<02 August 2024, GRAND MESA OF SUMMER , A+>

  [Theo and Julia]

  The morning sun rose and woke Theo and Julia. They stoked the fire and sat in quiet as they ate one of the simple but delicious meals that the System had provided to them.

  After roughly an hour in which they both stretched and took a few moments to themselves, Theo looked at the cabin. As it was he would say it was eighty percent of the way to completion.

  "So," Theo said thoughtfully.

  "Theo, if you tell me we need more moss I might stab you." Julia said in exasperation.

  Theo raised his hands in surender, "No, no. I promise we have enough moss left, but I was going to ask you to start getting all the small sticks that I stripped from the logs and begin to weave them into a rough frame for the roof."

  "Oh, sure, I actually don't mind things like that." Julia said and set to her task.

  Theo picked up his Master Tool, willing it to shift to an draw knife and working on the cuts and bark removal for the next layer of logs, probably one of three he would need to do. He was about to set to work in silence, when a thought occurred to him. Instead he moved the log so that he was working across the fire from Julia.

  "So why..." Theo paused as he pulled the drawknife the length of the log in a smooth walk, a long curling strip of bark falling from the log. "don't we use this time..."

  He pulled again, "to tell each other about ourselves?"

  Julia smiled, her hands worked efficiently, weaving the sticks back and forth between one another, making a rough twig net with gaps of roughly four inches. "I think that sounds lovely."

  So they dove in. Each focusing on their work while also speaking of their hobbies and things that they enjoyed. Though both of them realized that much of that would never be seen again. Finally they got to talking about families.

  "So, Theo, mister space tester man." Julia teased, "Who made you how you are? How do you know how to build a cabin with your bare hands? Why are you so fit?"

  Julia was teasing, and if Theo had been facing her she would know that Theo's face had just darkened. But he did answer her after a few moments. "I am like this for the sake of my late sister. Her name is Keary."

  "Oh, I'm sorry Theo." Julia said hearing a lot of emotion in his voice, "I didn't mean..."

  "No, its fine, I just..." He paused in his work looking at the four layers worth of logs that were ready to be put on the cabin, he shrugged and grabbed another meal, handing one to Julia as well. "I hate my father, he is a rotten drunk. He beat the absolute piss out of me when I was younger. He wasn't great with my mother and sister either but to his credit he never hit them, except for one time."

  Julia could tell that this was incredibly difficult for Theo so she simply ate and listened. Theo continued. "We were out camping when I was fifteen, and my dad had decided that I had not gathered enough firewood and that he was going to show me what's what with one of the logs. Keary did not like it when he would beat me, not one bit, and she was the only one who would stand up to him. My mom I think was scared of him turning on her, but Keary didn't care."

  Theo ate a couple bights as he composed his thoughts. "He picked a log up and swung it at me, hitting my shoulder, Keary picked up another log and swung it at him. He blocked it and then back handed her. It was the only time he ever hit her, and I was enraged. If it was me, I could take it, I never fought back, even when I was starting to fill out and get some muscle, I never tried to stop him. I thought that as long as he was beating me, Keary and mom were safe. But he hit Keary and something snapped in me and I attacked him. I don't know what came over me, but after we scrapped for five minutes, my mom was able to break us up."

  Julia could see the rage that boiled under the surface of this calm retelling of his story, she could also see the pain that this was bringing him. Theo shrugged, seeing her looking at him. "We looked around, my dad with a dislocated jaw, and me with an orbital fracture under my right eye. Keary was nowhere to be found, so my mom climbed into the truck and told us to get in, my dad in typical fashion grabbed a fifth of jack first then got in the passenger seat. I got in the back. We drove around searching for several hours, and when we finally found Keary she was hiding in a tree from a black bear mother."

  "Oh shit." Julia said, anyone who had lived in an area with bears or moose or really any wild animals knew you did not get between a mother animal and its baby. It was a really good way to die.

  "Oh shit indeed," Theo chuckled, then took a shaky breath and continued his story. "So my mom, having always been the braver of my parents, grabs a hatchet from the back seat next to me and rushes at the bear and starts bashing it in the head."

  "A bit of a mama bear herself." Julia smiled.

  "That is very true." Theo said with a small smile, "I jumped out and started to grab the rifle that was in the bed of the truck, when my drunk fuck of a father, came over, smacked me a side, said something to the effect of 'Man's work, not boy's work,' then he took the rifle, cycled the bolt and then turned the gun to the bear, and as he pulled the trigger he fell backwards too drunk to stand up."

  "He missed?!" Julia asked exasperated at the idea.

  "Oh he hit something, just not the damn bear." Theo took an almost sobbing breath. "He had managed to shoot my sister who fell out of the tree. I scrambled to my feet and tore the rifle from my dad, and then I ran forward, cycling the bolt on the rifle, before shooting the bear at point blank range. My mother rushed to my sister just as I did. We picked her up and put her in the truck. I tossed my drunk father in the bed of the truck and then my mother drove like a bat out of hell while I held Keary's head in my lap."

  Silence reigned over the camp. The crackle of the fire seemed as if it was hesitant to interrupt Theo. Then he took a breath and continued. "The last thing that she said in the Truck was that she loved me and she hoped that I would go camping with her sometime soon. Just the two of us. After that she fell unconscious. We got to the hospital twenty minutes later. They rushed my sister to surgery and did what they could for the next four hours. While that was happening they put my father in a bed and hooked him up to IV fluids. The police arrived and started questioning us about what happened."

  Theo ate a few more bites. "When they came out of surgery, Keary was dead. They explicitly told us that it was not from blood loss, or anything after the fact, it was where she got shot. Apparently the bullet had nicked one of her heart valves. They were stunned that she had not died instantly. My father chose that moment to wake up. He heard what the doctor said. He then turned to me, and said 'You useless son of a whore, I told you shooting that bear was man's work!'"

  Julia drew a sharp breath, Theo's knuckles were cracking with how tight he was gripping his food. He took a few careful breaths, and then let out a long measured sigh, forcing himself to calm down. "I spent the night in jail because I ripped his IV out of his arm and attempted to strangle him with it. The cops were able to pull dashcam footage as well as find a trail cam that was in the area. They corroborated the story my mom told. Unfortunately, because it was truly legally an accident, and my mom did not want to deal with the horse shit process of trying to sue your own spouse, my father walked free from the hospital."

  "When I turned 18, my mother gave my ten thousand dollars and sent me out to have fun with my friends, looking back I did not understand what she was doing, but she was trying to prepare me to leave my dad. So when I got home the next day, I found a letter on my bed. It was from my mother stating that she could not stay any more, that I had turned into a fine man and that she hoped I understood and that one day we could see each other again. I moved out that day." Theo's tone indicated to Julia that he did understand what his mother had done.

  Theo sniffled, wiped his face, and then snorffed a few bites down. "So yeah that is why I camp so much. I also decided I was never going to be a punching bag for anyone ever again, so I started lifting, joined an MMA gym and pulled the whole 'I got demons to fight' gym guy meme thing."

  Julia laughed, then covered her mouth. "Oh I am sorry..."

  "No it's fine," Theo smiled, "I know that I look pretty intense when I tell that story, but two years of therapy says that I am good to go!"

  They both laughed at that. Theo glanced up from his meal, "So what about you, where are you parents, siblings, and all that?"

  "My mother is gone, I don't know if she is dead or if she is out there somewhere. She apparently just decided one day when I was about two years old that she did not want to be a mom anymore. She divorced my dad and then dropped off the face of the earth." Julia shrugged, "I don't have nay real memories of her so its really not an issue."

  Theo nodded. Julia continued. "My dad died last year, he had cancer, but he was very good about being okay with whatever happened. It's weird to say but I am at peace with his passing. He was happy until the end, and I am glad that he is not suffering anymore. I don't know of much other family, I think I have an aunt on my mom's side but I don't know for sure."

  "Well I am sorry about your father. What kind of person was he?" Theo asked.

  Julia smiled, "He was great, always pushing me to do better and reminding me that I can be happy no matter what. Honestly if he was still around, I think that he would have loved this System stuff."

  Theo smiled sadly, "I think Keary would have loved it too. She was really getting into Dungeons and Dragons before she died."

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  They sat and finished their meals in silence. When they were done they went back to work. A comfortable silence between them. Almost an hour later, Theo spoke up, "Okay I think it is time to put it all together."

  "Okay so what does that entail?"

  "Well," Theo thought for a moment, "We finish the last couple layers, then put the cross beams for the roof. On top of those we will put your woven panels, and then we will pull the tarp from the shelter there, and put it over the woven panels. Then I think that tomorrow we go cut some sod from the prairie grass and do a sod roof. With the tarp it will be very water proof but also warmer."

  "Let's get to it then!" Julia said with a smile, and they both set to work.

  Several hours later, as the sun started to set, They sat down, each taking another meal, Theo nodded at their nearly completed cabin "Welp its not perfect, but its good, and its better than being unsheltered."

  "Mmm. Mhmmm." Julia mumbled through her food.

  They ate quickly, and Theo looked around. "Okay I think that one of us should try the Leveling Plain."

  "True." Julia said, hesitant, "Who goes?"

  "I will leave that up to you." Theo said thoughtfully. "There are reasons for me to be the one to go, just as their are reasons for you to be the one to go, and the same for staying. So you decide what you are more comfortable with and we can go from there."

  Julia nodded, "Okay, I think that I will go then."

  "Sounds good," Theo said, picking up the purple crystal cube from where they had set it, and moving into the cabin and setting it down in the middle of the baren packed stone floor. "Alright I guess, go for it."

  It took them several minuets to figure out that all that she needed to do was placer her hand on top and think 'enter' and she would get a prompt. Julia smiled, "You want to come with me?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "Well apparently it recognizes that we are under the Bond skill together, and will allow us to enter together." Julia explained what she was reading and learning from the knowledge that the cube transmitted through touch.

  "Oh, then yes but give me like a few minutes I think we should move everything into the cabin and get it ready for sleep before we go." The said, standing up and beginning to act on his thoughts.

  Julia stood and joined him and in only a few minutes, they had finished moving their few meager possessions into the cabin and were both sitting near the cube with the equipment they thought they would need. Theo nodded, "Alright, lets do this."

  Julia accepted the prompt, and with a strange ripping suck, they were no longer in their cabin.

  <02 August 2024, Leveling Plane #73F9Q-72, Level setting 2>

  [Theo and Julia]

  Suddenly Theo and Julia were standing in a large forest clearing. Around them the forest seemed frozen, in front of each of them was floating blue box that demanded their attention.

  "So we hunt monsters for six hour or until we hit level 3." Theo said.

  "Sounds like a plan to me." Julia said and looked around, spotting their first monster.

  Hopping across the tree line in a strange skipping walk-hop was a twelve inch tall froglike creature walking on its hind legs. Theo's brows furrowed. "What the fuck is that?"

  As in response a line of text appeared over its head.

  {Gulmgrot, Level 01}

  "A Gulmgrot huh? What the fuck is a Gulmgrot?" Theo said staring at the stragne creature.

  "It's kind of cute..." Julia said looking at the sad face on the bipedal blueskinned body. Then she saw another. "Oh look another one!"

  Theo saw it, it was the same general build as the first one, but it had reddish skin. "Welp, lets get to this shall we."

  "Yeah..." Julia said a little sadly. "They are pretty cute though."

  Theo chuckled, "Well if we find an egg or some way to take one, why don't we see if they make good pets. But we unfortunately do have to kill them."

  "Fine, lets do this." Julia said, picking up the staff that Theo had made for her.

  Theo and Julia had put on the armor that had come from the System. Julia had also equipped her Aegis Bracer and set it to redirect damage to Theo. Theo wore the basic armor and held his dagger in his left hand, his right hand held the Master Tool in the form of a wickedly sharp bearded axe.

  "Alright, so I guess I'll just go in and start swinging," Theo said, he was confident in his ability to hunt with a rifle, and he had cleared trails with a machete before but he was unsure of how effective he would be in combat. Especially with an unknown enemy.

  "I guess so." Julia said, white knuckling her staff. "You want me to set up some Wards before we go ahead. Just in case?"

  Theo nodded not taking his eyes off of the small reptilian creatures. They had hissed at each other, and then begun walking at an angle away form them. Theo picked up a stone, and then as soon as Julia finished, he lobbed it at the Gulmgrots and then quickly picked up his Master Tool again.

  The stone sailed through the air in an almost lazy arc, doming the blue Gulmgrot in the head. It immediately crumpled, beginning to struggle back to its feet. The red Gulmgrot turned an rushed towards Theo, and a third Gulmgrot, this one green skinned, seemed to fade into reality near the red Gulmgrot and began sprinting with the red one.

  As they neared each other, Julia stayed standing in a ring of Wards, Theo slashed low with the axe. Immediately the red Gulmgrot lost its head. the Green one was faster and dodged his swing jumping deceptively high to slash its hand at Theo's shoulders. Julia felt her power flow through the bond and join with Theo's retaliatory Strike. The Green Gulmgrot dropped to the ground dead.

  Theo dropped his weapons and took off at a dead sprint, grabbing the blue Gulmgrot before it could finish reorienting itself. He brough the struggling creature back to Julia. Julia looked surprised. "What are you doing?"

  "I thought we should identify it." Theo said, both hands holding tightly to the amphibious creature.

  Julia nodded and then they both used their Identify skill.

  "Well that is well and truly fucked." Theo mumbled as he finished reading it. Then he paused a thought crossing his mind.

  Julia looked at him, he seemed to make a face that she found amusing, with his left eyebrow quirking up slightly, when he had an idea. "What? You just thought of something?"

  "Two things, actually," Theo clarified, "First what happens if I use Claim on this thing. And Two that description tell me that there may be a Leveling Plane that has humans in it."

  "That would terrible..." Julia muttered, then shrugged, "but that really isn't something we can answer. However you should absolutely try and claim that Gulmgrot."

  Theo felt the build up of power flow through him and try to take hold in the Gulmgrot and then fail. The feeling and knowledge that the skill returned to him surprised him though. "Seems that I can't claim this Gulmgrot, but if we were to find one outside of the Leveling Plane, it might be possible."

  "Really, that is odd." Julia said, "But i guess it does specifically say that it is essentially a murder bot wrapped in a Gulmgrot shell rather than an actual Gulmgrot."

  Theo shrugged and then with a quick motion broke the neck of the Gulmgrot in his hand. He glanced around the area, looking for more, and found none. As Theo looked, the three Gulmgrots dissolved with the distinctly System related Golden sparkles and Cherenkov Blue light. Theo and Julia gathered up their loot and looked it over.

  "Three Gulmgrot Hides, Seven vials of Gulmgrot Mucus, two hunks of Amphibian Meat, and a Minor Environmental Token: Wetlands. What is an Environmental Token?" Theo asked.

  Julia picked up the token and tried to identify it, then snorted in laughter. "It just says Minor Environmental Token: Wetlands. Literally nothing else, it didn't even give me the typical display. It. Well lets put all of this into the Bag of Transfer and see what we end up bringing back."

  Theo nodded taking the Bag that had appeared with them and stuffing all of the loot into it. They continued like this for almost two hours, They would walk along, find a few Gulmgrots and then kill them, shoving all the loot into their Bag of Transfer. As they killed what would be the last of their fifteenth group of Gulmgrots, they both felt the energy of the System swell in them.

  >Local Message: Congratulations! Users Theo Sorrenson & Julia Brahmin have leveled up!

  >Local Message: Level Up delayed for Exit of Leveling Plane

  >Local Message: Forced Exit in 30 Seconds

  "Well that is very little warning." Theo said scooping up the loot and dumping it into the Bag of Transfer.

  "True." Julia said, looking around, she grabbed Theo's arm, "Look!"

  Theo looked at what she was pointing at, and saw a stick creature looking at them aggressively. Over its head floated a line of text.

  {Stixling, Level 02}

  >Local Message: Forced Exit in 15 Seconds\

  "That thing is creepy." Julia said, watching the way it's inflexible legs gave it a strange wobbling gait.

  "Well next time that might be what we have to fight." Theo said, "I am a little surprised that we didn't see any of them."

  Julia shrugged.

  >Local Message: Forced Exit in 05 Seconds

  >Local Message: Forced Exit in 04 Seconds

  >Local Message: Forced Exit in 03 Seconds

  A bright light filed their vision and suddenly they were both back in their rather baren cabin.

  >Local Message: Level Up Resumed

  >Local Message: Congratulations! Users Theo Sorrenson & Julia Brahmin have leveled up!

  Theo and Julia looked at each other smiling, each admitting to themselves that this leveling up sure was a great dopamine rush.

  Now for my first ever shout out! Special thanks to AKArmbrust!