?

He glanced down at the box and saw there weren’t any runes etched in the wood. Not even a lock. He wasn’t important enough for this to be a trap. This was a simple delivery request.

And there was no doubt in his mind Brock was giving Tobias a duty that he did not want to do himself.

After all, the Overlord killed his messengers if he was unhappy with the content of this message.

Swearing under his breath, Tobias staggered forward. Only once he was well away from the barn did he turn the corner and into a deep shadow. By that time, his stomach cramps had passed and his breathing had gotten easier, though he knew that his torso would be a mess of bruises by morning.

At least, it would be if accessing the System for the first time didn’t revitalize the mind and spirit. Or so he had been told.

Four and a half hours left.

Maybe that’s why he sent me on an errand he doesn’t want to do. Maybe they know I’m getting close to unlocking the System. I’m disposable.

But that made little sense. He was less than nothing. Brock hardly paid attention to him. He was random meat he could throw at the Overlord.

What am I going to do?

Well, no matter what he was too close to the barn to get caught taking a break. He wasn’t sure if Brock could see through the night. Rumor had it some warriors could.

Tobias breathed out deeply and then forced any expression off his face. Just kept himself blank and his movements slow and plodding as fit an idiot.

Then he continued to move down the road.

He knew where the Overlord was, of course. Past the outbuildings, residential shacks, randomly placed fields, and outdoor communal kitchens lay the short road up to the castle.

It had been built in the last five years, using the sweat, blood, and literal bones of the Support classers. The top of the castle peaks rose so high into the sky that on cloudy days, the top floor — the penthouse as the Overlord called it, was obscured. That gave the castle a more ominous appearance.

No way in hell was he going to trudge up there and hand over whatever this was that would piss off the Overlord so much that delivering it would be an automatic death sentence. Tobias wasn’t actually an idiot. He would not walk to his doom.

And he was going to see what this box was all about.

Why not? If his starting path was a warrior, he wouldn’t live to see tomorrow, anyway.

Tobias passed by other Support classers who drifted along the roads just as aimlessly as he did. Some limped, some coughed. Almost all kept their eyes down to their feet, not wanting to catch attention from somebody of higher rank.

Tobias shuffled for a few minutes until he was well out of sight of the barn. Then he turned to an alleyway, glanced in to make sure no one was using it as a sleep shelter or a piss pot, and knelt down.

Only then did he lift the wooden lid off the top of the box.

Mentally, he braced himself for magical backlash. As he did not have a connection to the System yet, he had absolutely no shielding. A magical attack would turn his mind to goop in an instant.

A light glowed from within the box, and Tobias almost shut it again out of reflex. But… he wasn’t burned. He looked again.

The glow came from a set of spurs. The type Tobias vaguely remembered from old cowboy movies. They gleamed with a magical steel blue shine, in the same way that the Overlord’s high-level weapons did.

And these were weapons. He could easily imagine them driving onto the flanks of the Clydesdale stallion. The Overlord’s new mount.

Rage, unlike anything he had felt in a long time, overtook him.

Tobias has seen a lot of bad things in his life. Not only the casual animal abuse, but the death of his mother, and the death of his father on that first day the System came to earth. Then all the little indignities and suffering he had endured since then.

Now, on the eve of his own System unlock, he had finally had enough.