Lyra used her bare hands. She grabbed the man's broken leg. With a sharp, practiced motion, she pulled the bone back into place. The man screamed and passed out from the pain. Lyra quickly placed the two pieces of wood on either side of his leg. She wrapped the white bandage tightly around the wood, creating a perfect, firm medical splint. She wiped the blood off her hands with a dirty rag. "You fix it the old way," Lyra told the stunned crowd. "You use wood. You use bandages. And you let the body heal itself. Welcome to reality."Everett watched Lyra. He felt a massive surge of pride in his chest. She was amazing. Without her magic, she was still the best healer in the world because she actually understood how the human body worked. Silas walked up next to Everett. He was carrying only his sniper rifle. He had abandoned his heavy backpack in the street. "The whole world has to learn how to walk again," Silas muttered. "We are all babies.""They will learn," Everett said softly.

Everett stood on the high, broken stone wall of the city. He looked out at the red dirt of the desert. He wore a simple gray shirt and dark pants. His heavy steel sword was strapped tightly to his back. His pale, artificial right arm hung quietly at his side. He was breathing slowly. In. Out. In. Out. The world felt incredibly different. The heavy, buzzing magic was completely gone. The air was just air. The dirt was just dirt. Down in the courtyard below, Silas was packing a large transport truck. Silas grunted loudly as he lifted a heavy wooden box of bullets into the back of the truck. "I hate this!" Silas complained, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Before the System reboot, I had a magical inventory! I could carry ten thousand bullets in my pocket! Now, I have to carry them in a box! My back is killing me!"Lyra walked out of the palace carrying a large bag of white bandages and clean water bottles. She smiled at Silas. "You just need to get used to it, Silas. We are all norm

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!Bullets rained down from the cliffs. They hit the dirt around Valerius's feet, kicking up clouds of red dust. A few bullets hit the ancient stone door of his tomb, chipping the rock. The humans laughed. They felt powerful. They had guns, and the god had nothing. Valerius stood perfectly still in the dust cloud. He looked at the small holes in the dirt. He realized that the System had taken away his magic. It had taken away his lightning swords. It had taken away his invisible shield. But as Valerius flexed his massive, tree-trunk thick arms, a slow, terrifying smile spread across his bearded face. The System had taken his magic. But it had not taken his base physical stats. The System update, the 'Stat Squish', had reduced all normal humans to Level 10. It had taken away their buffs. But Valerius was an ancient god. His base, natural, physical Strength stat was Level 999. His Agility stat was Level 999. His Endurance was Level 999. He did not need magic

The truck engine rumbled loudly in the courtyard of Apex City. Silas threw a heavy canvas bag into the back of the truck. He wiped sweat from his dirty forehead. He was breathing hard. Without the magical stamina buffs of the old world, packing a truck was exhausting, back-breaking work. "We need more water!" Silas yelled over the noise of the engine. "If we are driving to the Northern Wastes to fight Speaker Rho, we need enough water for a week! The desert is completely dry!"Lyra hurried out of the palace doors. She carried two large, heavy plastic jugs of clean water. Her arms shook from the weight. She carefully placed them into the truck. "That is all the water we can spare," Lyra said softly. "The refugees in the city need the rest."Everett stood near the heavy iron gates of the palace. He was watching the sky. The red and purple clouds from the old magic storms were gone. The sky was a pale, dusty blue. It looked normal. It looked peaceful. But Everett knew the peace was a

"If I hide," Everett said quietly, his deep voice rumbling in his chest, "Valerius will march. He will come to this city. He will kill Tobis. He will crush little Elin. He will turn thousands of people into slaves.""We cannot save everyone!" Silas shouted desperately. "You are just one man!""I am the man who told them to stand up," Everett replied. Everett pulled his hand gently away from Lyra. He stepped back. "If I run away and hide in the dark," Everett explained, looking at his two best friends, "I am telling the world that Valerius is right. I am telling the world that the strong get to eat the weak. I will not let humanity live in fear of a giant."Silas dropped his head. He knew that tone of voice. He knew Everett had made a decision. And when Everett made a decision, a mountain could not move him. "So we fight him," Silas sighed. He pumped his sniper rifle. "Fine. I will load the armor-piercing rounds. We will need to set up traps. We will need a lot of explosives.""No,"