“Wait, wait! I’m not ready. I need a minute.”

Haley started panicking as Mason tied his vine on the railing and said they’d be climbing down.

“My brother’s out there,” he said more harshly than he intended. “And he needs me. So either I tie this to you and lower you down, or you climb down. Go ahead and decide.”

Haley’s ample chest was rising and falling with deep, fearful breaths as she looked over the rail.

“What I mean is,” she licked her lips. “I need to store all this stuff.” She gestured at the barrels.

“What do you mean, ‘store it’?”

“I mean I’m an Assistant, and as part of my class I have a kind of…invisible, untouchable storage space. And I can pretty much fit all this stuff. I assume you’d like me to do that?”

He shrugged, then nodded, thinking that sounded vaguely crazy. Except, you know, robot apocalypse. Haley walked to the provisions.

“I can fit the barrels, too. So it’ll be easy.”

Then one by one, the whole damn, maybe forty pound containers full of water and food, vanished into thin air.

“OK,” Haley took a breath and put a long, toned leg over the rail. “I can climb, I think. I mean I’ll try.”

Her hands were shaking like leaves, and Mason shook his head.

“Come here.” He tied the vine around her like a harness, over her shoulders and down beneath her thighs. As he wrapped it he had to put his hands all over her, and tried not to notice how soft and amazing she felt. “Hold onto it just in case. When you get to the ground, just stand there. I’ll tie it off up here, climb down and get you out.”

“OK,” she said, biting her lip. “Are you sure it won’t break?”

He met her eyes, and lied.

“I’m sure.”

But the vines were incredibly strong. They’d held much heavier, much more violent things than a little French Canadian girl, and he didn’t worry much. When he finally coaxed her off the rail, he lowered her down hand over hand, and could hardly believe how easy it was. Apparently, he was getting stronger. He opened his profile as he lowered the vine.

Mason Nimitz

Class: Ranger

Strength:7

Dexterity:11

Vitality:10

Intellect:4

Will:7

Presence:2

Luck: 4

Titles: Killer, Early Lead, Soloist, Crazy like a Fox, Burnt the Boats

Powers: Power Shot, Crippling Strike+, Regeneration, Predator’s Strike, *Nature Affinity, Ranger’s Claw, Endless Quiver, Trapmaking, Aspect of the Wolf

[Level up still in progress. Please choose a secondary class before you leave your current dungeon, or one will be selected for you.]

“Shit,” Mason muttered as he realized. He hadn’t asked Blake what class he was or anything. Not that he’d had much time.

Damn stingy robot god.

All that risk and effort and his reward had been about a minute of seeing his brother? He’d have to be more careful with any kind of deals in the future, saying exactly what he wanted before he agreed.

Ironically, his brother would be far better at such things—even when they were little, he’d always thought like a lawyer.

The thought and image of Blake made him smile. In that small window his brother had looked healthy and safe with some allies, which was about as much as Mason could have hoped for. Now he just had to get to him.

[Available secondary classes: Archer, Druid, Rogue, Skirmisher, Warrior.]

Well, that was promising. But what exactly did ‘secondary’ class mean?

[Tutorial query: A secondary class will provide some, but not all, of the benefits of a class. A player’s primary class determines his main focus, while a secondary class acts as supplemental support and synergy.]

Alright, then. Straight forward enough. And since he had no idea what benefits he’d get, only getting some didn’t make much difference. He realized Haley was already on the ground now and looking at him with confusion, but she could wait. He tied the vine around the rail, and looked at the descriptions.

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[Archer: Martial affinity. Ranged damage specialist. May follow several paths, but all lead to killing from afar.]

[Druid: Nature affinity. The druid is a natural student of magic. Capable of inflicting elemental destruction, protection, and support. This class is especially dangerous in natural environments.]

[Rogue: Martial affinity. A specialist in subterfuge and ambush, the rogue is a fragile but deadly weapon.]

[Warrior. Martial affinity. A versatile melee specialist, with powers usable by many weapons. Can be offensive or defensive in focus.]

Mason exhaled, unsure. Some of these he could have chosen for his ‘main’ class back at level one, which he suspected meant these too would ‘upgrade’ just as hunter had become ranger. Instinct told him that being a specialist was the path to greater power.

Druid was the only class that shared his nature affinity, and he had already seen the immense power of the gnoll shamans. On the other hand, suddenly using mana might make his casting weak and fail to properly enhance his main advantages of physical speed and strength. He clenched his teeth, struggling to decide.

Druid would make him even more vulnerable in ‘non-natural environments’, but then he had no intention of ever being in one. He’d stay in the wild, moving fast, keeping quiet, and make anything that wanted to kill him come where he was strong. And maybe being a druid would help him find his brother, or survive better in the giant forest that seemed to be his world.

He soon realized he knew what he wanted, and stopped screwing around. It was worth the risks. He chose druid.

[Level in progress. Stat progression modification. Mana gained. Synergy discovered. Immediate power change: Aspect of the wolf: Aspect of the Cheetah]

[Title gained. Progenitor. +2 to all relevant statistics. You are the first player in the world to gain a secondary class.]

Mason grinned as he lowered himself down. Whatever exactly the power modification did, he knew cheetahs were bloody fast. And the first to gain a second class? Out of everyone in the world?

He was starting to think people were definitely not meant to wander into dungeons all by themselves. And definitely not survive the experience.

As he stepped down to the hard wooden floor, his vision blurred, and the cavern swayed slightly. He closed his eyes and took deep, steadying breaths.

[Incorporating new class.]

“Patron? Mason?”

The girl’s voice was concerned and very far away as Mason stumbled, then collapsed. He heard a strange whirring sound and looked up, the air blurring and mixing with some kind of dull light.

He saw bits and pieces of ghostly text, just as he did when he received messages, but these were jumbled and mostly nonsense. It helped not to focus too hard, and when he did he could make out a few words amongst the garbled nonsense, just as he had when he’d gained Apex Predator.

[Extreme anomaly]

[0.004% survival likelihood. Enhanced observance recommended]

[/subsys escalation]

[Uniqueness Acknowledged]

[Incorporation complete]

Mason’s sickness ended instantly. He noticed a little blue tinge in his peripheral vision and somehow knew this represented his mana. So it must have worked.

He shook his head and stood, finding Haley had wrapped her arms around him to help him stand. She was kind, it seemed, as well as beautiful. That was going to make what he had to do harder.

“Thanks.” He gently pushed her away. “So, look. I need to find my brother.”

“Right.” She nodded, like she was preparing herself for the effort.

“Finding him is probably going to mean I have to cover a huge amount of ground, as fast as possible.” He really didn’t know how to say it. “There’s a giant forest outside. And I’m intending to basically run everywhere I go.”

“OK,” she said, a little caution in her voice now.

“You’re going to slow me down,” he finally managed, “and I just can’t allow that.”

The girl’s blue eyes widened.

“But, we have a contract.”

“Yeah.” Mason put a hand on the back of his neck. “I didn’t plan for that. I saved you because you needed saving. I didn’t expect any kind of…reward. I mean I’m glad you’re OK, but I can just end the contract, and you can go wherever you want from here.”

A little wetness formed in the girl’s eyes.

“Where will I go?”

“I…don’t know. I hardly know where I am.” Mason tightened a fist, angry that on top of everything else, suddenly this helpless girl’s fate was his problem. “I mean, how did you end up here?”

Haley wiped a tear and smeared her make-up. “I chose civilian. At the start. Then it asked me to choose from some options, and I picked high risk, high reward. Then it put me here.”

“Wait.” Mason could hardly believe what he was hearing. “You chose danger? I mean, what the hell were the chances anyone even found this place? Do you know how unlikely that was? How damn lucky you are? Everyone else was getting fucking slaughtered out there.”

Haley met his eyes, not backing down.

“I was afraid in my last life. Afraid to live, afraid to die, afraid to feel. I knew this was a second chance. I don’t want to be afraid anymore. I knew I needed a patron. I wanted a strong one, and here you are.”

Mason shook his head, again not sure how to say it, but took inspiration from what the girl said. This was a new life, a second chance. Time to stop beating around the bush and just bloody say what he meant.

“Let’s say I take you, what’s in it for me?”

“I’m an Assistant,” Haley said, as if that explained everything.

Mason gestured at the giant gnoll corpses, then at the wooden tree dungeon in general.

“Do you see any office buildings, Haley? I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but I don’t exactly need a personal assistant.”

“Maybe not yet,” she said. “But this is a very large game, patron. Winners take all. Losers die horribly. You’re going to need many things. Allies, a civilian support system, even a government. I can help you with everything. I make contracts cheaper, I can take care of all your needs, I can…”

“Stop. Wait. I mean I’m…I’m one damn guy in a fake tree who almost died five times yesterday.” Mason was starting to feel like the last sane man on earth. “All I care about is surviving, and finding my brother. What the hell are you on about?”

“Then for now that’s all I care about. But there is much more to this game. And civilians are given more knowledge than players. I can help you.”

“Unless you’re an expert cartographer, explorer, or giant hyena killer, I’m sorry but I don’t see how.”

“Well.” Haley touched the vine they’d climbed, and it vanished. “I can take as much of that as you want. And…I can take that staff, and that bow you dropped, and I’ve got all kinds of provisions. I started with some things, too. And I’m pretty sure later I get some kind of identify power? And when this tutorial thing ends you’re going to need that. Plus I can tell things about players you can’t.”

Mason didn’t know what to say.

“How do you know all these things?”

“I told you. Civilians get more information. I guess it’s the way the system balances things. Makes us useful. And I’m telling you, you’re not going to make it on your own. Not in the long run.”

Mason still failed to find the right words. She was starting to convince him, at least a little, but he had no idea how fast he’d be moving and just how much slower she’d be.

But he suspected a lot. Still, the ability to magically hold things would be extremely useful. He knew if he took her now it would be almost impossible to just leave her later.

He decided he had to at least give her a chance. He sighed, feeling the inevitable coming. At least if and when he did eventually find Blake, his brother would be as slow as this girl.

“Alright,” he pinched the bridge of his nose. “I mean, do you have different shoes, or something? Your outfit isn’t exactly…practical.”

“I have several outfits,” Haley said, pulling a black bag out of nothing and removing what looked like workout clothes.

Mason remained somewhat baffled as to what to say as the girl started unhooking her bra. He turned around.

“You’re going to have to do your best to keep up,” he said, fighting the blush. “It’s going to be hard.”

“I bet,” she said, as if almost slightly amused. “OK. Ready.”

Mason turned to find the girl in tight, black leggings, a strained sports bra and running shoes. Apparently she’d brought a wardrobe to the robot apocalypse.

“I promise I’ll try to keep up.”