The need to find my team was like a physical pressure, so I extracted my Quest Helper scroll and read it.

  My mini-map pinged with a flash of light on the northeast corner. I expanded the map to full screen. It showed me at the dungeon, with the twisting path I’d taken from my starting glade in great detail.

  Everything else was covered in a gray haze. The glow lingered in the northeast sector, well beyond anywhere I’d already traveled. Hopefully it was pointing me toward the closest team member. I minimized the map and started moving, alert for monsters.

  As I jogged through the sparse forest, with giant trees rearing hundreds of feet above me, their crowns as big as warehouses, I could see farther than I’d expected. Some house-sized bushes blocked some sight lines occasionally, but there was a lot less undergrowth than I’d run through initially.

  The soil was dark and loamy and comfortable to jog on. The land rolled in easy hills, broken by occasional steeper ravines or gulches, or by small rocky cliffs jutting into the sky.

  I spotted no monsters or other dungeons as the distant mountains drew steadily closer. Lower peaks loomed close on either side of the valley where I traveled. Beyond them, taller peaks reared impossibly high in majestic cliffs so sheer, not even I could hope to climb them, even with my enhanced strength and agility.

  With my map, I could orient myself better and paused in a larger clearing to study what I could of the landscape. The ranks of ever-taller mountains rose to the east, but as I turned a slow circle, I could see more high peaks around to the south, forming a curving, impenetrable wall stretching into the distance as far as I could see.

  To the west, the lower mountains around me blocked my view, but I didn’t see the larger peaks like I did to the east and south, while to the north, sheer cliffs rose at least 10,00 feet, but anything beyond was obscured by low clouds.

  Okay. I was in a very mountainous area. Continuing northeast would push deeper into higher mountains. I’d eventually run out of room or have to start climbing some pretty serious slopes. Hopefully I’d find my team before I got to that point.

  I found my first clue within fifteen minutes. A black X on my mini map.

  With a sinking feeling of dread, I hurried toward the X. A rocky hill covered in jumbled boulders blocked my path. I would have gone around the other way without the map and missed the clue.

  I vaulted over ten-foot rocks, rushing and hoping my fear was wrong. On one jump, I landed on some loose gravel on a steeply sloping rock and started to slide. Instinctively, I reached down and grabbed the stone to keep from falling into a nearby crevice.

  My fingers dug into the porous stone. It was something like pumice, but I stared in shock at how easily my fingers clawed into it. The rough stone didn’t even draw blood or rip off any of my nails.

  I stared in wonder at my hand. I’d understood at one level what my constantly growing stats meant, but seeing the difference made me want to whoop. What else could I do?

  Later. I had a teammate to find. In seconds, I crossed the hill and paused on the last boulder, with views down into a little glade, similar to the one where I had started.

  A man lay dead in the grass, face down.

  I didn’t see any monsters, but he was definitely dead. Something had ripped most of his throat out. Blood still stained the grass where it had sprayed out over 10 yards on one side of him.

  He was a big guy with slabs of muscle and black hair. I couldn’t see his face, but he had an islander look. Maybe Samoan. He only wore a pair of shorts that looked like they were woven from reeds.

  I dropped to the grass and approached cautiously. The man didn’t look like he’d died that long ago. Whatever had killed him might have heard me approach and might want a second meal.

  I hoped it tried.

  The sight of the dead man sparked a surprisingly intense flash of vengeful rage. This man was supposed to be my teammate. I should have arrived sooner to help. He’d been yanked from our world without warning or consent, and now he was dead.

  Fighting to remain calm, I activated my mirror cloak and crept closer. Ten feet from the body, I paused to scan the area. A faint whiff of musk filtered to my nose and I tensed. Something was close.

  A giant snake popped out of the air right in front of me. Bright blue and as long as an anaconda, it was as thick around as my torso. It was already rearing high above its coils, its huge mouth open and facing me. Two swordlike fangs extended more than a foot from its upper jaw, gleaming like ivory in the sunlight.

  I shouted with surprise and dove to the side out of pure reflex just as the snake struck. Even with my high Agility stat, I didn’t move fast enough. One long fang plunged deep into my shoulder, and the snake carried me to the ground. It landed on top of me like a writhing boulder, its weight blasting breath from my lungs.

  I screamed as pain lanced through me and my world turned to white-hot fire. I nearly blacked out from the agony. It hurt so much, it was hard to think.

  Then rage burned away the fog. This thing had killed my teammate. I would not let it kill me too. My right arm was useless and blood poured from my wound, but I growled as the snake reared up again, ripping its fang free. Its coils swept around me, trying to entangle me.

  I pulled a torch from my inventory, lit it, and shoved it into the snake’s open maw as it bent down again to rip off my head.

  The sound of sizzling flesh filled the glade and the snake hissed so loud, my ears stopped working. It rolled away, convulsing, the burning torch still shoved deep into its throat. I tumbled and rolled within its coils, unable to jump to my feet.

  Panting with pain and fear and a wild exhilaration I’d never felt before, I pulled my new sword from my inventory into my left hand. The ethereal blade extended, and I slashed at the coils all around me. The blade passed through the serpent’s body with barely any resistance.

  The snake hissed again and its body pulsed with light. Energy poured into me and I realized with a start it was my new Soul Feed utility spell.

  The snake wasn’t actually trying to attack me with that spell, but we were still tangled together, so its power washed over me. The energy rolled through me, replenishing some of my health and easing my pain.

  I had set the spell to automatically divert 40% of any captured energy into triggering Energy Ward, and my defensive aura sprang to life around me. At the same second, the serpent disappeared.

  I blinked in surprise, rolling over and jumping to my feet. It was just gone.

  Hissing and thrashing behind a couple trees at the edge of the clearing revealed where it had fled. That’s how it had appeared right in front of me. The stupid snake had some kind of teleport ability.

  I had to finish it off fast. My shoulder still hurt enough to make me gasp, but I resisted the urge to use a healing potion, even though I had one ready in my hotlist. My health bar stood at 85%. I was glad I hadn’t seen how much it dropped before that energy restored some of it. Maybe I could steal a bit more.

  Sword in hand, I sprinted around the tree. The snake was writhing on the ground, trying to slither away, but several pieces of its long torso weren’t working. Those must be the spots I had sliced. There were no visible wounds, but I’d severed the serpent’s spirit in those places.

  It heard me coming and spun to hiss as it partially coiled itself for a spring. That’s when Identify triggered.

  “Void Serpent. Common. Level 18. These sneaky predators use a spatial distortion ability to teleport to their prey just as they strike.”

  My torch lay on the ground in smoldering pieces. The snake had crushed it, but smoke still drifted from its partially open mouth. The air smelled like charred steak.

  I charged, again driven by a boiling rage. Even if it needed time to recharge its teleport ability, coiled like that, it could strike pretty far. Hopefully my Energy Ward had gotten enough juice to deflect at least one strike.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  The serpent hissed as I charged in, its body weaving dangerously, but it slithered back toward the next tree. It was retreating!

  Made sense. Predators of opportunity that struck from ambush wanted easy meals, not fights. Too bad. I wasn’t about to let it get away.

  It seemed to realize that as I barreled straight in. Instead of striking with its fangs, it twisted its body and slashed out with its tail like a ten foot whip.

  That caught me by surprise, and I instinctively brought my sword up to block. I forgot it was an ethereal weapon.

  The tail swept in horizontally at hip level. My aura couldn’t deflect it away at that angle, so it took the hit and managed to slow the tail some at the cost of more mana. I slashed through it and tried to jump back, but it still caught me across one thigh with enough force to send me tumbling.

  I shouted in annoyance and another flash of pain, and the snake hissed loudly again, but still lunged with terrifying speed while I was rolling. Its head smashed into me, deflected enough by my aura that one fang only scraped along my jacket, but the impact still sent me rolling again.

  Cursing with anger, I twisted back to my feet as the snake came in fast. It was stretched out fully, so could no longer lunge, and the dead sections made its slithering motions awkward. It came on anyway, hissing and snapping at me again.

  This time I was ready and side-stepped, my aura helping slide the snake’s head just past my torso.

  I slashed through its neck.

  The head collapsed to the ground, the fangs digging furrows into the earth as the body convulsed. I retreated as the serpent thrashed for another minute, even though it was obviously dead. Slowly it weakened until it fell limp. Only the jaw kept twitching a few last times.

  I dropped to the grass next to it, panting but exulting in a rush of joy that made me throw my head back and roar to the heavens. That shook me out of my frenzy and I looked down at my own blood-soaked body. What had just happened to me? Had I gotten some kind of Viking berserker ability, or something?

  I’d trained in martial arts and sparred a lot, but never felt that kind of bloodlust. Still, it helped me not hesitate. If I had, that Void Serpent would have killed me. In the future, I needed to act decisively, but I didn’t want to become some blood-crazed lunatic either.

  When I glanced at my life points, I was surprised to see my health had risen by 2 points already. Even as I looked, it ticked up another point. Cyrus hadn’t been lying. Regeneration worked much faster in my tier-1 body.

  I triggered Soul Feed. The bit of health it had already stolen during the fight had helped a ton to keep me going and to trigger my aura. The description had suggested I could get a lot more from an enemy after I killed it.

  The snake’s body shook as a shimmering haze of pure white light lifted off of it and poured into me. With the light came a torrent of energy that topped off my health and mana pools.

  I sighed with relief as my wounds visibly healed. Almost instantly, I felt as strong as ever. That new utility spell was already proving its worth. If I had to fight multiple monsters at the same time, when I killed one, I could absorb its energy. That would keep me fresh and able to keep fighting far longer.

  After washing off my face and hands and sword hilt with a flask of water, I focused on the dead monster and triggered Harvest.

  “Congratulations, Lucas! You have successfully harvested Void Step. Uses remaining: 2. Void Step. Spell. Teleport up to 100 feet within your line of sight. Mana Consumption: Moderate.”

  I pumped a fist in the air. I’d taken a bit of a gamble making Harvest my permanent spell. Looked like it was a good choice after all. I’d never get a teleport ability otherwise.

  The new spell, plus the 3 single-use spells I’d gotten from that loot box finally gave me a solid range of offensive abilities. With Energy Ward providing vital defense and Harvest filling in my spells with new, random options, I should be able to keep fighting without running out of spells.

  Grinning, I accepted the prompt to loot the serpent. I received 25 mana crystals, 1 standard healing potion, and a crafting item.

  “Uncommon Void Serpent hide. Common. Can be crafted into leather armor, boots, or gloves with excellent defense against weak to moderate piercing or slashing damage and minor defense against elemental damage. Adds a 10% movement bonus.”

  That would be fantastic when I figured out how crafting worked. For now, I left it in my recently expanded inventory and lay back on the grass to rest.

  “Cyrus, I thought you said that tier-1 body upgrade made me 10 times stronger, but compared to that snake I still felt weak. If my body is so much better, shouldn’t I have been able to dodge it better too?”

  “Great question. You’ve just barely gotten your tier-1 body, so you have not unlocked its full potential yet. Your base Strength and Constitution grew by about 50% over what you had reached as a level-11 baby human. As you level up, the math gets a little strange, given that you evolved so early. In general, you’ll probably find that in each level you will gain the power equivalent to 3 to 4 times what you would have gotten as a baby human.”

  I scowled. “First you promise me 10 times as much power. Now after my very first fight, you’ve dropped that down to maybe 3 or 4 times as much? This is not encouraging.”

  Cyrus chuckled. “The process of evolving to a new tier is not as simple as putting on a new pair of socks. Yes, each stat point gives you more, building on the base foundation which is much more powerful than a baby human, but you’re again forgetting about your spells and abilities.”

  “How? You said that they won’t evolve yet.”

  “That’s right. You need to level them up.”

  “Except leveling is harder for me now too. Am I even stronger, or is that another lie?”

  “I never lie to you, Lucas, and I never will. I explained as much as you were ready to hear. You are stronger, but you cannot yet unlock the full efficiency of your new stats.”

  “Efficiency?”

  “It’s not something that generally makes any sense to discuss with baby humans. It just confuses people, but your situation is a bit different. By evolving your body to tier-1, it becomes far stronger and more durable by definition. Each stat point you gain is worth up to 10 times as much as a tier-0 stat point for a baby human, but only after you unlock a full 100% efficiency for those stats.”

  I was starting to get a headache. This experiment was getting worse and worse. Forcing calm on my voice, I asked, “So how do I unlock greater efficiency?”

  “That’s a much more productive question. The best way is to evolve spells and abilities to tier-1. As they evolve, you unlock additional efficiencies that allow you to access far more of your tier-1 potential.”

  “Great. How do I evolve them?”

  “Get to level 10,” he said cheerily.

  “Wait, are you telling me I can’t evolve any abilities or spells until I reach at least level 10? Meaning only after I get to stage 2?”

  “Right again. Simple, right?”

  “No!” I shouted, leaping to my feet and pacing across the grass, fists clenched. “How am I supposed to reach level 10 when it’ll take me way longer to level up, but I can’t use the full advantage of this tier-1 upgrade?”

  Cyrus’s voice turned more serious. “Lucas, nothing is free. You broke the curve with this upgrade. In the short term, this huge boon does come with some additional challenges, but I’m 100% confident you can overcome them. That growth is vital for not only your short-term survival, but to set you up for reaching levels of power no other Earth contestant can dream of.”

  “This is a nightmare,” I breathed, pacing back the other way, mind whirling.

  “Nightmares are transitory,” Cyrus responded, just as cheery as ever. “Focus, Lucas. This game is not designed to be easy. To not only succeed but rise to the forefront, you will have to take risks that others who are willing to settle for mediocrity won’t need to worry about.”

  “You’re not giving me a choice. What if I can’t do it?”

  “Lucas, I’ve known you less than a day and I already know the answer to that. Don’t pretend you don’t have that high Intelligence stat. Since when have you ever backed down from a challenge or let danger hold you back?”

  How did he know so much about me? Could he read my mind? Very likely. That just annoyed me more.

  “Stay out of my thoughts, Cyrus.”

  “I don’t have to read your thoughts to see your potential. Why do you think I chose you and not someone else?”

  “I honestly have no idea. Why did you?”

  Cyrus laughed. “I guess you’ll have to see for yourself. We will talk more later. For now, you have a team to find.”

  He was right. As much as I fumed at the hurdles he was piling in front of me, I couldn’t do anything about it yet. I needed more information, but first I needed to find the rest of my team. So I returned to the body of my fallen teammate and stared down at his bloody form.

  How long ago had he died? The blood looked congealed, but I didn’t know how long it took to get like that. Could I have arrived soon enough to save him?

  “Do you wish to loot Andy Johnson?”

  I hesitated. “Andy.” That didn’t sound like a Samoan name. Maybe I was just bad at telling where people were from.

  Did Andy have a family? Had he been an actor, an extra, or a movie worker? I’d never know.

  I sighed and accepted the prompt. Part of me felt horrified that I would loot the dead, but I didn’t want to die too, and Andy might have something that could help keep me alive. I honestly believed he would want me to take it.

  A dark cloud enveloped Andy’s body, and for a second I feared it would melt away like the monsters had. That would be the final, ultimate insult. Thankfully, he didn’t disappear.

  Instead, his body seemed to shrink in on itself until he looked like a half-starved mummy. For a moment, I just stared as the brutal reality of our new world crashed in on me.

  Sure, I’d almost died several times, but I’d made it through. Andy had not. Glancing at the survivors counter, it had ticked down even more. People were dying. They would not respawn.

  I’d seen a lot of devastation during the years I worked the fire crews, and I’d seen some death. It was always ugly, but this felt worse. I spent a solemn moment of silence standing vigil over Andy’s corpse, my emotions weaving into a cold fury at those who had chosen to do this to us. I would win their stupid game, and I would save as many as I could.

  Glancing at the loot I got from Andy, I grimaced. He had not had the kind of luck I’d enjoyed. I picked up a handful of mana crystals and 1 basic food ration. Had he not looted any of the monsters he fought? Or had he been forced to use everything to defend himself? I searched the glade, but found no other gear or weapons. That was really depressing.

  More likely, he hadn’t chosen Mystic Looter, so hadn’t been able to loot monsters at all. The other utility spells all seemed fantastic, but looting was definitely a top priority, especially so early in the game when we had basically nothing. If he’d chosen a different spell, that might have led to his early demise. Any mistake could get us killed.

  I lacked a shovel, but didn’t want to leave Andy’s body lying in the grass for the next monster to eat. So I carried him into the pile of boulders I’d crossed earlier and lowered him into a crevice, then piled smaller rocks to top to form a cairn.

  “Sorry I couldn’t do more, buddy,” I whispered. “Rest in peace. I’ll do what I can to help win this crazy game and save Earth.”

  Then I turned and jogged off, feeling more somber than I had all day. I just hoped my other teammates were faring better.