As Kennon stared at the realm wall he went deathly cold. His soul itself shivered in fear.

  It was incomprehensible. It was nothing. It was everything. It was an empty blackness. It was a vibrant wash of impossibly bright colors.

  Without thinking he took a step back. The abyss was replaced with an empty sky. Yet he stood rooted to the spot.

  He had always heard that realm walls were eldritch things. But he never understood. Not really. He still didn’t.

  Bev: Kennon, are you-

  System anomaly detected.

  Anti system discovered. Purging.

  Kennon felt his mind being split in two. It was like an unseen force had grabbed at him and started to tear.

  Do you wish to retain the growth system?

  He was in too much pain to think coherently. What was happening? Was something trying to take the system away from him?

  Desire to retain whole acknowledged. Spending growth system point to rebuff system.

  Vonn protocol active. Condition met. No point spent.

  The pain suddenly stopped. Bev, he had to tell her he was ok. Was he ok? Well, he was ok enough. But he certainly wasn’t standing around here for another second.

  Kennon: I am ok. I found the realm wall. Then the system did something odd.

  System integrity 80%. Non essential features diminished until repair process complete.

  That… the system was damaged?

  Wait, the messages. Anomaly, anti system, points. Rebuff the system? What did any of it mean?

  It didn’t matter. It seemed Bev didn’t get his message. And whatever happened he would need her to figure it out. He had to get back. Now.

  There was only so much sprinting one could do before even the most concerning problems got lost in the exhaustion. When he ran for an hour, and nothing happened it started to become clear that this was not an immediate threat.

  At two hours the burning desire for safety melted into a simmer.

  At three hours he started to wonder if he was just being silly.

  The wall was terrifying. But he had already been told that was the case. It may have been more overwhelming than he expected. But it was nothing to worry about. As for the system.

  System integrity 85%

  It was repairing. Whatever happened didn’t seem to cause permanent damage.

  He had tried to send several more messages. But he could feel Bev’s confusion each time he sent one. His status screen wouldn’t come up. And notes seemed down too. But skill selection and all the spell features seemed intact.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Just what had happened?

  It had felt like he was under attack. Or, rather like something attached to him was under attack. Was something from the realm wall attacking the system? The first two messages made it sound like something called the anti system had been found, and was being purged.

  But the pain started after that.

  Were those first two messages even from the system?

  There were no answers.

  Margie would know.

  He banished that thought the moment it appeared. It didn’t matter if she knew. She was dead. Killed by the church of the system. They needed to figure it out on their own.

  Wait, church of the system. Anti system. Growth system. Were there two completely different systems in competition?

  He didn’t have the strength to continue this reasoning. His head hurt. He was exhausted. He just wanted to get back and sleep.

  He almost made it back safely. He really did. As he started to recognize sights of his previous hunts his mood lifted. Then he heard it. A low rumbling noise. He didn’t stop to investigate.

  He burst into a wild sprint. He heard rapid, yet quiet steps behind him. A quick glance. That was all he spared. But it was enough to get an identify.

  Golden tiger - predator - T1

  This was trouble.

  Kennon had a head start. And a mildly superhuman physique. But that was a T1 tiger. It could be as much as twice as fast as him. He had to get to Bev. She could shoot it. It probably wouldn’t kill it. But it would distract it enough for him to charge a spell. No matter how much practice he did at casting and running, none of it involved aiming behind himself.

  As he turned the bend he nearly cried with relief. There was Bev. rifle in hand. Standing just inside the illusion field. It didn’t affect him, since he had been keyed as a user. But the tiger would be blindsided.

  Compatible system network detected. Finalizing repairs.

  What? Never mind.

  Kennon nearly had to do a double take as he noticed a large polearm, larger than her, rested against Bev’s shoulder. But he didn’t have time to worry about that.

  He saw Bev take aim. Straight towards him. He sensed her intentions. And at the same time she pulled the trigger he stepped to the side.

  The gun fired. And the tiger didn’t even grace it with a growl. Kennon saw Bev’s face drop as the tiger continued chasing him. She picked up the halberd. Kennon didn’t even see the enchantments until they lit up with Bev’s mana.

  Bev charged out of the field towards them. The moment she passed him he span around and began empowering a fire bolt.

  He saw her strike at the tiger. The spike of the halberd nearly grazed its head as it dodged to the side. She continued the lunge till the hook was past it, then pulled it in scraping its face.

  It jumped back and roared blood trickling from a gash on its face. The sound of it nearly broke Kennon’s concentration on the spell, but he held firm.

  The tiger swiped a massive paw at Bev. each of its claws the size of his fingers, and nearly shining in the light. Bev took a step back and twisted the halberd to chop at the limb axe first.

  It struck. the paw flew free. The tiger roared in pain, then began a reckless lunge. Before it could follow through a finger sized hole burned its way through its eye and into its skull.

  With a soft exhale and a muted thud the tiger fell lifeless to the ground.

  Kennon fell to the floor himself. He was exhausted. He ran almost the entire day. And it had been a very interesting day.

  Level 5 reached. + 20 soul points. + 200 max mana. Class unlocked. Profession unlocked. Tutor unlocked.

  He couldn’t help it. He laughed out loud. Whatever this was. Whatever was happening. It would wait long enough for him to wash up and catch his breath.

  “So, you made a halberd?”

  “Yep. but I might want to replace the haft with tiger bones.”

  “Wait till you make me a weapon before you go rebuilding yours!”

  “It seems like you don’t need a weapon. But I will consider it.”

  They both burst into laughter. It had been a very long day. They could deal with the extra two levels and all that came with it after a long rest and a good meal.