Resting her back against a cold wall, Alice watched the dungeon sullenly. Water poured into a slit between her leather armor and skin. Heated by a long battle and very loud resentment, she let it flow.

Ironically, the girl had returned to her last resting place, only this time she hadn't bothered to barricade in a cave. Beyond the dim light of the ceiling and dark passages of the stone forest, she was looking through her status window and thinking.

Now I know why there are so little level 10 and above monsters out there.

> You reached level 9 in one of your templates! System's rewards being adjusted according to encounter difficulty.

Alice had missed this important bit during her level up. Her rewards for monsters decreased one step. Double for alpha wolves, normal for an evolved snake... possibly zero for regular monsters. As far as she was concerned, new rules were completely audacious. She wanted to cry.

As for my status...

[Mind: Extention of your will, an analog of Dexterity for supernatural abilities, such as magic, qi, spiritual arts, psychokinesis and so on. Doesn't substitute actual skills, as it shows the boundary for their application present in one's mind.]

[Vitality: An amount of vital qi, basic life energy presented in all living.]

Mind. A familiar term, Nomad had described it as an attribute in charge of mana application, but the system's description suited it better. Alice made a wild guess this attribute didn't grow well with her Hunter template.

Say, my bow skill is level 5. I can shoot very fast, can even shoot several arrows at once and not miss, I know all kinds of tricks. However, if my dexterity was low, my fingers wouldn't be nimble enough. Skills are knowledge, attributes are our potential to utilize said knowledge. Got it.

Vitality, on the other hand, was straightforward to the point it seemed dumb.

Qi is not the life force, the girl retorted. Force is the Force. But whatever.

As for the numbers themselves, Alice had no clue what they actually represented. Asking the system amounted to nothing and she had no one to compare herself with.

"Actually, I do."

Her gaze went askew at a bow she had put in a dry spot. An arrow's speed wouldn't raise with her level-ups. Losing one was a given, there were only rocks around to target. Still, the girl had plenty of them.

My life energy... qi? It's certainly shorter... okay, I don't want to translate it every time. My qi is almost restored.

An inferior magic core in her hand was near its depletion, too.

"Should I stay in the dungeon?"

The question sounded calm, but the meaning was pretty morbid. A speck of emptiness traversed Alice's grey eyes. Easy it was, to be not afraid of death. Memories were worse.

With a light sigh, the girl massaged her lids. What would Ms. Valentine say?

"You shall try and open to other kids, Alice," she perfectly imitated a teacher-like tone. Now I remember Ms. Valentine, huh. My therapy actively goes down the drain. But she makes sense, as always.

Her psychotherapist was an old, easily forgettable woman. Professional to the point, she had equipped little Alice with every tool she needed to return to normal life in just a year and a half and drifted in the river of her memories with a kind smile.

"A family and friends will be her lifebuoy, not me. We shrinks are the worst folk to be dependant upon," had overheard the girl once talk with her father.

Family, yes. Never quite worked with friends, Alice had only Liv close and dear. Yet the girl honestly thought one was enough.

For them, Alice very, very seriously reflecting on staying in the bloody dungeon.

***Scarlet enters the chatroom***

"I need advice."

PR3DAT0R_696: Scar. T_T how long has it been?
Sage: Yes.
John: Oh hi.
PR3DAT0R_696: seriously, do you know how long im putting on with these stinking dorks?  (→_→)
Knight: Hey.
Knight: Hey!
Scarlet: No. Sorry. I got confused. I logged in... a wed hours back? John should remember.
John: three weeks.
Knight: Fifteen days, give or take.

"What," Alice stupidly said, not even asked.

PR3DAT0R_696: i had to take care of them for a month! Q(`⌒´Q) dammit!
Sage: Define 'take care'. Seventeen to eighteen days.
PR3DAT0R_696: did it help?

"No."

PR3DAT0R_696: did it help? :DDD
PR3DAT0R_696: i told ya all we have different timlines!¹Chapter 1.11
Sage: It's time.
John: feels like sci-fi yet?
Knight: Feels like idiocy. It's not happening.
PR3DAT0R_696: you deny = you lose!

"Please explain," the girl practically begged, feeling creeps under her skin climbing up her neck.

What followed was a rough total of chat's observations. Starting at some point their 'timelines' desynchronized completely. One week for John whose name really was John meant ten days for Jean aka Predator and six-five days for Sage and Knight.

Basically, when anyone connected to chat, the system would just bring another person at some other time, which meant full online and lots and lots of misunderstandings for the times in chat were synchronized.

When Alice followed the line of thought to the end, she swore with half-closed eyes. The concept of different timelines sounded nice on paper and probably was just right for a crazy web-novel, yet the girl felt aches in her head as she tried to wrap it around the thing. Idiocy, what a well-suiting word.

Humanity's concepts of time? Trash bin was over there. That or their group was orbiting a black hole²Google black holes are time machines, a wonderful perspective for sure.

PR3DAT0R_696: teach was in chat like three times since you left, Scar
Sage: The professor has the fastest timeline, hence for us appears rarely. Well, for now. You're sure you cannot tell exactly how much time passed?
John: did you cultivate?
John: Did you?
Knight: Wow-wow, fella, relax.
Scarlet: Sorry. Maybe a day. Yes, I did.
John: you see? When you cultivate hours becomes second and wuuf.
Knight: I know nothing about 'wuf'
PR3DAT0R_696: me neither. how are you Scar? any excitement? (^_~)

The chat reacted poorly on her disappearance because everyone here had had well enough time to accept their situation, Alice consoled herself yet still felt bitter.

"Excitement... yes, I probably should tell you. No one had a 180 degrees change in their training?"

Everyone answered negative, except...

Sage: If we take you and a day as the base, the professor moves through time three times faster, the tower workers fifteen times faster, myself eighteen times, John twenty-one, the smile woman over there twenty-eight times, our enhancer about thirty.
PR3DAT0R_696: (^ω^)ノﾞ(((((((((●～*
Knight: Roger, the forest dweller. My tower is large and proud.
PR3DAT0R_696: (ﾒ ﾛ ´)︻デ═一
John: and is it of any help? Ne?

Alice paused. The chat felt alien. Yet warm, and at the same time sad for the girl felt like a third wheel. Which were pretty damn familiar to her. Everyone obviously formed some connections and friendships, even if online.

Sage: You wanted some advice, Scarlet?

At least one of them was in the role of his nickname, the girl's lip twitched.

Scarlet: Yes.
Scarlet: I need you to take it seriously, kay?
Scarlet: Like, don't talk until I finish, okay?

Not talking was the best way to listen, in the girl's experience. The chat dwellers begrudgingly agreed and she inhaled deeply. Slapped herself on cheeks... well, mask. Breathed out.

In next minutes, if not her personal cultivation quirks, Alice narrated pretty much everything else. Rambled out, actually. Started from the description of normal monsters, continued with evolved centipedes and ants, then diverged onto her little adventure with no end inside the dungeon cave.

Alice kept behind the brakes the little 'it tried to evolve me' incident:

"That spider is deadly. I didn't notice it with perception above ten, hence no normal human will, baring dumb luck," the girl testified of the following death experience episode instead.

"After my cultivation session – I am no clear how it works, don't ask, – there were only those sonic snakes around. They could communicate, call each other."

"I treated it more like personal punishment, you know? Not training or whatever. Must outlive, get over it."

"The army will squash those bugs like... bugs. Sure as hell. So I thought."

"This place is a weapon in itself, okay? If it can jam sounds, what about radio?"

"They are scary, the wolves."

"Seriously scary. Imagine an aura of fear from DnD."

"Level ten and higher, monsters grow. I mean, in size. They are not foot soldiers anymore, they become war vehicles. I don't think regular bullets would kill an armored something after level ten."

"I can probably breakthrough to my Node as the system supposes. My chances are good. But should I? Crazy, right?"

"What if a dungeon opens in the middle of Greyston... they can enter the buildings. They can use canalization tunnels, hide in the metro. They are not a conventional enemy, they won't spare civilians. Handguns would be toys that won't protect anyone. When and if the army would come..."

By the end, her voice became slow. Thoughtful. The girl left the simple narration of events behind and entered directly into the modulation of the future.

Apocalypse.

Alice had yet to give the word due reverence. This sudden realization struck her silly, and she stared in the darkness, forgetting about the chat and supposed advice. When the first lines from the chat members started to pop up, the girl ignored them and even dismissed the entire thing.

Bizzare lights were flickering in her steel-coloured eyes.

One time, her lips opened to say something, and then closed into a thin slip of a bitter smile.

Another time, she gently tapped the water under her knees and painted curve figures on its surface, saw them vanishing with the flow.

"Died once," a mutter broke the silence and Alice raised her head with a strangely liberated sigh. She then called back and glanced at the chat window. Talking about a problem indeed helps in solving it.

"Thanks."

"I will stay for a bit."