[Player Log Start!]

[Log Holder: Lucky Paine]

[Level: 1, Sub-Level: 6]

Lucky crouched over her machines, trying to ignore Tench as he looked over her Console. They didn’t want to stress too much about it, but in the face of a much more experienced Player, they couldn’t help but feel self-conscious.

No, better to apply herself to a specialty she actually understood. The current project was a small pump, meant to siphon out any smoke, with the intent to clear a building of any leaking smoke. It would be imperative if they were going to set up the building that Tench needed to clear the Sub-Level.

“It’s… a little different from mine.” Tench finally announced, while Lucky tightened the valve. There needed to be a suction inside it, using a rotating fan and electricity. They would need to work on the circuit after this, but right now it was working alright.

“Is that going to be a problem?” They asked.

“No. The system seems to be working the same.” Tench replied, “But I’m not sure. Michael has the Computer Affinity, not me.”

“A… Computer Affinity?” Lucky asked, tilting his head.

“Yeah, it’s an ability that- wait, do you know what Abilities are?” Lucky shook her head, bemused, and Tench sighed, “Great, it’s Asad all over again.”

Was she supposed to be offended by that? What was that in response to?

“Okay, so what we’re going to do is look at the search bar and look for…” He clicked his tongue as the image on the screen shifted, “No tutorial. Just my luck. But, what I do know how to find is the Registered Users Page. Take a look.”

Lucky looked over his shoulder, taking in the bright glare of the screen which assimilated itself into words.

[Overall Level: 19]

[Game Immersion: 48%]

[Inventory Slots: 16/100]

[Overall Threat Level: C]

“Huh.” Tench hummed, as if this was unexpected, “The Immersion is way lower here than it is for us. And your threat level is a whole grade lower. Everything’s a little skewed to the left, but I suppose it makes sense. There’s only one of you, and with no ranged attacks or magic, compared to the seven of us.”

“What does Immersion mean?” She asked, “The others, I understand, but… Immersion?”

Tench was quiet for a few seconds, before finally answering, “Sometimes, when we can’t understand some part of the System, we simply don’t question it. Either it becomes important later on, or it doesn’t. Simply the luck of the draw.”

“That is not a very good idea.” Lucky warned.

“Yeah, we know. But at some point, you just have to accept what’s happening to you.” He shrugged, “Don’t stress about it and take a look at the Players registered to this Console.”

There was only one Player here. No others. Just Lucky Paine, staring back through the screen in a headshot that Lucky could not remember taking, judging by her look of confusion.

“Yeah, we all have headshots we don’t remember taking.” He offered in a slight comfort. She did not accept it, simply glaring at him. He nervously clicked onto her profile, displaying her full stats and abilities.

[No Previous Save Files Found!]

[Generating Abilities Through Extraneous Data…]

[Name: Lucky Paine]

[Age: 24]

[Class: Human Engineer]

[Level: 9]

[Power Stats:]

[Physical Strength: 9]

[Agility: 3]

[Mental Strength: 7]

[Abilities:]

[Mechanical Affinity Lv. 11]

[Transmutation Lv. 5]

[Flight Lv. 3]

[! Movement Hindered by 33% !]

[! Permanent Status Effect: Weak Lungs !]

Her eyes roved over it, taking it in line by line, until finally she stopped craning her neck and relaxed back into her chair, “That is it, then?” She asked, “My entire life is just… summed up in those few lines. All the good I brought into this world? And that is all I am capable of?”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Only for the System.” Tench tried to bring her around, though the words were more and more hollow with every note he made.

“I refuse to be… dictated by this list of numbers and data with no bearing in reality.” She scoffed, piloting herself away from the detestable thing, “It is dehumanizing. I have more to prove than a… four in charisma. What can that possibly mean?” She shook her head, “Just nonsense.”

She refused to be shaken from this stance, and perhaps Tench understood that, because he stood down and nodded.

“Alright.” He agreed, “You do that.”

‘Until you’re ready.’ The words were implicit. And she remembered Michael, trying to tell her the world was over. And she had refused then. Clung to hope.

She still clung now to that belief. The sun was a deadly grey, but it had not been snuffed out yet. Its rays were still breaking through the darkness that had taken over their entire world. These Miracle Devices, they promised a way to reverse it. And Lucky wanted that. There was nothing that could keep her from it. Except… what after that? Would they just keep going, one dimension after another, fixing desperately as she went? Losing her sense of self and identity, giving it all up as she fixated on the numbers that would define her from now on?

It was draining to even think about.

The bout of heady melancholy was cut off by a screech of metal and the hiss of air exiting the high-pressure submarine. A gaggle of people rushed into the entrance, screaming in a gaggle of panic. Lucky moved on instinct, her legs all centipede-smoothness as they were carried over to the antechamber.

A small boy – Liam, she recognized – was being supported by his friends, carried aloft, even as blood dripped from under his hand, which was covering his midsection. Dark liquid landed onto the ground with soft plops that were much too quick for their comfort.

Already, Lucky could feel their heartrate picking up. She could do many things, but fixing injuries certainly weren’t in her repertoire. These children had received her word that she would protect them, and she was now going to fail.

Beside her, Tench surged past. The tumblethorn children tried to close ranks around Liam, their loyalty ironclad in such distraught times, but they were not fast enough. Tench managed to get a single, glowing finger onto Liam’s weak hand, and-

[Applying Healing!]

The faint green light exploded into a supernova around poor Liam’s bleeding torso. The sound of the blood dripping onto the floor ceased in an instant. Followed by a strange, stretching sound that Lucky was having trouble identifying.

She couldn’t see past all the shoulders and heads of standing children, but the silence was unmistakable. As was the light that had preceded it. Tench had done in seconds what should have taken months of careful nursing and prayers to recover from. If it didn’t fester first.

“Who… are you?” Liam whispered, the words strangled out of him more as a need, “How did you- did you do that?”

Tench finally let him go, moving back to shake out his hands, which was stained with blood on the very tips, “I’m a doctor.” He replied, simply. What an arse. Lucky had to fight to contain her laughter.

“Bull-fucking-shit.” Liam swore, all shakiness vanishing in an instant. The crowd of kids gasped as one as he managed to pull himself onto his feet, no trace of his previous injury left, except for the decades-old scar imprinted into it. He marched after Tench, backing the guy up against a wall, “I know what a doctor does and that was not it. You take me for a fool?”

“Woah there, little man, how about let’s stick with one swear at a time?” Tench suggested, his voice pitching up in fright. Liam let out a wordless scream of rage and lunged forward, intent on beating the answers out of Tench. Lucky acted quickly, scooping him out of the way before he could incapacitate the closest thing they had to an instruction guide.

“Giddy is a friend.” She explained to Liam sternly. They liked being talked to seriously. It was better than being condescended. Tench twitched, but the use of the nickname was intentional. Humanized him to the group. And that was desperately needed if they were to set up this True Safe Zone stuff as quickly as possible.

As expected, one of the kids hid a scoff, and the tension seemed to subside.

“So, he’s an angel.” A girl – Gerry, she thinks – surmised, crossing her arms with a considerate look, “Your funny little beads finally did something, Lucky.”

“He is not an angel, and my rosary did not summon him.” She clarified with finite patience, “He is… from more unconventional spaces.” Unconventional was a very polite way of saying ‘something that you won’t believe unless you are beaten over the head with that reality’.

“Why’s he hear?” Pence called out.

“I’m standing right here.” Tench coughed.

“And you ain’t answering anything.” Another kid threw back, “You surprised we don’t really care about what you gotta say?”

“Well, I’m here to set up a place that is truly safe.” Tench announced, his eyes lighting up with true excitement as he began to talk, “A place that all will receive aid, and resources, and the certainty of a warm bed.”

That declaration hung in the air as he gave them all a winning smile. The assembled children did not return that enthusiasm, simply looking at him blankly.

“Ya got any qualifications?” Someone asked, thoroughly disbelieving, “This gonna take a lotta construction and shit.” They were eyeing up his stick-thin arms and sunken cheeks that looked like they had only recently stopped being half-starved.

“I will be handling the construction.” She announced, stepping in before he could make a buffoon of himself, “With help from your capable hands, I trust?”

“Then why’s he here if he ain’t helping?”

“Hey! I can heal!” Tench offered, more as a desperate plea than anything, “Isn’t that a miracle enough?”

“I…guess.” The dissenter ducked his head down, looking suitably cowed.

“Well then, why must we wait?” Lucky asked, wincing at how at odds her accent was when compared to their own laidback dialect, “We have a bunker and a half to pull together!”

The kids looked regretful, but it was too late. She was going to work them to the bone.

[Player Log End!]