Hyro quickly found himself surrounded by all of the staff that were in the cafeteria, Calepe closest to him, with James close in tow. “Why young Hyro, you should know this place is off limits to students, come with me, we will need to make sure Buck is aware of your trespassing in here.” Calepe spoke clear but plainly for all to hear. Once the others in the room heard Calepe was taking care of things they went back to their own seats and conversations. Calepe offered Hyro a hand up, “Here let me help you up.” Hyro took the offered hand and got to his feat. Calepe and James led Hyro out of the cafeteria, Hyro noticed quickly that they were not going towards the other Cafeteria or to Buck’s office so he spoke up, “Um, Calepe, I thought that we were heading to Buck?” Calepe looked back and responded dismissively, “Ah yes, I just need to stop at my office for something quickly.”

  After just a few moments of walking and heading outside, Hyro saw that they were approaching a shed that was labeled as ‘Groundskeeper’s Workroom’ on the map. Calepe went inside and manually lit two lamps to light the area. Hyro was let in and looked around. It was a quaint little room, a work bench in one corner, a bunch of random tools scattered around, a desk and 2 doors, presumably leading to another room or closet. Calepe started towards one of the doors, telling James and Hyro to take a seat and wait a moment for him to return. Once Calepe was out of the room James turned to Hyro pulling out the note that was left for him, “Was this from you?” James whispered, Hyro simply nodded before James whispered again, “Staff like me are not supposed to have interaction with students without permission, you better not get me in trouble with you.” That was all James said, Hyro whispered back, “Just please, meet me there after I clear things with Buck.”

  The two sat in silence for a few minutes before Calepe returned, speaking as he entered the room, “I apologize for that, Hyro, before we go, I noticed your bandage was coming loose, I can reapply it for you if you would like.” Hyro quickly glanced down to his hands and to his shock saw that he was right, his left hand was half exposed and the bandage was torn. “No thank you, I will get it taken care of as soon as I am done speaking with Buck, are we heading there now?” Hyro was starting to get uneasy with the situation. Calepe took a seat at his desk, “In good time, first, tell me, what were you doing in the faculty cafeteria.” Hyro could feel the familiar cool rush of nervous energy fill his veins and stammered out a response, “I uhh, I mean I wasn’t trying to, umm, It was an accident?” Calepe looked at him sternly, “You don’t seem so certain about that, I am not here to try to get you in trouble, I am just trying to understand.” Hyro still was not sure if he could trust Calepe but needed to have a more convincing lie if nothing else. A good lie is always based on a truth, Hyro thought to himself before responding, “I really needed to level and thought sneaking into a secured area would give me the small push I needed.” Hyro was a lot more confident with his answer this time.

  Calepe looked at Hyro with slight anger in his eyes and snapped back a reply, “Hyro, do not say anymore.” He then relaxed a little before continuing, “You know you are not to talk about system specifics with non adventurers, and neither I, nor James are adventurers, I am considered an exception due to teaching one of your classes, but James knows nothing of the system's effects so be careful with your words.” Calepe looked over to where James was seated, “James, you can forget what Hyro just said and there will be no issues right?” James simply nodded and Calepe stood up, speaking again, “I see no need to involve Buck with the matter, I do not see a reason not to trust you, and while your reason was not a good one, there seems to be no malicious intent.” Calepe smiled while replying, “Just make sure to follow the rules of the school or at least be careful enough to not get caught, your enhanced perception would have helped you no trip over that chair.” Calepe chuckled as he then opened the door, dismissing Hyro, keeping James behind. Hyro was left with his thoughts as he walked over to the arena. How does he know I should have an enhanced perception spell? I did not see him at the tournament, and the teachers that are Adventurers seem to not discuss specifics much unless it is vital or permission is given. He should not know that.

  When Hyro got to the arena he decided to have a seat and look over changes in his Character Sheet, minimizing all of the details that are not important to him currently.

  CHARACTER SHEET LEVEL UP!

  I did it, I made it to level five! Hyro thought to himself as he instinctively spent his ability points, bringing strength and vitality to seventeen. I should still wait for James, I don’t need him to level anymore but I need some answers still. After that it’ll be time to do something that we were told not to do. Hyro closed up his character sheet and sat, looking up at the stars, day dreaming of being an adventurer, taking on giant monsters, travelling to unknown lands, saving the world. Hyro was so deep in his thoughts and dreams that he almost fell over when he felt a tap on his shoulder. “Alright Hyro, I am here. What do you want? I can't stay long.” It was James, finally Hyro thought as he motioned for James to take the seat next to him. “You said the other day when I found your plant watching us that I seemed familiar, what did you mean?” Hyro decided to just be blunt and ask his question, he did not have time to waste. James should not remember him, the academy makes sure that anyone who doesn't make it past the tournament or that drops out at any point loses memories of other students, their abilities and basically every Adventurer specific thing that they have learned.

  James seemed uncomfortable with the question, but stammered out a reply, “I just felt like I knew you, and like I said, staff are not supposed to interact with staff, so I sent one of my pets to watch for me.” Hyro wanted to believe him, but then he remembered the conversation he overheard when Hyro first found out James was back on the grounds, “Yes, I know the plan, but I am not supposed to remember anything about him! It would bring too much attention if I approached him now.” Hyro knew James was lying but why, he decided to ask one more question, again trying to keep his blunt and confident tone, “Then why come here at all, why risk your job to talk to me just because I asked?” James’s reply to that question made Hyro’s stomach turn, “I’m hoping it was the same reason you risked coming in to the Faculty Cafeteria, I don’t have many people I am close to, and thought we could be… friends”

  Hyro’s mind raced with different thoughts, Did I have it all wrong? I know what it’s like to try and make friends when it is something you aren’t used to, it can seem awkward, I’m still doing it now. Hyro honestly did not know what to think, but for now thought that it would be better to keep him close as a potential friend than to push him away, after all what is the worst a groundskeeper could do? Hyro replied after a short moment of thinking, “It might take a little, but you are right James, I think we could be friends, I’d like that.” A smile came across both their faces as they sat there for just a moment before James stood up, “I really do have to get going, but hopefully we can meet up again sometime.” Hyro nodded and responded as James started to walk away, “I would like that.”

  Hyro headed back to his room, he was getting really hungry at this point, the fact that he skipped dinner finally hitting him, but he was set to push through it. Hyro sat in his bed, and let out a deep sigh as he convinced himself that what he was about to do was his only option for quick power. If I think it fast enough there will be no going back. Here goes nothing, Contribution store, Wheel of chaos, Confirm! Screens popped up with each word but they came and disappeared so fast they were not readable. After Hyro thought ‘confirm’ and the last screen disappeared Hyro noticed the air go stale around him and his movements seemed to slow before everything turned black.

  Hyro was suddenly standing, or at least, it felt like he was standing, everything was still pitch black. In the darkness lines of light started to zoom around, white and crimson, until Hyro was able to see that he was no longer in his room but he was in a room with nothing in it, just him and these white and crimson lights cutting through the darkness. This went on for several minutes before a deep voice boomed from seemingly nowhere, “Welcome Hyro, to the Wheel of Chaos! It is about time you stopped avoiding us.” The crimson and white lights started getting brighter and brighter until there was an even mix of black, white and crimson. The voice spoke again, “Unlike the wheel of fate this is more of a private event. There will still be a random wheel that you can try to increase the odds of, but not only with contribution. You can spend contribution points, years of lifeforce or let the chaos lead the wheel and not add anything. Before we get to that the Order has a message for you.” As the voice continued talking a popup message appeared showing the same thing that the voice was saying.

  Hyro read along as the voice enthusiastically read the message, Hyro could tell this voice was not a random or system generated voice and he decided to try and speak up, “You are in the Order aren’t you? Are you from this world or a different one?” Hyro was shocked to hear his own voice, he was not sure he would be able to speak and the echo from the room made his voice sound like there were multiple of him talking at once. The voice responded, “Yes, I am with the Order, you are as clever as always Hyro, I can only answer so much here, but we can only visit ourselves in other worlds via their Sanctuary and only if they upgrade it the same path as we did.” The voice paused only for a short moment, “Now let's begin the Wheel of Chaos!” As the voice spoke that time a giant golden wheel with crimson words reading ‘Wheel of Chaos’ appeared. This wheel only had five spaces, all were currently empty. The voice continued, “Now Hyro, if you wish it is 2000 contribution points for each section you would like to try to sway in your favor, or five years off of your current lifeforce. After you make your decision Luck and Chaos will make final changes to the wheel and we will spin to discover what will happen. So, would you like to make any purchases.”

  What?! It was supposed to be only 1000, if I pay contribution points for even one section I would be in contribution debt. I could give up some lifeforce but what if I was supposed to die in five years, I would have no time to gain power to extend my lifeforce at all. What should I do? What would the Order want me to do? ‘Recklessness’, hmmm Hyro thought before becoming resolute in his answer, “Let Luck and Chaos decide my fate, I am not paying anything.” The voice let out a laugh, “Yes Hyro let us let Chaos and Luck take the Wheel!” Two sections of the wheel turned white and black and the last turned crimson, the lights around the room started to swirl and flash, Hyro started to get a headache with all of the lights. As the lights finally started to calm down words appeared on the wheel, just before it started to spin Hyro could just make out what they said; 1) (White) Gain Ten levels, 2) (Black) Lose 20 levels, 3) (White) Controlled Chaos, 4) (Black) Instant death, 5) (Crimson) Chaos Reigns! After reading Hyro felt his heart sink and thought to himself, This may have been a mistake.

  The wheel spun round and round, none of the sections were visible with how fast it was going and all of the colors blurred together. Once the wheel reached its fastest points the colors around the room started going crazy again as well. After what seemed like a full minute of the craziness the room went completely black, but the lights on the wheel kept it visible as it started to slow. Every few seconds the whole room would change between black, white and crimson, eventually synching with the lights on the wheel. Hyro could feel his heart racing as the wheel slowed and slowed, White, black, white, black, crimson. White, black, white, black, it looked as though everything was going to end here and now as the wheel was pointed to instant death. Hyro let out a huge sigh of relief as the wheel ticked once more and the color in the room turned crimson. In giant letters that appeared as though the letters were bleeding red the words ‘CHAOS REIGNS’ appeared right in front of Hyro. The deep voice spoke once more, “Chaos Reigns, Enjoy Hyro, you are in for a treat.” The voice then laughed, as both the laugh and all colors around Hyro faded out.

  Hyro was in complete darkness once again. He could feel that he was sitting down again, which was an odd sensation, but now he felt as though he could not move or open his eyes. That is when a new popup screen appeared in front of him.

  After Hyro read the message he was once again able to open his eyes and move, when his eyes opened a smile came across his face. Sure he might still be lacking in many areas but this is going to make him much more powerful, hopefully powerful enough to protect everyone. He checked quickly that he could still access the system while it was updating, and once he confirmed that he could Hyro laid in his bed, happy that he took the risks he did, despite coming close to death. It seemed important that he made the decisions he did, maybe it was all in his head, but tomorrow he would go out on his first adventure, and he felt more prepared than ever. More prepared at least, until he heard his stomach growl and he was once again reminded that he forgot to eat.