They hugged each other and cried a bit. They spent this reunion time like they were doing some experience sharing.
David told him everything about what happened to him.
He never lied to Jim in his life and he wasn't about to start.
Jim was 28 and he used to be a musician. He then racked up debt from shady loaners and had to sell his loved guitar to pay them back as its value was high.
Jim would always tell his story to David when he could and he would always say this when he finished.
"If you want something, life will make you suffer for it and when you have it, it will make sure you can lose it in seconds."
David knew that he meant that he suffered to get to his level with a guitar and when he mastered it, he lost his tool to get out of debt.
From that day on, David promised himself that the first thing he would buy him if he had money to spend was a guitar.
A crazy expensive one.
Jim told David that he got beaten 10 minutes into the game. He was shy about it, but he told him that he had a way harder "lobby". That was his way of keeping his big brother archetype.
They walked and talked until they reached their destination. A big mall full of shops.
"At least one had to have some piece of news, right?", Jim asked without looking for an answer.
They walked past countless shops and finally saw one that did put the news on to probably cure their customers boredom while waiting.
"You should choke the shopkeeper to survive", Jim said sarcastically.
Jim didn't believe me when David told him that he won. But he didn't press the matter. More urgent stuff was up next he thought. Like what was on the TV.
The two of them watched and were shocked of the news. Apparently, everyone was enraged that the nobles and the dirigeants would keep the situation a secret from them for a whole month. David and Jim were even lucky enough that after 5 minutes of watching, the president of America himself made an annoucement that shocked everyone.
"We couldn't tell you people of the United States because we though it could have been a hoax sent by hackers to send us into panic. But we have a more worrying matter, we got sent an information that said that the new death game would happen in a month because of a complication from their side. They also added that because of their problems they would give every human the chance to bring a low level object. "
David was shocked and admirative of the news. "What he did was smart. He basically excused himself and changed the subject by scaring us more.", David said in awe.
"Yeah...but it's not that important.", Jim replied
-"We have one month to prepare, stop freaking out Jim."
David was really confident. He simply believed that he was one of the only humans on earth that knew that stats could get improved by breaking their limits.
"Yo Jim!"
He turned.
-"What?"
"We'll make ourselves stronger"
-"What do you mean?"
Their conversation was stopped by the president who added:
"We also get a hint. The game will be about our individual weakness and you can also see your "stats" by saying status."
Jim tried and told me that it worked.
"Status", David said
Identity: Dave Morek Anglius
Lvl:1
Stats:
Strength: 0.8 + (0.2)
Agility: 1.2 + (0.2)
Stamina: 1.4 + (0.2)
Intelligence: 2.8 + (0.2)
Title slot (1/1): [Among the 250] Effect: (+0.2 all stats)
*1 stat point is average
David quickly guessed that the title was overpowered and that if what the president said was right the test would be on strength for him.
Jim told me that it would be the same for him.
"What would be a way to train strength?", we both thought.
Probably exercising.
I told Jim about my discovery in the practice round and he was also down to train. We both knew that failure would mean death in a month. I also wanted to try a theory.
Elsewhere....
The millions of commentators and administrators were happy that their event was getting so popular across realms. Even one of the strongest beings was actively asking to watch.
All the spectators loved it.
Who wouldn't want to see a battle royal of weak insects attacking eachother with such hate.
Like MMA, but with losers and strongs insect in different categories. Most of the watchers looked at the A tiered arenas but some loved watching a Y tier one.
Y-10.
Because of one crazy guy that decided to attack someone innocent and clearly weaker than himself and then got strategized on by a spectator who wanted to make the crazy guy pay. In the end, he survived. Amazingly even.
They had to take some time to organize the next event as there would be more than millions of spectators. Way more.