Chapter 24: New Beginnings!
The stunned silence on Platform Alpha stretched for an uncomfortably long moment.
Recruits stared at the finalized rankings, then at Daniel, then back at the rankings, as if trying to reconcile the unassuming figure leaning against the wall with the impossible numbers displayed on their Nexus Interfaces.
Level 5 Elite? Level 3 Alpha? Fifteen Level 2 creatures? Reaching Level 2 himself? How?
The Purge had decimated scores of recruits working in teams, yet this lone operator had apparently gone on a solo rampage against threats far exceeding the expected difficulty curve, and done so completely off the official grid until the final tally.
Whispers finally broke the silence, hushed and incredulous.
"Eight hundred ninety-five points... Is that even possible?"
"He must have found some glitch... or stumbled into a nest of injured elites?"
"Injured? Look at those levels! Even injured, a Level 5 Elite..."
"And Level 2 already... He must have awakened an insane Talent."
"Remember his Flux score? 45? Maybe that's it? Insane luck?"
"Luck doesn't kill fifteen Level 2s and an Elite..."