Sleep, as it turned out, was not the balm that Duke was seeking. His dreams were wracked with horrors. Terrible scenes of all the depravity that humanity was capable of flowed from his subconscious, clawing at his sanity. When he finally woke for the fifth time in as many hours, he resignedly climbed out of bed, with a contradiction. The bed was so comfortable that his body simply craved the caress of the sheets but his emotions were all but screaming at him to flee the comfort.
He unconsciously performed his waking routing of CLEANSE and RESTORE before evaluating himself in the room’s mirror. What he saw was not what he expected. His eyes looked thoroughly haunted, the skin around them creased with lines that had not been there in the past. His irises had paled to a cold grey that seemed to pull his eyes deeper into his skull. All-in-all, he felt it was not a good look for him and decided to cloak it with LASTING DISGUISE before leaving the room.
A quick glance at his screen showed that the clock had counted down to 1:02:39:11. He had a little more than a day before the final phase began. He noticed a few more changes He had gained more than 200,000 Points since last he looked – Zeblow had gotten busy and since points were so tight around him, it had pushed Duke to 56th place.
So, what to do? I can sit here and wait for the day to pass, or I can go out and hunt some desperate Contestants. Or, I can underground railroad those desperate to leave the city. Maybe I can make a bunch more “Zeblow” deals and get others to work for me. That’s awful close to the slaver-move. But, no, it’s nothing like it. This is all voluntary and I’m not telling them what to do. Why am I having all these scattered thoughts all of a sudden? What the fuck did that Entity really do with all that?
Duke noticed one more thing as he looked at his character sheet that broke him from his thoughts. His Psyche had increased by another 200 points while he tried to sleep. I’ll take the points but what is really going on here? Two choices flyboy. Sit here and think about it running in circles, or get out there and do something. Right. Time for action over inaction.
Exiting the inn, he strode into the bustle of a thriving city. Duke was sure that most of the people, creatures, and “what the hell is that things” making their way throughout the streets were not Contestants. Even though there were some 20,000 Contestants left, the city could comfortably house a population in the millions from Duke’s observations. If the city were only filled with Contestants, it would look like a ghost town.
He was, for the most part, left alone to carry on his business. The only interruptions were a further confirmation that the majority were civilians as he was occasionally pointed out by enthusiastic followers of the Contest. He ignored them for the most part, keeping DUNGEON SENSE pulled relatively tightly around him so he could spot any threats that may spring up despite the city’s supposed safety. Sometimes paranoia is just smart, and threats don’t necessarily come from violence.
It took all of an hour to reach his destination, the central landing platform. There he set himself down on the edge of the platform and waited for someone to approach him. As he waited, he came to the realization that putting a sign up would be difficult at best as languages, and even forms of communication, varied greatly amongst the populace. Finally, he decided to go a different route.
“Hey, kid, come over here for a minute,” Duke stage whispered to a random young teen that was passing by.”
The kid tentatively came over, making sure to stay out of arm’s reach. His voice was cautious, “What you want, mister?”
“I need someone to be a message crier for me. Feel like making some credits?”
“Why don’t you put your message on the boards?”
Well, damn, that was a fucking reasonable response. Not knowing that there even were boards was probably not the best.
“Yeah, I guess you’re right, kid. Here have a few credits anyway.” Duke tossed the kid a credit chip that had a hundred credits on it and sent him on his way.
Duke spent the next few minutes finding the boards in his interface and was amazed at just how many different boards there were. They spanned everything from people looking for sparring partners to gear sales to people wanting partners for entirely other things. No matter how advanced a society gets, there’s always someone looking for sex. Who am I kidding? I could use a good night too, but that’s not what I am looking for right now.
Finally, Duke found a board that was exclusive to the Contestants, and he made a single listing. As he waited for it to post, he looked around himself at the various members of the crowd passing by. He found that the vast majority were of some human analogue with modifications. Whether they were a different color, shaped a bit differently, or had additional features, they were mostly humanoid. He wasn’t sure what that meant but it was notable.
The first response to his post popped up on his notifications, followed by several others that came in rapid-fire fashion. They came so quickly and in such frequency, he turned notifications off on the post. Instead, he sat back and waited for the physical responses to his post. He had, after all, posted his location for all to see. While he waited, he crafted a special Core, one that was far larger than any other he had ever made. This one was also different in that it was a perfect topographical representation of the Contest World that he created from his DUNGEON SENSE scanning of the world. The sphere was not a viable Dungeon Core, but the two-meter wide globe would serve its purpose well enough.
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Duke was surprised that it took ten minutes before the first Contestant approached him. The creature was as much crustacean as human and approached Duke boldly. The language it spoke was an interesting combination of vocalizations and gestures. Duke’s XENOGLOSSIA handled it easily.
“You are the one who posted on the board about a way out of the city?”
“I am. Are you interested?”
“What’s the deal? Nothing comes free around here.”
“You are quite right about that, but the deal is simple. I will get you out of the city to the location of your choice for a reasonable price.”
“What is the reasonable price?” The question was asked with the crustacean’s version of sarcasm which came off as a series of triple clicks of its claws.
Duke smiled disarmingly, “There are two options for pricing. One is one hundred thousand Contest Points. The other is twenty percent of all Contest Points you make until the Contest is over.”
The crustacean looked at Duke for a long moment before responding, “You will put it into a system contract that I will arrive safely where I wish and all I have to give you is twenty percent of my Contest Points for the rest of the Contest?”
“Yep. Just point out where you want to go on this globe, enact the contract, and I’ll get you there quickly. You’ll arrive safely, but any dangers that may be waiting for you there are your problem, not mine. Deal?”
“Deal. I wish to go here.” He pointed to a point on the globe, an area Duke had not visited but, then again, there were few areas he had visited. In seconds the contract was finalized.
Duke looked at the crustacean, “Are you ready to go?”
“I am!” he excitedly responded, his antennae perking up for the first time.
Duke nodded, and with a simple “good luck” TELEPORTED the crustacean to his destination. His DUNGEON SENSE showed him that the creature had arrived safely. He wished his CLARIVOYANCE had enough range to see him clearly, but the Practiced-ranked Ability only had a five-kilometer range.
Within ten minutes, Duke had a line of individuals wrapped around the platform waiting to make a deal with him. The vast majority were willing to make the 20% deal but there were a dozen who outright paid Duke the 100,000 Points to get out past the “gate campers.” Duke laughed all the way to 51st place.
As time went by, Duke had sent nearly 600 Contestants out of the city to various places. Each one had a system contract which had an interesting side-effect that Duke inadvertently discovered. Whenever one of them died, Duke was informed. So far, nine had perished without providing Duke with a single point. Oh well, not like it cost me anything to send them out there.
Eventually, a lull came, and Duke sat back, relishing his success. Even if he only got a small stream of points from this scheme, it was as all the nameless gurus back home said passive income. The worst case would be for them to all die off.
“You there!” The voice came in an impressive harmony of multiple tones.
Duke looked up to see what he could only call a walking pile of slugs. His XENOGLOSSIA was telling him that the pile of slugs was mad at him for some reason. He inclined his head, “What can I do for you?”
“You can stop bypassing the city gates.”
“No, I don’t think I will. Now move along. I have more customers coming.”
“You do not understand who you are dealing with. We are Vexxorr and we will not allow you to disrupt our Point income.”
“Oh, so you are one of the Gate Campers. Cheesy strategy, but effective, I suppose. But I really don’t care who or what you are.”
The slug pile reared back, swelling with outrage. The harmonic voice now had several discordant notes, “You dare to oppose us?”
“Look, Slugworth, take your everlasting gobstopper and go home. I have neither the time nor inclination to deal with your childish sense of ownership.”
In response, the slug pile swelled further and expanded to surround Duke, cutting him off from any potential customers. “We will keep you contained so that you will not interfere with us any more. And we will deal with you in the final phase.”
Duke stood, leaning into his DUNGEON SENSE to see where the rest of these slugs resided. He saw them lying in wait around the gate designated as “Senda.” He also noticed a few of the slugs scattered in various areas both inside and outside the city.
“Is that right?” Duke smiled at the wall of slugs around him. “How about this? Let’s all go out past the Senda gate and settle this once and for all?”
“Oh, yes, we like that idea.”
***Contest Messaging System Activated. You have received a direct message from Aculotus.
Don’t go out there with the slugs. If even one slug survives, they will all grow back. They are all but immortal because of it. And there are millions of them! ***
Duke noted the message. It aligned with his thoughts and his plan. He continued.
“Just to make sure this is perfectly clear, you are fine with me taking all of you out to the Senda gate area so we can fight it out?”
“Oh, yes, let’s go!”
Duke grinned and activated TELEPORT, grabbing every single slug inside the city and every one outside the city to a single spot outside the gate. The slugs didn’t hesitate. They flowed at him in a wave that would easily engulf him. Duke responded by TELEPORTING all their bodies into atoms spread across the planet’s surface. It took a massive OVERCHANNELING to make sure he got them all, but their individual resistance to such an attack was minimal. In the collective, it was substantial but nothing compared to Duke’s Grandmaster Ability. The nanosecond between each individual slug being targeted and destroyed was too fast for them to collectively resist, instead having to resist the Ability individually. They stood no chance. Duke pulled up his notification.
*** You have killed Vexxorr, a Contestant ranked in the top ten. You gain half of their Contest Points which brings your total to 85,490,429. You are now ranked third in the Contest.
You gain 298,000 (327,800) experience. You are now level 93 and have 84 Characteristic Points to spend. ***
Duke returned to the platform in the city, acting as if nothing had happened. The looks from the crown told him otherwise.