“Mhmm… Is that so… Well, I think we won’t do that,” Eugene said.

“The fuck you saying! You want Fernando to hear about this!” the hispanic gang member said.

“Yeah sure, go on ahead. You can tell him. The agreement was neutrality. I don’t see why I should waste my time chasing a bunch of nobodies. I’ve got shiz to do,” Eugene said, with an arrogant smile on his face.

The gang member took a step towards Eugene, trying to intimidate him. Eugene didn’t move.

“You sure about that, boy?” The gang member said.

“You wanna break the truce?” Eugene said.

There was a moment of silence while Eugene’s people and the hispanics all stared at each other, ready to fight.

The gang member took a step back. He said nothing and turned around to leave the Butterfly Monster zone, which belonged to the football team. They were heading to the Grasshopper Monster zone which belonged to the hispanic gang.

Eugene turned around and looked at the makeshift camp made of cheap tents.

“Alright y’all, let’s run some more spear drills!”

…

When Brian opened the door, he spotted two hispanic gang members sleeping in front of it, with their backs turned against the door. They were surrounded by cans of beer and an open bag of chips.

Brian stopped abruptly and Jack accidentally walked into him, making Brian hit the metal door and make some noise.

He saw one of the gang members waking up.

Brian turned around and yanked the machete out of Jack’s hand. He did an overhand cut into the skull of the man waking up. He slashed again 3 times more into his neck.

The other man was still sleeping and he slashed into that man’s neck 5 times.

He then looked around for other people in front of the metal building and saw none.

They quickly looted the two hispanics. Two guns. Two smartphones. Cash. And one skill crystal.

Fuck yeah!

Nobody spoke. They were quickly looted, then ran away.

They stopped at an abandoned warehouse. They made Lucas pack all his stuff and hand over his backpack. And they gave him the skill crystal they stole.

“I hope you get something useful,” Jack said.

“Don’t jinx me,” Lucas said with a smile.

There was a sad mood. They knew that they wouldn’t be seeing Lucas for a while. Not until his hand naturally healed or they managed to figure out the healing spell.

Jack and Brian gave him cash and called him a cab to a local hospital.

“You better get that spell working fast,” Lucas said, before getting into the cab.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

They tossed out the golf club and stashed the machete and the baseball bat and the third gun in the backpacks. They cleaned up as much as they could and went to a motel to sleep for the night.

It was the best sleep they had gotten in a long time. They woke up refreshed and showered. And their smartphones were fully charged.

“You think that Enhanced Bodily Recovery skill makes us sleep better?” Brian said.

“Maybe? It sounded like a very general skill,” Jack said.

“I feel like I slept better. Anyways, so what now?” Jack said.

“Well. Two problems. How do we get back into the game? And, when in the game, how do we get more challenges? Safe challenges, that is,” Brian said.

“Maybe we can get in touch with Eugene? Get some more info from him? I’m not sure. Or wander around in the game world,” Jack said.

They went to a local pawnshop and sold the two smartphones and all the leather. They bought more bullets and a lot of supplies, enough to last them weeks. Then they sneaked over to the metal building in the Industrial Area.

“Fuck this!” Jack whispered.

They ran away when they saw all the hispanics gathered around the entrance.

…

Lucas stared out the window. Then stared at his hand covered in bandages. He was lying in the hospital bed.

He pulled out the small, yellow skill crystal and stared at it for a minute.

“Please give me healing or some shit. I hate this. I’m so bored,” Lucas said.

He squeezed the skill crystal until it popped into yellow energy and absorbed his hand.

Arithmetic: Rank 1

Instead of cursing like he normally would after he got a bad skill, he just laughed.

…

“What the fuck now?” Jack said.

“I don’t know. That place is fucking dead forever. Jesus,” Brian said.

“Okay, think. We need to get into the game. What do we do?”

There was a moment of silence.

“You know, I think I’ve never seen anyone except us use that small metal building to get into the game. And there were a hell of a lot of people in that stone plaza. There’s probably other metal buildings we can use. And I have a pretty good idea where one of them is,” Brian said and smiled.

Greentown College district was almost as big as the Industrial district. And in the richer part of town. Lucas and Brian took a cab there.

All of the college students and teachers ignored the two as they roamed around the student housing and campus. It took them a few hours until they spotted it.

“Jackpot,” Brian said, and pointed at the metal building. It looked almost like an exact replica of the one they used.

“Why is everyone just walking past this?” Jack said.

“Yeah, it’s like they can’t even see it. Wait a minute,” Brian said.

He ran up to a college student and asked if he could see the metal building. He was met with a confused stare and told Brian to fuck off with his prank video.

“Well, I hope this works. As soon as we get into that stone plaza, we make a run for it,” Brian said.

“We don’t even know if it’ll accept our QR code. Also, we are not going into the game yet. I have a plan. I don’t think we’ll have to run away as soon as we get inside,” Jack said.

“What do you mean?” Brian said.

“Okay, so here’s the plan…”

/////////

Jack:

Knife Fighting: Rank 1

Knife Fighting: Rank 2

Python (programming language): Rank 1

Mana generation: Rank 1

Sand to Glass Conversion Mana Blueprint: Rank 1

Healing Mana Blueprint: Rank 1

Origami: Rank 1

Enhanced Bodily Recovery: Rank 1

Brian:

Shield Defending: Rank 1

Marksmanship (pistol): Rank 1

Right Arm Increased Strength: Rank 1

Mana manipulation: Rank 1

Mana Sense: Rank 1

Enhanced Propriosense in Toes: Rank 1

Enhanced Bodily Recovery: Rank 1

Enhanced Vision: Rank 1

Lucas:

Insect Movement Control: Rank 1

Enlarged Penis: Rank 1

Mana sense: Rank 1

Mana Manipulation: Rank 1

Surfing: Rank 1

Arithmetic: Rank 1