"Where am I… am I back? Why is it so quiet…?"
Lilianna opened her eyes, only to find herself back at the hospital where she had been working before the game started. Her head ached as she tried to recall what she had been doing before the game started, but only hazy memories came to mind.
The last thing she recalled was…
"Mark Dawson… he saved me. And he also asked me to meet him… right?"
Things had happened a little too quickly at the end for Lilianna's liking, but she still recalled those last words.
She looked around the hospital and felt a little depressed. There was no other staff on duty at the moment because they had ditched their work on a junior like her and decided to focus on themselves.
Since she was a doctor-in-practice, she and all the other staff were called in to work on an 'emergency basis' without pay and were expected to perform their job.
And since she was one of the youngest, she was bullied by others into taking their shifts. Before game 4 began, she had not been able to go home for two days.
The worst part was? There were hardly any sick people in the hospital. Those who were sick had not made it past the first four games anyway.
"I… what should I do? None of these people care about me… I should get going. Mark Dawson said he needed me, right? Then I should go and find him."
Lilianna had a feeling that her skills would be of better use to Andrew, and she would be respected by him as well.
She had been lucky ever since the game started. And her luck had brought her to Andrew as well.
There was no point in thinking about it anymore.
So once she drafted her resignation notice, she quickly walked toward her car and made one final trip to Mark Dawson's publicly listed house.
There were several on the list, but there was only one where he preferred to live.
"Let's live a better life."
After half a day of driving, she finally reached the city where Mark Dawson lived and headed toward his house. The town was quiet and there was no one around. People preferred to be inside while the game took place, and the timer made this convenient for them.
She reached the edge of the Dawson property, rang the doorbell, and waited to be allowed in.
After five minutes, the door opened, and she walked in and reached the main house door.
It opened without her saying anything, and she walked inside.
"You are finally here? Did you have to make a long trip?"
Mark asked from where he was sitting on the sofa. He looked relaxed and paid no attention to her.
"I… took some time because I had to resign from my job. You told me to come find you once I was back, so I did. Are you looking to offer me a job? Surely, Mark Dawson can pay me the salary I deserve."
Lilianna asked confidently, but she was nervous inside. She had never made a demand like this in her life.
She had always been a people-pleaser and often had not even been able to ask for a discount, even when she knew she was being scammed.
Mark's attention made her nervous, and she almost wanted to take her words back. But she remained calm and looked back at him.
"Alright. First, don't call me Mark Dawson. I go by Andrew. Second, I can pay you money, but it would become useless pretty soon. Instead, I can help you survive once the world changes. And third, have you already chosen your reward for the fourth game's clear?"
Lilianna blinked at him in a mixture of shock and disbelief. She understood that he wanted to go by a different name, but claiming that money was useless was a little… hard to swallow.
Andrew noticed her confusion and sighed.
"Open your system and look at your screen. Now that you have a profession, you can open the store, right? Now check what you need to buy at that store."
Lilianna did as she was told and immediately noticed that she needed something called 'system gold' instead of money.
"System gold is something that you can only earn through games or other side missions given by the system. That will soon become a currency everyone uses, and any other will become useless. You should have around 500 right now, so use it well."
Suddenly, it all made sense to Lilianna. She was not someone who was interested in games, but she was somewhat familiar with them. So it was easier for her to understand all this.
"Next, check what reward you got for contributing in the last round. I will help you choose."
Andrew told her, and Lilianna opened her messages.
[You have cleared the fourth game. Time taken: 1 day 12 hours]
[Reward: 500X System Gold, 1X Standard Weapon Box]
[Global ranking update: #1]
[You have become the first person to clear game 4. A special reward has been prepared. You can now choose one of the following rewards]
[10,000X System Gold, 5 Skill Points, 1X Blessing of Luck (buffs allies' skills by 1%. Can be upgraded later. Can only be used for 10 minutes and has a cooldown of 2 hours)]
"Which one should I choose? Should I go for the gold…?"
"Choose the blessing. That's a rare skill you might not be able to get again. Since you already have a medical skill, this will make you a true support."
Andrew advised but did not force Lilianna to choose what he wanted.
Lilianna felt conflicted. She wanted to become rich, but she also knew that Andrew was much more knowledgeable about this game and the new world.
Choosing money felt like an obvious choice for her, especially after seeing the store and realizing just how expensive things in there were.
But if her savior was asking her to choose something else…
"Alright, I will trust you and choose the blessing."
She just hoped she would not regret it in the future.