Outside, Tenner stepped on ground that was brown and barren, sometimes covered in tiny purple shards and ancient wires. Dirty clouds lingered eight meters above the surface, giving the air a gritty, hard-to-breathe texture. This sight couldn’t be real. He’d walk a dozen meters and he’d see that… it wasn’t all just wasteland and devastation… Right?!

With shaking hands, Tenner took the map of the Realm out of his pocket, threw it on the ground and stomped until its death. He spun in circles. Frantically searching for signs, his eyes caught a glimpse of the structure he’d exited: a massive dome covered in numerous sizes of pipes, wires, vents and mechanisms. On one side, a hologram with the words “EXPORTS” floated over a docking port, on the other -- “LIVING SUPPLIES”.

Looking from another angle, Tenner could see that screens made up the dome’s walls: their backs were opaque, but their sides were like one-way mirrors. The barrier. Tenner followed his footsteps back to the exit and stared inside.

The neighborhood he knew, full of modern buildings, familiar people and skylines of a city always tainted by a beautiful sunset reflected off tears in his eyes. The last time he’d cried was years ago. Tears were a sign of weakness -- someone who he wasn’t.

Grunting, Tenner turned away from the Realm. “Nope. No. Never.” He wiped his cheeks the second drops landed on them. “I refuse to cry. And I definitely won’t accept seeing this.”

The loosely tucked cards fell out of his shoe and the wind blew them away. The polaroids followed. Tenner reached for the mementos then stopped his hand, letting the desolation swallow them. The same hand reached to annihilate a new tear from his skin. Again, he stopped it.

Shit. It’s real. All of this is real and everything I’ve known and lived isn’t.

Tenner sighed and his thoughts stopped rushing. He looked over his shoulder. The red door was still open. Behind it floated the wall of rats with a Tenner-shaped hole in the middle. He could still choose the red door. He could still return.

Live a comfortable illusion like every other weakling of Realm 349. No worries. Food and television will be provided by the mysterious force. Just come back, it whispered in his head. Or do you want to struggle in the devastation for your entire life? Follow your foolish dreams of greatness? Foolish ideals of helping others with your voice?

Time gave up on flowing for a moment. Tenner’s shoulders tightened, jaw clenched, breathing slowed.

[Warning! Damage: -1 to health]

Tenner slapped himself with the burnt hand. Returning would be death without dying. And the neighborhood was brutal to anyone out of line -- his parents were tortured for years. If the community figured out he’d killed a hobo, or that their chosen one had the chance to see the world beyond the invisible wall, but didn’t…

This was where Tenner belonged. Escaping the Realm, he’d learned that he had to jump into some dark holes, give up some responsibilities, hurt some people and use some evil methods. Now that this was the outside, he might even use them without having his thoughts intruded upon. After all, he was from his home -- the place where they came to be.

I’m better than them.

The red door shut and dirty mist enveloped him. He looked straight ahead.

Tenner walked alone, facing the unknown. His body felt all of sorts of pain and aches, but his mind, once the whiplash faded, felt as clear as ever. He didn’t know where this decision would lead him, but knowing that he made it, he was certain he’d end up in the right place.

One more choice remained.

Realm 349 still functioned so there had to be more realms and nooks of civilization that had adapted to the desolation. Yet with the world in this state, Tenner couldn’t become a rockstar. His path would be that of classes. And now, he felt that he wasn’t destined for fame anyway. He was a better mastermind than songwriter, a better bounty hunter than a performer and a better hench than an interviewee.

“Classes.”

[You have no class.

You are LVL 1 (or above) and are allowed to claim one.]

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[Warning: choose wisely -- once a class is chosen, being will remain with it for their entire lives.]

[Classes available:

-Hench

-Bounty Hunter

-Mastermind]

It was a tough and important choice that would determine his entire future. Worrying, right? Well, even though he stopped and stared at the cold CHEK screens, Tenner gut led him to the right choice. He could see when he killed and claimed a bounty from the hobo’s death. He’d masterfully destroyed the powerful robots then went on to sneak through the moronos. He grinned. Yeah, I don’t want to waste this arsenal of skills. The light winds buried his feet in dirt and purple shards as he remained still, eyeing [Bounty Hunter]. Hunters specialized in everything -- being a hunter was destined for him.

Mom would’ve chosen mastermind. Dad’s obviously a hench, that thought pushed him over the edge.

[Are you sure you want to choose “Bounty Hunter”?]

[Applying class…]

The CHEK flashed yellow and the screens in Tenner’s view disappeared. Pain rushed through his veins and nerves, knocking him to the dirt. Tenner groaned and rolled around, like in the middle of a fight against a ghost. In a minute, his body was buried and every centimeter of him -- covered in dust.

The sensory overload was twice as bad and long, but then it stopped in a snap, no pain or twitching remaining.

[Congratulations! You are now a Bounty Hunter!]

[Congratulations! LVL up | Reward: +1 Intelligence; +2 Strength; +2 Endurance | Lessened dependance on LVL up]

[Congratulations! Gained perk: Predator I ]

[Congratulations! Upgraded perk: Way of the Door-opener I now Way of the Door-opener II]

[Health Regenerated ++]

It coincided with a level-up that gave him the effects of two processes at once. Dizzy, Tenner spent a few minutes digging himself out and getting to his feet. Great that there are no after effects, he thought. Wonder why it’s like that and if the perks are worth the pain this time--

[Way of the Door Opener II

Bonus: +1 Reaction; +8% chance to succeed in picking a lock]

[Fate Is My Weapon I

Bonus: +1 Luck; 2% chance to impair surrounding CHEK’s physical skills; ????]

[Predator I

Bonus: + 1 Stealth; -2% to the sound of footsteps; ????]

Blue screens without a verbal command -- now that was a level up bonus worth the suffering! Indeed, it could lead to some bad situations, but the convenience was incredible.

[Class: Bounty Hunter

Class LVL: 0

Class LVL XP: 43

Ranking: ????

Contract: --- ]

[Class Settings]

[Class Path]

Ranking? Contract?

[Ranking -- user’s rank compared to every other bounty hunter.]

[Contract -- user’s current contract (can be attained on the “Bounties” screen)]

Bounties screen?

Nearby bounties: ---

Worldwide bounties: 8334

[Expand worldwide bounties?]

Thoughtlessly, Tenner agreed. Row after row of screens filled his vision at a speed where the appearing entries looked like flickering lights.

“Dismiss!” He threw his head back. Going blind from ten thousand bounties wasn’t a good idea. He reopened the class, focused on the settings and-- stopped.

A quite fluffy, chicken-like being with sharp fangs, a green beak and a ragged scarf around its neck wandered in front and stared at him in curiosity. Cute, Tenner first thought, then, does it want to kill me? popped into his head. A quiet “inspect” left his lips.

[Name: Wandering Dafa

HP: 25]

[Non-C creature]

Its name had “wandering” instead of “vicious” -- a good sign. Also, inspecting now showed health. Useful in fights. With the perks and gained health, the CHEK assured it was as powerful as it claimed. Dismissing every screen, Tenner crouched and snatched the dafa.

[Congratulations! Gained perk: Animal Tamer I]

No more waiting for those awful level ups to get perks, too. Satisfied with what he gained from choosing the class, Tenner realized one more thing, at this pace, I’ll be on par with god in a few weeks--

[Warning! Damage: -1 to health]

The dafa bit his finger and released a giggle-like sound.

“The chosen one is not your meal,” Tenner said. “I’m a bounty hunter. Which is the same thing as a musician, but instead of making the world a better place with my voice, I’ll be doing it by slaughtering bad guys and villains.”

The defa stared blankly.

“Certainly, I can’t kill ‘em all. But I can be great at what I do. I can save some people. I can be different from them.” He tossed his hand towards the Realm.

The dafa jumped at the opportunity to free itself and scuttled away.

The vision of a meal on a stick above a fire in his eyes, Tenner snatched the bird again. “You think you can challenge me? I’m the soon to be greatest bounty hunter of all time! It’s a wasteland too. I’m gonna need foo-- friends.”

The look in the bird’s eyes made it obvious -- it didn’t fall for his words.