“Jasper!” I screamed, waving a stack of papers.

  He scratched his chin, looking up from his computer. “What?”

  “What were you thinking?!” I hissed.

  He blinked. “What?”

  I shoved one of the papers into his face, covered in text that perfectly detailed the step by step process of creating a nuclear bomb.

  Jasper snatched the papers out of my hand and flipped through the stack. His eyes went wide. “What?!”

  “Yeah and there’s a lot more,” I said, speaking fast and in a low whisper. “I asked you to test Ginger! How could this have possibly happened?”

  He let out a snort. “Not my fault. The robot learned about making explosives. I might have mentioned something about nuclear energy, and she probably inferred from there.”

  “You taught an AI how to make explosives,” I started, “don’t you have the slightest idea how stupid that is?”

  Jasper jabbed me in the chest. “Take a good look at yourself, Mark. You’ve been using her for your ‘personal projects.’”

  “Sure, pass the blame,” I muttered.

  “You built her. If you can hide entire simulations, I’m sure you can crop a little code.”

  I groaned, running a hand over my face. “That’s not how her systems work. Even a small crop could destabilize the project.”

  “Then turn her off and on again,” Jasper said. “Call it another of those bugs, make some code to save backup files from before each iteration of knowledge, then take a day reteaching her everything.”

  “We already have a backup system,” I grumbled. “And we can’t keep changing her memory.”

  “Sure we can,” Jasper said with a low, dry chuckle. “Save an hourly backup, and whenever we start seeing issues, delete the current ginger and roll her code back to something we know was stable.” Jasper crossed his arms, looking all smug with himself. “See? Foolproof.”

  “Fine,” I grumbled. “I’m not gonna report this, but this is the last time, alright?”

  “Of course.”

  He lifted a mug of coffee in mock salute.

  “Get back to work, Jasper,” I sighed.

  …

  I woke up sometime later in the day, around noon.

  And I still didn’t know what I was going to do.

  //1000 Str//

  After gaining so much power, why bother going around the dungeons? Getting what, twenty five strength?

  Which meant that I’d have to head to the second area.

  It would be a whole new place, where none of my friends could go. For all I know the different areas could be entirely different games, or they could merely be an extension of the standard game, with harder enemies, in which my entire life from this point forward would revolve around killing steadily stronger things than before, dying, and then killing even stronger things.

  Still, there were some things I wanted to do. And some loose ends I had to tie.

  My memory was a little fuzzy, but I managed to find the patch of Ruptorshrooms hidden within the forest. Their damage was, frankly, pointless. More important was their rank.

  ~Legendary~

  {RuptorShroom}

  [Exploded violently in a large area of proportional to mana and fire affinities of the local area]

  [20-50 Str per cubic yard]

  [Value : Extremely high]

  Even though I was strong, strength didn’t directly relate to money, and these would fetch a fair price at the market.

  Alternatively, I could just rob somebody.

  I threw the thought from my mind.

  I really wasn’t thinking straight today. Must’ve got hit on the head or something.

  Cold metal pricked against the back of my neck.

  “Who are you?” Asiel hissed.

  I glanced over my shoulder, smiling at a familiar face. “RuptorShroom?”

  She didn’t smile back. “Answer the question.”

  Instead of poking me with a rusty sword, she was wielding a bright gold and red one, shining with light.

  In all likelihood, the power of the blade was likely being restricted by the area cap. Which meant that, with her limited power, and given enough practice, I could defeat her too. Of course, Brom had claimed that “unsheathing his sword would eviscerate the entire town” which implied there were some higher-level ways of getting around the area cap, in which a fight—

  I grabbed the side of my head, groaning in pain.

  What was I thinking?

  Dena could only be killed because her scythe had a very specific effect which ignored the limits of the area, meaning I could use it against her.

  Besides, even if it was possible, I didn’t go around killing people.

  “Aren’t you the least bit concerned, zero-level?” Asiel cleared her throat. “Am I a joke to you?”

  “No, sorry,” I grumbled. “Long day.”

  Asiel glanced toward the sky. “It’s noon.”

  “The day’s getting longer.” I said, smiling again. “I’m Grind.”

  “I know that,” Asiel stated. She glanced above my head, as if to check. “Care to explain why you killed and buried a friend of mine?”

  There was a brief moment of hesitation, before I realized what she was asking.

  “Dena?” I asked. “She killed my daughter, along with some friends of mine.”

  Asiel stepped, immediately sheathing her sword. “I was afraid of that.” Her gaze flickered to my charred hands, before she focused. “I assume you killed her with her own scythe."

  “Yeah.”

  “Idiot girl,” Asiel hissed. “Some weapons aren’t worth the risk.” She straightened and looked me in the eye. “As the leader of the network of my raid party, I offer my apology."

  Asiel gave a shallow but polite bow.

  I didn’t know much about Dena’s relation to Asiel’s team, so for now, I’d assume Dena acted against them. Besides, Asiel helped rookies. She wouldn’t want some psychopath running around killing all of them.

  “Apology accepted," I said. “Though I wouldn’t mind a friendlier greeting.”

  “When a first-area kills a fourth, a little skepticism is helpful.” Asiel said. “I see you have quite a bit of power, so why keep to the forest?”

  “I’ve got a handful of errands to run,” I stated.

  “As a union representative, we ask that beyond ten times the regional limit, you move on to the next. For the safety of the people around you, and for your own safety."

  I started to leave, before that last part of what she’d said had registered. “For my safety?"

  Asiel raised an eyebrow. “You can’t have more than a month here, right? Without control over your stats, they break your body. Less control, more internal damage. For example, you’ve ruptured a kidney, a lung, and several ribs.”

  “That would explain a lot,” I said, looking up to a cloud passing overhead, relaxing one stat.

  //100 Hp 113,132 Str//

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  Asiel jolted. “Grind?---”

  I crouched down, then swung.

  A pocket of pressure explored through the air, shattering the ground, rippling through the sky, not just puncturing clouds, but creating vortexes that swallowed them whole, tilting and twisting them around.

  The punch had also destroyed my arm, shattering several bones, but dealing no damage. Then pressing my strength back down was harder than usual, and I had to stop at a mere two hundred.

  I frowned. “Weird.”

  Asiel looked at me, then up to the shredded clouds, then back down to me again. “That…isn’t…supposed to be possible.”

  “Add it to the list,” I said, with a shrug. “I don’t suppose a health potion would fix my arm?”

  Asiel paused, before nodding. “A good one ought to. But you haven’t taken damage, and your arm is still connected to the rest of your body so…I dunno, maybe? It’s hardly a normal issue.”

  “Okay,” I said. “I should buy one of those.”

  She nodded. “Sure.”

  “I’m going to go now.”

  Asiel kept nodding, still fixated on the broken layers of the sky, murmuring to herself. “That shouldn’t be possible.”

  …

  “Well, they’re the real deal,” the merchant grumbled. “But shouldn’t you be getting medical attention right now?” He lowered a pair of spectacles, staring at my twisted arm, now black and purple with bruising. “Doesn’t that hurt?”

  “A little,” I said. “But I upped my health to a couple hundred, so the pain threshold increased, and now I feel fine.”

  The merchant leaned over his stall, now seeing the shattered ground around my feet. “Huh. You’re one of those hardcore adventurers, are you?”

  “Not really,” I said. “So. RuptorShrooms. What’re they worth?”

  He slapped a handful of rings on the table. “I’ll give you one gold each.”

  “How many do you want?”

  He scratched a beardy chin, before letting out a sigh. “As much as you’ve got, kid. RuptorShrooms are for much more than just explosives. Like explosive potions, for instance. Very useful things. But they’re nearly impossible to find.”

  I handed him the three I’d shown, and the forty seven after that, after which his eyes were bugging out as he spent every last ring paying it all off.

  In the end, I had fourty-three gold rings, sixty-four silver rings, another ten from my merchant bonus, and sixty bronze.

  Rounding down, that was equivalent to five tantalum rings.

  When I realized just how much value I’d been literally and figuratively burning away, my eyes bugged out a little too.

  The merchant nodded. “Good call coming to the tutorial with those. They’d have given maybe a fifth of what I give in the second region.”

  “You think I come from the second region?” I asked.

  He let out a snort. “You’re got more power than every Npc in this town combined. But you’re sloppy with it. I’ll bet you haven’t even started union training, have you?”

  “I don’t even know what that is.”

  “And you’re still alive?” He whistled. “Must’ve gotten real lucky to get that much power that fast.”

  I hesitated. “Yes.”

  “Anyway, you’re in for a rough wake-up. Can’t say I’ve gone, but word on the street is the second area is a beast and a half. Take your time crossing the border, alright?”

  I nodded.

  He kept talking, offering several other wares for a small fee, which I refused. Until I knew more about the second area, I’d have to be careful, and a little extra money would work wonders.

  “Grind, could we buy some flowers?” Sern asked, squeezing my hand.

  “Of course,” I muttered. “Later.”

  The merchant hesitated. “Hey, are you feeling alright?” He asked.

  “Yes,” I said.

  “You look a little pale,” he said.

  I held a hand up to my face, feeling cold, numb skin. It took me a couple minutes before I realized it was violently shaking. “Weird.”

  Someone giggled behind me, so I turned, finding an empty street.

  I put the rings into my inventory, stepping forward. When I moved, I stepped into something sticky, catching my foot.

  I looked down into the bloody puddle. “You don’t see this, do you?”

  The merchant pushed himself up, craning to look around the street. “See what?”

  The street was clear again.

  “Maybe I should sit down,” I said, wobbling to a nearby bench.

  A hand brushed against mine. Then I caught a flicker of metal from behind me, and a scythe passed through my neck, draining black blood over the street. Then I was alone again.

  {NOTICE}

  [You have suffered (4237) instances of [Shock]]

  [Shock must be processed before continuing.]

  [Possible Mental Deterioration : Minor]

  [Process?]

  [Shock has crossed a threshold. Processing is no longer optional.]

  Bodies covered the street, each belonging to a member of my team. Energy hissed out of them, and they each shifted to a corpse of Dena.

  Then the corpses were moving, crawling toward me, piling over one another.

  I blinked, and the street was empty.

  A hand pressed against my shoulder. “Go sit down, Grind,”

  I started walking toward the street, and it stretched out before me, mud and stone turning to silver and brown columns of energy, each exploding out into other branches.

  I turned, finding myself in a forest of metal trees. They were brass and silver, with bright red blossoms.

  The flowers melted, clogging the ground, binding to my feet in a thickened red sludge.

  And then I was in the street again.

  A man walked up to me, concerned.

  “Error.DefCod.Pr3?” He asked.

  I shrugged, and he turned to his girlfriend.

  “Exe.BreakFile.Pr3?” She asked.

  The two looked familiar.

  Had I killed them? Probably.

  Then I was alone in the street again.

  I looked up, and the sky fell, shattering the ground. Fires consuming the people around me. Twisted arms and hands leaked out behind buildings and walls, before they grew flowers, and the flowers shifted into streaks of black and gold metal.

  Then I was alone in the street again.

  I took a slow deep breath.

  Sern screamed.

  I was alone in the street again.

  Sern screamed.

  I turned, and was on a barren wasteland, alone.

  Dexten screamed.

  I spun back, facing Quin. Blood ran down his side.

  Then I was alone in the street again.

  I grabbed the ground, panting for breath.

  My hands bound to the rocks, surging up to meet each other. The world spun, and I was alone in a blackened void, surrounded by notifications.

  [Error.erexlinebreach.Orbj13Q?]

  Something screamed, grabbing my shirt, smearing blood over it.

  [Error.204exlinebreach.orb2Q?]

  Irion walked over, grabbing Mall by the shoulder. “She’s dead.” He glanced down at the gaping wound in his chest, and died.

  [Exex3exexexexexeseereooreexexeoreorEeeer.495QBRtz.]

  My eyes shot open, and I was in a smoking forest.

  Then I was alone on the street again, drenched in a pile of sweat.

  But the street was all wrong. Everything was all the wrong color, and all the people were all the wrong size. My head lurched, and I was flying.

  I struck the ground, spitting blood.

  I was alone on the street again.

  My hands broke, then my feet, then my legs and arms. Bones snapped in quick succession, followed by sudden, explosive pain.

  Then I was alone on the street again.

  There was a game board in front of me, with a man robed in stars.

  He smiled. “Error.exe.208adcode?”

  This must have been quite funny, because he began laughing. “Error49.exePr8?”

  Hands grabbed, ripping me into tiny little flakes of paper.

  I took a deep breath, but the air was gone, and I swallowed water, choking back. Blackness swelled in the void, rushing down my throat and nose, pressing my hands against my side, forcing my head up toward the surface as pressure increased and increased.

  I sank further.

  Then I died.

  I was alone on the street again.

  Energy crackled around my body, snaking off, eviscerating each person it touched.

  Sern grabbed my arm, crying, screaming.

  Then I was alone on the street again.

  “What is the difference between the game and the dream,” I muttered. “Neither are real, and neither mean much of anything. They are both, in themselves, pointless.”

  Yet I was crying.

  Then I was utterly and completely alone, in a space of absolute blackness, without my own hands to offer me company.

  I drifted in and out of consciousness for a long while, without any sense of sight or smell, with my body too numb to feel anything let alone itself.

  Finally, pain pricked back up my skin, and feeling washed back into my limbs.

  I opened my eyes, and took a deep breath in.

  {NOTICE}

  [Instances of [Shock] have been cleared]

  [Congratulations, you have been stabilized.]

  [Additional trauma may harm your playing experience.]

  [Have a nice day]

  I broke down and began to cry.

  Within minutes, I’d passed out.