06 – New Hope

“Fuck!” a scream tore through the peaceful flowering prairie. Julian stared in horror at the message in his HUD, confirming his suspicions.

>>Atmos Arcadia Tower Complex – FLOOR 1 – Garden<<

>>F-rank area<<

As soon as Justin opened his eyes and saw the dreaded image of the bucolic grass, flowers and the sound of the river nearby, he knew he had died. He inhaled deeply, and for a moment the sweet scent of nature made him consider quitting, staying here and maybe building a nice little wooden house by the river. He sighed. That would be such a nice life, if it wasn’t for the fact that he would hate it. Maybe not immediately, but he would come to hate it pretty soon. Pretty damn soon. Just like the last time he tried.

He roamed around, searching for the elevator. He had a feeling he was going to be here quite a few more times before he learned not to be a dumbass and not get himself killed, so he might as well find it now. He decided to go the opposite way than he went the last time, to explore the West of this floor.

He briefly stopped to make a little fire, hunted down a monster and had a quick dinner. The flesh, worth 133 runes, tasted as bad as it looked. But it was edible, at least at the fire where Julian was invulnerable, and was a filling meal. Couple it with some fresh water from the creek, and all he needed now was a nice night of sleep. He set a huge amount of logs on the fire to make sure it didn’t go out and he lost his invulnerability, and laid down.

Julian woke up the next morning to the sound of voices in the distance. Maybe they know where the elevator is. He thought, and decided to investigate.

“Hey there fellas,” he greeted them.

They were a group of five people, most of them wearing their base class equipment save for two who wore vines and leaves in a clumsy attempt at fabricating their own clothes. Weirdos.

“Hello, welcome. I gather you just left the tutorial, yes?”

“Yeah,” Justin lied, “am I late to the party?”

“No,” one of the two men dressed in vines said, “people are still waking up all the time.”

Justin hummed. “Say, you know where the elevator is?”

“Yes. It’s a couple kilometers in that direction,” the man pointed South. “However, if you’re not in a hurry, why don’t you come and visit our camp? It’s called New Hope, and it’s a save heaven for everyone who doesn’t want to comply with the tyrannical system.”

“My,” Justin laughed. “It’s a bit early to go against the system, isn’t it? But you know what? I’ll take you up on that offer.” He said.

“Great!”

He followed them all the way back to their camp. On the way there they occasionally stopped to hunt for food, and he joined them and helped them out without giving away the fact that he was overleveled for someone fresh out of the tutorial. By the time he arrived at New Hope he had 399 runes and the gratitude of the hunters. He had also seen some people still doing the tutorial and wondered why they were taking so long. The hunters didn’t know for sure but George, the lead hunter, claimed that some of the people Julian saw weren’t there the day before.

New Hope was just a small camp. It was still far from the city George hoped it would become one day but still, it was a remarkable effort for less than a day of work. There were at least 20 people milling about, building fires and tents, gathering supplies and helping each other out. Most of them wore their class equipment, but not all. They also were mostly human, but not all, as Julian could see a tharlaxian and another alien species he did not know.

“We have chosen to remain here. Resources are plentiful and the dangers minimal. Why risk our lives and climb the tower? All for some wicked system’s game? No, I’m sorry but I won’t play that game.”

“I understand that but… refusing the class perks, the levels, the quests altogether? Why? They are useful, after all, even if you don’t want to climb.” Justin said.

“They may be. But that would also mean to live inside the system. Watched by it. Enslaved by it.” George said.

Justin looked at him with a perplexed face. “What makes you think that it doesn’t watch you now?”

“The system is not all-powerful.” He said proudly. “I, for instance, spawned naked. Without the system’s class gear. That’s when I realized that the system is not infallible. That we can live outside it, and thrive.”

Julian suppressed the urge to say anything. He decided to cut it short, and quickly said his goodbyes and set off towards where the elevator was supposed to be, much to the confusion of the hunters and especially of George, who couldn’t figure out why Julian was all of a sudden so determined to leave. All the while, a certain sense of shame enveloped him, and he wondered if he should go back and tell them the truth.

It’s too late now. I don’t even think he would believe me. He would just laugh at me.

He shrugged. Their loss. After all, they weren’t entirely wrong with their decision. And it wasn’t like there was anything that could really threaten them here. Actually they could prove to be quite handy if they managed to build a village or something, so that the next time he respawned he would have a place to pass the night and rest before setting out again. That wouldn’t be so bad. I will need to come up with a reason why I came back though.

It was a couple hours before dusk when he reached the place George told him. There was a humongous tree at the center of a clearing in the forest, and it turned out that it was actually fake, its hollow trunk hiding the elevator. Julian pressed the barely disguised button and the bark split open, revealing a wide room inside made of the same wood as the tree.

He peeked through the small space between the moving part of the elevator and the trunk of the tree in an attempt to figure out how the thing worked. He saw only darkness however. I mean… the tree is tall, but it’s not even close to tall enough to reach the ceiling. The elevator either goes down and then sideways and then up, or it uses magic or something. Shrugging, he entered the construct, and left the forest behind. The elevator, it appeared, operated on magic because Julian didn’t feel much of a thing in the few seconds it took to reach its destination.

>>Atmos Arcadia Tower Complex – FLOOR 2 – Plateau<<

“Alright, time to murder that asshole.”

***

Cal’Eer tossed and turned in his bed, too small to fit his Tharlaxian physique. They had left him alone after Julian… died, and he had gone straight to the closest inn he could find and got himself a bed.

Everything was still run by the system, the only semblance of people in the buildings being holograms that performed the various tasks until someone took their job. The ‘ghosts’ were going to operate until someone took their job, as the system offered jobs in places like this so that it wouldn’t have to run the structures itself, in exchange for a monthly salary paid in runes. It was a win-win for many: the system would offload the tasks and free up power for itself, and the people could enjoy a decent influx of runes without ever leaving the safety of the outpost. Here, in the middle of nowhere on the second floor, the pay was low but soon the huge amount of people coming here would mean that the job positions were not going to stay vacant very long.

Cal wondered if he should get one such job, and leave the adventuring behind. He knew how dangerous it was, of course, but Julian was just so energetic about it that for a while Cal thought he could follow him and everything would be okay. Then, when he saw his new friend vanish in a cloud of shimmering smoke, leaving behind nothing but his chest armor he was forced to confront reality.

He had never seen people vanish in smoke. For a time he deluded himself that maybe Julian was still alive, and had used a skill to escape in a puff of smoke. When he didn’t show up though, Cal knew he was still clinging to some false hope. Either that, or Julian had left him behind to fend for himself.

He got up. Looking at his status, he saw that he still had a couple hundred runes to spend before he was out of money. He shrugged.

“Let’s see what this outpost has to offer.”

***

The guard collapsed to the ground, not even able to scream for help. Something had jumped out of the shadows, hidden in the darkness of the night, and had taken him out before he was even aware of it. Julian accompanied the dead body in its fall to ground so that it wouldn’t make any noise, and dragged it away. He looked around. Good, nobody has seen me yet.

He glanced at his status for just a moment. There were 1820 runes there after this kill. Then he approached the gate, moving furtively and sticking to the wall where the guards up on the fence couldn’t see him. He eyed the main path. His runes were still there, glowing faintly but very visibly in the middle of the road. The two guards stationed on the fence patrolled the area, often looking in the distance and at the road itself.

They can’t see them.  

He decided to leave them there for now. They were only a few runes, it was definitely not worth getting spotted to retrieve them. He slipped back in the shadows, circling the outpost. There was a small gap in the fence towards the back, and with the help of his sword and some patience he was able to work his way through the scrap metal and barbed wire that defended the place. Then he was in.

The place was not very big. There were a few buildings scattered around, mostly built close to the fence with barely a gap between them and the defensive ring, and a main road ran all the way through the outpost before ending in a dead end close to where he entered. There was a tall, three story brick building at the end of the road, with a dead neon sign Justin couldn’t read in the low light. There was almost nobody around. The place was completely deserted and dark, the only light coming from a fire in the distance, where a few people were shouting and dancing drunkenly next to the main entrance.

Something wasn’t right, Julian thought. There was something wrong with this outpost that gave it an eerie atmosphere. Despite being plunged in general darkness, it looked oddly tidy, almost as if it was made to be unpacked and put into use, which indeed it was. At least this was Julian’s read on why it was so unnatural, so wrong. It was made by the system, that was the reason. And it was cheaply made too, being only on the second floor.

There were huge metal cans at the side of the road, street lights and dead neon signs. It wasn’t hard to picture the flickering lights of the neons, the dancing flames coming out of the canisters where people cooked all sorts of strange things and the faint yellow hue of the street lamps. One day maybe this was going to be a lively place, it was going to feel natural and lived in. But they were all dark now. As were the buildings.

The only lit buildings were what Julian assumed to be the tavern, the inn and another building he didn’t recognize. There was a single lit window on the second floor, a soft red glow that danced with shadows moving within.

He decided to investigate. Crossing the large, double swinging doors made of metal and ignoring the sign, he immediately went for the stairs and made his way to the second floor. He could hear voices coming from the other side of one of the many doors of what looked like a small hotel. They were simple green doors in a well-lit hallway that betrayed no style or taste.

He found the door, and kicked it open. He barged inside, sword at the ready and shield raised, ready to strike at anyone who happened to be inside. He could already taste the sweet flavor of death, revenge against the assholes who shot him.

Cal’Eel yelped and rolled off the bed, falling to the ground in a heap. He got up with a struggle, and his hands shot up in surrender. “Wait, wait, wait! Please don’t kill me!”

He was barely clothed, shaking on his knees with his eyes tightly closed shut. His body tensed as he heard the metallic footsteps approach, and he inhaled deeply. There was no way—

“Cal? What the fuck are you doing here?”

A familiar voice. Gingerly, Cal opened one eye, then the other and they grew wide in surprise when he saw Julian standing in front of him, staring at his naked body with the sword still pointed at him.

“I, uh…” he said, looking at the naked torso of the otherwise armored man at then at the two sex dolls lying motionless on the bed.

Julian’s eyes followed his. “Oh,” he said. Turning to the door, he tossed Cal his clothes. “Get dressed. I’ll wait you outside. Be quick, I have people to kill.”