Richard and Dmitri climbed the ladder to the walkway around the top of the wall. Richard watched, surprised, as guards leapt off. Despite hearing everything about this system, he was terrified he would look down and see broken bodies strewn across the ground, or at most hear screams or bones poking out of skin. This wall was at least twenty feet tall.

  Richard got to the top, his mind not comprehending how all the guards were standing, waiting for whatever would come out of the forest. He felt the question on his lips, but Dmitri turned to him, smiling.

  “How’s it possible? That a bunch of people leapt off a wall and are preparing to fight?” Dmitri asked.

  Richard glanced at Dmitri. The creature in the forest hadn’t even arrived yet, and Richard started to understand how the system was a gift.

  About fifteen guards were ready, with a handful protecting the gate. It was an incredible display of discipline. By the time Richard was settled on top of the wall, the company of guards pulled bow strings taunt, holding swords and spears at the ready. Dmitri lifted a finger, pointing at the shaking trees. The movement of the trees got faster and faster until a creature broke through.

  Richard stared, trying to comprehend what he saw. It had to be a troll of some kind. It was large, well over fifteen feet, with stubby legs and long arms. Something churned in Richard’s stomach as he stared at the face. Or lack of one. It was like a headless beast, the shoulder area covered in thick, purulent boils. Its eyes, mouth, nose, and other orifices were completely gone. But where…

  Eyes opened in the chest cavity, scanning around to see the guards. When it spotted them, an enormous mouth opened up right below the eyes, and a thick black tongue came out, licking what were supposed to be lips.

  Dmitri sighed. “It’s a Mog.”

  “Mog?” Richard asked.

  “Minion of Gluttony.”

  Richard didn’t dare tear his gaze from that monstrous creature. If it wanted to, it could swipe at Dmitri and Richard with a wave of its too-long arms. Below, the captain of the guard shouted for archers. All the arrows shot slammed into the creature, making it stumble back.

  “It’s always nice to have every arrow hit,” Dmitri said. “Most of those archers have master-level abilities in shooting arrows.”

  Richard watched, transfixed, as another volley of arrows slammed into the Minion of Gluttony. It dropped onto its overlong arms and sprinted, ignoring its stubby legs as it screeched.

  The guards moved away from the charge, though many of them got a few good swipes with their weapons. One man pulled out a huge javelin from the small of his back. There was no way someone could lift that thing with one hand, yet this guard did. The guard raced forward, then he blurred. Richard didn’t trace him until the guard appeared behind the monster.

  “How…” Richard started to ask, but paused. The system. That guard could move inhumanly fast. The guard threw the javelin at the creature’s back, and it screeched as blood and gore sprayed across the dirt. The javelin-throwing guard leapt into the air, grabbing the weapon and forcing it down, pinning the creature. Other guards rushed in, hacking away at the creature until it stopped moving.

  Richard didn’t realize his mouth was gaping open until Dmitri turned toward him, smiling. “What do you think?”

  “I… do not want to be a guard.”

  Dmitri laughed. “That’s perfectly fine, Richard. Our guards certainly can take down a Mog fast. Those creatures smell our crops when they first sprout, and then again during harvest season. The guards usually have to battle Mogs four or five times a day during harvest season.” Dmitri sighed. “It’s a pity Mogs have little usefulness in potions. They’re cursed creatures, changing anything they touch into useless slop. The guards’ll have to burn the corpse, which usually attracts some fire demons.” Dmitri grunted. “Those are a lot harder to fight.”

  Richard didn’t know what else to do but stare. The thing he just saw, the casual way Dmitri went about his life? He simply didn’t understand.

  “How… how…” Richard closed his eyes, forcing his thoughts to work for him. “How did this start? The apocalypse?”

  Dmitri shrugged. “No one really knows. We had a library once at base three. All the books were stored in the basement. But… we lost the base. We can’t even be sure the information is still there.”

  Richard swallowed, watching the guards hack apart the body. A putrid stench hit them, and Richard realized he no longer wanted to be up here. Dmitri glanced at him confused, then back at the body.

  “Oh, right. Come on, the protection shields are below. They’ll also protect you from the smell.”

  Richard was more than happy to climb down the ladder again. He could tell the instant he was below the shields, and he breathed the fresh air.

  “How do you feel about the system now?” Dmitri asked.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “Better.” Richard still couldn’t trust it entirely, but if he didn’t have it, the Mog creature would have slaughtered him on the spot. “It seems obvious the help it gives guards and anyone stupid enough to enter the forest, but what about farmers? How does the system help those not in combat situations?”

  Dmitri motioned him over. “Let’s show you.”

  Richard followed Dmitri to the farmlands. He watched, astounded, as a woman who couldn’t be more than twenty years old lifted a contraption meant for an ox and pulled it. Another man flicked a wrist, and a bubble of water appeared, sucking moisture from the air before sprinkling it down on the freshly made crops. An older man was mashing something before placing it in a huge bucket. He nodded toward two others. One person lifted the large bucket that should have weighed fifty pounds and placed it on his back, then a scattering of people came with smaller buckets, filling them with the mud and rushing out to the crops, sprinkling it around the new plants.

  Watching them made him realize why magic was so important. “No… horses. No animals of any kind. It’s just… us.”

  “That’s correct.” Dmitri again placed his hands behind his back, watching the farmers. “Every creature on this planet is trying to kill us.” He let out a shudder. “I pray to Order that you never experience the insects here. The farmers alone keep everyone else busy, no matter the time of season. The fertilizer they create is a potion in itself, honestly. It has to be complex and rich enough to make up for the lack of beetles, bees, and other insects that are essential for regular farming.”

  “But… there are insects here. You just mentioned,” Richard said.

  “Yes. And if the scavengers manage to kill them and bring them back, it cuts the ingredients needed for the fertilizer in half. But if they don’t kill them…” Dmitri trailed off, glancing to where the trees were just visible over the wall. “You’ll worry about that if you become a scavenger or guard.”

  Richard glanced again at the forest. What was it about the insects of this place that made Dmitri shudder, yet calmly watch a monster with a mouth where someone’s stomach should be?

  “Ah, Elwyndor.”

  Richard glanced over when he heard Dmitri talking to someone. He then dropped his gaze and saw a woman who only reached his waist. She was powerfully built, and it took Richard another moment to realize Elwyndor was a dwarf. She had splotches of fertilizer on her trousers and tunic, holding a huge shovel over her shoulder.

  “We have a list of things we need.” Elwyndor pulled out a scroll from the small of her back and handed it to Dmitri.

  He took it, scanning the items. “Elias brought back a lot of the stuff on here.”

  Elwyndor grunted, then spat on the ground. “That guy’s still alive?”

  “Yes. Despite his behavior, he is still one of the best scavengers we have,” Dmitri said.

  “Does that mean if someone get’s better than him, we can finally kill the bastard?”

  Dmitri pursed his lips but said nothing. Richard got the impression that he wanted to agree with Elwyndor. Instead, the scroll Elwyndor gave him disappeared in the small of his back, and Richard couldn’t help but stare.

  “As leader of this group, I cannot allow other people in the group to kill someone else.”

  “And if we get proof that he’s killed other people?” Elwyndor asked, her face growing dark.

  Richard glanced between Dmitri and Elwyndor. Despite not wanting to believe it, Richard had the feeling Elwyndor was speaking from experience.

  “Find me the proof, then we’ll talk.”

  Richard stared at Dmitri for a few seconds before his eyes shifted back to Elwyndor. The dwarf woman was seething, but she simply adjusted the shovel to her other shoulder before returning toward the farmlands.

  “Um… I’m sorry, what’s going on?” Richard asked.

  “You might as well know about Elias’s behavior. No doubt you’ll hear all the rumors he’s generated in the seven years he’s been here.” Dmitri walked deeper into the farmlands. Richard had no choice but to follow. “Just… stay out of the guy’s way. Elias likes to be alone. He doesn’t make friends.”

  “None?” Richard asked. Dmitri looked like he was considering telling the truth. “You’re honest because it’s helpful,” Richard said. “Is this one of those helpful times?”

  Dmitri sighed. “Elias and I came to this planet in the same newbie group. He was still kind of a loner, but we both made a couple of friends. Three years in, one of his friends died rather… graphically. The other died soon after.” This time Dmitri’s voice did drop to a whisper. “I can pinpoint his demeanor change to that moment. He got darker. Refused to make friends. Enjoyed killing monsters a little too much. Focused on leveling and getting stronger.” Dmitri trailed off as they reached the middle of the farmland. He then patted two metal containers that didn’t reach farther than his kneecaps and were as wide as a staircase. “And these two buildings are the most important parts of this base camp. They are well in the middle so they can be protected.”

  Richard glanced at the metal containers, wondering if he had just experienced the world’s worst tonal whiplash of his life. “Uh…”

  “I know what you’re thinking.” Dmitri knelt down and flicked his wrist, much like Lucy had done with the back storage area of the healers. These buildings were under Dmitri’s protection. Building seemed like such a generous term for something so small.

  Dmitri opened the door. Richard stared, wondering why the inside looked so off to him. It took another moment to realize the silos were bigger on the inside, and he was seeing the top of the staircase. Inside were hundreds of shelves, many with perfectly preserved food inside.

  “Wait…”

  “Yep. Beautiful creations from some of the first survivors. We’ve lost the ability to do this, so we need to protect these buildings no matter what. We’ve built our base camp around these silos. You may think we’re protecting the people, but no. These silos can hold a thousand pounds of food each. The old farmers passed down the stories of the first few winters of the apocalypse. Believe me. We do not want to get stuck without food during the winter. I’ve never experienced it myself, and the farmers work hard so no one has those memories.”

  Dmitri closed the doors, glancing up at the sky, blocking the light with his hand to keep the sunlight from blinding him. “That’s about dinner time, don’t you think?”

  “Uh, sure?” Richard asked.

  Dmitri smiled, slapping his back. “Lucy always makes the drinkable basic health potions stave off hunger. Nice things in a pinch, but let’s get you some real home-cooked food.”

  Richard still had many questions bouncing around in his head, but he assumed they would get answered. It was the questions he desperately needed answers to that were the ones he couldn’t ask. What did he experience in his first fifteen minutes after arriving on this planet? Was that a backward time jump? He got the feeling, from knowing his last name alone, that it wasn’t common to do that. In fact, it might be dangerous, but he didn’t know why. The best thing he could do was keep his head down and stay quiet, but he didn’t know how long he could do that.

  And who was that man in the corner of his bedroom? The one with the too-wide smile? Richard did everything possible to keep himself from shivering as he remembered that ghoulish smile. That guy seemed like he would enjoy an apocalypse.