Systematic Survival

40 - Respite

The dot was moving toward him quickly. I closed his map, hoping it would maybe remove his own dot and make him harder to find, but it wasn't a guarantee. Just as he was trying to figure out what his next steps should be, a notification sounded.

__________

[New Quest]

Survive

[Reward: +1 Unassigned Skill Point, +5 Unassigned Stat Points, +100xp]

__________

'That doesn't seem good...'

After he read the quest name, he felt paranoid and decided the best course of action was to use his mind palace. After he thought the activation word, Matt was suddenly in a grassy field once more. He tried to take a breath and calm down but it wasn't really working.

'So... I have a hostile beta tester heading right for me.'

He was still trying to process his situation. Just a few hours ago, he didn't even know that there were other beta testers. He probably should have assumed so, but it just didn't occur to him. He started realizing he should've prepared more for this outcome sooner.

'I can't stay in here forever, so I should think of something.'

He considered just running away from the other player. With his agility and boots, he was probably faster.

'But, if the player is at a higher level, he might have a lot more agility. And my shoes have a cooldown. Also, what if he has a power like flight or paralysis?'

He realized that there were too many unknowns. Confronting the player would probably reveal a lot more, but it would also be a death wish. He realized what he had to do.

'I guess I should just stay here. I'll drill skills and try to use them to escape.'

He wasn't sure how long he would be stuck here, but he was prepared to do anything he had to, to survive. He went into the small hut he had created earlier in his mind.

He saw the pile of books he had collected before and sat down next to them. Matt dug around and tried to find anything that seemed useful.

"Cooking probably won't help. I don't think career advice is useful here either..."

He dug around and kept chucking books behind him until he finally found a few that could be helpful.

[How to Run: From Zero to Olympics]

[Parkour for Cool Dudes!]

'Hmm, these will probably help. But I'm not sure if they'll be enough. There's no way to tell what level the other player is...'

He realized that maybe he was overthinking it. Right now he had the speed boost shoes and evolved agility. Not to mention he got 3 points just running here.

'Usually in games, the aggressive players would spec into strength and defense. Unless they're an assassin type, they probably don't have a lot of agility. But that's assuming they are around my level. And it's way too risky to base everything off of a guess like that.'

He checked his menu again just to confirm his own level. He was level 3.

'Did all beta testers get the system at the same time or at different times? If they did get it at the same time, then I might be fine. I basically trained my stats nonstop the past few days since I got the system.'

Matt sighed. This was all starting to feel real now. Normally, this kind of stuff wouldn't happen if he just lived a normal life.

'I'm probably not gonna catch a break. It's all downhill from here.'