Shift Change

Punisher turned around once he felt my energy. He kept his voice low as he spoke. "Hey Ronan. What's the situation in the enemy camp?" 

"There are 25 hostiles, all Alorae. There are twenty warriors between levels eight and ten, four mages between levels twelve and fifteen, and one mage that's at least level twenty. It would be a very difficult fight; we probably can't take them."

Punisher nodded. "What are they here for?"

I shook my head. "It's bad. Remember the doctor I told you about?"

"Yes, that fucker who snapped my neck and cut your head off. What about him?"

I looked distraught. "He's acting sooner than I had expected at this time."

I ran Punisher through everything that I had learned while listening to the swordsman and the spearman within the camp. After I finished running him through everything, he took a moment to gather his thoughts.

Punisher looked back at me after several seconds of thinking. "So what is the plan? We can't let Dr. Victor Trauss get his hands on that disease. It would cause too many deaths."

"I have an idea, but I don't think you're going to like it."

Punisher raised an eyebrow. "What's your plan?"

I looked towards the Alorae camp. "There are about fifty minutes until my position is broadcast again. I can't take all these Alorae, but I can definitely stall them."

Punisher shook his head. "No way in hell am I going to let you do that. It's suicide. If there are that many players... Everyone above level ten is going to have a class, and you're still level eight. I don't care if you have a stat advantage and that perk that gives you a boost; we don't know what these fuckers have on them."

I smiled. "Who said I was going to try to stall them while at level eight?"

 Punisher cocked his head to the side. "Wait, you're not going to level to ten in under fifty minutes, are you? There's no way."

I pointed down towards a group of five soldiers that had just entered the camp. Another five soldiers from inside the camp greeted them and started heading west, out of the camp. "You see those guys right there?"

Punisher nodded. "What about them?"

"They're my ride to level ten."

Punisher put the puzzle pieces together and grinned. "Okay then, get going. You better get a fucking good class."

I nodded. "I'll follow those soldiers. What I need you to do is enter the mine. Look for a cluster of trees on the north-facing side of the mountain that have dark red leaves. There's an entrance nearby that area if you look hard enough. Your signal to head there will be when the camp departs for my location."

"Alright, kick the fuck out of those guys. What should I look for inside the mine?"

"There should be an ancient underground mining town down there; every mining tunnel would eventually lead to it. Look for an ancient building with this symbol on it." I drew a symbol of a triangle with three lines slashed through it horizontally. "The building is filled with ancient technology, but what you're looking for is a cylindrical metal container about the size of a thermos that has the same symbol I drew on the ground etched on the top."

"Shit, you and your future knowledge... I'll do my best to remember."

I laughed. "What can I say? When hundreds of thousands of people die, everyone learns the story eventually. I'll tell you exactly how I know later; just know that Doctor Victor Trauss acquired the container from a team of players who were trading some of the items they found inside the mine."

Punisher nodded and gestured towards the team of soldiers leaving the camp. "Your ride to level ten is leaving; I'll get the job done."

"One last thing. The mine isn't a vacation home; always be on guard. The players who explored it were at least level ten at the time. A couple of them died; you should be careful."

Punisher laughed. "Worry about your own damn self."

I smiled and took off in the direction of the soldiers that were heading westward. It was time to see what fate had in store for me regarding my class options. Players were given several options once they hit level 10, and all of them were based on the player.

Some players were sharpshooters back on Earth, so they got skills and class options related to ranged weapons. If someone were a baseball player back on earth, they could have a class option related to melee weapons or bludgeoning weapons. Someone who worked as a chef back on earth could potentially pick up a non-combat class option related to cooking or a combat class option related to knife wielding.

And of course, there were those players who had nothing really going for them back on earth to determine what kind of class options they could have. Maybe they never had a job, never participated in a sport, never really did anything. What the system does for people like that is unique. The system will analyze the player's overall potential. Those players will be given class options that are related to what the system expects the player to be good at.

In the past, my class options were given to me based on my potential. I was offered classes that dealt with swordsmanship. Some of those options were very basic, like common or uncommon classes. I was one of the many who got the basic swordsman option, among others. Fortunately, I had one rare class option when I first leveled to 10 in my last life. I picked the rare class, Aura Swordsman.

In this life, I expect things to be very different. The system will analyze me now, and I expect that I will be rewarded heavily for all of the achievements that I've picked up. The system might even review my past life as part of how it gauges what classes it should offer me. If that's the case, I might have some very interesting options.