Achak waited for the other group to be out of sight before walking in the opposite direction. Some miles later he was standing at the island’s edge looking down at the ground passing by. Floating islands were an anomaly, they didn’t just float in place, instead they lazily followed a constant path circling large areas.
“Well, Shit!” He said frustrated. “I guess I really am on a floating island. Not one of the exciting ones with a good variety, or levels of monsters either, but rather one of the “safe” ones that has had all of its monsters cleaned up. I wouldn’t mind it if I wasn’t newly galvanized… I guess I’ll have to look at the miscellany and hope it’s low-level enough to run alone. Otherwise, I won’t gain any levels until I find a way off this thing.”
***
“So, what do you think?” Asked Jimmy. The team’s tank and leader.
“Yeah. No one but us knows he’s here,” answered Karen, the team’s assassin-style fighter.
“Are we really doing this?” Asked Katherine, the team’s healer.
“We’ve been stuck on level nineteen for far too long and everything we’ve read says that killing people gives a lot more experience than a monster,” answered Jimmy.
“Even a level one though?” Asked Katherine.
“Yes, even a level one should give us enough experience to push us all into level twenty.” Answered Karen.
“That still doesn’t guarantee that Jame’s new species will be powerful enough to provide a way off the island.” Added Katherine.
“No, but it will get us that much closer to it,” rebutted James, the team’s psionist.
“Enough! We all agreed to give this a try, and I’d rather it be someone we don’t know. Lilian, you are more than welcome to walk away. But do understand that if this gets out we’ll have no choice but to deal with you too.” Jimmy was practically growling by now. The big man had little patience for talking things out, something he’d made clear when he started the team.
“No need to get worked up. I’m just making sure we have all of our facts straight before becoming PKers,” Katherine said patting the air with her hands.
“On another note. You sure he’s going to head to the miscellany?” Asked, James.
“Newly galvanized, on a floating island with no monsters in the area. I doubt he’ll take the time to check the entire island before deciding to try the miscellany,” answered Karen. “I’ll go on ahead and pay off the guards. See you in a bit.”
***
The miscellany was several miles in from the edge of the island. It was a stone arch standing in the middle of the forest with darkness beyond the entryway and white glyphs on the stone. The glyphs were still a mystery that hadn’t been cracked. But usually, someone with information about the recommended lowest level for entry would be guarding the entrance.
‘No guards?’ Achak thought bringing his hands back to his knives as he surveyed the area. ‘Am I just being paranoid? Could be that they don’t need guards on a floating island. Maybe everyone already knows the lowest level.’
He put the uneasy feeling out of his mind and made for a rock to rest and think about the pros and cons of entering an unknown miscellany at level one. Before he could sit he heard voices and footsteps coming from the direction of the city. He moved back over by the gate while getting a good look and saw the team from earlier in the day.
‘The Fuck? Where did they come from? There was literally no one there a second ago.’ One of the women in the group looked up and began waving at him with a smile. ‘Hm, I smell bullshit. They weren’t that friendly earlier and the big guy made it sound like they were headed for the city so why are they coming back this way?… One, two, three. Weren’t there four of them? - Yeah, fuck this shit. I’m out.’
Achak didn’t even bother to wave back instead quickly stepped into the miscellany. He was no fool, and in all of the years since the fall, he had learned two very important lessons. The first one was to always listen to your instincts, the one time he had ignored his instincts he’d almost died. The second was people, galvanized or not, were still the most dangerous monsters on the planet.
Unlike the semi-civilized world before the fall, getting “jumped” these days had a ninety-nine percent chance of ending in death. These galvanized were stronger than him, maybe by a whole lot, and had the numbers. In the miscellany, he might have a chance to defeat the monsters or hide, but he had no chance against this team.
There were two types of miscellanies, ones where the entrance would lock when people entered, and ones that remained open. Turned out this one was the former and the moment Achak entered a golden indestructible barrier formed over the entrance from both sides.
“Good, at least those assholes won’t be coming in after me. That’ll give me time to think about what I’m going to do if I survive this place,” he muttered to himself.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
***
The man had said he was newly galvanized but they knew better than to just believe that. They had scoured any searchable media for information and knew that some people could hide their galvanized features making them look mundane. Also, just looking at his battle-tested stance and proper level of weariness in the wilds one could tell he was no novice.
The plan was for the main party to distract him while walking up the road as Karen struck from behind. It seemed like it would go off without a hitch at first, but then the bastard went and ignored them and entered the miscellany without hesitation before Karen could reach him.
“Fuck, that was some quick decision-making on his part. Another half second and I would have been on him.” Karen was angry she hadn’t reached him in time. They had expected he might try to escape into the miscellany but not as quickly as he did. He hadn’t even acknowledged the others and just jumped right in.
“Should we even bother waiting for him? I mean he will most likely not make it out anyway.” Added Michael.
“No, he’s dead for sure, he just doesn’t know it yet. Come on let’s get back to the city. Looks like we’ll have to find another victim,” said Jimmy exasperated.
***
[You have entered a miscellany.]
Achak received a system message as soon as he entered, he quickly dismissed it and then stood quietly in place while gaining his bearings.
He found himself in a large cavern, he could see stalagmites and stalactites. Glowing lichen dotted the area providing a soft blue light. He drew his knives and held them at the ready, he’d read that miscellanies could be unpredictable and that monsters could attack from anywhere and at any time. Typically, the cave-themed miscellanies didn’t have traps so he wasn’t worried about tripping any.
He made it a few steps before a large rat jumped at him from the darkness. He quickly turned and sliced with both knives, one after the other, cutting the Rat in half.
[You have defeated a Mob Rat, level 1. You have gained 10 nourishment.]
Nourishment was what video games referred to as experience. It was thought that this system saw it as food to power the soul, hence the phrase.
“Shit, I haven’t taken the time to tinker with my system settings yet. Let me do that now before it distracts me during a fight.” He quickly called up his system settings and set the notifications to only announce important things like a level-up or new skill. There were many things published about how to tinker with the settings, and just like anything else galvanize related he’d read through most of the literature.
The damn Rat was as large as a medium-sized dog, and unlike the name suggested it didn’t always roam in packs. The name was more indicative of its nature, Mob Rats were known to fear nothing and to attack on sight. They were generally not that dangerous alone but a pack of them could be deadly.
Achak had faced Mob Rats before and wasn’t worried about anything smaller than a pack of five. They seemed to gain a group buff when it was that many which made them much more coordinated and tougher to defeat.
He began making his way over to an opening on the other side of the cavern but was ambushed by another monster and three Rats. After a few steps, he saw a small underground lake to his left and a large frog monster jumped out and attacked him, the name above its head read Barbed Tongue Coqui. The Coqui flicked out a large powerful morning-star-like tongue at him. At the same time, three Rats ran at him from the other side.
Achak deflected the tongue attack and completed a full turn slicing at the first Rat to reach him. The Coqui landed expertly and then dashed forward at blinding speed. Before Achak could attack again he was hit from behind by the Coqui. He dived forward and rolled out of the way before the Rats could capitalize on his situation.
His hand was sore from deflecting the heavy tongue attack and his back was numb from the tackle. He was facing two level four Rats, an injured level two Rat, and a level three Coqui. Achak knew he was in trouble. He hadn’t faced a Coqui before but was sure it was a higher level monster than the Rats since it could use skills and its tongue was a heavy mid-range weapon.
He ran forward to meet the charge from the Rats but changed directions at the last second using the stalagmites as cover. A tongue attack met him as he came out on the other side. Achak activated his Shock skill and struck at the tongue hoping his skill would also work with weapons. The Coqui screamed as the knife covered in red lightning struck its tongue and caused it to convulse.
With no time to celebrate Achak kicked off a stalagmite and jumped at the closest Rat stabbing it on the side with his Shock skill activated. The Rat froze long enough for him to bring his other knife around to its temple. He quickly made for the next Rat but the Coqui was back in the action by this time and attempted to tackle him with another dash.
Achak pulled up short, turned, and caught the Coqui with his knives extended. He successfully defended the tackle and injured the Coqui badly. The Rat he was about to attack made him pay for that by sinking its teeth into his leg. He screamed, threw the Coqui off his knives, and kicked the Rat with his other leg. He hit it hard enough to break several bones and send it tumbling then turned and stomped on the head of the injured Rat from earlier.
The Coqui was attempting to stand and crawl back to its water but Achak was having none of it, he quickly ran over and grabbed it by the rear legs. He swung around and slammed the Coqui into the nearest stalagmite several times before it went limp. Achak dropped the limp monster, calmly walked over to the last injured Rat, and stabbed it on its head.
“Fuck that stupid Coqui was tough,” he said in exasperation as he ripped up his shirt and bandaged his leg. After some rest he began moving forward again, he had another hundred yards to go until he reached the tunnel on the other side.
Surprisingly, only three more Rats attacked on his way to the tunnel, he dispatched them quite easily. Right before he reached the tunnel though another new monster jumped out at him. The name above its head read Rompo, it was as big as a large dog and a weird mix between a Hutia and a Badger with the aggressiveness to match.
The Rompo came in swinging with its long sharp nails scoring a large gash across the front of his thigh. Achak jumped back and parried the next swing. The Rompo barely slowed as it jumped forward and tried biting Achak on the abdomen. He jumped to the side and kicked the Rompo on the belly. He felt bones snap as he landed the hit but the Rompo hardly seemed to notice as it landed with a roar and continued to attack relentlessly.
It turned to face Achak and began swinging wildly with its front paws. Achak blocked several swipes but the Rompo’s nails were as hard as rocks. Achak threw a knife at the monster landing a hit on one of its hind legs. The monster roared again as it stumbled forward.
Achak capitalized and ran forward punching with his Shock skill activated. The Rompo was frozen briefly as his strike landed on its head. That was all the time Achak needed to stab the monster several times in the head dropping it dead.
[You have leveled up.]