After a quick funeral for Stephen, Josh, Darius, Mary, and Ruth agreed to head towards the City without delay. They couldn't risk returning to the outpost, not with Operative Moore and his assassin already there. The operative could have already turned the entire outpost against them. He certainly had the authority to do it. In fact, Josh wasn't sure why he had bothered with the assassin. Setting up a trap for when they came back seemed far easier.
Of course, first they asked Ruth why her father was trying to kill Josh. There was lots of yelling. Ruth didn't know. She had thought that her dad liked him. This was as much of a surprise to her as it was to them.
It didn't really matter. There was nothing back in the outpost valuable enough for them to risk their lives over. Both Josh and Ruth were worried about getting into the City, if not for quite the same reasons. Ruth was worried that people might recognize her, and would inform her father. There were plenty of people who would want to curry favor with him by grabbing his daughter to “keep her safe.” She might be able to convince some of them to give them real help, though.
Josh had the exact opposite problem. He knew some people in the City would recognize him, and they would not be in a helpful mood. If they ran into the wrong guard, they'd never make it past the walls alive.
It took three days of hard travel before they were in sight of the walls. It had been a long time since Josh—or Mary—had been on this side of the Burn Line. It was strange, seeing rolling hills of grass or even bare dirt instead of the endless trees of the Jungle.
But that was the point of the Burn Line. To burn out the Jungle itself, to bring the world back to sanity. Here, plants didn't grow at a rate of centimeters measured in minutes. The grass didn't grow as tall as your head, trees didn't sometimes get up and attack people. There were even natural animals, herds of deer in the distance and flocks of birds overhead. Oh, there were natural animals on the other side of the Burn Line too, but they were chased out of their territory, or corrupted by the magic in the air. It was rare to actually see them in large numbers.
Monsters wandered over the Burn Line as well, sometimes even in big groups. Monsters gained power from the mana in the air; that was why there was a worldwide “minimum” monster level. But to get over that minimum, they needed humans. Either killing humans or eating bloodstones—or even citystones, if they got that lucky—would give them huge boosts of power. So, they wandered over the Burn Line, seeking dense pockets of humanity that seemed unprotected.
This close to the City, there were enough young adventurers looking for easy bounties that any monster that got within ten kilometers was dead before it could so much as growl menacingly. This last stretch had been as easy as a walk in the park.
Ruth had proven surprisingly adept at camping. Apparently her father didn't coddle her completely. He had made sure she understood the basics of making and breaking camp, and even of setting a watch and foraging for food. Between the four of them, three days of travel had almost been easy. Though Mary was running out of bullets.
Standing at the edge of a copse of trees, looking out at the walls, Josh felt a surge of homesickness. Which was silly. He had never really lived in the City for any extended period. He hadn't grown up behind these walls.
The walls, twenty meters tall and twice that thick, had been built by the Eight shortly after the Last Raid. Now it was repaired right before every reset, when levels were highest. The wall encircled an area of at least a few hundred square kilometers—though that included part of the bay, to the northwest.
The wall was impressively simple. It was nothing more than stone blocks, mortared together with cheap cement and stacked up cleanly. It was the kind of design that a child stacking blocks would dismiss as boring, and absolutely no one would win any awards for ingenuity.
However, the blocks were each the size of a car. The wall had been constructed using every trick of magic that a whole City full of high-level Combat classes could come up with, which was why it was so simple. Earth Mages had quarried the stone and shaped it into blocks, then moved it into place either by themselves or with help from high-Strength fighters.
Of course, in the exact center of the walls, where the City could crowd around its base like a child around their mother's skirts, was the Tower.
A pure white tower of stone reaching high into the sky, it looked as thin as a needle at this distance. That was an illusion. It was forty meters wide at the base, and only just narrowed at the very top. Not that its exterior dimensions mattered; every floor inside was big enough to host a small city on its own.
The Tower was a deceptively simple construction. Josh had heard people say that it dwarfed modern skyscrapers. This was true, but it failed to capture the heart of the matter. The Tower made modern skyscrapers look like weeds sprouting at the base of a majestic tree. The largest and grandest human creation, great edifices of steel and stone and glass, couldn't reach high enough to be even a blip on the horizon at this distance. But the Tower stood tall. The Tower rose above them all.
Legend said that the Tower had just appeared one day, rising from the ground with the gentle light of dawn. The System had come with it, and the Jungle. It was hard to tell which one had come first, and Josh wasn't sure it mattered.
No one lived in the Tower any more. Well, no one had ever lived in it, but no one could enter it any more. The doors were sealed shut with magic greater than what any of them, including the Eight, had access to. The dragon had claimed that there was power waiting inside. Did he have some way past the barrier?
“Sooo...” Ruth said, dragging it out. “How bad will it be, once he gets out?”
Josh gave her a sideways look. “Wot, who? Your dad?”
She giggled. “No, of course not.” She sobered. “The dragon.”
“Oh. Yeah.” He looked at the walls. “I dunno. Not well, I don't think.”
“But it shouldn't be too bad, right?” she pressed. “The City will have lots of high-level people hanging around the day before the solstice, right? Even if the Eight don't get involved, it's not like it's an extinction event!”
“Assuming the dragon does not simply wait a day,” Darius said, tone dull. “Once it is out, it will remain out. And then it can wait for the reset and slaughter us all then. It is a monster. It is immune to the reset.”
Everyone was silent for a moment.
In a musing tone, Mary said, “Danson, you've got a brain.”
Darius did not so much as blink. “Truly a unique attribute among your acquaintances.”
Mary punched him in the shoulder. “Muppet. I was asking 'cuz I thought you might know. There's some way to call the Eight back, right? We won't have to just, I dunno, wait for them to fly back on their own and hope for the best.”
He adjusted his glasses with one finger. “I would not know. I assume you are correct, but that information is not made public. Even if the City leaders do have some method of contacting the Eight, I do not know how simple it is to use. We must assume that we will require cooperation, and that it is not some item we can just steal.”
“They use the worldwide address,” Josh said, stifling a yawn.
The other three turned to him.
“Wot?” he said, offended. “How else would they do it? The City has a Master-tier citystone, remember.” It was the only citystone in the world above Basic-tier. “You put out a quest that everyone in the world gets, that includes the Eight. If they see it's something important, they can come back. If it's something stupid, they ignore it. Simple.”
“I suppose,” Darius said. He turned back to the walls. “I would have thought they would have a more elegant solution, though.”
Mary snorted. “Like wot? A giant light shinin' on the clouds? Hard to call someone halfway across the continent with that, innit?”
“I like it,” Ruth said cheerily. “It sounds like an effective use of existing tools! My dad used to say that it's better to find a new use for something you already have than trying to make something new.”
“Assassin!” Mary shot back.
Ruth pouted. “You can't use that to get out of every argument.”
“Evidence suggests otherwise,” Darius noted dryly.
“C'mon, that's enough,” Josh said. “Let's just get inside, and we'll—”
NEW WORLD QUEST! Wanted: Joshua Hundredborn. Joshua Hundredborn has stolen a unique bloodstone and kidnapped the daughter of a City operative. For his crimes against the City and for endangering the future of the human race for selfish gain, a WORLD QUEST has been issued for his elimination. Hundredborn has stolen the unique role of Crafter, and should not be left alone unsupervised. Recommend kill on sight; no extra rewards will be granted for live capture. OBJECTIVE: Bring Joshua Hundredlborn to the citystone for inspection. OPTIONAL OBJECTIVE: Bring known associate Mary Manganese to the citystone for inspection. OPTIONAL OBJECTIVE: Bring suspected associate Darius Danson to the citystone for inspection. NOTE: The safety of the kidnapped daughter, Ruth Moore, is paramount. All rewards will be forfeit if she is harmed. ADDITIONAL NOTE: If Ruth Moore is killed, a WORLD QUEST will be automatically issued for her killer. REWARD: Ten million credits, Quest Giver authority, free guild charter, free town charter, 80 experience.
Josh started swearing profusely.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Of all the guttersnipe moves some arse can pull!” Mary yelled. “What the hell? What the actual flippin' hell?”
“Oh, hearts of the Eight,” Ruth muttered. She had fallen to the ground, sitting on her rear with her face in her hands. “By the Mender's divine light. I knew he had full citystone access, but I didn't think he'd ever issue a world quest.”
“Of course he would!” Mary yelled. “Because he's a bleedin' muck-eating snake-seller!”
Josh scowled. “You mad about the bounty, or about being dropped to an optional objective?”
“I can be mad about two things!”
Darius, at least, appeared to be keeping his head. Josh saw him reading through the quest several times. “Very interesting wording,” he noted. “I understand why he felt he had to reveal your class role. Any lie on that front would break down too quickly. But he claimed you stole the bloodstone. This gives people an extra reason to be angry with you.”
“And what, you and me were just standing nearby when it happened?” Mary snapped.
Darius waved her down. “Claiming Ruth was kidnapped, in addition to helping ensure her safety, also provides an explanation for why he doesn't need such a unique resource kept alive. Once anyone sees Ruth, they'll know she's a Crafter as well.”
Josh was pacing. “Okay, okay. We've got a giant bloody target on our backs. That's great. We can't get close to the City without them trying to capture us. Anyone have any other ideas?”
“Send me in alone?” Ruth suggested.
Darius shook his head. “A Crafter will draw too much attention.”
“Grab a guard, steal his uniform,” Mary suggested. “We just need to get to City Hall, right? It's not like we're trying to sneak into the bloody guild vaults.”
“Wait, why do we need to make it all the way to City Hall?” Ruth asked. “Why can't we just find someone closer to the walls?”
“Telling a random guard won't exactly do much.” Josh continued pacing. “We need someone with authority. Someone who can convince others that there's a bloody dragon four days walk from the City.” He grimaced. “Your dad really would have been perfect for this, Ruth.”
“Sorry he went insane.” She sounded sincere.
Josh thought about it for another few minutes, pacing back and forth on the dirt path. Then, finally, his shoulders sagged in defeat.
“You got it?” Mary said, perking up.
“Yeah, I got it,” he said glumly. “You're not gonna like it, though.”
He was right. She didn't.
Mary was still yelling at him as they walked up the path to the front gate, arms raised. “How is this a good plan!? How is this even a plan?”
“It's our best go,” he said firmly. He kept his eyes ahead. The guards were starting to notice them. “Surrender, and it will give them a reason to pay attention to what we have to say. If we get captured, it's all just yelling from the condemned.”
“It seems the best idea to me,” Darius said. “The City is reasonable. We can talk our way out of this.”
“If you say so,” Ruth said. She was in the back, arms also raised. She looked more apprehensive than the rest of them, even though she had the least to fear in this situation.
“Halt!” one of the guards yelled. He raised a gun; Josh and the others stopped. “What are you doing?”
“We're surrendering,” Josh called. “We're coming in peacefully.” He used his Identify skill on the guard.
Attacker: Level 24
Josh blinked at that notice. How exactly did he get so high level so quickly? Even with access to the citystone and plenty of quests, you could only level so fast. Especially here, without easy access to monsters. The guard was probably a Gunner, so Josh decided to be even more careful.
While Josh was scanning him, it seemed the guard had done the same in return. He noticeably flinched back. “Wait... you're that Crafter. Joshua Hundredborn.” He scanned over the rest of them and scowled. “What is this?”
“A surrender,” Josh said, fighting back the urge to snark. “We want to come in quietly, and answer your questions.”
The other guard circled around them while the first covered them. Josh and the others did nothing to stop him, though Josh did follow him with his eyes.
“Hey!” the first guard snapped. “Don't look at him, look at me! Why should I believe you?”
Josh raised an eyebrow at that. “Believe what? That we're surrendering? We're all unarmed, and we aren't attacking. I don't know how much more clear I can be.” They had left their weapons and armor hidden in the copse of trees that they had found a ways off. Mary had complained about leaving her gun behind.
The second guard tried to pull Ruth out of the group. She flinched back from his hand, and both guards raised their guns higher.
“Let her go,” the first guard said, his tone low and dangerous in a way that Josh didn't appreciate.
“We're not holding her,” he said. “Ruth—”
“Don't!” the first guard snapped. “Don't speak to her, just let her go. Now!”
Josh blinked. “I'm... not grabbing her.” He looked up at his hands, suddenly wondering if he was somehow tied to her in a way he hadn't noticed. He wasn't. “I was just going to tell her to go with you.”
“Put any devices on the ground, then step away.”
“I don't have any devices.” He was getting annoyed now. He had stripped down to his basic shirt and pants for this, and somehow that wasn't good enough. “What are you even talking about?”
The guard ground his teeth. “The Tamer device.”
“What Tamer—” Josh felt a wave of pure horror flow through him. “Oh, God. You lot think I'm mind-controlling her!?”
The guard fired.
Thankfully, Darius and Mary had both decided they'd had enough of this silliness.
Darius covered himself in a shroud, a shimmering barrier that easily absorbed the bullet when he stepped in front of Josh. Mary grabbed the second guard's wrist and swiftly disarmed him of his weapon with a technique. Before he could react, she shot him in each knee. Then she turned and shot the other guard in the chest.
Ruth screamed.
“Mary!” Josh yelled. She didn't need to shoot them.
“Oh, come off it! They've got enough Healers around to survive getting' their heads pulped!” She waved her free hand at the wall, where more guards were already pouring out. One had a Healer's staff. “See, it's fine. We running or fighting?”
Josh cursed under his breath, then grabbed Ruth's hand. “Come on!” They ran back to their copse of trees at top speed, Darius in the back to deflect any bullets from the guards. Thankfully, it seemed they were more interested in making sure their comrades were safe, and didn't pursue.
Ten minutes later, the group was hidden among the trees and breathing heavily. Mary retrieved her gun, though she kept the new one. Everyone else started putting their own weapons and armor back on, though more slowly.
Darius pounded his head against a trunk. “Of course he was prepared for this. Surrendering to the guards was the obvious move. Of course he would have seen a way to counter it!”
“W-what happened, exactly?” Ruth asked, looking between the three of them. “I feel like I missed something? They said something about you being a Tamer, but you're not a Tamer. They can see that easily.”
Josh sighed and sat down, his wooden armor scraping against the tree. “No, I'm not. But they can't see exactly what I am. I could be some Tamer slash Crafter cross-class with the ability to make slave collars or whatever.”
Ruth's hand went to her throat—which was not wearing a collar. She seemed to relax slightly, but not entirely. Everyone had grown up on the old stories of various [Tamer] classes enslaving people. Most [Tamer] classes were harmless, and [Tamers] were a staple of any large group. But taking the Necromancer or Slaver classes were both punishable by years in prison at best.
“I've never had a, uh...” Ruth looked like she was struggling to find the word. “...multi-role? I've never had a class that can be part of more than one role. Just a Healer.”
“Cross-class is the most common term,” Darius said, shifting back into teaching mode. “However, it is not an official System term. As far as the System is concerned, all classes can be sorted neatly into four roles.” He looked at Josh. “Or eight, I suppose, counting the non-combat classes. Your role determines what actions gain you experience, and influence how easy it is to earn new abilities. That is why no one has ever gained any crafting abilities for the past eighty years. With no Crafter classes, they were impossible.”
“Okay, I guess I see that,” Ruth said. “My dad mostly goes for the more straightforward classes, but I know my aunt likes mixing in different kinds of magic. So, what, they think you took a Beastmaster bloodstone and got some new class that gives you magic slave collars or whatever?”
“Seems about right,” Josh grumbled. “Your dad told the guards I had some class that makes something with mind-control. That explains why you're with me, seemingly not being threatened, and gives them yet another reason to shoot first and ask questions never.” He beat the back of his head against the tree. “God, what a mess.”
Mary paced. “So that's it, innit? We've got no more rolls of the dice left?”
Josh held up his hand. “We can give it another go. I've got some ideas to make it past his little blockade.”
Mary made a face. “You don't want to... talk to the government, do you?”
Josh choked out a laugh. “Nah, we'll call that a last-ditch move, yeah?” It wasn't as though he had many contacts in the City, and definitely not more than an operative. “Nah, we're starting with something worse.” He grinned at her. “How's your aunt doing these days?”
Mary groaned.