“Increase my [Reason] by two points,” I said.

[THIS COMMAND CANNOT BE CARRIED OUT]

“Why not?”

[YOU HAVE ALREADY REACHED THE CURRENT HUMAN LIMIT FOR THE REASON STAT]

In the game Dungeon King - which I was starting to realize bore a suspicious similarity to the Revelation System - the standard human limit for stats was twenty. Why was mine set at eighteen? After a moment, I realized that my limit was reduced by the brain injury. If not for that debuff, my [Reason] stat would have been twenty.

“Okay,” I said, disappointed. “Increase my [Memory] stat by two points.”

Mind: 16

Reason: 18

Perception: 15

Memory: 17

Noting that my [Mind] stat still sat at 16, I closed my [Menu]. The average of my mental stats would be 16.67, which should have rounded up. The System must have always rounded down the [Body] and [Mind] stats, I figured.

There was one last change to my [Menu]. Beside the textbox that read “Level One,” there were now three unfilled check boxes. When I leveled up, I must have gained another spell slot.

[EXP TO NEXT LEVEL: 238]

I navigated over to the [Crafting] page and considered the large table of potential crafting blueprints. At the top of the page, the System informed me that I could unlock one more Tier I blueprint.

In my mind at the time, everything was secondary to crafting progression. I had to find something in that table that would allow me to escape the inevitable shockwave. If I could even find some way to teleport to the other side of the planet, I could buy myself a few more hours. My position so close to the Atlantic Ocean cut down on my available time significantly.

“System. Are there any items in Tier I that would allow me to travel faster than the speed of sound?” I asked, though I had little hope that my query would garner any valuable information. What was the chance that the first Tier of a crafting list would contain aircraft, teleporters, or spaceships?

[AFFIRMATIVE]

[THERE ARE 3 ITEMS THAT MATCH YOUR CRITERIA]

Wow, three? I wasn’t even expecting there to be a single one. As I looked, the crafting list was replaced with three silhouettes. I quickly hovered my cursor over the items and read their names.

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Sarcophagus Starship: 200 Starsteel.

Short-Jump Teleporter: 800 Starsteel, 1,500 Spiritwood, 950 Mithril.

Naskal Airship (Primitive): 30,000 Spiritwood, 12,000 Mithril.

Immediately, I recognized the Sarcophagus Starship. It was the same design as Epsilon’s ship. A spark of hope began to burn in my chest as I realized that creating the starship wouldn’t be that difficult. If I could just find a source of Starsteel and set up my own Workshop within two hours, I would be able to escape the atmosphere in time.

There was, however, the problem of the starship’s limited size. It could barely fit a single adult, and there certainly wasn’t enough space inside to hold a significant amount of food, but that was a problem I would deal with after the immediate threat to my life was handled.

I frantically clicked the button to unlock the blueprint for the Sarcophagus Starship, and the silhouette transformed into the silver casket that I had run into just a few minutes before.

[NEW QUEST, REACH FOR THE STARS: CONSTRUCT A SARCOPHAGUS STARSHIP, +200 EXP]

With hope in my heart and a goal in my mind, I continued walking toward the Carolina Union. Surely, someone there would know where I could find some Starsteel.

After just a few steps, however, I turned a corner and saw two Diluvians standing in wait just a few feet away from me. They must have heard my earlier conflict and decided to wait in ambush.

I was faster on the draw, and one of the two Diluvians caught two bolts to the chest. One of my shots deflected off the Diluvian’s chest. The scattered lances of red light struck a few nearby study cubicles, and they were instantly reduced to smoldering magma. I winced as the Diluvian fell to the ground dead and hoped that no one had been hiding inside of those cubicles.

Before I could readjust to hit the other monster, it had closed to melee range. It slashed at me with massive, bleeding claws that moved at a speed impossible for a normal beast. A few inches before the claws struck the skull, a bright spherical shield of light appeared out of nowhere, and the Diluvian was pushed back.

Thank God. My Shield Generator worked.

As the Diluvian regained its balance, I took my opportunity. Two quick bolts struck the Diluvian in the chest, and it fell to the ground dead.

[DILUVIAN KILLED! +60 EXP, +60 CREDITS]

[DILUVIAN KILLED! +30 EXP, +30 CREDITS]

[EXP TO NEXT LEVEL: 120]

[TOTAL CREDITS: 230₪]

I wondered why the System had given me fewer EXP again but decided to deal with it later. Out of the side of my eye, I glanced down at the shield generator on my wrist.

MDC: 16/20

The deafening sound of collapsing steel and concrete drew my attention away from my watch after a second. I looked fearfully toward the source of the sound and saw that a portion of the basement far to my right had collapsed completely. With my gun pointed toward the collapsed ceiling, I scanned the room for enemies.

As I looked around, however, I saw that the collapse was not caused by an enemy presence but by my own ricocheting attacks. Many of the basement’s walls had been reduced to burning slag by my laser pistol, and the load-bearing pillars within had been compromised.

I hadn’t even targeted the walls intentionally, yet my brief fight with the Diluvians had almost caused the basement to collapse. The collateral damage of my gun alone caused more damage than a wrecking crew could possibly do over the course of several hours. At least I wasn’t under the Carolina Union yet. I had caused a small portion of a rarely-used academic building to collapse underground, but I figured there would probably be no one hiding in there. The fleeing students would hide in the Union, most likely.

Based on the exposed rebar and smoldering concrete, I realized that this portion of the basement would collapse if I used the laser pistol any more. I swiftly returned my gun to its holster and switched my knife to my off hand.

The rest of my trip to the Carolina Union was thankfully short, and I reached the stairs leading up to the building without further incident. I returned my utility knife to its sheath as I walked up the stairs.

The murmuring sound of fearful students gave me some hope. Despite the devastation and carnage, I finally had some evidence that there were other survivors.