[Lifeberry Potion] = Lifeberry (+2, 0.5-0.8kg) + Water (Fresh, 0.5-0.75L) + Essence (Vitus, 0.05-0.1L) + [Cauldron] (Any, 380-400°K)
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Their new lord grinned wide.
Dozens of F-Rank Expats looked from one to another, but none could say a word. It was clear that they were all thinking the same thing as Jay.
If Viktor could crush the strongest people on this island so easily, what would he do to all of them?
“So many people,” Viktor said. “And yet, so quiet.”
Amadi raised his hands and smiled awkwardly. “Just so you know, we have nothing to do with that group.”
“How can you say that? You share an island. You are neighbors. They seem like good ones too. I have been to many much worse places.”
He chuckled. “I am only saying that we have no desire for conflict, yes?”
The others nodded in approval. Naomi and the others groaned behind, more blood gushing from their wounds.
Jay swallowed the lump in his throat, unsure what else to do. Even if he wanted to intervene, there’d be no way to challenge an opponent of this threat level without using his 9mm pistol, and Jay would be damned to use that with so many strangers around. All that would accomplish is changing one threat to an even bigger one.
No, he was as much a hostage right now as everyone else and had to play this smart.
“What do you want from us?” Jay asked pointedly.
“I am here to introduce myself,” Viktor explained. “No more.”
“No more? You just said that you killed someone, then took out the four toughest people on this island like they were nothing, all while the rest of us watched, and now you expect us to believe you’re only here to say hi?” Jay could feel the weight of everyone else glaring behind his back, and that shy introvert inside wanted to stop, but walloping in fear would bring them nothing, and someone had to speak up. “If your goal was to scare us straight, mission accomplished. But if there’s some longer warning you’d like to give us, you might as well share it. As Ben said before, we’re burning through daylight and night comes for us all.”
Viktor sauntered forth, a swagger to his step. “What is your name?”
Shit… Too far? He chewed his lips. “Jay Reis.”
“You are quite the bold one, Jay Reis.” He ran his thumb along his lips. “You remind me of someone I used to know.”
“I just don’t like wasting time.” And if he’d learned anything from being here, it was better to stare predators in the eye than to bow his head and hope they’d move on.
Because they never did.
“Very well then,” Viktor continued, walking back to the dead woman. “You are correct. I am what you’d call a ‘traveler’ of sorts. I go around to many islands like this one, embracing this beautiful world and all it has to offer. Sometimes, the people are polite. And sometimes…” He glanced at the downed Expats, still struggling against their injuries. “Well, you get the idea.”
“Doesn’t help that you killed someone,” Jay pointed out.
“Ah, but then we would not have all come together on this wonderful day. But, I see your point. These Expats had their one extra Rule, so they had no choice but to respond so violently. Let us change that.”
He marched over to Naomi. Despite her crippling injuries, a fire still grew in her eyes. She’d managed to draw a flintlock pistol with an oversized barrel, but was struggling to aim it in her paralyzed state.
Viktor kicked the pistol hopelessly out of reach for her, reached into her cloak, and drew the steel combat knife she kept holstered to her waist.
The same that she’d taken from Jay.
Naomi coughed more blood, tears streaming down her cheeks against the futility of it all.
“We all know the first six Rules from the Guide,” Viktor said, “but I hereby propose new set of Rules for us to all follow.”
He marched back to the dead woman on the pole, the knife spinning between his fingers like a toy. With a quick set of slashes, her clothes fell free.
Again, Jay wanted to vomit, seeing the discolored flesh anew and that cold, empty stare behind a sack of meat that had once been a human. Annwyn might have desensitized him to the sight of mutilated animals and monsters, but this was the first time he’d seen a dead person before, and it tore a knot in his stomach.
But Viktor examined the dead woman with cold disinterest. No, it was worse than that. He was amused with his work.
With a grin, he scribbled words directly into her flesh, right below her breasts.
“‘Rule 7) Viktor goes first.’ It is simple enough. Whatever you find – whatever there is – your good friend, Viktor Kuznetsov, gets to take it first. No exceptions.” He held the knife up. Gelatinous blood clung to its blade. “We can all thank Naomi for showing us how this Rule works.”
He carved a level lower, aiming for the dead woman’s midsection. “‘Rule 8) Never steal from Viktor.’” He wagged a finger to the crowd like a parent disciplining their children. “Never forget this Rule. It is very important, perhaps most important of them all. Stealing from Viktor will not be tolerated.”
The knife went lower, hacking right into her stomach. “‘Rule 9) Meet Viktor’s demands each week, or…’” He scoffed, seeing that he’d run out of room without cutting into her underwear. With a sigh, he angled the knife lower, forming more letters sideways along the dead woman’s leg instead. “‘…or Viktor will KILL someone new.’”
He grinned, the message now complete. “This Rule is also a very, very important one. Viktor likes many things, and it can be difficult to match his needs. If you fail to do so, then there will be many more like this poor woman here.” He smiled, his eyes narrowing into the crowd. “In fact, let us have demonstration.”
With another near-instant rush, he stormed to the center of crowd, right where the most enormous man was standing. Clad in full plate armor, with biceps sharp enough to crush glass against, and a helmet shaped like a giant block of copper. His bright blue eyes widened from within the eyeholes as their mutual enemy closed in.
All Viktor needed to do was place his palm on this man’s helmet. The guy tried to yank his attacker free, but his veins bulged to no effect as he got locked in place. Everyone could hear the deafening crunch as inch-thick copper began to crack.
“Wait!” the Expat gasped. “I didn’t do anything.”
Viktor beamed. “Yes. That is point.”
Snap.
There was no explosion. No concussive force. Barely even any gore exposed. Like crushing a can of soda, Viktor’s fingers had chewed right through the armor’s refined design, lacerating the hardened skull and gray matter in one fell swoop.
The Expat dropped, blood now squirting out of his eye slots.
And Viktor drank in the crowd’s shock, now more amused than ever. He held up a bloody finger. “One week. That is how much time you have before I do this again.” He smiled. “But, I believe in this group. You look to be strong, vibrant warriors. There is no telling what can be accomplished if you all work together.
“So, these are the new Rules we all live under.” He turned around and glared at the E-Rank group. “That includes everyone. When you four get back up, I expect you to work just as hard to meet my needs. No exceptions! That would be unfair to your neighbors.”
Desmond let out a jumbled curse, a whimper trilling at the end.
Viktor suddenly stroked his chin with his clean hand. “Oh, and I forgot one final Rule. This one is easy, however, and should go without saying.”
He drew the rifle from his back. It was a strange contraption, with a bulky barrel like a miniature cannon that sat above a block of hardwood, and a magazine in the shape of a gear strapped to the top.
Viktor aimed into the harbor, where Naomi and her friends kept their boats.
The ground rumbled as the gun went off, bright lights flashing in rapid succession. Each shot tore through the wooden hulks with ease, shattering their frames like a halogen torch through plastic. Entire chunks vanished into the ether upon each hit, the craters left behind lighting fire from such devastation. Steam hissed from the harbor waves where stray bullets struck through.
The boats collapsed upon themselves, sinking helplessly beneath the tide.
And taking any chance of escape with them.
Viktor grinned, seeing the crowd recoil from his overpowered machine gun. “‘Rule 9) No one gets to leave until Viktor says.’ I don’t need to write this one down, yes? It is most simple Rule of all!”
The crowd blinked, too crippled in shock to do anything else.
“Now, onto your first assignment…” Viktor whistled loud, the sound resounding up the ridge where he had come. Everyone watched in silence for a few moments, unsure what to expect.
And then an ear-splitting roar came in answer.
A monster roar.
The creature wandered into view, the ground quaking with each step. Icicles clung to the base of its monstrous, bear-shaped form, melding into the patches of snow that covered its pale blue flesh where it wasn’t coated with steel-plated armor, with a giant basket strapped to the top. Cobalt eyes stared into the crowd from behind a half-helm, and it furled its teeth, long fangs spreading wide beneath blackened gums. The bear monster hopped below, sending a tremor out upon landing.
But it was the cold more than anything that stood out. An unnatural frigidity flowed out, and the entire crowd shivered by the mere aura it exuded.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
Only Jay seemed to have enough wits to check his Guide.
Glacial Ursa (Level ???) – An elemental ice bear found on many E-Rank arctic islands. This monster is known for traversing long distances, making its home in colder, underground environments.
Contains a monster core.
Research still available.
Yet, Viktor strolled right up to this monster and stroked its chin like they were lifelong friends. It bowed down to him, puffs of mist flowing from its snout.
“There, there,” Viktor said. “We will go home soon enough.”
“What the hell is that thing?” someone asked.
He cleared his throat and turned around. “This is my good friend, Misha. He will be the one you deal with most.” The bear glared at the crowd, more mist forming.
“What do you mean?” Jay asked.
Viktor pointed to the basket. “Here is where you will place all the required demands for the week. When Misha comes near, you are to provide what you can and update the list. Like this.”
He ushered the crowd forth. Right on the basket’s edge, an intricate spreadsheet had been scribbled onto a piece of parchment, with a feather and ink strapped to the side. Closer still, the finer script could be made out…
Jay’s eyes widened as he took in all the demands. Thousands of kilograms of lifeberries… Hundreds more for coconuts, mangoes, pineapples, papayas… Even more when it came to miscellaneous herbs and vegetables…
And meat. Tens of thousands of kilograms of monster meat, broken apart meticulously by level and type, with their cores required as well. More meat than anyone could ever eat in a lifetime!
Viktor walked up to Ben and yanked the waterskin from his trousers while he swung vainly in defense, still blinded from his goggles breaking to see where his enemy stood. Viktor tossed the waterskin into Misha’s basket and marked the notation on the attached spreadsheet.
“There,” Viktor said. “Two liters of fresh water already complete. Easy! The rest? That will be up to the rest of you. This man can’t handle it all by himself, after all.”
Ben moaned, now unmoving again, the blood leaking out of his eyes and fingers clasped tight.
Viktor returned to Misha and pulled out a giant strip of fabric, red paint perverted against worn leather, and a small jar filled with a black substance below. With a slight tap of metal against flint, the substance burned to life, and the leather began to slowly expand.
Amadi squinted at the chart and grit his teeth. “How are we expected to do what you ask? Natura will kill us all when night comes if we give into these insane amounts.”
Viktor shrugged. “It will be fine.”
The other man scoffed. “Have you forgotten the other Rules already? ‘Rule 5) Cooperation between Expatriates will be punished.’ Handing any of this over is a death sentence for us all!”
“No, it’s not,” Jay said. “The Rule has always been nuanced. Cooperation will lead to a rise in Natura’s strength. But cooperation is a choice in itself, and the Rules have always accounted for the intent as well as the effect.”
Jay watched Viktor closely, his mind seeing the shifting pieces created and how they applied to the world Rules they lived under. “That doesn’t apply anymore because of Rule 9. We’re no longer choosing to help him. We’re all being forced by the threat of death.” He exhaled. “At a bare minimum, we’d be greatly mitigating Natura’s rise because of this strategy.”
Just as Naomi had been able to steal from him without repercussion, so too could Viktor do the same to them all.
Viktor gleamed. “Very clever, Jay. I have high hope for you.”
More than anything, they were all underestimating this man and how he’d altered the game they were playing. By defeating the toughest group on their island, he’d established his supremacy, and by destroying their boats, no one would be able to leave. There was no choice in the matter. They either served Viktor’s needs or risked an untimely death. He’d even gone the lengths of killing someone randomly to prove it could happen to anyone else, at any time, with no way of knowing how he’d decide the metric of who would be the one to die, should the group ever fail to meet his ludicrous demands.
And the longer the silence dragged on, the more the others could see that too. They all looked from one to another, no longer as neighbors in a harsh world, but with something else buried below their gaze.
A deeper, darker glint. An uncertainty about where they’d all stand when the time came.
The balloon rose into the sky above, heralding this new age. Though the canvas was made of worn leather, the light caught the blood-red “V” he’d painted on either side. A beacon. A warning. A flag of this man’s conquest of their land.
Viktor grinned wide. “This is how you will always know where to find Misha. When the balloon is near, it is time to pay your tribute.” The shadow fell across his weathered cheeks. “If not, then your neighbors will know who to blame, I suppose.”
A new energy took hold of the crowd with that proclamation, the deeper truth now exposed for the rest of them to see. The Expats began to shift uncomfortably around, their heads on a swivel as they watched one another. Jay found himself matching the glares of a few neighbors, peering into him with a deeper suspicion than before.
And Jay could feel that same lingering sense too. He’d never concerned himself with more than a handful of people before this moment. Just being near the E-Rank group on an F-Rank island had felt like enough safety. They were the most formidable people around, but they’d also made clear that violence amongst Expatriates would not be tolerated. That was a milestone that neither he nor anyone else could beat alone. An unspoken Rule of where priorities would have to be placed, enforced through harsh penalties if given the chance.
But now, with them out of the way? Jay had never realized just how many threats were lurking in the shadows, waiting for the chance to strike. None of these people were incentivized to help him, but they had every reason to take more from him than they’d want to sacrifice themselves. Why not rob someone of everything they’re worth if it meant that Viktor left them alone? He sure as shit didn’t care how it came about. Even Kevin had that same suspicion in his eyes, now more profound than that moment when they’d first met again.
No, as Jay stared into the eyes of these strangers and considered how much smaller his world had just become, he came to recognize this new truth. This was no longer a game where everyone fought monsters in their own little lanes.
They were now competing against each other too.
Viktor raised his hands as he drank in the chaos, a showman ushering forth an opera. “I look forward to spending much time with you all.”
Even the E-Ranks had given up their struggles, now glancing from one to another with that same veiled suspicion. Naomi, Desmond, even Ben with his vision starting to return. What chance would they be able to muster in a second bout against someone who’d defeated them so handily? Only Sayid remained still, his eyes twitching in defiance against the changed circumstance, even as he struggled to keep from bleeding out completely.
Jay’s heart raced, suddenly feeling more claustrophobic than ever before. This guy wasn’t going to leave… Nor would the relative stability return on its own… Not so long as this monster stood at the top of the food chain.
And Jay was in the worst position imaginable. Without an Expat Core of his own, he’d never be able to beat others in an arm’s race to grind the path forth. If they were now fighting against each other and not just Natura, what were the odds he’d see this through!?
But there was still a chance. Viktor’s back was turned, and his automatic rifle lay on the ground behind. Only a single shot was all anyone needed to bring him down.
Jay fingered his pistol. He hadn’t planned to use it from the start, but now that he could see the full scope of this plan, there was no other choice. Someone had to do something against this tyrant!
Three rounds left. One was more than justified here.
He yanked the weapon free. A hush fell over the crowd as he took aim. Viktor glanced over his shoulder as Jay pulled the trigger.
The 9mm hollow-point round tore through the open sky, its uncontrollable strength like a meteor through the atmosphere. The very air burst into flame in the path it raced forth, faster than eyes could track…
Only to strike through the cliff behind. A shockwave rolled out, sending rocks and Expats alike.
Jay blinked, his opponent nowhere to be seen.
“Children should be more careful with their toys,” Viktor whispered, his lips less than an inch from Jay’s ear.
Snap.
His chest tightened and pig iron-plated coat from the devastating strike, sending Jay into the pale sand with a gasp. He opened his mouth to scream, but only a frail whimper leaked out.
And Viktor towered above, Jay’s pistol in his hands.
He flexed his wrist. “You’re stronger than you look, Jay. That punch would have killed an ordinary man at your Rank. Oh well. More bullets for Viktor.”
He tucked his new weapon away and grinned, all while Jay could do nothing but lay paralyzed, eyes watering from the shock.
Viktor waved a bloody hand. “I look forward to seeing more of you, Jay Reis.”
Name: Jay Reis (Copper Age)
Vitality – 77/97
Hunger – 5/72
Thirst – 17/24
Fatigue – 35/48
Sanity – 90/100
Main Crafts: Alchemy 2, Armor Crafting 2, Base Building 3, Cooking 2, Jewelry 2, Medicine 2, Tailoring 2, Tool Crafting 3, Weapon Crafting 2.
Weapon Crafts: Axes 5, Bows 5, Clubs 5, Daggers 5, Spears 5, Swords 9.
Armor Crafts: Heavy Armor 5, Light Armor 5, Medium Armor 6, Shields 6.
Character Skills:
[Forbidden Knowledge]
Armor Skills:
Heavy Armor: [Push], [Stampede]
Medium Armor: [Recover], [Leap], [Waterform]
Light Armor: [Dash], [Feather Fall]
Shield: [Brace], [Track], [Break]
Weapon Skills:
Axes: [Chop], [Whirlwind]
Bows: [Sharpshooter], [Longshot]
Clubs: [Bash], [Paralyze]
Daggers: [Slice], [Flourish]
Spears: [Thrust], [Sweep]
Swords: [Power Attack], [Slash], [Rend], [Parry]
Weapon Skills:
Bows: [Sharpshooter], [Longshot]
Spears: [Thrust], [Sweep]
Swords: [Power Attack], [Slash], [Rend], [Parry]
Armor:
[Pig Ironplated Hat] (Affinity+3), (Hardened+2), (Reinforced+1)
[Pig Ironplated Leggings] (Affinity+3), (Hardened+2), (Reinforced+1)
[Pig Ironplated Shoes] (Affinity+3), (Hardened+2), (Reinforced+1)
[Silver Amulet]: Socketed with [Chipped Tourmaline] (Tempus)
[Silver Ring]: Socketed with [Chipped Ruby] (Ignis)
[Silver Ring]: Socketed with [Chipped Ruby] (Ignis)
Weapons:
[Pig Iron Sword+3] (Affinity+5), (Hardened+2), (Reinforced+2), (Stable+1)
[Wooden Bow+3] (Elemental), (Reinforced+2): Socketed with [Chipped Ruby] (Ignis)
[Basic Leather Quiver]: Contains 20 [Silver-tipped Arrows] (Elemental+1)
Tools:
[Copper Knife+3]
[Copper Axe+3]
[Copper Hammer+3]
[Copper Pickaxe+3]
[Copper Shovel+3]
Boons:
[Minor (Speed)] (x3)