Tibras typed furiously on his laptop. Rey never really found out how his laptop worked or if it really was a laptop. Darkness swirled around them all. Everyone, except for Rey and that blonde girl, was concerned. She even had a hint of a creepy smile on her face.

  Everything became dark for a moment, and then the darkness receded. The first thing that hit Rey was the familiar acrid smell of sulfur. It was like someone was cooking scrambled eggs with all their rotten supply. Next was the familiar veiny red sky, like they were in the belly of a giant beast. It wasn't a sky, but they were inside a planet whose surface had been destroyed with nuclear waste from Hell's numerous wars with Heaven.

  Rey had to get to the A-Tier before he could visit the surface and not immediately start losing his skin. Once he visited the surface; he found this nightmarish landscape preferable to the surface.

  Just like before, they were in a circular clearing with bare, cracked ground underneath them—a staple for Hell. Around them was a forest of trees. Not regular trees made of wood, the branches were made of slashed-up or decayed limbs from various creatures. Some even seeped blood down the bony trunks. It was horrifying, but then it was Hell and only the beginning.

  Zalathar spread his arms wide. "Welcome to Hell!"

  No one shared in his excitement. Most were horrified by their surroundings, and those who weren't horrified were shocked. Rey, however, was confused as to why he hadn't heard any wailing, howling, screams of agony, or other beautiful sounds that kept him company once everyone in his group died.

  "Now, before I leave you and let you explore the System as you start on the path of gaining ultimate power for me, I will give you one final present. Choose one weapon that you like."

  He motioned before him in a dramatic motion, and a whole heap of weapons appeared at his feet. Most of the weapons were rustic or had some dent or bend. In general, they were very low-quality weapons, but there was every type of weapon under the sun—swords, spears, bows, maces, etc.

  Rey naturally gravitated towards a saber but decided to pick something different this time. Something new, something that both Zarius and Zalathar were proficient in. Rey moved for the spear, which was a Dexterous weapon. If he remembered correctly, Strength was not his strong suit. Before he could pick up the lone spear, Jerry snatched it off the ground.

  Are you shitting me?

  Rey couldn't help but give Jerry a kind look, but he took it the wrong way and grunted as he walked away. Rey watched him stalk away but snapped his head to the quickly dwindling weapon stack.

  He saw a polearm with a curved blade on its top, but Phil picked it up. Rey groaned inwardly. Then his eye caught a saber that was in relatively good condition, and his resolve waivered, but Maria, the religious nut, picked it up.

  Rey smirked. Heh, I'll just take it from your corpse.

  Shut up, Demon Rey. He scolded his demon self, who was totally a different entity.

  There was only one spear-like weapon remaining. It had a long shaft made of wood but chipped in many places. He could imagine the splinters he was going to get. The pole ended in a thick, curved blade affixed to its side. It was made of iron that was rusted along the edges. He hoped it could last long enough for him to get to the armory in the castle.

  Rey sighed. Guess it's this or nothing.

  He bent down and picked up the scythe.

  Soon, everyone had chosen a weapon, and it was hilarious that everyone had picked the same weapon as they had last time. This made him wonder how much these new folks would influence the future. How much would he given his knowledge?

  "Why aren't there any guns?" Jerry, the Sons of Anarchy cosplayer, asked.

  "Guns make things too easy. You don't get to cut into the flesh. Don't get to enjoy their pain as the blood gushes out of their body." The Sovereign shuddered in ecstasy. "Besides, a gunfight is never really exciting."

  "Clearly, you've never seen John Wick fight," Rey remarked, just as he had last time.

  "John Wick?"

  "Just don't kill his dog," Kassandra added, just like last time.

  Their eyes met again, and Rey awkwardly looked away instead of returning the smile she gave him.

  "John Wick sounds like an incredible combatant," Zalathar mused. "Minion, we must get him and force him to work for me. As for the rest of you, it's time to get to work. Once we leave, you will be inducted into the System. Work hard and get stronger. You have a year to reach the D-Tier, or I'll personally shove you into Minion's blender. Oh, and if you do die, don't give up hope. I'm sure you can find your real self if you're not eviscerated completely."

  The Sovereign and his servant disappeared into a flash of darkness, leaving them truly stranded. At once, the howling, shrieking, and screams began.

  Ah, there they are. The presence of a S-Tier demon must've been keeping them at bay.

  "Did anyone bring noise-cancelling headphones?" Rey asked and just got blank looks, though there was one who glared at him and wanted to poke him with her dagger. It was becoming increasingly clear to Rey that he and the blondie were not going to be the best of friends. "Well, just think of it as white noise then."

  Okay, come on, sweet System. Where are you? Work faster, Tibras.

  "Was this real?" Maria asked. "Or is the Lord testing us with—"

  "It's real." Rey shut that up. Last time, the group went on a long tirade about whether to believe the demon or not. He found everyone staring at him. "We all saw some shit back on earth. If a demon wanted to fuck with us, there were better ways to go about it. Namely, the blender."

  "But how can you be so sure about all this?" Maria asked. "And how are you so calm? I just saw my husband torn to shreds and…" Tears spilled from her eyes, and she broke down.

  A few others went to comfort her, but then the System descended, saving everyone a lot of drama.

  [Name: Reyan Gill]

  [Race: Human]

  [Tier: E+2]

  [Health: 180/180]

  [Mana: 90/90]

  [Stamina: 150/150]

  Stat Points: 2

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  [Vitality: 18]

  [Strength: 11]

  [Dexterity: 21]

  [Endurance: 15]

  [Magic Affinity: 9]

  [Magic Power: 19]

  [Willpower: 15]

  [Perception: 12]

  Skills

  [Active: 0/4]

  [General: 0/10]

  Talents: 6 Points

  Rey looked at his stats and cringed inwardly. They were so pathetic compared to what they were just a few hours ago when he could take on the Lord of Hell himself. Now, if Zarius farted in his general direction, he would go hurtling through buildings.

  The first time he saw all this, it was like he was in a video game with no tutorial. Despite all the Forever Shards the Chaos demon had invested in updating the System, he didn't waste a second explaining what any of this meant. It was a good thing Rey had retained all his knowledge, so he knew exactly where to spend his stat points.

  The problem with him was that he was a walking paradox. He had high Magic Power, which meant that at the moment, he would make an extraordinary spellcaster, but his affinity for magic was pathetic. Magic Affinity governed Mana and the number of spells he could learn. Without high Magic Affinity, Magic Power was almost useless.

  Certain people were more attuned to certain stats. So they earned them faster. It was like the universe was telling them that they had to be a mage or a warrior. Rey was a difficult child growing up, so last time, he hadn't made it easy on himself by picking the weapons that would've worked best with the stats he was attuned to.

  By the time he figured out what they were, it was too late. The amount of points he had shoved into Strength to be able to wield stronger swords still stung. It was one of the reasons why he had picked the scythe as his starting weapon.

  It was a Dexterity-based weapon, and the more points he put into Dexterity, the stronger it would get. Dexterity also governed speed, so he would also get faster. He would be stronger and faster with the scythe. Not to mention, the scythe had greater reach. He was rather proud of himself for picking the right weapon this time. Now, all he had to do was get the scythe's move set down.

  Lastly, came the Talents and that should've come with an encyclopedia. It was a mess. It was like Zalathar took a hammer to the class system and smashed it wide open. In essence, anyone could pick any skill from any class. It made it easy for anyone to go wide with their skills, but with classes, at least there was some semblance to what skills one could get. Talents did away with those restrictions. In one way, it was amazing; in another, if you didn't know what you were doing or had no experience with role-playing games, you were done for. It was utter chaos, and that was precisely what the Sovereign of Chaos wanted.

  Thanks to the additional rank that Zalathar had generously given him, he had six Talent points to play with, but he knew which was the first one he was going to get. He opened the Talent menu and was immediately bombarded with all different Talent sub-menus.

  He had just selected the Skills menu when he heard footsteps behind him, and someone coughed.

  "Excuse me," she said.

  Rey shut his eyes. His first thought was to blast off into the demonic trees, but he couldn't just run away and leave her here all confused. After all, he wouldn't have figured out the ins and outs of the System without her help.

  I'm just going to help her understand the System, and then I'm done. I won't even look at her after that.

  Rey turned. "Yes?"

  "Hi, my name is Kassandra." She smiled with those mesmerizing dimples.

  "I know," he replied. Oh shit.

  "You know?" She asked before he could correct himself.

  "Yes, you just told me." He chuckled.

  She laughed lightly, and by God, was that a melodious sound.

  Rey, do not fall for this witch's good looks and kind heart. You're the reason she ends up dying. You are the reason she ends up as a mindless demon.

  The smile wilted off Rey's face. That was one of the worst memories of his life. He couldn't get close to her again. He wouldn't.

  "How can I help you?" He asked her plainly.

  She noticed the change in emotions. "Uh, I wondered if you understood what all these words meant. It's so confusing. It's like we're in a game or something."

  "Technically, you're right. It is like a game." He looked around, and everyone was standing in groups, talking amongst themselves and trying to figure out what the System was and what all the words meant. "Come. Let's move away from prying ears."

  She frowned. "Why?"

  Because I don't want to announce to everyone that I know how this whole thing works, which would raise more questions and undoubtedly bring the attention of our dear patron.

  He shrugged. "You know what Zalathar said, don't trust anyone."

  "Then how can I trust you?"

  "Hey, you came to me, lady. I'm more than happy to go my way."

  She looked at the others before nodding. Rey took her just out of earshot but not far enough that it would raise suspicions.

  "So, this is what I've gathered from the notification window. How right I am? I cannot say." He played dumb, even though he was one hundred percent right. "I'm going to assume you've hardly ever played video games before. Even if you haven't, it should be no issue. You'll pick it up fairly quickly. Health is self-explanatory, and so is Stamina. Health comes to zero, and you die. Stamina goes to zero, and you pass out from exhaustion. Mana is your magic bar in number form. It governs how many magic spells you can shoot off. Well, that's how it usually is in games."

  "Yes, that much, I guessed, but it's good to have confirmation. And what about the other stats?"

  "Vitality governs your Health. I don't know what your Vitality stat is, but times that by ten, and you have your Health. The same concept applies to Endurance for Stamina and Magic Affinity for Mana. That covers your basics." Rey paused to make sure she understood, and she nodded.

  "Okay, the rest is just me guessing, so I could be wrong." Not. "Strength usually governs damage dealt and what weapons you can wield. The same is true for Dexterity, but they have different weapon types. For example, my scythe is a Dexterity weapon, and so are your daggers, but the sword Miss almost-got-turned-into-a-smoothie is holding is a Strength weapon."

  "How can you tell?" Kassandra asked.

  "You're talking to the undefeated Dark Souls champion of the neighborhood. Trust me, I know," he replied. "Oh, and Endurance also governs how much damage you can soak up. The higher the Endurance, the less damage you'll take. Magic Power governs the damage of your spells, and Perception is the awareness of your surroundings. Lastly, Willpower is your determination. Your resistance to mental attacks and how much pain you can push through."

  There was one other thing—how these stats interacted with each other. But he would let her figure it out on her own. Unfortunately, these weapons were so pathetic that they didn't affect the stats at all. He wished they did, even if it were by one or two points.

  "What does this Tier mean?" Kassandra asked.

  "Oh, that's like your level," he replied. "We're on the E-Tier or Exiled. And the +1 is your rank. There must be a certain number of ranks per Tier before we Tiered up. Maybe ten or even a hundred, I'm not sure. We'll find out soon enough."

  It was ten.

  "And what about Talents?" She asked.

  He sighed internally. He could explain everything to her, but then he would have no excuse for how he figured out what Talents were. Besides, it wasn't like they were going to face anything seriously dangerous anytime soon. If he left her alone, she would figure it out. After all, she had already done it before.

  "I'm still figuring that out myself," Rey said. "I had just opened those up when you came."

  "Oh, do you want to figure that out together?" She asked.

  No. Say no. You'd better say no, Rey.

  "Of course," Rey said naturally.

  You dumbass! Why don't you jump into the acid after her this time? Her screams flashed in his ears. The way she struggled to reach for his arm. The hail of poisoned arrows overhead.

  "Not," he quickly added. "I'm sorry, but I work best alone. So, you'd best move along."

  She looked like she had been slapped, and Rey wanted to fall on his scythe. His feelings were so conflicted that it was best he stayed away from her and focused on his revenge. After all, he had a long road ahead of him. He didn't need her as a distraction.

  "Okay, thanks for your help," she said quietly and walked off.

  He wanted to call her back, but didn't. He had to do this alone. To get his mind off her, he opened up his Talents, and various sub-menus opened up. He ignored most of them because time was running out. After all, he had a date.

  He opened the Core section and quickly selected the Identify skill.

  [Identify: This skill reveals information about monsters, people, objects, and weaponry. You need to have killed a demon or monster of its type to reveal the Tier and Rank for others of its kind.]

  Rey spent a Talent point and placed the Identify skill in one of the General skill slots. It was saying something that they had to waste a Talent point to obtain such a basic skill. However, it was worth it, even if it didn't work on the first try.

  He concentrated on his scythe and used Identify on it.

  [Rustic Scythe (Worn) – A long shaft weapon of inferior quality with a rusted Iron blade. It will do negligible damage to D Tier enemies and may break easily if not repaired regularly. Its damage will increase with higher Dexterity.]

  Rey used Identify on the nearest human, and it happened to be the blondie staring off into space, which meant she was reading up on some notification, most likely a Talent Tree.

  [Human (Exiled) – E+1]

  He shrugged. Since we're both humans, so Identify works, even if this woman doesn't give a very human-like vibe.

  Then a shriek echoed through the night, though it was not entirely night, as day and night were the same in this place. It was almost impossible to tell whether it was day or night. He had just given up on it after trying for several weeks. He just slept when his body demanded sleep. Kassandra had figured out a way to keep time. Rey had never bothered learning it.

  The ghastly trees rustled, and Rey tightened the grip on his polearm. He rushed towards the coming demon.

  Come to me, sweet experience.