Another system notification popped up.


    Changing fields…


    The ground rumbled and all the trees and vegetation shivered. Preparing for what came next.


    James froze. Or to be more precise, he couldn’t move. He only had enough agency to move his eyes and see what came next.


    In an instant, the trees disappeared and flashed into the ground, leaving barren land and exposing the horizon. As well as the many people scattered along it in the distance. There were hundreds of people, all in groups of three or more. Many were armed in some way, a few even in full plate armor. Most looked fairly normal but some… Is that a skeleton? It was wearing a rich, black cloak and all sorts of golden jewelry. It had to have been at least eight feet tall.


    Moving contestants…. Merging proximate teams….


    The ground swelled up beneath James and his team. Identical hills swelled up beneath each team which moved and merged together as they met until there were only two large hills left, standing opposite each other, each comfortably fitting at least two hundred people.


    Spawning Flags…


    From the summit of each hill, a clear crystal sphere emerged, roughly the size of a tall man. The crystals sent up a blazing beacon of light, the beam on James’ side was the same system blue that shone from his teammates while the other team’s was red, the same glow surrounding them.


    Reseeding Map…


    The vegetation and trees started growing back out from the map, though there were differences from before. The hills were surrounded on all sides by trees though they themselves remained bare from everything but grass, and three distinct lanes were being formed between the two camps.


    Preparation Complete. Good Luck.


    The pressure that had been holding James down suddenly released him. And everyone else.


    Over the still growing trees, James saw a vague mass of people which could only have been the entire other team begin rushing down the newly formed lanes towards them. Then the trees finished growing.


    James’ camp burst into chaos. Half seemed ready to meet the charge and the other half were trying to understand what just happened. One very short man in full plate armor seemed to be trying to get everyone’s attention. The lich—because that’s the only thing the rich looking skeleton man could have been—was just standing there looking generally unimpressed.


    James looked down at the mug shard in his shaking hand. I really wish I had that machete right about now. Not that it’d make much of a difference.


    “Magnificent…” James looked to his right and found Kaiser absolutely awe-struck. “Whatever can do that…I’m going to make it mine.”


    “Whatever can do that can probably kill you without a second thought,” James replied. His hands were still shaking. He tried to clench his fists and failed. An entire forest had been flattened, the ground molded like clay, and the most he could do was blink about it. He was entirely out of his de—


    Kaiser clapped him on the shoulder. “James, my friend. Apparently, this isn’t my first time running an impossible heist.” His eyes glazed over in the way that meant he was checking the system.


    It must be his Feat, James realized.


    “If I’d let fear get in the way of my choices, I’d probably be dead by now, starved on the side of some city street. When it comes to getting things done, confidence is king.” Then Kaiser looked over his shoulder, “Besides, it’s too early to give up yet.”


    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    Jaes turned around. Everyone had calmed down and gathered around the short man in plate armor (whom James was beginning to suspect was a dwarf) in a loose semi-circle. There was a sense of focus emanating from everyone here. Not a single one had given up.


    “Alright lads and lassies, the name’s General Bjorgrimm Clanless and I don’t know how we got here or why but I do know a thing or two about defending a point.” He grinned wryly as if he’d made a particularly funny joke. “If you’re willing to trust me, then I swear on my ancestors that I’ll get us through this challenge.” He turned and seemed to look everyone in the eye, though he couldn’t have, considering how many there were. No one objected.“Now, before we get this party started, does anyone have anything to add? Keep it quick.”


    “James here has some good info!”


    A sharp push at James’ back and he stumbled forward. He whipped back to see Kaiser with two thumbs up mouthing “confidence is king.” He whipped back around to see some two hundred odd people (and a terrifying lich) staring at him.


    “Um, hello there.” James said, “What I think my friend here was talking about was that uh, if you say ‘Details,’ you’ll be able to find a profile of yourself. On the blue screens. Some of it’s pretty simple stuff but we’re not sure what other parts mean.”


    A murmur of “details” went out through the crowd and a telltale glaze went over their eyes as everyone verified his words. The dwarf, Bjorgrimm, recovered first and made his way over while everyone else was still checking over their information.


    “Clever work, laddie! Any other secrets or bright ideas floating around in there?” he said, reaching out for a handshake.


    Kaiser, thankfully, beat him to the punch—and the handshake, which he took in both hands and shook vigorously. “Kaiser Duskweaver at your service Mr. General Sir, professional thief, charmer, and event planner,” he said with a grin and seemingly no shame at all.


    Bjorgrimm raised an eyebrow. “Professional thief?”


    “Yes sir! You know I always say a great thief is a great planner, and I’m the best there is.” At this point people had mostly finished reading their profiles and had gotten quickly to talking. Kaiser glanced at them before saying, “Now, I’m no stranger to running a crew so I think it’s best we have a plan up and running by the time everyone’s finished.”


    Bjorgrimm looked the grey-skinned man up and down before nodding. By some unspoken decision, they went off on their own to discuss their plans.


    James let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding and sat down on the grass. Arthur was waiting for him down there. She climbed into his lap and looked him in the eyes. She watched him for a while before making herself comfortable and closing her eyes and laying down, ears still softly flicking at each sound.


    James looked around to find his discovery being put to good use already. Two men in lab coats had gotten everyone for organized testing and had already extracted some useful information.


    Everyone’s Feats were some sort of “impossible” accomplishment, and their Talents were at least marginally related. It seemed, for some reason, that everyone had the Identify Advantage at 1/1. Why it was called an advantage if everyone had it no one knew, but that was where the bulk of the testing was done.


    Or at least it would have been if not the moment someone had used it on the mysterious Talents and figured out what they did. They were abilities, unique to each individual, some with activation conditions some without. Either way, their fighting power had just doubled, at least.


    Because there was a fight coming, no doubt about it.


    James pulled up the notification he’d been ignoring until now.


    Use Identify (1/1)?


    Maybe with this he would be able to contribute more. Maybe he wouldn’t be so powerless. Some of the others were already tossing around boulders and floating. And the lich, while he hadn’t shown any overt usage of his talent, seemed very pleased.


    “Identify Talent.”


    James’ profile popped up, with more information set below his talent.


    Talent: Avoid Notice


    When using a cough drop, avoid the notice of others. You will not become invisible, merely the least important thing in the vicinity. Even less so than the air. This effect will be broken if you draw attention to yourself.


    James wasn’t sure why he felt disappointed. He’d known his ability name from the start. It was never going to be the game changer he was hoping for. He had just hoped it wouldn’t be as useless as he was.


    James sighed and looked at the activation condition. Well that’s just a bit cruel, isn’t it? Then again, even after nearly choking to death, he hadn’t really felt averse to having a cough drop. In fact, he could kind of use one right now considering everything that was going on. Unfortunately his cough drops had just gotten a lot more valuable.


    Well the one silver lining was that if he was useless then, at the very least, no one here could reasonably ask anything of him.


    “James, just the man I was looking for!”