Sally spun from the large creature. Blood running down her left arm, she stepped back away, her teeth clenched. There had been no healing potions or similar so far, so she had to be a little more careful. Especially considering she had put all her points into Damage and none in Defense.
Whoever created this world had not only made the King Rat ten times the size of a normal Giant Rat, but it appeared as though they did the same to its stats too.
“I’d advise not losing your arm,” Archie added from the side, very helpfully.
In her eagerness to eat some different brains, she had underestimated the boss monster and taken a bite from the large fangs the creature possessed. She’d walked off worse, however, regeneration or no.
“I guess I should have known better,” she said as a wide grin crossed her face. “An uprising should be won by those lowest on the rungs.”
At her command, the sea of zombie rats swarmed forward to bite and chew at the supposed King. The first couple were stomped or chewed through with no issue, but there were just too many of them. Despite being mindless undead, they started to climb the thick fur of the giant monster, biting and scratching along the way.
“See that?” She turned to stick her tongue out at the grouchy cat. “Not even been here an hour and committing regicide.”
“The killer of rats. You truly are a great adventurer.”
Sally narrowed her eyes at him and brought up the Chat.
[Sally: Archie is really mean.]
[Chuck: Takes him a while to adjust.]
[Chuck: Depends on the world.]
She knew that already, she just needed a third party to whine to. As much as she didn’t think she’d need another Outsider down here with her, she missed the conversations. Wasn’t really worth asking Archie if they were close to enough power to bring someone down. Maybe killing the King was the end of what this world had to offer?
Said Monster was now struggling against the writhing force of her zombie pals. Lethargy and irritation from the multitude of wounds caused it to sink to the floor, unable to lash out or chomp at any rats clinging to the gradually bloodying fur.
With a few quick steps, she was upon him again. Dagger into a tired eye. [Eat Brains]
Another level up and point into Damage… but this one was slightly different. She narrowed her eyes at the text.
[Skills Unlocked]
[Pick Lock] [You are able to unlock doors on a successful
[Sneak Attack] [Your first strike after leaving
She blinked and looked around the surrounding woods, but saw no doors. “Something about this feels like a poor joke at my expense. I don’t even have a stealth ability.”
“And you never will with that mouth of yours.”
Sally exhaled and tilted her head toward the cat. “This Sally and Archie adventure thing is growing stale fast. I hope you’re nicer on the next world.”
He didn’t reply, so she just looked up at the next Quest.
[Quest 6: Kill 5 Orcs (0/5)]
She turned to her peripheral. Instead of Giant Rats, the area was now populated by muscular green humanoids.
“What manner of purgatory have I signed myself up for?” she asked the world, as the zombie Rat King rose up behind her.
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Humphrey drummed his metal fingers on the armrest as he stared out across the sand dunes of the Wasteland. While the balcony did give a nice vantage point over a large area, he grew tired of watching the Players fight back against the Wind Elemental Event.
Norah moved away from the balcony edge to face him. “You just missed a guy being thrown almost thirty feet across the sand, dear.” She smiled at seeing his distracted expression. “Too busy being worried about Sally?”
The Death Knight grunted and looked up at her. “She is more than capable of handling herself… this is just quite the undertaking.”
“New worlds? Bringing Systems together to make this more than it currently is?” She stepped over and sat on the throne beside his, putting her wrapped hand on his plated one. “I’m proud of our little zombie.”
Humphrey grinned and tilted his head toward her. Somewhere along the line, they had become Sally’s de facto adoptive parents. Part of it was giving her some normalcy in this world, something stable to ground herself with. But… it felt right, too. After everything they’d been through together, they were closer than blood.
“I trust Chuck,” he eventually relented. “It’s just a difficult process to really take in. I hope to be more involved in the proceedings when she starts to travel to these worlds.”
Norah said nothing, and the sounds of battle below filled the silence.
Eventually, the Death Knight put a hand up to his skeletal face and sighed. “She’s in another world already, isn’t she?”
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Sally watched impassively as her group of orc and rat zombies swarmed over the figures standing idly, just waiting to die. The brains hadn’t tasted any better, so she was rather tired of the physical combat side of things. Not that she really needed to. She could gain four or five new zombies for every one that fell.
Out of all the kills so far, she had looted two health potions, three crossbow bolts, and a dagger that had slightly better base damage. She compared them.
[Dagger] [+1 Damage]
[Sharp Dagger] [+2 Damage]
How damage actually worked wasn’t really explained, but she had given up expecting this world to make much sense. All she had to do was keep grinding at these Quests until she was powerful enough for Chuck to bring this world over into their own bubble.
That process alone made this drab leveling worth it. She had no idea how Theo did this sort of thing regularly without getting bored out of his mind. Perhaps he wasn’t driven by stakes, just the outcome.
Hah, stakes.
Although the two skills she had unlocked so far hadn’t seemed to be useful in-world, having one of those carry over to the next might be helpful for the future. Depending on what Chuck had in mind for a second System to save, being able to pick locks would be a handy skill. Other than being dropped in the middle of a beach or forest, the third most likely beginner scenario was starting in a prison.
That might make her drop-pod entrance a little awkward, however.
“Do you know what might be next if this works well, Arch?” She commanded her sea of expanding undead to filter through the trees, assailing more orcs as she continued walking.
“There are many options, but I do not believe one has been selected.” He wagged his tail back and forth as he walked alongside her. “It depends on how well this goes.”
“Like how competent I am, or how well the world merge goes?”
“Yes.”
Sally sighed. She understood it - this was the test run to make sure things went fine when they tackled a more difficult System. One that might have serious errors or Players that would need to adjust to their world. The things that could go wrong were beyond her understanding - but then again, that’s why she had Chuck to do all the hard thinking work.
In a way, she was glad for this. Not only had the goofball managed to make the System an almost-paradise for everyone forced to live there, but he was thriving in the role and thinking outside the box. She liked to think some of her ambition-seeking rubbed off on him… but she doubted she would have ever considered traveling to different worlds to fix them and make them part of their System.
“Give me some hints, Arch. You know I work better when I have something to look forward to chewing on.” She pouted and gave him her best puppy-dog eyes.
Archie narrowed his glare and sighed. “Fine. You are not wrong, even if annoying.” He chose to ignore her small celebration. “There are three shortlisted for consideration should this go well.”
“More interesting than this one, though?” She turned her gaze back to the orc and rat horde mowing through enemies. Almost time for the boss.
“Well, ‘interesting’ is a subjective observation. More complex, certainly. They are all Systems that are untenable long term.”
“Right, so, what are they?”
He stopped and glared at her again. “You will find out when this mission has been successful, and we form the Guild.”
She gasped and put her hands on her hips. “You’re forming a Guild?” Sally whistled. “Can I be in it?”
“Naturally.” Archie exhaled deeply through his nose. “This was the Guild mentioned during the meeting. I thought you had paid a little more attention than the rest? We knew we couldn’t keep everyone in the dark about things… the Guild was meant to be formed before you even came here.”
“Chucky jumped the gun because he was too excited?” She grinned.
“Exactly.”
She could understand it. Given the ramifications of the project, it was something huge if it went well. The possibilities it would unlock. Sally was mostly looking forward to becoming more powerful, but exploring new worlds sounded fun, too.
Not this one, but maybe others.
“So I’m guessing you’re including pop and fangs in the Guild, yeah?”
“Correct.” Archie stretched out and yawned. “Mostly because neither would shut up or leave us alone if left out of it.”
That was very true, but she pouted. “Mostly?”
“No. Their insights are very useful, of course. Invites will go to all the Outsiders.”
Sally rubbed her chin. Norah, Lucius, and Edward were all pretty happy with the lives they currently had… but even if they didn’t want to world-dive, they might want an ear on the Guild. Edward definitely would, even if he could just be there to be creepy and seem suspicious about his intentions. In saying that - Jackie hadn't been in the meeting. The mobster was already settled into a normal life, even more than Lucius had, so wasn't likely to want a violent vacation from her peace.
“Anyone outside of our weird little family?” she asked.
“Nothing I can confirm at present. Again, a lot rides on how well this and the next mission go.” Archie licked at one of his paws and preened his ears.
For the most part, she was just eager to get this done and into a world with different stakes. Necromancy was her bread and butter, but this System was clearly not designed with it in mind. Or much at all, really. It looked to just be repeating quests of kill X Monster until you got to the boss version and then reset and repeat. Without having a pal down here, it was rather droll, but they weren’t even needed.
“How close am I to… anything?” She stretched her back out.
[Quest 10: Kill Orc Lord (0/1)]
“You are currently at what we call STAR Level Three. Normally, you’d be able to call in someone from our home world at this stage. And then a second at Level Five.”
“Neat.” She nodded her head as she looked around the area for the boss. “What were the other Levels?” Ah, there it was. A scaled up orc warrior with the same crown that the rat king had on.
“First is basic communication. Second is tracking and more information back to Chuck. Fourth should be a video feed back home.”
“Should be?” she asked, gathering all of her minions into an organized clump.
“Still early days, isn’t it? The technology and magic is there, but Dent only got to STAR Two in testing.”
She furrowed her brow. “Oh, we don’t know for sure we can get more boots on the ground?” With the flick of her wrist, she commanded her dead to go forth and attack the larger orc.
“It’s the same process as sending you down, but just a problem of bandwidth.” Archie tilted his head toward her. “I’m sure Chuck went over this in the meeting with you twice.”
“Probably.” She watched her undead chew through the big Monster, only a handful of them dying for good in the process. Another level up and a point in Damage, killing the boss also provided her with two new skills.
[Skills Unlocked]
[Arrow Crafting] [Craft Arrows using basic materials]
[Chain] [Ranged attack that draws opponent to you]
“Ohh!” Sally clicked her fingers. “Now we’re talking - that’s actually a decent skill, depending on the range of it.”
“Sally,” Archie said.
“What is it cat, can’t you see I’m doing skill stuff?”
“Sally.”
She raised her eyebrow and looked up.
[Final Quest: Defeat 50 Troll Monarchs (0/50)]
Turning to the side, she saw three large trolls bound out from the trees toward her.