The potions building looked like a large cooking warehouse with a similar back room set up as the hospital. The head potion maker, Amrynn, was a female water nymph. She had pale blue skin and hair that Richard could have sworn was silver water. Amrynn opened the back room door so the alarm wouldn’t go off, and Dmitri talked with her about the supplies Elias gave them. Despite the untrustworthy gazes Elias and Dmitri shared, Elias must be a valuable member. From what Richard overheard as he helped them stock the supplies, this would give them ten bottles of advanced health potions. They hadn’t had advanced health potions for years. They could also look into other, more specialized potions they hadn’t before.

  As Dmitri and Amrynn were discussing the possibilities, Richard took a moment to explore this place. When he first heard the term base camp, he assumed this place would be covered with tents, but Dmitri said thirty years. These brick buildings were here to stay. What did this planet look like before the apocalypse hit?

  The building had multiple stove areas. Richard studied them curiously, glancing into the pots. All of them were empty. Two people were there, going over a book and whispering to themselves. He didn’t want to bother them. He also saw a table with five tubes connected to each other at the top. Amrynn and Dimitri were already placing the carcass of an animal on it before Amrynn started hooking up a few tubes to the creature’s chest area, then one on its head.

  “Interested in becoming a potions maker?” Amrynn asked, no doubt noticing Richard’s curious expression. Richard glanced at her, his eyes studying her pale blue ones before he inevitably stared at her strange hair.

  “I’m… still trying to…”

  Amrynn nodded. “I completely understand.” She glanced out at the various pots, some looking like they needed to be cleaned. “It’s a lot to come to terms with. It gets easier, though.” She flicked her wrist, and the strange machine made a whirring sound. Droplets of pure white liquid came from the creature, and Amrynn was already labeling the five different beakers at the bottom catching the essence. Richard stared, surprised, before forcing himself to look away.

  “I’m rather proud of my little group.” Amrynn gestured toward the two people at the table. “I was told that a specialized skill tree was a lonely thing. Timick and Lucy don’t have others with their same skill tree, but I didn’t take that for an answer. If you want to be a potion maker, you can.”

  “Thanks. I’ll consider it,” Richard said.

  She smiled as she began placing the labels on each of the beakers. “Don’t worry, Richard. I found it gets easier once I had the system.”

  Before Richard could reply, Dmitri came to his side. “The system is where we’re going next, in fact. Come on.”

  “Can you explain more of what this system is?”

  “It’s what keeps the apocalypse at bay,” Dmitri said. “It strengthens us beyond what our mortal bodies could be. Also, it gives those of us who have no magical abilities a way to gain one through Order’s gift.”

  Richard let out a breath as they walked out of the potions building. “Okay, but… how? How does it help?”

  “All of us receive three skill trees, one for being a survivor, one for your class that you will choose later, and one for Order’s special gift she gives to help you in your class. Each tree has nine skills that you can upgrade three times. You and the other newbies will enter the system at the end of tonight and receive your first skill tree, the survivor tree as we call it. Every single one of us has that. For the next two weeks, we will train you to help you survive while you level up. By the end of two weeks, you will have all nine basic skills unlocked on your survivor tree. After that, you’ll meet with Order and discuss which class to take. There are three main classes here at base two. Farming class, which helps with crops. Guard class, those skilled in combat, to protect those of us inside the gate. Then finally the scavenger class, who travel through the forest and the beaches to gather ingredients or destroy evil creatures for their essences.”

  “Wait, what about Amrynn’s class?” Richard asked.

  “What about her?” Dmitri asked.

  “She said she had potion making. That doesn’t sound like any of the classes you mentioned.”

  “Ah, that’s where things are different. See, there are a few individuals who have specialized gifts from Order, like potion making and healing. Amrynn and Lucy have those. Amrynn is technically still in the farming class and Lucy has the guard class, but they are granted opportunities away to work on their specialized gifts. Timick is another one; he works on enhancing weapons and other things.”

  Richard glanced behind him again at the potion building. “There doesn’t seem to be a lot of specialized skills.”

  “There’s enough. I will admit that most of the people choose the farming class, and I don’t mind it. No food, no surviving.” Dmitri placed his hands behind his back as they walked. “You won’t unlock your class for another two weeks, so the plan is to train you in each class for now. Each fight we win or plant we grow gives us experience. As we level up, you’ll be awarded points to unlock abilities in your skill tree. There are three levels for each ability, basic, advanced, and master. There is a fourth level of abilities, but only Order herself can grant the legendary levels after an impressive feat of that skill, so we won’t worry about that now. Does any of this make sense?”

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  “Uh… I think so?” Richard asked.

  Dmitri seemed to pull up his own skill trees. “For example, you will soon unlock the survivor skill tree, and one of those nine abilities is the ability to increase strength by a certain percentage. When you open it with a level point, it will be at basic. If you’d like, you can put another level point and make it an advanced level, which will increase your strength by a wider percentage. Or, you can leave it alone, and it will naturally change from basic to advanced after you’ve used it for a while. You can’t use a level point to change something from advanced to master, though. That comes with time. And there is no rhyme or reason in how it goes from master to legendary. That alone is up to Order, and some abilities never become legendary.”

  Richard tried to understand it, but it felt like a bunch of math was being thrown at him. “I… uh…”

  Dmitri patted Richard on the back. “Don’t worry. It’ll make more sense once you have the system.”

  “But I still have… a choice, right?”

  A smile flickered across Dmitri’s face. “You do. Not much of one, though. Without the system, we have no hope.” Dmitri pointed over his shoulder at the glowing orb. Richard tried to keep his face neutral, but something about this all made him deeply uncomfortable. Yes, he was in the middle of an apocalypse, so he would feel a bit off. But did he want to connect to a strange system to help him get stronger?

  “You have the option of turning around and leaving,” Dmitri said. Despite Richard’s attempt to keep his face neutral, it clearly wasn’t working. “But I think you know you won’t survive long.”

  “So this is it? I must agree to these skill trees in order to stay here?”

  “Yes.” Dmitri took a step toward him. “I won’t sugarcoat it for you, Richard. You’ll understand when you get it. Tonight we make a big celebration of it all before you get it with your other fellow survivors.”

  “I’m just…” Richard couldn’t explain it.

  “Nervous?” Dmitri asked.

  “Apprehensive,” Richard said instead. “Shouldn’t we be stopping the apocalypse?”

  Dmitri raised an eyebrow. “We are. Through the system.”

  “How do we know the system isn’t just part of the apocalypse?”

  Dmitri shook his head. He had the air of a loving adult helping a stubborn child understand. “It isn’t part of the apocalypse. It helps us stop it.”

  “You’ve told me yourself the apocalypse has been going on for thirty years. How is this stopping it?” Richard asked.

  “You don’t think we’ve been trying?” Dmitri asked. Richard sighed, folding his arms. He couldn’t explain it, except that he wasn’t sure he wanted this system. “It’s getting worse. But…” Dmitri trailed off, and Richard remained silent. He wanted to know what Dmitri wanted to say. “But I guarantee we would all be dead now without this system. Thirty years ago, all hell broke loose. I have not seen a native of Kaelune since I arrived here myself. These creatures have wiped out civilizations, and they’re only getting stronger. Order needs us to help her stop Chaos’s influence on this planet. It is what you wished for.”

  Richard’s brows furrowed. “What I wished for? What do you mean?”

  Dmitri paused, studying the farmers hard at work planting food. “You might as well know. A person remembers their old life as they approach death. We have documents backing that up. When a person is approached by Death, they remember their past life. According to our records, all of them acknowledged they wished for a second chance to make a difference. Order takes those requests seriously and brings them here.”

  Richard remained quiet. He already knew a few moments of his past life. He remembered the cancer. Being in hospice. And he remembered wishing to have a second chance in a body not so sick.

  Richard glanced at his arms. He was now more familiar with this body than his old one, but he still remembered how sickly thin he had been.

  “It gives a little comfort, to say the least.” Dmitri sighed, then patted Richard on the back. “There are four of you in total who came. It seems like Elias’ core team died out there in the forest, so you’re part of the replacement Order sent to us. We might have to convince some guards to do scavenger missions, because the low numbers are hurting us.” Dmitri said this more to himself than to Richard.

  All at once, Dmitri tossed Richard a rock. “Put it away,” Dmitri said.

  Richard stared at him. “Excuse me?”

  “Put it away.”

  “Uh…” Despite Richard’s open-mouthed confusion, Dmitri gave no further instructions of what to do. Richard shrugged, then slipped the rock into his pocket. Dmitri grunted, then pulled out the paper and crossed off another name from the list.

  “I’m sorry, how was I supposed to react to that?” Richard asked.

  “Exactly how you did, because I finally know where you come from.” Dmitri circled the remaining name on the paper. This made Richard straighten his shoulders, glancing expectantly at Dmitri. He smiled at Richard’s anxious face. “You’re from Earth.”

  Richard tried to sense some sort of familiarity with that name, but found nothing. “Earth?”

  “Yep.”

  “Who else is from Earth?” Richard asked.

  “Oh, a few. Valerie and Ike are some farmers that come to mind. Also Kali, one of the potion makers. Jace, who is the leader of the guards. And then, um… Elias. Elias is also from Earth.”

  Richard flinched. That jackass was from Earth? That seemed like a betrayal more than anything.

  “But I wouldn’t worry about it. There’s a bit of loyalty to the planets, even though we don’t remember our lives from before. But we are here now, making sure we end the apocalypse,” Dmitri said.

  “Right.” Richard still felt the sting of annoyance about sharing a planet with Elias.

  A bell sounded, one that was near the corner of the wall.

  “What’s that?” Richard asked.

  “This might be a good time to see the system in action, if you’d like.”

  “What’s happening?” Richard asked.

  “A creature is coming out of the forest. The guards sounded the alarm because they’ll need backup.”

  Richard glanced at the wall, then back at Dmitri. “Now?”

  “Yes, now. Do you want to see the system in action?”

  Yes, he did. He needed to know what this system did that was so necessary for survival.