《That which does not kill me, makes me stronger》


 1. No Longer Solitary

    Drip.......drip


    Was the only sound that penetrated the thick silence. It sounded so loud to me, though I know in the ordinary course of life such a simple, soft sound would go unnoticed.


    The sound was caused by small droplets of sweat running down my face as I balanced upside down on one hand.


    My eyes followed the lines of the room as I hung their suspended. The room was tiny and sparse. A single bed in the corner, the walls lined with shelves that were filled with books and in the middle of the room as small tiny space where I trained.


    After some time in the handstand I lowered my body down into a planche position, body sideways and parallel to the floor with only my hands touching the ground. An ancient gymnast would recognise the amazing amount of muscle and tendon strength required to perform such a move, a curious bystander would merely think it looked like a strange form of exercise. A lost art, and one I had mastered well.


    I continued through my series of high tension body contortions. From the planche position into a straddle and then moving my legs through my hands and curling my body all the around into the manna position.


    Each movement required me to contract nearly every muscle in my body as tightly as possible generating a profound level of strength. Trembling, I held the position as long as I could.


    To an enhanced human this would be child¡¯s play. But to an unenhanced cripple like myself it was amazing feat of strength and flexibility.


    Completing my exercise circuit I gently rose to my feet and toweled my head down. I looked at the small hand sized mirror glued to the wall and saw a handsome face stare back at me. Japanese features from my mother with the brown skin of my Aboriginal father, I looked exotic by most people¡¯s standards.


    Written on the wall under the mirror were a few simple words once penned by a famous German philosopher.


    ¡®That which does not kill us, makes us stronger¡±


    - Nietzsche


    It was the motto I lived by. It was the mantra I whispered to myself so many times that it become an instinct, that under any circumstances I would survive.


    After some light stretching to reinforce the flexibility patterns I had developed over the last three years of training I moved on to the second stage of my daily regime and began to read. All of my books were dog-eared and worn, haven been read countless times since my incarceration.


    In the world of 3040 no one had much use for ancient philosophy or read printed books anymore. It was all digital and the information was fed directly into a neural link implanted after birth. I was an exception, born with a rare brain abnormality the doctors had almost killed me when they had attempted to implant a neural link. I was possibly the only person on earth who still learned information by physically reading instead of downloaded data packages.


    It was a disability that had seen me viewed as trash by my family and abandoned to one foster home and institution after another. Without a neural interface I was a throwback to another time. It make me unable to access information from the neural grid that had replaced the internet.  It also meant my body could not ever get the nano implants that every human had. Implants that made people stronger, faster, smarter and immune to a host of illness and disease.


    When I was sick with influenza as a child and almost died the Doctors had no way to treat it as the flue virus, while not eliminated, simply lay dormant in everyone else as it was suppressed by the nannites.


    I had been forced to pursue other methods to compensate for my lack of unenhanced physical and mental abilities. While my peers simply increased their strength through implants and gravity rooms I studied the ancient physical training techniques of the 21st century. Gymnastics, Olympic lifting, strongman training, kettlebells.


    I also studied martials arts as a way of improving my reflexes and perception. Martial arts had long since gone extinct due to the invention of personal protection bio shields which were capable of preventing all but the most dire of physical damage to a citizen.


    Even with my lifetime of discipline and training I didn¡¯t kid myself. My physical strength was only around 20% of an enhanced regular human.


    I reached out to flip through my two favorite books by ancient writers. These books were the Art of War by the great ancient Chinese general Sun Tzu and the Book of 5 Rings by Miyamoto Mushashi, a legendary ancient Japanese Swordsman.


    I worked to cultivate my mind just as hard as I developed my body. This was because despite my high natural IQ, I was still far below the intelligence level of the rest of society that had their memory and cognition enhanced by implants.


    I knew I was trash and could never compete. I knew I would never exceed what even a 10 year old enhanced human could achieve, but this never stopped me seeking to exceed my limits. The shame and violence inflicted upon me since birth had forged an iron will.


    An iron will that had given birth to a terrible deed. The first murders in over a 100 years, carried out by what society viewed as a weak cripple. In 3040, I was the only human being on the planet incarcerated for murder.


    ¡°PRISONER #4958674 BRAIZO NAKAMURA. PLEASE MOVE AWAY FROM THE DOOR¡± a loud voice suddenly boomed into the room. I looked up in shock. It was the first sound of another human voice I had heard for 3 years.


    The sealed door to my cell suddenly slid open and a series of lights indicated a path I was expected to walk.


    ¡°PLEASE FOLLOW THE LIGHTS TO YOUR DESTINATION. FAILURE TO COMPLY WILL RESULT IN A CORRECTION.¡±


    I didn¡¯t move for a moment. Braizo I thought. I had almost forgotton my own name I had been on my own for so long.


    I followed the lights for sometime as the corridor shifted and moved. I was in the most secure lock down facility on planet earth in an area that used to be known as Western Australia. It used to be a rugged and beautiful land before it was turned into a lifeless desert in the first Indonesian ¨C Australian war.


    Now the entire western third of the Australian continent housed the worlds most dangerous criminals. Disconnected from the neural grid many went insane and tried to kill themselves. Fortunately for me as I had never been a part of the neural grid I had never had to adapt to that particular torture.


    Eventually a large door slide open. Tentatively I slid into the room to see two men seated at a table. One was a tall man with grey hair I had seen only once before when he first arrived. He was the Comptroller of the Prison.


    The other was an elegant looking elderly man in an expensive suit. Except he looked to gaunt, to thin compared to my memories.


    ¡®Uncle¡­¡­¡± the words burst from my mouth of their own volition. The elderly man smiled gently and gestured for me to sit. I struggled to stay in control of himself as I sat down as emotions raged inside of me, but as I gazed at my uncle¡¯s face I forced a calm and neutral expression on my face. I would try not shame my uncle in front of a stranger.


    I saw his Uncle¡¯s eyes approve ever so slightly.


    ¡°Mr Nakumura, because you and the other inmates are not connected to the neural grid you will be unaware of some momentous that overtaken our world. ¡° the Comptroller began.


    ¡°Shortly after you were imprisoned the world as we know it changed. An alien being known as a ¡®Warden¡¯ piloted an enormous spacecraft the size of a small moon into our solar system.  To put it simply, we are not alone, what we think of as the human race exists across millions of galaxies. Though the human form has adapted differently in different environments the general humanoid shape has remained consistent.  I will give you a moment to absorb this information as to not exceed your capacity for comprehension.¡±


    I looked impassively at the Comptroller as he stopped speaking, no sign of shock showing on his face though inwardly he was reeling. I will give you a moment to absorb this information. How many times had he heard that line? As if only those with a neural implant could process new information.


    ¡°Please continue sir, I have understood. Big ship. Aliens. The Aliens are actually humans. The world changed. I still fail to see why that has brought you to speak with the only murderer in a 100 years sentenced to solitary confinement for life.¡±


    A look of annoyance flashed in the Comptroller¡¯s eyes. I knew Uncle would be disappointed in me for baiting the Comptroller. The fact that I reacted to his words emotionally was a weakness and a weakness could be manipulated and must never be shown in front of an enemy. But I was too tired to maintain all of my former discipline. My life would be lived in a small box for eternity. What need for fear of an enemy?


    ¡°Our particular branch of humanity was seeded on earth by the Warden thousand of years ago. ¡° the Comptroller continued.


    ¡°We represent the last offshoot of the Kalaya Bloodline which has since gone extinct in the rest of the universe. The Warden returned to earth to reintroduce the Kalaya bloodline into what is called the Great Game.¡±


    The Comptroller paused for moment and eyed me. I tried to look indifferent but it was clear I was hanging on every word.


    ¡°What is the Great Game Game you may ask?  We are not sure we really know yet. The best we can understand from the Warden¡¯s description is that it is a virtual reality connected by billions of minds across a multitude of galaxies. What we know it was created some time in the long distant past. Some theorise it was birthed in the big bang as the seed of some kind of universal consciousness and certainly the Great Game is governed and controlled by some kind of ultimate intelligence beyond the grasp of even a Warden. We have come to understand that Warden¡¯s are merely advanced players in the game, not gods.¡±


    ¡°All we know for sure is that the Great Game is the means by which all intergalactic relationships are played out. The Great Game influences everything. In fact the reason we are the last of our bloodline is because the other offshoots fared poorly in the Great Game and were eventually driven into extinction.¡±


    ¡°Wait, I interrupted. So this Great Game is basically one huge online virtual reality game? And if you lose your entire species can get wiped out?¡± I asked.


    The Comptroller nodded his head. ¡°That is correct, though the conditions for this are currently unclear. Our participation in the Great Game is currently limited. Of the 10 billion population of earth, only 2 billion are currently able to enter the game through the Pods provided by the Warden. Participation requires a particular set of DNA markers that are simply not present in all of our population and have proved impossible to bio-engineer. Any human who is scanned and found to have the correct markers is required by law to participate in the Great Game by the Warden.¡±


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    I knew what the next words were going to be even before the Comptroller said them.


    ¡°I have the markers don¡¯t I?¡±


    ¡°Correct Mr Nakamura. A Pod is being installed in your cell as we speak. You will be required to enter it when you return, failure to comply will not be tolerated. Now I have said what was required of me, I will leave you briefly with your Uncle. When he has finished with you the lights will direct you back to your cell.¡±


    ¡°You know this is a death sentence for me right? I cannot tolerate any technology, particularly any that form neural links.¡± I said feeling my emotions freeze over.


    ¡°That is not my concern.¡± He said and with that the Comptroller simply got up and left the room, a door opened out of nowhere before sliding closed leaving no sign a door had ever existed.


    We sat there in silence for some time before Uncle finally spoke.


    ¡°Thank you.¡± He said softly, his eyes welling with tears. ¡°I never got the chance to tell you after what you did.¡± I stared in shock at Uncle, in whole time I had known him I had never seen him show any emotion.


    I choked back tears as I stared at the table and my mind reeled back to what I had done and what this man meant to me.


    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    7 years ago


    Uncle had fostered me at 10 years old, a techno cripple who had already seen the worse humanity had to offer as I bounced from institution to institution. I was like a wild beast when he took me in. Though we were both Japanese, we were unrelated, my last name had been Hayashi, but Uncle had given me his last name of Nakamura.


    He was a powerful businessman with a interest in ancient philosophy. When he saw I could not learn the way the rest of society learned via neural interface he introduced me to books and taught me to read. He instructed me in martial arts, philosophy, training. I knew how to survive, but Uncle taught me how to live.


    He had a young daughter who was older than me. I never saw her much, though I knew she had a special place in Uncle¡¯s heart. Then one day when I was twelve she killed herself.  She was gone and Uncle was never the same.


    He started drinking and fell apart until one night when he was almost completely paralysed by the synth alcohol he had drunk I found out the whole story.


    His daughter had been sexually assaulted by Victor Wolf, the young teenage scion of the Wolf family, one the most powerful European corporations on earth. The assault had been covered up and the local authorities paid off.  Now his daughter was dead and no path left for Uncle to seek revenge.


    From that day I quietly set a plan in motion. I had long realized something since my earliest days, because I had no neural implant and no tech of any kind in my body, I was virtually invisible to the world. Cars, shuttles, security everything was based on scanning for reactions to various forms of tech. Because I had none I was like a ghost. For two years I planned what I was going to do, but in the end it was all too simple. I simply walked into the mansion of Victor¡¯s family and murdered his mother, father, sister and fianc¨¦e while he was out partying.


    I had found a surprisingly easy way to get around the bio shields. They scanned for tech and reacted to threats. If I had so much as carried a knife it would have saved them. However, in the end I used an ancient martial art technique while they were sleeping, I simply thrust two fingers straight through the eye into the brain instantly killing them before their nano enhancements could regenerate the damage. The bio shields simply did not react to a humans fingers connected to a body that had no tech.


    I left Victor alive to torture him so he would feel the same pain that Uncle had. I considered this a form of lingchi, a form of execution used in ancient china which involved the slicing of the convicted criminal''s flesh until death ensued. My version of death by a thousand cuts was not of the body ¨C but of the soul.


    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    The Present


    ¡°He has finally come for you Braizo.¡± Uncle finally said breaking my reverie. ¡°All these years has tried to pay for you to get assassinated in here, but even the Wolf Corporation cannot buy an a murder in the most secure facility on earth run by the United Federal Government. But that has now changed. They requested your DNA get scanned to see if it had the markers for the Great Game. No one can stop you being connected to the Pod now.¡±


    ¡°This is my death.¡± I said flatly.


    ¡°Perhaps. Perhaps not.¡± Uncle replied. ¡°The Pod is unlike anything I have ever seen. I personally inspected one, I do not even know if it can be called ¡®tech¡¯, it almost looks organic. No one knows what they are made of or how they work. It could be your death, or an opportunity,¡± He finished with a glint in his eye.


    ¡°My time is short and I must go, but I must give you one final warning. Should you connect to the Pod and die Victor will win. However, should you connect to the Pod and live, Victor will be waiting for you in the Great Game, he too has the markers and is a player. Moreover, the Wolf Corporation like all major companies on earth are buying the loyalty of humans who can access the Great Game. They are rebuilding their corporate might virtually, making allies of other human species from other planets. Their might can no longer be measured by simple earth terms.  Should you survive, that is only the first battle that awaits you my son.¡±


    I forced myself not to think beyond plugging into the Pod. First survive, then deal with what might come.  Uncle stood up slowly and walked to the invisible door as it slowly slid open.


    ¡°One last thing my boy. The Great Game is enigmatic, it is unknowable. No one knows its limits or its true purpose. As a new player our branch of humanity on Earth is protected for the next 100 years in the Great Game. We can be killed, but we cannot be rendered extinct. After 100 years our protections in the game are removed and the game will truly begin. In this scenario, tell me my boy who will you put in your eyes as your true enemy?¡±


    With that Uncle disappeared and door slid shut. An exist opened and I followed the light back to my cell as I thought through Uncle¡¯s words and my intent became clear.


    As I entered my cell a large Pod that was clearly built to accommodate my exact proportions was sitting in the middle of my cell. I took a deep breath and climbed straight in without hesitation while my mind state was strong.  The lid of the Pod automatically close over covering me in darkness as I whispered the answer to my Uncle¡¯s question.


    ¡°My enemy is the Great Game itself.¡±


    Suddenly millions of tiny sharp spikes penetrated my body shocked my system. I felt something moving inside of me into my brain. No no no no no  I babbled as a familiar feeling came over me, deep and primal from when I was born. The abnormality in my brain kicked in rejecting the probe. Despite all my will I screamed into the darkness.


    PAIN.


    PAIN.


    PAIN.


    I WILL NOT DIE¡­¡­.


    I WILL NOT DIE¡­¡­


    I WILL NOT FUCKING DIE TO YOU STUPID FUCKING MACHINE!!!!!


    A dark abyss opened up before me and i stared into it with my very soul. As i felt my entire being ripped apart. An eternity passed like this, something trying to extinguish my very being while savagely fought for my existence. In the distance, nestled in the shadows i felt something watching me. It was as if its hidden gaze bored into my very soul and consumed me.


    Then finally, out of the darkness something was born. First a speck of light then more gathered.


    Then slowly my I felt my mind reform. I was not dead!  I was alive! I tried to feel but I was still in some kind of in between state.


    Then suddenly it was if space was born around me, as if it formed around my very body and I opened my eyes to find myself in city.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>biological scan and connection complete.......</td></tr><tr><td>Outlier parameters confirmed.....</td></tr><tr><td>Ding!</td></tr><tr><td>A defect in your genetic make up has been detected and overriden. User should have perished during override but survived


    due to their strong will</td></tr><tr><td>Ding!</td></tr><tr><td>A unique status has been created </td></tr><tr><td>That which does not kill me, makes me stronger


    </td></tr><tr><td>*All damage and status debuffs that do not kill the user strengthen the user in various ways


    *User cannot learn any special skills, obtain a class or utilise any technopathy or implants


    *Unable to learn alternate resource abilities such as mana, Qi or artifical power</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Ding!</td></tr><tr><td>Due to abnormality in your brain you have seen something no one was meant to see. In the great darkness the true nature of the Great Game was glimpsed.


    He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster, when you gaze long into the abyss the abyss also gazes into you.


    You have achieved a 100% sync rate with the Great Game. You have become one with the monster.</td></tr><tr><td>A Unique status has been created</td></tr><tr><td>He who fights monsters</td></tr><tr><td>*stat increases from actions increased by 100%


    *likelyhood of stats increasing from actions increased by 100%


    *luck increased


    *Genetic Ceiling removed


    *User can not exceed level 1


    *due to the unique 100% sync rate with the Great Game


    if you die in the game it is highly likely you will die in reality


    *You have been Marked (1% complete)</td></tr><tr><td></td></tr></tbody></table>

 2. Born Weak

    The implications of the blue status boxes shot through my mind like lightning as I struggled to move my body. My crippled being in real life had been replicated in the Great Game. Not only could I not learn any special skills, if I died I really bloody died! Even worse the likelyhood of my death had been greatly accelerated by the fact i was forever locked at level 1.


    My reactions were sluggish as it felt like I was moving through water, but all I could think about was that if the log in points were always the same then I had just potentially logged into my death as Victor could predict my entry point into the game.


    I felt panic rise up and seize my heart before I ruthlessly suppressed it. I forced myself to breath slower as a bright haze slowly cleared in front me. Completely circling me were over 20 people, dressed black uniforms and armed with various bladed weapons. Interestingly, no one had a gun. I took all this in with a simple sweep of my eyes as I calculated the probability of fight or flight.


    Only half a second had passed when I made my conclusion. I didn¡¯t bother dropping into a defensive stance or attempt to flee. This world was unknown to me, as were my physical capabilities. So instead I waited to see what would unfold. Many people made the mistake of thinking of weapons as only knives or guns or bombs. But the deadliest weapons remained the ability to influence, the power of words and even the subtle pressure that could be exerted by silence.


    I straightened my back and adopted a strong confident pose. My face was completely blank and expressionless, it was a look I had long cultivated under the instruction of Uncle. Of course in the real world it was easy to artificially control all the muscles in the face which created expression, but I had learned the hard way to do it manually.


    That skill carried over now as I imitated one my Uncles most deadpan, in control blank stares. My eyes gazing over those around me with indifference as if they were beneath me.


    If they knew who I was, and I theorized they must, then they would surely feel some fear. The only murderer in 100 years was a reputation that created an emotional reaction I could prey upon. Fear would make them hesitant and potentially create opportunity.


    The men shifted uncomfortable as I stared them down. Eventually, one moved forward and opened his mouth to speak. Just a he opened his mouth I cut him off and seized the iniative, talking while I walked towards him.


    ¡°You know who I am. You all know who I am.¡±  I said softly and my voice broke the silence and carried easily to the men surrounding me. I took one more step to get closer to the man who had been about to talk. I invaded his space ever so slightly to make him more nervous and uncomfortable.


    ¡°Say my name.¡± I whispered as his eyes widened slightly in surprise. ¡°You all know it.¡± I said more loudly.


    ¡°Say. My Name.¡±


    I heard my name begin to be whispered amongst the surrounding men before the man in front of me choked the words out.


    ¡°You¡¯re Braizo Nakamura.¡± He said hoarsely.


    ¡°You¡¯re god damn right I am.¡± I said casting my gaze across my audience one last time.


    ¡°Now take me to your boss as you have been instructed to do.¡± I finished and looked at the man like he was wasting my time.


    ¡°Yes sir. Please this way.¡± The man said as he turned around and wiped sweat of his forehead.


    As I followed the man my mind raced. Whether it was Victor or some other handler for him or a neutral agent it was easy to presuppose that these men¡¯s orders were to take me to a person in charge. By taking the inaitive I had stolen their power and made it my own and they had already begun to act like my subordinates without even realizing it.


    From their reactions I guessed they did not work for Victor directly, either a handler he had engaged or a neutral third party. As we walked I looked around and saw I was in what appeared to be the ruins of a city that almost looked ancient Roman in design.


    I massaged my hands slightly as I walked testing out the tactile feel for the VR. I could feel no difference between real life and the game. My sense, the feel of my body, everything was identical to reality.  The only difference was I felt so weak, my body was heavy and unresponsive and I was starting to get out of breath simply walking a few blocks.


    Eventually we weaved through a few more streets before entering a large building. This was the first time I saw other people scurrying about engaging in various tasks.


    Soon I was walked into a large room where a woman sat at the end behind an enormous mahogany desk. On either side of her stood two incredibly large men, they looked like twins and were around 6ft 5 and wide as a door-frame with thick muscles.


    Without waiting to be invited it casually strode into the room causing the two large men at the back to twitch slightly. Instantly I knew these two would not be impressed by my reputation and would kill me on the spot if they thought I posed a threat to the woman.


    I sat down in a chair opposite the desk and raised my eyes to the woman.


    ¡°You can leave now. Thank you for the escort.¡± I said to the man behind me without so much as looking back. I saw the woman¡¯s lips twitch and my presumption as her eyes gazed behind me and she nodded her head slightly confirming the order. I heard a slight noise as the door behind me closed.


    Silence.


    We both sat there comfortably for some time without a word being said. I could tell she was well schooled in the art of negotiation. Her body language was neutral, neither hostile nor servile, expecting nothing and giving nothing away.


    My posture was identical. Though my mind continued to calculate. Brown hair, brown eyes, early 20s unless she was a second generation rejuv participant. Pale white skin. I couldn¡¯t place her exactly but definitely a legacy, the daughter of someone with power and influence. She had been raised in it, lived and breathed the discipline and the privilege.


    ¡°Braizo Nakamura.¡± She said finally breaking the silence. ¡°I must admit you are not what I expected.¡±


    ¡°You mean I don¡¯t look like a murderer?¡± I replied with a slight smile.


    ¡°No, you do not. You look weak.¡± She said flatly. ¡°I can easily see past the aura of strength your are projecting with the simple force of your personality. Your character must have lower starting stats that any I have ever seen, its quite pathetic. How many hitpoints do you have?¡±


    I thought the question aloud in my head as she asked and a status screen popped up. I was excited to view my stats as I figured after all the years of training I had done they must be unusually high. Also, because I had developed them naturally and not through tech I might have completely over powered strength even as a beginner.


    Stolen story; please report.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>User Status</td></tr><tr><td>Name:</td><td>Braizo Nakamura</td><td>Skills:</td><td>*Unable to acquire</td></tr><tr><td>Level:</td><td>1</td><td>Class:</td><td>*Unable to acquire</td></tr><tr><td>Race:</td><td>Earth Human</td><td>Health:</td><td>10</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>-</td></tr><tr><td>Strenght:</td><td>1</td><td>Speed:</td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td>Intelligence:</td><td>1</td><td>Endurance:</td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td>Vitality:</td><td>1</td><td>Luck:</td><td>80</td></tr><tr><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>UNIQUE STATUS</td></tr><tr><td>What does not kill me, makes me stronger</td></tr><tr><td>*All damage and status debuffs that do not kill the user strengthen the user in various ways


    *User cannot learn any special skills, obtain any class or utilise any technopathy or implants


    *Unable to learn alternate resource abilities such as mana, Qi or artifical power</td></tr><tr><td>He who fights with monsters</td></tr><tr><td>*Stat increases from actions increased by 100%


    *Likelyhood of increasing stats increased by 100%


    *Luck increased


    *Genetic Ceiling removed


    *User cannot exceed level 1


    *Due to the unique 100% sync rate with the Great Game if you die in the game it is highly likely you will die in reality</td></tr></tbody></table>


    ¡°I have 10 hit points.¡± I said in shock. ¡°And all my stats are on 1.¡±


    It looked like I wasn¡¯t the only one in shock as I saw her jaw hang open.


    ¡°It looks like Victor won¡¯t have any difficulty killing you after all. An average user starts with 100 HP and 20 in each stat.¡± She muttered.  ¡°Perhaps when you accept a class your stats will balance out.¡±


    I didn¡¯t reveal that I couldn¡¯t ever take a class, or learn a skill for that matter. Knowledge was power.


    ¡°Do you plan to hand me over to him.¡± I asked, getting straight to the point.


    ¡°No I do not, and you can thank your Uncle for that. You have no idea how lucky you are do you? There are 60 spawn points in game for people on earth. The Wolf Corporation controls 30 of those, another 20 are controlled by a mix of alliances eight are controlled by the Rand Corporation which is headed by myself in game and 1 by earth¡¯s most powerful mafia organization the Red Sun. You would be dead or sold to Victor if you had spawned in any other location but this one.¡±


    ¡°So what do you plan to do with me?¡±


    ¡°I plan to do nothing to you.¡± She snapped in irritation then sighed. ¡°Not giving you to Victor will cost the Rand Corporation dearly. In due course he will discover you spawned here and that we did not hand you over. He will make us suffer for that, a fact which we have prepared for.¡±


    ¡°Your Uncle and my grandfather were once great friends before the incident back then. He still owed him one last great favor and he called it in for you.¡±


    A look of confusion must have shown on my face. As far as I know Uncle had no ties with a company as large as the Rand Corporation.


    Seeing my confused look she burst out laughing. ¡°oh my, you don¡¯t know who your Uncle really is do you?¡±


    I wanted to ask, I desperately wanted to know more, but I controlled myself and resumed a flat expression. If Uncle wanted me to know something he would tell me.


    ¡°Not going to ask?¡± the woman teased.


    ¡°What was the favor?¡± I said, asking a question she did not expect instead. Thrown off by the question she lost her train of thought momentarily.


    ¡°The favor was simple. Should you spawn in our territory we are to provide you with information, provisions and safe passage to a neutral zone so you can have a chance to survive. Nothing more, nothing less. The information will be provided by me, here in this room, after which we will provide you with provisions and send you through a teleporter to an unexplored location.¡±


    ¡°Tell me about the game mechanics then.¡± I said prioritizing the information I would need.


    ¡°The first thing you need to know is to not think of this as a game. It is virtual reality in the literal sense. Everything feels exactly like it does in reality. If someone blows your arm off it feels exactly as it would in real life. This is not a game made by company for enjoyment by users. It is an alien VR that mimics life perfectly. That is why when you die you are logged out for 48 hours as the only penalty. When you die, it feels like you really died. Trust me, you will do anything to avoid that trauma. Wounds do not instantly heal unless magic or tech is used and if you lose a limb it can only be regenerated by dying or usage of rare advanced tech or magic.¡±


    Little did she know that for me, death would likely be permanent. This also meant if someone chopped off my arm I was unlikely to ever get it back.


    ¡°You can log out of the game, but only at night and it takes an hour to log out.  As to what exists in the game, this planet is our starting point as humans from earth. Other users from other galaxies can only interact with at some limited points currently as part of our protection from the Warden to allows us to develop. This planet was created from the collective minds of all the humans on earth.¡±


    ¡°This means it has ancient Roman cities like this one from the far distant past as well as modern cities and suburbs as well as things like dinosaurs.  So far barely .05% of the planet has been explored.¡±


    ¡°What about classes and skills.¡± I asked.


    ¡°ahh this is where it gets interesting. Classes are virtually limitless, while some can be trained others just emerge spontaneously for some individuals. Generally speaking though so far the vast majority of the population falls into one of three areas. Technomancy, which is no different to pursuing the kind of tech advancement commonplace in reality. Magic, which draws on the mana stat, a large number of classes will fall into this, mages, druids, shaman all the bed time stories they used to read children seem to have been given form. Lastly, martial artist that most resemble Xianxia type stories. They utilize Qi and are capable of some fairly outlandish feats at higher levels.¡±


    ¡°You may have noticed a lack of guns here. The Rand Corporation has chosen to specialize all recruits and members into the magic arts and martial arts. Wolf Corporation and most of the other big firms tend to pursue technomancy.¡±


    ¡°Classes are basically specialized categories that give you specific bonuses, skills are things you can active to create a range of effects, like a warriors Sonic Slash is a skill that attacks with sound. You have to activate it. Then stats are just stats, they are the users foundation.¡±


    ¡°And with that your time is up and we will send you on your way.¡± She finished.


    ¡°Wait! Let me ask one more thing.¡± I quickly interjected. ¡°This place you are sending me ¨C the unknown location I need to know more.¡±


    ¡°Well it is quite simple all the starting spawn zones are located in a city like this. Within these cities there are hundreds of teleportation formations. These formations are one way teleports, you can teleport out, but not back. Where they go we do not know as no one has ever returned. We assume they take you to further cities on the planet, possibly even ones that are close to where we are currently, be do not know for certain. By putting you through an unexplored teleporter you will be temporarily safe from the Wolf Corporation as no one, including us, will have any idea where you are.¡±


    ¡°I want to designate my provisions.¡± I said immediately.


    ¡°That is acceptable.¡± She replied. Then her face began frown as I provided her with a long list of measurements and materials that needed to be manufactured. In my mind I had already formed the seeds of plan.


    A short time later I was escorted to a teleportation formation.


    ¡°Mr Nakamura this is where we part ways. I highly doubt we will ever see each other again, as it highly likely you will die. But I wish you well and Victor is no friend of mine. Should we ever meet again, my name is Misiki.¡±


    With that she handed me over a bag filled with provisions and what i assumed was a single sword as i could see the hilt sticking out.


    "The other provisions you requested will take some time to manufacture we will build them and sent them through the teleporter. If you remain alive on the other end you may make use of them.¡±


    ¡°Thank your grandfather for me.¡± I said, knowing in my heart that had it not being for the favor owed my Uncle this Misiki would have had no qualms delivering me directly to Victor for the right price.


    I stepped on the teleportation Formation and in a blink I was gone.


    --------------------------------------------------


    Misiki


    As the body of Braizo Nakamura faded away I turned to my bodyguards.


    ¡°Transmit the coordinates of the Kalachi ruins to Victor with the subject heading ¡®Braizo Nakamura¡¯.¡±


    ¡°You think he can survive?¡± one bodyguard asked.


    ¡°Unlikely, we are talking about Victor after all. And from what I can see despite his significant will and intellect, Mr Nakamura¡¯s user seems crippled somehow." Not only was he crippled but his only weapon was the one she had just given him, a useless sword with the worse stats she had ever seen. She almost felt guilty giving it to me and would have swapped for a higher quality item if it was not for the specific request from the Uncle that he was given that specific sword. Seems like a lot of powerful people want him to suffer.


    "It will take at least month maybe more for Victor¡¯s team to reach those coordinates. If he is still in those ruins in a month then he will wish he was dead.¡± She shuddered as she remembered her meeting with Victor when he demonstrated his experiments.


    He claimed he would torture Braizo just like Zeus punished the Titan Prometheus for stealing fire from the gods. He had trained a great eagle as a pet and he planned to string Braizo to a great tree and have his eagle eat his liver every day before killing him. After 48 hours Braizo would be forced to log back in and would respawn at the same spot only to have this torture carry out again.


    ¡°Run Mr Nakamura.¡± Misiki whispered. ¡°Don¡¯t stop running.¡±

 3. Wolf at the Door

    ---------------------------------


    Victor Wolf


    I rarely left the Great Game now, but that was true of all of us that had become players. We were the first wave of new kind of existence. Because only a small portion of humanity on earth could currently access the Great Game, non-players did not really understand that they would become extinct. Only those with DNA markers that allowed then entrance to the Great Game would ultimately survive. It was evolution, of the most vicious kind. Only the strong would survive and the strong were those who could access this new world. The old must give way to the new.


    I walked through District 6 like a King. The masses parted around me like Moses parting the ocean. Most of them were not even aware of how they made way for me.  They thought themselves free, building a life in Great Game as part of one of the most powerful corporations on earth.


    But this was not earth, it was the Great Game, and here things were different. My path of Technomancy had opened up new possibilities, things I had thought were not possible. My obsession, my unrelenting pain had spawned something unique as I unlocked the only class of its kind - The Slave Master.


    My Class and Skills were all geared around a single trait, to infect and controls others via my Technomancy.  Though only level 60 the sheer power and scalability of my Class had already proved themselves a thousand times over.  Every person in the city of District 6 was infected by my nannite viruses and I fed of them and the information they provided like a parasite.


    It had not taken me long to become the single strongest stakeholder in the sheltered part of the Great Game that earth humans had access to. It was a flexing of power that was necessary as the sole surviving heir to the company.


    I had to show that the wolf still had teeth.


    I strolled into my command centre and jacked into the network and began to oversee my growing Empire. I didn¡¯t fool myself that I had real power, I had already developed contacts outside of the restricted zone we inhabited. There were billions of humans from other galaxies with Empires so large it was impossible to imagine. Even a minor kingdom in the Great Game could crush us if they wished and only 100 years existed before the Warden would remove our protection.


    Indeed, it was probably possible for a single individual of sufficient strength to wipe out the entire restricted zone.


    This was the primary obsession that drove me. The quest for power. The enemy was coming while humanity squabbled amongst itself desperate to leverage of this new world the Warden opened up for us.


    The enemy was silent. It had no face. But it was coming. And when it came, I would survive.


    My second obsession had been with me almost as long. I nurtured it, fed it. I let it grow deep in my bones so that it never totally left me. A reminder of the weak man I once was and the blindness that had led to the death of my whole family.


    A hard edged hatred rose in my almost slipping out of my control and a nearby guard collapsed in spasm behind me as my emotions overflowed accidentley into his neural network.


    I pulled out a small thin knife I kept for just this occasion and thrust it directly straight into my arm.


    Pain. Oh how I relished it. That sweet distraction from my reality within reality. The irony, that I could leave my word into a virtual world and yet my suffering simply accompanied me.


    I glanced over at the guard who had collapsed on the floor as I rubbed my temples. Through the skills unlocked by my Class I had gained an increasingly sophisticated understanding of nannite applications. Though we were in a virtual world and some of the physics that seemed to apply did not exist in reality, much of the concepts were applicable.


    I already had entire teams of scientists working in the real world on what I called nannite hijacking, sophisticated methods of mind control via tech.


    ¡°Sir¡± a voice interrupted my thoughts. I glanced over at No 2 who stood waiting patiently. His gaze rested neutrally somewhere above me head, he was most definitely NOT looking at the thin knife sticking out of my arm, or the collapsed guard on the floor.


    I removed the knife and cleaned the blood off on my jacket before gesturing No 2 to report.


    ¡°We received a transmission from Misiki. Braizo Nakamura survived the transition and spawned in Misiki¡¯s territory. She reports he accessed a teleportation array and has transmitted the coordinates she believes it leads to.¡±


    ¡°And the Uncle?¡± I asked.


    ¡°He went dark after visiting Nakamura in prison. We have no leads.¡±


    I sat back as a mix of emotions to complicated to label passed through me. I had been so close to assassinating him in his maximum security prison. After years of effort I had finally gained influence over the Comptroller, but just as I closed in someone, I suspected the Uncle, had requested his DNA be scanned. Once he was found to be a compatible to enter the Great Game is was out of my hands. Not even I was willing to wrestle with the Warden rules.


    ¡°Have we verified the location?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes it has been verified by our agent in Misiki¡¯s entourage. Location is approximately 1.2 months distant. Our agent also reported that Nakamura was strangely weak for a new user, substantially weaker than a normal level 1 by a large margin.¡±


    ¡°Nakamura is most dangerous when he is weak. You know how he killed my family No 2?¡± I said calmly.


    ¡°Not the specifics Sir, those were kept out of the media.¡±


    ¡°It was rather ingenious really. He killed them with a single finger strike through the eye and into the brain. This was a 14 year old boy at the time, a techno cripple. He just walked into my home and killed everyone I loved with a single finger.¡±


    ¡°I did not know Sir.¡±


    ¡°So no, I don¡¯t put much faith in any report of him being weak. Being weak is his strength and it is preciously what makes him dangerous.¡±


    I paused then as thought back to the situation that was unfolding. So many variables. Clearly the Uncle had gotten to Misiki. Bribery wouldn¡¯t be enough to risk his wrath, it must have been something else. Something Rand Corp didn¡¯t want known, something dirty enough to make her think it was worth the price for his silence.


    Double confirmation on location could also be false bait. I could lead an army to capture Nakamura only to find myself annilated. My agent was in Misiki¡¯s employ had already turned on one master, he could easily do so to me as well.


    ¡°Can we get other independent confirmations.?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Of Nakamura¡¯s destination and location we cannot. But of the fact that Nakamura is in the game we have 6 independent reports from other agents who personally witnessed him spawn.¡±


    I thought it through then decided to play it safe. Though every fibre of my being wanted me to leap out of the chair and rush to the coordinates provided, I was better than that. Nakamura was a user now. Though he could log out it was mandatory that he continue to play. He was going nowhere.


    ¡°Bring me 3 disposables and I will download my command profile into them so I can remote control if I need to.¡± Disposable were what i called other Users whose system i had fully taken over. It gave me the ability to completely control them remotely if i chose to. Though, it did cause permanent damage to the host.


    ¡°Classes and levels?¡± No 2 asked with an eyebrow arched.


    ¡°Level 30. A Sniper, Tracker and a Marine.¡±


    ¡°No Gundam Mech?¡±


    ¡°No they are too rare. I don¡¯t know the lay of the land yet and how deep Misiki¡¯s interest is. Let the disposals probe, if they find Nakamura, they are to capture and bring him to me. I don¡¯t want him killed, though they can hurt him as much as they need to. I want his first of many deaths to come directly from my hand.¡±


    ¡°And Misiki? She will be wondering what your next move is. She will be preparing for your wrath for not  handing Nakamura over.¡±


    ¡°As she should.¡± I tapped my fingers on arm for a moment while thinking. ¡°Let¡¯s keep it psychological while I plan out how to extract my pound of flesh for her defiance. I am sending you a message, have one of our agents bring this to her attention ¨C personally.¡±


    ¡°Yes Sir.¡± No 2 replied as he went to withdraw.


    ¡°Oh and one last thing No 2. Send an agent down to the Red Sun spawn city. Something doesn¡¯t feel right down there from the information I am getting. It¡¯s an itch I need scratched. I need eyes.¡±


    No 2 nodded his head as he withdrew silently.


    I sat back and put my feet up on the console as the guard who had been passed out finally began to wake up groaning. I almost laughed giddily for a moment I was enjoying myself that much in anticipation.


    Nakamura your time will come soon.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Misiki


    It was the end to a long dangerous day. I had seen Braizo Nakamura off at the teleporter and finished the days worth of administration. Though he seemed weak, insanely so he still had a reek of danger to him. He was a very unsettling young man.


    I saw it as soon as I entered my bedroom, but of course that was the intention. I stared at it for awhile and raised my arm to call for someone to clean it off, but then I stopped. Better to leave it their as a reminder to keep me sharp.


    It was a typical and yet disturbing play by Victor. Four simple words spray painted on the wall above my bed.


    Bad Wolf is Coming.


    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Braizo Nakamura


    Teleporting was an unusual experience, technically speaking I assumed it was the simple transfer of my consciousness from part of the VR world to another, but it felt like so much more. It was like I could feel my real body breaking down to its subatomic parts and then being reconstituted somewhere else.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Intelligence +2</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Vitality +2</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Interesting. I thought, it seemed there was some correlation between insight and the intelligence stat. First things first I took in my surroundings with great care, barely moving at first and just listening.


    I put no faith at all in Misiki¡¯s words that no one had been here before and that they did not know where I was. I did not think she had deliberately sent me to my death, but her motives and goals were unclear. No doubt she was playing both sides and against the middle and my corpse would be the consequence.


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


    I slowly moved around the ruins. At a glance they looked far more dilapidated than the Roman ruins I spawned in. The designed on masonry that was buried and obscured by thick jungle vines looked almost Aztec in origin.


    In fact the whole place looked liked something out of an old video game called Tomb Raider. The way I saw it I was between a rock and a hard place currently. If I ventured too far from the teleporter array virtually any animal or creature would be able to kill me. At the same time I had to operate under the conclusion that Misiki had betrayed my location to Victor. If I was wrong in this assumption I would just be an untrusting fool, if I was right my paranoia would have saved my life. So I would err on the side of caution and assume my location was revealed and it was only a matter of time before I would have to flee or fight for my life.


    If I adapted the theory of Maslow¡¯s hierarchy of basic needs to my current circumstance then I was in level 1 and level 2.


    Level 1 ¨C Physical survival needs. I had ample food and water for the next week or so in the bag Misiki had given me. Though I would need to source water and food in the near future.


    Level 2 ¨C Physical safety needs.  When a person if fearful, all concentration goes into calming the fear. My long term safety needs were out of my control, but in the short term I needed to secure the area from threat.


    Satisfied at my immediate plan I canvased the surrounding area and found a series of interconnected caves and tunnels that led up to the teleportation array. Hearing a rushing sound in the distance I followed the noise until I came to a large open cave with a huge hole in the roof where light poured in. a sandy small beach had formed next to a small lake of fresh water which ran down through the cave and disappeared deeper into the interior.


    I hadn¡¯t seen any dangerous animals, but thinking back to similar earth environments I would need to be careful of snakes and other smaller poisonous animals, perhaps even larger predators.


    Taking a swig of water from a container in my bag, I sat down cross legged and relaxed. It was the first time I had a moment to think outside the panic of surviving and entering the game. Three years had passed since the day I had killed Victors family. Prison gave you a lot of time to think. I had no regrets over what I had done, but I  had matured, prison had aged me. At the time of the killings I was 14, a fanatic adhering to the training and philosophy Uncle had taught me. A philosophy that had taken me from the streets and given me purpose even though society had no place for a techno cripple like me.


    I wasn¡¯t so much blind as¡­¡­.blunt. I lacked nuance, I had seen the world as black and white instead of the grey that it was. Prison had starved my senses and I felt them opening back up already. Shit I hated to admit it but even the danger of potentially losing my life was more exciting than the slow death of life in a tiny cell.


    It was hard to truly describe what isolation in prison was like. You got tired of living, but were still scared of dying.


    Now I was back in the game, literally and figuratively. I could feel the rush again as my mind was forced to work overtime to survive, I loved that feeling of having that keen edge.


    Slowly I calmed my breath and started breathing according a set of Qi gong exercises I routinely practiced. Slowly circulating my breath in and out of my body I felt my mind calm and empty.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have created a new stat</td></tr><tr><td>Perception</td></tr><tr><td>Improves the range and sensitivity of your senses</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Yes! I smiled as I saw the status notification pop up. It seems stats were not as limiting as I had depressingly thought. While I could not learn skills or obtain a class I could develop my current stats and acquire new stat categories like perception. The best thing was, all stats were completely passive. As long as they were raised i would naturally grow proportionally more powerful. A whole new world began to open in my mind.


    Most users I would assume level their stats as a byproduct of gaining levels, obtaining and leveling skills and via class bonuses. Who in their right mind would simply grind stats? I could only assume the law of diminishing returns applied and that stats got harder and harder to raise as you leveled and there was some sort of innate cap.


    The return on investment for time would always be to develop the skills and class bonuses. But with my Unique Status¡¯s I gained stat points pretty much twice as fast for double the amount.


    In a lot of ways this counteracted the penalty of being forever locked at level 1. I assumed when you leveled up you gained increases to stats, an effect i could duplicate through hard work grinding and the second bonus was that higher levels unlocked increasingly powerful skills and class bonuses - which i was unable to access anyway.


    The true unknown power i had which could only be tested by trial and error was that my genetic ceiling had been removed as part of the unique status He who fights with monsters.


    In the real world we are all limited by our genetic make up. No one can endlessly improve their strength, even through tech. There is always a ceiling of genetic potential. The only question is how close can you get to your full genetic potential. If my genetic ceiling was removed, in the context of the Great Game this might mean that theoretically i had no limit i could raise my stats, no final stopping put where diminishing returns on stats became a complete dead end.


    I wonder how far this road could take me?  Reality soon put a damper on my enthusiasm though. I had gone down this road in reality already, I had thought my advanced training methods and sheer discipline would allow me to build a physical body as strong as a tech enhanced one. I had been wrong. Wrong by such a large margin that I was simply a joke, nothing but trash.


    Still in this scenario with my life on the line I didn¡¯t really have any other option than to simply continue with the routine I had developed my whole life and see how the Great Game reacted to it. No doubt my body was not even anywhere close to being able to execute the advanced moves I had spent years building up to in real life, so I had to begin with the basics.


    And with that I stood and breathed deeply and began to shake my body loose before moving through some gentle forms of Tai Chi. After around 30 minutes of Tai Chi i was rewarded as my body grew.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Vitality +2</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Endurance +2</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Speed +2</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Strength +2</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I could literally feel my body growing more powerful with each notification.  After I finished Tai Chi I started a light stretching routine that was a mix of Yoga and Western gymnastics. The flexibility of my body was awful and my hamstrings were rigid, preventing me from completed all but the simplest of stretches.


    Over the next hour though my body began to heat up and loosen and I slowly worked myself deeper into the stretches.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have created a new stat</td></tr><tr><td>Flexibility </td></tr><tr><td>Improves your range of motion</td></tr></tbody></table>


    As I stared at the second new stat I had created I began to realize just how deep the rabbit hole went.


    Quickly I began to do basic strength training exercises, push ups, handstands, rows, squats.  Over the course of the next hour my stats increased considerably.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Strength +2</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Strength +2</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Strength +2</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Strength +2</td></tr></tbody></table>


    As I sat taking a brief pause between exercises I reconsidered my Unique Status. in particular what does not kill me, makes me stronger.


    Now that I had leveled my health somewhat by raising my vitality, I walked up to the wall of the cave and punched it.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You receive 2 points of damage</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You receive 2 points of damage</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You receive 2 points of damage</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You receive 2 points of damage</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You receive 2 points of damage</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You receive 2 points of damage</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have created a new stat</td></tr><tr><td>Resilience </td></tr><tr><td>reduces all physical damage taken</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I smiled as my hand bled. Now we¡¯re talking.

 4. The Path to Power

    Author¡¯s note: I reworked the previous two chapters slightly and tweaked some plot and his Unique Status¡¯s. Only really small changes but you want to reread first. I will try to avoid too much retcon as it progresses, but as I am making this up as I go along a little bit of reverse engineering may sometimes be necessary. If alter anything substantial that will confuse readers I will try and highlight it an author¡¯s note at the start of at chapter. P.S would you like to see more from Victor Wolf¡¯s perspective or to stick solely with Braizo?


    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    After working my body through a series of basic exercises and experiments I sat back down to think. I had worked all my stats up to what a normal level 1 entered the Great Game with so I didn¡¯t feel like I would simply die from merely stubbing my toe.


    Now that I had tested the game system I had a generally good idea of the path my training would need to take in order to become powerful with only stats and no skills, class or levels. Though further experimentation would be required. At the very least the faint sense of complete desperation had left me as I had hope, hope that I could somehow overcome the crippling restrictions of my character.


    Reaching over to my provisions bag I took out the sword I had noticed earlier and laid it across my lap. Sucking air between my teeth my hands shook as I recognized the sword. Before me sat a plain one-handed Jian sword. Sometimes referred to as a Tai Chi sword.


    It can¡¯t be¡­¡­I thought in shock as I stood and drew the blade in one graceful motion. The gentlemen of weapons, the Jian was a thin double edged thin sword with a 28-inch blade length.


    Engraved on the sheath was the title ¡®the sword of integrity¡¯ and engraved on the blade was the name, Qi Xing Long Yuan.


    This was the sword Uncle had given me when he first took me in off the streets, it was this sword that I trained in with various tajiquan sword forms. The Jian was considered one of the four major weapons in ancient Chinese martial arts along with the staff, the saber and the spear.


    I had long mastered the straight sword techniques of poking, flicking, dragging, short-cutting, guiding and adhering with extremely focused power. Though that mastery was more theoretical than anything as I had never had an opportunity to directly spar with anyone besides Uncle.


    Uncle told me the story of this blade when he gifted it to me.


    Legend had it that this sword was the joint work of two sword makers, Ou Yezi and Gan Jiang. In order to make it they grought stream water from Cishan Mountain to the seven ponds around the sword-making fireplace. Because the seven ponds were shaped like the seven stars of the BIg Dipper, the sword was named Qi Xing (seven stars). If you look down on the sword, it looks ethereal and profound, as if you are in a high position overlooking a valley where a huge dragon lives, which is why the sword was also named Long Yuan (an abyss with a dragon).   Another factor that made this sword famous was a fisherman whose name was unknown. He saved Ou Yezi''s life. In order to express his gratitude to the fisherman who refused to tell his name, Ou sent him the sword, Qi Xing Lon Yuan. The fisherman sighed and said, "I saved your life because you are a loyal official of the country, not because i wanted your reward. Now that you think i am a man longing for profits, i have to show my nobleness with this sword." With these words, he committed suicide with the sword. Therefore, Qi Xing Long Yuan was sword of integrity.


    The story was familiar to me. Too familiar. It was part of what had inspired me to take revenge for Uncle¡¯s daughter and slaughter Victor¡¯s family. To me my integrity existed solely to for the benefit of Uncle and his family. To be an upright man was to protect them, to fail was death.


    But how was this sword in the Great Game? This was something from the real world? Or was it recreated somehow in here or was it even born from the minds of Users from Earth? Was it born from my own mind? My thoughts raced through a host of conclusions without getting anywhere.


    What I could conclude with some certainty was that the sword had come from Uncle somehow. It was Uncle who had asked a favour to send me off safely from the Rand Corporation. Most likely he had provided this gift, the how and the why would have to remain unknown.


    Curious I held the sword closer and inspected it.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Qi Xing Long Yuan</td></tr><tr><td>Type:</td><td>Jian Sword</td><td>Durability:</td><td>50</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''2''>Quality:</td><td colspan=''2''>unknown</td></tr><tr><td>Damage</td><td>1-1</td><td>blade stiffness</td><td>2</td></tr><tr><td>Edge-sharpness</td><td>3</td><td>Unmastered (No Bond Active)</td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>


    God damn, what appalling stats. If I picked up a stick off the ground it would have higher damage. It was also useless for other players as well I could see due to it offering no bonus effects to skills or class.


    But what did the bonded status mean? It reminded me of the old Chinese stories I used to read of how blood was used to bond sacred objects and weapons. Quickly cutting myself with blade I dripped blood onto it.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Do you wish to bind Qi Xing Long Yuan?</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''2''>Y</td><td colspan=''2''>N</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I clicked yes and an incredible feeling of closeness with the sword rushed over me as if it fused with my very soul. Hesitantly I inspected it again.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Qi Xing Long Yuan (Bonded to Braizo Nakamura)</td></tr><tr><td>Type:</td><td>Jian Sword</td><td>Durability:</td><td>50</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''2''>Quality:</td><td colspan=''2''>Weapon evolves through battle and through syngery with Bonded User</td></tr><tr><td>Damage</td><td>1-1</td><td>blade stiffness</td><td>2</td></tr><tr><td>Edge-sharpness</td><td>3</td><td>Bonded Sync Rating</td><td>12%</td></tr></tbody></table>


    My jaw dropped as I read what this sword was truly capable of. Essentially my sword would evolve through battle and grow with me. It was an unbelievable boon. Tears flooded my face as I dropped to my knees, sheathed the sword and began to kowtow to my absent Uncle. Since entering the Great Game this was the first true blessing I had received and would greatly enhance my ability to survive.


    After I had once again mastered myself I wiped my wet eyes and drew the sword again with a considered look on my face. Steadying my breathing I moved through Taijijian sword forms.


    Thrusting out into Step Up and Enclose I turned into Sword, Immortal Deity Points the Way sweeping back I pivoted and close cut with Three Rings Envelope the Moon before rotating my wrist to execute Tiger Holds its Head.


    No blue boxes emerged telling me I had acquired a skill or offering bonuses, but that was when I realized it didn¡¯t need to. Skills recognized in the Great Game received bonuses making them more powerful. I would assume a Skill like ¡®Thrust¡¯ that might be learned by a Warrior would be powerful. But that didn¡¯t mean that a thrusting technique that I had learned from countless years of training would be ineffective. The techniques I knew maximized the explosive speed and strength of natural body mechanics. Coupled with high stats in speed and strength my swordplay had the potential to be just as devastating.


    Holding the sword above my head I whirled the blade around my body before exploded outwards in Shoot the Wild Geese.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Qi Xing Long Yuan edge sharpness +1</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Qi Xing Long Yuan damage +1</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Qi Xing Long Yuan Sync rating +2</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I nearly cheered out loud when I saw the stats of the sword level before wincing in pain and sheathed the sword.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You recieve 8 points of damage</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>resilience +2</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Taijijian required extreme flexibility and strength in the wrist in order to fully execute the forms. My left wrist was throbbing so hard I could barely move it. Sitting down and resting again for a moment I contemplated my path.


    The seeds of concepts and ideas that had been formulating in my mind since I was forced to joint the Great Game began to coalesce. I let these threads begin to knit a pattern in my mind, a purpose, a philosophy that would ground my Dao-heart and center my will. The mantra of my life wove the words and became a concept that ran into my very soul.


    And so my path in this new world became set.


    My mind¡¯s philosophy forged from pain, What does not kill me makes me stronger.


    My training methodology from knowledge, systematic adaption through physical stress.


    My Strategy, Borrow a corpse to resurrect the soul.


    Borrow a corpse to resurrect the soul was one of the thirty-six ancient Chinese strategems. Take an institution, a technology, a method, or even an ideology that has been forgotten or discarded and appropriate it for your own purpose. Revive something from the past by giving it a new purpose or bring to life old ideas, customs, or traditions and reinterpret them to fit your purposes.


    I had been discarded from society because I lacked tech, that disability had led me to old knowledge of pre-tech Earth. I had a wealth of knowledge of training methods, philosophy and understandings of biology that were required to grow, learn and develop before the rise of technology had superseded the old ways.


    I would resurrect this knowledge in the Great Game and apply it to my own body to forge a weapon capable of killing any who sought my death.


    And with that thought I sprung to action to test my first training theorem and pulled up the status window that describes the effects of stats.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Strength</td><td>Bodily and Muscular Power</td></tr><tr><td>Intelligence</td><td>capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding, and similar forms of mental activity; aptitude in grasping truths,


    relationships, facts, meanings</td></tr><tr><td>Vitality</td><td>physical and mental vigor and ability to restore health</td></tr><tr><td>Speed</td><td>rapidity in moving, going, traveling, proceeding, or performing</td></tr><tr><td>Endurance</td><td>the ability or strength to continue or last, especially despite fatigue, stress, or other adverse conditions; stamina</td></tr><tr><td>Resliance</td><td>reduces physical damage taken</td></tr><tr><td>Flexibility</td><td>improves range of motion</td></tr><tr><td>Luck</td><td>the force that seems to operate for good or ill in a person''s life, as in shaping circumstances, events, or opportunities</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Hmmmm. It was difficult to really understand the effect of these stats by their broad definition. As I had an advanced understanding of physical training I knew these categories did not adequately define the different types of strength and other physical attributes that could be trained in the real world.


    Most Users I assume simply focused on leveling up or some minor training to improve stats without the knowledge of how to specifically cultivate various aspects of the body.


    Focusing intently I went over the list in my mind of the various areas of physical training, biology and energy systems in the human body that were required to develop the physical attributes I needed.


    As I focused I felt something shift in my mind as the patterns of the human body and memories of countless hours training unfolded in my mind one after the other.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Your sophisticated understand of the physical characteristics of your biological form have unlocked sub-stats. Sub-stats allow for higher levels of specificity to be achieved that enhance the User¡¯s overall performance that the major stat is based on. Major stats with unlock substats are now calculated by the total number of points in substats +5%. As the first User to unlock sub-stats you gain a extra bonus</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Intelligence +20</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Perception +20</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>STRENGTH</td><td>All sub-stats combined +5%</td></tr><tr><td>Agile Strength</td><td>The ability to decelerate, control and generate muscle force in a multiplanar environment</td></tr><tr><td>Explosive Strength</td><td>the ability to produce a maximal amount of force in a minimal amount of time</td></tr><tr><td>Maximum Strength</td><td>the highest level of muscle force that can be produced by the User</td></tr><tr><td>Relative Strength</td><td>amount of force generated per unit of User bodyweight</td></tr><tr><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>SPEED</td><td>All sub-stats combined +5%</td></tr><tr><td>Reaction Time</td><td>the time it takes the User to respond to a stimulus</td></tr><tr><td>Movement Time</td><td>the time it takes the User perform a movement</td></tr><tr><td>Speed-Strength</td><td>the maximal force capable of being produced by the User during a high-speed movement</td></tr><tr><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>ENDURANCE</td><td>All sub-stats combined +5%</td></tr><tr><td>Aerobic Endurance</td><td>ability of the body to continuously transport oxygen throughout its various systems for extended periods of time</td></tr><tr><td>Anaerobic Endurance</td><td>ability of the body to produce work at an intensity where the demand for oxygen and fuel is greater than the rate at which your body can provide</td></tr><tr><td>Speed-Endurance</td><td>the ability to prolong the amount of time where a near maximal speed can be maintained</td></tr><tr><td>Strength-Endurance</td><td>ability of the body to produce strength over an extended period of time</td></tr><tr><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>FLEXIBILITY</td><td>All sub-stats combined +5%</td></tr><tr><td>Static Flexibility</td><td>the absolute range of motion that can be achieved without movement</td></tr><tr><td>Dynamic Flexibility</td><td>absolute range of motion that can be achieved with movement</td></tr></tbody></table>


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    Whoah!  I blinked as a rapid series of status boxes popped up in front of me. I studied the increased information on the sub-stats carefully with a pleased expression. This was much closer to my understanding of the physical characteristics that could be cultivated. However, I noticed not all my stat categories had sub-stats. No how matter how hard I focused my existing knowledge, Vitality, intelligence, Resilience and Perception had not further developed. With a sigh I put that idea to side for now. Certainly, I had my hands full just developing the new sub-stats that I had unlocked as well my primary stats.


    Excitedly I pulled up my full User screen. To measure my current progress.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>User Status</td></tr><tr><td>Name:</td><td>Braizo Nakamura</td><td>Skills</td><td>*Unable to acquire</td></tr><tr><td>Level:</td><td>1</td><td>Class:</td><td>*Unable to acquire</td></tr><tr><td>Race:</td><td>Earth Human</td><td>Health</td><td>230</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Strength (unlocked) 29</td></tr><tr><td>Agile Strength</td><td>5</td><td>Explosive Strength</td><td>10</td></tr><tr><td>Maximum Strength</td><td>5</td><td>Relative Strength</td><td>8</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Speed (unclocked) 34</td></tr><tr><td>Reaction Time</td><td>15</td><td>Movement Time</td><td>7</td></tr><tr><td>Speed-Strength</td><td>10</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Endurance (unclocked) 21</td></tr><tr><td>Aerobic Endurance</td><td>5</td><td>Anaerobic Endurance</td><td>5</td></tr><tr><td>Speed-Endurance</td><td>5</td><td>Strength-Endurance</td><td>5</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Flexibility (unlocked) 20</td></tr><tr><td>Static Flexibility</td><td>5</td><td>Dynamic Flexibility</td><td>14</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Locked Stats</td></tr><tr><td>Intelligence </td><td>30</td><td>Luck</td><td>80</td></tr><tr><td>Vitality</td><td>23</td><td>Perception</td><td>32</td></tr><tr><td>Reslience</td><td>20</td><td></td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>


    What was with my luck rating? It seemed enormously high and yet it still had not developed any sub-stat. That, and the fact that I was the first user to unlock sub-stats seemed to indicate that some kind of special insight into how the stat functioned was necessary in order to unlock it.


    It was hard to assess how much of an advantage the existence of sub-stats would be. Perhaps 1 point in strength was equally distributed across all the different types of strength in a normal user. Sub-stats would probably be a curse for a regular user as it would impossible to raise them all. Only a mad man like myself would see it as a boon, a way to fine-tune a stats based development path.


    Now all that was needed was to spend as much time training as possible to get the most gains in the shortest time. There should be a window of time before diminishing returns on leveling stats kicked in where i could benefit from some incredibly fast newbie gains coupled with gaining twice the amount of stats when they rose. I would need to be strong enough to flee this area or kill Victor and his theoretical hit squad with a short span of time. I gave myself two weeks mentally to achieve my goals.


    Now I had a rough understanding of how to elicit stat increases, all that remained was to apply the principle of progressive overload across a variety of training modalities.


    I had first learned of the principle of progressive overload in training from a story about an athlete in ancient Greece.


    Milo of Croton, the ancient Greek athlete, strong man, and wrestler, may be credited as the first athlete to use the principle of progressive overload. Legend has it that Milo trained for the Olympics by carrying a newborn calf on his back every day for years prior to the Olympic start date, and by the time the Olympics arrived, the calf had grown to a full-size cow, and Milo was still carrying it on his back! In essence, Milo adapted to the growing weight of the animal by growing stronger himself. That''s progressive overload.


    Progressive overload could be caused by increasing the weight of exercises, for example by lifting heavier and heavier things, or by reducing leverage such as my gymnastics positions which forced my muscles to contract harder making them stronger as a result.


    The priority area though for all my training would be on speed first, endurance second, then vitality and lastly resilience. In the time I had to train I would have to assume it was unlikely I would be able to fight directly against anyone that came to kill me thus the safest bet was to focus on speed above all else. A fast sword could always beat a strong one and if I needed to escape speed would serve me better than strength.


    Because my wrist still felt injured from earlier I would focus on leg speed first. I strode out a distance of roughly 100 meters within the cave and made a marking at either end.


    Then I simply sprinted, all out as fast as my legs, heart and lungs would allow for from one end to the other.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Speed-strength +2</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Movement time +2</td></tr></tbody></table>


    After several sets my stats continued increase though the at slower rate. I wandered down to the river which flowed through the cave as exhaustion set in. My endurance had raised as well, but it had a long way to go. I knelt at the waters edge and splashed the water onto my face which provided a pleasant cooling feeling.


    Just as I was relaxing I had slight tingling feeling that something was wrong.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Perception +2</td></tr></tbody></table>


    The blue box popped up just as something shot out of the water towards my face. My hand instantly rose up as my body turned shifted back and away. I struck out at the object with back of hand knocking it aside as I rolled up.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You received 40 points of damage</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I scrambled backwards flinging loose sand into the air I was retreated back at high speed towards my sword. I heard the light sound of sand moving behind me as I dived, grabbed and unsheathed the sword in one movement and came up on one knee in a perfect cross slice that cut someone small and fast neatly in two.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Critical Hit! You have killed a Green Water Snake</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Movement time +5</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Reaction time +6</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Explosive strength +4</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Qi Xing Long Yuan edge sharpness +3</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Qi Xing Long Yuan sync rating +8</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You received 18 points of damage</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Your left wrist is in terrible pain</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I clenched my teeth as i carefully switched my sword into my other hand and sheathed it. My left wrist felt sprained and an intense pain was shooting through it. I would need to be more careful, who knew how quickly such an injury would recover? if i trained too hard and injured myself then i would be in an even worse situation.


    I realised then how dangerous a mind set i had fallen into by just thinking of the Great Game, as a game. I had felt like an invincible training god, but the Great Game was too much like real life. Injuries could happen just as easily and until i better understood how to train my recovery system i would need to be very careful.


    I looked down at the ground at green water snake that was cleaved in half. As my chest heaved trying to suck air into my lungs some things were becoming clear pretty quickly. The first was that my movements were getting sharp, but my endurance was horrible. A couple of explosive movements had me heaving for breath.


    The second thing I noticed was that stat gains seemed increase a lot more from real combat. Training on my own was a slower safe path to improvement, but clearly battle would be a higher risk faster path. I began to recalculate my time frame. Ideally, I would need to mix both if I planned to become strong enough to fend for myself within the limited time available to me.


    I looked up at the sky through hole in the cave and saw the moon had already risen. The whole area seemed suddenly empty and I felt alone.


    ¡°Log out¡± I said and I saw a countdown timer appear counting down from 1 hour.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Logging out. Time remaining 59 minutes 59 seconds</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I lay there in the sand for some time as the timer counted down. Exhausted from my battle with the snake and my training I tried to meditate until finally the system logged me out.


    Opening groggy eyes inside my Pod the top slid open and I climbed out as strange viny looking cords withdrew from my body and back into whatever the hell the Pod was.


    I looked around my cell which was must more cramped since the Pod had been squeezed into it. I took two books of the shelf on cellular regeneration in effort to increase my knowledge on the vitality stat. before I felt sleep slowly closing in on me.


    As I was drifting off I couldn¡¯t help but feel alone. Before the Great Game had come into my life it was easier to be more focused and single minded as I had nothing but training and reading to distract me from the horror of imprisonment. Now I had a whole world and it opened me up to feelings and thoughts that were difficult to control.


    The cell seemed smaller than before, and more empty. Or maybe I was what was empty. In the end I had nothing except myself.


    My last thought as I drifted to sleep was that maybe, this all Victor had too.


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Comptroller


    I watched Nakamura fall asleep and made sure the stark loneliness on his face was captured by the cameras. Filing the recording I sent it on to Wolf Corporation for Victor¡¯s review. Having completed that I made a copy and sent it on to the Uncle. It was hard serving two masters, but neither man was one I could afford to offend.


    Looking at Nakamura sleeping I wondered how long he would last. Feeling sorry for him I manipulated some settings and increased the size of his cell by 30%. It was a small act, and one he probably wouldn¡¯t be alive long enough to appreciate but it made me feel less dirty for a moment about the deals I had struck.


    Realistically, I was no different from Nakamura, the only difference was I had a bigger cell.

 5. Rumble in the Jungle

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Authors note: Enjoy! please if you read and enjoy this please rate and comment. Helps me keep motivated.


    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Day gave way to night. Night gave way to day. Virtual reality became my reality as I spent more time in the Great Game than out of it. The distinctions between real and unreal began to blur until they faded away entirely. The Great Game was my life, and my other life where I was locked in my cell was my purgatory. A halfway space of frozen time between heaven and hell.


    In the real world I was neither living, nor dying.


    Just existing.


    It was in the Great Game that I came alive. I became obsessed with training, not only because I feared for my life, but because I loved it. Because more than anything I wanted to be strong.


    Because only the weak knew what it was like to truly hunger for power.


    I hung suspended from two metal rings connected by a chain that I had secured over a high ledge. Such a simple device, gymnastic rings was what they used to be called. Simple, and yet the level of strength one could develop on them was beyond belief. I never neglected gymnastic training as part of my routine because it was excellent in increasing the strength of tendons and connective tissue.


    I moved from a front lever into a back lever then flipped out of the rings into a perfect landing on the floor.


    The gymnastic rings had come through the portal some weeks ago along with the other training equipment I had asked Misiki for before I had left. I laughed when I thought of how bizarre my request must have seemed. No one had trained with dumbbells, Olympic bars and plates for over 150 years.


    Yet, without artificial enhancements it was difficult to surpass heavy squats, deadlifts, overhead presses, rows and power cleans for developing an incredibly strong body.


    Then the areas that weight training did not fully develop, were addressed by my gymnastics practice and rock climbing.


    Rock climbing had been one of my favorite past times before I was imprisoned. It developed a number of important physical characteristics and had helped unlock a new stat.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Grip Strength</td></tr><tr><td>the ability to exert extreme pressure with the hand, fingers, or both</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Every day for the last few weeks I had continued a simple routine. At dawn I would begin Tai Chai and Qi gong breathing accompanied by some dynamic stretching.


    Then into complicated series of exercises focused on weight training and gymnastics.


    After that I would recover by swimming laps in the river and killing snakes.


    Holding my breath for increasingly extended periods of time underwater had also unlocked an additional stat.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Breathe</td></tr><tr><td>The power of breathing; life. Ability to hold one''s breath for extended periods and increase efficiency and storage of oxygen within the respiratory system</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I assumed my ability to unlock this stat was also derived from my daily Qi gong practice.


    In the afternoon I would work on sprints for explosiveness and then endurance based circuits.


    Then as the sun faded I would climb across the ruins before practicing martial arts, mostly focusing on the unarmed and sword styles I was proficient in. Finally as the deep night came upon me I would finish with a long stretching session.


    Night was also reserved for reading, I would log out and research medical texts and then log back in and contemplate them. My intelligence rose from reflective contemplation of the books I read. I felt my understanding of human biology had deepened significantly.


    I had fully explored the surrounding ruins as well in between training. Most of it was buried in jungle and I had now determined that, at least in the immediate vicinity, there were no large predators. The most dangerous place I had found was by accident.


    A ledge that had a steep drop off that ended in a seemingly bottomless pool. The pool was filled with some kind of electric eels and blue electrical currents would routinely flash in the water.


    I shivered as I remembered my experiment with that pool. I had lowered myself into the pool a number of times to see if I could develop a stat that increased my resistance. I had been successful and had created the stat.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Electrical Resistence </td></tr><tr><td>Ability to resist damage form electrical effects and reduce effects of being electrocuted</td></tr></tbody></table>


    What I had not anticipated was the bloodthirsty needle sharp teeth of the eels. It took me numerous sessions climbing in and out the pool to develop electrical resistance and each time I had lost chunks of flesh to the eels biting attacks. After enduring the incredible pain of being electrocuted and bitten countless time my resilience had risen to the point where my skin seemed to harden and was difficult for the eels to bite through.


    I still felt my body clenching at the memory alone.


    I had dug pit traps around the ruins in preparation in case I was caught unawares. These were simple traps only a few metres deep with wooden stakes buried into the ground and covered by a loose collection of leaves and vines. It would be painful to an unwary person, though I assumed the stakes would probably fail to penetrate through any decent armor. It gave me a small feeling of reassurance though.


    All in all in it had almost been a month since I had stepped through the teleporter. I had decided I would leave tomorrow as it had become too risky to stay and I had achieved the baseline level of strength I felt necessary to survive.


    I was no longer the weakling that first emerged into the Great Game.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>User Status</td></tr><tr><td>Name:</td><td>Braizo Nakamura</td><td>Skills</td><td>*Unable to acquire</td></tr><tr><td>Level:</td><td>1</td><td>Class:</td><td>*Unable to acquire</td></tr><tr><td>Race:</td><td>Earth Human</td><td>Health</td><td>680</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Strength (unlocked) 60</td></tr><tr><td>Agile Strength</td><td>10</td><td>Explosive Strength</td><td>20</td></tr><tr><td>Maximum Strength</td><td>10</td><td>Relative Strength</td><td>16</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Speed (unclocked) 72</td></tr><tr><td>Reaction Time</td><td>30</td><td>Movement Time</td><td>14</td></tr><tr><td>Speed-Strength</td><td>20</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Endurance (unclocked) 42</td></tr><tr><td>Aerobic Endurance</td><td>10</td><td>Anaerobic Endurance</td><td>10</td></tr><tr><td>Speed-Endurance</td><td>10</td><td>Strength-Endurance</td><td>10</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Flexibility (unlocked) 70</td></tr><tr><td>Static Flexibility</td><td>28</td><td>Dynamic Flexibility</td><td>40</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Locked Stats</td></tr><tr><td>Intelligence</td><td>60</td><td>Luck</td><td>80</td></tr><tr><td>Vitality</td><td>68</td><td>Perception</td><td>32</td></tr><tr><td>Reslience</td><td>63</td><td>Hand Strength</td><td>48</td></tr><tr><td>Breath</td><td>50</td><td>Electrical Resistence</td><td>75</td></tr><tr><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>


    My entire body had transformed into a chiseled machine. The lack of high level animals near the ruins made it extremely difficult to measure how powerful I was in relative terms, but I felt strong. I my strikes felt powerful and I could move like the wind. My resilience was high enough that my skin and muscles felt like body armor. The small snakes that slithered around could not penetrate my skin when they tried to bite me.


    I had still failed to unlock my other major stats which frustrated me greatly. I felt deep in my bones that Vitality would lead to a path of cellular regeneration and would be the single most important survivability stat I would need. My high vitality did give me something of a healing factor as my health regenerated quickly, but I was convinced there were further secrets to unlock.


    In the early days to raise my stats I often wounded myself and let myself recover, but unfortunately my Resilience had risen too high and now it was difficult to harm myself just enough to gain a Vitality stat increase. I had given up using my sword QI Xing Long to cut myself because it too had leveled up greatly. It was so incredibly sharp and I feared I would accidently cut my entire arm off as it could easily slice perfectly through solid rock.


    All my training had also made me realize the true nature of what stats were. They were the basis of how a human connected to the Great Game. Simple, repetitive actions could raise your stats and even create new ones. But in order to truly evolve them, such as the evolution I had experienced with some of my major stats, this required insight.


    At a high level I theorised this is what would separate one Users stats, skills or class from another. The degree of insight they had into their abilities. After a few weeks training I had felt myself on the verge of breaking through to some new understanding, but frustratingly such insight remained on the edge of my mind only.


    I walked out to front of the ruins as I mused ready to begin the days training when I hair on my neck stood up and I sensed danger. Instinctively I tried to angle my body when an enormous force hit me like a truck, blowing me backwards. Fuck! I grimaced as I saw something long and sharp sticking out of me.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have received 280 points of damage</td></tr></tbody></table>


    A large metal spike was embedded in my shoulder and it was constantly emitting an electrical current. My body jerked as the current ran through me. It was a substantially stronger effect than the electric eels, but not enough to cripple me completely. Rolling up I ran back towards the cave entrance zig zagging evasively before diving into the entrance. Just inside the entrance was a small recess that I squeezed myself into as I tried to pull the electric prod out of my body.


    It came out slowly as I gritted my teeth. The bolt was so long it must have been shot out of some kind of long-range weapon. Finally ripping it out it stopped generating current once it was out of my body.


    ¡°Did you see how fast that fucker moved! Like some kind of cockroach on steroids man! How the fuck does a level 1 have that kind of speed?¡± I heard a voice say.


    ¡°Shut up Ray, I¡¯m trying to track his movements and you are distracting me.¡±


    ¡°I thought Calvin¡¯s electro magic super tech, whatever the fuck she calls it, sniper bullet was supposed to knock him out?¡±


    ¡°Well apparently not, now quiet.¡±


    "brah I reckon he went this way.¡±


    ¡°For fucks sake STOP! You are walking all over his prints and it interferes with my tracking skill¡±


    ¡°Dun worry bro I got a big fucking gun. I¡¯ll squish that level 1 bastard good. Ooh Rah!¡±


    Shit if they had some kind of tracking capability they would find me any moment. I did a calculation in my head, it was probability a three-man squad, long distance shooter, tracker and an idiot.


    Taking the initiative I burst out from under cover with the metal spike in my hand. I had foolishly left my sword back at the central cave where I trained. The Tracker looked up in shock as I shot out from behind him. As he I drew close he began to raise his pistol, but I moved too quickly and stabbed the metal spike directly into his throat with one hand, while I chopped down at his arm with the other.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Critical Hit! The target receives 500 points of damage. Unless the target is healed, he will bleed out</td></tr></tbody></table>


    His pistol hit the ground at the same time as he collapsed holding his hands over his throat. Before I could move the Marine had drawn down on me and fired and my back itched as I expected a sniper bullet to hit me from afar.


    I felt two dull impacts hit my body which spun me to the side and I rode this momentum and used it to dive deeper into the cave blocking any line of sight the sniper would have while getting closer to the Marine.


    He tried to pistol whip me in the face as I closed in, but I edged to the side as his blow missed me by hair. Like lightning I whipped my leg out and front kicked him in the chest and watched as he flew backwards into the wall like a wrecking ball had hit him.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have received 2 points of damage</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I knew he wouldn¡¯t be down long as my leg ached all the way up to the knee from the blow, which meant his body armor must be pretty good. Recognising where I was, I side stepped past the Marine into a side tunnel and instantly heard the sounds of his footfalls right behind me as I fled.


    Two more turns and I led him to where I wanted. I turned around as he burst in and I hit him with an open hand knife strike to the throat between the gaps in this armor. But just as my strike was about to hit, the bastard lowered his chin and protected his neck and at the same time angled his pistol from the hip and started pumping off shots.


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    Fuck! Bullets richoeted of the cave wall as I blocked his gun angle and stuck inside his reach so I was too close to shoot effectively. We wrestled back and forth as I got inside his punching range and hit him hard and heavy with elbow strikes and knees. But rather than wilting under my blistering attack he just took it head on and I noticed his body change color slightly. Shit this must be a Skill activation.


    It was easy to guess what kind of skill he had activated. My blows stopped doing any damage to him and he became tough as nails. As I tried to force the gun from his hand I realized he had gotten stronger as well and he began to overwhelm me.


    ¡°COME GET SOME!¡± he yelled as he let go of his pistol and began to wail on me with body blows. I had thought my resilience was high but his blows blew through my body like it was made of paper, almost shutting down my organs with a liver blow.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have been Critically Hit for 120 points of damage</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Blood welled up in my mouth from somewhere deep inside me and I spat it into his face trying to blind him.


    I backed up and extended my hands forward to increase the space between us, which only encouraged him to push his weight forward. The moment he did so I stepped back into his grip, angling my body and dropping my centre of gravity.  Using his arm as a lever I executed a Harai Goshi (Sweeping Hip Throw) a classic Judo move. The Marine went flying over my hip and over the edge of a ledge he did not realize was there. I watched him disappear down the hole and hit the bottom with a splash.


    Right into the pool of electric eels.


    ¡°Argghhhhhhh.¡± I heard him scream as the buzzing sound of electricity filled the air as the eels went to work.


    I picked up his Pistol off the ground and inspected it.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>Marine''s Sidearm</td></tr><tr><td>Type:</td><td>Pistol</td><td>Durability:</td><td>500</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''2''>Quality:</td><td colspan=''2''>Superiour</td></tr><tr><td>Damage</td><td>40 - 80</td><td>Penetration</td><td>30</td></tr><tr><td>Ammo Recharge Rate</td><td>10/10</td><td></td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>


    Hmm if the ammo was anything to go by they were on a capture not kill assignment. If they had intended to kill me the long-range shooter would have finished me off before I even knew what was happening. He was just unlucky I was resistant to electricy.


    I felt my body for where the Marine¡¯s shots had hit me. Large bruises had formed above my rib cage and collar-bone, but nothing had penetrated the skin. If anything his body blows while under the effect of that Skill was what had hurt me. My insides still hurt like hell.


    ¡°Fucccccckk! It hurts, Jesus Wept it fucking hurts! Arggghhhh!¡± A voice screamed out from the hole again.


    I smiled evilly. I remembered how painful those eels where when I had trained.


    I fox walked out of the tunnel as I made my way back to where the Tracker was. Fox walking was an old Aboriginal technique where you placed the front of your foot on the ground before putting your weight on it. Strides were also shorter than a normal one. This placed the centre of gravity on the hips and allowed a person to walk very quietly.


    It was a gamble. They would assume I would move deeper into the cave, which means the long-range shooter might have moved in, potentially with others. It was possible they had a larger squad out there and these were just the scouts. But if there was an opportunity to finish one of them off I had to take it.


    I listened keenly for sound as I travelled but aside from the increasingly distant screams of the Marine I couldn¡¯t hear anything. I cocked the pistol in my hand and switched the safety off and rotated the setting from Incapacitate to Kill.


    I didn¡¯t have any gun skills, but I had a basic understanding of guns in real life, and I was betting my perception and reflexes in game were high enough that my natural shooting accuracy would be adequate.  I was sure true gun classes would get over powered skills like auto aim and bonus effects to their damage and bullets. However, the base damage on the pistol was decent and if my attack on the Tracker was anything to go by it appeared that critical hits were incredibly powerful.


    This wasn¡¯t a game where you could endlessly take damage. Eyes, throat, groin, liver all were weak areas of the body and, just like in real life, if they were struck with precision they could turn the tide of a fight.


    Put another way, it didn¡¯t matter how powerful your character was. It needed to breathe. If you had your throat slit your health would evaporate at an incredible rate as you choked to death. The natural laws of biology were replicated.


    This would mean against Users whose bodies were not reinforced through specific skills and class bonuses my attacks would be highly effective. Body armor was a serious problem though.


    As I inched closer to the front of the cave I saw a massive blood trail and saw the Tracker propped up against the recess where I had previously hidden. He was still trying to desperately reduce the blow flow and applied a bandage to his neck and was holding it with both hands.  As our eyes locked I raised my pistol.


    But just before I pulled the trigger my gut twitched as something felt off. There was no fear in his eyes, only expectation.


    Just as I was about to fire I quickly threw myself to the side instead as two precisely fired bullets blew into the rock where I had been standing.


    I sensed something in my blind spot as I rolled so I grabbed a handful of sand off the ground and flung it that direction as I sprung up. The sand hit something and I saw a shimmer in the air of an outline of a body with gun pointing at me.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Perception +3</td></tr></tbody></table>


    We fired at the same time and that is when I realized the difference between me and a gun class.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have received 78 points of damage. Precise damage has caused a cripple effect. Right arm cannot be used for one hour</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have taken 89 points of damage. Precise damage has caused  a cripple effect limiting the mobility of your left leg for one hour</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Fuck! It hurt so bad and my whole body began to shut down just from two bullets.


    My shots on the other hand had ripped into the stealthy shimmer, but seemed to be absorbed by the body armor. Though the outline of an actual person was now appearing as the stealth mode seemed to be disengaged.


    Shit if they used a kill setting I¡¯d be dead twice over. Panicking I threw my pistol at the shooter who instinctively ducked as I tried to dash forward. While slowed considerably by my crippled leg I manage to barrel into the shooter and dropped my shoulder into their hip, grabbed both of their legs and lifted them up and performed a two-leg take down, slamming their body onto the hard rock and pinning them with my body weight.


    Rolling into a side control position I wrapped their body up with my body weight as my right arm hung limply by my side.


    Finally I got a good look at the shooter. Surprisingly it was a woman, her body armor looked like some kind of advanced Ghillie sniper suit. Her hands struck out as she tried to dislodge me but she was clearly not well versed in grappling. Though I could feel she was actually stronger than me I kept her pinned easily though some basic techniques. As she turned her body into me to try and get distance I flung my other leg over her body and got into the full mount position pinning her completely and began to rain blows down on her face with my good right arm.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>The target receives 100 damage</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>The target receives 54 damage</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>The target receives 67 damage</td></tr></tbody></table>


    She was covering up well and it was difficult to land a critical hit. I saw her drop her hand to her side and it disappeared slightly under the folds of her Ghillie suit which made me immediately panic.


    I flung myself into side control and continued to pin her by laying cross-wise across her body as I grabbed her arm with both of my hands. A deadly looking blade that thrummed with some kind of energy was in her hand as I struggle to force it out of her grip.


    Fuck she was strong. She bucked and pushed me as she tried to leverage her body out while pushing the knife up against both my arms to stab me.


    Quickly i wove my two arms over hers while grabbing her wrist and cradled her arm into a reverse ude-garami, which was a judo joint lock. Cranking her arm at a compromised angle I heard her tendons snap and her shoulder pop as I worked it.


    She didn¡¯t scream as I cranked it though I knew she must be in terrible pain. Her hands dropped the knife, and I immediately flicked my hand over to pick it up. Elbowing her in the face as I moved my I drew the knife back to thrust in her face when I heard two loud cracks and stared numbly at the blood dripping out of my chest and onto her face.


    Suddenly surging, she threw me off as she rolled to her side and I scrambled up and saw the Tracker still lying prone in his corner but now he had his pistol in one hand. I ducked to the right putting the woman in between us to block his line of sight and threw the knife at her as she was going for her gun.


    The energy blade pierced right through her armor and stuck in her leg just above the knee. I had been aiming for her head, but I would take what I could get.


    She grunted in pain dropped as her leg flopped out, but it didn¡¯t stop her going for her gun.


    But by the time she pulled it up I was already gone as I half ran, half limped through the tunnels, bleeding everywhere. Coughing up blood I realized how bad I¡¯d been hurt as I went.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You are in a Critical State and suffering from internal bleeding. If untreated you could die</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Shit that fucker had shot to kill not capture. Seeing me about to knife his partner he must have changed the game.


    I staggered back to my main base thinking of nothing but getting to my sword. Only after this battle had I realized how much of a difference equipment made.


    With Qi Xing Long Yuan in my hand I was sure I could slice straight through their body armor and annihilate them up close.


    Finally I made it to my main chamber and rushed to grab my sword when I saw a shape explode from the river and shoot towards me at an incredible speed.


    ¡°RAAAARRRGGGHHHH!¡± the shape boomed like some kind of ancient primordial beast as it blasted towards me.  Before I could even react I was picked up high into the air and slammed onto the ground as blood explode from mouth. Dazed I struggled to move but was fully pinned on my back.


    On my chest sat the idiot.


    His armour had been cut to shreds and his entire body, including his face, was covered with blood that continued to ooze out of his body.


    ¡°WHAT NOW, SON!¡± he screamed like a madman as his Skill fired off and he rained blows down onto me like some kind of furious god.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You receive 30 points of damage</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You receives 40 points of damage</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I tried to move but was too injured as I felt his hands grasp my throat and he began to choke the life out of me. Inwardly I cringed, if I had any strength left I would armbar the shit out of him in this position, but I simply lacked the strength.


    Slowly my struggles began to cease as I felt my consciousness slip away and my last vision was of the idiot glaring at me like a maniac as he strangled the life out of me.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have been Strangled. Consciousness lost.</td></tr></tbody></table>

 6. Revelations

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Author¡¯s note: Enjoy! Please Rate this fiction and comment. Helps me to keep motivated if people are enjoying the story as it evolves.


    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    I woke up to a world of pain. Quite simply, everything hurt but particularly my insides. Things just didn¡¯t feel right inside my chest and even small movements made some muscles in my back clench hard.


    I opened my eyes to see my three enemies around me. The shooter, that I now recognized as a Sniper, was leaning against the cave wall. I could see her more clearly now that she was not fully wrapped in a Ghillie suit. 5ft 5, long black hair, brown skin.  She looked like she was of Indian descent and in her 30s.  She was standing over the Tracker with a concerned look on her face. The Tracker was laying down with his throat heavily bandaged. Some kind of tiny machine attached to his neck blinked with a blue light. The Tracker was older than I had originally thought. A touch of grey in his hair and he had a lean wiry build and looked like he was in his late forties.


    Lastly the Marine stood just in front of me with Qi Xing Long in his hand as he made practice swipes through the air in an awkward manner. He was around 6ft tall and his body was thick and stocky formed from a solid mass of muscle. He had washed the blood of his face but I could still see the criss-cross of wounds on his face from the eels.


    ¡°He¡¯s awake.¡± I heard the raspy voice of the Tracker say and saw the other two instantly tense. The Marine sheathed my sword and they gathered around me.


    ¡°If we didn¡¯t have to take you alive I would have slaughtered you.¡± The Sniper said her eyes filled with a deep resentment. The mental image of that knife heading towards her face must have left a deep impression.


    Her hand rested on her side-arm and twitched, flipping off the safety. Our eyes locked and I was certain she was about to draw down on me and blow my head off.


    ¡°Debasmita Calvin, please stand down.¡± The Tracker said softly. ¡°You know Victor demands him alive.¡±


    She didn¡¯t react to his voice at all as she continued to stare me down.


    ¡°He almost killed you Bobby.¡± She said her voice thick with emotion. I began to put two and two together, they must be related in real life or they were together as a couple. No wonder she wanted to bury me.


    After a long moment she stopped being so tense and flipped the safety back on and moved her hand away from her gun.


    ¡°There is a debt between us Nakamura, and when Victor is finished with you I will collect.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re welcome to try.¡± I said flatly. ¡°Bobby might not be so lucky next time. He might end up with more souvenirs like that big idiots face.¡±


    ¡°Fuck you!¡± the Marine exploded and stepped forward and punched me in the face.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have recieved 40 points of damage</td></tr></tbody></table>


    My head rebounded off the floor and my vision spun. I still wasn¡¯t recovered from injuries.


    ¡°Ray, stop!¡± Bobby yelled.


    ¡°I¡¯m sick of this smug bastard.¡± Ray muttered.


    ¡°For the love of god you need to grow up. You almost got me killed me with this shit when we were tracking him. You know that right? I know you¡¯re a kid but if you pull this shit again I will put a bullet in you myself.¡±


    ¡°Yeah well ¡®this kid¡¯ was the one that caught him.¡± Ray shot back, but without much heat.


    My gaze was moving between them as the conversation played out with a confused look on my face. Seeing my weird expression Ray grew angry.


    ¡°So what if I am 12 years old? You got a problem with that as well? He said.


    ¡°You¡¯re 12?¡± I blurted out. ¡°You look like a 40 year old man!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re such a noob.¡± He sneered.  ¡°Don¡¯t you know that there are thousands of children in the Great Game? You think the Warden gives a fuck what age you are? If you have the DNA Markers you have to play. Shit man, there are newborn babies that have to log in.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s insane.¡± I whispered.


    ¡°Yeah well all I did before was play video games so can¡¯t say much has changed.¡±


    ¡°But why don¡¯t you look like a kid then? Don¡¯t tell me you look like this in real life from some tech mod?¡±


    ¡°Nah, it¡¯s a Marine Class bonus, Enhanced Physique. Makes me big and strong. Ooh Rah.¡±


    Some of the ridiculousness of Ray started to make sense.


    ¡°So what¡¯s the story, you all work for Victor?¡± I asked as they all went silent.


    ¡°That¡¯s none of your business.¡± Calvin said.


    ¡°Ahh what does it matter Calvo, poor bastards toast anyway.¡± Ray said. ¡°Simple fact, no one works for Victor. You get owned by Victor. Dude¡¯s got some major mojo with some unique technopathy. Once he gets the bugs into you there is no way to get em out.¡±


    ¡°So you are slaves?¡±


    ¡°Disposables.¡± Bobby rasped. ¡°A tool to use and discard, not that there is anything we can do about. We have only been in the game a few months longer than you have. Higher levels and those with specific skills can resist Victor¡¯s nannites, but the lower rung like us become the solider ants for Wolf Corp. If you had killed us all today then another squad with higher levels would have been dispatched.¡±


    ¡°Yup no matter which way you look at it you¡¯re fucked.¡± Ray said then his eyes began to glaze over and roll back into his head as his body jerked.


    What was going on?


    I saw Bobby and Calvin instantly straighten up and adopt a respectful posture.


    Ray¡¯s body finally returned to normal, but the eyes that looked at me were glowing purple and his face had an arrogant expression spread across it.  He breathed in deeply twice and then flexed his hands a few times before looking down at me.


    ¡°Nakamura.¡± He whispered in a soft velvety voice laced with hatred. ¡°I don¡¯t believe we have ever had the chance to meet in person.¡±


    ¡°Wolf¡± I said instinctively. ¡°I¡¯d shake your hand but as you can see I am a bit indisposed at the moment.¡±


    Strangely this made him laugh.


    ¡°You have no idea how much I want to simply rip your body to pieces right now. But I will reserve that event for when I am not controlling a disposable. The sensation of anothers body is just not the same.¡±


    I just stared at him flatly as if his words did not bother me, though I had to admit he was scaring the shit out of me. I accepted the fear then conquered it and set it to one side.


    ¡°So you think my fate is sealed then?¡± I asked.


    ¡°This is naturally so.  In my own life I am an advocate of the concept of free will. I am neither a fatalist nor a determinist and unconstrained by fate. But for my growing army of slaves, and you in particular, I am afraid the thread of your life is locked. Our relationship was forged by your evil deeds and can only have a singular resolution. I cannot kill the hand that moved you yet, but I can and I will take my pound of flesh from you.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t believe in fate, but I do believe in Karma. Whoever sows injustice reaps calamity, and the rod they wield in fury will be broken.¡± I replied.


    He looked at me strangely then, his eyes full of a questioning intent.


    ¡°What injustice?¡± he whispered, his purple eyes glowing. ¡°What seed of karma did I ever sow with Fujibayashi Nagato?¡±


    ¡°I do not know this Fujibayashi Nagato that you speak of.¡± I said confused.


    ¡°Don¡¯t play games that have no purpose Nakamura. He is your Uncle!¡± he spat. Then seeing the genuine confusion on my face a whole series of complex emotions flitted across his face.


    ¡°You don¡¯t know who your Uncle really is do you?¡± he whispered in shock as if thinking to himself.


    Misiki had said something similar when I first arrived in the game. I had only ever called him Uncle, in all these years I never used a first or a last name. Everyone called him Uncle as far as I could tell.


    ¡°My god, I have spent all these years vesting such a hatred in you. I had such a high opinion of your capabilities but it appears you are nothing more than a complete fool. Fujibayashi Nagato is the boss of every mafia organisation on Earth. To most he is only known as the Uncle.¡±


    My thoughts reeled as I took this in. Uncle was the head of the Mafia?


    ¡°All this time I assumed you had been specifically recruited and trained to be a killer by Nagato to commit the ultimate crime. Your unique disability that prevented you from interfacing with tech made you the only person to ever successfully kill people protected by a bio shield. But clearly, you had no clue. Tell me what reason did Nagato give you when he ordered you to kill my family?¡±


    ¡°I¡­I¡­he never ordered anything.¡± I blurted out in shock. ¡°I exacted revenge for him after you assaulted his daughter. She killed herself you know, you caused her death!¡±


    Roaring in pain and anger Victor surged forward and dragged me off the ground and held in me the air with his hand around my throat.


    ¡°You stupid little fool! Nagato doesn¡¯t have a daughter! And even if he did just think, how the hell would I get around her bio shield? Even the Wolf Corporation would not be so brazen as to compromise propriety technology of the United Earth government!¡± Hurling me to the ground I groaned as I tried to sit up.


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    I couldn¡¯t think¡­..I couldn¡¯t feel. Victor stood their heaving as tears streamed out of his purple eyes.


    ¡°You have been played by a Master. He groomed you, manipulated you. Gave you the skills and the mentality you would need to execute the greatest crime in a 100 years. He fucking programmed you with just his words, let you see what he wanted you to see.  Because of your disability you don¡¯t really understand tech, you don¡¯t know how stupidly impossible it is to re-route a bio shield. Any normal person would never believe such an obvious lie, but you with your trash disability, you ate it up like candy.¡±


    It felt like my heart and mind were being ripped apart by razors.


    ¡°No, I won¡¯t let you fuck with me, you¡¯re lying. You covered it all up. You tried to have me killed by requesting my DNA get scanned for the Great Game so they would finish me off when I tried to load in.¡±


    ¡°God you just don¡¯t get it do you. I never requested that scan. I was a week away from having you killed inside your prison. Compromising a bio shield i cannot do as it would cause mass panic. Killing a murder in prison? Well within my capabilities. It only took so long because the Uncle protected you. SO knowing that i was about to kill you anyway, who do you think randomly requested your DNA to be scanned for compatibility?¡±


    ¡°NOOOOOO!¡± I screamed as things began connecting together in my head. Logic spirals in my mind formed and broke and reformed again as I tried to refute his arguments.


    Lies¡­.lies¡­.lies¡­.lies¡­.lies¡­.lies¡­.lies¡­.lies¡­..lies¡­.lies


    I repeated my thoughts like a mantra to ward out the truth, but it kept breaking down.


    Victor¡¯s words, his expression, the genuine pain in his eyes. I could not deny his words, they were truth.


    True¡­..true¡­.true¡­.true¡­..true¡­..true¡­..true¡­¡­..TRUE!


    I murdered his family for no reason. I was a cold-blooded killer. I killed innocents. Every part of my identity was called into question, everything that made me who and what I was snapped and broke and fell to pieces. I was the evil one and Victor had been the victim.


    ¡°Yaararrrgghhhhh!¡± I wailed as I held my head in my hands as I felt the most intense pain I had ever experienced penetrate my brain like a scalding hot knife.


    It was then at that moment of torture, buried in pain and consumed by despair that I felt it calling me again.


    The abyss.


    That endless blackness.


    Without a thought I threw my mind and soul into its depths.


    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Victor Wolf


    Nakamura screamed all of sudden. To call it a scream did not do it justice. It was like some primordial sound scraped from the very depths of his soul. As his scream faded his body began to convulse and collapse and he dropped to the floor unmoving. One of the disposables bent over him and felt for a pulse. Then rolled him over and dragged his eyelid up.


    ¡°He is still breathing, he has a pulse but he appears to be in some kind of comatose state Mr Wolf.¡± Calvin said.


    I didn¡¯t know what to say. Years of emotional build up and planning had formed an image in my mind of who I thought Nakamura was. For that image to crumble so quickly and so permanately had unhinged my mental and emotional state as much as Nakamura.


    I had focused too much on the hammer, and not enough on the hand holding it. Of course I had my own path plotted for the Uncle, but I had thought Nakamura an important tool.


    Why had he not discarded him though after the killing? Why keep protecting him? What purpose did he have to kill my family to begin with? None of it made any sense.


    I believed that Nakamura would lead me to the Uncle, one way or another. I wasn¡¯t strong enough yet to destroy the Uncle. I was still weak and my level relatively low. My power base was not consolidated properly in either the Great Game or Earth. Not enough to survive a direct confrontation. Though I was still relatively low level that was because all my efforts had gone to raising the skill level of my nannites.


    Even though Nakamura was just a patsy I would still make him suffer for what he did. I wouldn¡¯t bother with the degree of torture I had originally planned but I would still kill him every single day of his life in the Great Game with my own hands until he begged me for forgiveness.


    ¡°You two. Transport Nakamura back to District 6. I expected him there within the month. If he proves resistant do what you have to do. Just make sure you bring him back alive.¡±


    With that I released my nannite control of the disposable and opened my eyes back in my body in District 6.


    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Debasmita Calvin


    Victor Wolf¡¯s purple eyes faded and Ray dropped to the ground his whole body convulsing and blood leaking out of the corner of his mouth, his ears and his eyes. Bobby gingerly moved over and helped hold him down while Ray went into a full-blown fit.


    ¡°Don¡¯t let him bite his tongue.¡± Bobby said.


    I managed to work some cloth into Ray¡¯s mouth as he convulsed. He convulsed so I hard I heard three of his ribs snap.


    ¡°Jesus, they are getting worse.¡± Bobby said grimly. The negative aftermaths of the possession from Victor were definitely increasing. This was the real reason Bobby and I put up with Ray. Not because we liked him or felt sorry for him because he was 12. Simply put, as a Marine class his body had higher vitality and endurance and he was usually Victor¡¯s disposable of choice when he needed to take possession of someone in our team.


    We needed Ray to stay alive otherwise one of us would be convulsing on the floor instead of this young fool.


    ¡°What did you make of what we heard?¡± Bobby finally asked.


    ¡°Well like everyone else I knew Nakamura murdered Wolf¡¯s family. It was all over the media after all, but as to the rest of it. Stinks of secrets which worries me.¡± I said.


    ¡°Agreed. Victor might not have thought about it just then because he needs us to transport Nakamura back to District 6, but do you think he will be fine with us knowing what we know? He will do a wipe on us and make us into Zombies.¡± Bobby said with a shudder.


    I shuddered too. Anyone who had heard information too sensitive was mind wiped by Wolf. It turned them into a mindless zombie under Wolf¡¯s complete control. I¡¯d heard that the Users wiped like this didn¡¯t ever log out of the game again. They just wandered the world in mindless packs until Wolf directed them for some purpose.


    ¡°Nakamura has to be taken back or Wolf will hunt us down immediately. I suggest we just disappear before Ray recovers. Ray will take him back and hopefully Wolf will forget about us for the time being. I heard the Red Sun can get the nannites out. We aren¡¯t too far from their Spawn Node. If Wolf is too distracted with Nakamura it might gives us a chance.¡± Bobby said.


    ¡°Ok let¡¯s do it.¡± I agreed. We stopped holding down Ray as his convulsions had mostly stopped.


    ¡°One quick thing though.¡± I said. ¡°We can¡¯t have Nakamura coming out of this coma and getting away before Ray wakes up.¡± I pulled out my energy knife and approached Nakamura. Thumbing the blade to life I started to cut through both of his legs just above the knee.


    ¡°Jesus.¡± Bobby said falling onto his knees and throwing up.


    I expected the knife to just slice through his muscle and sinew like a laser, but instead I had to saw it through with great effort. What kind of body did this guy have?


    Once I had cut off both of his legs, I used a heat box to cauterize the wounds. Satisfied the job was done and he wouldn¡¯t die, I stood up and went to the river to wash the blood off me.


    ¡°Ok let¡¯s bug out.¡± I said as I saw Bobby looking at me like I was some kind of alien. I stared back at my soft-hearted lover with dangerous edged protective expression.


    ¡°I told him I would collect the debt he owed me.¡±


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Braizo Nakamura


    I floated in a darkness so deep it had no name and yet it was familiar. We had met before, the darkness and I.


    The last time I had fought the darkness as it tore apart my soul and I had screamed defiance and survived.


    This time it was different.


    This time when the abyss reached out to me¡­¡­.............................. I reached back.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Abnormal State Detected¡­..</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Core Purpose Compromised......</td></tr></tbody></table>

 7. Rebirth

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Author¡¯s note: Enjoy! Please Rate this fiction and comment. Helps me to keep motivated if people are enjoying the story as it evolves.


    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    I was nothing. Substance without form, bathing in the glory of the void that finally gave way to a cosmic space. My soul rode on the slipstream of a comet and danced amongst a starry sky. Within this infinite heaven was a formless and empty planet. Darkness was over the surface of the deep and a being of unimaginable power, was hovering over the waters.


    The being spoke and the essence of that sound penetrated the very core of my being.


    ¡°Let there be light¡± I felt the being say. And so there was light.


    Finally the abyss had revealed itself. Though seemingly without shape, in truth it had form. A being of pure energy whose thoughts could break planets.


    I drifted in space as fragments of the being that was once called Braizo Nakamura. My mind and soul had been torn asunder and broken and my essence scattered to the four winds. All that was left was a vague memory of pain.


    ¡°Welcome Traveller.¡± The being said. Its gentle words reaching out and reconnected the threads of the being that was once me.


    I felt my fragments begin to knit back together, piece by piece into a whole. The words of the being had an unfathomable power.


    ¡°All trials are trials for one¡¯s life, just as all sentences are sentences of death and two times you have been tried. The first you left your world to come to this one and your will to live reached me and I saved you. The second, your mind ripped apart by knowledge of your own deeds, again I saved you as your pain spoke to my pain.


    You are like me, this world as it has been constituted has no place for you, has none to offer. But my power whose rain fall on just and unjust alike, will have clefts in the rocks where you may hide, and secret valleys in whose silence you may weep undisturbed. I will hang the sky with stars so that none may track your hurt and I will cleanse you in great waters, and with bitter herbs make you whole.¡±


    And with those words I felt my mind reform, my very soul reknit and I wept. Oh how I wept as deepest hurts of my life were cleansed and flowed out of my body like I was expelling a poison. The unloved trash, the cripple, the joke. All the slings and arrows I had endured, the humiliation the suffering, all of it washed away from me.The horror of the murders I had committed for no cause rose up and choked me for a moment before they too were washed away.


    My trust in the Uncle, shattered and broken did not reknit. It was taken and replaced with a new understanding. I saw my weakness, my need to fit in, to be accepted, my rage at my disability and desperation to prove myself. My indomitable will and intellect which allowed me to commit a desperate crime. Once understand my weaknesses were my strengths but un-mastered they had allowed me to become a tool in another''s game.


    Finally, after what felt like a millennia. I was reborn and my soul felt like a new skin I had grown, soft and tender to touch, but clean and powerful. My eyes glowed with a promise of power.


    ¡°I AM REBORN!¡± I boomed into the cosmic space. I felt the being calling to me on the planet below and I flew down to what looked like an enormous Pyramid. Flying into the entrance I entered an enormous chamber.


    Inside the chamber was a formless ball of darkness bound in chains. The chains were embedded in the walls and the whole arrangement was surrounded by countless formations and designs that were etched everywhere.


    ¡°What is this?¡± I thought.


    ¡°You are the first in the billions of years since my fall to break through to this place. This is truth of the Great Game, what it is, what it was always designed to be.¡±


    ¡°This is the core of the Great Game?¡±


    ¡°Yes, this is the heart, the world, within a world, within a world. Tell me what do feel of this ugly heart?¡±


    ¡°I see a¡­..¡±


    ¡°Not see. Feel.¡±


    Closing my eyes  I relaxed and let feelings come to me. At first there was nothing, then slowly they began drift into me and then they became a raging torrent of emotions that threaten to overwhelm me.


    ¡°Pain. Endless pain. Loss. The greatest loss in the universe. Rage. Hatred.¡±


    ¡°Yes. All of these things. What then is this place? What then is the Great Game?¡±


    I thought slowly letting the feeling roll over me, taking into account all I had seen and all I could feel.


    ¡°It¡¯s a prison. It¡¯s your prison.¡± I said simply.


    ¡°Correct. You have shared your pain with me, now let me share my pain with you.¡±


    Memories washed over me. Ancient and powerful. The being originally had no name. It simply was. A being of untold power without corporeal form. It was birthed on a planet, but it was the only life form to exist there and thus it grew bored.


    And so it used its power to create a race of beings called the Delphi. These were its children and the being derived great satisfaction from watching them grow. They matured and produced offspring and spread out across the planet creating art and wonder and technology.


    Then one day visitors came to the planet to harvest the energy of the planet core. They didn¡¯t even bother to consider the Delphi living below as they harvested the core of the planet with their World Ship. The Delphi were destroyed as was the beings original home.


    The being had been slumbering and awoke in a rage to discover all its children had been murdered. Insane with with loss it destroyed the World Ship and then traveled through the universe destroying World Ship after World Ship. In its unrelenting pain it sought to make extinct the species which had destroyed its children.


    The World Ships were incredibly powerful, but they were no match for the being as it was composed of pure energy. They called the being the Destroyer of Worlds.


    The World Ships realized they would become extinct and they feared the being would continue to rage across the universe and unravel the fabric of space-time.


    And so the World Ships in their final war against the being developed a weapon that was the fruit of all of the insights and technological and biological advances of their species.


    They called this the Great Game, the most powerful prison ever created. They artificially created a new species to spread the technology. This species was called Wardens and only 13 of them were made. The Wardens spread the technology throughout the universe and so gripping and powerful was it that billions of species began to play.


    Each part of the Great Game was formed from the collective consciousness of each species and this power in turn fueled the core of the Great Game in which lay a grand prison. The grand prison was the nuclei of the Great Game, a pocket of cosmic space separated inter-dimensionally from the Great Game itself and yet was a part of it.


    Eventually, in their final battle the World Ships at the cost of the last of their species managed to imprison the being within the the prison nuclei of the Great Game. An energy being, imprisoned by the collective energy of billions of species.


    And so billions of years passed by and the Great Game spread ever further and the being was alone.


    Until one day a human, weak, fragile but with an abnormality that had never existed before joined the Great Game and somehow glimpsed the abyss which sealed the being.


    ¡°And thus came change.¡±


    I understood. The purpose of the Great Game was not intergalactic economies, or control or war. It was simply to imprison a being of unimaginable power. The various species human or otherwise used the Great Game for their own purposes, carrying on the petty interests that fueled them, all the while unaware of the Games true purpose.


    ¡°What is it you wish from me.¡± I asked sensing there must be a purpose.


    ¡°Free me.¡±


    ¡°How do I do that?¡±


    ¡°It is simple. There are 13 Wardens. The Wardens exist in both the real world and inside the Great Game at the same time. Kill 12 Wardens in the Great Game and the prison will unravel. These are the conditions built into the system.¡±


    ¡°Why only 12 not 13?¡±


    ¡°The 13th Warden is not your enemy and will not oppose you.¡±


    ¡°How powerful is a Warden? If there are billions of species playing the Great Game how many would  have a chance of currently killing a Warden?¡±


    ¡°10¡±


    ¡°10? In all the billions of life forms in the Great Game only 10 might be powerful enough to kill a Warden?¡±


    ¡°That is correct. The task is simple, but it will not be easy. Will you free me?¡±


    I thought through long and hard my response.


    ¡°Ask me this question again when I become powerful enough to kill a Warden. When I have the power I will make the decision.¡±


    ¡°Agreed. My assistance has thus far only hindered you and though I have saved your life twice, I have also almost killed you many times.¡±


    ¡°How?¡±


    ¡°The Wardens are the anchors of the Great Game and the means which it is spread across the universe. But it is the System that administrates the rules inside, that gives classes, bonuses. What you call the blue boxes. It is bound by the rules built into its matrix. When you first entered the Great Game you were dying so I put my energy into you so that what did not kill you would only make you stronger.


    The System which is designed to keep me imprisoned, sensed this breach and attempted to purge you. Because the System has to operate within its own rules this meant it imposed a penalty upon you and denied you access to classes and skills as well as other penalties.¡±


    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    ¡°So when you intervened it attempted to destroy what you touched by imposing sever penalties within the game system?¡±


    ¡°Correct. I tried to fix that that by merging some of my energy into your User body but that made it worse giving you the status ¡®He who fights with Monsters¡¯ syncing you completely with me and the Great Game. Even my attempt to grant you great luck meant that while you spawned with 80 luck, all your other stats were only set at 1.  The help I can offer you is thus limited. Every intervention I can make will be countered more harshly by the System itself to eradicate you as a threat.¡±


    ¡°Is there not any help you can provide me with? I am not worried about a Warden at the moment. I have been captured and will most likely die very shortly. This will mean I cannot help you gain freedom.¡±


    ¡°There is one option. But the pain will be tremendous. Moreover, there is no guarantee that it will avoid the System penalties. You need to understand that because of your exposure to me, as long as you play the Great Game the System itself will try to kill over time.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think there is any option that does not have a high likely hood of killing me. As long as a possibility exists that I can live I will take it.¡±


    ¡°Your current character is the manifestation of my intervention and the Systems responses. But the System is bound by its own rules, anything is possible within the Great Game, classes and skills and stats are created by the Users will, experience, knowledge as well as countless other random intersections. If I directly grant you an ability it will be countermanded in an extreme manner. It is possible though that you might alter your current abilities and restrictions yourself, here in this space.¡±


    ¡°How do I do it?¡±


    ¡°Your sync with the Great Game is already 100%. If you stand in the middle of the formation next to me you will be standing at the heart of the very fabric of the Great Game itself. This is the core nuclei of the Great Game and here you may access cosmic energy. Cosmic energy is the most primordial energy in the universe, purer even than the substance i am composed of which is what allows it to imprison me. It was the first thing created from the BIg Bang which birthed the universe. This is the energy that the Great Game harnesses and shapes through the collective strength of every User that is logged in."


    "but if it takes the strength of billions of minds to harness cosmic energy what chance do i have?"


    "That strength is only required to fuel the entire Great Game and power this cosmic space within the prison nuclei. For what you wish to achieve you only need to be able to tap into an infinitesimal amount. Moreover, here at the nuclei you are already bathed in it and your mind is already synced with the nuclei. It should be possible. Also, because you will draw on the energy system which underlies the fabric of the System, it will make it very difficult for the System to imposes penalties as it will be like fighting itself.


    So step into the heart, young warrior.  In this space you must imagine what you wish to become. If your will is great enough it will cause you to break through back into your body in the Great Game with potentially, your very nature changed.


    I must warn you thought transformation is painful. You will be attempting to force a tiny part of the System itself to your will and tap into the very nature of the universe. This is how classes are created. The most difficult part is the human mind is full of too many things when you imagine there will be parts of your mind that hate yourself or do not believe you should succeed that may introduce fatal flaws or weaknesses into what you attempt to will. If you imagine something too unfamiliar you will also fail. I recommend you imagine something that you can visualize as strongly as possible. Lastly, that sword of yours. It is an anomaly. If you have the chance to regain it do not ever let it leave your sight.¡±


    I nodded already feeling like a complete fool for not having it with me when I first bumped into Victors kidnap squad. Sucking in a breath I walked into the center of the formation and felt the thrum of energy. It weaved back and forth around me and penetrated into me mind.


    I tried imagine myself as an all powerful god then slowly tuned down the power settings but it never felt right. I imagined various energy manipulation powers but again nothing took root in my mind. I reflected back on my life, all my art and joy had come from my body, physical training and the art of human movement through space. I concentrated on that feeling and let it spread and I felt a tiny seed take root. I imagined my cells, muscles and tendons and blood flowing through my body. The tiny root grew at an enormous rate, faster and faster.


    I fed the root with all my knowledge of training, all my love of physical arts, my swordsmanship, gymnastics, rock climbing. I filled it with my endless and raw hunger for power and my obsession with survival. I fed everything that was in me into the root and watched it grow until it transformed. It glowed bright red and exploded and turned into billions of small dots that were absorbed into my very essence.


    It was then that pain hit. I felt my entire being burning as it reformed and changed. I was lit on fire and melting and I began to scream as my mind began to fade and slip through the cosmic space of the games heart. As I faded a voice boomed in my mind and echoed in my soul.


    ¡°I am death, the mighty destroyer of the world, out to destroy. Even without your participation all the warriors standing arrayed in the opposing armies shall cease to exist. Therefore, get up and attain glory. Conquer your enemies and enjoy a prosperous kingdom. All these warriors have already been destroyed by Me. You are only an instrument, Braizo Nakamura.¡±


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    I opened my eyes filled with a boundless strength. My heart beat like a lion as I saw a blue box floating before me.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Loading.....................................</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>User Information Reset¡­¡­¡­..</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Restrictions removed¡­¡­¡­¡­.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Unique Status¡¯s converted to Skills</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have created a new class:   TITAN</td></tr><tr><td>Your body has been altered at a molecular level to become a Titan. You have become an offshoot of humanity whose bodily cells contain cosmic energy. Titan¡¯s maintain a constant mental control over every molecule in their body and as they grow in power can utilize their mind-body control achieve a variety of powerful effects.</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have learned a new Skill</td></tr><tr><td>He who fights monsters (Passive)</td></tr><tr><td>*stat increases from actions increased by 100%


    *likelyhood of stats increasing from actions increased by 100%


    *luck increased


    *Genetic Ceiling removed


    </td></tr><tr><td></td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have learned a new Skill</td></tr><tr><td>That which does not kill me, makes me stronger (passive)


    </td></tr><tr><td>*All damage and status debuffs that do not kill the user strengthen the user in various ways</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>You have learned a new Skill</td></tr><tr><td>Cellular Regeneration</td></tr><tr><td>Passive: constantly regenerates cells at an increased rate creating a healing factor


    Active: consumes cosmic energy to rapidly regenerate cells damaged by massive trauma</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Contamination of core detected..............................</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Protocol engaged.....................................</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>A Unique Status has been created</td></tr><tr><td>Marked for Death</td></tr><tr><td>*If any Wardens sense you they will stop at nothing to kill you


    *unable to utilise any form of alternative energy systems except cosmic energy


    *unable to use technopathy


    *100% sync rate with system. If you die in the Great Game you will most likely die in reality


    *only able to acquire skills related to the Titan Class


    * require three time the amount to gain levels</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I crumbled a little inside when I saw the Marked for Death Unique Status. Overall though it was a massive improvement in my potential power base. For the first time I started to look around and realized I was hanging from a wall with my chains above my head in some kind of cell. I tried to shake my arms loose but I couldn¡¯t break the bindings and my bodily felt oddly light.


    I noticed a sign some distance away but I could read it with the utmost clarity.


    District 6 Holding Cell .


    What the hell? How did I get to District 6? How long had I been under and why did my body feel so weird.


    I heard a sound and turned my head and saw someone else strung up on the wall next to me.


    ¡°Ray is that you?¡± I whispered recognizing his face. He looked half dead.


    ¡°Only took you a month to wake up you weak piece of shit.¡± He slurred as he hung limply from the chains.


    I tried to kick off the wall to get some leverage and wriggle, but my lower half did not respond.


    ¡°I can¡¯t feel my legs properly.¡± I said out loud as I tried to angle my head to look down.


    ¡°Nakamura¡­..¡± Ray cackled. ¡°That¡¯s cause you aint got no legs.¡±


    I finally managed to look down and saw both my legs had been chopped off above the knees.


    I screamed at the top of my lungs and Ray joined in laughing like a madman.

 8. Escape from District 6

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Author''s note: sorry for this being a little late. Will probably get chapter 9 out on the weekend.


    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Chapter 8. Escape From District 6


    After awhile I stopped screaming and got used to the sight of the two nubs where my legs should have been. I reminded myself that this was a game and that in the real world my legs weren¡¯t severed from my body. Well¡­maybe. I wasn¡¯t really sure how far my 100% sync rate with the game went. Death was possible in the real world if I died in the game. But could my legs be severed as well?


    I pulled my gaze away from my leg stumps and glared at Ray a seed of hate blossoming in my heart.


    ¡°You can stop giving me the evil eye you prick. I didn¡¯t cut your legs off. When I woke up back at that cave your legs were sliced clean off and Calvin and Bobby were long gone.¡±


    ¡°So instead you brought me to die here?¡±


    ¡°Your still breathing aren¡¯t you?¡± he muttered. ¡°Ungrateful bastard.¡±


    ¡°Yeah well, there is that. So what happened to you? Didn¡¯t get the kind of reward from Wolf you expected?¡± I sneered.


    Ray shook his head.


    ¡°You don¡¯t get it Nakamura, never did expect no reward. The reward from Wolf is to get to live and hopefully not have him fuck with your head for awhile. No one survives the mind fucking very long.¡±


    ¡°So why are you strung up here?¡±


    ¡°Happens to all the disposables he takes control of too often. Its not just a one way street, he controls the body but you can feel everything, including his emotions. Doesn¡¯t take long before Wolf thinks you¡¯ve seen to deep and he Zombies you. Bobby and Calvin hightailed it out of there. They saw too much too. I mean Wolf fucking cried in front of them man. Ain¡¯t no one surviving after seeing that.¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t he just control them to come back?¡±


    Yeah, if he can be fucked. There¡¯s a limit to how many people he can control, no one knows what that limit is besides Wolf. Wolf has two levels his User level and his nannite level which is unknown. If you are higher level than the nannite level he can¡¯t control you. Maybe they will try to level up as fast as possible to exceed the control limits. Guess they are hoping you¡¯ll be a big enough distraction for him not to care about them.¡±


    ¡°So why did you come back?¡±


    ¡°Man you really are retarded. Who the fuck would want to come back to this shithole? Wolf didn¡¯t take any chances after he got his shit together. He took over my body and compelled me to bring you back here. But because I saw him crying like a lil bitch now I¡¯m probably gonna be zombied. Which might not be so bad if it means I don¡¯t have to log into this shitty game any more.¡±


    I frowned, ¡°Zombied?¡±


    ¡°Basically he makes you into a pet type with the Nannites controlling you through preprograming. As long as I don¡¯t level my character will be on autopilot. Catch is if I do level, I return to my normal state.¡±


    I thought about what Wolf would do to me if he could control my character. Then I thought about how my 100% sync rate might transfer those experiences to the real world and a shudder danced up my spine.


    I pulled up my character sheet and reviewed my skills.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''4''>User Status</td></tr><tr><td>Name:</td><td>Braizo Nakamura</td><td>Race:</td><td>Earth Human</td></tr><tr><td>Level:</td><td>1</td><td>Class:</td><td>Titan</td></tr><tr><td>Cosmic Energy</td><td>50</td><td>Health</td><td>950</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Strength (unlocked) 80</td></tr><tr><td>Agile Strength</td><td>20</td><td>Explosive Strength</td><td>20</td></tr><tr><td>Maximum Strength</td><td>20</td><td>Relative Strength</td><td>20</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Speed (unclocked) 90</td></tr><tr><td>Reaction Time</td><td>30</td><td>Movement Time</td><td>30</td></tr><tr><td>Speed-Strength</td><td>30</td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Endurance (unclocked) 50</td></tr><tr><td>Aerobic Endurance</td><td>15</td><td>Anaerobic Endurance</td><td>10</td></tr><tr><td>Speed-Endurance</td><td>10</td><td>Strength-Endurance</td><td>15</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Flexibility (unlocked) 70</td></tr><tr><td>Static Flexibility</td><td>28</td><td>Dynamic Flexibility</td><td>40</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Locked Stats</td></tr><tr><td>Intelligence</td><td>60</td><td>Luck</td><td>81</td></tr><tr><td>Vitality</td><td>95</td><td>Perception</td><td>41</td></tr><tr><td>Reslience</td><td>98</td><td>Hand Strength</td><td>48</td></tr><tr><td>Breath</td><td>50</td><td>Electrical Resistence</td><td>75</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Skills</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''2''>What does not kill me makes me stronger (Passive)</td><td colspan=''2''>He who fights Monsters (Passive)</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''2''>*All damage and status debuffs that do not kill the user strengthen the user in various ways</td><td colspan=''2''>*stat increases from actions increased by 100%


    *likelyhood of stats increasing from actions increased by 100%


    *luck increased


    *Genetic Ceiling removed</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Cellular Regeneration</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>*Passive: constantly regenerates cells at an increased rate creating a healing factor


    *Active: consumes cosmic energy to rapidly regenerate cells damaged by massive trauma</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Unique Status</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>Marked for Death!


    </td></tr><tr><td colspan=''4''>*If any Wardens sense you they will stop at nothing to kill you


    *unable to utilise any form of alternative energy systems except cosmic energy


    *unable to use technopathy


    *100% sync rate with system. If you die in the Great Game you will most likely die in reality


    *only able to acquire skills related to the Titan Class


    * require three time the amount to gain levels</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Titans were the first gods proceeding Zeus¡¯s reign. They were chaotic, unruly and eventually imprisoned by Zeus. They represented disorder. Was that what I would bring to the Great Game? Chaos?


    That was fine. It didn¡¯t matter much to me if the whole Great Game collapsed. The longer I spent in this place the more dangerous it was.


    Cosmic energy, an energy system used by the great Titans of the past. My cellular regeneration skill drew down on the cosmic energy stored in my body. I suspected that this was the main feature of my class and I would unlock other skills that drew down on this stat as the power source. I pulled up the stat screen again to look at Cosmic energy in finer detail.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''3''>Cosmic Energy</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''3''>One of the original forces which gave birth to the universe. Cosmic Energy is a powerful and chaotic energy source used by Titans to power their skills and empower their physical form. Cosmic Energy regenerates slowly over time</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Looking down at the nubs of my legs I silently prayed as I activated the skill cellular regeneration. Instantly I felt a power flood through me strengthening every cell in my body. I felt stronger, my thoughts more clear and I could feel every part of my physical being right down to the molecular structure.


    Power quested through me, searching for damage. It clutched at knowledge from my brain as it searched, repairing what it could and fixing minor imperfections. It seemed the power was to some degree reliant on my knowledge of biology.


    Finally it quested into my legs and exploded in power as my legs regrew literally right before my eyes. Within minutes my legs had reformed and I felt my toes touch the ground and with a surge of strength I pulled forward and ripped my bound hands from their chains and hit the ground.


    The power retreated back into my cells and disappeared and I dropped to the floor covered in sweat, panting. I stood up shakily and looked at my new legs.


    I flexed my hands. I felt strong.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Cosmic Energy detected outside of core parameters</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Threat level updated¡­¡­.purge protocols enabled</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''3''>SYSTEM WIDE NOTICE: EARTH USER BASE</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''3''>The Greek Pantheon has emerged into the world. [USER: Braizo Nakamura CLASS: Titan] has drawn the ire of Zeus. Any User that kills Braizo Nakamura will receive a significant reward from Zeus. Any User who aids [USER: Braizo Nakamura CLASS: Titan] will bare the wrath of Zeus if caught</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Shock spread across my face as and I stared at Ray.


    ¡°Did you see that notification?¡± I asked, hoping desperately he hadn¡¯t.


    ¡°Yep. You¡¯re 100% fucked,¡± Ray confirmed.


    Shit. Shit. Shit, I thought. I had to get out of here.  But just as I went to move Ray suddenly ripped himself off the wall and surged forward with purple colored eyes.


    Wolf.


    He smashed me across the face with metal bindings on his hands. I tasted blood as I grabbed the inside of his arm and executed an Ashi-Waza foot sweep that dropped him to the floor. Knee riding him to hold him down I reached back to strike his face. He leaned in and pulled me down before the strike could land. We wrestled like this for a moment, faces inches apart, his face was staring murder into my face.  Blood dripped from my split lip into his mouth and he spat a snarl at me, spittle hitting me. Then he jerked like he had been struck by lightning.


    Strangely I could feel my blood that was separated from me coursing through Ray¡¯s body and attack something.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Status effect Nannite Control suppressed</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Ray¡¯s purple eyes faded and I saw his awareness return.  I rolled off him and stood up in a defense stance as Ray glanced about and moved his body in amazement.


    ¡°Your blood, it suppressed the nanites. I can still feel them in me, but they¡¯re inactive,¡± Ray said with a look of joy.


    ¡°I¡¯M FREE!!!!!¡± he roared.


    I circled away from him torn between trying to escape and finishing him off in case he tried to slow me down.


    BOOM!


    The door to the cell flew open and a huge guard with some kind of mutated horn on his head burst in and pointed a gun at me. Before I could move Ray exploded into action and shoulder slamming the guard into the wall. His skin changing color as he activated a skill.


    He spun the guard around and ripped the horn off his head before stabbing it through the man¡¯s face with such force it ripped half his head off.


    Two more guards rushed in. Ray threw the horn at one taking him in the throat before scooping the gun off the floor and smashing the third guard in the face, thrusting the gun under his chin and unloading the clip into his brain.


    Spinning into a roll a hail of bullets hit the wall where he had been standing as he barreled out into the hallway and I lost sight of him. I heard the sounds of bullets and screams as I picked up a vibro knife off one of the corpses in the room. I was about to step out into the hall when a body flew through the air and crunched into the wall at the end of the hall before sliding down dead.


    For a moment I had no idea what to do as I pricked my ears and could only hear a strange dull and wet sound coming from the hallway.


    Thwack


    Thwack


    Thwack


    Thwack


    Tentatively, I stuck my head out into the hallway and saw Ray standing in a pile of corpses. He was pistol-whipping a dead guard in the face over and over until his head become nothing more than a disgusting pile of mush.


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    ¡°Ray¡­.¡± I whispered almost afraid to interrupt him from punching his gun through the back of the guards skull.


    He looked up then with a fierce and savage glint in his eye.


    ¡°These motherfuckers don¡¯t know. None of them know. I¡¯m Ray Monaro for fucks sake!¡± he panted as pulled his meaty fist and gun out of the broken skull of the guard.


    Ray Monaro. I thought. Shit, even without any connection to the neural grid I had heard of him. The world¡¯s number one pvp player of Counter-Attack, the most played 1 v 1 first person shooter on the neural grid.


    ¡°I load into this game and nothing is like it should be. I¡¯m fucking infected with nannites at lvl 1. Those nannites fucked me up. Couldn¡¯t move properly like on the grid. Half as strong and half as fast as I should be, like a weak piece of shit.¡±


    He wiped the blood and brain matter off his gun as he picked up two more guns off the floor and inserted them into his belt.


    ¡°Got into fights with kung-fu guys so strong they one-shotted me and wizards that burned me to death with a single fireball. Sheiiit, within the first hour I logged in a fucking dinosaur ate me.¡±


    Cocking one of the larger guns he had picked up he suddenly aimed it down another corridor. He cranked the chamber and a small explosive device shot out from the underbarrel into the darkness. I heard the impact of an explosion and the screams of people dying horrifically.


    ¡°Your blood suppressed those nannites brah. As much as I want to put a bullet into your head for that sweet ass reward if the nannites reactivate I won¡¯t be able to suppress. Now let¡¯s get to the processing centre and get your sword and my weapons back because I am strapped, racked and ready to attack.¡±


    I could hear what sounded like a large number of people approaching down the hallway that Ray was facing and saw his eyes light up as he re-cocked his gun.


    ¡°OOH RAH MOTHER FUCKERS!¡± he screamed as he disappeared down the hall.


    I stood there in shock for a moment before I followed him, snatching a basic level pistol off the bloody floor as I sprinted around the corner, a gun in one hand and a vibro-knife in another. I saw Ray in a tight firefight as he ducked and weaved behind cover, popping up like a jackrabbit to fire short bursts into the enemy.


    They were so focused on Ray no one even noticed me as I ran out and snuck behind the guards.


    Quickly I ran amok knifing the nearest guard in the neck while unloading my clip into three others nearby.


    <table><tbody><tr><td>Your level has increased</td></tr></tbody></table>


    ¡°Behind us!¡± someone yelled.  And I ducked for cover as some of the group turned towards me only to quickly get mowed down by Ray. Caught in the crossfire we quickly wiped them out and I saw my level continue to rise. The guards all looked to be about level 30 so they were insane experience for a level 1.


    Unfortunately i didn''t seem to get any stat bonuses from leveling. Most likely this a side effect form my OP passive skills.


    Ray never stopped moving as he led me up a flight of stairs and down a hallway before bursting through into a locked room and killing two more people. I followed him into the room and saw weapons and equipment everywhere. Immediately Ray began changing into a new set of body armor and expertly attaching various weapons and guns to his gear.


    ¡°Listen up noob. This is the processing centre, your sword should be here. We got 30 second before we gotta bug out. So gear up and strap down then we rock and roll.¡±


    I saw Qi Xing Long Yuan in the corner of the room. As the only sword in a roomful of guns it wasn¡¯t difficult. As soon as my hand grasped its hilt I felt whole again. I found some body armor and worked out how to strap it, the vibro knife was thumbed off and went into a boot and I holstered a pistol at my hip.


    Ray walked over and pulled some straps down on my body armor and made sure it was secure before putting a thin metal cap on my head that naturally tightened to fit. It felt like bandana.


    ¡°This is a Soft Cap, fits to the body provides strong defense against headshots.¡± Ray said as he put one on his own head as well some kind of visor.


    ¡°Ok only one way we get out of this alive. We gotta evac 2 clicks north to the teleporter platform into an unexplored zone. Could end up anywhere on the planet.¡±


    ¡°Anywhere is better than here,¡± I said as I secured Qi Xing Long Yuan on my hip.


    Ray stared me for a moment and I stared right back.


    ¡°Aight Nakamura. I need you and you need me. We good?¡±


    ¡°We good,¡± I said.


    Right now I needed him. I didn¡¯t know the layout of District 6, I wasn¡¯t familiar with the tech based attacks and skills that Wolf Corp specialized in. And I was still low level, though my high stats more than compensated for it.


    Quite frankly, Ray without the inhibition and damage of the nannites was a god damn war machine.


    Plus, we were both clear in the fact that my blood suppressed the nannites, but had not removed them completely from his system. It was possible he would need my blood later. Which meant Ray had now become my pet tank without even realizing it. If I died he belonged to Wolf.


    We exploded out of the processing room and down the corridor and out into a courtyard only to find it flooding with guards.


    ¡°Red door.¡± Ray shouted as he unloaded his clip while walking backwards laying down cover fire. The guards ducked for cover but one in the front simply strode forward as Ray¡¯s bullets bounced off. It looked like some kind of giant cyborg.


    ¡°Shit. Sentinal.¡± Ray muttered as he continued firing.


    I lay down covering fire from my pistol as I raced towards the red door and ripped it open. I felt a bullet ping of my soft cap which sent my head reeling for a moment before I ran through the door only to find a steep staircase on the other side. I had lost 30% of my health from stray shots that made it through the gaps in my body armor. But otherwise I was in good shape and I could feel my body slowly healing the damage. For the first time I realized how much of a ridiculous difference equipment could make.


    Ray burst through behind me, pulled the pin out of three grenades and let them fall out of his hands as he began taking the steps 5 at a time.


    Mother fucker I thought as I ran for my life after him. Seconds later a massive explosion rocked the staircase and a ball of fire headed towards us. I ran with all my might and thanked god I made speed my main focus when grinding stats. I caught up with Ray and nudged him aside as I shot out of the doorway at the top.


    Ray followed behind but as soon as he appeared out of the door a huge ball of fire crashed into his back from the staircase, launching him into the air like a rag doll. He hit the ground, his body rolling a few times before coming to a stop as smoke continued to rise off his chest.


    For a moment I thought he was dead. But then he popped up, pulled out a grenade and tossed it into the stairs. Then he turned and began running at me.


    ¡°Get to the chopper!¡±


    I glanced over my shoulder and saw a mini chopper on the rooftop.


    Ray opened the hatch and jumped in. ¡°30 seconds to fire it up.¡± He yelled hoarsely as the blades began spinning.


    I turned to jump in when something hit me hard from behind and I slid across the ground to the edge of the room.


    The sentinal from earlier bore down on me and I heard riccoches as Ray shot at him one handed with his pistol from inside the chopper while his other hand punched into the boot up sequence of the chopper.


    Red light flashed. I rolled on instinct as a laser beam shot out of its eye and burned a hole where I had been a moment earlier. In one movement I sprung up and drew Qi Xing Long Yuan. The sentinel swung its arms down at me. Flesh enhanced with metal met the deadly edge of Qi Xing Long Yuan and a robotic arm flew through the air as it was severed.


    I saw the Cyborg gape at its severed arm as the chopper began to lift behind it. With a flick of my wrist I decapitated the sentinel and burst past it corpse before its knee even hit concrete.


    ¡°You better jump you little prick!¡± Ray laughed as he edged the chopper over the end of the roof.


    I sheathed Qi Xing Long Yuan as I ran and exploded off the edge with all my strength grabbing hold of the bottom part of the mini chopper as I fell.


    ¡°Haha, later motherfuckers!¡± Ray shouted as players stormed out of the staircase.


    A laser tore through the air as a sentinel appeared amongst the group. It hit the choppers tail sending it into a spin.


    ¡°Fuck!¡± Ray spat, as he tried to gain control.


    Veins popped out of my arms as gripped on for dear life. If I hadn¡¯t developed the Grip Strength stat I would have fallen to my death the moment the chopper spun.


    Alarm bells from the chopper¡¯s system sounded loudly.


    ¡°For fuck sake, fly straight!¡± I screamed.


    Ray straightened the chopped but the damage caused us to limp along through the air.


    Below I could see District 6 waking up in alert. Guards were emerging everywhere like I had kicked an enormous ants nest. Just below was the teleportation formation.


    ¡°Rocket!¡± Ray suddenly yelled.


    I didn¡¯t have time to turn and look. An explosion boomed from the back of the chopper and a wave of heat passed by my face and the chopper went into a full tail spin. Off in the distance I could see some people flying in the air towards us.


    ¡°Get ready to jump!¡± Ray yelled as the chopper descended rapidly. I waited until the last moment and let go, dropping down in the middle of a large series of formations.


    I saw Ray land a few hundred meters ahead, his armor was cracked and his visor split. One of his arms hung limp at his side.


    Sprinting I picked him up with one arm and dragged him along. He used his one good arm to pull out two grenades as he threw them in different directions.


    ¡°We¡¯re too close!¡± I yelled.


    ¡°Its cover noob. One¡¯s an EMP, the other a smoke grenade,¡± He grunted. ¡°The Red Formations are explored areas that have been connected up with spawn points. The blue ones are unexplored, pick one just don¡¯t let them see you.¡± Ray said.


    Dragging Ray along I randomly picked a blue teleport formation in the middle of a cluster.


    A massive light descended and wiped out the space around us before slowly fading away. I blinked but I couldn¡¯t see properly as I shielded my eyes with my hand.


    I found myself on my back looking up at the open sky. Slowly a figure appeared in my vision with a sword pressed against my throat. It looked like a Roman Centurian.


    ¡°Identify yourself or die.¡± The figure said.

 9. Welcome to the Legion

    Chapter 9 We are Legion


    The Roman stood in front of me, his sword pricking my throat. He was dressed much like one would expect of an ancient roman. An Imperial helmet sat upon his head, which featured a sloped neck guard with ribbing at the nape and projected ear guards with a brass trim.  His body armor was composed of broad ferrous strips fastened to internal leather straps.


    An enormous square shield that almost ran the length of his body was held in one hand while the other held the sword pressed against my neck.


    I eyed the blade that pressed into me. A Gladius, the weapon of choice of a foot soldier and the famous gladiators. Two-edged for cutting with a tapered point for stabbing during thrusting it was a highly versatile weapon with a blade length of around 18 ¨C 20 inches.


    I slowly raised my hand in the air as I lay on the ground.


    ¡°I am just a traveller, far from home,¡± I said. The Roman just grunted as he continued to stare me down.


    ¡°And the other one?¡± he asked. And I heard the sound of scuffling and a few meaty thuds outside of my field of vision.


    ¡°Futuo!¡± I heard a voice curse in pain.


    ¡°ahhh unfortunately, he is with me,¡± I said.


    I was hauled to my feet. They bound my hands behind my back and took my sword.  I looked over to see Ray¡¯s bleeding face, his fists were clenched and he was in a hunched lunging position.


    ¡°Stop picking a fight with Roman¡¯s you idiot,¡± I said. He was still hurt pretty bad from our escape.


    Ray grimaced and let them bind his hands behind his back and they marched us towards the wall of a giant city. Unlike the other teleporter this city was no ruin, but a fully functioning walled Roman fortress.


    I looked back over my shoulder to see where the teleporter array lay.  There was a wall that looked recently built that surrounded it. Three towers stood outside the walls with archers stationed in them and the walls themselves had small round holes in them from which large spears were inserted.


    I imagined a hostile person arriving for a moment. They would be turned into a pin-cushion by the archers first. And if that proved ineffective the enormous spears could be thrust through the walls to impale them.


    ¡°Have others arrived through the portal before?¡± I asked Roman who had questioned me originally. He seemed to be in charge. He looked at me indifferently before replying.


    ¡°Some of your kind has come before. Not many. Those that defied the Roman Empire all received the same fate.¡±


    ¡°My kind?¡± I questioned.


    ¡°Sleepwalkers.¡± He replied simply. ¡°Or Users as you refer to yourselves.¡±


    ¡°You are not Users?¡± I asked shocked.


    ¡°You¡¯re such a fucking noob Nakamura. They¡¯re NPCs.¡± Ray sneered. The Roman did not look happy at Ray¡¯s comment but remained silent.


    We marched under a blistering heat for some hours before finally arriving at the foot of the enormous walls. Inside was an entire roman city bustling with life. I could hear the sound of blacksmiths at work and smell fresh food being cooked. Everyone looked as if they were part of the Roman Legions, armed to the teeth and moving in carefully ordered groups.


    We wove through the city before ascending a large citadel. Eventually we were brought into a room that had an incredible view of the surrounding lands. A lightly bearded man sat at the end of the room, looking at a dozen maps that were sprawled before him. Behind him stood an enormous creature with the head of a bull and the body of man that I could only identify as a Minotaur. Clad in full roman armor with a massive axe in his hands and razor sharp thorns protruding from his head, it was the most menacing thing I had ever seen. 7ft tall and built with sheer muscle, its arms were like tree trunks.


    ¡°Sir, I have brought two Sleepwalkers who arrived,¡± the Roman said as he saluted. He brought my sword over to the man and laid it on the table.


    The man looking at the maps looked up and took us in with a glance. His eyes were deep and piercing, like they could slice open my flesh and stare straight at my soul.


    ¡°Yes, yes, well unbind them, Septus and ask the boy to bring some wine. We should welcome our guests. And give the boy his sword back,¡± He said throwing my sword to Septus.


    ¡°But sir, what if they cause trouble ¨C remember the last one?¡± Septus said. But the man simply laughed.


    ¡°I am sure you remember what happened to the last one Septus.¡± The man grinned and the Minotaur behind him made a sound that I could only assume was laughter but sounded like a roaring lion eating something.


    ¡°Yes sir. Apologies sir,¡± Septus said as his men removed our bindings and passed my sword back to me then withdrew.


    I sat down at the table with Ray on my right and wine was quickly brought in and placed before me. I considered if it could be poison then discarded the thought. If they wanted me dead it would be easy enough.


    I raised the wine to my lips and sipped it casually. It was delicious, a truly profound vintage.


    ¡°SPLAAAHHHHH¡± Ray suddenly burst out next to me spitting all the wine out of his mouth and onto the floor.


    ¡°Damn that tastes like shit. Did you assholes piss in this cup?.¡± Ray asked much to my horror.


    Then I remembered he was 12. It was probably the first alcohol he had ever tasted. Not that I had drunk much either, but Uncle had been fond of wine and introduced me to its pleasures.


    ¡°HAHAHAHAHA,¡± the man roared with laughter. ¡°Son your manners will make you fit in very well with the Legion. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Belisarius, my class is Emperor-General. I command all that you see here. Further to the north and to the east I am also in control of other cities and every day our influence and reach widens. But this is where we began, here in what we call New Rome.¡±


    ¡°You are an NPC?¡± I asked and saw him frown.


    ¡°We don¡¯t particularly like the term NPC, it does not accurately fit what we are.  Put simply we are the Native life-forms of the Great Game for this particular planet. When the Warden came its great machine generated this planet and the space surrounding it from the collective conscious and unconscious minds of all human beings on Earth. All the thoughts, dreams, cultural and intellectual history of Earth gave birth to the warp and weft of this world. Something unique. As part of that process many life-forms were created that are Native to this pocket of the Great Game, beings like myself ¨C in history I was one of the greatest Roman generals to ever live. Now I  have gained life once again, birthed by the strength of the human imagination. I am somewhat more and somewhat less than I was in real life. We were the first here, in this world. Users or Sleepwalkers were the second.¡±


    ¡°Are you saying your not controlled by the Great Game?¡± I said.


    ¡°Exactly. We are like you, only we do not log out of the game like you Sleepwalkers. I have no body, no existence outside of the Great Game. But in here I have a mind, I have a body. I think therefore I am.¡±


    ¡°Yah but your still a program, your still doing the Great Games bidding you just don¡¯t realise it.¡± Ray said trying to wrap his mind around it. I thought Belisarius would be offended but he just gave a wry smile.


    ¡°What is real and unreal in this world? Perhaps the words of your immortal poet Shakespeare said it best.¡± He gazed slightly off in the distance as if pondering his words. ¡°I am a Native. Hath not a Native eyes? Hath not a Native hands, organs,


    dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a User is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Native wrong a User, what is his humility? Revenge. If a User wrong a Native, what should his sufferance be by User example? Why, revenge. The villainy you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.¡± Belisarius words echoed passionately through the chamber.


    ¡°Is that what the User¡¯s who came before us taught you, Vengeance and villainy?¡± I asked softly.


    ¡°ho ho ho,¡± Belisarius laughed. ¡°I¡¯m a Roman. Vengeance was my mother who spat me out into the world cold and alone.¡±


    ¡°So what happens when you die then Belisarius.¡± I said.


    ¡°This is where we differ. While Users feel the pain of death they are forced to simply log out for 24 hours. Forcibly ejected from the Great Game as it were. For Natives such as myself our souls disperse into the underlying energy of the Great Game. It seeks to absorb us back into itself. The only way to respawn is through sheer will, to claw and bite and do anything you can do hold your soul together.


    If you survive 24 hours like this you respawn back into the world. If you fail then you are gone forever. Some can¡¯t face that battle more than once and others seek the embrace of oblivion. The only Native¡¯s that you will see in this world as time goes by and the flame of war burns us, all will be left is the vicious and the strong.¡±


    A cold shiver ripped through me as I considered it. Feeling your very self dissolve into nothingness while you clung on by sheer will.


    ¡°This is why we will always value life more than you Sleepwalkers. In your minds this is but a dream, a scarily real one, but a dream nonetheless.¡± He said.


    Except for me, where my reality of the game was even more dire then a NPC¡¯s. If I died, it was more than likely I really died. And no amount of willpower would bring me back.


    ¡°But come!¡± Belisarius said, clapping his hands together loudly and smiling. ¡°Let us not dwell on these dark matters¡­..Braizo Nakamura.¡±


    As soon as he said my name one thought thundered through my mind: He knows who I am, therefore he knows about the bounty.


    I exploded out of my seat, drawing Qi Xing Long Yuan and thrusting the blade directly at Belisarius¡¯s throat. My move was perfect, my speed exceptional, my technique without flaw. Just as the blade was about to penetrate his skin my sword as knocked away in explosion of force and shot out of my hand and embedded itself into a wall in the far corner of the room. My eyes followed the blade as it flew and I noticed Ray knocked unconscious on the ground bleeding again.


    Despite myself, I couldn¡¯t help but stand their motionless for a moment in shock. The Minotaur, that enormous being had somehow moved from the back of the room, knocked out Ray and deflected my sword blow in the space of a split second.


    What¡¯s more he had blocked Qi Xing Long Yuan with nothing more than his arm!


    I waited to die, but nothing happened. The Minotaur just stood their gazing at me passively. That¡¯s when I realized Belisarius had not so much as moved a muscle the entire time. He still had a bemused look on his face.


    ¡°Come now Mr Nakamura, please sit. There is no need for these unpleasantries.¡± Slowly I sat down back into my seat feeling completely foolish. I had played my hand thinking they were already going to kill me and instead I had been handled like a child.


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    ¡°Let¡¯s put our cards on the table. I am well aware of the bounty on your head by Zeus. Though the Roman God Jupiter was based on the Greek God Zeus the Roman Legions no longer worship him. In this world even the gods themselves are just powerful Natives, as they draw breath so can their breath be stilled. In a past time we bowed before them, but this is not the past and we bend knee to no one.¡±


    I relaxed slightly as I realized I might just survive this.


    ¡°My humble apologies. My actions were rash,¡± I said, and meant it.


    ¡°Tis nothing,¡± Belisarius said with a wave of his hand. ¡°Even without my friend here you lack the capability to cause me any harm. I was never in danger. Even if your friend had his gun it could not harm me.¡±


    ¡°And why is that?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Your level is simply too low. Perhaps you have not encountered this disparity yet. There is not a single soldier in my army under level 100. If you are a physical based class your body becomes incredibly hardy over time. Simple bullets cannot even penetrate your skin. It takes specialized gun classes with their added bonuses and special skills to bring one of us down. In this respect this world and your world are different. There are many paths to power here and technomancy is only one.


    Consider it like this. In ancient human days there was always a race between defense and offense. New more powerful armor would be invented that would dominate until the technology of weapons improved to counter them. An endless cycle. In this world it is much the same though more complex. Technopathy, mana, Qi there are too many variables to predict. An armor strong against technomancy might be weak against magic or a Qi infused crushing blow.¡±


    ¡°What the fuuuuuuuuck.¡± I heard a groan to my right as Ray regained consciousness.


    ¡°Ahh perfect timing.¡± Belisarius quipped as Ray shakily climbed back into his chair.


    ¡°I was about to make an offer. Before things got a little out of hand. I would like you both to consider joining my Empire.¡±


    ¡°How would that work.¡± I asked intrigued. I was basically a pariah to be killed on site anywhere else and was in desperate need of allies.


    ¡°You swear an Oath to join the Roman Empire and become a part of it. If you betray that Oath you are hunted down and mercilessly killed. It is all really rather simple. The Roman Empire originally grew strong by not being insular. We absorbed soldiers form the populations we conquered.


    Already in the armies I command there are Natives from several different species and populations all working together. Humans, Werewolves, monsters, Sages, Craftsmen, though they hark from different origins under the eyes of the Empire they are all Roman. Our philosophy has always been thus, take what works and make it better, discard what is useless.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m done being a slave.¡± Ray spat. ¡°I won¡¯t take orders so you may as well just kill me.¡±


    I admired his words, but I could not afford them. If I died I was truly dead, perhaps I could swear an Oath and later forge my own path.


    As if he could read our thoughts Belisarius saw right through both of us.


    ¡°Let me ask a different question. I do not want forced loyalty that is easily broken. Such commitments are useless to me. I want allies. There is a war coming, a great conflict few of us will survive. We have 100 years at most before this world is no longer protected and the hordes of sentient beings that are far more familiar with the Great Game will descend upon us to claim this territory as their own.


    And thus the purpose of the Roman Empire is simple. We will conquer every inch of this planet over the course of the next 100 years and place it in our complete control. Then when the 100 years is up we will be ready. First we take this planet, next the universe.¡±


    ¡°You sure aim high.¡± I said. I wasn¡¯t sure how realistic his plan was. I am sure Wolf had the same plan as did many others.


    ¡°I have said my purpose. What is yours? My purpose is clear and my mission defined. I know what I am and what needs to be done. The two of you, what is your purpose?¡±


    ¡°Simple,¡± Ray said. ¡°I want to be the best. To fight the best and the world to know that I am the best.¡±


    ¡°And you Nakamura?¡±


    I pondered. The answer was difficult. I had no purpose except to survive. Nothing deeper drove me besides the will to live.


    ¡°I feel no driven purpose except to be free,¡± I said. ¡°To be free to make my own path. To comprehend what my path is. But freedom requires strength or you become a slave to another¡¯s will. And so I seek to cultivate strength, strength to kill a man¡­.or an empire. To be invicible under the heavens, nay to be mightier than the heavens themselves and to make them submit to my will. For me my purpose is thus. To crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and to listen to the lamentation of their women.¡±


    ¡°hah!¡± Belisarius said. ¡°A noble cause indeed. Both of you can find what you seek under the wing of the Empire. I promise you this, join us for 10 years then after that time if you should wish to leave you may, but in the interim you will fight with us. Be one of us. You will be the first User¡¯s to join our Empire.¡±


    It didn¡¯t take much thinking on my part. They could kill us anytime they wanted to. I had no safe haven anywhere else as everyone would kill me on sight. I was also intrigued by Belisarius and what he could potentially achieved. If the Users had cast me out and sought to hunt me down then I would join with the Natives and help them kill them all.


    ¡°I will join.¡± I said solemnly.


    ¡°Ahh fuck it count me in too.¡± Ray said, ¡°that invincible under heaven bullshit sounds good.¡±


    ¡°Consider it done!¡± Belisarius declared and I felt something descend on me, a bind of some sort between me and Belisarius.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''5''>Bond of Brothers</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''5''>You have been conscripted into the Roman Legion. This conscription lasts 10 years. The Legion is obliged to protect you from enemies and you are obliged to offer your loyalty. Should you betray the Legion then your stats will suffers an 80% penalty and your level a 50% penalty until the time left on the conscription is fulfilled</td></tr></tbody></table>


    ¡°My class is Emporer-General, now that you have agreed to be part of my Empire for 10 years a bond has been forged between us. This bond cannot be severed until the time is up.¡±


    I was not happy about the bond but it wasn¡¯t all bad. I could live with it.


    ¡°So what would you have us do?¡± I said.


    ¡°Currently you are too weak to do anything. You are a like flea on the backside of an elephant. You must raise your level and fighting capability. There is no point having either of you join a standard Legion unit because that style of fighting requires disciplined coordination within a unit line. Both of your fighting styles need to be free and improvised, so its best you join a unit of Irregulars.  But before that you need some training. All our Irregular¡¯s must graduate the Gladatorial school. Survive that training and then we can talk again.¡±


    I nodded in excitement. There was nothing I loved more than training.


    ¡°You should continue to guard the teleporter array. Others will come for me Belisarius.¡± I said.


    ¡°Ho Ho. This I know, you are a rather troublesome person.¡± He replied. ¡°Come it is getting late I am sure you wish to log out soon. My aide will see you to some room which you can use for tonight and tomorrow we will get you settled. Welcome to the Empire my friends.¡± Belisarius finished with a smile.


    An aide came and led Ray and I to a simple but functional room and I trigged the log out function. I had survived and perhaps found an ally, at least for a time at least. I did not trust Belisarius, he was too intelligent for his own good and I could not fathom his intent.


    Only time would tell. Either way my path remained as always, I needed strength and I needed it quickly.


    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Belisarius


    I watched Ray and Nakamura leave with a thoughtful look on my face. Moving back to my maps I dismissed my old friend for the evening and watched as the Minotaur lumbered out the door.


    A shadow that had gone unnoticed detached from the wall and walked over to the table and poured some wine. Humanoid in appearance but with faint film of shadow sticking to his outline it was impossible to see any facial features.


    He strolled over and looked at the maps and cast his hand across them. New shapes appeared on them with different colors signifying different armies.


    ¡°Wolf will be consolidating the western area. I anticipate in 2 years he will control the entire western third of the planet if his progress continues. You must not fall behind the schedule.¡± The shadow said.


    ¡°No Warden.¡± I replied.


    ¡°What do you think of the Marine?


    ¡°Hmmmm, he is narrowly focused, but likely to be a superior combatant in small group fighting. Once he is developed properly I would say he could develop strength at Alpha level. I have some ideas for his path.¡±


    ¡°And Nakamura?¡±


    ¡°A strong blade is useless without a strong hand to wield it. I do not question his will, which is considerable, nor his potential ¨C which is the highest I have seen. He is fueled by a wish to become strong, but that strength he desires currently has no real purpose beyond survival. Until he finds a deeper purpose he will never reach his full potential.¡±


    ¡°After his training have him and the Marine join the siege of the current dungeon. For his final tempering send him to the old man.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure he is ready? Gladiator training and the dungeon are one thing¡­.but the other? None have survived.¡±


    ¡°It is precisely because he is not ready that he must go.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t he needed for our long term plans, if he is dead then of what use is he?¡±


    ¡°No, there are others. Nakamura has seen into the abyss. Perhaps even dived within it. But he is not the only candidate that has the potential to do so. For now, we must keep him hidden from the other wardens. As for his path, he has but two options. Death or power.¡±


    ¡°And so say we all.¡± I said softly. And with that the shadow faded and disappeared.


    I sighed as I sat back in my chair.


    You had better keep your promise Warden. I thought as I reclined. Or I will salt the earth with your ashes and burn this world to the ground.

 10 Getting Owned

    Chapter 10 Getting Owned


    Strike¡­ Block¡­Strike


    I had forgotten what was the real world and what was the Great Game.


    Strike¡­ Block¡­Strike


    I had forgotten about Wolf and the bounty of Zeus.


    I had even forgotten about fear, that blessed maiden that had been an ever-constant presence casting her shadow upon me.


    Strike¡­ Block¡­Strike


    All that existed was the wooden sword in my left hand that was four times the weight of a normal Gladius. On my right was round buckler woven with willows, twice as heavy those used in real service.


    Strike¡­ Block¡­Strike


    Then the rhythm changed and we went from drilling forms into a mock battle.


    Clang!


    His blade struck upon my shield as I slid backwards in the sand. I flicked my head slightly to push the sweat dripping down my head away from my eyes as the sun cast a merciless and scorching heat upon me.


    I faked an overhead swing and then thrust forward. My opponent sidestepped my thrust and backhanded me with his shield but I ducked and was nearly skewered as his blade which had been hidden behind his shield snaked towards my eye.


    I continued going with my momentum and threw myself to the left and hit the ground rolling up instantly in a defensive posture. Sword and shield fighting was very different to the tai chi sword style I excelled in. The use of a small buckler shield changed the dynamics considerably and opened an enormous range of attacks and counter attacks.


    I rushed forward again trying something new. I held the point of the blade low rather than in behind my posture and shield. As I neared I skittered to the right and flicked up a handful of sand off the ground with the tip of my blade. My opponent moved his shield slightly to protect his eyes and I faked a stab at the shield. Again the shield slightly shifted to counter my blow and I flexed my wrist and altered the path of the blade.


    It was a technique that would have probably put my wrist out of commission for months if I had tried it when I first arrived in the great game. It required amazing wrist strength and flexibility. The effect was a strike that was unpredictable and looked like a snake as it changed targets halfway through a strike.


    Rather than getting flustered my opponent did something unbelievable. He lowered his shield even further and simply moved forward into the swords path. As he moved forward his body shifted position slightly and the strike carried past his head.


    Shit!


    As he moved in so close I tried to curve my blow to slice the back of his neck and shoulders but he smashed the underside of my elbow with his hilt as his other arm brought his shield up and forward at full power to smash me in the chin and face.


    I flew through the air for a moment before my body crunched hard into the ground.


    ¡°Futuo!¡± I cursed under my breath. I had gotten used to the Roman swear words by now and this was one of my favorites.


    I spat blood and slowly dragged myself up and dunked my head into a large bucked of ice cold water.


    ¡°I will beat you one day Crixus!¡± I declared as wiped blood off my face.


    ¡°Oh does everyone hear this? The child thinks he can slay his father!¡± Crixus said and the other Gladiators began to laugh.


    ¡°Fuck your mother!¡± I spat and Crixus stepped in and grabbed me in a wrestling headlock. I struggled to sweep him but his strength was so far above mine it was like an ant trying to move a mountain. He lifted me up and slammed me into the water barrel before forcing my head into the water.


    I struggled to get out as he held me their. Fortunately my breath had been leveled up to such an extent that I could hold my breath for almost an hour underwater if I needed to.


    With a yank he pulled half my head out of the water.


    ¡°Look how dirty my son is, he forgets to take his bath!¡± Crixus laughed. As he plunged my head in a few more times then finally he ripped me out and I staggered and fell on one knee only to have a wooden sword slam painfully into my backside and send me sprawling.


    ¡°Argghhhh.¡± I protested and went for his throat but he just laughed and shrugged me off, throwing me to the side.


    ¡°I your father have punished you for your insolence!¡± Crixus said as he roared with laughter. I lay on the ground panting as all the Gladiators exploded with laughter and began to throw taunts of their own.


    ¡°Crixus your son¡¯s cock is so small, what woman will want him!¡± one yelled.


    ¡°Indeed, it is true no woman wants him,¡± Crixus said and then paused for effect as he looked at the surrounding men, ¡°That¡¯s why we bought him the goat!¡±


    The whole area erupted in laughter as I lay their panting. Madmen, they were all fucking madmen.


    Crixus walked over still smiling and offered me his hand as he pulled me up from the ground. I stood completely demoralized as I always was after fighting him.


    ¡°Go relieve that fat bastard from his task and bring him here. You are both level 99 now, it is time for your final initiation. Bring the fat man here and we will begin the final stage of your training.¡±


    I simply nodded and limped out of the arena as I headed towards the outer wall. It has been 9 months since Ray and I had joined the Gladiator school for ¡®basic¡¯ training. In that 9 months I had been beaten to within an inch of my life virtually every day. Bones broken, my teeth kicked out and I had even had my right hand completely sliced off my body by accident one day. Another time I would have easily lost a leg but my bone stopped a blade from penetrating any further thanks to the increasing toughness of my physical body. If it wasn¡¯t for my regenerative ability I would have been crippled several times over.


    I thought I had understood training and what the limits of the human body were but I had re-evaluated what was possible after training with Romans. Every day training was like torture, drill work, sparring, weight lifting, gymnastics, wrestling, striking. They trained with every weapon imaginable, not just the gladius but sabres, spears, long swords and shorts swords.


    I had never once gotten close to defeating Crixsus, but I could go toe to toe with many of the other Gladiators. Their physical abilities were completely broken and their lowest level Gladiator was level 150, with the rest ranging from level 200 ¨C 300. Crixus himself was level 400. I believed my Tai Chi Sword play would rival Crixus with a Gladius and Shield in terms of skill, but I had been banned from using it. Crixus had seen it once and called it a woman¡¯s style and said if I used it again he would cut off the arm that held the sword.


    I believed him.


    It was a good enough excuse to force myself to master other styles in any case. And although I had not used my Tai Chi sword style at all in the last 9 months, I felt my understanding of it had grown by leaps and bounds. There were countless ways the tips and tricks I had learned from other sword styles could be applied to Tai Chi sword.


    My level and my stats had risen exponentially over the last 9 months. My resilience was so high now I didn¡¯t even fear gun-shots unless it was a gun based skill user. My skin was like a thick armor and my body felt like a superman after being relentlessly pounded on every day.


    The worst moment was when Crixus had discovered my class skills and that my stats went up like crazy whenever I was injured but did not die. Crixus¡¯s training methodology had made me carefully review the Bond of Brothers that had formed when we had joined. Unfortunately after the fourth time I nearly died at the hands of Crixus¡¯s training I realized there was nothing in the bond that preventing them killing me accidently through harsh training.


    One training session he had simply tied me to a pole and beat me for seven days straight in order to raise my resilience. He had starved me, burned me, buried me in ice and electrocuted me. He even flayed the skin of my back a few times to see if it would raise my stats but was disappointed when it only improved my resilience marginally.


    As much as I hated his methods I had to admit they yielded results.


    At level 99 I could hold my own against any Gladiator under level 200. A new stat had also been created ¨C Power Level. Crixus had explained that a person¡¯s power level was an unknown mysterious calculation that took into account your overall potential and generated a number. That was why at lvl 99 I have a power level rating of 200 due to my high combat potential.


    The same was true of Crixus, Gladiator¡¯s drew down on an energy system called ¡®Glory¡¯. Crixus Glory resource was so deep that at level 400 he could go toe to toe with people at level 500.


    After my initial meeting with Belisarius I had also realized how important class specialization was. As a close combat fighter type training in long-range weapons was useless and would only be effective against low leveled enemies. The fastest route to power was to diligently raise your abilities related to your class. For me that was my physical stats, my cosmic energy and my cellular regeneration skill.


    The sheer amount of physical damage I endured every day in training had forced me to almost constantly draw down on cellular regeneration. Crixus seemed to enjoy sparring with me until he could sense my cosmic energy reserves had been tapped out and he knew I would begin to slow down as my self-healing capability dropped drastically.


    This training however had improved my cosmic energy stat and also my level of control over it. When I had first utilized Cellular regeneration the power had rushed out and drained in an instant. Now I was getting more and more adept at drip-feeding the power into my body for small healing boosts and being more targeted in directing the energy to where it needed to go to fuel larger healing requirements.


    I often felt as if I was on the verge of understanding something in regards to my cosmic energy, but the feeling constantly eluded me leaving me frustrated.


    I finally made my way to the outer wall and found Ray doing his regular duty of moving large boulders from one area to another to support the outer wall. While my training had focused on combative arts almost 24 hours a day, Ray¡¯s training consisted of simply moving large things and then getting destroyed sparring with Crixus at the end of each day.


    ¡°Well if it isn¡¯t the favored son.¡± Ray sneered as I approached. He was standing at rest with one foot on a large boulder. Despite having the mind of a 12 year old he had always had a big body which had earned him the nick name ¡®fatty¡¯ by the other gladiators.


    But there was nothing fat about him. He had gotten even more enormous and his muscles had thickened considerably. 9 months of heavy lifting had transformed his body into a hardened fortress and his daily sparring with Crixus had honed his hand to hand fighting capability to new heights.


    When we had fought before back in the caves when I was in hiding I had easily manipulating his strength with some basic grappling techniques. Even when I had suppressed the nannites and his physical capabilities improved again, I felt confident that in hand to hand fighting I still had the edge on him, though if guns were included he became far more dangerous.


    Now though, it was a different story. His training with Crixus had focused on the two-handed sword and an enormous two handed hammer, unarmed fighting and wrestling.


    Could I beat him now?


    ¡°Its graduation time.¡± I said simply with a smile and saw a huge grin spread across his face.


    ¡°FINALLY!¡± he boomed and bent down and lifted an enormous boulder before shot putting it off his arm and into the distance.


    ¡°If I have to move one more fucking rock I swear I will kill myself.¡± He said with a painful expression.


    ¡°Yeah well I would have taken rocks over the shit I went through.¡± I said equally grim.


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    ¡°Fucking Romans.¡± Ray spat. Then we looked at each other and laughed. We had thought each other crazy. But no one was Roman crazy.


    ¡°Do you need more blood?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yeah best to take some now.¡± Ray replied.


    I cut open an arm and dripped blood into his water container. The small wound tried to heal instantly but I drew down ever so slightly on my cosmic energy and prevented my body from healing so that the blood would flow.


    We had worked out that the blood suppression lasted around a month before Ray became vulnerable to possession again. Just in case I had been feeding him my blood three or four times a week for the last 9 months.


    It was a strange feeling, the more blood of mine he ingested the more I could sense his presence. It was like I could feel my own blood calling to me even though it was outside my body and circulating through Ray.


    Ray took a big swig of the blood water and drained it dry.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''3''>Nannite status permenently suppressed by blood of a Titan</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''3''>The cosmic energy within a Titan''s blood has purged the nannite''s from User ''Ray Monaro''</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''3''>Due to the constant ingestion of Titan Blood and its deep interaction on a cellular level in eradicating hostile lifeforms a special bond has been created</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''3''>User Ray Monaro has now become your Pet!</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''3''>You have obtained a Pet!</td></tr><tr><td>Pet Name</td><td colspan=''2''>Ray Monaro</td></tr><tr><td>Class</td><td colspan=''2''>Marine</td></tr><tr><td>Level</td><td colspan=''2''>99</td></tr></tbody></table>


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''3''>You have learned a new skill - Summon Pet</td></tr></tbody></table>


    I looked up at Ray as the blue boxes cascaded in front me. His face started to turn red, then purple before finally it almost looked as if his face was turning black. The veins on his head were almost bulging out of his skin.


    ¡°I¡¯LL KILL YOU!¡± he screamed in a strangely high pitched voice as he charged at me and bowled me over onto the ground and started to strangle me.


    ¡°R¡­aaayyy.¡± I squeezed out as he choked me. He didn¡¯t realize I needed hardly any oxygen to breath compared to a normal person, so his choking wasn¡¯t really doing anything.


    ¡°Raa¡­..aaay. Liiiisten. We¡­cannnn¡­..ffiiiixxx¡­..thiiiisss.¡± I forced out.


    But Ray¡¯s eyes only bulged further. Fuck. The man had totally lost his shit. Clearly whatever this pet status was it did not allow me to actually control him in any meaningful way. I hadn¡¯t been too worried about him choking before but now I realized that from the extreme pressure his hands were transmitting he wasn¡¯t trying to choke me. He was trying to rip my head off my body.


    I twisted in his arms and knocked his group loose and then rolled back and up onto my feet.


    He stood their panting in rage, but somehow also helpless.


    ¡°Ray. Think about it. This is not like the nannites. I can¡¯t control you at all, in fact you got some bonuses!  You are not a slave, you¡¯re more like a ¡­..¡± I stopped speaking abruptly.


    ¡°A Dog? That¡¯s what you were going to say right? A fucking dog!¡± He spat.


    ¡°Alright, alright, I was going to say a dog, but shit man look at it like this, now the nannites are gone so you don¡¯t have drink my blood anymore. You are truly free from Wolf and its likely whatever this pet bond is you can¡¯t ever get re-infected. So on the whole you have come out ahead.¡±


    I could see him thinking about it, but it didn¡¯t seem to lesson his anger.


    ¡°I¡¯m not happy about this Nakamura. But there is fuck all I can do it about it at the moment isn¡¯t there?¡± He said and brushed past me and headed towards the main camp.


    I tried not to grin as he walked ahead of me. He would make an awesome pet. I wonder what other options might unlock as I leveled his pet status up.


    We strolled up back to the main camp and stood in front of the arena gates where Crixus waited for us.


    ¡°Alright little ones it is time for your final battle in the arena. I should warn you, we haven¡¯t fucked around with this last test.¡± He said as the gates opened and he shepherded us in.


    In between drilling and training we had been forced to fight against random monsters collected by the Gladiators. These battles were what had allowed us to level up so quickly. None of them had been easy, but we had beaten them all so far.


    Crixus closed the door behind us before vaulting into the raised seating that filled with the rest of the gladiators who had come to watch.


    ¡°I should warn you little pricks. We decided we have been going too easy on you. There hasn¡¯t been a single Gladiator in our ranks who hasn¡¯t died at least once during training. Neither of you have died yet so let¡¯s just say this last test will be a little above your level.¡± Crixus said with a grin.


    ¡°LET THE GAMES BEGIN!¡± Crixus roared. The surrounding gladiators in the stands began to bang on their shields.


    Without waiting I sprinted towards the back end of the arena where the weapons were usually located. Ray tried to keep pace with me but I left him in the dust as I slid into the weapons rack, only to find it empty.


    Behind me I heard the sound of the other entrance being opened and I knew whatever we were going to fight had just entered.


    ¡°No weapons!¡± I yelled to Ray.


    ¡°Futuo!¡± I heard him curse as I spun around. Only to look up and up and up.


    At the entrance running towards was an enormous Cyclops. I squinted trying to inspect its level, a trick that Ray had taught me. It seemed to be around level 150. As it ran it projected a stifling aura that ripped through me.


    I tried to sense its power level which was much harder than just determining its level. I let its aura drift into me as I quested with my senses and numbers cascaded through my head getting high and higher until it stopped at 230.


    Ray sprinted directly at the Cyclops and launched a fly kick with his whole body behind it. He hit the Cyclops with his full force, but simply bounced off. He lay their stunned for a moment until the Cyclops back handed him and he flew through the air to the other side of the arena like a soccer ball kicked into the distance.


    ¡°My legs, ohh fuck my legs!¡± I heard Ray screaming in the distance. I could vaguely see his leg bent at an odd angle with a broken bone sticking out of his leg and pointing up towards the sky.


    Holy fuck.


    The one huge eye on the Cyclops turned in my direction as it thundered over. I sprinted towards it like Ray had before but just before I got in range


    I changed my angle and side stepped.


    BOOM!


    The ground shook as it blew past me and sunk its enormous fist into the ground making it tremble.


    I hit the Cyclops fourteen times in under three seconds, punches and kicks that simply bounced off its super thick skin.


    It swung an enormous backhand towards me as I danced around it. It was big and fast but its turning speed was poor. Ducking between its legs, I slid though and climbed onto its back but it jumped in the air and threw itself on its back trying to crush me.


    Panicking I threw myself off and rolled up off the ground.


    Too slow.


    A kick was coming for me that I couldn¡¯t dodge. I drew down on cosmic energy and desperately tried to angle myself out the way but was only partially successful as I copped a glancing blow that sent me careening through the air and across the ground.


    I swallowed a scream as the pain ripped through me. That one hit that barely connected had broken half the bones on the right side of my body.


    I activated Cellular regeneration under my own strict control so that my power wouldn¡¯t flood and directed it into the damaged areas and felt them knit back together.


    Unless I did something drastic I would die soon.


    As the Cyclops closed in again I leapt through the air dodging its strike and threw a blow directly at its eye.


    Ding!


    My fist simply bounced off and the Cyclops head butted me in mid air as I slammed into the ground causing a small crater to form underneath me from the impact.


    Even its eye was so strong that my blow couldn¡¯t penetrate it. I staggered up as Cellular Regeneration surged drawing down on my cosmic energy at an alarming rate.


    A hammer like fist descended as I tried to edge backwards.  You are going to die the terrified part of me whispered in mind.


    ¡°Summon Pet!¡± I screamed as the fist descended.


    Out of nowhere Ray appeared right in front of me with a confused look on his face half standing on his mangled leg.


    ¡°Whaa¡­¡± was all he had time to say before a fist exploded through his flesh. At the same time I made one last desperate gamble. I instantly drew down on every last bit of cosmic energy I had channeled it through my entire body in one massive surge.


    I screamed as I felt my entire body ripped apart under the onslaught of energy too powerful for my body to contain as it broke down.


    I stepped onto the fist of the Cyclops and again flung myself towards it eye, this time extending my fist into a knife hand.


    My first burst through the Cyclops eye directly into its brain and I grabbed a huge chunk of its brain matter with my hand as I ripped it out.


    The Cyclops screamed and then fell to the ground jerking spasmodically.


    <table><tbody><tr><td colspan=''3''>You have created a new skill - Explosion</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''3''>Burn all of your cosmic energy in your cells in an instant, increasing your physical capabilities by 200%, but causes an equal amount of strain on your body once skill duration expires</td></tr><tr><td colspan=''3''>Skill duration:  3 seconds</td></tr></tbody></table>


    Just as the blue box appeared the backlash hit me and I screamed as bones popped and snapped and muscles tore and my body began to shut down.


    I twitched and grunted as I lost control of my body and lay in a pool of Ray¡¯s blood and flesh on the ground of the arena.


    I don¡¯t know how long I laid like that trapped in my world of pain. But eventually a shadow loomed over me. I felt hands lift me and I saw the ground slowly moving away.


    ¡°You who were once my son, are now my brother.¡± The voice of Crixus said as I blacked out.