“Are you sure about this, Alan?” Walter asked, with a worried look. He looked very stressed by the whole thing.

“It will be fine. I am stronger now,” Alan replied and handed his bag to him.

“I can stop this,” Ashlyn said. She had been watching silently through the whole thing, content to let things play through. Alan didn’t know if she was that confident or if she believed in him.

“Don’t worry. Any idea of this guy’s skills?” Alan said.

“He’s a [Bruiser]. He has a skill that coats his skin and makes him much tougher, and another that makes his punches hurt. Don’t know the details or if he has anything else. Probably does, at least one or two with how the options during my selection went.”

“Just blast his mind like you like to do, then cut his throat. [True Edge] can cut mana, so it most likely works on whatever defensive skill the guy has. His mind is wide open.” Xil added.

Alan to himself and noted the bit about [True Edge]. He could end this quickly. He didn’t plan on cutting the guy’s throat, but a fast win would be in his best interest. While his new physical attributes made him much stronger and faster than he was, he was sure that he wouldn’t be able to match anyone who exclusively grew their physical strength in a direct clash.

His current build, if he could call it that, made him something of a strange bird. There was strength in that, as he had few tricks up his sleeve, but Ashlyn for example had a much longer range, and would probably kick his ass in a close-quarters fight.

He needed the experience though. Killing kobolds and beasts was one thing, but fighting people was different altogether.

Alan stepped into the circle that had formed as onlookers streamed to watch the showdown, feeling a wave of anticipation and anxiety. There were many children around too, and he smiled at the excited faces they were making. Children would be children, always down to watch a good scrap.

The so-called Dusty was already waiting. He was not a large man, maybe a head shorter than Alan, but his body was well-defined, his spiky hair was all over the place, and he gave off the feeling of someone who knew his way through a good fight.

Alan removed his ragged cloak and stabbed his spear into the ground, using it as a cloak hanger.

“What is it that you are betting?” Dusty asked.

Alan thought about it, the dagger was his strongest treasure and he couldn’t risk it. His boots were a gift from heaven and he would rather die than part with them. Instead, he took out the monocle. It was useful, but hardly irreplaceable as all it did was give Alan the name of things. The fact that it also had limited charges contributed to making it less valuable.

“It identifies things,” Alan said. There were murmurs all around and he could swear Cole’s eyes got sharper as he started at the monocle.

“Good! Then, this is my bet!” Dusty smiled and produced an oblong thin object, “It has a built-in [Spark] skill.”

Alan frowned and he heard Ashlyn snort. [Spark] was probably one of the most common starting skills, although to the current him the object could be useful. He didn’t have anything that could reliably start a fire if he needed one.

“Sure, the bet’s on. Let Walter hold on to the items, he is neutral,” Alan said and held out the monocle to the nervous Walter. Dusty threw his spark stick to the older man with little care and took a fighting stance.

“Come on, bitch. Let’s see how cocky you will remain after I am done with you.”

Alan stood silent, hands in his pockets. He had always wanted to be in a situation where he could act like a cliche protagonist - cool, collected, and insanely attractive. Two of three was a start.

“Ready?” Cole asked, and his gaze lingered on the bow still in Ashlyn’s hands. She had climbed on top of a nearby building and sat there with a bored look on her face. Alan was glad for the support, he was sure he could deal with someone like Dusty, but considering the versatility and strangeness of skills, he felt better someone had his back if there was foul play.

“Let’s go!” Dusty called, bouncing on the balls of his feet and shadowboxing with impressive speed.

“Yes,” Alan added.

[Synaptic Failure] was already locked and loaded. There would be time for sparring later, and it wouldn’t cost him an enchanted item to experiment and learn more then.

For now, he would end this as fast as possible.

“Begin!” Cole called and stepped back with a smile.

Dusty didn’t waste any time as he shot toward Alan faster than anticipated, skin coated in a bronze sheen and a manic grin on his face. Sadly for him, Alan’s skill didn’t care for that. [Synaptic Failure] went out and the man’s legs seemed to forget their purpose. He fell face first on the ground, sliding a short distance, twitching, limbs trying to move at impossible angles.

There was silence as the onlookers were stupefied at this turn of events.

Alan smirked as he was reminded of a scene in a movie he had seen, but he lacked the cool hat and archeology knowledge… A gun too.

Xil’Garoth was screaming in Alan’s mind, “Kill him now! Kill the arrogant prick!”

Alan simply watched the man struggle. The skill had affected everyone and everything differently so far, much like [Mind Jab]. Dusty seemed to be struggling quite a bit. There was a puddle of drool forming on the ground beneath his face.

“So… I win?” Alan shrugged.

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Cole showed his teeth, staring hatefully, but didn’t announce the end of the fight.

It was around ten seconds later that Dusty finally managed to stand up and wipe his mouth. He looked shocked, but also quite angry. Nothing like the feeling of not being the master of your own body, huh?

“If I hit you again I might give you brain damage, you know?” Alan wasn’t sure about that particular part, but it didn’t hurt to posture a bit. [Synaptic Failure] was ready to go off again.

Dusty screamed, but before he could charge over [Synaptic Failure] scrambled his brain again and the man fell, managing to struggle for a second this time around. Alan took out his dagger and walked slowly forward while Dusty convulsed on the ground.

“I guess your friends want you to die, sorry man,” Alan said and grabbed a fistful of spiky hair in his left hand, lifting Dusty’s head. He didn’t plan to kill him in cold blood, but he didn’t know how to reliably knock a person out with a hit. Bashing the man with his dagger’s handle in the nape of his neck as they did in the movies felt embarrassing.

“Yes! Yes!” the demon screamed. Xil seemed to have quite a range of moods, but that was fine. Alan was growing attached to the crazy demon.

The dagger got closer to Dusty’s throat.

“Stop him!” the woman from before called but didn’t move herself.

“Stop! You win!” Cole yelled.

Alan stayed his hand and let the once again drooling Dusty’s head thump into the earth.

“Whew, close one,” he said and sheathed his dagger. He took his monocle from Walter and also the lighter. Channeling a tiny bit of mana produced a spark much like the one the [Spark] skill had at the beginning. “Nice doing business with you.”

“Why didn’t you kill him?!” Xil demanded.

“I am not that cold-blooded yet. And I can’t take them all.”

“Pussy.”

“What’s the deal anyway? Why do you want him dead so bad?”

Xil remained silent and Alan felt the connection disperse. Whatever.

“You made an enemy today, Mr. Alan,” Cole said. He motioned with his hand and Tim and Ivan helped the struggling Dusty off the ground. The latter seemed dazed, although he could control his body by now. Alan wondered why the skill had had such a strong effect on the man. Then again, he had killed the only other person he had cast it on too fast to observe the effects.

There was a worrying number of people with mental skills though. The woman whose name he still didn’t know was particularly strange. It hadn’t felt like an attack, but it was invasive.

“That’s okay. A person with no enemies often grows complacent, forgetting the sweet intoxicating joy of growth,” Alan replied and grabbed his spear and cloak. Ashlyn chose that moment to shoulder her bow and jump down, walking to stand next to Alan.

Cole snorted and turned to walk away, the rest of his group following.

“Nice to see you are doing well Tim, Ivan,” Alan called after them. Tim flinched and turned to give a half-assed smile before walking away, while Ivan didn’t have much of a reaction at all.

The crowd seemed to be dispersing, but many gazes lingered on Alan. A kid ran up to him but stopped some distance away, staring.

“Sup, little dude?” Alan said. He was not good with kids. He was not good with adults either, but kids were weird to talk to. They just threw his internal balance off.

The boy’s eyes grew wide and he ran back to his group of friends who laughed at him. At least the kids were adapting.

Alan found his mind wandering and his eyes followed the groups of kids running and playing among the ruins. Most would probably never see their parents again, and if they did, everyone would be changed. Life would never be the same for them. He wondered what it was like to grow in such a world. What would humanity look like in a hundred years? Would he be around? Fuck.

Change was always hard.

Alan shook his head.

“You are different, boy,” Walter said. “Confident… somewhat arrogant.”

“Thanks?” Was he arrogant? His actions might have looked this way. Alan didn’t mind. If Ash didn’t like these guys, then he didn’t like them either. The name of their small group was the biggest offense though… ‘The Future’? Fucking really?

Walter nodded, “I don’t ‘suppose you are willing to help me get a class? It’s a death wish going out there alone. I am level 22.”

Alan grinned, “No problem, man. Let’s go.”

“Now?”

“Yeah, why not? The day is only halfway done and me and Ash have plans for tonight. Lots of time to kill in between. You might want to join in hunting the snake-tentacle-human mask thing too.”

Ashlyn shrugged, “I don’t mind. We should go see Emerson too. He took your loss even harder than I did… He kind of went mad?”

“He did? Let’s go.” Emerson was a weird dude. They had never been friends but Alan owed him quite a lot and had learned to appreciate him once they were out of the soul-crushing office.

They waited for Walter to grab some things and walked through the Sanctuary. Many eyes followed them and Alan saw some people similarly dressed as Cole and the rest slink in and out of corners and buildings and gaps between the ruins of civilization.

At some point Ashlyn drew her bow, putting a somewhat shabby arrow from one of the two quivers she had, and shot it at something Alan couldn’t see. No one followed them after that.

They saw Emerson’s place from afar. It was up on a small hill and stood out due to some strange symbols drawn on the walls and the buildings all around. The golden barrier covering the Sanctuary was growing closer too. The more Alan looked at the building the more it reminded him of one of the corner shops he used to go for coffee to, only upside down and with fewer windows.

“Man, I’d kill for some coffee.”

“Oh, fuck yes. The store had some, but its price was insane,” Ashlyn said.

“Is that where you got your armor and bow?”

“Yeah. Traded some monster remains for it. You met the Wailers?”

“Those rotten things that wail until your head pops open? Killed one the night before getting here. Wailing Carrion?

“Yes. They have a core in their chests that holds the mess together, and when you burn away the maggots there is small dark crystal, the size of a big pebble. It is valuable to some. They are a bitch to get close to, though, and arrows don’t do much unless I use a skill.”

Ah, fuck. Alan had been too preoccupied with being disgusted and spooked to even check if some of the thing's remains were valuable. Good to know for the future though. He needed more mana crystals as the ritual had left two of the two and a half he had completely dark and lifeless, while the other one had barely the hint of a glow remaining.

“I have a way to deal with that,” Alan said.

“Oh? We can kill some then. Some of the Sanctuaries offer very good stuff for those crystals.”

“The trading is between Sanctuaries?”

“Yeah, and honestly, I don’t think only human ones. There are others out there. The things I am wearing are freshly crafted and if a human did that, then they learned fast as fuck.”

That also made sense. They were not the only smarter-than-animal things around here. It was a scary prospect, meeting a whole other species capable of making humanoid armor. Maybe it was elves? Fuck, he really wanted to have a passionate romance with an elf. He was only a man.

“You thinking about fucking some elven ladies?” Ashlyn asked. Walter almost tripped at her question.

“It’s like you are in my head,” Alan grinned. It was good to have Ash around again. “Don’t tell me you would be against a sexy elven girlfriend, hmm? I don’t know who made me watch the entire extended trilogy… twice.”

“Never said I was against it.”

As they got close there was a loud crash, sounding almost as if a building went down. The trio looked at each other and accelerated, circling what was Emerson’s place and going to the back. A bit further behind, just on the edge of the golden barrier where there were only ruins unsuitable for anyone to live in, was a strange scene.

A person was lying on the ground, with concrete remains all around him, as if something had thrown him with enough force into a wall to break it. He was covered in blood and Alan doubted he was alive.

There was another, kneeling on the ground in tears. And before him was the large frame of Emerson. He had changed too, his head shaved, his body even more massive than before. The robe he was wearing did little to hide his intimidating muscles.

“We… We didn’t know!” the man said, “Please, we didn’t…”

Alan froze in shock.