I stood over the boss, breath ragged. I’d barely survived, but I was stronger than I realised. My body wasn’t what it had been. With every breath, it adapted, evolving, and I had tactics on my side.

  +376 EXP.

  Almost an hour’s grind in one kill.

  A new message appeared:

  Would you like to use Absorption?

  I accepted without hesitation.

  “So, it does work at random… it’s a skill which relies on pure luck.”

  Critical Absorption. Defence acquired.

  DEF: 25 → 34.

  A flash of white light engulfed me. I closed my eyes, steadied my breath, and opened them again. I was outside.

  The gate had collapsed, vanishing behind me. With it went my adrenaline rush, leaving only a sharp edge of nerves... and the thrill of victory.

  SYSTEM: GATE COMPLETED – UNSTABLE GATE CLOSED.

  I glanced around. The area was empty. No witnesses. No proof of what had happened.

  Good.

  I bolted toward the next gate two hundred meters away, stopped just short, caught my breath, and stepped inside.

  The portal sealed behind me again once completed. Another prompt appeared:

  SYSTEM: LEVEL 10 REACHED.

  MAXIMUM LEVEL FOR INITIAL DAY ACHIEVED.

  REMAINING EXPERIENCE WILL BE TALLIED AFTER 24 HOURS.

  Confusion lingered, but clarity grew too. The system wasn’t static. It was evolving. Preparing and pushing us to grow stronger, while restricting overgrowth.

  But I wasn’t about to slow down.

  I entered a new area, a familiar grassy plain perched near a jagged cliffside. The air carried a salt tang from a nearby beach. Ahead, a stretch of forest. Around it, goblins and wolves, all hovering at level nine.

  I still carried the blade I’d taken from the last gates.

  Using the tree line for cover, I crept toward the goblins and dispatched five, all clean. Then slipped back into shadow and waited.

  As expected, the wolves followed the scent of blood.

  They circled the bodies, sniffing, then began to feed. The corpses didn’t dissolve like before, or maybe instead the wolves absorbed the energy from the goblins.

  That was new.

  I dropped from the branches, my blade driving into a wolf’s spine. They snarled and lunged, but I moved too quickly. After another five or six kills, I pressed deeper into the gate and reached the boss room.

  The area was dense with trees, forming a natural wall around a wide clearing. In the shadows ahead, a massive wolf stepped into view, easily five feet at the shoulder, its spine long and warped with jagged protrusions. Thick drool hung from overgrown, yellowed fangs.

  Boss Detected: Dire Wolf Alpha, Level 10.

  I was already inside, no time for second thoughts.

  I darted left, then slid low under its snapping jaws as my blade carved up through the softer underside of its mouth. As I passed its head, I hooked my free arm around the twisted protruding bones of its spine.

  With everything I had, I wrenched back, toppling the beast.

  Before it could recover, I drove my blade into the gap between its vertebrae, then twisted hard, dislodging the spine. The wolf let out a mangled whimper and collapsed.

  I stood over it, breath steady, blade soaked. The system confirmed what I already suspected:

  Boss Defeated — Level 10 Confirmed. No EXP gained.

  So, level ten really was the cap, at least until the 24-hour mark.

  As I turned to leave, another prompt appeared:

  SKILL: ABSORPTION — ACTIVATED

  +1 DEX

  “Well, its confirmed… all I can do is hope for the best, but with sheer numbers I can use my skill to its advantage.”

  White light swept over me, and I was back outside the gate. This time, I made sure the blade was in my hand before the transition. I scanned the area and locked onto the next portal.

  I didn’t want to slow down. At level ten, I outclassed goblins and wolves, and that advantage mattered. I’d dodged almost every attack so far. Maybe I could take some creature around level thirteen.

  Status Window

  Level: 10

  ? HP: 82

  ? MP: 75

  ? STR: 54

  ? DEX: 54

  ? CON: 44

  ? INT: 33

  ? WIS: 50

  ? DEF: 48

  Once I was outside, I checked my phone. I’d cleared five gates so far, and the EXP was stacking, pushing me toward the end of this tutorial phase.

  Notifications exploded across the screen, forums lit up, hashtags trending worldwide.

  #Gate

  #Survivor

  #GatesAreReal

  Rumours were spreading like wildfire. Most of the footage was unreliable, choppy frames, corrupted files, strange static overlays. Dozens reported their phones cutting out completely inside the gates, GPS failing, cameras glitching like they were inside a faraday cage.

  Some said the System was scrambling tech on purpose, keeping what happened inside the gates hidden or distorted. A few even suggested it was watching, choosing what we could leak.

  A post claimed someone in Japan hit level twenty-one, I could tell that was a lie. Another said a red gate swallowed an entire subway station. No confirmation, just panic and awe in equal measure.

  A select few still clung to the idea of it being mass hallucination, a VR stunt, or a government experiment. But most knew better now. The world had changed. Permanently.

  I sent a quick message to Shay my colleague:

  “I’ll still meet you at 1300. Got about an hour left.”

  After grabbing food and water to refresh myself, I made my way downstairs to meet Shay. Deep breaths kept me steady as my adrenaline dropped.

  At work, I noticed the shift...

  When we met, he confirmed what I’d guessed: he’d been diving into gates too. Of course he had. We were similar, and he understood that adapting to this new world was crucial.

  That’s when he told me something important. A rumour but a game-changing one. Boss rooms were instanced. Once someone entered, the system generated a personal space just for them. Anyone who tried to join afterward faced their own version of the fight... or nothing at all.

  That could change everything.

  It wasn’t just survival anymore. It was competition, but sometimes rumours are, well just that… rumours.

  I’d already cleared the nearby gates, but three more remained. That’s where we headed.

  On the way, Shay talked about his Gates. Most of his Gates had goblins, some wolves, but no bosses. Even so, the adrenaline and stat gains had hooked him. Power coursed through his veins, driving him forward.

  The first gate we entered together was filled with wolves. As we fought, Shay revealed something I hadn’t expected: he had a unique skill.

  From the posts I’d seen online, most skills were specific water magic, swordsmanship, even sharpshooting. But Shay?

  Elemental Magic.

  He explained it as best he could. The ability to control any element in magical form. Fire. Ice. Lightning. Earth. Limitless potential. At level six, he didn’t have the mana to push it far, but the potential was undeniable. And he knew it. The smug grin on his face, followed by a laugh full of excitement said it all.

  Even without the skill fully active, his stats would keep rising. The longer he survived, the stronger he’d become.

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  The next gate dropped us into an icy tundra. Snow wolves prowled the drifts, but the boss was worse a towering Ice Fiend, level ten, radiating unnatural chill. Shay took the lead, hurling bursts of fire magic to melt its defences while I hacked through its limbs with my worn dagger.

  By the end, the dagger was ruined “seen better days” would have been generous. We stepped out to find it was nearly 4 PM. We called it a day, heading back toward the hotel with a group from work.

  The ride was quiet. No one wanted to talk about what they’d seen or experienced.

  On the way, traffic backed up. A gate had formed in the middle of the road, forcing everyone to stop. The air in the van tightened, a collective unease settling in.

  We couldn’t go around. If the gate was unstable and I could close it. I would close it.

  Inside, a pack of goblins wandered aimlessly, sluggish and dull. Easy prey. I cut them down quickly, silent strikes ending them before they had a chance to react.

  Deeper in, I found the boss. A larger goblin, but only marginally stronger. I hamstrung it, severing the tendons in its legs, and watched it collapse with a guttural screech. As it struggled to kneel, I stepped forward and swung.

  The dagger tore through its throat with a crunch, shattering bone. The body collapsed, lifeless.

  The swirling green gate shrank, then sealed shut. I stepped back into the van without a word.

  By now, combat felt natural. Second nature. Deep breaths, clear focus, steady hands. The thrill of it was addictive, and I knew others would feel the same. Too many. People drawn to the rush of power, to domination.

  And if that happened? Earth could drown in blood.

  Upon returning, Shay and I both knew the same thing, we couldn’t keep running into gates with half-broken blades and improvised clubs. We needed real weapons.

  The city was buzzing, louder than I’d ever seen it. Sporting goods stores, hardware shops, even kitchen aisles were packed. Some people panic-bought anything sharp. Others argued over what counted as “system safe.” With firearms useless, knives and tools had suddenly become gold.

  We hit an outdoor store first, but the shelves were stripped bare. Hunting bows, crossbows, gone. Machetes, gone. Even survival knives had been picked clean, leaving only flimsy folding knives and cheap junk.

  Shay grinned, holding up a collapsible camping hatchet no longer than a foot. “Think this’ll split a goblin in half, hey…Tom?”

  I raised a brow. “Maybe if you get close enough. We need reach and durability, but I like the gimmick of it, also I don’t see you as an axe man, unless you fancy it, but your beard isn’t long enough.”

  He laughed, setting it back.

  At the next shop, we finally scored a couple of decent survival knives. Steel, full tang, solid in the hand if not fancy. I grabbed a large kitchen knife too, better to have backups than end up empty-handed in front of a boss.

  Shay spun his blade under the fluorescent lights. “Not bad. Still feels like a toy compared to fire in my hands.”

  “Fire that fizzles after three seconds,” I reminded him.

  He smirked, sliding the knife into its sheath now attached to his belt. “Give me a week. I’ll be roasting wolves like marshmallows.”

  “Let’s hope we don’t get eaten before then.” I couldn’t help smirking back.

  Once equipped, we decided on one more gate before calling it a night. Just past 8 p.m., Shay’s mana was fully recovered.

  The city felt different as we walked toward the faintly glowing portal at the edge of town… restless, alive, like everyone was preparing for something.

  We stepped through, and a wave of scorching heat slammed into us. The air was thick, dry, suffocating, like walking straight into a desert at its peak. Sand shifted under our boots, glowing red-hot, storing the relentless heat of an unseen sun. Above, the sky burned hazy orange, a permanent blaze offering no relief.

  Before us stretched endless dunes, rolling like frozen waves of fire-coloured sand. Jagged, sun-bleached rocks jutted like broken monuments, cracked and weathered. Thorny husks of vegetation clung stubbornly to life, skeletal reminders that even here, something tried to survive.

  Movement stirred.

  The first threat came from above. Insects the size of birds buzzed overhead, translucent wings droning with a maddening hum. Needle-like mouths twitched, hungry for flesh.

  Shay muttered, “Please tell me this is a joke.” He snapped his fingers, conjuring a flicker of flame, then lobbed it skyward. The fireball burst mid-air, scattering the swarm in sizzling fragments.

  I smirked. “Three seconds of glory. Better make them count.”

  He rolled his eyes but couldn’t hide the satisfaction as the last insect smouldered into the sand.

  Further ahead, lizards the size of, well, they were Komodo dragon sized. They skittered across the dunes, their scaled hides blending perfectly with the terrain. Some bolted for burrows, others circled, tongues flicking as slit-pupiled eyes tracked us. Shay feinted to draw one close, and I drove my knife through its head.

  Then the sand shifted with heavier steps.

  Scorpions, each as large as boars, rose from the dunes. Armoured bodies gleamed like polished stone, pincers snapping, tails dripping venom. One lunged, stinger whipping down in a blur.

  I caught the strike on my blade, the impact rattling my arms. Shay was faster on the defence, a searing arc of fire slashed across its carapace. It screeched, thrashing. I dove in, driving steel into the joint where shell met flesh. The beast collapsed in spasms, ichor hissing on the sand.

  We pressed forward, every creature cut down in tandem. My blades struck low and fast. Shay’s fire burst in short, vicious arcs. The monsters were only level five. Slow. Predictable. Easy prey.

  Too easy.

  Still, the desert itself was deadlier than the beasts. Heat bore down with every step. My throat burned. Sweat soaked my shirt. Even Shay’s flames sputtered quicker, drained by the oppressive air.

  But we didn’t stop.

  The dunes broke at last, looking onto a hollow obsidian arch. The air shimmered with heat from the boss portal.

  Something waited inside.

  The boss wasn’t difficult — but it was relentless. It moved somewhere between a biped and a quadruped, like a lizard caught mid-evolution. The beginnings of upright movement were in its blood. It wasn’t stronger than the usual monsters we faced, but it made one thing disturbingly clear:

  The gates were accelerating evolution.

  I pushed my stats through my limbs, strength flooding my muscles.

  Stepping in, I brought my blade down in a sharp arc, slicing clean through the creature’s thick neck. The head toppled. The body collapsed into the dust.

  Silence followed — until the gate's light flared and washed everything away.

  We cleared one more gate, goblin territory. An hour of work, nothing new. By the time we left and returned to the rooms, it was 10 p.m. We crashed fast, and morning came just as quick.

  Back at work, I couldn’t sit still. I planned to slip out, and when 9 a.m. came, I ran for the nearest gate. At my current level, I could sprint faster than any human pre-awakening, the thirty-minute run cut down to fifteen.

  My weapon was still with the van, but I didn’t need it. Against a level ten gate, my body alone was enough.

  The gate opened onto a stretch of golden sand, warmth radiating through my boots. Rolling dunes rose like frozen waves, their surfaces rippled by steady wind.

  Along the shoreline, tall reeds bent in the salty breeze. The crash of waves echoed across the beach, the ocean stretching endlessly toward the horizon.

  I moved down the coast until movement caught my eye. Crabs, each as tall as me, with spiked legs carrying hulking bodies and pincers big enough to shear small trees.

  They clacked and hissed, fast for their size, but I was faster. Ducking past their swipes, I seized one claw, braced, and tore it free. Before the crab could recover, I drove the jagged limb through its mouth. It shrieked once, then dissolved into ether.

  By the time the last crab faded, I was already pressing deeper into the gate. The shoreline narrowed into a rocky outcrop slick with spray from the waves below.

  That was where I saw it.

  The boss.

  A hermit crab the size of a car, its jagged shell crusted with barnacles and seaweed, as if torn straight from the ocean floor. Its claws snapped with the grind of stone, thick enough to crush boulders. Stalked eyes twitched restlessly, locking on me with a glistening, alien hunger.

  I charged in. The first strike glanced harmlessly off its shell. It lunged in answer, a claw slamming into the ground hard enough to crack stone and rattle the cavern walls. The gust of air hit like a hammer, nearly pushing me back. I rolled aside, sand and grit grinding into my skin as I scrambled to maintain balance.

  Would steel break it. I only had one option.

  Pulling on my gloves to dampen impact, I went all in barehanded. My fist slammed against its shell with a dull thud. The second strike rang sharper, pain lancing up my arm, but I didn’t stop. Again. Again. Circling, hammering at its rear until a faint give shivered beneath my knuckles. A hairline fissure split the armour.

  That was all I needed.

  The crab shrieked, mandibles clattering, claws lashing as I shoved my fingers into the crack. Slimy, soft flesh met my grip. It thrashed, legs pounding the rock, but I held on. With a snarl, I ripped a chunk free.

  The stench hit instantly, rot, salt, brine. Bile rose in my throat as dark blood spilled across the stone, hissing where it met seawater.

  The hermit crab went berserk, trying to retreat deeper into its shell. I gave it no chance, dodging frenzied swipes, stabbing and tearing until its movements grew sluggish.

  Then it faltered. One stalked eye slid out, twitching in desperation. Too far. Too exposed. I seized it and pulled.

  A sickening pop. An agonised screech. The crab spasmed, legs twitching violently, then collapsed. Its claws scraped weakly against the rock before falling still.

  I stepped back, chest heaving, gloves dripping with ichor. The boss was down. Another gate cleared.

  SYSTEM PROMPT:

  Boss Defeated — Critical Kill Registered.

  EXP Pending…

  Would you like to use ABSORPTION?

  Three new options flickered into view, a menu expanding in real time:

  ? [ABSORB SKILL] — Attempt to gain an ability linked to this boss.

  ? [ABSORB ATTRIBUTE] — Target a dominant stat.

  ? [ABSORB RESISTANCE] — Develop passive immunity to elemental or physical traits.

  My hand hovered mid-air, instinctively reaching toward the prompt even though I didn’t need to. The weight of the choice pressed in.

  I chose [ABSORB ATTRIBUTE].

  A flash of white-hot light surged through me. Familiar, grounding, powerful.

  ABSORPTION SUCCESSFUL — Vitality Boosted

  CON +3

  DEF +2

  The ache in my knuckles vanished. My breath steadied. Endurance stitched itself into my bones.

  The white light consumed the chamber, and when it faded, I was back at the gate’s entrance.

  The portal shimmered quietly. Not collapsing, stable. A training ground. Most would ignore it, chasing faster gains. A few would grind here until their bodies broke.

  I’d been inside for over 100 minutes.

  I sat on the forest side, knocking sand from my boots as the heavy breeze brushed over me. The world outside was unchanged, but I could feel it coming.

  The numbers ticked down in my head. Ten minutes. Five. My chest was calm, but my mind wasn’t.

  Whatever was coming, it wasn’t just for me anymore.

  Fifteen minutes later, the final countdown struck zero.

  SYSTEM: TUTORIAL PERIOD COMPLETE. ALL GATES WILL NOW SHIFT INTO LIVE PHASE. LEVEL CAPS REMOVED.

  Next System Milestone: 23:59:55

  Across the world, players were ejected from gates, blinking into daylight, breath caught in their throats.

  And me?

  I was waiting and ready.

  After over six bosses and fifty-five monsters, the system tallied my rewards.

  Total EXP: 3,988

  Level Up: 10 → 14

  Status Window

  Name: Tom McGee

  Level: 14

  ? HP: 106

  ? MP: 95

  ? STR: 66

  ? DEX: 66

  ? CON: 52

  ? INT: 39

  ? WIS: 62

  ? DEF: 56

  Skill: Absorption

  EXP to Level 15: 24 / 2,037

  My body thrummed with power. Muscles tighter, breath easier, reflexes sharper. Four levels in one surge. I needed time to adjust, but already I felt more alive than when I first stepped into the system.

  All over the world, gates shifted. Most glowed blue. Some pulsed ominous red. A rare few shimmered gold. Online, chaos erupted, shaky footage of red gates blazing in the streets, golden labyrinths glittering like treasure no one dared to touch. No one stepped in. Not yet.

  Closer to home, portals littered the area. I didn’t hesitate. At level fourteen, I could outrun slow cars in the area. What should’ve been a thirty-six-minute drive stretched into nearly two hours, every detour pulling me into a gate I found.

  Three fell before I made it back. The first two, goblins and wolves, barely slowed me down. 800 EXP total. Hardly worth it, but progress was progress, at least I grabbed a sword, but the third was different.