30 – I need to do something important first

Julian took a small break from moving all the stuff around and sat on the ground next to the few remaining boxes. He had packed everything in boxes of exactly 2.5 cubic meters to store in his rings, and was depositing them all in a big room at the foot of the tallest Alltree at the center of the village. He had been going to and fro all morning, emptying all the cellars, storage houses and secret stashes of the village non-stop for hours. Finally he decided to catch his breath and, since he figured he needed some mood boost, he decided to unlock a skill.

Crystal Cores lv.1 -> 2: Plunge your bare hand deep inside the body of a slain monster to extract its core. Only works on kills you have just made. Guaranteed success with (F, F+)-rank cores, rate diminishes as rank increases.

Non-Euclidean Space lv.3 -> 4: all the spatial rings you wear have 2.5x -> 4x the storage volume

Plant based Lifeform lv.1 -> 2: Gain the ability to recover a small amount of SP -> (and HP) when exposed to sunlight

“Euclidean, please. I’m going to need it.”

The system quietly complied. Soon after that Cal arrived, having to duck to pass through the elven door, carrying two heavy boxes packed on top of each other. He carefully set them on the ground and sat to rest next to Julian, struggling to catch his breath.

“Heavy?”

Cal nodded, struggling to speak. “Yeah,” he panted. “Almost depleted my Stamina. I need to put more points in Strength and Endurance.”

“Maybe, maybe. Just don’t waste them. You don’t get as many points to freely assign as I do.”

“I’ll think about it.” He said. “So, I wanted to ask… Can you really fix the damage you did to the habitat?”

His voice was worried. Julian thought it over for a moment, visualizing the asteroid in his mind and manipulating it like a 3D hologram. He fiddled with the mental image for a while, eyes glazed and unfocused staring at the ceiling without looking at it. Eventually he blinked.

“Probably yes. The damage wasn’t caused by the beam, after all, but by the flood that diverted water from the normal evaporation cycle and dumped it in the central cavern. There ought to be pumps or mechanisms to keep the cave dry, so if we close up the damage that causes the water to keep flooding it, the water will be eventually be pumped out of the cave and rejoin the normal evaporation cycle.”

Cal struggled to follow.

“It’s easy, really. At least in principle.”

“If it’s easy, then why do they need you?”

“It’s easy only if you know what you are doing.” Julian shrugged. “And I do happen to know what I’m doing. Alright,” he got up, “let’s wrap it up.”

He began to cast. “Those were the last two boxes right?” he asked.

Another one materialized out of thin air, from his ring. “Three.”

“Good.”

Julian stared at the swirling energies as he leaned on Cal to catch his breath, having depleted his Stamina to open the portal to the Oasis. Soon after the two began to carry all the things inside, setting them on the sandy beach by the lake. The sun was in its usual position overhead, but Julian thought it would be nice if it was actually dusk here, and suddenly it was indeed dusk. The reds and oranges of the desert were nothing short of gorgeous, and the team was more than happy to waste a bit of time between the trips through the portal to appreciate the colors and the pleasant breeze.

 “Appraisal works in here, I checked.” Julian said after they were done. “But I’ll sort through this stuff later. I want to get a move out and find the Renegade Core.”

“What about the Habitat?”

“We leave that for last.”

Cal hummed. “Yeah, that’s a good idea, I guess. I feel sorry for the elves though. They didn’t deserve this.”

***

They found Bob waiting for them at the entrance to the forest, going in the direction of the Ring of mountains and the now dry Noctilucent River.

“I am coming with you.” He stated.

Julian laughed. “Oh yeah! You mean you are killing me the first time I let my guard down? Don’t think so.”

The elf’s arms were crossed, and he spoke slowly with his usual soft voice. It was deep, and seemed to resonate with the forest itself like the words of an old sage.

“If you indeed can fix the habitat, then I have nothing to gain in killing you.”

“Except revenge.” Cal interjected.

Julian looked up at his friend in surprise.

“I am not one who seeks the meaningless relief of revenge.” Said the old elf, looking frail and withered like the trees.

“You are right. I’m sorry. I should have known that you are above such petty things.” Cal lied, playing the part of the fool.

They left, and the village soon disappeared behind the browning trees, leaving only the impossibly tall triplet of Alltrees still visible against the dark evernight sky. Bob was leading, walking with long steady steps that were light and yet bore an unseen weight that commanded respect. Cal motioned to Julian to leave some space, and then warned him.

“You were right. He was plotting revenge, after all.”

“How do you know?” Julian asked. He was only taunting the old man when he talked about revenge, after all. He was expecting the elf leader to be reasonable, he was a leader after all, not a mindless idiot.

“I could see it, clear as day.”

“Interesting. We better keep our eyes open.”

Cal nodded pensively. “I don’t think it will be a problem for now. What I said about him being above petty things like revenge… it struck a nerve.”

“You could… see that it did?”

Cal shrugged yes. Julian accepted his explanation, Cal was the one who was good with people after all, and even if he was wrong he had all the contingencies he needed to feel safe at night. When the trio passed the dry river, Bob made no comments about it, only staring at the sad sight with long and heavy eyes. Then he moved on, saying nothing until the path forked and they found themselves at a crossroad.

“We take the long way, through the mountains of the Ring.” Julian stated.

Bob sighed. “The Renegade Core. I see.”

“You know I need it. Once I have it, I’ll fix your space rock and be on my way for good. You’ll never see me again.”

The old elf walked on. “I only have your word.”

“He will fix it,” Cal added himself to the discussion as a mediator before Julian could say what was on his mind. “Julian may not be the most selfless person out there, but he does keep his word.”

“I can do nothing but hope he does.” Said Bob.

Julian fought against his desire to blow the Habitat to pieces, and said nothing. Bob was getting on his nerves, treating him like a maniac. Sure, he could just take the loot and leave, after all, he had what he wanted and there was nothing forcing him to go through with his deal. He could just not keep his word and move on, unpunished. But he was not like that. He was not evil just for the sake of being evil. And even though all the problems the elves were blaming him for were actually caused by the system, fixing them was going to be easy enough that he was willing to just do it without even asking for a thank you. He had his payment already, after all, in the form of the loot that was right now sitting in his pocket world called Oasis.

Now all that was left to do was grab the core, fix the place, reach the elevator, figure out how to get past Bel’Oor and Trex’Oor or their lackeys waiting for his ass over there, and clear the tower. Easy peasy.

WARNING: DIGITALIZED MIND BACKUPS DETERIORATION HAS REACHED 75%

“Fucking hell.”

“What’s wrong?” Cal, hearing his outburst, asked.

“I need to do a very important thing first. I can’t… I need to go back to floor 1. You two wait for me here.”

He checked his rings. There were two machines, identical to each other, one in each ring in case one of the rings was left behind.

“You wait for me here, make camp or something, I’ll come back as soon as possible.”

He took out his revolver and shot himself in the head, dropping to the ground, dead. Before either Cal or Bob could process what happened, his body vanished in a cloud of smoke, leaving behind his still smoking gun.

Immediately, Cal and Bob looked at each other. Before Cal could say anything, vines sprouted from the ground and entangled him in a barbed snare. He found himself unable to even struggle against the tight bindings, and suddenly he was aware of the power differential between him and his captor.

“Was that your grand plan?” Bob screeched. “What? What—Why—” he was unable to form a coherent sentence as his face contorted in a mask of rage, confusion and powerlessness. “I don’t get it. Kill himself? Why? Who’s going to fix the habitat now?”

“Bob,” Cal called, “Bob! Hey, calm down!”

“Calm… down? We are doomed! Doomed. I will kill you!”

Cal felt the thorns dig into his skin, drawing purple blood. “Wait! He’s not dead!”

“What?” the vines grew tighter.

“He… he… can… return… to…”

He fell to the ground, the bindings only slightly loose to allow him to breathe. He heaved.

“What did you say? He can return from death?”

Cal nodded.

“Very well then. We shall wait for him here, you and I.” Bob nodded to himself, smiling under the wrinkled face. For an elf, this meant he was older than ten millennia, Cal realized. “And then I’ll take everything from him.”

“He won’t give it to you.”

“I have leverage, young boy.”

“You don’t. He’s immortal. Even if you kill him every time, he will always come back to life. After a few times he’ll just… Take another path up, you won’t see him ever again.”

“Silly young boy. That’s not the leverage. You are leverage.”

“He doesn’t care enough.”

“Are you sure? Besides, he has no idea. He won’t think to leave you here for no reason, will he? I won’t kill him, that would be a stupid move, if he can return to life. I’ll use your life as bargaining chip, or if that doesn’t work… I will just torture him. Bind him so he can’t escape, so he can’t kill himself or use the diabolic device in the sky. And then, I’ll make him wish he was dead.”