[Your beast powers tier is the highest tier, known as SSS-tier.]
[The system decided to hide this fact because it will affect your goals.]
[Don't tell anyone about it.]
[Your beast type is all of the spider family.]
[You have access to all the abilities of all the spider beast types. You can use them once you meet the requirements.]
[You have another mission: Level up before midnight or you'll lose the spider system.]
"What the fuck?" I said out loud.
The whole classroom turned to look at me.
The sergeant and the doctor looked at me too, surprised by my outburst.
"Sorry," I said.
I quickly ran out and took my seat.
Ben and Tom stared at me, mouths open.
"This time only, I'll act like I didn't hear that," the sergeant said. "Okay everybody, go eat lunch and take a nap, all of you who took the compound. See you back here in the afternoon at 4 p.m. If you don't sleep or show up late, you'll be punished. NOW GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!"
I stood up with Ben and Tom and we started walking out.
"What was that, bro?" Ben asked. "First you made the doctor collapse to the floor scared, then you cursed right in front of the sergeant. What the hell? And you didn't even get your tier?"
"I don't know why that happened," I lied. "I cursed because the system screen popped up in front of me and said it couldn't let the machine measure it. That's why I cursed. But I don't know why the doctor reacted like that. She said she didn't sleep. Maybe that's the reason."
"I told you guys she's a bitch. I know those sluts," Tom said.
"Why was she treating you like that?" I asked Ben. "Do you have some vampire ability that made her act that way or what?"
"I don't know, bro. I almost bit her neck right there," Ben said, scratching his head.
"I told you, bro, you got taller and more handsome since you got your powers, and you didn't believe me. Maybe you got even more charm after hitting level 3," Tom said.
"Is that real, Leo?" Ben asked. "Look at me. Did I get more handsome since the last time you saw me?"
"Yeah, I was gonna tell you that. I think every time you drink an awakener's blood, you don't just grow stronger and gain abilities. Maybe you get more handsome too. It's a blood thing… or a vampire thing, I mean."
"Really?" Ben said. "I was thinking about that too. If I don't get new abilities when I level up, I guess I'll have to suck blood from awakeners to level. But it's hard. How am I supposed to do that?"
"Bruh," Tom said. "You can drink monster blood to level up too. Did getting your powers make you forget that?"
"Yeah, I forgot," Ben said, scratching his head. "I was thinking too much about biting some girl's neck and drinking her blood while she's moaning."
"Bruh," Tom and I said at the same time.
We went and ate lunch. Then we headed back to our room to rest.
Silas and that snake hunter guy didn't fight like we thought they would. They went straight to sleep. We heard the compound made them really tired.
We managed to sleep too. Later, we went to the classroom and spent time there playing until the others started coming back and the sergeant finally walked in.
"Okay, is everybody here?" The sergeant checked us all by calling our names.
Then he continued, "Okay, like I said this morning, the first gate we'll enter is a tutorial gate. This gate is very smart. It will help you master your current abilities and learn to use military weapons if you need them.
"Choose the weapons that suit you. You can't leave the gate until you've mastered your current abilities and weapons. And every one of you will go in alone.
"Time inside the gate moves slower than time out here, so we won't have to wait long once you all return. We'll enter the next one together right away. Our first campaign as a team. I'm excited for it too, because I don't know what it is either.
"Inside, you will live and experience a real story of soldiers and see how real soldiers operate. Now I will open the gate. When I call your name, step forward and enter."
A gate opened in the classroom right beside the sergeant.
It was a blue gate that looked magical. This wasn't the first time I had seen a gate, of course. I had seen several open in different places around the city. Still, it was always impressive to watch.
The sergeant started calling names, and one by one they stepped through the gate.
Most of them hesitated before entering. Most looked nervous.
Only a few seemed confident. Those were the S-tier ones. Even Ben looked confident, but when the sergeant called my name, I felt nervous.
My heart pounded hard. I was the last one to enter.
"Come on, do you need a push or what?" the sergeant said.
When he said that, I stepped inside the gate. As soon as I entered, everything went dark. My ears started ringing.
I felt pain. Everything felt weird. Then I felt someone touching me, slapping my face.
I opened my eyes. At first all I saw was a blurred face. Then it slowly became clear.
It was a guy I didn't know, but somehow I trust him.
"Come on, wake up. Don't die on me. You just awakened. We need you. Come on, wake up. Are you okay?"
"Yes," I said.
"Can you get up?"
I nodded.
The guy helped me stand.
"Come on, fast. They're gonna hit us again. We need to get to the tunnels."
He helped me walk and we moved quickly through the house. We were already in the basement and still going deeper.
We stopped when he opened a metal square door on the floor that revealed a long set of stairs leading down.
"Come on, go down first." I started climbing down the stairs, breathing hard.
I kept going down for a long time until I reached the bottom. He came down right after me.
"Come on, run. I'm right behind you."
I started running through the tunnel, breathing heavily. I looked back and saw him entering a code into some electronic device.
Then he ran toward me until he caught up.
"Go, go, fast."
I ran faster with him beside me.
Then I heard an explosion behind us. Dust rushed forward from behind until it reached us. We started coughing but kept running through the tunnels. Eventually we reached a big open space, a room. There were people inside.
When they saw us, they smiled immediately and looked very happy, like they had been waiting for us.
They took me, laid me on a bed, and started checking me over.
Then the man who had led me here said, "You're okay. Everything is fine. We won't let you rest. We need your abilities. We don't have much time. You need to train with one of the weapons. Then we'll continue the mission. Can you do that? Not for us. You know we're not doing this for ourselves. For your dead friends. For your dead family. For our country. For revenge. Can you do that?"
"Yes, I can," I said.
I stood up. They led me to a wall where a lot of weapons hung.
"You have spider beast powers. Your abilities are wall climbing, danger sense, and fast recovery. You need a weapon that works well with your abilities now and when you level up.
"You have a tower system. Let it choose the weapon you need."
I looked at the weapons. There was a sword, a dagger, a bow and arrows, a spear, and others whose names I didn't know. But none of them were normal. I could sense their power.
There were modern weapons too: pistols and rifles of different kinds. They weren't normal either, of course.
Normal weapons can't kill awakeners. These were different, though it was still hard to kill most awakeners with them because the bullets were slow and could be avoided. Still, they were necessary and they worked.
My system screen opened in front of me and made its choice.