Despite Alka's desire to put the town that had trapped her for the last three months behind her, the group decided to spend one more night within the town's borders. None of them were in any rush to try and navigate through the snake infested grass in the dark. Especially after Vin repeated how he'd found their fourth member to Samtha's now conscious comrades.
Vin and Alka spent the last bit of daylight experimenting with their strange new bond. First, they confirmed that Alka was still in fact bound to the sword, not to Vin himself. Only when he held the sword or wore it on his person in an empty scabbard they found did she feel the invisible current pulling her toward him. However, something about the act of officially transferring ownership of the sword to Vin had definitely altered how her anchor worked.
Before, she'd estimated the area she'd been able to freely float around had been close to a mile in diameter. Now, it seemed to be about a quarter of that. The only reason she could think of was that her bond felt stronger now, preventing her from traveling as far. Curiously, when Vin held the sword, her natural state seemed to become overlaying herself within his own body, and it took her conscious effort to move back out of him. Vin was mildly creeped out by this at first, however, he couldn't actually feel anything when she did this other than a slight drop in temperature.
And the constant voice inside his head of course.
'You know you blink a lot. You should stop that.'
Groaning, Vin tried to ignore his new backseat driver as he carefully directed them all back through the sea of grass. While echoing him, as they'd come to call it, Alka was stuck seeing what he saw and hearing what he heard. But despite the inconvenience, Alka didn't seem to mind all that much.
"I swear I will leave you and your sparkly sword here if you complain about my blinking one more time," he muttered, only loud enough for her to hear. While he could hear her talking inside him, Alka wasn't able to hear his thoughts; thank god. Because of that, he had to be careful when talking to her to make sure he didn't look like a maniac mumbling to himself all the time.
'Dancing Leaf is not 'sparkly.' It's a masterfully crafted weapon designed for monster killing. And I'm just saying, an experienced fighter will take advantage of how often you blink. It's the perfect time for them to strike.'
"Yeah, well it's a good thing I'm not planning on taking on one of those any time soon," he said, pointing out another grass noodle and maneuvering their team around it. Alka had already mentioned offhandedly that those snakes were actually called greentails, but Vin thought grass noodle sounded better. "Again, I'm an Explorer. It's a support class. Not really built for fighting."
'Everyone needs to know how to fight,' his new morally questionable conscience argued. 'Even if it's not part of your class, you should learn the basics. It will probably save your life one day.'
"In the event that I ever need to suddenly fight my way out of something, feel free to just take me over and go all ninja on them or whatever," Vin said, giving up the argument. "Just try not to kill anyone if you can help it. I don't exactly enjoy violence."
To his surprise, that actually seemed to satisfy her, and she finally stopped trying to pressure him into practicing with his new sword.
The rest of the journey through the grass sea was uneventful. Vin's newly improved focus attribute again proved its worth in allowing them to sneak past all the grass noodles lying in wait. Before they knew it, they'd reentered the rocky, hilly biome he'd started his quest from, and it wasn't long after that that they returned to the village. Someone must have spotted their approach, because when they finally reached the village they were met by the village elder and a crowd of cheering people.
"Looks like you pulled it off," the elder said, giving him a warm smile as Samtha and the other warriors were pulled aside by some sort of medicine man who immediately began giving them a once over. "Is Olga…?"
"She didn't make it," Vin confirmed, causing the elder to deflate slightly. "The group ran into some troubles and tried to send Olga back to the village to ask for help. She ended up getting attacked by a venomous snake. Died at the halfway point." The group had actually used Vin's Mental Map to return to the location of her death in the hopes of recovering her body, but something had taken it during the night. There had been nothing left but a few wet chunks of stone armor and some giant claw marks pressed deep into the ground.
The group had bid a hasty retreat after that.
"That is a shame," the elder sighed, tapping her stone cane on the ground. "We will hold a funeral for her this evening. You are of course welcome to attend; however, I imagine you have your own matters to see to."
"Yeah, I need to go report to my own camp. I was supposed to be back before nightfall, so hopefully they don't send their own search party out for me!" Vin briefly pictured Spur leading a squad of people, all hacking their way through the tall grass before being ambushed by a bunch of snakes. It would probably be best to avoid such a situation.
Reaching into his pack, Vin pulled out Olga's stone mace he'd picked up. "I'm sorry we couldn't recover her body. But I did manage to bring back her weapon, if that's any consolation."
Taking the mace from him, the elder gave it a weary smile, gently stroking the stone head. "Thank you. I'll be sure it makes its way to her family. They will be happy to have something to remember her by."
Vin hesitated, almost asking about Olga's family before thinking better of it. He'd spotted a few children running around the village during his brief time here. If the elder told him Olga left behind a young child, he wasn't sure just how hard that would hit him.
"Well… I should probably head out," Vin said, feeling a bit awkward. What was he supposed to say? I found your missing people; don't forget you owe me one alliance?
"Before you go." The elder reached into her robe, pulling out something and tossing it toward him. Snagging it from the air, Vin looked down at the small rock he now held. Dark gray just like the villager's weapons, the rock was also covered in a handful of strange, jagged symbols. To his surprise, they looked quite similar to some of the symbols he'd seen carved into a few of the village houses.
"Your actions have certainly warranted an alliance with your people. Or at the very least, opened talks with them," the elder confirmed to his relief. "However, for putting yourself in harm's way, I feel it appropriate to give you a personal reward as well."
"That is a training rock. If you study it, it will allow you to learn one of our simplest and yet most useful spells: Sense Stone. It may not sound all that impressive, but it is the first building block required to one day learn our more advanced stone magics. I only ask that you don't lend the rock out to anyone else and return it to us once you have learned all you can from it. Creating such training aids is beyond us now after the Great Reset. While we will return to our former glory soon enough, it will be some time before we can make objects such as this once again."
New minor artifact discovered! 1,000 exp gained.
"Thank you," Vin said, staring at the magic rock in awe. He was blown away that the village elder would be willing to part with something so valuable, even if only temporarily. However…
He had no idea where to even start.
"So, I know you said to study it…" he paused, turning the rock this way and that. While there weren't too many symbols across the small rock face, he had absolutely no idea what any of them meant. It was like being handed a complex math problem filled with symbols he'd never seen before and being told to study it in order to learn calculus. "...how exactly do I go about doing that?"
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Chuckling, the elder tapped her cane on the ground twice in rapid succession. Vin almost swore he felt a small wave ripple through the ground, but it might have been his imagination.
"I see you have yet to pick up the Spellcraft skill," she laughed, smiling as though he'd told the world's funniest joke. "You can consider this advice part of your reward. The Spellcraft skill is essential for anyone who desires learning the mystic arts, or for those who expect to encounter many artifacts during their travels. I imagine that sword of yours won't be the last artifact you encounter, so I would highly recommend taking the skill."
"Thank you for the tip," Vin said, looking at the elder in awe. "Did your own Spellcraft skill let you detect the magic in my sword?"
The elder gave him an amused look, gesturing toward his newfound weapon.
"The hilt is glowing green."
Vin blinked, glancing down at the sword on his hip. Sure enough, while the scabbard blocked the light being emitted by the blade, he'd forgotten that the enchantment seemed to cover the entire weapon.
"Huh. Guess I'll wrap something around the hilt to help with that," he said, his face heating up. "Don't want to advertise to the world I'm rocking a magic sword now. No need to draw any targets on my back after all."
"Indeed," she chuckled, turning to speak with one of the villagers who then ran off. He returned a few moments later, handing a few thin strips of blackened leather to Vin. "Use this to cover up the hilt. The last thing we need is for our first ally in this new world to have his throat slit by some hungry pickpocket."
Vin gulped, carefully wrapping the leather around his sword hilt until he was certain not a single bit of light was showing through.
'Don't worry, I won't let anyone kill you that easily. It would be really inconvenient for me after all.'
"I appreciate it," Vin muttered, making sure to angle his face down so the elder didn't see his mouth moving. After ensuring the light from his hilt was fully blocked, he bid the elder farewell, promising her that she'd be hearing from his people soon. Asking Alka to keep an eye out for any more of those freaky scorpion things as they began their trek back to camp, Vin followed the elder's advice and spent his second skill point to obtain Spellcraft at level 1.
And then nearly passed out as the System hit him in the head with the mother of all textbooks.
Vin staggered, holding his head in his hands as his brain worked overtime to process and allocate the sudden influx of information. Purchasing the Tracking skill had been like suddenly gaining memories of taking a few tracking courses years ago, but purchasing Spellcraft was like having an entire bachelor's degree uploaded into his head Matrix style. It took him a moment to even realize Alka was yelling at him.
'Vin! Are you alright?'
"I'm fine," he groaned, his legs wobbling as he rubbed his eyes. "Why didn't you warn me about the Spellcraft skill? That was awful!"
'You honestly believe I took that as one of my skills?' Again, Vin got to experience the freaky sensation of someone laughing within his own head that wasn't him. 'For one, on my world it was illegal for anyone to take that skill if they weren't a noble. Not that I would have taken it anyway of course. I used my own points exclusively for combat skills.'
"Why am I not surprised?" Taking a deep breath, Vin shook out his hands and pulled out his newest artifact. Looking at it for a second time, his breath caught as he was nearly overtaken by the stone's beauty. The way the rigid edges of the different shapes bisected one another. The methods the carver used to adjust the angles and account for the curvature of the stone. How the countless vertices overlapped as though it was their destiny!
'Uh, Vin? You alright there? You're looking at that rock like it's a big, juicy steak. I think you might even be drooling a little.'
"It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," he whispered, turning the rock this way and that; the symbols practically singing to him. "This isn't just magic… This is art!"
'...It's a rock.'
"It's beautiful is what it is!" he shouted, shaking a fist at… himself. "I had no idea magic was this wonderful!" Not hesitating for a second, he pulled up his interface and dropped all three of his waiting attribute points from his last level up into magic. He had no idea what it would do, but he wanted more. The moment he confirmed his selection, he gasped as his core was suddenly filled with some sort of intangible, refreshing plasma. He could sense its presence filling him from within, but he couldn't really feel it or interact with it in any way.
More importantly, his observations of the stone immediately turned from a passerby admiring the world's finest piece of art to a student learning from a master.
Spellcraft increased to lvl 2! 200 exp gained.
Spellcraft increased to lvl 3! 300 exp gained.
'Oh God, please tell me you're not about to turn into one of those book nerds I used to pick on around town.'
Ignoring Alka entirely, Vin barely remembered to continue walking in the direction of camp as he dove into his studying of the stone. The points he placed into magic certainly helped, but even with his Spellcraft leveling up it was like someone in their sophomore year of college trying to learn by studying a PhD student's thesis. He could almost understand what the different shapes did and how they worked, but only just.
It took almost two hours of careful study, trusting in Alka to warn him if anything dangerous got too close to them as they walked before he had his breakthrough.
New spell discovered! Sense Stone. 2,500 exp gained.
"What the hell?!" Vin gasped, finally tearing his eyes away from the stone as the runic structure and knowledge of how to cast his first spell cemented itself in his mind. "Spells are worth a ton of experience!"
'Not surprising. Unlike skills, spells don't level up and grant you experience. They are a one and done deal, so you actually get less experience than you would from any single class skill. They're also difficult to find without a teacher and notoriously hard to learn. At least on my world. Don't forget it took you a few hours to figure that one out, and that was from a training aid literally designed to teach people.'
"Good points." Vin wondered how long it would take him to learn a spell from just its basic spellform, or if it would even be possible for him. Realizing he had a couple of System notifications waiting for him, he pulled them up, his jaw dropping as he went through them. Even dismissing the handful of notifications informing him that he'd gained 10 experience for wandering a new mile he had quite a few big ones.
Spellcraft increased to lvl 4! 400 exp gained.
Spellcraft increased to lvl 5! 500 exp gained.
Level up! Explorer Lvl 5.
+3 Attribute points to spend.
+1 Passive point to spend.
"Dear God, I need to learn more spells." He couldn't help but laugh, rubbing his hands together with glee. "Not to mention figure out what new passive to take."
'Maybe you should worry about that after you check in with your camp?'
"Why wait when…" Vin paused, his eyes widening when he realized just how far he'd walked in his magic obsessed stupor. He could make out the edge of what looked like an under-construction campground about a quarter mile away, and he could already make out a few people waving in his direction, clearly having spotted him.
Glancing up, he was shocked to see that it was nearly midafternoon; the sun already beginning to work its way back down toward the horizon.
"Wow, I can't believe I managed to walk all those miles without running into a tree or something," Vin said, shaking his head in disbelief.
'I may have tweaked your course a few times here and there. Turns out rather than full on possessing you, I can make slight adjustments to your muscles if I focus hard enough. Figured you wouldn't notice. I can't see your fancy map you have in your head, but I did my best to keep us heading in the right direction.'
"Well it looks like it worked." Sighing, Vin looked longingly at his interface. He had three new attribute points to spend, a new spell to experiment with, and even a new passive to select. However, he'd probably kept Spur waiting long enough. He was supposed to have returned last night after all.
"No sense putting it off," he said, dismissing his interface with one last look of longing.
Time to see how his people were faring.
Spur sighed, not even bothering to look up from the dozens of sheets of paper he had spread out across one of the many foldable tables they'd assembled in their temporary command center. He'd been busy trying to determine if it was smarter for them to prioritize being closer to a water source versus setting up their permanent camp in a more defensible location when one of his men poked their head into the tent.
"Repeat that again Thomas," Spur said, closing his eyes and praying the man's words changed the second time around. "I'm not sure I heard you right."
"Sir. Two civvies tried eating some strange fruits they found growing from a nearby tree. They've broken out in hives and are having some trouble breathing."
"That's what I thought you said." Spur rubbed the bridge of his nose, wondering if the System was testing him or something. "Pray tell, did they not receive their meal rations for the day or something?"
"They did sir. From what we can gather, they seemed to think the alien fruit would give them… superpowers? Or something along those lines. They were hard to understand through all the wheezing, but it sounded like they were looking for 'some piece' of something."
Sighing, Spur waved a hand, not even bothering to look up. "We don't have any sort of med bay set up yet; the doctors were slated to come over in the second wave. Send them over to Frank for now, he was a field medic back in the day. Should be good enough for those idiots."
"Sir!" Thomas saluted, leaving the tent. As soon as he was alone, Spur's hand twitched toward his personal pack he kept close by at all times. Unbeknownst to his superiors, he'd smuggled a little something special into this new world just for himself. He'd been planning to crack it open in celebration of surviving one year on this new world, but it had barely been more than a day and he was already fighting the urge to down the bottle. Steeling his resolve, he looked back to the reports he'd collected with the help of Myers. He had a lot of decisions to make, and not a lot of time.
While things weren't progressing quite as smoothly as he'd hoped, in the last twenty-four hours they'd at least managed to take care of all their critical tasks. They'd located a nearby source of water, determined that there weren't any serious threats in their immediate surroundings, and began cataloging nearby resources they could utilize to construct a real base of operations. From an outsider's perspective, things would have seemed to be going well.
Spur picked up the report Myers had collected from one of the captains put in charge of a group of civvies. According to the report, they'd been hunting for potential sources of food when they ended up encountering some sort of monster. The captain had described it as 'a small bear with four arms and the snout of a wolf.' Thankfully the group had a few people with combat classes, and they'd even managed to take down the monster he'd already heard a few soldiers dub the Big Bad Bear.
Unfortunately, they hadn't managed to put it down before it killed three of their people.
All three of which were civilians.
After that incident, unrest between the camp had escalated. Most of the civilians were questioning orders they didn't like the sound of, and a good handful were refusing to follow them outright. The worst part was that Spur couldn't exactly blame them. Unlike the soldiers, these people had been living totally normal lives just a few days ago. They hadn't been trained to follow orders. They hadn't been broken down and reconstructed in good old Uncle Sam's vision. Hell, they hadn't even gone through any serious training, unless you counted that ridiculous excuse for a boot camp his superiors had thrown together. And now, all of a sudden, these people were thrust into an entirely different world with nothing more than a few days of scattered training to fall back on?
Forget dissent, it was a miracle half of them weren't experiencing panic attacks.
Putting down the report on the monster attack, Spur picked up another one he'd received from Captain Hills. On top of being a crack shot with a rifle, Hills had a degree in psychology. Because of that, Spur had given him the task of watching over the camp as a whole, informing him of any serious concerns that required his attention. He'd expected this report to come sooner or later, but he couldn't believe it had taken only a single day.
According to Hills, a good chunk of the civvies were starting to rally around a woman named Patricia Miles. Patricia, or Patty, as she asked everyone to call her, was a very sociable woman who had been CEO of a nonprofit before receiving the message from the System. Hills' report explained how Patty had been witnessed going around to disgruntled members of the civilian half of the camp, consoling them and earning their trust. She could just be trying to make friends…
Or she could be laying the groundwork for some form of coup.
Grumbling to himself, Spur dug through a stack of papers and found the information Myers had collected on the woman. According to her report, Patty had claimed to have taken the Bard support class, which came with a free point of dexterity with every level and a passive that gave proficiency with a musical instrument of their choice. On a hunch, Spur took a glance at the sorting of the reports. Myers, bless her overachieving heart, had categorized the reports alphabetically for his perusal. But she had also made a note of the order of the people she'd spoken with. Looking for one report in particular, Spur finally found it.
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The person Myers had spoken to immediately before Patty, apparently a small-time DJ who had been hoping to make it big before all this went down that called himself Rooty Beard, had also stated they'd selected the Bard class.
Spur frowned, crunching the numbers in his head. He'd been lucky enough that a good number of people had had the sense to count how many starting class options they'd been offered, even if there had been too many to memorize. Strangely, the number of classes seemed to actually be different for everyone, but most people had somewhere around roughly 400 choices. The odds that Patty just happened to select the same class as the person directly beside her…
"I don't like it," he said, staring at the numbers. From what little he knew about the woman, he just couldn't see her selecting the Bard class when there were so many more appealing options. "But why lie about your class in the first place?" He muttered, trying to wrap his head around the decision.
"Sir!" A familiar voice called out before entering the tent.
"Not the best time Phil, I actually have to think about something, and you know how much I hate thinking," Spur said, giving a dismissive wave to his third in command. With Myers busy helping him do, well, pretty much everything, Phil had been placed directly in charge of maintaining the perimeter and ensuring no new monsters snuck up on them. The man had already proven himself to be a natural with a longsword, and had recently become the first person in camp to hit level 3 after a number of successful hunts.
"I think this warrants a break from thinking." Hearing the seriousness in Phil's tone, Spur looked up, raising an eyebrow at the frown on Phil's face.
"What's wrong?" Spur asked, his mind immediately turning to the worst-case scenario. "Did we lose anyone else?"
"Kind of the opposite actually. Remember that civvy you sent out to check out our surroundings that vanished?"
"Yeah, the Explorer. Vin, I think it was." Spur said, thinking back to the lanky man with unkempt black hair and a seemingly constant layer of dirt on his person. While the poor guy had that wiry, durable look that most of the people he encountered living on the street seemed to have, he didn't look like he'd be able to fight his way out of a cardboard box. Spur had been hesitant to send him out on his own, but his passive was exactly what they needed with their surveying drones taken, and he at least looked like a fast runner. But when Vin had failed to return before nightfall, they'd assumed he'd run into something like the Big Bad Bear and met his demise. "Did you find his body?"
"Well that's just it sir," Phil hesitated. "Turns out he's not dead. In fact, he's approaching camp as we speak."
"What? That's great news!" Spur said, laughing at something going right for once. The three dead civvies may have been the kindling Patty was using to light a fire under the civilian half of the camp, but Vin's disappearance that first day technically under his orders had been the spark. His return to camp should help Spur pump the brakes on whatever it was Patty was trying. Despite his excitement, Spur quickly picked up on Phil's continued uncertainty, and he did his best not to roll his eyes.
It was always something.
"You wanna spit it out man, or do I need to order you to tell me what the problem is?"
Phil slowly shook his head, his frown deepening. "It's not a problem, per se. In fact, you could argue it's probably a good thing for us."
"Phil, I swear to God I'm going to command our crafters to build us a toilet just so I can give you this world's first swirlie if you don't come out with it in the next five seconds."
Luckily for him Phil was used to his dislike of military protocol, and the man didn't bat an eye at his threat. "You know how I selected the Challenger class?"
"Yeah, because you're so ridiculously competitive I once watched you practice for ten hours straight just so you could beat someone in a game of darts the next day," Spur said, thinking back to their time in the barracks together. "So what?"
"Well, my class starting passive is called Challenger's Intuition. Essentially, I can see a soft aura around anyone or anything I look at that tells me my odds of winning a fight with said target. Your aura for example is a soft green, bordering on yellow, meaning you would be a small challenge, but not really that much of a fight for me."
"Hey it's not my fault I've been stuck in here reading reports and giving people orders," Spur said, frowning at the reminder that he had barely hit level 2 despite supposedly being in charge. If he didn't get experience for running the camp, he'd probably still be level 1 even. He really needed to throw everything over to Myers and get out there sooner than later; his class leveled far faster through combat.
"Anyway, the strongest thing I've seen so far was the Big Bad Bear," Phil said, ignoring his outburst. "Before the three of us took it down, its aura had been a darker yellow, pretty close to turning red. I may have been able to win solo against it, but I probably would have sustained some serious injuries."
Spur frowned, smart enough to realize where his old friend was going with this. "Go on…"
Taking a deep breath, Phil shook his head, his expression equal parts confused and concerned. "Well… I only caught a quick glimpse of him. But when the civvy was approaching camp, I saw his aura with my passive, Spur.
"It was blood red."
This is your camp?' Alka asked, clearly unimpressed as the two of them made their way through scattered bedrolls and shoddily put together tents on their quest to find Spur. Half of the camp was set up rather well with the tents in rows and all facing the same direction, but the other half looked like the System had grabbed a tiny sliver of Woodstock by accident. Vin knew it hadn't even been forty-eight hours since they'd arrived in this new world, but he'd kinda figured things would be a bit more organized than this.
"I told you, we only just got here," he muttered, trying to keep his lips from moving as much as possible. For some reason, he was clearly drawing a good bit of attention, and he didn't want anyone to see him talking to himself. "I bet Spur knows what he's doing."
"Vin?" A familiar voice called out. Searching for the owner, Vin spotted Alice looking at him with wide eyes, the lifeless body of one of the squirrel-ferret creatures he'd spotted yesterday clutched in her hands.
"Alice!" He called back, smiling at one of the few people he'd actually taken the time to chat with so far. "Guess that Trapper class is working out for you, huh?"
"Thank God you're okay!" She said, running over and looking him up and down. "Though if I didn't know any better, I would say it looks like you're somehow even more dirty than before!"
"It was a hectic trip," Vin admitted, trying not to wince as the image of Olga's dead body came to mind. "More than I care to admit. How have things been here?"
To his surprise, Alice actually paused to look around, making sure nobody was too close to them before answering, lowering her voice a tad. "Honestly, things have been kind of tense. We thought you were dead when you didn't come back last night, and we lost a few of the crafter classes during a monster attack. It feels like the camp is quickly breaking into two different groups, and I can't shake the feeling things are going to get worse before they get better."
"Seriously? Spur seemed so on top of things when I left!"
"At first, sure. But it wasn't long before people started to realize that the military wasn't the same powerful, unopposable force here that it was back on Earth. There are no official laws here; no army to back Spur up other than the few dozen people he brought with him. Hell, they don't even have prisons, let alone guns. If someone disobeys a direct order, what is Spur going to do? Slit their throat?"
"Jesus, that's dark." Vin shivered, imagining a grinning Spur coming at him with a knife in the dead of night. "Fair point though. I need to go report to Spur anyway; I'll let you know if he tells me anything important."
"I'll go start letting people know that you're back," Alice said, giving him one last smile. But just before she could walk off, a hand landed on her shoulder, holding her in place.
A tall woman with long brown hair smiled at the two of them, her eyes seeming to shine in the afternoon light. She had a friendly air about her, as though her very presence was somehow welcoming you to talk about whatever was on your mind with her. Vin watched as this strange new woman looked down at Alice like she was greeting a close friend.
"Alice dear, would you mind keeping this to yourself for a little bit? I don't think riling up the camp with any sudden surprises would be a good idea right now." The woman's voice was sweet, but commanding. Almost as though she knew you would listen to whatever she asked before she even asked it, and she loved you for it.
"What do you mean Patty?" Alice asked, frowning up at her. Vin noticed she clearly looked a tad uncomfortable with the woman holding onto her shoulder like that. "Don't you think people would be happy to hear Vin was back? Him going missing was what started making everyone upset in the first place."
"We'll let them know of course," Patty said, turning the full force of her smile onto Alice who seemed to shrink back in response. The weight of the woman's personality was like a weapon she wielded with expert precision. "But we should do it in a manner that calms people down. I'll be sure to take care of it."
"Oh Bert?" Patty called out, motioning for a nearby civilian to step forward. A thick man with a bushy mustache jumped forward as though he'd been waiting for his summons, smiling warmly at Patty as he answered her call.
"Would you mind helping Alice here with whatever she was doing?" Patty asked, gently patting Alice on the arm with her free hand. "Poor girl is being forced to get her hands dirty cutting up these adorable creatures."
"I really don't mind-"
"Of course Patty, whatever you need," Bert smiled, taking Alice's shoulder and beginning to lead her away despite her protests. It was clear to Vin that Alice wasn't a fan of either Bert or Patty, but she didn't seem to want to risk making a scene when so many eyes were on them. Vin hesitated, trying to decide if it would be inappropriate for him to butt in and do something.
Thankfully, his new conscience made the decision for him.
'If you don't stop that guy, I will.' Vin heard Alka practically growl in his head as they watched Bert continue to ignore Alice's weak protests.
"Gladly," he muttered, deciding the simplest solution was to just ignore whatever weird games Patty was playing. Quickly moving in front of Bert, both Bert and Patty's eyes widened as he blocked the man from leading Alice off, his arms crossed in front of his chest.
"Look, I don't know what is going on in camp, and frankly, I don't care either," he said, staring directly at Patty and making sure she knew his words were directed at her. "But Alice and I were having a conversation before you so rudely interrupted us, and she's clearly uncomfortable with… whatever's happening here," he said, gesturing wildly between the three of them. Looking at Alice, he grinned sheepishly. "Sorry Alice, I'm not trying to speak for you or anything. I just hate watching people walk all over others. I saw enough of that back on Earth."
"No... Thank you for that," Alice said, her gaze hardening. It was as if his intervening had lifted some invisible fog clouding her head, and the Trapper let out a sharp laugh. Spinning around, she shoved Bert hard, forcing the man to stumble away from her as she thrust a finger in his face. "Here I was just talking about how things were different now, right before falling back into my old habits of being a human doormat."
Yanking a dagger from her belt, Alice brandished it at Bert and Patty, causing Bert to quickly take another step back out of stabbing range. "How about this for a new world resolution? Every time one of you touches me without my permission again, I think I'll cut off one of your fingers to help you remember. Got it?"
'Oh I like her,' Alka laughed. 'Maybe she didn't need our help after all.'
"I think there's been some sort of misunderstanding," Patty said with an apologetic smile, any semblance of her initial surprise gone. Her expression had instantly morphed into that of someone just trying to help a poor soul who didn't quite have the full picture to understand what was actually going on. Vin had to admit, it was almost eerie how well she could throw those masks on in a moment's notice.
"Bert, would you mind leaving the three of us? Might be best to apologize as well. I don't think Alice realized you were just trying to help, and I certainly don't want to lose any fingers," she finished with a small laugh, as though it had been a toddler threatening them with a butter knife.
"Sorry," Bert said, his eyes still on Alice's dagger before turning and quickly walking away. Once it was just the three of them again, Patty flashed the two of them another award-winning smile.
"I'm terribly sorry my attempts at helping upset the two of you. I hope you can forgive me."
Vin glared at the woman, her overly fake voice seeming to make his very skin crawl. He waited for Alice to start swinging that blade around after that terrible excuse for an apology, or at least make a few threatening jabs in her general direction. But to his surprise, Patty's words seemed to actually dull the sharpness in Alice's gaze. Alice actually lowered her dagger, sheathing it and scratching the back of her head as if she were embarrassed.
"Sorry Patty, I know you were just trying to help. It's just that before coming here, my entire life was spent getting pushed around. By my parents, my manager, my ex..." She sighed, kicking the ground with a frown. "I just don't want to let myself fall into that rut all over again."
"Of course dear, I completely understand," Patty said, her face the picturesque image of someone consoling a loved one. "Why don't you let me have a quick chat with Vin here, and then we can talk about it after? Just remember what I said earlier about spreading this around camp."
"That sounds nice," Alice smiled, before turning to give him a little wave. "I'll talk to you later Vin."
Vin watched Alice walk off with her dead squirrel-ferret thing that he just now mentally dubbed a sqerret. Slowly, he turned to stare at Patty, his frown deepening. Something was off about the woman, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Before he could try and figure out what it was however, another familiar voice called out from across the camp.
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"Vin, you son of a gun! Just gonna waltz on in here like you didn't give us all a heart attack going missing yesterday?" Vin saw Patty click her tongue as Spur greeted him loud enough for half the camp to hear, a brief flash of annoyance on her face before it vanished just as quickly as it had appeared. The colonel quickly made his way over to them, grinning ear to ear. "I'll have you know you just won me what I believe to be the first official bet on this new world! Frank has to give me a massage now."
"Oh I'll give ya something alright!" A man currently wrapping bandages around two puffy looking guys called out from a few hundred feet away, shaking his fist at the colonel.
"Classic Frank," Spur said, the grin never leaving his face. He briefly turned toward Patty, nodding his acknowledgement before focusing on Vin. "Anyway, glad to have you back! Got anything… interesting, to report for me?"
It was only then Vin noticed the soldier standing a few feet behind Spur on his right side. The large, bulky man was built like a linebacker, yet carried himself in a way that was careful, almost mechanical. As if every move he made was carefully calculated. He had a longsword sheathed against his hip, and despite his large frame, he seemed poised to strike at any moment. Even now he was watching Vin intensely, and if the hand he had resting on the hilt of his sword was any indication, he was just a little too ready for a fight for Vin's comfort.
'I like the look of that guy. You should spar with him when you have the chance.'
"You have no idea," Vin answered Spur, ignoring Alka completely. He couldn't exactly answer her inconspicuously with so many people looking directly at him after all. "Though we should probably go somewhere more private. I have a lot to talk about."
"Fine by me," Spur said, motioning for Vin to follow him back to a large tent set up in the center of camp. Before they could take more than a few steps however, a voice that was growing annoyingly familiar spoke up.
"Colonel Spur, don't you think it's important for everyone to understand the situation we're in?" Patty asked, playing the part of a concerned citizen perfectly.
"You may be right, but that's not how the military works Patty," Spur said, not even hesitating in his response. "I'll brief everyone on what I deem important later on."
"You don't really strike me as the strict military type," Patty said, her almost flirtatious tone sending another unpleasant shiver up Vin's neck. "A lot of the civilians are worried about what's out there. Wouldn't letting them know the truth be the quickest way to calm them down?"
Vin expected Spur to brush her off and continue walking, but the colonel surprised him by turning to face her, seeming to give her suggestion some actual thought. "I've certainly considered it. Lord knows I'm not one to follow military protocol very closely. But in this case, the new information might just as easily cause a panic and throw our already shaky camp into complete anarchy. It's my job to decide what can be shared, and what should remain private."
"That just doesn't seem very fair, if you ask me," Patty said, her sickly-sweet voice once again sending prickles across Vin's body. If he listened to this woman for much longer, he was going to need some moisturizer or something. "If we are planning to continue functioning as a democracy, wouldn't it make more sense for everyone to have a say?"
Again, Vin waited for Spur to tell the pushy woman to pound sand, and again, he was shocked as the colonel slowly nodded. "What exactly did you have in mind?"
"A council," Patty answered quickly, her grin looking genuine for the briefest moment. "It would seat a few select members, chosen by popular vote from the different groups. Someone to represent the combat classes, someone for the crafter classes, and someone for the support classes. That way, when the council makes a decision, everyone will feel as though they truly had a say in what is decided, and we can work together to decide what information should be shared among the camp."
Spur was silent for a few moments, clearly deep in thought as he turned the idea over in his head.
"A council's not a bad idea to be honest," he said slowly, seeming more and more on board with the idea the longer he thought about it. "It would go a long way toward easing people's worries and calming the rising tensions around the camp."
"I absolutely agree," Patty said, her smile practically predatory.
"However, it'll have to be more than three seats," Spur continued, causing Patty's grin to sour. "I represent the camp as a whole, so my seat will be separate from the seat representing the combat classes."
"If there are four seats, it will be too easy for a decision to come to a tie," Patty pointed out quickly, clearly not wanting there to be any more than three seats.
"You're not wrong," Spur nodded, grinning over at Vin. "That's why we'll also have a special seat representing foreign matters. Vin will take that one."
Vin stared at the grinning man, not sure he heard him correctly. "You want me to have a seat on your fancy council? Have a say in the decisions we make going forward? Are you serious?"
"Are you kidding? If your news is half as important as I'm starting to suspect it is, I have a feeling foreign matters are going to become extremely relevant sooner than we think," Spur said, clapping him on the back.
"I think people would get upset at Vin just being handed a seat on the council when the others have to be voted in," Patty said, shaking her head as if it were just too bad such an idea wouldn't work. "We wouldn't want to make anyone more angry than they already are."
While Spur thought over this new point, Vin scratched his prickling neck absentmindedly, considering if he even wanted a seat on the council in the first place. He was a vagabond. A wanderer. Someone without any ties who went where the wind took them.
Or at least he had been.
He absolutely still was all that of course. Being sent to a new world certainly hadn't changed any of that. He had no plans for settling down and staying in camp for any longer than he had to after all. But he had more responsibilities now. He couldn't just up and leave the people from Earth to fend for themselves when he knew stronger threats were coming and he could very well be the reason their camp lived or died.
The memory of Olga's dead and decaying body flickered through his mind, only with Alice lying there instead, her lifeless eyes open wide in shock as dozens of beetles worked their way through her corpse.
He'd do whatever he could to prevent seeing anyone he knew end up like that.
Just as Spur seemed like he was going to agree with Patty, Vin spoke up, offering a solution. "People won't get upset if you explain that it has to be me."
Patty and Spur both turned to him. Raising an eyebrow, Patty gave him a strange look. "Not to be rude, but pray tell why it has to be you exactly?"
"I have the Polyglot passive," Vin shrugged. "It lets me understand and speak any language. What if we end up encountering people from another world sent here just like we were? You do realize they're not going to be speaking English, right?"
Patty's eyes narrowed, but Spur just looked at him in confusion, something not adding up in his head. "I thought your passive gave you a mental map of the places you'd been or something?"
"My starter one does," he nodded. "But you get an additional passive selection at level 5." That is completely true; no need to tell them about my free passive thankfully. I'm quite a fan of living after all.
His reveal sparked a few different interesting reactions. Patty's expression went from one of annoyance, to understanding, before quickly settling back into a mask of indifference. Spur looked at him in shock, before his face morphed into the largest grin Vin had ever seen. Most curious however, was the man who had been shadowing Spur this entire time. The large man's eyes went wide at Vin's revelation, and Vin distinctly noticed his hand almost unconsciously grip the hilt of his sword, as if he were fighting back the desire to unsheathe it and attack him on the spot.
"Are you kidding me?" Spur asked, laughing and clapping Vin on the back a second time. "You were gone for one day! What level are you?"
"If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not say." Vin looked between the two of them, waiting for an answer. "So, do I get the job?"
"Buddy, you got the whole company," Spur laughed, rubbing his hands together. "Alright, that settles it! Time for a quick round of democracy, and then our first council meeting. Think you can wait an hour or two for us to fill the new seats without running away again?"
"I could use an actual meal," Vin admitted, thinking back to all the strange vegetarian based hardtack he'd swiped from Alka's deserted town that he'd been eating over the past day. Nobody from Alka's village was going to miss it after all, so he'd helped himself to plenty.
"Great! You go get some food, and I'll send someone to grab you when we're done here. Phil, come with me. It's gonna take us a bit to round up all the combat classes, and I could use a hand."
The man who'd been eyeing Vin like he wanted to jump him nodded, falling in behind Spur as the two of them walked away, leaving Vin alone with Patty.
"As a support class yourself, I trust you understand the struggles most of our people are having," Patty said, giving him a pointed look. "Everything I'm doing is just to try and make people's lives better. I hope you can see that."
"If that's true, then we shouldn't have any issues getting along," Vin shrugged. "Though I trust Spur's judgment so far. We're in literally uncharted territory right now, and I think you need to give the man more than forty-eight hours before deciding he's unfit for the job of leader."
"A lot can happen in forty-eight hours," Patty whispered, quietly enough that Vin could barely hear her. Before he could respond, the woman turned and walked off, waving lazily over her shoulder. "Well, I need to go run my own campaign and see about actually earning my seat on the council. I'm sure we'll talk soon though."
Watching the woman leave, Vin sighed, looking around at the poorly constructed camp and planting his hands on his hips. He had an hour or two to kill, and didn't really know how to do it. Though one thing was certain.
"I'm glad all that political crap is finally over," he muttered, hearing Alka's ghostly laughter.
'No kidding. I'm surprised you made it through the entire thing without stabbing that woman.'
"I told you, I just don't like death. Now… Where do you think I can find some grilled sqerret?"
Remove
It turned out the answer to that question was the hastily thrown together mess hall. All it took was following the smell of roasting meat, and a few minutes later Vin found himself sitting under a tree with a grilled sqerret on a stick and his System interface pulled up in front of him. It seemed that with just under a hundred people in camp, food was far from one of their current concerns. They'd brought enough rations to last them a few weeks even without supplementing their stores with the local critters. All Vin had to do was give the cook his name and he was provided one of his three allotted meals for the day.
"Maybe camp isn't so bad after all," he mumbled around a mouth full of fresh meat. Taking his time and savoring the warm juices, he turned his attention to his interface.
Vinnie Stone
Explorer: Lvl 5
Titles: None
Exp. 10,950/15,000
Strength: 13
Dexterity: 14
Endurance: 24
Vigor: 15
Focus: 14
Magic: 3
Attribute Points: 3
Passive Points: 1
Passives: Mental Map, Polyglot
Skills: Tracking lvl 4, Spellcraft lvl 5
Spells: Sense Stone
"Hey Alka, what level were you before you died anyway?" He asked, taking another bite of his sqerret. One of the reasons he'd chosen this tree on the edge of camp was so he could converse freely with his tag along without looking like a total loon.
'I had just hit level 20 and prestiged my class from Fighter to Slayer. I probably could have hit a higher level in the few years I had since gaining access to the System, but I decided to focus on my skills over farming monsters for experience. Not everyone makes the same choice, but all the truly fearsome warriors do."
"Hold up, our classes change at level 20? That's news to me." Vin frowned, looking at the floating text that made up his life now. "Why does this System give us so little information? I've practically had to figure out everything on my own!"
'Everyone is entitled to a class change every 20 levels, but the options the System provides to you will be far smaller than your original class selection. Mine was rather large as I'd practiced with so many different types of weapons, but I knew from the very beginning I'd take the Slayer class if the Slayers accepted me. The Slayer branch of classes are rather special on my world; you have to be accepted by their organization before the System will offer them to you. As for the System's lack of information…' Somehow Vin could feel Alka shrugging inside him. 'No clue. I'm sure there are plenty of people who've spent years of their lives studying the System and could give you their theories, but I'm certainly not one of them.'
"You wouldn't happen to know of any potential classes an Explorer might be offered, would you?" Vin asked with bated breath.
'Nope. The green sea was rather deadly. Few people from my world ever chose to leave the villages, and those that did made sure to stick to the beaten paths lest they stumble upon something that would be best left alone. You're the first Explorer I've ever met.'
"Really? The snakes didn't seem like they were that much of a threat. I mean, if I was able to spot them and avoid them, I doubt your Slayers would have much of an issue."
Alka's boisterous laughter gave him pause, and he frowned down at his chest. It really was a problem that he couldn't glare at her when she was inside him like this.
'The greentails, or grass noodles, as you call them, are far from anything my people would consider a threat. Do you recall the claw marks and pieces of armor left behind at the spot that stone woman's body was supposed to be?'
"Yeah," Vin nodded, shivering at the thought. His limited tracking skills had still been enough to tell him that whatever beast had left those marks had to be significantly heavier than he was. And had claws at least the size of his head.
'There are predators and monsters that live up in the giant trees that would give you nightmares if you ever laid eyes on them,' Alka said, her tone turning completely serious. 'Fighting those that come down and venture too close to the villages is one of the main duties of the Slayers. It is why they are so highly respected, and why few ever choose to leave the sanctity of the villages.'
"Note to self, never step foot back in your world fragment," Vin said, pulling his legs in closer at the memory of how he'd stood under one of those giant trees and tried to peer up through the lowest layer of foliage. He'd just been trying to admire nature, who knew the entire time he'd been courting death?
Guess it's one of the things that comes from being an Explorer in a new world full of magic and danger. Pushing his unknown near-death experience aside, he came back to his interface.
"I've been kinda winging it so far in regards to my stats, but I feel like I should probably come up with some sort of plan for the future," he finally admitted, staring at his six attributes. "I suppose I could focus on one or two of them, or just try and stay all rounded. What would you recommend, Alka?" Just like other people, Alka wasn't able to see his System interface, but he'd read her his information in its entirety earlier.
'Focusing on a single stat is the simplest way to get yourself killed, or make yourself useless,'' she said immediately, her scornful tone making it clear what she thought of people who did such a thing. 'It doesn't matter what your class is, the System is designed in a way that you essentially need to divide your attention between multiple attributes. At the bare minimum, crafters need dexterity and focus. Melee fighters need strength, vigor, and endurance. Spellcasters need magic and focus. Granted, support classes are a bit of a grab bag, but you'll probably figure out soon enough what to put your points in if you haven't already.'
"I don't really plan on fighting, so strength is right out," Vin muttered, going down the list. "Dexterity could certainly be useful, but I don't think it's critical. Endurance is clearly the bread and butter of the Explorer class seeing as I get a free point in it each level. But while important, I think I'll be good relying on just those passive points for now." He paused, staring at the next attribute. "What exactly is vigor anyway? How does it differ from endurance?"
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'Endurance is closer to stamina. The more endurance, the longer you can keep doing something strenuous. They are similar, but vigor is how much punishment your body can take. A warrior with a high endurance would certainly be able to withstand a heavier blow than someone without, but a warrior with a high vigor could take a hit that would be fatal to a normal person and shrug it off completely.'
"Alright, that does sound useful," Vin admitted, staring at his fifteen points in Vigor. It was already one of his higher stats, but it might be worth putting a point into it now and again. Of course, he'd prefer avoiding taking damage entirely if given the option, but he doubted that would be the case. "Increasing my focus was pretty much the sole reason I managed to avoid all the grass noodles, so I'll probably focus on focus instead. Heh."
'Oh yeah, nobody's ever made that joke before,' Alka sighed. 'What about your abysmal magic stat? I can't believe you had a stat literally start at zero. On my world that would have been considered a disability for the record.'
"Hey, I can't help that my world didn't have any magic in it!" Vin argued. "It's no wonder none of us started with any points in magic! What was considered normal for your world anyway?"
'It differed, just like the other stats, but 'normal' for magic would have been anywhere between three and eight upon choosing a first class. Unlike the other stats, you can't really increase your magic prior to gaining access to the System, so the stat is purely based on aptitude and the environment you grew up in. I'd heard of a noble house experimenting with forcing their heirs to spend the majority of their childhoods in magic saturated rooms in the hopes of giving them a better start when they turned sixteen, but those might have been baseless rumors.'
"Good to know though," Vin muttered, eyeing up his pitiful three points in magic. He pulled out the Sense Stone training artifact and admired the beautiful runework once more, tracing the spell lines with a finger. Raising his magic stat had not only filled him with what he suspected was mana, but allowed him to actually make heads and tails of the spell on the artifact. Maybe his Spellcraft skill alone might have been enough, but increasing his magic had certainly sped up the process.
Before officially making his decision, Vin had one last thing he had to do. Trying to pay close attention to the strange, untouchable plasma that seemed to be floating inside him in a way not all that unlike Alka, he sucked in a breath and spoke the words of his new spell, his focus on the ground beneath him.
"Sense Stone." Immediately, he felt a bit of that strange substance drain away into the ether; the edges of his mana pool seemed to outright vanish as the spell siphoned it for energy. As soon as that was done, his mind opened up, and he realized he could actually sense the rocks beneath his position.
Just like Samtha had said, despite the fact that he was sitting on mostly dirt and normal ground, there were dozens if not hundreds of tiny rocks scattered all throughout the earth beneath him. His new sense seemed a bit fuzzy, and he couldn't quite detect the exact shape or sizes of each of the little rocks, but he could certainly tell they were there.
With a start, Vin realized the spell was slowly leaching mana from his already tiny mana pool, and he let the working end before it ran him completely dry. He wasn't sure exactly what would happen if he ran out of mana, and he didn't want to find out.
Grinning, Vin stared at the ground under him, now knowing exactly where each of the rocks beneath him was located. It was no exploding fireball or grand resurrection. But he'd had his first taste of magic, and he wanted more.
"Alright, that decides it! The Explorer class is already doing a lot of work for endurance on its own, so I'll turn my attention towards focus and magic for now. Which first, means making this a tad less embarrassing."
Allotting his points from hitting level 5, Vin raised his magic from three to six, grinning at the thought that in one more level he'd be just shy of double digits. He sucked in a breath as he felt his mana pool double in size, the sudden manifestation of intangible plasma within him warming him just a bit, offsetting the constant chill he'd already grown used to from Alka floating within him all day.
"Magic's up to six, baby!" He said, pumping a fist and grinning at his new stats. "How's that for disabled, huh?"
"Congratulations,' Alka said drily. 'You've finally achieved the starting point of the common Hedge Witch. I'd be shaking in my boots if I still had any.'
"Oh yeah? What was your magic attribute before you died then?"
'...You do realize I could have bench pressed your body without breaking a sweat back when I was alive, right? I told you, I focused my efforts on my physical stats. Didn't really bother with magic.'
"That's a lot of words for 'less than six!'" Vin said, grinning at the ghostly arm that floated out of his chest and tried to flick him in the forehead to no avail. "Come on, let me have this! You told me you'd hit level 20 before you died, obviously all your other stats are going to be leaps and bounds ahead of mine."
Alka was silent for a moment. Finally, she sighed, giving up on her attempts to hit him and pulling her arm back inside of him. 'Fine. I suppose I can live with you having a single stat higher than mine. After all, the stronger you are, the higher chance you manage to actually find a way to bring me peace.'
"Good point." Vin's grin faded at the reminder that Alka was only along for the ride until he found a way to help her die for real. She'd quickly become his only real friend in this new world, and it was easy to forget her true goal. "In that case, do you have any suggestions for my passive point?"
'I thought you took Polyglot with your level 5 passive?' Alka asked, clearly confused.
"Yeah about that… So, I can't actually talk about why or how, but I actually have an additional passive point to work with. Sorry."
Again, Alka went silent for a few seconds. After what felt like forever, she finally spoke up, thankfully sounding more curious than annoyed. 'Don't want to talk about it, or literally can't talk about it?'
"Literally can't talk about it," Vin confirmed. "I don't know the specifics, but I'm pretty certain I'll just… well, die."
'Oh, that's all you had to say.' He felt her shrug, which was a rather strange sensation. 'Never saw any myself, but I'm aware there are a couple of ways to earn additional points outside of level ups. Divine rewards, cursed objects, etcetera. If anyone asks, just say you found a cursed potion or something. As long as that doesn't get you killed of course.'
"That's a great idea, thank you," he said, relief flooding through him. "So, suggestions?"
'I mean, you should already know by now that passives are pretty class specific. I doubt any of the ones I took would even be options for you.'
"I know," he sighed, opening up his possible choices and scanning through the list once more. The options were just as appealing as the first time he'd gone through them, and he almost swore there were even more than before. "They just all seem like fantastic choices, and seeing as I don't actually know what they do besides making a guess based on the name, I'd hoped you had some advice."
'Pretty much all passives are good. I wouldn't worry too much about your choice. There's more leeway with passive points compared to attribute points, but you still don't want to be that person who tries to hoard their points and ends up dying from it. I knew more than one Warrior who decided to bank their attribute points until they needed them and ended up paying the price for it. My advice is to pick something that sounds useful to you and go for it. Or if you're struggling that much, wait a few days and sleep on it.'
"Probably for the best," he sighed, closing out of his interface and stretching. "Camp isn't too large, so I imagine Spur and them have got to be just about finished with their elections by now. I didn't get a chance to let Alice know about the sqerret hunting spot I found yesterday either, so I should take care of that first."
'Good idea. The faster that girl levels up her Trapper class, the more terrifying of an enemy she'll be. I've seen specialized Slayers take down beasts larger than a house with a single, well placed trap. She will make a good ally.'
Vin shivered at the image of Alice standing over a blazing battlefield, enemy soldiers simply exploding from plummeting rocks or falling into covered spike pits as they tried and failed to reach her; the woman laughing all the while as brilliant flames blazed around her.
"Yeah," he agreed, walking just a tad faster.
"Let's get her on our side."
The objective of these council meetings is to decide on the appropriate actions we should take as a whole moving forward, and to ensure each of the three class related factions making up our camp feel like they are being heard," Spur summed up, looking around the small table that had been brought into the command tent. Just like he'd said, there were now five people supposedly in charge of their small camp of Earthers, and somehow Vin the former homeless vagabond had ended up as one of them.
Spur represented the camp as a whole and Vin was supposedly going to represent foreign matters, but the other three seats had in fact been filled by a few quick elections.
Acting as the representative for the support classes, Vin was not surprised in the least to see Patty, wearing her too perfect smile and beaming at everyone sitting across from her at the table. He also recognized the representative for the combat classes as Phil, the man that had been shadowing Spur last they spoke, and who still seemed like he was itching to draw his sword on Vin for some reason. The final member, the representative for the crafter classes, had been introduced as a woman named Tasha. She was a short, serious looking woman that reminded him of a middle aged librarian who Vin hadn't yet heard say more than a few words at a time. He wasn't certain how she'd ended up as the representative to speak for nearly a dozen people when she barely spoke herself, but here she sat.
"Unless anyone has any pressing concerns they'd like to bring up first, I figured I'd give you all a rundown on what my current plans for the future were, and we could follow that up with Vin's report on what he found out in his travels," Spur said, his eyes practically gleaming as he looked at the uncomfortable Explorer. "Then we can see if any adjustments need to be made to my plans."
"Tasha and I do have a pressing concern actually," Patty said, drawing everyone's eyes toward her as she gave them all a warm smile. "The support and crafter classes feel as though their desires are not being heard. Despite lacking the skills and strengths of the combat classes, they are being made to go out into this new, unknown, and recently proven dangerous world. I don't think I need to remind you we just lost three of our already few crafters to that recent monster attack."
Their eyes moved to Tasha, who simply grunted, nodding her agreement. In response, Spur sighed, leaning back in his chair and frowning at the two of them.
"Right now, what is more important than their skill set is their bodies. We need hands to collect materials and eyes to spot threats. They might not like it, but it's necessary until we're more settled." He held up a hand, cutting Patty off before she could argue. "The three deaths were a tragedy, of course, and I'm planning to lessen the number of scouting parties we send out so that we can increase group sizes and ensure everyone is better defended. But we can't just let a quarter of the camp sit on their asses while everyone else is working hard."
"I agree with Spur," Phil said, managing to take his eyes off Vin long enough to nod toward the two women. "I understand where you're coming from, but Spur is right. This is a military operation first and foremost. People have to learn to suck up their disagreements and follow orders."
"Those people were forced into joining the military and you know it," Patty frowned, tapping the table with a firm finger. "What's to stop them from deciding that staying in this camp isn't in their best interest and finding somewhere else to live their lives?"
"I mean, the seemingly random monster attacks for one," Spur said honestly, earning another glare from the woman. "What? I'm not going to sugar coat it. You honestly think I'll believe the weakest portion of our camp would survive heading out on their own? Come on, at least make a believable threat if you want to try and blackmail us."
Patty's face grew flushed and she leaned forward, no doubt about to give Spur some choice words before her gaze flicked to Vin for a moment. Vin watched in confusion as she hesitated, slowly sitting back down and taking a deep breath, seeming to collect herself. "Well. I suppose that puts us at a two-to-two vote fight out of the gate."
"Right you are," Spur grinned, glancing at Vin. "Vin? Thoughts?"
Vin almost shrunk back from the four heavy gazes that landed on him, but he steeled his resolve, remembering why he was doing this in the first place. I can't believe I'm about to say this…
"I think you both have good points… but your thinking is wrong, Spur."
"How so?" Spur asked, a slight frown on his face.
"You're thinking about the situation as if we were still back on Earth, and not in a new world following a new set of rules," he explained. "The System gave everyone a class when we came here, but the different types of classes play by different rules. Those of you with combat classes for example gain experience and level up by fighting stuff, right?"
"Yes," Phil nodded. "The stronger the enemy, the more experience we earn. And we have already confirmed that the experience is split evenly between all members that significantly contribute to a fight."
"Right, so it makes sense for combat classes to engage in combat as much as possible," Vin explained. "But support and crafter classes function differently. I'm an Explorer, so I gain experience by exploring. Look at what happened when you let me embody my class. I went off to explore the new world, and now I'm probably one of the highest-level people here, right?"
He watched Spur and Phil share a quick glance before Spur nodded, leaning forward. "To be entirely honest Vin, you are the highest-level person in camp. By a lot. We haven't even been in this new world for forty-eight hours yet. After you, we don't even have anyone above level 3."
"Oh…" Vin scratched the back of his head, surprised by the news. He'd joked about it to himself earlier, but he hadn't expected to actually be that far ahead of everyone else. "Well, that's kinda my point I suppose. Skills and passives, and therefore levels, are the strongest tools available in this world. If you want high level people, you need to let them focus on what grants them experience. Let the crafters craft and the supporters… do whatever their class is supposed to do."
The tent was quiet as everyone digested this information. After a moment, Spur crossed his arms, his face scrunched in thought. "That makes sense… A lot of the support classes are already gaining experience and leveling up, seeing as their classes tend to go hand in hand with the combat classes. It's the crafters that are lagging behind."
"So let them craft," Vin shrugged. "Not to be rude, but the first thing I noticed after coming back today was the fact that the camp is a bit of a mess. Why not let the crafters work on improving it?"
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"I was planning on relocating camp sometime within the first few days, so I was focusing on getting eyes on the ground and figuring out where the best place for that was rather than fortifying this location," Spur sighed, raising an eyebrow. "Unfortunately, our Explorer up and vanished, so it's been taking longer than I expected."
Vin felt his face heat up, and could hear Alka laughing quietly in his head while Spur continued. "But you're right. My mindset has been all wrong since coming here. Even if we are planning to move, having the crafters work to improve this location would give them valuable experience to level their classes. Not to mention give us a point to fall back to if needed. Tasha, would you be able to keep your crafters productive and focused if we pull them from their current duties helping the combat classes? They may still need to help collect crafting materials however."
"Yes," was all the woman said, seeming extremely confident in the crafters she represented.
"I suppose all that's left is a vote then. All in favor of pulling back the crafting classes and allowing them to work on improving the camp?"
Four hands went up immediately, and after a slight hesitation, Phil's hand joined them as well, making their first official vote unanimous.
"Well damn, I honestly wasn't expecting this council to be all that useful," Spur said, letting his hand drop and barking out a laugh. "Good job Patty, looks like your idea actually had some merit."
"Of course," Patty said, looking far happier now that she'd gotten her way. Vin had watched her through the corner of his eye during his entire conversation with Spur, and she'd seemed both surprised and pleased by all the points he'd made. "I have to say Spur, I appreciate the fact that you are willing to change your mind when presented with reason."
"I'd be a pretty crappy leader if I wasn't," Spur snorted, shaking his head. "Well, with that out of the way, let me give a quick rundown of what's to come before we get to our main event." Spur stood up and grabbed a whiteboard, flipping it over to reveal a brief list of bullet points.
"Priority number one is determining the location for our settlement and moving our camp there of course," Spur said, tapping the first point on the list. "We need it to be defensible, with close access to water, and not too far from this location. We're assuming the System is going to drop waves two through nine at our current spot, so we want to prevent the need for a grand pilgrimage of thousands of people across too large a distance. Ideally, we wouldn't move our camp more than ten miles at an absolute maximum."
Oh crap, Vin thought, staring at the man with wide eyes. "Uh… Spur. Quick question. How far out have your scouting parties traveled at this point?"
Spur paused, grabbing a nearby sheet of paper and scanning it over. "Obviously we lost all our technology, and GPS wouldn't have worked on this new world without satellites anyways, so we've been hesitant about moving too far too quickly as we don't want anyone to get lost. Not surprisingly, compasses don't work either. At our best estimate, our furthest team has traveled about four or five miles away from camp before returning, while most don't travel more than two or three."
"I was afraid of that." Vin rubbed his eyes, wondering how on Earth he was supposed to break the news about how this world was made. As far as he could tell, their camp was smack dab in the middle of a giant hexagon, about six miles from any one side. Through some crazy magic, the neighboring fragments didn't actually become visible until you got about a half mile away from the border, which meant no one else in camp currently knew that their new world was actually just a tiny hexagonal slice. Getting to his feet with a sigh, he gestured to Spur's chair. "You might want to sit down for this."
Grabbing one of the empty whiteboards, Vin did his best to draw a hexagon with six equal, six-mile-long sides. Then he drew six identical hexagons bordering it. Tapping the middle one, he made a small dot in the very center and labeled it 'camp.'
"So… turns out, this world we're on? Edregon? It's actually got a rather interesting story behind it."
Over the next thirty minutes, Vin explained everything he'd learned about the world so far. How the fragments bordered each other, how each one was actually a salvaged slice of a dying world, even how he'd met the neighboring stone village and helped them retrieve their missing scout party. The only thing he decided to leave out was anything involving Alka. He figured they had enough to digest without also throwing out the fact that he was currently harboring a slightly murderous ghost inside his body.
By the time he finished his explanation, the entire council was staring at him with wide eyes and open jaws. Even Tasha, the seemingly unflappable crafter representative, was looking at him like he was some sort of alien.
"So yeah… that about sums it up," he said, taking a seat and trying to ignore the four stares burning a hole through his head. "My point is, I'd recommend not traveling more than six miles in a straight line from camp without taking some serious precautions. Some of the fragments appear to be far more dangerous than others."
The council continued to stare at him, none of them seeming to be able to form a coherent thought. As he waited patiently for someone to finally say something, he heard Alka laugh.
'Well. I think you might have broken them!'
After a long, uncomfortable silence, Spur seemed to snap out of his daze first, shooting daggers at him as he stood up and leaned over the table. "You encountered an entire village of humans living peacefully in this world… and discovered that this world is unlike anything we could have ever imagined… and you didn't think to tell me about either of these things immediately?"
"I was going to," Vin argued, pointing at Patty. "Then she appeared and this whole council thing started! You agreed to it, and I figured it would be best to wait and fill in the entire council at the same time!"
"Vin made the right decision," Patty agreed, even her usual confident visage seeming a bit shaken by all the recent revelations. "This is too much for just the two of you to know, Spur. Everyone living on this new world needs to know how it works."
"I agree," Phil said, scratching his chin and staring off into the distance. "But we shouldn't tell them the parts about the other worlds dying to corruption, or whatever it was that did them in. No need to cause a panic that it might happen here as well. Or to Earth."
The thought of Earth falling to some sort of spreading corruption seemed to take the wind from Spur's sails, and he collapsed back into his seat, looking as though he'd aged a decade. "You're right of course. We'll let our respective groups know about how the world is made of fragments, and warn everyone about crossing the boundary. Vin!" Spur barked, causing him to jump.
"New orders for you. I want you to spend however long it takes to explore the rest of our current fragment and finally give me a goddamn map. After that, you need to figure out what the surrounding fragments are filled with as fast as possible. Just because your friends at the stone village don't want to start a fight, that doesn't mean the next group of people you encounter will be quite as friendly."
"That was already the plan," Vin confirmed.
"Good. I'd prefer if you swung back to camp regularly, but I understand if it's faster for you to make a big ring around this fragment. But no matter what, I need you back here in time for the arrival of wave two, understand? Eight. Days." He paused, tapping the table with each word as though to drive it home. "There'll be a thousand people coming with this next wave, and we need to present a unified front. I have a pretty good feeling you're going to blow our growth out of the water as you continue to explore, and I want the highest-level Earther by my side come wave two. Capeesh?"
"Yes sir," he said, balking slightly under Spur's intense stare.
"Good. Now for the next item on the agenda." Spur sat heavily in his chair, closing his eyes and rubbing his temples. "Tasha, do any of your crafters know how to brew alcohol? After that revelation, I think I need a drink."