There was a heated but quiet conversation.

  The soft glow of candles—set on the lounge room table, the shelves, and every windowsill—pushed back the darkness inside the stilted house. Their warm flicker cast long, shifting shadows across the walls, giving the sense that the whole house was holding its breath.

  Outside, nearly three hundred people were doing the same.

  They were scattered across the Riders’ property, huddled in family groups or curled up alone on whatever patch of ground they could claim. Some were already lying down, too exhausted to do anything but close their eyes. Others sat upright, staring out into the night with haunted expressions. And a few paced restlessly, unable to escape the crushing worry for the friends and family who weren’t here—those who hadn’t made it to the Safe Zone.

  Their lives had been turned upside down only eight hours ago.

  Eight hours since the System appeared.

  Eight hours since the world changed forever—bringing Stats, Skills, Titles… and monsters.

  People had died. People were still dying, somewhere out there beyond the pale line of safety the System marked around the property. And even those who survived the march were still reeling, too hungry, too tired, and too overwhelmed to fully understand what had happened.

  But they were alive.

  Alive because of the man and his family who had somehow moved faster than anyone else—preparing, fighting, hauling people forward before the creatures could overrun them.

  After the Riders’ quick speech—firm, calm, and reassuring—most of the crowd had agreed to wait until morning before making any decisions. The promise of food, a plan, and protection had been enough to keep panic at bay.

  For now.

  Up in the stilt house, behind candlelit windows, voices murmured—urgent but controlled.

  Inside that room, choices were being made.

  Plans were forming.

  The next chapter of the changed world was already beginning.

  And come sunrise…

  nothing would ever be the same again.

  ___________________________________________________________

  Zane turned from looking out the lounge room window, where he was keeping an eye on the surroundings, to butt back into the conversation.

  “Wait, what?”

  It was Bell he had interrupted; she did not seem to mind repeating herself.

  “I was just saying that I got a personalised message from the system, even after it did its thing where it sacrificed itself to help you out in the Dungeon.”

  And with that, Bell shared here system screen with everybody in the room

  Congratulations

  You have killed thirty beings that are within 5 levels of you with one Epic shot

  Your Title

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Um, reminded me to never knock on your door!

  has evolved to

  Get Off My Grass!

  ? 40% extra Damage when using a fully powered charge shot on a target 30 meters or less away

  ? Splashback damage increased by 12.5%

  (now that’s bettera!)

  “This was not the original message. From memory, the original message was a skill upgrade and only gave me 20% extra explosive damage.”

  Tarni interrupted in an old grandpa voice. As stooped like he was using a walking cane, he shook his fist in the air. “Hay, you Kids, Get Off My Grass!” before busting into laughter, “Well, hairy ork butts, we know the system is still hanging in there when it comes up with names for titles like that.”

  Everybody in the room was laughing and nodding in agreement, except Max, who had no idea what they were talking about.

  Then Zane brought the atmosphere in the room down, “Well, the system did tell us that it would lose 63% of its personality matrix.”

  Kai quickly jumped in. “Well, that does leave 27%, and we don’t know if it will recover.”

  Lily was making notes as Kai continued. “OK Max, I think that helps us answer the main question of the night.”

  With a poleaxed look on his face, Max replied, “It does?”

  “Yep, the question was should you level up first before summoning your companion or summoning, then level up.”

  Max nodded as that indeed was what they had been discussing for the last couple of hours, but he did not see how the question had now been answered.

  “So why do we now know the answer?”

  Tanri started to explain before getting kicked in the shin by Bell. “Owch! Hay, why did you do….” Bell gave him a glare, only saying, “I believe Kai was speaking.” With a mumble, “I was going to do Sherlock Holmes.” Tarni sat back down. Allowing Kai to continue.

  “It means, Max, that the system that has been doing its best to help us ever since Dad first got into the system is still around in a small way.” Max was still confused. “That’s great, I guess, but?” Kai took a deep breath and continued. “The system has a plan, and it gave you the option for a companion right at the beginning of the system initialisation, so it wants you to have it before you level up.”

  After Kai finished speaking, Max looked around the room at everybody nodding in agreement.

  “Great, I’ll name it now.”

  Max reached instinctively for his System interface, the familiar flicker of anticipation running through him—but he didn’t even get his fingers halfway up before:

  “NO, Max!”

  Bell’s voice cracked through the room like a whip.

  Max yelped and dropped straight back into his chair, eyes wide. “Wh—what? Why?!”

  Bell winced, hands raised in apology. “Sorry! Sorry, mate—I didn’t mean to spook you like that.” She looked genuinely sheepish, which wasn’t a common Bell expression. “But seriously, it’s not a good idea to summon anything right now.”

  Max blinked, still clutching the armrest like it owed him money.

  Bell continued, slower and gentler this time, “Max, you’re about to spend points, get stat upgrades, and summon a creature we’ve never seen before. And you’re still half-starved. The System told you itself not to level while hungry.”

  Kai leaned forward, elbows on his knees.

  “Yeah. And we’ve got no idea what naming and summoning your companion will actually do. It might be a quiet little ‘poof’…” He pinched the air.

  Tarni mimicked the gesture with jazz hands. “Majestic sparkle-poof.”

  “…or,” Kai continued, “it might be a full-blown light show with thunder, sound effects, glowing runes—who knows? And mate…” Kai pointed toward the window where muffled voices and movement drifted up from the camp below.

  “…everyone outside just barely calmed down enough to sleep.”

  Lily nodded, tapping her pen against her notebook in agreement.

  “If a giant glowing wallaby materialises in a burst of starlight and System fanfare, three hundred exhausted, traumatised people are going to lose their collective minds.”

  Tarni added helpfully, “And I’m too tired to wrangle a panicked crowd tonight.”

  Bell crossed her arms. “So. Morning. After breakfast. After everyone’s eaten properly. And after we tell the camp what to expect.”

  Max sagged back into the chair, processing it.

  “Right… yeah. That makes sense,” he admitted reluctantly. “Didn’t really think about the whole ‘freaking out a giant group of half-traumatised people’ thing.”

  Zane, who had been quiet until now, clapped him on the shoulder.

  “You’ll get used to thinking like that. It’s part of being a leader.”

  Max went red to the ears. “I’m not—I’m not a leader.”

  Every Rider in the room exchanged a glance.

  Tarni smirked. “Sure, mate. Keep telling yourself that.”

  Kai grinned. “We’ve all seen your metrics.”

  Bell added, “And we saw you on the march.”

  Zane’s voice came last, calm and certain.

  “You’ve got the spark, Max. Now let’s make sure you survive long enough for it to matter.”

  Max swallowed—nervously, but also with a strange flicker of pride warming his chest.

  “Okay,” he said. “Morning, it is.”