The very next day, Blake followed the advice of his AI Assistant. He spent four hours at the construction site, using the three anima he had as a Rank 1 Challenger. He wanted to use his Lair to regenerate two anima during the day, but he kept this information to himself, as his bosses still believed him to be a just lowly Rank 1 Challenger.

Two of the missions available within his lair were tasks he could complete as part of his daily work. Firstly, he needed to finish one daily work order, which he was going to do anyway. Secondly, he needed to spend at least an hour with one of his monsters summoned.

Both tasks were easy to complete, and he received notifications once they were done, confirming that two Lair Energy had been added for use.

Blake did need to physically attend his Lair in order to activate the energy-to-anima conversion, but this was not a problem as he was working nearby in the sewers. He sent Harry a quick message through the New Meridia OS Messenger to say he wouldn’t be long. He’d already organized with Harry the night before that there were going to go outside the walls of the city that afternoon to get stronger.

Before heading into his Lair, Blake made sure no one was following him. Then he climbed through the labyrinth of pipes.

Once inside, Blake activated the conversion of energy-to-anima. Grinning, he watched as his available anima increased from zero to one, and then to two in the span of a few seconds.

Blake wondered whether there was a limit to the amount of energy his Lair could store, and his AI assistant provided this info.

This Monster Summoner’s Lair was very similar to a Challenger in that it had ranks. It could rise from Rank 1 through to Rank 5, and each of these newly achieved ranks would increase the amount of Lair Energy that could be stored at any one time. Leveling it up also had a whole host of other effects that would increase and compound over time.

Once Blake had received his replenished energy, he left the sewers and headed topside again. He met up with Harry just down the block.

Harry told him all about how life was in the Food Prep work crew. Blake was curious about how it all worked, so he asked Harry a whole bunch of questions as they walked.

Interestingly, one of the biggest vulnerabilities to New Meridia was that it didn’t actually have any food production facilities itself. It relied on food harvested from local monsters and wildlife, along with other resources that were harder to come by.

Harry explained that there were still a few farms around the place growing grains and vegetables, but they had their own issues with marauding monsters and hungry wildlife to contend with.

Naturally there were raiders, too. They were more dangerous than ever, because most of their outfits had at least one or two empowered Challengers.

According to Harry, many of the farmsteads around the place were growing into their own tiny little insulated and protected communities. They each needed hunters, defenders, and workers to keep everything in line.

The owners of the farms cultivated loyalty by sharing resources with those who worked for them, and giving the biggest prizes to those who were contributing the most. Some of the produce was sold to New Meridia, but begrudgingly.

“People out there really don’t like New Meridia,” Harry said.

“I can see why,” Blake answered. “There’s a dictator sitting in a tower telling everyone how to live, and taking a cut of everything they do.”

“It’s not just that. There’s just this angry undercurrent that the city itself exists. Like there's a part of this city that’s still grounded in the old world. You know, we’ve got sewage, power, hell we even have apartment buildings. Soon New Meridia will have a hospital, schools, and everything else it needs. The rest of the world out there is absolutely crumbling but everyone in the city is fine.”

“It’s only natural to covet what you don’t have, especially when you see someone who has so much more than you,” Blake said.

“The people out there don’t seem to realize that they have the freedom to do whatever they want, whenever they want. They can fight each other outside of sanctioned duels, and even choose what cards they want to play! How ridiculous is it that the system randomizes the cards you can draw?” Harry lifted his arms in an exasperated gesture. “The people out there can spend their days doing whatever they want without having to submit to city mandated work orders… I know that the Atlas security force is meant to be keeping us safe, but sometimes it honestly feels more like they’re trying to keep us scared. They want us to be uncomfortable, only so we’ll just keep doing what we’re told.”

Blake already knew that Harry had a rebellious streak a mile wide, but based on how little he was enjoying life in the city made it even more apparent.

“How long do you think you’re going to stay here?” Blake asked, cutting to the chase.

“I’ve already reached my threshold being told what to do by the man, so as soon as I can find a decent way to exit, I’m out of here,” Harry said.

“Do you think you’d go and live with one of those farming communities or something?”

“I don’t really know, man. Even out there I’d have someone tell me what to do and when to do it. I’ve never been good at that. It's cost me a lot of friendships, and a lot of people in my life. A lot of opportunities have just gone, too. But then again, I’ve had a lot more opportunities because I’ve been out there in the world more than other people, so you know, it all balances out.

“I guess it all comes down to what kind of life you want to live, right?” Harry shrugged. “Some people hate the idea of not knowing where they’re going to sleep every night, not knowing where their next meal is going to come from, but for me? Knowing what I have to do to keep a roof over my head, selling my soul to some other person just for money or credits, that's more terrifying than not knowing where my next meals are coming from.”

Blake could see both sides, but he found the opposite to be true.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

To live an ungrounded life was terrifying. Blake always knew that if things didn’t go well with school in Denver he’d be able to work at his father’s general store until his father was ready to retire. There was a life just waiting for him to step into it, even though it wasn’t the life he truly wanted.

There was security in having such a fallback, even if that fallback wasn’t perfect. Not having one at all… that was truly terrifying.

Before they left the city completely, Blake and Harry headed along to a relatively newly constructed facility called the City Hub. Anyone could visit it and see what current missions and quests were on offer in the city, as well as any supplies or power cards that the city had a bounty on.

Blake browsed through the mission list, and found they ranked from E to S. E Rank missions were the easiest to complete, with S Rank missions being the hardest.

Each rank of missions also required the Challenger who wanted to accept the job to have a specific rank or fulfill certain conditions. For example, S Rank missions could only be accepted by a Rank 5 challenger. However, E Rank missions could be taken by anybody, even the cardless.

The requirements and stakes for E Rank jobs were so low that basically anybody could do them. They were simple things like gathering resources, performing three deliveries for local businesses, and other mundane tasks that didn’t require people to leave the city limits.

Blake thought it was quite humorous that here in the apocalypse, The System had still found a way to keep people busy by delivering food, like all those apps you could order food through back in the before times.

The types of missions Blake and Harry looked for were ones beyond the city walls. They didn't want to raise any suspicion about why they were heading outside, as the Atlas Security Force that guarded the gates always asked a lot of questions. A mission in the wilds was a perfect cover.

Blake found a mission that they would be able to complete fairly easily. Better yet,, it would put them in the same location as a particular kind of monster he was chasing.

Apparently there was a quarry to the east of New Meridia where the stones wandered around by themselves. After killing a couple of the construction workers, the quarry was abandoned and now New Meridia wanted to secure that stone supply again to continue building the city.

The mission was pretty simple: Destroy 20 different animated stone monsters. The surprising thing was that they could actually change the number of monsters that they pledged to kill from 20 each all the way up to 50 each.

As Blake was about to accept this mission, the system asked him whether he wanted to include anyone else on this particular quest, and there were a couple of names available in a dropdown list.

Firstly, there was Harry Grenfell, which Blake added immediately. But to his surprise, Kenji Nakamura was also listed there, even though he wasn’t physically present with them.

Blake decided to keep this just between himself and Harry for the time being. He’d only started to get to know Kenji, and he didn’t want to reveal too much about the nature of his power cards to anyone he didn’t trust just yet.

Harry accepted the quest immediately. “Oh yeah, man! I’ve been after an earth element type card for ages. Hopefully these guys are going to give up the goods pretty quickly. Hey, let’s pump that up to 40 monsters each. I’ve got no doubt that we’ll be able to get through about that many in an hour or so.”

“Are you sure?” Blake asked. For his powers to be active for an hour, Harry would need to have at least two anima left. And he should have used all his anima doing his work order already. “How much anima do you have left?”

Harry gave Blake a sidelong smile. “Look, I know you should have used your three anima while you were doing your work order today as well. I’m not going to ask any questions about that, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t ask any questions about how I have anima reserves that I shouldn’t have. You get me?”

Harry tapped the side of his nose for effect.

“I can do a four hour shift of clearing drains without having to summon my monsters three times,” said Blake. “I’ve still got two anima left from my work order.”

“Well if that’s the case, I’ve got two anima left over from my work order as well,” Harry said with a wry smile.

Blake decided to drop it. It didn’t matter how or why Harry had more anima left – it only mattered that he was willing to use it in this mission with Blake that afternoon. They would both benefit from getting more power cards and other sought-after resources.

Blake and Harry headed out through the gate at the western side of New Meridia.

The guards had those little see-through personal tablet computer thingies that could scan someone, and they double-checked that both Blake and Harry were on the missions they said they were.

Blake and Harry were waved through, and next thing they knew they were outside the city walls.

“Just make sure you’re back before midnight. The gates are locked each day from midnight to sunrise,” the guard said as the gates closed.

The world outside had certainly changed. The landscape was littered with strange stone and rock formations. Many plumes of smoke rose into the air. Either Challengers or monsters who were empowered with fire and earth elements had moved through this place, reshaping it as they went.

The Wilds certainly felt like a more lawless place than inside the city. Back in New Meridia, you could only fight where they allowed you to duel, and any aggression between people would result in the offenders being exiled.

Blake had seen it happen first hand in his first week in the city. Clay Atlas’s soldiers were merciless and took absolutely no nonsense from anyone who resisted or gave them attitude.

It happened at a bar in downtown New Meridia. A man Blake only knew as ‘Jack’ from an overheard rant was seen arguing with a group of Atlas soldiers at a local tavern. He was drunk and appeared to be feeling bold, and then he activated a Fire Fists card and started swinging.

The soldiers subdued Jack with power card abilities of their own. They took him into custody and issued an exile order on the spot.

There was no appeals process, no trial, just the pure unadulterated authority bestowed upon the Atlas soldiers by the City Lord.

The city soldiers escorted Jack to the city gates, and he was forced to leave the city behind. Blake had followed along behind them and watched. He’d never seen Jack again.

As Blake walked away from the New Meridian gate, a waypoint marker appeared in his view. They had quite a bit of road to cover, and only a few hours before the sun was due to set. Alone, Blake would have been able to cross this distance without much trouble at all on the back of his Shaleskin Wolf. But he didn't know whether Harry had any movement speed increasing cards that he might be able to draw on to let him keep up.

However, now that Blake thought about it, the wolf was probably big enough for both of them to sit astride. The waypoint was just over a mile away, so it wouldn't take them long to reach their target.

Blake was wary about using anima before he was ready just in case he needed to call on it during combat. But if the quarry itself was only a mile away, then it would probably be a pretty quick ride on wolfback.

Blake took his Shale Skin card out of his deck and played it. The Shaleskin Wolf appeared in front of him in a burst of light, and Blake stepped up using the stone plates on the side of the wolf’s body. A saddle appeared as though the wolf and the system understood Blake’s intent to ride the monster. Once Blake had sat down and gotten comfortable, he beckoned Harry to join him.

“Come on up. The faster we move, the quicker we get there, and the more chances we have to find some power cards before we get locked out,” Blake said.

“Are you sure your wolf isn't going to like try and eat me or something?” Harry asked.

"If I wanted him to eat you, you'd already be dead. Climb up on the back and we'll be off."

Harry scaled the wolf, gripping the stone protrusions from its skin. Once atop, he straddled the beast and braced himself.

"Grab onto the rocks on its back," Blake advised. He watched Harry struggle to secure his hold, worried that the wolf's movement might dislodge him.

Initially, Blake commanded the wolf to run at half speed. Seeing Harry cling on, he ramped it up to three-quarters of its top speed.

Despite Harry's alarmed noises as they raced toward their destination, Blake marveled at his tenacity. He braced for the sound of a thud or an impact as Harry fell off, but somehow Harry managed to cling on.