Chapter 2

Tom almost possessed a photographic memory. He still thought that was his strongest tool in the battle to save humanity, despite everything he had accomplished since.

When he shut his eyes, just like he had dozens of times before, he remembered when it all began.

 

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He was in his car, Ed Sheeran playing on the radio, hand tapping on the wheel. The indicator had been flashing while he waited for the lights to change. He hadn’t been paying any attention to the bright sunshine or the pleasant fluttering of the leaves in the trees. Instead, he had been thinking about the game. Tomorrow he was being trialled on the wing, and he was thrilled. “Best place to use your skill and fitness,” the coach, Tony, had told him in his usual no-nonsense matter. “You’re doing it for the team.”

And just like that, his response that he liked scoring was bitten off before he could express it. “Sure, coach.”

The arrow switched to green. The car in front did not move.

There was a surge of irritation.

Briefly he considered hitting his horn before he decided he was not in a rush and if he missed this set of lights, then so be it.

Just then the world changed around him.

Between one second and the next. There had been no sense of movement, no flashing lights or noise. One moment he was in the car tapping his fingers, feeling slightly over- heated, and then he was elsewhere, standing.

Not sitting.

He stood in a strange room with no idea of how he had got there. That abyss, that loss of memory, was scary.

The warm sun had disappeared, the music vanished, and the background rumble of vehicles gone. It was silent, and he was in a featureless room. Dull metallic floor and walls, a high ceiling, and spacious enough to fit couches, a TV, and a kitchen table with plenty of spaces between.

A big, empty room.

“What the hell,” he whispered, cautiously backing away, and then he realised he had started in the dead middle of the room. He looked around, searching for something to ground him. There was nothing, no doors, windows, or features and as for light, it came from a slightly glowing ceiling.

He rotated more carefully, trying to see if there was a trick or a feature or anything. His mind conjured images of car crashes and comas. Was he dead?

He did a second full rotation and jumped!

An entire side of the room had changed. There had been no noise, no change in the ambient lighting, no errant scrape of a furniture leg.

No warning.

The space had expanded, with one wall pushed back about five metres, and filling the created area were two couches at right angles to each other, and sitting delicately on one of them was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in person. Her features were vaguely familiar like she was an actress or something, but he could not place a name.

With an angelic smile, she patted the place next to her on the lounge seat.

A red couch! That talk show-like setup had colour, which contrasted with the dull metal grey of everything else. She, the scene, all seemed vibrantly real because of that effect.

Once more, she tapped the spot next to her. “Come, sit. We have a lot to discuss.”

“Who are you? What is this? What happened?”

She smiled kindly. It was surreal. She was a figment of his imagination, but his heart beat harder in response.

“I am Dux, this…,” she waved at herself, “Is obviously an avatar, and I’m here to guide your transition. Please, sit.”

“Are you human?”

She beamed, which made his heart rate spike. Words could not describe how lovely she was, and her brow wrinkled as she searched for the right words. “I am as far from human…,” she hesitated and seemed to change her mind. “Actually, I’m not sure there is an appropriate analogy. Maybe,” she shrugged, “I am as far from human as a bar of soap is to a kitchen knife.”

“What?”

“Exactly,” she grinned white teeth flashing like a teacher proud that a student had answered a question correctly or, according to his heartbeat, like a supermodel on the red carpet with all of her attention on him.

“What is this? Why am I here?” Tom could hardly force the words out. He was almost babbling.

“This,” she indicated to the room, “is a construct to let me communicate with you. You’re here because humanity has been funneled into a contest run by GODs.” For the first time, Dux’s expression was one of disgust, and she said the word like it had weight. She clearly did not approve of what was being done. “And that changes everything. DEUS is championing humans, and this introduction is part of DEUS’s largess.”

“Who is Deus?”

“Excellent question. DEUS,” the word seemed to reverberate, “is one of the many GODs of which seven are in the competition.” She paused. “They are, well, your language lacks the right words. I guess the best description is that they are beings that are in power and are greater than this Christian God concept you have on your planet.”

“Greater than an omnipresence being that created everything?” Tom asked doubtfully.

“Exactly,” she beamed. “You’re unusually good at this.”

Tom studied her. There was no guile in her expression. She believed what she was saying. To her DEUS and presumably, DEUS’s peers were better than humanity’s concept of the Christian god. It made no sense. It was impossible.

“Your god has one universe.” Dux interrupted his thoughts gently. “These GODS have thousands.”

“But the Universe–”

“Thousands, maybe millions,” she repeated quietly. “And this contest.” Once again, her lips turned down. “Measures self-will, ingenuity, and determination by ensuring the starting conditions are balanced.”

“What’s the contest for?” Tom asked scared about the answer.

“Oh. DEUS and,” she wrinkled her nose. “DEUS’s peers. Selected a contestant that had conquered their home planet.” She paused. “That was from any universe which meant gravity might be different, or magic could exist, or thoughts are reality, or you know, anything you might imagine.” She smiled. “Then those races are going to get folded into the realm Existentia, with beginning conditions decided by a lot of complicated rules which I’m simultaneously explaining currently to a smidge over eight billion people.” She smiled.

“What do you mean folded?”

“Transferred into a medieval, magical, infinite world and then abandoned to see whether you flourish or wither.”

“What about the Earth?”

“Earth’s barely affected. Under the terms, only homo sapiens and some chimpanzees have been drawn into the contest.”

“Earth’s dead?”

“No, Earth’s just as you left it; although,” she answered, “it no longer has any humans on it, and DEUS removed some nuclear power stations and atomic weapons. That stuff can be nasty. However, Earth is no longer your concern. For humans, there is no more Earth, only Existentia.”

“DEUS killed humans on Earth?”

“No, let’s call it the council of GODS,” the word GODs hung in the air and transformed into something more, then sunk into his soul. “It was decided to relocate all humans to Existentia. DEUS,” the same weird effect that caused the word to feel like it was more than normal occurred. In fact, Tom realised that this was happening whenever Dux had mentioned either the GODs or DEUS. “Is doing DEUS’s best to save as many humans as possible.”

 

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Tom pulled himself out of this memory. There was no time for indulgence.

There was no point in fighting the inevitable. He had decided that long ago. The GODS had done what they had, and he needed to do his best to give the wider humanity the best start he could.

Curious, he examined the faces around him, and just like he had expected no one here was old. If you were chosen in the top million, one perk was a free reset of your biological age. Most people had settled in their twenties or early thirties, but there were also at least six teenagers that looked between fourteen and sixteen. He hoped that was their true age and not some foolish forty-year-old who stupidly pushed themselves back to an age where they were physically weak. If it was the latter, then Tom did not have any hope for them. If it was the former, then they were worth watching. To have won through the tutorial with the starting physical disadvantage of a non-mature body meant they were probably a genius in a fashion. Then again, none of the ‘kids’ had received a number under thirty.

A man on the outskirts of the group moved away from a teenager he had been comforting and cleared his throat aggressively.

Everyone looked in that direction. Physically he was low thirties, which presumably meant back before the entire world had been torn up that he had been far older. Based on absolutely no data, his hypothesis was that anyone over sixty would reduce their age to thirty, those in their forties to twenties, and those in their thirties, to younger twenties, and those in their teens. Well, they were stuck with their earth age just like he had been. He would have preferred to have come in as a twenty-five-year-old, rather than as his current nineteen-year-old self because his body kept thickening up till then. He had lost considerable starting strength and vitality because of that restriction. Potentially as much as half a rank, which right now was significant even if eventually it was meaningless. The thought of pushing himself younger and losing additional muscle mass and height made him shiver in repulsion. That would have been vanity, and there was too much at stake for that level of indulgence.

Tom shifted another point of mana into his mana crystal. Charging the artefact was tricky as it took five from his mana reserves for every single point transferred. Tom had already decided to only ever charge it when he was full, and even then, it would only be one point at a time. While filling the mana stone was important, Tom would not risk his personal pool dropping below three-quarters to do it.

The man, number sixty-four on Tom’s count, cleared his throat and raised his arm in the air. “If I can have your attention everyone,” Tom assessed him more closely. He had a rank of around eight and was dressed in armour that looked to be master crafted. There was fine chain mail and what appeared to be soft leather underneath, and then an enchanted sword on the man’s belt.

Tom’s lips dropped unexpectedly. Swords were effective against humans, but against monsters, they were probably the least effective of the common weapon options. Spears, in Tom’s opinion, were the best because of their range, then axes for their heft, followed by maces in order to deal with heavily armoured beasts, and finally swords. Anyone who was a swordsman lacked judgment and was not a good choice for leader. Especially when they had squandered their contribution points on instant strength as this man had done.

“My name is Jeffrey Wilde. You all know why you’re here.” Jeffrey’s eyes landed on Tom and lingered. Annoyance flickered over Jeffrey’s features. “Most of us are strong.”

Tom swallowed heavily.

He was the reason for the word ‘most.’ Rank was not everything, and it was terrible that he had been noticed this early. He ran an eye over everyone gathered. They had ranks that ranged from six to ten. Without looking down, Tom knew he was a high three with average attributes of just under forty. Ranks were simple: an average of eight was rank zero; for rank one, average attributes were sixteen; for rank two, then twenty-four, and so on. A fit human male would start at four. The fact everyone else around him was higher indicated the number of contribution points they had spent on boosting that part of their build. Tom had a good mental picture of what the ranks meant.

Jeffrey being ranked eight to his high three meant that currently, Jeffrey was twice as strong, fast, and tough or before magic and skills were considered Jeffrey was nominally eight times better as a fighter.

Tom had a different strategy. He had sacrificed more than his shoes to pursue the build he had deemed the most powerful.

“We’ve all done well in the tutorial, and from what I can tell, we’ve all doubled our starting strength, but we’re still weak. I’m assuming you all studied the guidance pack before spending your contribution points.” There were nods and murmurs of agreement all over the place. “You know we’ve been dropped in the wilderness, but existing empires or at least towns are in every direction.” More agreement. “They may be months of travel away, but their average rank ranges from twenty to thirty-five and they might be hostile. Their elites will be even higher.” A bubble of noise greeted that proclamation.

From the crowd, ideas were yelled out.

“Build a town with walls.”

“Get stronger.”

“Train.”

“A fixed base is ridiculous. We’ll have to be more like...”

“Enough!” Jeffrey shouted over the abrupt commotion. “We need to make sure we survive. Now that we’re here there’s no one to hold our hands; we’re by ourselves and dependent on only ourselves. A dragon could swoop in and burn us all to ash at any moment. Let’s organise, I’ll coordinate with damage warriors, but I need a volunteer for hunters, mages, professions, healers, archers, and aggro’s.”

Lots of hands went up, but only a third of people looked interested. The rest were split between those who appeared catatonic and the others who gripped their weapons tightly and angled their bodies to ensure nobody got behind them. Suspicion toward everything flashed in their eyes, and if he was any judge, he would describe it as violent paranoia. Over ten years by oneself, Tom understood where they were coming from. He was not sure he was willing to trust anyone, either.

“Me,” the biggest man out of all of them bellowed, a large Pacific islander and number three. Jeffrey pointed at him. “What’s your name and skill.”

“You can call me Tiny and I’m a damage-based aggroer.”

“Aggroer’s on Tiny,” Jeffery shouted. “Hunters?” Hands shot up. Jeffrey pointed. The method being applied was not lost on Tom. Jeffrey was choosing the strongest rank to lead each time. Tom allowed his assessment skill to lapse. It had burned four mana out of his pool of twenty. That would take a full minute to regenerate and had given him the data he needed.

Groups started gathering, and Tom considered whether he should go to the healers or the mages. The mages were led by a heavily armoured woman with red hair, a tattooed sleeve, and an axe on her shoulder. She did not look like the sort of person who would appreciate the finer points of what he was trying.

Healers, it was. The leader of the healers was a thin, tall man who looked to be in his late teens but appeared extremely self-confident. He had also been the eighth to arrive. Tom made his decision and began walking over.

“You,” Jeffery yelled his finger pointing straight at Tom. “I want to have a word with you. What the hell is up with you?” He waved his arm to indicate the entirety of Tom’s body with a look of disgust on his face.

Tom turned to face him with a sinking feeling. Jeffrey’s eyes, now that he was close, were those of an old man -- and one clearly used to bullying to get his way. Based on his choice of leaders and now targeting him, Tom knew he was going to be a terrible leader.

Tom wanted to groan, but instead, he shrugged while casually putting the crystal behind his back.

Jeffrey, with twice his physical stats, was too fast. He sprang forward, grabbed Tom’s wrist, and twisted savagely to force his hand around to reveal the crystals. “What’s that?”

“It’s a mana crystal.”

“What does it do?”

“I can imbue a hundred mana in it and use it like my own mana. Soul-bound,” Tom clarified quickly in response to the look in Jeffrey’s eyes.

“That’s mildly useful,” Jeffrey conceded. “Is buying this why you’re so weak?”

He shrugged. “My build is designed for the long term.”

Jeffrey looked stunned by that answer. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that currently I’m weak, but I’ll end up stronger than everyone.”

“But you need to live long enough to do that.”

Tom grimaced before glancing pointedly. “I’m not alone. We all will survive as a team, and as part of a group, I’m not useless.”

“Just slow, weak, and devoid of magic,” Jeffrey said snidely.

“I’m not devoid of magic.”

“You were this age on earth, weren’t you?” Jeffrey waved at Tom’s body.

“Yes, but what has that to do with anything?”

“Listen to your elders, kid. Put your head down and do what you’re told. Don’t lie. I don’t know how poorly you went in the tutorial, but if you advanced far enough, you would have learnt to sense people’s mana. I’m a high-ranked swordsman, and I’ve got more magic than you.”

“It won’t last,” Tom promised. “After I get some levels, experience, and physical training, I’ll catch you all.”

Jeffrey barked some dismissive laughter. “Everyone’s ahead of you. You might get levels, but so will they. You’ll always be behind. I don’t know what crap you pulled with contribution points, but you’re either incredibly stupid or arrogant.”

“Probably the second. It’s a flaw,” Tom conceded as much as he wanted to tell Jeffrey that what he had done was smart and everyone should listen to him. Tom knew better, though. He would not survive by himself and given what was at stake, Tom doubted he would be exiled or abandoned, at least as long as there was enough food for everyone.

There was no point tempting fate.

“Kid, you’re both and you’re too dumb to realise,” Jeffrey proclaimed. “If you had been dumped by yourself, there’s no way you’d have survived even a day.”

“That’s not true. Plus, I would never start by myself.”

“You guessed?”

“No, we could ask a question a day.”

“We all could,” Jeffrey interrupted.

“They narrowed the size of starting groups down. The minimum was seventy and never over three hundred.”

“How many questions did that waste?”

“Around eight.”

“Kid, you’re an idiot. You could have used them to find out something useful.”

It was useful information, Tom thought to himself, but sometimes there was no point arguing. “I was in the trial for a long time. I asked heaps of questions,” Tom said quietly and for the first time, Jeffrey was paying attention to him instead of his weakness.

“How many’s a lot?”

Tom shrugged. “I don’t know; fifteen thousand, give or take.”

“Now I know you are bullshitting me.”

“I wasn’t counting, but I think I was in for over forty years.”

More confusion flashed across Jeffrey’s face. “How are you so weak? Did you never leave the starter area or something?”