Over the course of the next couple of weeks, Everest taught Ross all about the world’s most basic functions. Any questions Ross asked were swiftly and effectively answered, though only about the world itself. None about Everest’s personal life or abilities were answered.
“I don’t need to tell you about anything relating to me, so it’d be best for both of us if you’d just stop asking.” Everest had snapped. That had brought a sudden halt to Ross’s inquiries about his mentor. He decided to leave Everest alone in regards to his personal life and inquire about his own experience in the world thus far. A bit more irritation than he’d wanted managed to weasel its way into his words.
“Everest, why was I dropped in a forest with next to nothing on me?” Ross asked. “I didn’t get any starter equipment or anything until I accepted a bunch of random achievements. And why was the location not a city or something!? I could have easily died out there! And how did you get there so fast-”
“Whoa, kid. Hold up.” Everest grunted. “Lotta questions at once. I got there so fast because, again, my stats are each 5 digits a piece. You saw how fast you moved with two hundred dex. How fast do you think twenty thousand dex could get you to move?”
At this, Ross nodded, though still fuming over the situation.
“And about the rest?”
Everest pinched his brow. “Yeah, I’d love to know that, too. I know what happened, but I don’t know why they don’t fix it already.”
He turned to Ross, scratching the back of his neck. “They make plenty of excuses, but the most prominent one is that any Heroes brought here will…”
Everest trailed off at the look of intense shock and confusion on his protege’s face. He sighed. “You were brought here to become a Hero. Basically, Heroes are brought here to train to level 100 in their first Class. This is their ‘Grinding Area’. That’s why you were brought here and not anywhere else - it’s the Tutorial Plane, for lack of better terminology. And before you ask,” growled Everest, giving Ross’s open-mouthed posture a pointed look, “No, you're not the Hero. That doesn’t exist, and there’s a reason I pluralized ‘Hero’. You’re one of many souls brought here to become far greater than in your last life.”
“Not a very high bar.” muttered Ross.
“Maybe not,” Everest continued, “but you’re still a lucky sonuvabitch. You managed to get a custom Subclass and still haven’t died or exploded yet. That’s a good sign.” He paused before scratching the top of his head. “I’m getting off track. Heroes are brought back to their own home Universe and-”
Everest cut himself off as Ross was about to say something, and with a sharp glare and perturbed grunt, Ross quieted down again. “Yes, we live in a Multiverse. Figure out the implications of that in your own damn time. You go back to Backwash and help to protect it until you die in battle or of old age. Nobody from Backwash has succeeded here in Terraegnus yet, which isn’t a huge deal. No massive threats are exactly breathing down Backwash’s neck.”
Everest took a breath, then held up a hand to silence Ross before he could start talking.
“I’m getting to it, kid.” He stretched his shoulders out, a small chorus of pops resounding through the nearby woodlands.
“Even though Backwash has no threats now, it doesn’t mean they’ll never have them, so the gods here are trying to pass at least 3 or 4 Backwash residents through this world. Unfortunately, they continue to either die, glitch the system to the point that they’re non-functional, or are simply too power-hungry to become a protector. The gods take care of those individuals personally.”
Everest shot a long, clawed finger towards Ross. “You,” He bellowed, perhaps a bit louder than he had intended, “are a ridiculously weird case. You managed to not only glitch the system, but arrive literal decades earlier than was supposed to happen. The gods can’t tell an exact date that you die, but they can tell what age you’ll be. Not only that, but you died in so many different ways that the glitch you already unintentionally rattled the system with was wildly enhanced. Each type of death you could have suffered beyond the first exponentially intensified the glitch.”
Ross nodded.
“So that’s why I was dropped into the woods?”
“You got it, kid.” Everest grunted. “The system was so busy trying to right itself from your entry that it couldn’t change positions before starting the character creation process. The location you appeared in wound up being the same location you died in on Backwash, and your point of death could have been several different places at various elevations.”
“Which is why I was dropped from so high up..!” Ross said. His face betrayed a smirk of understanding before resting once again in an contemplative and perturbed state. “So it was all a freak accident, then?”
Everest simply nodded, and Ross huffed indignantly.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
“So why don’t they fix the system so this kind of thing stops happening?” Ross muttered.
“Mainly because the gods are lazy and have ‘better things to do’.” Everest mumbled, making air quotes to emphasize the last few words. “They just go over petty power squabbles and try to steal one anothers’ followers. It’s why I’m still a bit taken aback at the actions of Meiyojov.” He scratched the back of his neck once again. “Usually they don’t deal with mortals until they’re well into Level 90, if then.”
“That’s some bull." Ross grunted, and his mentor nodded in agreement. After a moment, Ross spoke again.
"Don't they use this system, too? Isn't not fixing it kinda shooting them in the foot?”
Everest shook his head. "Good question, but no. They function like the gods from your Greek or Roman pantheons. They just have the power and abilities inherently in them, and can command it as naturally as we breathe. It's a crock of shit."
There were a few moments of companionable silence before, once again, Ross piped up.
“So, with my subclass,” he began, looking up at Everest, “There’s nothing else out there like it? It seems as though it’s well thought out enough to already exist. Well… aside from the infinite Absorption Point pool and all.”
Everest suddenly choked uncontrollably on his own spit, pounding on his chest a few times before he could finally speak again.
“Infinite Absorption Points!?” He howled. His bug-eyed gaze landed on Ross’s taciturn expression. “The system granted you an infinite resource!? Why only bring this up now, kid!?”
Ross, in turn, shrugged.
“I didn’t see a need to, I guess.”
“How high has it gotten?”
“I think over 102k when fighting the Kanpodomelis?”
Another bout of spit choking later, and Everest had pulled up Ross’s sheet as he tried to regain control of his lungs.
“I did not see this before. How didn't I see it before!? I should’ve seen it before.”
Ross held back a snort, looking to the path before them. “I mean, I have to take damage to gain Absorption points. That or have my shields block a ton as I pour my points back into them.”
He tried to remain calm but, the more Ross thought about it, the more awestruck and excited he became over the concept of his AP. The next time he looked up at Everest, however, what minute giddiness had accumulated began to wane.
“I think I know why Meiyojev was so upset now.” Everest muttered, his face shrouded in a dark comprehension.
“Kid, the only living entities in any Universe allowed an infinite resource are Gods. Not even Heroes can have that stuff. The reason you specifically pissed off Meiyojev is through the fact that you not only gained those points in a way directly contrary to his own beliefs, but you used those very points to win a fight. You essentially rely on your opponent’s power, not your own.”
After this, the pair walked wordlessly for a little while longer, Everest deep in contemplation.
After what felt like an eternity, Ross broke the silence.
“So, if Meiyojev is pissed off at me for how my power works, does that mean he thinks I purposely created my subclass the way I did?”
Everest shook his head. “Nah, kid. The only person with access to the system logs is Otectvurce, because he is literally the system. In part. It’s weird, but I digress; Meiyojev believes you selected this class, not realizing it was never an option to begin with. It was just a massive influx of misunderstandings.”
“Well, if Meiyojev can’t read the logs, how’d he know how my ability worked?”
“He likes to watch over all the boss fights here on Terraegnus. The gods may not be able to read the system logs, but they can all read your character sheet like they’re you. He most likely snuck a peek at yours while you fought off that kanpodomelis, and saw that you used the abilities he doesn’t approve of in the fight. Hence the threat.”
“About that...” Ross said. “Can I ask why he isn’t allowed to kill me? Not that I’m complaining or anything," he quickly added, "but I’d rather not be caught off-guard by accidentally triggering a loophole he could exploit to snap my neck or something.”
Everest laughed sharply. “Unless you go insane and grab for power you shouldn’t or you actively reject morality, you’ll be fine. The whole pantheon has this treaty each god signed that states they cannot kill mortals, only test them. If they fail the tests - which you can only truly fail by being insatiably power-hungry or psychopathic - the gods have permission to execute the individual. This is done to keep the possibility of rogue Heroes in check.”
Ross nodded. “I don’t even want the power I have now, so I doubt I’d be tempted by more.”
“Honestly, kid, I can’t blame ya. I’d love to just tear the power I got out of my body and be done with it all, personally.” Everest paused, looking at Ross briefly. “No more personal stuff. Not from me or from you, alright kid?”
Ross nodded in agreement. They continued walking for an hour longer before Everest suddenly snapped his fingers.
“I think I know how to train you properly! It won’t take much from either of us to start with, which makes it all the better.”
“How do you know it’ll actually work, though?” Ross asked.
“The fact that I’m telling you I have the idea means it’ll work ‘cause of the nature of that contract I told you about.”
Everest grinned before pointing to a distant clearing that had barely come into view. “We’ll set up there. I’ll lure a boss over to that spot, and I’ll have you fight it.”
Ross sputtered for a moment before responding. “A boss!? Everest, I can’t fight properly. I don’t know how to fight properly! I can’t just-”
“Sure you can, kid. You solo’d that kanpodomelis boss, right? You have that ability that prevents you from being one-shot, too. You’ll be fine, and this’ll make it a hell of a lot easier to train you.”
“How will it make it easier to train me if I’m constantly being ragdolled around!?”
“First of all, I told you already. Your Immovable Object only prevents Knockback, not being thrown. The moment your feet leave the ground, you can be shot like a damn arrow.”
This got an annoyed grunt from Ross, who rolled his eyes recalling the conversation.
“Still cheap as hell.” He muttered before letting Everest continue. The grin on his mentor’s face startled Ross slightly.
“We’re gonna grind up AP.” His grin widened further, and Ross swallowed hard.
“How much AP?” He asked, suddenly quite uncomfortable. Everest broke into maniacal laughter.
“A lot of AP, kid. A lot of AP.”