[Jack Bright]

A month, an entire month, has passed since that incident with the Foundation. So much has happened since then, especially when we first arrived at our new home, if you want to call it that. Everyone worked or did something to help our quaint...'town.' Everyone had to work if they wanted to eat; everyone had a job. We could not afford to be lazy, especially between the nightly attacks by the staff and the potential encounter with one of the monsters outside their habitats.

We've run into some scary things that lurk in the four biomes that surround the 'ARK,' as we call the giant floating obelisk in the sky near the portal. We were constantly on the lookout both outside and toward the portal. For all we knew, at any moment, a wave of Staff or a tide of monsters could come spilling out from both ways.

Suddenly, my thoughts were interrupted by one of my men.

"Bright? It's time," one of my subordinates said before walking away, likely to meet me at the security gate after he's made his preparations.

By 'It's time,' what he really meant was that it was our turn to run the gauntlet and continue exploring the Jungle in an attempt to find a route in which we could escape and get as far from the portal as possible.

As I made my way through town, I couldn't help but glance at the great progress we've made. With the rise of classes and the...gifts the Obelisk and its terminals have given us, everyone was far healthier and stronger than they used to be, to the point that even the older members of our little settlement have regained a bit of their youth.

With everyone feeling far stronger and able to work far longer than they were used to, within weeks, we transformed our town into a quite literal town. We've built many communal log cabins, large walls made entirely of thick wooden logs from the Jungle that we dragged all the way to the town. We even went as far as to build three sections of wooden walls around the Obelisk to act as a safeguard against any sudden attack from the Staff in the IKEA.

So much has happened, so much has changed.

I was beginning to think that everyone here was becoming content. Escaping is no longer at the forefront of most people's minds because they feel they've already escaped. Personally, Bright believes that they traded one hell for another, not that he would know just how right he was for quite some time.

While most became content with their new lives now that they were out of the IKEA, some still wanted to return to their families, regardless of how many years they've been trapped in the IKEA, such as Sarah, Vernon, and Clair, though Clair would not openly admit that she still wished to see her family, even if she's been trapped in the IKEA since she was a child.

Bright...Bright had nothing to go back to. The world he knew was long gone and likely a desolate wasteland by now, covered in horrifying monstrosities and entities. This place, these people, they were his home, his family. He cared for them...even though he would outlive all of them. That was his curse, but he would not let that hold him back.

Soon enough, he reached the security station, one of four that made the perimeter around the Obelisk, which was constructed by the same people who probably built the Obelisk as well.

Stolen story; please report.

Seeing some of his men and women already waiting for him but still missing a few more, Bright calmly approached everyone.

"Hey, boss, where are we going this time?" One of his men asked, leaning on the wall of the small building that acted as the security station.

"The usual. You all know that it's best if we scout out the Jungle as best as we can. The other areas are just too dangerous," Bright answered with a sigh.

Truthfully, all of the biomes were dangerous in their own ways. It's just that they've already come across a good number of the creatures that call the Jungle home, and the Jungle is the biome they've mapped out the most by a far margin compared to the other biomes. Not to mention, the Jungle had far fewer external factors that they'd have to worry about.

In the Swamp, you'd constantly have to worry about leeches, mosquitos, toxic fumes, and other nasty things. In the Arctic Forest, you had to worry about the pitfalls hidden by the snow, the snowstorms, the bitter cold that easily flowed through their clothes, and the ambushing nature that most of the creatures in that forest tended to use. In the desert, you had to worry about quicksand, pitfalls hidden by sand, buried monsters waiting to ambush, the blistering heat, and the birds.

Just thinking about the birds in the desert made Bright curse and angry.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Bright summoned his status.

/----------=+=----------\

Name: Jack Bright

Race: Human (Possessed)

Class: Aspiring Mage

Level: 68

EXP: 13%

Health: 390/390 (37.5 per hour)

Mana 1,160/1,160 (240 per hour)

Stamina: 175/175 (30 Per Hour)

[Phyiscal Stats]

Strength: 8 -> 30

Agility: 12 -> 20

Endurance: 9 -> 30

Vitality: 8 -> 30

Perception: 9 -> 30

Reaction: 12 -> 20

[Mental Stats]

Intelligence: 29 -> 200

Wisdom: 34 -> 190

Willpower: 25 -> 50

Resistance: 25

Control: 10 -> 78

Focus: 25 -> 30

Class Skills: [Mana Bolt Lvl 92], [Mana Sense Lvl 53], [Meditation Lvl 21], [Spark Lvl 14], [Mana Shield Lvl 16]

General Skills: [Sprint Lvl 26], [Heavy Blow Lvl 14]

Racial Skills: [Adaptable]

Resistances: [Heat Resistance Lvl 14], [Cold Resistance Lvl 18], [Pain Tolerance Lvl 23]

Perks: [Enhanced Mana Capacity], [Enhanced Vitality], [Enhanced Stamina]

Level Up Rewards: +5 HP, +10 MP, +3 Free Stat Points, +2 Wisdom, +2 Intelligence, +1 Control Per Level

\----------=+=----------/

It's insane to see how much Bright has grown.

Mana Bolt was almost to level 100, and Bright got two new perks at level 25 and 50, respectively. His mana was over 1,000 units, allowing him to cast dozens of Mana bolts before he ran out of mana and thousands, if not more, of [Spark] without running out of mana. He also had the option to choose two new skills at levels 25 and 50, and while he had new options, he still ultimately went with the two skills he was offered before.

Spark would allow me to do what it said: create a spark. It's come quite in handy when he needed to set things on fire. Meanwhile, the Mana shield acted as a small blue shield of mana he could create to block attacks, something that's already proved useful on multiple occasions.

They were lucky that we healed as fast as we did; otherwise, those of us who actively explored the biomes would have long since been put out of commission. The biomes were just that dangerous.

Bright was not the strongest; that title belongs to Jay, but He was at least in the top three in terms of sheer destructibility. He could throw out a literal hail of Mana bolts, nearly 50 of them before he ran out of mana and needed a few hours to recharge. That was his weakness, so to say, he was limited by my mana. That's why he started pumping more points into Wisdom. He needed the mana regeneration it gave.

Speaking of which, Jay and the other 'Warriors' were instead limited by their stamina, as most of their skills used a mix of stamina and mana, depending on the skill. They went the route of tanks, focusing most of their skill points on their physical attributes, while Bright acted more as a glass cannon. That's why Bright typically was in the middle of the group, so the others could protect him when they were inevitably attacked. That was one thing that was guaranteed when it came to the Jungle or the other biomes: they were almost certainly going to be attacked by one of the monsters that call the biomes home.

Once everyone arrived, Bright and the others headed out.