November 2, 2022
Day 13
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As the sun begins to dip below the horizon, the sky is painted in a breathtaking display of colors. The clouds take on hues of deep reds, oranges, and yellows, while the sky behind them fades to a softer pink and purple. The muddy water of the marshes isn't as reflective as that of a clear lake, but it still shimmers and dances as it mirrors the sky above.
Between the shimmering marshes, the dry patches of land are filled with mangrove trees. These trees cast long evening shadows behind them, engulfing the forest in darkness.
Out of this darkness, two figures emerge.
On the left is a bright-eyed Indian boy in his early twenties, holding a short sword in his right hand. He has a lean muscular body, dark skin, unkempt black hair, and is wearing bloodstained and tattered clothes. On the right is a brown-haired and solidly built white American man in his late thirties. His clothes are in much better shape, and he's wielding a large sword in a two-handed grip.
As these two continue to run away from the dark forest, another pair emerges side by side, wielding bows.
On the left is a slightly plump Indian girl, with dark black hair neatly tied in a bun, visibly shorter and lighter skinned than her compatriot. On the right is a white Australian boy nearly as muscular as the man in front of him, but with a less bulky build. He has long blonde hair. This pair is in their early twenties.
For all the things that set the four individuals apart, they had one thing in common.
Levels.
Levels that made them fitter, stronger, and faster than any pre-integration human.
While they did not notice it, they were running twice as fast as the fastest Olympic runner. In terms of raw speed, they were now closer to a Cheetah than a human.
The running quartet found an elevated position, a small mound of earth, and stopped. The blood-coated boy spoke, and people moved and took certain positions and readied their weapons. As they did their preparations, the forest they had just emerged from shook.
Then crocodiles piled out. Hundreds of them.
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"Maya and Charlie, go to the top and use your bows. Matt, guard the perimeter and don't let any stray crocodiles get close. Alternate between bows and swords as needed. I will get into the thick of it and do what we practiced. "
No one objected. Rahul had tried his 43-strength stabs against a large float of crocodiles and had killed half of them while losing only eleven stamina points. He walked out without a single scratch on his body, his hit-points full, while the rest of the group shot at the distracted reptiles from a safe distance, and managed 25 kills between them.
Only after they were done with the attack did the group notice the problem.
They needed two stamina-enhanced arrows per kill on average, effectively trading 10 stamina for less than 100XP. Given that they were all more than 10,000XP short of level 10, they needed to expend at least 1,000 stamina points to level up. With their current stamina points, that would require either four rounds of fighting with periods of rest in between, or the use of their remaining supply of stamina potions.
Either too slow or too expensive.
So, Maya came up with a plan. A nasty yet brilliant plan. They successfully tested it on a small float.
Now, it was time to do it at scale.
To that end, Rahul and his team had circled the island and lured in all the crocodiles around the island to fight them at a predetermined spot. A spot where archers could take the high ground and get clear shots at the crocodiles.
With the setup done and everyone in position, Rahul ran right into the middle of the crowd of crocodiles and held his sword out to one side. Rahul knew that this way of holding the sword was ill-suited to get the maximum leverage out of his body into the swing, and the strength of the strike would be significantly less than the maximum he could manage.
He also knew it didn't matter.
As Rahul saw an approaching crocodile, he ducked sideways and swung his sword horizontally, striking at the crocodile's scale just behind its eyes and shaving off that protective layer along with an inch of flesh. Behind him, the crocodile shrieked in pain and thrashed about, the top of its head exposed and vulnerable.
As Rahul ran forward, sidestepped, ducked, and swung his sword horizontally to descale another crocodile, an arrow wheezed behind him. The arrow struck the vulnerable flesh and met no resistance as it went right through the crocodile's exposed brain. Its pained thrashing stopped immediately.
Rahul repeated this with four more reptiles in quick succession, and he knew they all died to arrows mere moments after he robbed them of their protective scales. The whistle of the wind behind him was the first indicator. The immediate stop to the crocodile's thrashing was the second. And of course, the kill notifications served as the final confirmation.
You have killed a Level 9 Saltwater Crocodile. 13 experience earned.
You have killed a Level 8 Saltwater Crocodile. 10 experience earned.
You have killed a Level 7 Saltwater Crocodile. 12 experience earned.
You have killed a Level 9 Saltwater Crocodile. 16 experience earned.
The experience Rahul gained was inconsistent even for killing opponents with identical levels. Rahul guessed it was proportional to the amount of HP damage his sword had caused. To check that hypothesis, Rahul tried shallow and deep cuts on purpose and confirmed that he got more experience from the deep cuts. The exact numbers didn't matter. All that mattered was that his friends were getting the lion's share, and so he tried to shave off only the scales, cutting as thin a layer of flesh as possible.
And it was working. His friends were getting most of the experience, but that was only part of the beauty of the plan. The real brilliance lay in the fact that not only did they get the kill with one arrow instead of two, but they also did it without using the expensive stamina-enhanced arrows. They could use regular arrows, or better yet, they could use the stamina-efficient shots of Stamina Control 1.
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The result of Maya's plan was that Rahul was able to shave two crocodiles for every stamina point expended, and the rest could shoot down those crocodiles for somewhere between one and two stamina per kill. None of them were at any real risk, and with the recent two levels and the class bonuses Rahul was nearly invincible against the crocodiles.
It was a good plan, and Rahul worked tirelessly as he sliced countless crocodiles, patiently accumulating momentum till all his friends were level ten and he could finally let loose.
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It was an excellent plan, and as Matt effortlessly shot down yet another crocodile, he once again marveled at the incredible team Daniel had built. Charlie had proven resourceful, Maya was a brilliant strategist and problem solver, and Rahul, Matt grudgingly admitted, was a good and selfless leader.
Matt had a bad first impression of Rahul, and over the past six months in office, he hadn't interacted with Rahul enough to change his mind. Rahul kept mostly to himself, and so did Matt, too occupied with the DREAM project. When the integration of the earth happened, Matt had been furious. Not particularly with Rahul, but with Daniel and his entire team.
Right after Matt had joined Daniels' team, the layoffs happened. And as Daniel had promised, Matt wasn't let go. And things were fine. Actually, things were great.
But then, the integration happened.
Matt spent every night crying and wishing he hadn't gone to Daniel that day. Wishing he had not joined his team. Wishing he had been laid off.
If he had been laid off, he wouldn't have been on that plane. He would have been jobless, miserable, and running out of his savings, but he would have been home.
With his son.
As the days passed, Matt grew bitter. A lot of his anger was directed at Daniel and Rahul. They were not just surviving the integration, they were thriving. They had taken it in stride. Rahul was somehow participating in those so-called leadership council meetings. Most of the people Matt knew would go about the day, eat when told to, practice when told to, and sleep when told to. And when no one gave them instructions, they would cry.
But not Matt. Not Daniel. Not Rahul. Not Anand. Not Captain Seki nor Jeanette nor Claudie nor Caleb. They had all embraced their new world and were forming councils, getting trainer skills, and setting up teaching curriculums and schedules.
Matt wasn't having any of it. Did they all have no one back home they cared about? Why weren't they crying?
Or maybe they were crying, privately like him. Matt didn't know.
And slowly, he grew to hate them all.
That was, until the events of this morning.
This morning, Rahul jumped off the castle roof to save his life.
Because of Rahul, his son still had a father.
So, when Matt drank that health potion this morning and the cloud of pain disappeared leaving behind clear thoughts, he decided to give Daniel's team a chance. To give hope and positivity a chance.
That is why when Daniel made Rahul, who was fifteen years Matt's junior, the captain of this team, Matt did not object.
And now, as Matt saw crocodiles fall to his arrows like dominoes, while Rahul sliced them up for a pittance of the experience points, he could see a glimpse of what Daniel saw in Rahul. What Daniel saw in every one of his reports. And at that moment a part of Matt dared to hope. A small part crushed underneath the weight of a life full of failures saw a chance. Matt dared to dream.
The mechanical movement of Matt's hands and his flow of thoughts both were interrupted as Charlie announced something from behind him. Matt paid attention and heard that Charlie had leveled up and was going to stop attacking now, leaving more experience for the remaining two. Soon, Maya followed, leaving behind just Matt and Rahul.
This was a good team. A competent team. A capable team.
And Matt was part of it.
Matt had been a part of the team for the past six months, but until now, he had never truly felt like he belonged. He knew it was the imposter syndrome speaking, but knowing the medical name of the emotion didn't make it untrue. Many people suffered from the imposter syndrome in tech, and while most were fine, some were genuinely unworthy of being in the company. Or so Matt believed. And he was one of the truly unworthy ones. The team was too good for him. He was just there because of Daniel's kindness.
But now Matt tried to see things differently. Would Rahul have jumped off the roof if he didn't truly see Matt as part of the team? He could have saved anyone else easily by picking them off the roof. But he had chosen to save him.
Rahul wanted to save everyone from the team first, and Matt had counted among his teammates.
Yeah, I can afford to hope, Matt thought and looked at the remaining crocodiles. There were a little over 50 left. They must have killed about 350 by now.
Matt looked at Rahul, he was looking back at him and beckoning for him to join him in the melee.
Matt thought for a second, put down his bow and arrows, equipped his sword, and then ran to fight side by side with his captain. His captain. Matt truly accepted that fact for the first time.
Matt was close to a level-up, and as he fought by Rahul's side, they got into a rhythm. Rahul continued to cut open the crocodile's heads and Matt stab the defenseless flesh with his sword. It was much easier at a distance, as the crocodiles tried to block the strike with their tails, evade the blow, or just lunged at him even while they thrashed in pain. But they were still vulnerable, and five minutes and thirty crocodiles later, Matt got to level ten.
He told Rahul the same and then ran back to the elevated spot. He called out to Maya and Charlie and invited them to watch Momentum and Rahul in action.
Rahul had shown them in the last fight what Momentum was capable of. How it accumulated energy throughout the fight to allow Rahul to use it in one burst to enhance his speed and strength. That battle involved about fifty crocodiles. This one involved almost ten times as many, and Matt was excited to see what Rahul would do. Maya and Charlie joined him, both just as excited.
They watched as Rahul stood alone in the middle of a cluster of warily circling reptiles. He looked at his shoulders and whispered something to the rapidly rotating ball.
The spectating trio was too far to hear what he said, but they all had seen him speak to Momentum during the last fight, and remembered it distinctly.
You ready bud?
Then Rahul sheathed his short sword in favor of his two daggers. His teammates had expected that too. Rahul's preference for short weapons had become evident during this dungeon run.
Then Rahul ran towards the nearest pair of crocodiles, unleashed the built-up momentum, and became a blur.
The next thing anyone saw was Rahul standing over two bisected crocodiles, his knives dripping blood.
"Even faster than last time. I couldn't see a thing. This is incredible."
Charlie spoke, his voice full of awe, and his two companions nodded.
"I don't think I will ever get used to that superhuman speed", Maya added.
Everyone nodded, and then had the same unvoiced thought.
I want to get my own presence ASAP.
Then Matt spoke again.
"The rest of the cleanup won't be as flashy. Why don't you tell me about your classes while we wait for Rahul to return? "
Charlie nodded and was just about to speak when Maya pointed to Rahul and interrupted them.
"He did it again. "
Matt and Charlie turned to look at Rahul, and sure enough, he stood twenty feet away from his previous position, and at his feet lay two dead crocodiles.
Matt had just expected the longer build-up of momentum to lead to a more flashy movement and an insanely powerful strike. He was about to comment on how amazing it was that Rahul could use the momentum in two bursts instead, when Rahul blurred again.
And again.
And again.
The group stood with their jaws dropped. And then something else happened that they had never experienced before.
The fourteen remaining reptiles were hesitating.
The rain of arrows couldn't dissuade them. They hadn't flinched at the wholesale slaughter of their brethren. Standing amidst nearly 400 bodies hadn't bothered them at all.
But now, even at this distance, the group saw fear in their eyes.
For the first time, crocodiles in this dungeon questioned their role as a predator on this island. They saw their imminent death, and they knew it to be as certain as the setting sun.
They looked at the horror standing in their midst, turned tail, and ran.
"The damned crocodiles are running ", Matt spoke incredulously to his two slack-jawed companions.
"More than a dozen crocodiles running away from a human with knives. ", Maya laughed with amusement.
"Poor reptiles don't even have a chance. ", Charlie chuckled.
His words turned out to be prophetic, and Rahul turned into a blur again, and again, and again, and again. Eventually, there were only four crocodiles left.
The ball on Rahul's shoulder was still rolling, but much slower now. His three spectators wondered if Rahul had exhausted the last of his momentum.
He had.
So Rahul just ran and stabbed the remaining crocodiles to death the old-fashioned way. The same scales that frustrated Rahul to no end a couple hours ago now offered no resistance to his daggers, and within thirty seconds, the last crocodile on that island was dead.
Rahul returned to an incredibly excited team that showered him with praises, and he gladly accepted all the compliments without any false humility. He was feeling rather good about himself and basked in the glory as long as he could.
Because very soon, it'd be time to get back to business.