Chapter 3: Chapter 2

Alexander sat down and looked at the clock. 

00:05:37

He had spent the time resting as much as he could. He summoned up a shower with top of the line care products, and the comfiest bed he could think up. Weirdly, whenever he decided he didn't need something he summoned up anymore, it would just disappear. 

Alexander also gorged himself. He ate the finest steak he could think up, and drank soda's and wines. Overall, the twenty four hour break was amazing. He even got to summon up his computer and watch videos, movies, and read comics. He only got to watch stuff that was made in reality, however, so he couldn't find out anything about what was to come. He wasn't surprised, but he had hoped. 

When the clock read five minutes, he began to do some stretches. His body was incredibly sore, but it healed much faster than ever in his life. The stretching hurt, but it also felt good and helped him get ready for what was to come. Finally, when the clock hit zero, the white room went away. 

He was jolted when he found himself in some sort of airship. It had eight seats, each of them filled with other similarly jolted people of all ages and sizes. They were all strapped down and the ship was moving chaotically. He looked around furiously until he saw Terra. 

"Hello and welcome to the final part of the tutorial. You will be dropped off at a base and will defend the objective until you all die. Once you die, you will wait in the white rooms you were at before until the party dies. I will give no information about where you will be or what will come for you. Your stats and abilities are now listed in your character menu. To bring it up, simply think of it. Goodbye for now." And with that, Terra was gone.

The other members started to look at panels invisible to Alexander, so he followed suit by thinking of his character screen. It popped up. It was a large square, with a 3D picture of him in the top left corner, his stats directly beneath it, and his abilities filling up the entire right side. He started reading his stats. 

Strength (STR)  35 +0

Dexterity (DEX) 17 +0

Constitution (CON) 20 +0

Intelligence (INT) 57 +0

Wisdom (WIS) 18 +0

Charisma (CHA) 5 +0

Willpower (WIL) 13 +0

Perception (PER) 28 +0

He looked at the numbers confusingly, but then he saw a message popped up.

The stats you have been given are based on your percentile compared to your race. Once you level something past 100, you will be beyond any human outside of the game.

Alexander thought for a moment. Outside the game... He then looked at his feats. 

You have no feats. Try new things to gain some!

Alexander took a moment. Nothing? He thought back and realized it was true. He never did anything with his life. He didn't try and learn any skills outside of school, he never participated in clubs, and he didn't care about much other than doing enough to get by and playing video games. Suddenly, shock spread in his system as he realized he might be out of his depth. 

After steeling himself, he looked over at his group members, the other members also starting to look around. Above each of their heads was their first name. Thinking back, Alexander never picked a name, so it was probably their actual names. But before anyone started speaking, the airship they were on jolted and landed. Then, the strip opened up and led a way to the outside. A voice then spoke out. 

"I am commander Volt of Terra's forces." A tall, grizzled man smoking a cigar stepped out of the cockpit. He wore a military uniform that had tesseract insignia on it, the symbol of Terra. "I've led you all to where you tutorial will continue; it's a base right outside. There's a shop inside to buy equipment, but other than that you won't have much. I won't tell you anything specific, but I will give some advice to you lot. This is not just a game. Do not treat it like a game. By any of your definitions, this is now fucking reality. It's a scary and chaotic place out there, and most of you will either regress into safe spaces or leave the game for as long as you can take it. Good luck." Some members of the group tried to speak up, but all the seatbelts came loose at once, and commander Volt just pointed outside. 

The group straggled out and saw the outside world. They were on a plateau.  The airship left, leaving them on a massive rock formation with a small metal building roughly in the middle. Alexander could tell it was high up due to the air and how cold it was. Looking around, he saw mountain tops in the distance and a stiff drop looking down. He began to shiver violently, as did most of the group, so they all went inside. As they did so, a timer suddenly appeared in their visions.

Countdown until mountain lion attack 01:00:00. Enemies left– 10.

Inside the building, everyone started to warm up as there was heating. And then finally, everyone began to talk. 

A tall Filipino man began first, stepping onto a chair to project leadership. "My name is Brandon, as you have already seen. I used to be special forces for the United States navy, and I will guide you all on surviving for however long we can."

"What was your ID number?" Another man spoke. He was just as tall, white, and covered in brown hair. 

"1401762198. And who are you, Peter?" The Filipino man responded quickly. 

"I was a marine." Peter said slowly, looking at him up and down. The other members began to show worry, but then Peter showed a wide smile. "Glad to see I'm not the only grunt around here." Peter then walked up to Brandon and gave him a firm handshake.

"You two done with your dick waving contest?" A woman responded from across the room. Her name read Jade. "I'm nobody, but I'm good with a knife. It looks like there are four men and four women, an equal team. That probably means that this team has a diverse assortment of people." Jade wore black pants and had a black leather coat with here. Her hair was a dark-red color with streaks of brown, and it looked like she was sizing up the group. 

"I agree. Terra probably arranged this group purposefully. Everyone probably has unique skills and background." Everyone looked at the man speaking. "My name is Steven. I used to be an IT guy, and I went to school for AI development." Steven was a short and slightly chubby man. He had short brown hair, but if you looked close enough, you could see hidden strength and resolve. 

"Well, my name is Sarah." A woman spoke up. She had on jeans and a flannel, and had wavy blonde hair. "I used to be a professor of biology, but I'm afraid I'm not any good with combat." 

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"I took karate lessons for a while growing up, and I kept up with exercise regularly in my life." Another woman spoke up. She was almost as tall as Brandon and had a fit body. She wore gray shorts and a shirt. "My name is Jenny, and I'm a yoga instructor as well, so I should be fine for this." 

"I'm only really good with a bow." The last woman spoke up. She had on black boots, a camo overall, and a camo sweatshirt. She also had on a bright orange hat, and she spoke with a southern accent. "My name's Kate, I could probably do some long range support." 

"Ok, so at least most of you can do stuff." Brandon started after nodded to Kate. "But what about you, kilt man?" Suddenly, all attention was drawn to Alexander– he blushed.

"I have to be honest, I will probably be useless to you all. I've never done much exercise in my life, and I never took any lessons. And my name is Alexander, so please call me that."

Brandon looked at him up and down. "All right Alexander, can you do anything at all?" 

"Well I got an Intelligence score of fifty seven, so maybe I could formulate a plan?" 

"Hmm probably not. Just because you can read doesn't mean you know anything about combat. Still, does anyone have an intelligence score equal or above his?"

Sarah spoke up. "Mine is eighty nine. I used to be top in my field." No one else spoke up, however. 

"Ok, well first things first, this isn't a game, just like the commander said. You may logically know it is, but right now it sure doesn't feel like it. When action happens, and you all see blood and death, you're gonna go into shock. We need to mitigate that." Brandon started.

"I agree." Followed Peter. "I can be front-line with special ops over here. Jade, you said you were good with a knife, would you mind joining us?" 

Jade shrugged in agreement. 

"Ok, so we can have us three up front near the entrance. Kate, could you go to the roof and do recon/ sniping for us?" Brandon continued. 

"Sounds good to me, but where the hell do I get a bow?"

"Right here." Steven went over to a counter with a computer terminal. He typed some stuff in, then turned it to show Kate. "It will cost you some money though. I have fifty credits. What do you all have?"

"I've only got fifty..." Kate said with a sigh. 

"Ain't that a coincidence." Brandon chuckled. "I've got one hundred of these credits. Ok everyone, buy what you need and let's get into place."

The next hour was a blur to Alexander. He felt totally out of place. All around him people were buying weapons, meditating, prepping for combat, building a shield generator, and generally looking busy. But he just stood. He stood in silence. 

Occasionally he would ask a question or move, but everyone seemed to either brush him off or ignore him completely. Everyone here has something... they all have some kind of talent or sill they're bringing here... Eventually, Alexander found himself in the back of the building, standing next to Sarah and Steven, who were looking after a shield generator one of the members had bought. 

There was a plan in formation, but Alexander was just shrinking further into himself. He was lost, and all he could feel was dread. 

The timer went from five minutes, to one, to seconds, then none. And when that damned clock in his view ran out, a bell sounded. The fight was on.

Alexander found himself looking out a window as the other two kept a close on the shield generator. Outside he saw only the snow fluttering about– but then he heard it. In fact, everyone did. It was a massive, guttural roar that reverberated throughout the air. Alexander's mind shook as he suddenly felt very small. 

They came all at once, but the fighters outside were in position. Peter had a spear and was in the front of a triangle formation. On his right was Jade with glowing dual knives and to his left Brandon with a broadsword. They covered the entrance but were outside the shield generator field, which enveloped Kate up top with Jenny as her guard. 

Instantly, Kate started showering the beasts with arrows as the trio outside held their ground. Not much hit, as the lions were shifting around vigorously, but one arrow hit one right in the eye and knocked it over. 

The other lions, disturbed by this show, charged. Peter held three at bay himself. Jade was dodging a flanking attack by one of the bigger lions. And Brandon was supporting Peter's flanks. 

The melee dragged on. It was a ferocious dance of death, and Alexander was frozen solid. 

Jade managed to hit an artery in the lions neck and bring it down while Brandon caught one lion off guard and decapitated it. All was going well until one of them leaped forward and broke Peter's spear with it's powerful jaws. He leaped back the two instantly came to his aid. Peter then shouted out. 

"Kilt fucker! Get me something!" Time froze as he saw the expression on Peter's face. He realized at that moment that no one else could do it. The two scientists were horrifically busy keeping the generator active, and they couldn't leave Kate unprotected. This was a task solely for him. And that's when he felt it. He felt his heart beat. 

Something deep within took over for just a few seconds, allowing him to move despite his whole body trembling. He fumbled his way over to the shop, grabbed a basic sword, and almost tripped his way outside. The cold instantly shocked him, but the adrenaline was just enough to propel him towards Peter, haphazeroudly handing him the weapon. 

Peter muttered a thanks, and Alexander saw the pure appreciation in his eyes. The trio then charged forward and repelled the main force of lions. But as Alexander started to head back into the building, he heard a growl. He turned toward the door and saw it. There stood a mountain lion with an arrow in its eye. 

His mind finally realized something that had been bugging him. When Brandon decapitated the lion, the number on the top of the screen went down one. Currently, there were eight left. And with that one Jade cut down... 

The trio did not notice, but Sarah sure as hell did. He caught a glimpse of her. Her eyes said sorry. He knew the scientists would not help. He was alone. Alexander was frozen completely still, almost pissing himself, as the lion moved up towards him. Now inches away, it roared as it rose into the air, prepping for a strike. 

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