Reunite (1/2)

Jason stood before a razed wall, a blatant red spray paint broken into several pieces scattered around the target.

"8. Pretty good, Jason." The lady, Eve, stated.

Jason underwent a sequence of tests, sampling the strength of his attacks with legs, arms, hands, head, and weapons.

Some were simple, to strike a target. Others had more complex directions and had a severe degree of difficulty.

For the agility tests, he was ordered to evade, parry, and block blows with varying attack speeds, all too unpredictable.

There were training courses to test his speed and flexibility, achieving an 8 on it.

The ratings are simple enough, on a scale of 1-10. In every category Jason participated in he had a 7 or better, putting him near the top warriors of Altidor.

Attacking: 9

Speed: 8

Magic: 8

Reflexes: 7

Jason wasn't even aware he had an extra 10 stat points at his disposal. He completely forgot the message he received when he first woke up.

"So, how good am I?" Jason asked with a smile, his arrogant character coming out.

"You already know that." She smiled, loosely bobbing her head. "You're by far the best recruit we've had since Altidor's creation,"

Jason's lips curled as he swallowed his victory. His ego took a jump upwards, re-energizing him as the words played upon his ears.

"But you aren't the strongest. Even your buddy Hugo is stronger than you."

Jason sighed and disregarded her words. He knew that already. If Hugo didn't level up in a month that'd be disappointing.

Jason and Hugo were both blessed by systems. They were destined to become guardians of the human race.

Their talent was limitless, their strength far superior to normal mortals. Of course, they were destined to face stronger enemies, races, and beings. That was just how life was to go for them.

Yet, they would fight on together. They would conquer and annihilate as brothers.

Jason stood there unperplexed, looking around the building for a final good look.

[End of the training session!]

[Strength 14 > 15]

[Agility 14 > 15]

[Stamina 9 > 10]

[NOTIFICATION: 12 Unused stat points!]

[NOTIFICATION: 1 Unused Skill token!]

'Seems like my test session paid off.' Jason thought through his exhaustion, not even reading the entire message.

'Skill token?'

[Use the token to unlock a skill, it's simple.]

Another screen blurred into existence. It showed a darkened holographic tree with many circles spread throughout, from its roots to its branches.

Sometimes it'd be three intersecting into each other into one icon, meaning you would have to unlock those three to get the next one. Some had one go into 3, 2 into 1, and so on.

'I assume those are unlockable skills... I have to unlock the ones before it though.'

Jason tried to interact with the future skills to see what he could attain, but not a single letter of information was shown to him.

He only had access to the very first icon.

[Wind Control: Lv 0 > Lv 1]

'I see... This is the first ability to unlock. It'll be helpful.'

Jason commanded a simple thought. He unlocked his very first node of the skill tree.

After it came to color, a beautiful green tree sprouted from it, giving the node an elegant design.

Instantly, the three lines protruding from it grew and glowed, motes of light hovering about.

Light traveled from the node into the 3 lines, which dissected into three other nodes.

With a shining green light, the nodes again came into life, sprouting trees, insects, and a tornado.

[Wind Control Lv 1 > Lv 2]

[Control: Lv 0]

[Tornado]

Jason didn't have to presume what the control node was for. With an insect crawling over it, he immediately knew he would be able to command insects at the minimum.

Jason nearly forgot he had unused stat points at his disposal.

'Stats.'

Another screen blurred into reality, showcasing his stats exactly how they were before he fell unconscious, with a tiny upgrade.

'Thinking about it... If I had more mana to be consumed for my spell, that would just make it stronger. But if I upgrade the magic category...'

Jason was at a crossroads. Magic would boost the power of his attack, but upgrading his mana would let him overload his spells while being able to conjure more spells, although with a higher mana consumption rate.

[Magic: 4 > 8]

[Mana: 3 > 6]

[Agility: 15 > 18]

[Stamina: 8 > 9]

[Strength: 15 > 16]

Jason's combat prowess took a tremendous leap forward. With his magic becoming more reliable without tiring him, he'd be much more proficient in battle.

"I'll register you as an A-Tier warrior. You can take the S-Tier test after settling in and going out on tasks with others." Jason felt his blood rush. Missions, tiers to climb up? Something to prove to the others? Something he can sit at the pinnacle of? There was nothing else Jason would ask for.

Something about being able to reach the top and making his presence known was something he loved.

He always avoided things that didn't mean much. Playing the casual mode of a video game even though it has a ranked mode. He saw it as useless. He wanted to be at the top. Why do something if you wont achieve anything out of it? Jason thought of it as futile. He just never understood why people did it.

"Your purview is too small. Once you work on that you'll be a very strong warrior, Jason."

Eve smiled and disappeared through the backdoor leading out to the Altidor shops.

Jason grinned, wiping the sweat damping his eyebrows and collar as he walked out the door leading into the lobby.

The impertinent clerk gingerly waited outside for Jason's tests to be over to nag him for having poor results. However, she was incredibly wrong.

But to her surprise, Jason completely disregarded her existence, walking past her without looking at her.

Jason walked to the desk, tapping the bell-like Eve told him to.

The clerk stepped through the door leading to her desk, picking up the paper Eve left on the desk, Jason's documents, and application.

Near the bottom, a box was checked off, which bemused the clerk.

"A-Tier."

She snapped her head toward Jason, baffled. An A-Tier warrior? It was rare enough to recruit C-Tiers, then out of the blue, an A-Tier comes out of nowhere?

The news of a new A-Tier warrior would spread throughout Altidor like wildfire.

The citizens were aware. This was vital, strength was essential, and Jason would boost their strength dramatically.

But how puzzled would they be to discover that this new A-Tier warrior is a fourteen-year-old with no prior combat experience?

The clerk sighed and held the papers close, signaling Jason to come in.

She uncovered a large camera double the width of her body standing in the corner of a room.

On the cover was a black sheet that was attached to the ceiling in front of it.

"Stand here."

She tapped her foot at the white tape marked for Jason to stand.

Jason patiently stood as he waited for the clerk to get the camera up and running to take a picture of Jason.

With a smack to the side, the camera booted up and was ready to use.

"Smile."

BEEP!

From the printer next to it, a small piece of paper started printing out of it, revealing Jason's handsome features displayed on it.

A few minutes later, after a complex process, Jason had his own Altidor warrior ID to his name. It was mainly used to prove he was a warrior and to act as a dog tag.

Jason wasn't told that after every mission, the people would swipe their ID through a scanner to earn themselves "merits." This kept track of how many missions the person finished and the difficulty. The higher the difficulty the more merits.

On top of the mission rewards, you'll also gain the new currency Altidor uses digitally.

In order for him to rise into S-Tier, he would have to gain an incredible amount of merits to catch up with his fellow warriors.

Jason gleefully walked out of the building, staring at the ID in awe, specifically the large letter "A" smackdab in the middle of it.

"I've been waiting for you ever since I saw you enter."

From a corner, Hugo loudly spoke to Jason, immediately grasping his attention.

"I missed you, little prick."

Jason grinned as he slowly walked towards Hugo. He truly missed him.

The two went into a brotherly hug patting each other's back, boisterously chuckling together as they reunited.

"Wanna go meet our party? I told them about you."

Jason shook his head and they walked off to the houses.

Hugo explained what happened after Jason suddenly collapsed after killing all the shrimp.

How Javion discovered them on the outskirts of the city, rushed over, and cared for Jason in an instant.

Luckily, Javion was able to stabilize his condition before bringing him to the hospital cafeteria.

"Seems like I owe him more than I thought I did already," Jason said as he stared forward at the buildings in front of them.

"Not as much as having to clean every single building" Hugo retorted, remembering the entire last month he spent cleaning and barely hunting.

"I'm happy that I don't."

Hugo opened the wooden door to the structure, revealing another 3 men and 2 women inside.

"And we are the players," Hugo stated, adding extra emphasis on the players.

"Why players?"

"Cause we have a system." One of them explained clearly.