After leaving the Slave Towers Gang territory and heading south, there was just more of the same background wilderness – ruins after ruins; ruined villages, ruined cities, ruined farms, ruined towers – until I moved to a woodland area closer to the coast and ruins suddenly became sparser.

Very uninteresting scenery. In the game, this stretch of coast was procedurally generated filler terrain without any story missions. There wasn't invisible walls in the game preventing you from coming here, there just wasn't any content.

Well, it was better than the out of bounds areas of tan-colored nothingness where you had to navigate with the automap because you couldn't see where you were going.

As I walked the narrow woodland paths avoiding enemies, I tried to remember how these filler areas between Black Forest level and Crumbling Shores level lined up. What routes I could take to travel faster? I hadn't routed these areas at all, so shortcuts were not on the menu.

I spent a sleepless night in a collapsed watchtower looking over a wide beach that reminded me of Normandy landings. At dawn, I headed back inland and continued walking along treeline.

After entering an area without any man-made structures in sight, I actually felt relieved by the fact that the Strangers had killed almost all predatory animals in this world.

I was worried about wild dogs, but I didn't have to worry about hungry wolves or coyotes. There were still wolves and bears in the Winter Forest level at north, but that place was an exception; large predators were practically extinct.

You did see rats, spiders, scorpions and snakes occasionally, and some birds like crows. It was like Strangers deliberately killed all cute and cuddly animals, and left only the ones that made this place look bleaker.

In some fan art, Strangers were jokingly portrayed as space goths that hopped from world to world to organize dark rave parties.

I was more of a cat person than a dog person, so it was a bit of a shame that getting a pet cat was impossible now. Dogs existed, but cats were gone. Was it like this in the post-apocalyptic world of Mad Max as well? Horses, dogs and other “slave animals” existed for work or food.

Mosquitoes and other irksome insects were gone for good, so that was a big plus. You did good job getting rid of mosquitoes, Strangers! Two thumbs up, you failed at being full chaotic evil and did some good!

After a long walk through dry woodland, I had to cross a wide grassland area without any concealment or cover.

And just like I feared, someone spotted me in the open: I saw a carriage approaching from the opposite direction.

Four young gang members sitting on a four-wheel canopy-top carriage pulled by two lanky horses. Three boys, one girl. They looked like punk rockers that had stolen a postal carriage from a Wild West movie set. Teenagers on a joyride? Next thing you know they're installing custom chrome rims on their carriage and selectively breeding albino Thoroughbreds.

When they came closer, I saw that the boys were armed with axes, spears and crossbows. The unarmed girl sitting on the driver's seat holding the reins looked at me with dead eyes. She was clearly malnourished and her face was bruised.

Please don't tell me these gangland thugs are bullying her. Surely she just fell down the stairs or accidentally kicked herself in the head or something, right?

I don't want to ignore her if she begs for help, but I don't want to raise any flags.

A good guy protagonist would jump in to save her immediately. A good guy protagonist would take her back to her small home village. She would say things like “you saved my life, mister” and “I will do anything to pay you back” and “kyaa, ecchi~”, and that would eventually trigger a harem development for more 'volunteer' slaves, and that would lead to lewd things like h-h-h-handholding and ki-ki-ki– the moon is beautiful tonight, isn't it?

We speedrunners are not good guy protagonists, you know. We kill friendly characters if they have too much dialogue. We use party members as meat shields and trampolines. If you're a required escort NPC and move too slowly, we kick and punch you to make you go faster.

Dark side is fast side. Support characters are prop characters.

...I'm just using speedrunning as an excuse to look away from injustice, am I?

I'd really like to stay on the light side, but I can't stop to help everyone. Nothing personal, young lady, but I don't have the strength. If I were a power fantasy protagonist, I'd use my cheat powers to save you. But I'm not.

I have a world to save. I can't endanger the whole humankind for one girl. That would be illogical, captain. In this trolley problem, I have to pull the lever that lets the runaway trolley molest her.

The young thugs in the carriage had blue-pink headbands. They were pretty surely from a wasteland hunter gang called Cat Rests Under The Waterfall. They were a sub-gang of Cat Rests At Night, who operated in the Crumbling Shores area.

Cats didn't exist anymore, but there were still gangs and locations named after cats. Cats still lived in people's dreams.

Night Cats were bitter enemies with Spider Regrets Nothing Gang, if I remember correctly, so better not to make any comments about that.

Speaking of names, the fan channels of Mu-Ur Quincunx were given funny native-ish gang names like Man Looks Sorry and Rain Never Stops. Mu-Ur itself, as the name of the world, was also rumored to be just a reversed onomatopoeia of the word 'room'. Presented as evidence for this theory was the fact that areas called Ro and Om existed in Mu-Ur (Khivan Ro and Corelands of Om, respectively), as well as Desert of Rooms, and all the roomworlds of Starfish Mansion.

Why not just call this world Roomworld, then? Maybe it sounded too much like a name for a furniture store?

The flamboyant Quincunx part of the name was a bit of a mystery, though. Most probable explanation was that the series followed five different points of view or five different groups: the twins, Rainwoman's group, Crystal Pencil's group, Inside Out School youth group, and Caliph Tze. And then, at the course of the series, all these five groups met at the middle.

Another, probably retconned after-the-fact explanation by the showrunner, was that the anime lasted five seasons “just as planned”. And the rushed low-budget ending was surely part of the plan, hm?

Ah, my thoughts were getting sidetracked. Don't try to escape from reality, idiot! Concentrate on the mission!

Time to bluff through this random encounter with gang slang again. I don't want to act like a wishy-washy light novel protagonist who hesitates and doubts himself when direct action is needed. The pride of all gamers is on the line here.

When they stopped their carriage and waited me to walk closer, I started my de-aggro chorey and spoke words that indicated that I was a member of an allied Cat Rests At Shopkeeper's Lap Gang under Giftmen Gang. They were both higher on the gang food chain and mysterious enough that these guys probably didn't have info about specific members.

I was giving them a strict warning in sign language: if you attack me, my big brothers will destroy you and your gang.

“Featherhat Watchsmith Tiercrown.”

When I said the magic code words, the boys looked confused and scared.

That's right, casual scrubs, look closely. This one flailing his hands here is a member of the dangerous merchant gang known as Cat Rests At Shopkeeper's Lap. A very special gang known for hiring high-level mercenaries instead of street rats and working under high-level gang Giftmen. I know the secret codewords of your own gang passed down to members only, so I must be an old member from the time you were babies or know some of the elders of your gang, right? I am like the older brother who left the local market stall when he got promoted to a bigger chain store in a city.

Yeah, I can understand your feelings. You were coming at me like vultures for a carcass, but now I look like a lion with a chainsaw. I'm not a mook, so I must be a mini-boss.

“Scarecrow?” (first boy)

“Massive scarecrow. Circle.”

The boys quickly put down their weapons. Whew, got it.

“Elder brother, we are honored to see you. May we ask your name and where you are going?” (first boy)

“Name is Rockman. I come from the Stray Dog City and I'm heading to Crumbling Shores.”

“Rockman?” (first boy)

“That's my name.”

“Alone?” (first boy)

“Yes.”

I tried to sound annoyed that he was even asking.

“Our base is that way, at the beach.” (first boy)

“At the beach?”

“Near the beach, yeah yeah.” (first boy)

“It's a cold beach.” (second boy)

“Because of the wind.”

“Yeah, yeah. Do you want to speak with our elder brothers?” (first boy)

“No, I'm on a mission.”

What's with the sudden small talk? In Mu-Ur, dialogue usually goes straight to the point.

“Elder brother Rockman, do you want a ride at the wall?” (third boy)

“Yeah yeah, we're not going back yet. Let's ride.” (first boy)

“Elder brother, we'd be honored to have you ride with us.” (second boy)

I had a feeling these guys didn't like the idea of returning to their home base yet. They were trying to find any excuse to continue patrolling the roads. I can live with that.

“Mm, why not? A ride at the territory border is fine. I'm just passing by, after all. I don't have any business with Cat Rests Under The Waterfall right now.”

These words were meant as a further confirmation that I was not on a destruction-type mission or anything. They looked at each other and nodded. Yep, ate my bluff hook, line and sinker.

“Yeah yeah, let's ride with elder brother Rockman!” (first boy)

Ah, what nice young men and women, giving a ride to an elder like me. The boys told me their names, but I immediately forgot them because I felt so pleased about my acting skills. Whatever, I don't have to remember some randos.

But don't get too confident, me! If I had not spoken the right words and given the right signs, they would have surely killed me for sport.

---

In the last season of the anime, there was an episode called “The Gathering”.

It was a filler episode dedicated to war-gangs that were sending their representatives to Starfish Mansion and having long negotiations with Revolution Movement about the coming war. I remember feeling vexed because they kept introducing new characters instead of advancing the plot, but after playing the game and watching the episode again years later, I noticed all the subtle status battles happening between the lines and appreciated the episode a lot more after that.

Another good thing about the episode was that you saw all the war-gang representatives in one place. You saw their colors and symbols, heard their names and codes, learned what they did and where they lived. It was impossible to remember everyone, but I remembered the most prominent ones: the big Cat Gangs, Stray Dogs, Ratline, Iron Crows – all the animal ones and many more.

In the game, you saw the same gangs colors and passphrases, but small sub-gangs were left out of the dialogue puzzle rotation. In other words, it was natural for me to talk big and act like an elder gangster simply because I didn't know how these filler area small timers operated.

“– so this burly battle slave from the north named Conan sat in the slavemasters tent, and the slavemaster asked him: 'Conan, what is best in life?' And Conan answered: 'To kill your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women!' True story. And then one day, the slavemaster sold Conan to this young high hat named John von Connor for 44 krúricks and Conan became a bodyguard slave. But you know what? Conan stabbed the high hat in the back and ran away, chased by trained dogs!”

As expected, the teenage boys laughed like maniacs. I got a carriage ride through dangerous coastal area for the low price of telling bullshit stories.

After a long and uncomfortable ride, we came to an ancient landwall that the boys saw as a natural border for their gang territory. The landwall was made of stacked stones covered with sand and somewhat looked like a raised railroad, minus the tracks.

There had originally been a metal fence on the top, but armies and gangs had dismantled it over the decades, turning the materials into weapons or tools.

On the other side of the landwall, I could already see hills of coastal prairie type environment instead of grassland.

I think the in-universe reason for these old landwalls was to separate slave groups into different sections – farmland slaves and hunting slaves on different sides, which forced the groups to breed among themselves and specialize on their profession generation after generation. Did the Strangers think this system would lead to a variety of job-specialized slave races or something?

Whatever the case, in the game these landwalls were simply barriers between terrain types.

“Elder brother Rockman, do you want to play with our slave girl before you go?” (second boy)

“...No, I'm good.”

“Yeah yeah, she's not very pretty.” (first boy)

I felt really bad for the girl. I'll come back to save you after I've saved the world, okay? If I don't solve the main quest quickly, solving side quests like this doesn't matter in the end.

I hopped down without saying a word and continued to climb over the landwall, giving the gangsters some casual hand signs as a farewell from the top.

That's another random encounter solved successfully with Force Dialogue technique. They seemed pleased that I didn't cause any trouble. Yes, consider yourself lucky, my new non-friends.

I'll be back. In a year or two. With my MC Gang.