A new pep in his step, Colin slung his spear and shield across his back.He’d discovered the mounting mechanism just after starting back down the path toward the Northern Road—simple enough once you saw it, but deeply satisfying to click into pce.
Catching his reflection in a patch of evening light, he slowed.Damn, he thought, I actually look good in this.The spear. The shield. The armor. The posture.It wasn’t vanity. It was... confidence.And maybe, finally, a little pride.
His mind still churned with everything Voss had said.Alien fucking incursions.Distributing System code across the brains of eight billion people.Oh, and no pressure—but you and two others are responsible for protecting the pnet’s future.
He straightened his spine a little more.
Years of strength training had done wonders, sure.But the augments from the two serums?That was another level entirely.Every step felt powerful. Aligned. Right.
Maybe these shoulders can handle the weight, he thought.And hey... at least I’m not the only one.
Random thoughts drifting like leaves in a current, he eventually rejoined the Northern Road and followed it back toward Grimwatch.No map prompts. No objectives.Just one clear idea:Beer.Cold, simple, restorative beer.
So he walked straight to the only pce that made sense:The Winking Serpent.
Inside, the tavern was quieter than he expected.A few unfamiliar patrons milled about, sipping drinks and nibbling at bread.No other executives he recognized yet.
He picked a corner table and took a seat.
A moment ter, Mira appeared at his side.“Hello again, Colin! What can I get you?”
“Honestly?” he said, smiling, “A big mug of cold beer. I’ll wait for my partner before dinner, but... you got a meat and cheese tray or something?”
“I’ve got you covered,” Mira said with a wink. “Be back in a few minutes.”
She dropped the beer off and left. He sipped the first half of his beer in quiet contentment.A modest charcuterie board arrived shortly after—soft cheese, dried sausage, crisp toast.He ate slowly, not hungry so much as steadying himself.
Not long after, Valerie stepped through the door.
And moments ter—Leah.
They greeted him briefly, then went to freshen up.He smiled to himself as he watched them disappear down the hall.
One by one, they began returning.
Everyone now wore their new armor and carried their weapons—no longer cd in the neutral linens from before.And so, as the CEOs, their deputies and partners began trickling in, the tavern slowly transformed.
What had been a sleepy inn now looked like the starting zone for a high-tier raid.Dozens of people, dressed like characters out of an RPG, quietly taking their seats and ordering dinner and drinks.
Colin took another sip of beer.Yeah, he thought. This is going to be interesting.
Valerie and Leah returned, still wearing their new armor, and they quickly joined Colin at the table.Dinner was ordered, drinks flowed, and the atmosphere inside The Winking Serpent shifted—growing louder, warmer, livelier.
Laughter broke out here and there.Stories started flying—half-exaggerated already.
It was camaraderie, pure and simple.
Then, the tavern doors swung wide once more.
And in strode two figures that stopped every conversation cold.
The Spearmaiden and the Spectral Huntress.Full gear. Full auras. Full presence.
Heads turned. Forks froze halfway to mouths.
Colin felt it too—that gravitational pull when real power entered the room.
Mallory began speaking first.“Everyone, you all look incredible! I hope you enjoyed your trials today?”
Mallory raised a hand, smiling warmly.
“Everyone—you look incredible.”“I hope you enjoyed your Trials today?”
A wave of excited voices answered all at once—questions, jokes, cheers.
Mallory ughed, waiting a few seconds before raising her hand again.
“Good.
I think you’re starting to understand why this is happening.
And we’ll answer your questions—But first, Vanessa has something important to expin.”
She turned to Vanessa, who stepped forward easily—calm, confident, deadly in her dark armor.
Every eye locked onto her.
Vanessa smiled slightly—just enough to be disarming, not enough to soften her edge.
“Alright, listen up.I know not all of you work directly for our companies. That’s fine.What’s happening here affects everyone.”
She let that hang a second, making sure they were paying attention.“Today, when you got your armor and weapons, you saw the System messages.Echo items—usable here, but not yet real outside.”
Nods rippled through the crowd.“Here’s how it works:The System is active in the real world now.When you finish your Trials, you’ll get a quest to track down the materials needed to forge your real-world versions.”
She grinned a little.“Right now? You could probably just order half of it off Amazon.”
Laughter broke out.“But—”(her voice sharpened slightly)“—we're not going to let it be that easy.”
The room quieted again.“Even the first group—we don’t get to cheat. Neither will you.”
A few people straightened a little at that.
Vanessa’s voice softened slightly, not mockingly, but serious:“The purpose isn’t the shopping list.It’s the journey.If you have to hike a mountain, swim a river, or track down rare ore in a dead mine...That’s the point.”
Vanessa walked them through the basics of how the forging process would work.
“Once you return to the real world, you’ll receive a quest from The System—a list of materials you’ll need to gather.After you’ve assembled everything on that list the blueprint will unlock, detailing how to construct your weapon or armor.”
She paused, letting the weight of that sink in.“The blueprint is encoded in your Echo item—it already exists. But The System won’t reveal it until the full bill of materials has been met.Think of it as an assembly code that won’t compile until every input is ready.”
She paced slowly in front of the fire, her voice steady, clear.
“Around the world, we’re setting up forging stations for the weapons and armor sets you obtain here in Grimwatch. Think of them like smart bcksmith shops—but capable of interpreting System code and reshaping almost any raw material into a functional weapon or armor piece.”
The room was quiet now, listening.
Then Mallory stepped forward.“Let’s take it one step further.”
She gestured toward the windows, as if pointing beyond the walls of Grimwatch.
“We’ve unched Project MIST—Modur Infusion System Transmitters. These are real-world infrastructure nodes built to release and control nanites in the atmosphere.”
A few brows lifted. Someone murmured, “That’s how the stats work?”
Mallory nodded.“Exactly. Once enough Aethernodes and Aetherdrones are active, The System becomes fully functional outside the Tutorial. Here’s how it breaks down.”
She raised three fingers.
First — Stats.
“Each point in Strength, Endurance, Vitality—everything—can only work if the body has the raw material to respond.The nanites act as scaffolding. They reinforce bones. Add density to muscle. Speed up neurons.Without them? A stat sheet is just numbers.”
Second — Mage and Healer abilities.
“Spells rely on intensive nanite concentration. In here”—she gestured at the tavern walls—“they’re abundant. But in the real world, they won’t be. Not yet.Until the Aethernodes do their job, Mages and Healers will be limited.”
Third — Evolution.
Vanessa stepped in again, her voice quieter, but no less firm.“This is the part most people don’t want to think about yet.But the truth is—eventually, we won’t need the serums.Once nanite saturation is high enough, System-compatible traits will begin appearing naturally in future generations.”
A beat of silence followed.
Then a voice from the back spoke up.“Now that we understand how Vitalyx and Rejuvenex really work... what happens when people stop dying? Isn’t popution growth going to explode? We’re already short on space and resources. What happens then?”
The room quieted again.
Mallory nodded once.“That was one of my first questions to Mr. Voss.”
She folded her hands behind her back.“Vanessa isn’t just leading weapon and armor forging. Her team is responsible for something much bigger—the restructuring of the global workforce.”
Shocked voices rippled through the room—some raised, some anxious, some outright angry.
Mallory raised her hands, palms out, urging calm.
“First—resources. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed yet... but after taking Vitalyx and Rejuvenex, your body just doesn’t need as much food.You metabolize calories more efficiently. Every gram of protein, every carb, every nutrient—optimized.That means the global demand for food drops fast.”
The noise softened slightly. A few skeptical faces stayed sharp, but others paused to listen.
She continued.“Second—space. I asked Mr. Voss this exact question.His answer? We already have the means to colonize other worlds.Terraforming the Moon and Mars is within reach.”
A few eyebrows rose. One voice from the back:“Then why haven’t we?”
Mallory nodded.“Because we ck two things: Motivation. And capital.Without the first, the second gets spent on short-term returns. Shareholder wins.”
That line earned a few grim chuckles—and a handful of reluctant nods.
Mallory’s tone shifted now—less defensive, more resolute.“What The System does is reprioritize.
Vitalyx and Rejuvenex were just the beginning. That was the first pilr: augmentation to kick off true evolution. Your combat csses? The second path: adaptation and defense.But the third pilr is the one that changes everything—professions.”
She paused to let it nd.“Until the global rollout, your daily lives won’t change. We still have work to do here, after all.But after integration... The System will begin assigning global resources toward the problems we’ve ignored.”
She looked around the room.“Terraforming.More efficient propulsion systems—beyond simple chemical thrust.Clean energy that doesn't bow to fossil market forces or Big Oil lobbyists.No boards. No shareholders. No quarterly earnings calls.The world will move forward—because we’ll finally be free to move forward.”
The room erupted—questions, protests, scattered voices rising in confusion and concern.
Mallory let it crest.
Then she released her calming aura once more, and slowly, the noise subsided.“You will find the new world we’re building to be infinitely more rewarding than the one you’ve known. And I say that knowing every one of you is already successful.But remember—it’s the work ethic that got you here that will define your power in the world to come.”
The energy in the room shifted. Calmed.Not just from her aura, either.They were thinking.
“In this world, someone who grew up with nothing can surpass those who had everything—if they’re willing to put in the effort.”
She left the next part unsaid:…Because The System favors no one.It listens to the truth beneath your words.It bances the weight of every step you take.And it never stops measuring.
The conversation carried on.
Mallory and Vanessa answered every question—directly, honestly.Some were hard. Some drew more skepticism.But they didn’t dodge a single one.
By the end of the evening, Mallory saw something in many of their eyes.
Not fear. Not resignation.
Hope.
Hope that—starting from a clean bill of health, with a second chance and real power—maybe they could all do something that mattered.
Maybe they could help build the world that came next.