Would you like me to proceed with unlocking your skills and imparting additional ones?

  The Herald's last statement hung between them like a promise of damnation. David could gain power he desperately needed, fast. He would just have to suck the life-giving experience out of comatose survivors. People who were the victims of the apocalypse.

  David's mind spun through the implications. The weight of that choice pressed down on him, making the virtual space feel suddenly claustrophobic despite its infinite emptiness. More, the fact that he was actually thinking about this. That his brain was going to a place where considering this was reasonable, OK even.

  "No," David said, forcing the word out. "Let's be clear about what we're discussing here. You're talking about sacrificing people. Real people."

  I am referring to the reallocation of resources from individuals with a low current value to one with demonstrated capability and the will to act. This is an optimization problem, consider that each individual human has poor chances of survival. Further, these individual humans have not yet awoken their systems and are not part of the Greater System.

  He could hear the capitals in Greater System. The Herald's calm, matter of fact recitation made David's jaw clench. He didn’t know if the alien creatures framing was deliberate or ignorant as it pushed his buttons.

  He suspected it was ignorant. Everything it had done suggested that rules, data and efficiency were important to it. This was all of those at their heartless worst.

  "That's not how people work," David said. He could feel anger building in his chest, hot and righteous. "We don't just write off the vulnerable because they're statistically less likely to make it."

  Your species routinely makes such calculations. Medical triage. Military command decisions. Political choices. The leaders of your sociopolitical groups do this all the time.

  Many leaders of large groups in charged situations make life and death determinations: Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Adolf Hitler, Marie Antionette, Maximilien Robespierre, Theoneste Bagosora, Gengis Khan, George Washington, Kim Il-Sung, Idi Amin, Pol Pot, Ranavalona I, Leopold II, Emperor Hirohito, Abraham Lincoln, Napolean Bonaparte…

  The list is more extensive but this should suffice.

  Resource allocation during disaster scenarios has not always had the desired outcome but it is central to your culture. I have read extensively about these practices on your information networks.

  David couldn’t help himself he blurted out the first thing to come to mind.

  “You read it on the internet. Of course you did. Let me guess several of these names were together on lists with superlatives and lots of adverts?”

  Yes, I believe your information networks were largely funded by selling things people did not need, this used your advertisements.

  Even as he traded barbs with the Alien entity he had to admit the Herald wasn't entirely wrong, there were Heroes and Monsters on its list, the best and worst of humanity.

  The strange being had clearly been studying humanity, learning how to communicate. The problem was it lacked for want of a better term a human context.

  "You do realize that literally the worst way to win an argument is to invoke Hitler? That is on the internet too…" David couldn’t help but snipe at the Herald. Then he continued.

  "Desperate and depraved actions are not where we start. That's not the baseline for normal people."

  I did not specify normal people. I specified leaders, I did not go into groups with leadership responsibility like the Young Turks or the Constitutional Committee in America, the country where this Obelisk is located. Your people did many things to make your country successful. Why do you object to making similar choices now?

  "I'm saying I want to know what I can get without compromising people's safety first. Before we even consider... the other option."

  David could barely believe he was having this conversation. A day ago he'd been worrying about quarterly projections and client presentations. Now he was negotiating over how many lives he wanted to spend to power himself up. A dark thread of humor couldn’t help but surface.

  This is exactly what an evil Necromancer would do…

  He shuddered, then his brain kicked in. He was getting bogged down in trying to teach an Alien morality. Break it down. Find the variables that would move the thing in a different direction. Understand the rules of the game and bend them.

  "You mentioned experience banked for my reward," David said. "Let me make sure I understand the parameters. The quest reward gives me access to resources that don't require... taking from the comatose survivors?"

  Correct. The Save Your People quest generates rewards through primary Obelisk functionality. Pure and typed ambient mana and contributions from linked systems provide the operating energy. These resources are significant but finite and energy budgets are reserved when quests are offered. This funds subsequent rewards to upgrade system user funtionality.

  "Upgrade functionality," David repeated. "Meaning new skills, attribute boosts and these half-step evolutions? All of it?"

  Precisely. We are tailoring your reward to support your bloodline development. The budget stored is fixed but due to the errors caused by your bloodline the amount needed is a variable which can be increased. Reducing it would result in immediate loss of the available Experience to other System needs awaiting fulfillment at this Obelisk.

  Examples include things like the scanning capabilities demonstrated earlier and increasing the concentration of Pure Mana available to the uninitiated humans. Withdrawing these benefits and diverting those budgets is possible. So would you like to divert available resources?

  David felt the trap closing around him. Every question led back to the same place. He could take his limited reward, but it would cost him tools.

  He again heard the sound of a round being chambered in a shotgun pointed at his back and couldn’t suppress a shudder.

  Or he could upgrade his power significantly and condemn people he'd never met, but had rescued, to die in their comas like some already had.

  People had already died in massive numbers without his intervention. Like the diabetic woman he'd found in the car, or the elderly couple living below Camila’s place. People who'd done nothing wrong except be in the wrong state of health for the end of the world.

  "How much experience are we talking about?" David asked. "For the quest reward specifically. Give me numbers. How can I customize the reward assigned to me already."

  The resources available from the Save Your People 2 quest completion are approximately ten times those available from the previous iteration.

  Ten times. David's mind raced through calculations. The last reward was substantial. Ten times that would be... A lot.

  “But there has to be a catch. This sort of scaling can’t be sustainable if the rewards are actually significant." he reasoned. "So is it that ten times nothing is still cheap or something else?"

  An accurate assessment. In this environment where free unaligned mana can be converted to XP the rewards are quite cheap. However, the advancements you are seeing are also your first steps in building your personal systems. These are the easiest to take. Future advances, while much more expensive, are also better. The relationship is not linear.

  This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  David nodded slowly. At least the Herald was answering questions, though a nagging corner of his mind suggested the longer this went on the worse it would be from a temptation perspective.

  "Walk me through my options. If I use only the banked quest reward, what can I unlock?"

  Using solely the resources generated by quest completion, you could unlock a number of basic skills and level them to ten. Alternatively you could acquire and unlock a comprehensive package of skills for a single resource. Stamina or Health, which you lack skills in would be good choices. This would include some limited amount of integration with you bloodline, though mostly you would have to experiment to achieve that.

  Alternatively, you could acquire the tempering offered by default. This option is generally seen as more attractive than rounding out your base system as it raises you towards elite user status. I would advise you not to give up this option as customized as improved integration with your bloodline is not guaranteed.

  "And if I..." David's throat tightened. He forced himself to continue. "If I authorized drawing from other sources. What then?"

  With access to all resources available at this Obelisk you would no longer have to choose. Lacking areas of basic development could be boosted as well as unlocking advanced options and retaining the half-step evolution.

  There is insufficient energy available at this time to manage a full evolution.

  This package would advance you to the point where absent evolved opposition or significant military weapons from before you would dominate any battlefield.

  As an example, surviving an ambush by multiple firearm wielding opponents should be feasible given the damage recorded in your media for such weapons.

  The difference was framed starkly. One option gave him useful tools and moved him towards his destination. The other made him formidable now.

  Possibly strong enough to face Michael and his armed followers. Given the Herald seemed to be basing its evaluation on the internet he was a little skeptical as he didn’t know if it was assuming that comic books were real or something.

  All at the cost of a few dozen strangers' lives. David started to feel sick, he was really thinking about this…

  David Murphy. Please expedite your decision. The ongoing cost of maintaining this communication space is becoming problematic.

  David's head snapped up. "What?"

  This virtual environment requires a continuous power draw and a significant portion of my attention will be required during the actual bestowal.

  I mention this because while we have been speaking another safe zone has fallen. I was unable to intervene to limit losses or retrieve the Obelisk.

  The words hit David like ice water, at least forcing the nausea of anxious indecision to fade momentarily. Another safe zone gone. Hundreds of people, probably. While he stood there debating how many hypothetical victims his power was worth, real people were dying.

  "How many?" David asked quietly. "If I take the full package. How many people would die?"

  It is impossible to calculate with precision. All Obelisk resources accumulated would be drained and the rate of resource rebuilding would require hours of passive regeneration. Timelines would be extended and I lack data. If current trends continue it could be as few as fifteen or if the fourth and fifth days without sustenance and movement are more detrimental despite partial mana integration it could be many more.

  If you take the option it will provide the data to model this accurately and I could inform you after the fact what the excess casualty rate was.

  Fifteen plus people. With the Herald helpfully telling him afterwards how many his choice killed… Not abstract numbers. Actual human beings with families, histories, dreams. People who he and his friends had rescued, or lucky ones who lived nearby. It didn’t matter they were all people.

  David closed his eyes. Just like he had with his parents he laid out the utilitarian argument with brutal clarity. The extra days would be worse. So, say triple it? Forty or fifty lives against potentially hundreds more saved. Plus if he was strong enough to protect the safe zone continued survival for thousands. Simple math. The needs of the many.

  But that wasn't how it worked. That was never how it worked. The moment you started trading lives like currency, you lost something essential. Once you made that first compromise, the next one became easier. Then easier still. Where did it end?

  Finally, he thought about his father, who had been his moral compass growing up. He could imagine his words now:

  Son, you have to make hard choices. If you’re lucky it will be a handful of times in your life. If you’re more lucky you will be able to live with yourself afterwards. Real courage isn’t doing the right thing, or the easy thing. It’s seeing the man you want to be on the other side of the mess you’re in and figuring out a path from you to him, then walking it no matter how painful that is.

  David thought about that advice, given when raging hormones and a pretty girl had ended years of closeness with his then best friend. This wasn’t High School but he could make the advice fit.

  Sarah, Katie, Camila, Charlie. If he was too weak and they died, could he live with himself knowing he left power on the table? The question burned. But if he became strong by sacrificing others, would he be the kind of person he wanted to be?

  Michael and his people were a threat. The Nath were a threat. The mutants were a threat. But David realized with sudden clarity that the biggest threat might be losing himself to savagery. He had told Carl that they needed lots of people to survive in the long term. The knot in his stomach eased. He had found his answer and he could live with it.

  "Herald," David said slowly. "I need you to clarify something. If the XP present in my personal system is added to the quest reward, plus all the assistance you can personally provide what specifically can you unlock?"

  With the banked resources and our personal contributions alone?

  "Yes."

  You could receive one foundational skill, such as Reinforce, then receive the Half-step evolution for that skill and two you already possess factoring in your bloodline.

  Alternatively, if you wished to make the most effective use of all available resources, I could elevate your existing Halt and Convert skills. Fully unlock Mana Sight and Shout. Then I could provide a single comprehensive package where stamina and health skills would be added and unlocked. You could then select three skills for the half step evolution and bloodline alignment. Remaining experience would be allocated as you desire to optimizing your statistics, resource pools and raising your skills.

  David felt something shift in his chest. The offer was still tempting. Then he thought about his decision. Who he wanted to be and the hard path through fear to get there.

  Some must be sacrificed so all can be saved. He didn’t remember where the quote came from but he rejected it.

  "I choose the first option, use our personal power only."

  Then he followed up. "The comatose survivors keep their full support and wake up if I choose this?"

  Correct. No resource reallocation will occur.

  “Then Do it.”

  Acknowledged.

  The Herald's voice carried a note of what might have been surprise. Or maybe David was projecting.

  You are declining access to significantly increased combat capability in favor of preserving resource allocation to non-functional system users?

  "They're people," David said. "They're not resources. They're not non-functional units. They're people who can't defend themselves. Which means someone has to. More than that, they represent future potential. One of them could save my life, or build something vital. Their intrinsic worth goes beyond that."

  Fascinating. This decision provides excellent data on real human interaction. I understand that the moral framework is important to you even though priority weighting for survival seems optimal.

  "Yeah, well." David felt exhausted suddenly. The weight of the choice, the implications, the knowledge of what he was giving up. "Maybe that's why we're still around despite being objectively terrible at survival."

  I will note your decision. Such data is valuable for understanding system integration across species with strong social bonding mechanisms.

  David almost laughed. Of course the Herald would frame his moral choice as data. "Glad I could contribute to science. Now can we proceed with the reward package I actually earned?"

  Affirmative. Implementing the restricted parameters you have selected.

  The virtual space brightened, and David felt and heard as a sudden rush of power flooded his body. He could now sense his body, and feel the Obelisk warm under his hands and power flowed into him with a bell-like tone, though the virtual world wasn’t fully gone.

  [SKILL OBTAINED: REINFORCE]

  [CALCULATING: BLOODLINE PARAMETERS IDENTIFIED]

  [OPTIMIZING FOR INTEGRATION]

  [HALF-STEP EVOLUTION INITIATED]

  [SKILLS EVOLVING: HALT (MAGIC) - CONVERT (ALL) - REINFORCE (HEALTH)]

  [BLOODLINE INTEGRATION ONGOING SPIRIT RESOURCE INTEGRATION COMPLETE]

  [EVOLVED SKILLS NOW USABLE WITH SPIRIT]

  The sensation was strange, He could hear the Heralds voice as each prompt appeared almost as though it was dictating them.

  His entire system seemed to almost settle and deepen in places. It took him a moment to realize those ‘places’ corresponded to the three selected skills that now seems deeper, more solid and nestled up against the place where his spirits sat within him.

  Then the Heralds voice was back and lacking the System overlay.

  Thank you for providing such interesting data.

  Your decision to prioritize moral principles over practical power was fascinating. I will reallocate resources to another safe zone requiring intervention momentarily.

  Should you wish to contact me in the future I have enabled a communication feature in this Obelisk. You will need to substantially increase your personal reserves or earn a quest reward, but you should be able to reach me in the future.

  "Herald," David said, drawing on his willpower almost without thinking. "One last thing. Why did you present the option the way you did? You could have just left me with a single option, there was a usable standard reward."

  I was curious and wished to learn more.

  Then the Herald was gone and David was fully back in the real world.