North East Penthouse

  Granite City

  "Well, so much for checking out the dungeon." Brick lamented once Jut arrived at the Penthouse.

  Jut rolled his eyes in equal exasperation. "I know, right? At least there won't be more body dragging detail." He hadn't liked the work, but knew it had been necessary. He didn't want to fight zombies if he could avoid it.

  "I'll agree to that. I'm just surprised the Safe Zone got it done so quickly." Brick added, pulling a few more Skill Orbs out of his inventory. He set three blue orbs, a green orb and four grey professional Orbs in front of himself.

  "Just getting four combat Skills?" Jut asked.

  Brick nodded, gesturing to the pile. "We're only given five slots to equip skills. Better than one, but I figured planning out those five will be crucial to our time spent at Stone Rank."

  "Did you select a General Weapon Skill yet?" Jut asked, his menu opening in his vision.

  "Not yet. There's a list when you open your Skill window but I didn't want to spend more time going over shit when I first saw it." Brick grumbled, his eyes losing focus in the way that showed he was reading something in his vision that Jut couldn't see.

  Jut shrugged and opened his Skill page. Since his Ascension, the page had changed greatly. Before it had one box where he had Magical Strikes equipped. Below that was an open space where the rest of his skills sat. It was called the general Skill Pool.

  Now, however, the screen was way more complex.

  Where the single slot had been there were now three slots. On the left was the word "Combat". Beneath those slots were two slots that had the moniker "Non-Combat". Finally, the Skill Pool was below that. Jut examined his skill pool, only reading the Skill Names.

  As Jut's eyes were about to focus on his only Stone Rank Skill, a new window opened over the Skill Page.

  Jut eliminated everything except for Swords and Clubs. He did hover over guns for a brief moment. He had never been the kind of kid who was obsessed with guns. However, the weapons had been the dominant ones on earth for a long time. He sighed and disregarded them. He doubted it would be that simple now. With the Skills available, he was sure many people could take a gun shot to the chest and keep fighting.

  Jut selected Swords. He knew Jonny would have wanted him to continue with club fighting, but Jut was stubborn. He wanted to try something different now. Besides, he had always loved the idea of owning and fighting with a sword.

  The Skill appeared under the general section and he read it over.

  Jut nodded to himself. It was a standard Sword Skill. Even just sitting there, he could envision the proper way to grip a sword and how swinging one would be different from swinging a club. He examined his upgraded Magical Strikes next.

  Jut was pleased. It was a straight forward and effective rank up. He could strike more often and each attack would do more damage. As far as upgrades went, it could have been much worse. He needed to put a point into his Mind Attribute to help his base damage when he next got a point.

  Jut was going to wait to equip his skills until he got more of them, but he didn't wait to drop Magical Strikes into his combat bar and Smithing into his non-combat one. He was set on using both of those Skills. He confirmed his choices then pulled up his inventory to go over the Orbs he had left.

  Jut didn't want to have too many skills that weren't going to be used, and he didn't want to get more remedial repeats of skills. So, he pulled out a red, a blue, a green, and two purple Orbs. He also set out his three remaining professional Orbs. He would consume these eight and see what happened. If he didn't get two skills he wanted, he would repeat the process again until he did.

  Brick was already half way through his Orbs and was looking at Jut's stack. "Going to see what role gives you better Skills then decide which route you want to take?"

  Jut shook his head as he picked up one of the professional Orbs. "Nope. A discussion with Isabelle reminded me that I was once really good at something. Sure, that was a game and this is not fun nor safe like that was. But, I started thinking about why I played how I did. So, I'm going to apply that to my life now." He began absorbing the professional Orbs, causing the familiar sensation of a cool energy and knowledge flowing into his brain, filling him with Lore and new Skills.

  "And what role is that exactly?"Brick asked.

  "Support, of course." Jut read over the three professional Skills he just received. He wasn't at all surprised that none of them were crafting Skills. He had guessed, and so far had been right, that having a crafting skill equipped reduced the likelihood of getting another.

  Brick had told Jut about a man he knew from another team. He had begun skinning the animal shaped Monsters. Once skinned, the bodies could still be Looted. However, the loot would never be pelts or the parts the man had taken while skinning the beast and the amount of overall Loot had been reduced. Jut was curious if he could get two pelts per Monster now.

  Before he could analyze the other skills, he received a popup.

  Jut blinked. He didn't see what harm it would do. As long as he was still able to gather ore for smithing and loot monsters with the new Skill, he would be fine. If he had to get some of these skills again, he would. He confirmed his choice.

  Jut's eyes bulged and he immediately explained what had just happened to Brick. Brick, in turn, grinned and started pulling out more Guardian Orbs, absorbing them excitedly.

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  Jut shook his head and placed Harvest into the second Non-Combat slot, completing the set. The new Skill even consumed less mana than his original Monster Harvest Skill had. Now all he needed was to get two more Combat Skills. He had a feeling this would be the biggest pain in the ass, choosing between which Skills to equip. He wasn't even sure what difference equipping the Skills made.

  By the time he had absorbed all five of the combat orbs, he was mentally tired. Enough so that he had to analyze each skill one at a time. He wasn't disappointed in what he got either.

  His Guardian Skill was first. He was pretty sure he had received it because of his Race, which was confirmed in the description.

  Jut smiled. He had forgone more scaling on his body, trading increased defense for vanity. The System seemed to fill in that gap for him. Now he could scale up when needed to and retain his mostly human appearance.

  He read over his healing skill next. He was surprised it wasn't a straight out healing Skill. He would have to reconsider handing them out if they were all special attacks. Then again, maybe the same principal applied to Combat Skills and the Crafting Skills. By having a special attack equipped, he received Skills in a similar vein.

  Jut was bummed that he could only get one stack of Regeneration at a time with the cool down, but continued on to his new Damage Skill.

  Jut smiled widely. He did want a ranged spell. Both Isabelle and Brick had talked about Isabelle's Mana Bolt Skill and how well it killed Monsters. Jut had wanted one ever since. While being a bit different than hers, this one suited him just fine. He doubted he would equip the Skill yet, though.

  Next were the two he had been waiting for, and he knew right way these were the ones for his bar. His Support Skills.

  Jut didn't hesitate to slot both of the support skills, Windy Steps and Consequence, into his bar right away. He was extremely satisfied with both and was glad he didn't need to repeat absorbing more Orbs quite yet.

  "I'm ready to go to the dungeon whenever you are, Brick." Jut said with a smile as he closed his interface.

  Brick returned the smile and rose. "Me too".

  They discussed their Skills as the walked. If Jut understood Brick's set up, the soldier had chosen mining and smithing as his non-combat Skills. Brick was only a little jealous of the upgraded Harvest Skill. This was because of his three chosen combat skills, one of which was also a fusion.

  Brick's combat skills were Defensive Barrier, Magical Attack, and Battle Cry.

  The barrier was formed from fusing his Stone Skin Skill with Hardened Skin, Bone Skin, and Retributive Barrier. Now the Skill would decrease all damage taken and attacks made against him dealt a fraction of that damage back at his attacker during its duration.

  Magical Attack was Brick's only Stone Ranked Skill. It had upgraded just like Jut's Skill with the damage dealt being increased while the cost was decreased.

  The last skill, Battle Cry, made Monsters focus on him for a short time while giving all party members in range a small attack buff, making Brick a true Tank, or in the System's case, a Guardian.

  They made their way across the Safe Zone grounds until they reached the Town Hall. The wind had a subtle bite to it that hadn't been there before. It signaled autumn was beginning for real now. The sun had set long ago and there were very few people about, outside or in the food court of the Town Hall.

  Brick and Jut both stopped to chat with Wendy, each leaving her with some of their remaining Skill Orbs. She had agreed to take a few and pass most of the rest out. Jut did keep two of each of the Combat Orbs and was glad he did so.

  At one of the tables, five people in their early twenties were huddled around, looking bedraggled. A couple of them were picking at their food. It was clear to Jut and Brick that they were all Stone Rank. They just felt more present than Normal Ranked people did.

  A large, dark Human man leaned back, sighing. "We should have started hunting sooner."

  A woman with soft brown hair, Elf ears, and leather armor huffed back at him. "We know, Mike. No matter how many times you say it, we just don't have the coins for more Skills. The copper deal was great, be we are all lacking one or two now. We sold all of the loot we carried. What else do you think we can do?"

  "My bad, Diana." Mike said. The dark, human man stuck his hands up in a defensive posture. The only reason Jut could tell he was a different kind if human, like Brick, was because his eyes had silver pupils. That wasn't a color change option Jut had seen during his Ascension.

  The whole group groaned. This must have been a constant discussion for the group recently.

  Jut and Brick looked at each other and nodded.

  "We can help." Brick said.

  The group all looked at him. Jut was glad Brick had taken the attention.

  "You're that guy who won the best prize, right?" Diana exclaimed.

  The whole group seemed to perk up as Brick nodded. "Aye, we are." Brick gestured to Jut and himself, emphasizing the we.

  "We appreciate the offer, but we don't take charity." Mike huffed, crossing his arms.

  Jut understood the sentiment. That didn't mean he agreed with it, nor would he respect it.

  "Well, you do now." Jut said firmly as he began setting Orb after Orb on the table. Apparently Brick had saved a few too, because he sat a blue and green Orb on the table. Soon there were ten Orbs laid out before the team on their table. "We won't use these, and we don't want to sell them to the shop when they can be put to good use."

  Another person with sharp teeth and claws leaned forward. Her hair was blue and she was very slender. She grabbed an Orb and looked at them. "Are you sure we can have these? Aren't they expensive?"

  "Creek Shadow, they won that prize. It was like fifty gold each. If they want to spend some on us, I say let them." A third woman with black hair, a dog's ears and tail said, the latter thumping loudly against her chair back. "I'm Roxy, by the way." She announced with sudden dog enthusiasm.

  "Have at. We need as many people working towards Ascension as possible." Brick said.

  The last member of the five stood. He was also a Beastkin with feathers growing around his head and a beak for a nose. "I am Sky, and we, the Beastly Five, thank you. We don't know how to repay you." Sky bowed to Jut and Brick. His group all whined at their name, but they all bowed too.

  After a lot of thanks from the group, Brick and Jut left them chatting and splitting up the Orbs. They approached a set of stairs where the Bunker Entrance had been. There were now pillars on each side of the opening leading down the stairs that were made of white marble. The pillars were decorative and heavily engraved with symbols from many of the religions from around the world.

  There was a Safe Zone attendant at a small desk that partially blocked access to the stairs. Brick and Jut approached the attendant.

  "Do we need to register to try the dungeon?" Brick asked as they got close.

  The woman was someone Jut hadn't seen before. She was also Stone Rank. She wore the usual outfit of black and red formal attire, her dress suit crisp. Her hair was blonde and her face was sort of pinched. She was Human and her name tag read "Sylvia".

  "Nope. You can just go down the stairs. The Dungeon can only hold fifty individuals or ten parties at once, but it's empty now." Sylvia said with a mild accent. "The System will tell you the rest."

  Brick smiled and his voice was flirty. "Thanks, Ms. Sylvia. How many others have cleared the dungeon, or will we be the first?"

  Sylvia smiled and flushed softly as she responded. "I hope you succeed. We have had a couple people and a few groups clear a few of the hallways earlier but no one has defeated or cleared the whole thing yet. I hope you'll start the list."

  Jut mentally sighed but didn't begrudge the man his flirting. Jut wasn't in the mood personally, but why rain on Brick's parade? He needed to decide if he would stay in Granite City after the lock down ended or if he would try and find Kit before he could even entertain thoughts about romance.

  Jut waited for Brick to finish up before he walked down the stairs. At the bottom, there was a glowing wall of blue energy that gently swirled counter clock wise. Jut, with Brick's urging, cautiously touched the blue mass. It made a window popup.

  When Jut confirmed the choice, another window overlaid the first.

  Jut confirmed again. He figured he might as well try out his new skills. With a tugging sensation, he was pulled into the swirling blue vortex. His vision turned blue before he was dropped into total darkness.

  A System Window appeared and was completely legible, even in the dark.