Uruvi and Aman made their way back into the sea of apartments.

  “You called yourself a handyman, right?” asked Uruvi.

  “Yeah. My assistant, Jack, told me,” he said, pointing at the robot.

  “Greetings… Name… Uruvi,” it said.

  “Yeah. It doesn’t do human talk,” said Aman.

  “I understand. I named mine Arya. But it doesn’t come as a cute flying robot,” she said.

  “I guess that is a privilege for anchors.”

  “Speaking of which. Something about this doesn’t sit right with me…” she said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean… You heard the creator’s message, right? He sounded like he wanted us to suffer. So… why have all this additional stuff?”

  “Additional stuff?”

  “You know. Anchors, safezones, and now anchors have specific roles as well. On one hand, we have this apocalyptic system, trying to get everyone killed. At the same time, it is doing everything in its power to make sure everyone other than the contestants has enough chances to live!”

  He fell silent, seemingly lost in thought. Uruvi patiently waited for him to respond. However, when he noticed that she was looking at him, he said, “oh. I have no clue.”

  She wanted to roll her eyes so hard, but restrained herself from doing so. Instead, she let out a soft chuckle.

  “Sorry. I don’t really care much for it. I am just trying to survive,” he said.

  They came to a stop at an intersection. “It is alright. Sometimes it's better to think about themselves first,” she said.

  “Agreed. Take care,” he said and departed.

  ‘Am I the only one who thinks of all these things?’ She wondered.

  She turned back to face the street that led to her apartment. Her dad was trotting about at a distance, not paying much attention to what was happening around the place. She quietly walked towards her apartment and made her way back to her home.

  Uruvi felt like her head was overloaded with thoughts. She set her axe down beside the refrigerator before taking a peek inside. The bottom shelf of the door was lined with bottles of golden liquid, a sight she was far too familiar with.

  “What is this? Dad’s back binging again?” She was tempted to take a sip, but resisted the urge. Instead, she swiped the last soda can before closing the door.

  “Okay, first thing. We need to upgrade our skills. Arya, can you tell me how many points I have?” she asked, before taking a sip of the cool liquid.

  “Affirmative. You have 15 attribute points, 3 skill points, and 3 spell points.”

  “Nice. Lots of points to work with.” She looked at her attributes screen and noticed that her Navel Chakra was very close to Level 2. She needed 3 points for Valor and Dynamism, while only 2 points for Serenity. It was a very tempting offer. Having leveled up 2 Chakras would certainly give her an edge in battle. “Fuck it. Let’s do it.”

  She brought the three to 20 points, while assigning 2 points to Strength and Toughness, and 1 point to Renewal. “Arya, save my changes.”

  “Affirmative.”

  Almost immediately, she felt a surge of energy radiate out of her navel and midriff. It felt weird and tingly, but it also felt great, like new life was poured into her. “Oh yeah… that felt good…”

  She switched the tab to the Skills and Spells screen. “3 each… and a lot of options.” As she browsed through the list of Skills and Spells, she found something very peculiar. “Say Arya, all my skills and Spells are connected to physical combat. Don’t I get cool stuff like fireballs or laser eyes… or something?”

  “Affirmative. More Skills and Spells can be unlocked in several ways. For example. Attaining a blessing can unlock element-based Skills and Spells.”

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  “And for that, I need an Asura. Hmm… I wonder if Bhadraksha can give me one?”

  She took a while to go through the list and found some interesting abilities that would improve her combat. ‘I definitely need to upgrade Empower. That stamina boost is a godsend!’

  Her new set of Skills were made up of –

  Razor Focus – Increase damage dealt by 10 percent when there are two or fewer enemies in combat

  Crippling Precision – Detect the weak point of the enemy. Striking a weak point deals double the damage.

  An upgrade to Empower.

  While her new Spells consisted of –

  Mark them – Cast a mark on enemies, up to three. Decrease their speed and increase their susceptibility to chained attacks.

  Intimidate – Increase the enemy’s fear, reducing their special defense and aggression.

  Burning Fury – Mark a weapon and raise its attack by 10 percent. Enemies struck by a marked weapon will lose a portion of their health permanently. Portion of health is equal to 5 percent of damage dealt.

  The last Spell intrigued Uruvi quite a bit. It was a complex Spell and the health lost was less. Having faced an enemy who could constantly heal, she knew how useful it would be. She was also curious if she could increase the percentage of permanent damage.

  “Okay… I think I have delayed it long enough. Arya, bring up the new features added.”

  “Affirmative.” The tab switched to the Help screen, and she was bombarded by a wall of text.

  “Okay. I am not reading all of that. Why don’t you give me a gist of it?”

  “These are the main highlights of the announcement.”

  She let out a loud grunt. “I am going to take an entire evening to just read that!”

  Time was of the essence as she needed to make sure to have enough points at the end of the day. “Arya, what is my rank on the Local board?”

  “Local rank – 52”

  “I have slipped already. Is the guy at the top still Sashwat?”

  “Affirmative.”

  “Is defeating enemies the only way to get points?”

  “Affirmative. Defeating monsters gives you a set number of points. Defeat as many enemies to gain points.”

  She paused for a second. It was a question that had been gnawing away at her brain, but she was too afraid to ask. “What about defeating contestants?”

  “Defeating a contestant would reward you with their points along with a fixed number of extra points.”

  She knew it was going to be the case. “Is killing the only way of defeating a contestant?”

  “Affirmative.”

  Her heart sank a little. “Really? What about something like they yielded or forfeited?”

  “Negative. Only a kill counts as a defeat.”

  The monotone and robotic delivery of the line made it all the more chilling. She quickly switched the topic. “Right. Where can I get a bunch of enemies to kill?”

  The map opened before her when, suddenly, the door burst open, and her father marched in wearing a serious expression on his face.

  “Okay. I have thought about it for a while. And you know what? You are right. There is more danger in you staying here than going out and fighting those things… Until we figure out how to get you out of the system,” said her father.

  She cocked her head, wearing a sweet smile on her face. “Yup. Until we figure that out.”

  He grabbed her arm and pulled her over to the couch, where he made her sit. He looked her in the eyes and asked, “okay. You will only be killing those monsters, right?”

  “Yes dad. Only monsters,” she said, nodding her head.

  “No contestants. Only monsters.”

  “Hmm… actually. What if they tried to kill me?”

  He paused to think for a second and said, “fine. Monsters and bad contestants.”

  She found it comical how he termed those who attacked her as bad people. “Totally.” Though she had no intention of killing any humans, it was not a promise she could keep. She hated breaking promises.

  He leaned back, taking in a deep breath. “Okay. What now? Will you need to leave?”

  “I am ranked 52 out of some 1000. So, I am pretty safe at the moment. But my rank is slipping; I might need to go out and kill some monsters.”

  “52? Wow. How did you get so many points?”

  “I just fought off a massive monster and came. Did you not hear the explosions? They were strong enough to shatter glass!”

  “I have been hearing explosions every half an hour for the past two days.”

  “Didn’t your friend call you on your phone?”

  “Oh,” he had a guilty look on his face. “I had left my phone here.”

  She threw a cold stare at him, making him cover his face with his palms.

  She gave him a quick rundown of all that had transpired. “That pretty much covers everything so far.”

  “Okay… Looks like I missed everything,” he replied.

  She let out a soft chuckle.

  “So, what now?” he asked.

  “Now. I need to armor up.”

  He looked at her, confused. “You have armor? Like in olden times?”

  “Not sure… But for the moment. Something other than a T-shirt and shorts. Something like Rana had worn. A nice thick shirt and jacket. I don’t know how effective it is, but it just needs to make me feel safe.”

  He snapped his fingers and said, “I think I got you covered there.”

  They spent the next half hour scouring through the wardrobes, looking for the best pair of clothes. She made sure to try everything on and count the defense it provided her. In the end, she had found exactly what she needed. A thick clothed maroon t-shirt and a grey jacket for the top, while tough denim jeans protected her legs. The only problem was that everything was oversized. She could adjust to the shirt and jacket, but the jeans needed a little trimming. Her mother was an expert seamstress; unfortunately, she did not inherit the skills. It was shoddy, but it did the job fine.

  “Boots?” she asked her dad. There was no way she could cut it down to fit her.

  “Don’t you have a pair that you brought for trekking?” said her dad.

  She let out an awkward chuckle before retreating into her room to get them. She had brought them five years ago, and never wore them again. When she tried them on, they fit her perfectly and gave her light feet some weight. The speed stat did take a beating, but it was in single digits.

  She took a quick look at herself in the mirror. It looked like she was going out for an expedition rather than for a fight. “It loses a few points on aura. But at least I am better prepared than I was last time.”