At the moment I made for the closest crowd of people, I heard the sound of a notification as it popped in front of my eyes.

  While not the greatest reward ever in terms of time or amount, I was still glad to have gained something for my efforts. I usually struggled to figure out how much experience I got for something. This time, however, I had a guess to go off of. One experience doubled for each match I’d won. Given that the finals were essentially two rounds, that would explain the extra doubling. I couldn’t be sure—it was random at the best of times—but it felt right to me.

  I had a bounce in my step as I walked over to what turned out to be one of the team performances. The team on the mat giving their demonstration was dressed in matching black uniforms with golden accents. There were five of them going through a choreographed routine. It looked like the tall man at the center was having a fight with the other four. The five traded ‘blows’ until the man at the center won the faux fight. He helped up the other four that had fallen to the mat and they bowed to applause from the audience.

  After they were done, another group went onto the mat to do their performance. I decided to move on to the next area. While what they were doing was pretty cool and somewhat interesting, I didn’t feel connected to it after all the sparring I’d experienced today. I wanted an event with more on the line. I found what I was looking for after coming across another performance—a single person with a staff doing forms.

  Instead of yet another fake fight or display of technical prowess, I saw a higher level of what I had won. I wormed my way into the crowd to get a better look. In front of me were two men beating the shit out of each other. At that level, there were different brackets for men and for women. There had to be. Based on the sheer violence I was watching, I didn’t see how a woman without enhanced stats would have a chance.

  The physical differences between men and women were things I hadn’t considered when it came to the system I was building. I knew that everyone was going to be in danger from the monsters. While war was traditionally a man’s occupation, women were going to need the same strength and resilience else they would die. And if the women died, so did the human race.

  While the men’s tournament continued in the background, I poked around with Search to see if I could find anything that would help. I tried several search terms. Eventually, I did come across a few things.

  These options were mirrored for all the stats. There was the cheaper option that made everyone the same and the more expensive option that brought everyone to a base-level. That second option was definitely the preferred one—if I could afford it. Doing nothing wasn’t an option, but I really hoped I didn’t have to go with the former option. People were who they were because of their differences, not what they shared with everyone. I didn’t want to take that away from them.

  There were other gripes I had with what I’d tried out. I wasn’t sure if I’d chosen the right stats to work with. They were basic—which was fine—but there were things they couldn’t do; which was not fine. I knew I might end up going with them if that’s all I could afford, but that needed improvement. Skills needed to be fixed and expanded as well.

  And then there was the idea of classes. I wanted to test how they worked and see if they would be a good option for the final build or if they were a distraction. The main payoff—for me at least—of getting classes was extra experience to spend elsewhere. The way they worked ultimately constrained the available skills, which was considered a detriment as far as experience was concerned.

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  Then, of course, there were the other—arguably more important—things like what to purchase to get experience. I knew I’d have to get the full suite every reset, so any amount I didn’t have to spend on myself, the better. At the moment, I was partial towards getting Quests II, Milestones II, Hidden Milestones II, and then one of the experience types. Experience Vault was also on that list so that I could start each life off the right way. I estimated that I wouldn’t have much extra after getting all of those—and Restart I. I planned to talk with Mom and Dad about my thoughts in the near future.

  I brought myself back to reality after the champion of the men’s tournament was declared. Though there were a couple of events still ongoing, I decided to return to Section B to wait for the awards ceremony to start. Around half of my fellow students were there when I arrived. Master Chang was still wandering around. I didn’t have to wait too long before he returned.

  “Tigers,” he said, “I want to thank you for how well you’ve all done today.”

  Several people cheered, which brought a smile to his face.

  “For those of you who have placed in any of the events, there’ll be an awards ceremony in around an hour. For those who didn’t, you can stick around to watch or you can go out and relax. Tomorrow, we’ll all be training, so make sure to be back here on time, ok?”

  “Yes, Master Chang,” came the reply.

  “Good,” he nodded.

  Most of the students cleared out. Though Master Chang had suggested they stay to watch, it wasn’t required. Many of them were teens who had come with family whose parents wanted to share a meal with them rather than wait around another hour or two. I didn’t mind. It just meant fewer eyes on me when I took to whatever stage was prepared for me and the others who had placed.

  An hour later, the announcement came over the speakers.

  “Anyone who placed in a tournament today, please go to Section D.”

  Master Chang led the way. I—and the handful of students who’d stuck around—followed him to Section D. The crowd—though sizable—was barely a tenth as large as had been buzzing around from event to event throughout the day. Near the back wall in Section D was a small stage. On the sides of the stage were several differently sized trophies. In the middle was an old man standing by a microphone. He had two younger men—one on each side of him—standing guard.

  “Hello,” said the old man. “Those of you coming, please leave room for people to move around. We’ll get started in a moment.”

  He coughed and put his hand over the microphone to say something to the man on his left. The man nodded and picked out a few trophies from the side of the stage to bring to the front. When people stopped arriving, he continued to speak.

  “For those who I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting before, I am Grandmaster Li,” he said. “Many years ago, my own master taught me that competition was what brought out the best in a warrior. Each and everyone who participated this year is just that: a warrior. I believe—just as my master did—in rewarding the best of the best. To that end, I will begin handing out trophies to the top three in each tournament.”

  Grandmaster Li bent down and picked up the smallest trophy near him.

  “For third place in the under tens, we have Madison!”

  There was light clapping from the crowd as a small girl walked confidently to the stage. Grandmaster Li said a few words to her before handing her the trophy.

  “In second place is James!”

  A small freckled boy ran up to collect his prize.

  “And the winner of the under tens tournament—please give a warm welcome to Leon!”

  A slightly larger boy collected his trophy. Then it was on to my tournament. The tall boy got his third place trophy while Mia took her second place prize.

  “And the winner for the under thirteens, Eddy!”

  I smiled as I walked to the stage. Grandmaster Li had a presence on the stage in spite of his somewhat frail appearance.

  “I heard about your match from the officials,” he told me with a grin. “You did very well. Master Chang must be proud of you.”

  “Thank you,” I said.

  I took the trophy and returned to where I had been. I thought it was probably rude to take my trophy and run. I wanted to eat dinner, but I could wait until everyone else got their prizes.

  While I waited, I looked at what I’d won. The trophy wasn’t a small thing. It had multiple tiers to it. Each had its own decoration of little statues of people fighting with different styles. At the base of it was a small plaque with my name, the event I won, and the year it took place. I put it down next to me for the rest of the event.

  I was exhausted by the time the awards ceremony was over. I barely had the energy to eat dinner—though that didn’t stop me from absolutely gorging myself. Given my age, I was just beginning to hit my growth spurt. It wouldn’t finish for another few years. Even so, I needed a ton of energy to get there. Dad was more than happy setting me loose in a buffet for that reason.

  The next day, Dad and I got up early again for the second day of the convention. Rather than tournaments, today was the day for me to learn skills from masters other than Master Chang. I’d been looking forward to this, as it was going to be my first real chance to learn how to use martial arts weapons.

  Sure, Master Chang did some of it, but I needed to be a black belt in his school first. Here, though, I would be able to try out staves, swords, nunchucks, and many more. Master Chang insisted that we all join one of the mindfulness—meditation—sessions as well, regardless of what else we wanted to do. I wasn’t interested in that. However, what he said was law at this event for me.

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