"This… is not a town." Andrew muttered as they approached what was obviously some kind of fort.

Chris shrugged. "It has buildings and people. Town enough for me."

"Those are soldiers!" Andrew protested.

"Are soldiers not people?" Chris retorted.

"Not the point!" Andrew countered. "My point is that we are clearly approaching a military base!"

"You know, that might actually be better." Thomas commented. "I mean, we could find some random town to set up, see what we can do to help in the area, fumble about on our own, and eventually start to make a difference. Or we could talk to people who know what's going on in the area, like say the military, jack into their system and start making a difference now."

"No offense, but no one is going to take you seriously while you're still at such a low level." Allison pointed out. "You need to be at least level twenty-five in your Class and Race before anyone will even give you a chance."

"Ugh, levels." Greg grumbled. "So pointless."

"Levels literally give you points." Quinn rolled her eyes.

"Yes, but the system gives me skill points, which are much more valuable." Greg shot back.

"It gives you those too!" Quinn exclaimed.

"Yeah one. Pshh. Weak shit." Greg scoffed. "With the system I get two or three a day."

"Conventional wisdom says it isn't wise to spread yourself so thin, but…" Allison gestured vaguely at him and the other three. "I don't think that's going to be a problem for you."

"Hey, you're one of us too now." Greg chuckled, throwing an arm around her. "You think you don't have the leeway to be a bit more varied with the advantages you get from Chris's world?"

Allison paused, remembering the rush of knowledge she'd received from Chris. "That- was certainly useful but there's a difference between knowing something and knowing it."

Thomas nodded. "True. Even if you have it, you still have to put in the work to make that knowledge your own."

"Exactly!" Allison exclaimed.

Chris cocked his head. "Does that mean none of my knowledge is my own?"

Quinn and Allison shared a look, having experienced how Chris 'knew' things, before turning back to Chris. "You know things… differently than other people." Allison replied hesitantly.

"Your mind is weird as shit." Quinn nodded in agreement. Allison shot her an irritated look and Quinn shrugged. "What? He knows he's weird."

"True. I'm a freak." Chris nodded.

"Absolutely." Greg nodded as well.

"Not that the rest of us are much better." Thomas shrugged.

"Hey, compared to you guys, I'm normal as shit." Andrew retorted. "You know, personality wise."

"Yeah, but who wants to be normal?" Greg countered, sticking his tongue out in disgust.

"I mean… sometimes it feels like it'd be nice to be able to connect with people more easily." Thomas sighed. "To be friends with someone not just because they're used to you, but because they actually get you."

Greg cocked his head. "You mean like Victor?"

Thomas paused. "Well, I suppose finding people as weird as we are works too." He shrugged.

"Or people who appreciate our weirdness." Chris added. "You don't necessarily have to be weird to appreciate weird. Like Beth."

Andrew coughed awkwardly. "Dude… Beth is weird."

"Not as weird as you, but yeah." Thomas nodded.

"Though, at a certain level, everyone is weird, so kind of a moot point." Greg shrugged.

Chris frowned. Beth was weird? "What about Derek?"

"Derek's weird in that he's too normal." Thomas frowned. "Like, no one should be able to get along with that many people that easily."

"I wouldn't say it's that he's too normal…" Andrew muttered. "It's more like he's just above average in pretty much everything, with no serious flaws. Most people have a 'they're great, but they suck' thing going on, some parts being amazing while others are less than ideal, so you have to decide whether their benefit outweighs putting up with their shit. For Derek… he's not great, but he's all around good, so he fits in everywhere."

"So he seems normal to everyone, which is actually pretty weird." Thomas nodded.

"Huh." Chris cocked his head, then shook it. "Ah well. Are we going to the town or not?"

"It isn't a town! It's a fort!" Andrew exclaimed.

"Whatever. Are we going to it?" Chris rolled his eyes.

"I mean, we might as well check it out." Greg shrugged.

"Couldn't hurt." Thomas nodded.

"Then let's go. They're staring at us." Chris gestured to the small group standing on the wall.

*

"What is it, Private?" Sergeant Johanson asked as he stepped up onto the wall.

"Sir!" The Private saluted, before gesturing to a small group of people standing a good distance away from the walls. "We spotted an unidentified group of low-leveled individuals approaching, but… they stopped right there and haven't moved. We believe they might be refugees of some sort, possibly from a trade caravan, too scared to approach the walls."

The Sergeant narrowed his eyes as he studied the group, which seemed to be having some sort of discussion. "They seem a bit too relaxed to be refugees, don't you think?" He commented as he shot a quick status scan towards them. Two Changelings, two Humans, an Elf, and… The Sergeant frowned. He couldn't pick up a status from that one, but they at least looked Human. All of them, except the one with no status, were less than level ten, except for one which was a bit over twenty-five. That was only their race level of course, so they could have higher Classes, but he didn't have the skills to see that. The hidden status could be a much higher level he supposed, but just hiding your status was a low-level trait… higher-level traits could disguise the status so no one would notice anything.

"What else would bring a group that low-leveled to a place like this?" The Private asked. "Even people in the hundreds die out here!"

"Maybe they don't know where they are?" Another private offered hesitantly.

The Sergeant turned to scowl at them. "You don't simply bumble your way into the Northern Wastes! No, there's something strange going on here."

"Look, they started moving again!" Another soldier pointed as the group began to make their way towards them again.

"Should we bar them from entering?" The first Private turn to ask the Sergeant.

The Sergeant scowled for a moment, studying the group for a moment, before shaking his head. "No, let's just see what they want for now."

*

"Halt!" The Sergeant called out as the group approached the gate. "You are approaching Fort Frozen Hearth of the Unified Empire! State your business!"

Greg cocked his head. "We're visiting?"

The Sergeant blinked. "Visiting?"

"Exploring." Thomas corrected. "We're looking to explore the Northern Wastes. Dungeons, danger zones, resources, and all that."

The Sergeant frowned. "You want to explore the Northern Wastes."

"Is there a problem with that?" Thomas cocked his head.

The Sergeant paused. "We will need to check your qualifications." He declared, before turning to one of the Privates. "Take them to the holding area. I need to report this to the Captain. There is something very strange about all this." He ordered, before rushing off.

"Lotta Dwarves around here, aren't there?" Greg commented after they'd been led to a small holding area and told to wait.

"The Dwarven Kingdom is in the north, so it makes sense." Quinn replied. "Not everywhere has the variety Nobilis has. Most Kingdoms still have a predominant race that makes up the majority of their population."

Allison nodded. "Even Nobilis skews Human and Elf, since they're the closest Kingdoms, though it being the capital of the Empire does encourage those of distant Kingdoms to immigrate."

"Makes sense." Thomas nodded. "People aren't going to move without a good reason, so just because everyone is unified under the Empire doesn't mean they're going to suddenly move around so all the races are properly mixed. Plus family ties and whatnot, which also encourages people to group together… just a lotta reasons for an area to be dominated by a single race."

"Oh, that reminds me!" Greg exclaimed, turning to Quinn and Allison. "Do you guys do halfs?"

"Halfs?" Quinn frowned, cocking her head.

"You know, like Half-Elves, Half-Orcs-" Greg began to list examples off, before Quinn cut him off.

"Half-Orcs?!?" She asked incredulously.

Greg frowned at her. "Yeah? What- oh, right, they're monstrous, aren't they?" He cocked his head thoughtfully. "Anyway, you get my drift, right? What happens when two races interbreed?"

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

Allison coughed awkwardly. "It can depend on racial traits, of course, and whether the two races are even compatible, but in general, the… progeny of mixed race couples are predominantly one race or the other, with maybe an extra trait, though that is very rare. Additionally, the lower rank races tend to be more dominant. The child of a Dragon Folk and a Human will be a Human ninety-nine percent of the time. Another reason Humans are so common in Nobilis, since they're common and rank three, so the majority of their unions simply make more Humans."

"Wouldn't a rank two race be even more common then?" Thomas asked.

Allison shook her head. "There aren't any rank two races. At least, not noble ones."

The soldiers guarding the door and listening in shared weird looks. These people talked like they were from a different world! The Sergeant was right, there was something weird going on here. Thankfully they didn't seem to realize they could hear them.

"So, before Chris just blabs everything, what's our game plan here? Who are we?" Greg asked.

"I feel we should have figured that out before we entered the fort." Andrew frowned.

"We could always tell the truth." Chris shrugged. "Any fabrication we come up with would mean they wouldn't trust us enough to let us do what we want to do. Only our abilities will give us a chance. Plus, lying is annoying."

"Yeah, Chris, you can just not talk, like with my parents." Thomas shook his head.

Chris paused, before nodding and giving him a thumbs up.

"He does have a point though." Greg commented. "None of us are over level ten in anything, except Allison. If you had a group like that show up, asking about the local dungeons, danger zones, and whatever else is going on, would you help them? Or would you send them away, or possibly even lock them up as dangers to themselves?"

Thomas frowned. "That is a very good point."

"I feel like we've jumped the gun here." Andrew frowned. "We should have spent more time leveling before coming here."

"But if we don't do anything, bad things happen." Greg pointed out. "We need to go to a place to do things, but the places with things to do are dangerous, so no one is going to think we should go to those places unless they know what we can do."

"Should we just go then?" Thomas asked. "Do we even need these people?"

Chris raised his hand and pointed at himself.

"Right, Chris needs people." Thomas sighed.

Chris nodded.

"Another point for telling people the truth." Greg added.

Andrew blinked. "Shit, are we trying to take over a military base?" The soldiers outside the door froze, their eyes widening.

"Take over?" Greg cocked his head. "Maybe? That's kinda up to them though, now isn't it? We're simply offering them a choice, it's up to them whether they take it or not." The soldiers shared a look. Was that a threat?!?

"So we are telling them the truth then?" Thomas asked, turning to Allison. "Do you think that's a good idea?"

Allison shrugged helplessly. "How am I supposed to know?!? I've barely come to terms with the fact that you people even exist! How am I supposed to know how you should go about introducing yourselves to the larger world?" She paused. "Though if you are going to do it, an isolated military base in the Northern Wastes probably isn't the worst place to try it."

Thomas turned to Quinn next, and she shrugged too. "You guys do what you want. It isn't like they can't actually hurt you." Now that got the soldiers attention. They shared a look and one of them rushed off to report to the Captain.

"Okay, I guess we tell them the truth." Thomas sighed. "Which means Chris can talk. Not that he cares."

Chris shrugged, wiggling his hand side to side.

*

Captain Taylor looked up as Sergeant Johanson entered her office. "Captain!" He saluted, snapping to attention. "A small group has arrived, requesting permission to explore the Northern Wastes. However, they are all extremely low-level, particularly for the area, yet they appear none the worse for wear, despite the distance they must have traveled, on foot. I- usually if a group can make it here, they can explore, but… this one is simply too strange."

The Captain paused. "You think they're up to something?"

The Sergeant shook his head. "I cannot say, Ma'am. If they're hiding something, they aren't doing a very good job of it, but… if they aren't hiding anything, sending them into the Wastes would mean their doom! I don't think this is a decision I can make."

The Captain shook her head. "We aren't in the business of keeping idiots from getting themselves killed. Give them a map, tell them the areas to avoid, and kick them out." She waved dismissively.

The Sergeants expression twisted. "But Ma'am, they're teenagers."

The Captain paused, frowning, before shaking her head again. "If they are capable enough to get here, they're capable enough to make their own decisions."

The Sergeant looked uncomfortable for a moment, before letting out a small sigh. "Yes, Ma'am." He saluted again, turning to leave.

"Captain!" A soldier rushed into the office, panting breathlessly. "The- the people in the holding cell- they're- they're planning on taking over the fort!"

The Captain blinked. "Pardon?"

The Sergeant frowned. "There's six of them, and five of them haven't even broken level ten!?!"

"They- they have some sort of secret and- I- I don't know the details, but- I don't know if they're actually dangerous or just crazy." The soldier calmed down slightly, flushing in embarrassment as he realized he might have overreacted.

The Captain sighed, standing to her feet. "Fine. Take me to them."

*

"My people tell me you wish to explore the Northern Wastes and take over my fort." The Captain declared as she entered the holding area, crossing her arms and glaring at them.

Greg blinked at the Captain. "Holy shit, I think I'm in love." He muttered. He usually wasn't the type to get instantly infatuated with someone, but the combination of small and cute plus a no nonsense attitude was doing things for him. She was like a mini Tessa! He paused. Was the World fucking with him a little here?

The Captain and Quinn turned to give him very similar glares. ""Excuse me?!?"" They asked in unison.

Greg froze. "Did I say that out loud?" Shit, the World really was fucking with him, wasn't it?

"Yyyup!" Thomas grinned. "Who's the horndog now, eh?"

"Hey, I have never denied my appreciation of the female form." Greg retorted. "I just don't think we should pick people up based on how cute they are." He added, jerking his thumb at Allison.

"Wait, what?" She looked between the two of them, confused.

Thomas flushed. "I never- I just- damn it, Greg!"

"Yeah, yeah, I suck." Greg waved dismissively, before refocusing on the Captain. World fuckery or no, she was cute and he was digging her demeanor, so… "Would you be interested in going on a date sometime? Anytime. I'm pretty flexible." He winked.

Captain Taylor blinked, taking a moment to take in the proposition, give it the proper consideration, and summarily dismiss it, electing to ignore that she'd ever even been asked. "Are you or are you not planning on taking over my fort?" She asked, turning away from Greg.

Greg chuckled, leaning back. "Playing hard to get. I like it."

"We are not planning on taking over your fort." Andrew insisted.

"It's just incidental." Chris added.

"Damn it, Chris!" Andrew groaned, burying his face in his hands.

"What? He said I could talk." Chris gestured to Thomas.

"Yes, because it's my fault you have some weird compulsion to say the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." Thomas rolled his eyes.

"I'm sorry, is this some kind of joke!?!" The Captain roared.

"People ask us that a lot." Chris frowned. "Do you guys think we aren't being serious enough?"

""Absolutely."" Both Quinn and Allison nodded.

"We could be a little more focused." Thomas sighed.

"I blame Chris and Greg." Andrew nodded.

"I mean, you aren't wrong, but in response, I ask you this. Why should I take any of this seriously?" Greg asked.

"How am I not being serious?" Chris muttered to himself, frowning slightly.

"So people don't feel like their lives are a joke to you?" Andrew retorted. "If you never take anything seriously, then how are people supposed to trust you?"

"I take plenty of things seriously, but what's serious about this?" Greg countered. "This is just a misunderstanding, and she's cute when she's angry."

"What?!?" The Captain exclaimed.

"See?" Greg chuckled, before turning to Chris. "Just give her the pamphlet already."

"Oh right." Chris nodded, extending his hand to the Captain as a pamphlet appeared in it.

The Captain scowled at Greg before snatching the pamphlet from Chris, and starting to read it. The only indication of her incredulity was a slightly cocked eyebrow as she continued to scan the pamphlet, quickly finishing it, before looking up at them again, then back down at the pamphlet, then back up at them. She let out a small huff. "This actually makes more sense than any other explanation I can think of for you people."

"Doesn't it?" Greg grinned. "Now about that date."

The Captain glared at him. "That doesn't mean I believe you. I'm simply open to the possibility of this being real." She waved the pamphlet. "Now what does this have to do with you taking over my fort?"

"I need people connected to my world. My world gives me influence over people. I'm offering to connect anyone here to my world, which would give me influence over them, which would give me influence over the fort, hence, taking over." Chris explained. "Though realistically, my influence isn't to the level of corrupting anyone's allegiances, so taking over isn't even accurate. Though I would be able to remove anyone connected to my world at any time, which would make taking the fort much easier… but that isn't our goal, so don't worry."

"Oh, and I should just believe you?" The Captain asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I honestly don't care." Chris shrugged. "I can prove my ability works, but if you aren't going to trust us you aren't going to trust us, and I don't have the patience to convince you."

"I have the patience." Greg assured her. "I'll convince~ you as long as you need." He winked.

"Okay, now you're just being gross." Quinn snorted.

"Sorry, I don't have much practice flirting." Greg shrugged. "Maybe I should spend a skill point on it…"

"You'd waste a skill point on flirting?!?" The Captain asked incredulously.

"For you? Absolutely." Greg immediately replied, grinning broadly.

That actually got a flush from her and Quinn rolled her eyes. "Don't be too flattered. He can buy two or three skill points a day thanks to this one." She gestured to Thomas.

"Hey, I'd still do it even without the system!" Greg declared. "Mostly because I'm now realizing it's a legitimate weakness in my social skills, but still."

The Captain froze. "You can buy skill points?!?"

"The system has many uses." Thomas nodded.

"But we aren't spreading it beyond the people connected to my world yet." Chris added. "Right?"

"No, we aren't." Thomas agreed. "Too risky."

The Captain blinked. "And you can prove all this is possible?"

"Want to check how many skills I have?" Greg offered.

She frowned. "You're willing to share your status with me?"

Greg cocked his head. "Can't you read it yourself?"

"What do I look like, an Inquisitor?" The Captain snorted. "I can see some basic information, but not enough to see your skills. You'd need to show me your status screen."

Greg paused. "You can do that?"

"Yes, simply will the screen to the other person." The Captain frowned slightly. "How do you not know this?"

"We aren't from around here." Greg waved dismissively. "Hold on… like this?" He asked as a screen appeared before her and her eyes widened.

"And your story becomes even more believable." The Captain muttered as she looked through the frankly ridiculous status page. She dismissed it and turned to Chris. "You said you could prove your ability as well?"

Chris nodded, opening a portal. "Just step inside."

"Wait." Greg held up a hand. "Be warned that the ability he's proving is that nothing can die in his world, so once you step inside, he will squish you. But don't worry, you'll come back."

"Wow… you actually do like her." Thomas muttered incredulously.

"Wait, he's going to kill me?!?" The Captain exclaimed.

"Temporarily." Chris nodded. "Also, it doesn't have to be you, just someone you'll believe when they tell you it's true."

The Captain frowned. "Do it to one of them first." She gestured to Quinn and Allison.

Chris shrugged. "Sure. Who's up?"

Quinn glanced at Allison. "I already died once."

Allison sighed. "Fine." She got up, walking into the portal and… splat! Allison was flattened by a giant pillar, before reforming next to it with a groan. "That was… disconcerting." She muttered as she stepped back out. "Good enough?" She asked the Captain.

"Yes, that was…" She glanced back down at the pamphlet. "Then-" She pointed at Greg. "Make another you."

"Oh, so that's what you're into." Greg chuckled.

"I like it." The other Greg whispered as he formed behind her, before yelping as the Captain grabbed him by the throat and crushed it. "Hey, watch your fingers!" Greg exclaimed as he pulled back, his throat quickly reforming. "You could lose them if you aren't careful!"

"So… this is all real." The Captain muttered, rubbing her fingers, wondering at the feeling of all the blood and flesh simply disappearing as she looked around at them all. "I believe we should… discuss some things."