Chapter 6

We'd set the cots up on one of the trailers connected to the stationary trucks. I was sure that the stars were still out, but I couldn't see them through the canopy created by the massive Joshua trees. The world was becoming more and more alien. The animals growing so large and vicious, the plants changing, the system. I couldn't help but wonder what it could all mean. "I guess those questions are above my paygrade," I whispered aloud to myself. The night passed on, I was on the last guard shift again, so everyone else would be up too soon.

A cold breeze nipped at my cheeks, and I sighed. I decided to look at my stats and then award my skill points to pass the time.

STR:5.5

DEX:6.5

INT:14

CHA:4.5

HEALTH:550

MANA:1400

STAMINA:650

EXP:25/12,800

I had decided to put a few points into intelligence strength and dexterity. Mostly intelligence. I liked how it made me feel every time I put more into intelligence, new questions opened up for me, and some of them I could even answer for myself now. I felt smarter than I had at any point in my life before this. Not just smarter, though stronger and faster. My strength and dexterity weren't even close to my intelligence level, but I noticed changes happening in my body with every point or half point I gained in those. My muscles would get more tone. They even got more prominent when I actually added one of my spendable points to strength. I felt less tired, and like I could go on for hours without stopping.

The next thing I needed to do was open up my skill trees. When I'd reached level 2, another slot had opened up and revealed another skill. This happened every two levels, so now I had a total of six skills I could choose from.

Stone Shot-(Power Shot) A projectile made of energy taken from the earth forms and shoots towards an enemy for 20 damage. Single Cast.

Minor Heal- Heals wounds for 30 life points. Single Cast.

Cleanse-Removes toxins from air or water for two meters around a target. Channel.

Illumination-Provides a small amount of light at the end of your staff. Channel.

Refresh-Restores 10% of party members' stamina. Single Cast.

Defend-Increases party members' defense by 10% for 10 seconds. Single Cast.

There was additional information at the end of the short explanations of the skills that hadn't been there before—single Cast and Channel. I closed my display to look around the area again and check in with SSG Underwood, and then I continued my investigation into the information. Focusing on the words, I was able to get a message to pop up.

"Single Cast means that you are only able to use the spell once per activation. Channel means that the spell will remain active until you run out of mana or you deactivate the skill. Just a hint keep raising your intelligence, and I can give you more information. Hope you don't stay stupid for long!" I wondered how the system could be so helpful but so annoying at the same time. Opening my skills back up, I re-read the explanations of every skill. I could only open two skill trees, though, and those were for the skills I already had. With only seven skill points, though, I felt like I couldn't just unlock all of the trees; EXP was getting harder to earn, so I needed to be smart about how I did this.

I opened my Stone Shot tree and found that the next line of skill upgrades off of power shot was no longer greyed out, and I could read them.

Concuss- Increases chance to stun an enemy by 10%.

Shatter-Stone shot now has a 10% chance to shatter, causing multiple injuries debuff to an enemy.

Ignite-Stone Shot now has a 10% chance of igniting, causing burning debuff to an enemy.

Bullseye-Increases the chance to land a shot on an enemy in a critical location by 10% critical shots double damage.

I didn't spend any skill points yet and went on to open up Minor Heal. The skill tree for Minor Heal looked like it would be a lot smaller than Stone Shot with only two upgrades I could choose from.

Oxygenate- After healing, the body becomes rich in oxygen adds speed buff for 10 seconds. Unlocks Stat Point for Dexterity.

Hydrate-After healing, the body becomes hydrated adds intelligence buff for 10 seconds. Unlocks Stat Point for Intelligence.

This development had me excited. Now I knew that specific skill unlocks could provide me with additional stat points too. I just had to decide what skills I would unlock. The sun was beginning to rise, and the others were waking up, so I had some time to make my decision before everyone was ready to move. Already having two of the skill trees unlocked, I went ahead and upgraded them. I chose Bullseye for my Stone Shot upgrade and Hydrate for my Minor Heal upgrade. Immediately I went and checked my stats. Indeed my intelligence had gone up.

STR:5.5

DEX:6.5

INT:15

CHA:4.5

I was actually excited for the first time since transforming the night before, and I wondered why I didn't feel as panicked or worried as I thought I should. Message.

"The system employs universal energy to curb how sentient lifeforms perceive trauma. It just takes the edge off. I told you I could tell you more once you were smarter. Don't get cocky, though. You're still a dummy." I rolled my eyes at the system's response, but it was good to know at least partially. The other part of me worried about the system playing with our heads. I couldn't think of that right now though I still had points to distribute after all. A flash of annoyance crossed my mind as I realized that the system had just "curbed" my perception again to avoid me getting mad at it. But the thought was gone almost as soon as it appeared.

I had unlocked the skill trees for Cleanse, Refresh and Defend with the five skill points. Unfortunately, the trees were all greyed out and weren't giving me any upgrades. The same "prerequisites are not met" message was there blocking me from growing them too. So I unlocked illumination as well. Illuminations tree did give me upgrades.

Color Change-Allows you to change the color of the light on your staff. Dummy.

Multilight- This allows you to create small floating lights numbering up to five more than the original.

They both seemed interesting, but I decided that, at least for now, I'd save my last skill point for something a little more helpful. Everyone was up and packed, but before we left, I asked if I could give a brief about everything that I'd learned during my shift. They were all shocked when I got to the point about the system changing our perceptions, but just as quickly, acceptance filled their faces. Again I realized that it was a manipulation, but there was nothing I could do about it.

Honestly, I was glad they were doing it. I wondered how we would have been if it weren't helping us control our panic. "We'd probably be dead." I thought. The others allocated their own points, and we all shoved our rucksacks onto our backs and began the trek once more. We were moving slower this time monstrous-sized roots from the trees impeded our movement, so we would have to stop and climb or jump over them. The occasional scorpion would stop us as well, and when they did, we noticed something a little disconcerting.

When we struck the first one instead of a "Level 3 Scorpion," the level indicator was a five. We still killed it quickly, and the EXP for killing it had gone back up to at least 100 instead of the 25 we were getting when we stopped for the night.

"They're getting stronger too," I said, and SSG Underwood understood what that meant. She nodded and gave us the signal to increase our pace. It took us most of the day to reach the end of the forest, but when we could see the bright sun once more reflecting off of the sand, we all breathed a sigh of relief. However, the relief was short-lived because as we egressed the dense forest, a new message popped up on our display.

"OUR CONDOLENCES! 40 percent of your species has been eliminated. We hope you know that in the long run, this will be much better for your species overall!" My breath hitched in my throat as I mulled over what the message was saying. I heard someone hit the ground, and there was some voice trying to console someone, but it all just fell away in my ears. "It could be a lie." I thought, but I knew that wasn't right. Tears fell from my eyes, and I wished that the system would go ahead and change our perception. Message.

"Some things are too traumatic for us to help. We truly are sorry."