31 – Hopelessness

Before he even opened his eyes, Julian felt the sweet smell of flowers assault his nostrils like a solid wall of sensations. The sound of rushing water and the chirping of birds accompanied the gradual return of colors as his eyes adjusted to the bright light after an unknown time spent in darkness.

>>Atmos Arcadia Tower Complex – FLOOR 1 – Garden (F)<<

He checked his equipment, feeling for what might be missing after his death. The two rings were still on his fingers, and even though this made his precautions redundant he was glad he still had all the items. His clothes were fine.

He felt somewhat light. “Fuck, I lost the fucking gun.” He cursed after realizing that his hands were empty. “Whatever, where was New Hope again?”

He took out a spare gun – he still hadn’t figured out how to enhance them so at this point one gun or another made little difference to him – and set out towards where his mind told him should be New Hope. If I’m lucky the people there will have built some sort of basic city by now. The perfect place, where the system was only an afterthought, where his systemless family could stay.

Walking through the forest he felt a little sense of nostalgia. The last time he was here was a long time ago in his mind, not by day count but with all the stuff that he did, it felt to him like an eternity had passed. And indeed, he was a new person now. Personality wise he was the same, he didn’t need a character growth arc to become a better adult after all, unlike probably most other people in the Tower, and his character arc had already happened to him and he sure as hell hoped another one was not necessary. But he was fifty-plus levels stronger now, and he strolled through the forest like he owned it. On his way to New Hope he saw a few tigers and monsters, and he shot them with his magic bullet empowered gun. As the blue streak of the enhanced bullets passed through them, they were all mercilessly slaughtered with little effort, most of them falling in one clean hit to the head. Some, the more agile of them, suffered through multiple shots before they too were pinned down.

Different damage scaling based on where I hit them. Makes sense.

Julian looked up. There was no plume of smoke, nor there were any sounds the suggested human activity nearby. It was strange. Last time by now he could see the smoke of the fires that always burned in the encampment, and he expected that with a growing city there would surely be even more need for fires. Instead, the sky was clear and the forest silent. He met nobody, beside the few animals and monsters that were becoming more and more infrequent the more he scared them away with the noise of his guns. It wasn’t long before he could see what was wrong.

The first signs of trouble began at a river. There used to be a bridge, a crude version of the elven rope bridge made by the unskilled hands of the denizens of New Hope as they learned how to survive in the wild after a lifetime of civilization. However, only a few frayed ropes and scattered nails, bent and broken, was all that was left of the bridge. Julian took a detour, while in his mind started to grow the idea that something had happened to the city before it could even be built. And, it turned out, he was right. After walking for longer than he desired, he could finally see what was left of New Hope from a vantage point on a small hill.

Ruins. Burnt down ruins of huts, houses and a half-dug trench. He hurried over there, and examined the remains, but there was not much left to study. The fires had burned days ago at the very least, and all tracks and possible hints had been trampled over and destroyed by the roaming monsters and animals. There were no bodies, no blood. A few upturned stones traced the foundations of buildings that were never completed.

“What the fuck? Where do I leave my family now? What happened here?”

Julian slumped down on a rock, close to a pile of ash that used to be a campfire, and held his head with his hands as he sighed.

“Welp, there goes my plan A.” he said. “Plan B… I have no plan B.”

He stood up, and walked in a circle around the fire. Plan A, the one he was counting on so far, relied on the existence of New Hope. The digitalized minds of his family: the minds of his two sisters, were degrading. He had hidden them inside his own mind as compressed packets of information before the system arrived, knowing full well that while he had cheated his way into the system even though he had not been chosen, he couldn’t do the same for them. But he could smuggle them in. And smuggle them he did. Now, he had no other choice but to rematerialize them, but where could they live, systemless and weak in a multiverse like this? Where could he give them a fulfilling life, free of dangers but also not in a hidden prison they could never escape for fear of death?

Because, of course, he had thought of the Oasis. He could stash them there, and they would be safe. But then he imagined what he would do if he were to be confined to a relatively small space like that for days, months even, without being able to do anything or even leave, subjected to the whims of the one with the skill to let him out. Without being able to live outside even if the skill user did let him out, because the world was too dangerous and cruel.

In a few years maybe he could have built a safe haven for them. But in the few days he had left before they were gone for good?

“I refuse to give up, dammit.” He cried out. “There must be something I can do. Shit system, I swear to god…”

He paced faster. Then, he sat and stared in the distance for a while, watching the sun set. He lit the fire, using the wood on hand and the firepit, and stared at the dancing flames while distractedly warming his hands. The night was cold.

He was not going to give up. He had a gut feeling that he still had one option open, one card to play. “Open up the damn skill selection window.”

Julian inhaled deeply. He stared at the screen, then closed it, opened it again and stared some more.

You know what I’m thinking, Julian. Someone or something is trying to help, and the system knows it. That’s why it made a counter offer. Or maybe it’s the system trying to bait me into thinking that there are two parties. Or maybe the question mark skill is a decoy and is actually useless. Or maybe it’s really there to help me. The price is heavy. All my skill points. And the counter offer...

Fuck it, what do I do?

Who is this mysterious helper?

Does it even exist? Or am I falling into a trap?

How many steps ahead can the system think, and why waste time with me? Is it for the M-field?

The M-field.

Suddenly Julian was on his feet. “I get it,” he yelled at the sky. “I get it now. You want the M-field, don’t you?” the sky was silent, the stars twinkled. “Fine, I will play your game. You give me what I need, and I will research the M-field.”

Not that I’m going to let you take that research, he thought, but did not say.

The he sat back down and, with a trembling finger, chose the question mark skill. His status didn’t change. No new skills appeared in his list.

For a moment he was almost sure he had been scammed. But then…

STATUS: DIGITALIZED MIND BACKUPS STABLE

He breathed out.

“I bought myself some time. Good.” Then he looked around. “Now I just need to get back to floor 3 and walk all the way to where I left Cal and Bob. Let’s go.”

He was tempted to call this a waste of time, a useless trip down death and respawn all the way to floor one. But he couldn’t find in his heart to say that. Because the relief he felt, knowing that the girls were safe, was too immense for him to have any negative thoughts. Everything was going to work out in the end.