Devin listened closely, as Bradley dug through box after box of damaged goods. The ting sounds coming from the other room as he just sat back and stared at his spear. He scanned through his list and the skill names were embarrassing. Eclipse Thrust, Sunrise Parry, Body Strengthening. He would have to shout these outloud to use them. Devin cringed and fell asleep for a bit.
When he woke up he felt heat coming from downstairs at Bradley’s station. He got up and walked over. Bradley was holding fire in his hand, and slowly applying it to a strange misshapen crystal. He banged out the shape of a trigger, into the chunk. “Blueprint Magic Gun!” All the pieces flew together. Along the side of the barrel were several of those strange crystals protruding out of the side. The gun he managed to slap together used broken parts of several guns. It had the barrel of a Magnum, the magazine and chamber system of a Glock 19, and a few other bits and pieces, all meshed together smoothly.
Bradley looked over his shoulder, “I told you to leave me alone for a bit, nosy ass,” Bradley picked up the weapon, “I guess you wanted to see what I’d do. It was a pain in the ass because I could only use busted pieces, but here is an untraceable weapon. Tell anyone and I’ll throw fire at you.” Devin laughed, “Yea, I saw, I’ll be sure to behave.”
Bradley sighed, “Everything seems fine because the store still has goods, and the power is on, but everything is gonna go to shit soon, and I need another person I can trust. My friend is a ranger, meaning he shoots a crossbow, and you’ve seen what I can do. I want to work with you when things get bad.”
Devin nodded, “Any chance after work you can teach me how to use my stuff and figure out what I can do?” Bradley smiled, “I already told Ben to cook another meal just in case, might as well come over.”
After work Devin didn’t go to his company zone, but instead followed Bradley to his house. “Man I knew it was rough out here, but the difference between the front and back doors between business areas is crazy.”
Bradley sighed, “Are you trying to act like you care? Things are gonna be shit soon, and because I figured shit out no one has any idea that what they saw wasn’t a dream. Nor do they know how to check their stats and shit. I was trying to fix that by getting some company backing and to keep order, but your boss’ boss is a total jackass.”
Devin laughed, “Man, you must’ve had some pent up frustration.”
Bradley laughed, “I guess so man, this place pisses me off, but for the first time I can leave the walls and not be judged as anything other than a piece of meat. It’s scary knowing there are creatures that can siege us, but the ire of society hurts way more.”
Bradley opened the door, “Anyways, this is my shithole, come in and ignore the trash, no one comes by anymore.”
Bradley kicked his shoes off, “Ben, I brought a guest, dinner done yet?”
Ben popped out from behind the kitchen wall, “Yea, chicken fajitas just finished. Just gotta plate it.”
Bradley motioned for Devin to sit down on the couch. Bradley sat in front of the TV across from him. “Sorry about this place, but it's about the best I can afford while having hobbies.”
Devin just slumped down, “No man, keeping your house even this clean is honestly impressive. I haven’t cleaned in like five years since I started at USDC. And they just don’t pick your guys’ trash?” Ben yelled from the other room, “Ever since the trashman broke in to try to rob us and Bradley kicked his teeth in they haven’t even dared to step into the area. Now there’s a few desperate folks who you can pay to haul your trash to the other side of town.”
Devin shook his head, “That’s crazy, isn’t that like a mile walk there and back?” Ben chimed in again, “They use wheelbarrows as long as they aren’t stolen. Anyways, food’s done.” Ben came into the room carrying plates up his arm. He quickly spread them out, and sat down next to Devin.
“Guessing you’re Devin, nice to meet you!” Ben smiled and shook his hand. “How did you know I was Devin?” Ben thought for a moment, “Because Brad said you looked like an olympic weightlifter combined with a gangster.” Devin laughed, “Guess that’s a good way to describe it. I’m basically a gangster to you guys anyways.”
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Brad then laughed, “You a gangster? You’re a middle-manager. What a joke.” Devin blushed a little in embarrassment.
Bradley started stuffing his face, “Anyways, Devin’s in the party now. He’s a Spearman. Apparently his strength stat is already in double digits. Probably because of how beefy he already was. And if I use Magic Weapon on all of our stuff it’s level and our survivability would probably skyrocket. Right Ben? You wouldn’t stop lecturing me on RPG stuff like I’ve never played one before.”
Ben nodded, and realized something, “Wait, you can level up skills based on how much you use them? Hell yea!” Bradley agreed, “When I was working on crafting a weapon, I leveled up my deconstruct, and then I saw where you could check your exp till next level in your skill tab.”
Bradley finished shoveling the food into his mouth, “So what I’m thinking while USDC and the other Corpos prevent normies from getting out of the city is we find somewhere secluded where we can use our abilities and grind out some levels. The siege is in a month, and I imagine it’ll be a week or two until Dumbass Mc. Dickhead gives us our pass to leave and scout resources. You guys think grinding might be a good idea since we can’t go out and figure out how strong our enemies are? Ahh also Devin, go to your social tab and add me as a friend and accept my party request. You can see each other on the map if you do that.”
Devin agreed, swiping through his tabs until he saw what Bradley meant. “Without the threat of death, this blue window is pretty nifty. Like one of those holophones or something.”
Ben jumped up, “Holy shit, did you say that he has that high of an attack stat because he’s buff? Doesn’t that mean exercise can build stats while they're still low enough to make a huge difference?” Bradley thought for a moment, “Yea and I noticed my stamina and speed were higher than I’d imagine a magic engineer would be.”
Bradley smirked, “Grind skills and exercise. Time to grind boys.”
Two weeks shortly passed, and it was evident Ben and Bradley were correct on exercise and skills practice. Devin’s strength went up a little but his stamina jumped a ton. Ben’s stamina, dexterity, and strength all had a sizable jump. Bradley had a boost to intelligence and mana from his skill usage, as well as a boost same as Ben from the exercise.
All in all, their grinding efforts paid off as they managed level 2 in most spells and skills, and Devin even made level 3 in Eclipse Thrust. Bradley was content with his Spell Infuse skill leveling up after he made a few pocket spells just in case he didn’t have time to focus and cast. The hardest thing to train was everyone trying to figure out how to activate mana without a spell for it, as using any of the crystals Bradley made would require mana usage.
Exactly two weeks after the first, another notification went off. It was a reminder that there was a siege in 16 days, and it even sent out for people to yell at Status. The game gave Bradley’s group a two week head start, but they knew things were about to be chaotic. There was a food shortage, causing inflation. Water was getting harder and harder to get as well. If it wasn’t for Devin, Bradley and Ben would’ve struggled to get enough supplies.
As Devin and Bradley walked into work together, the air in the building was different, Devin spoke first, “What happened?” he asked the crowded main lobby. A very terrified secretary looked up, “We sent some guys out to scout the forest to try and find game and water, and they were slaughtered. Only one guy made it back and his body cam footage was fucking ridiculous!” The secretary slammed her head back down on her desk.
Devin and Bradley stood calm, expecting what happened. An announcement rang over the intercom, “Bradley Terrey and Devin Patrick, please report to Head Management.”
Bradley smirked, and Devin chuckled a little, and they walked up the steps to the bossman once again.
Bradley swung the doors wide open, walking in triumphantly only for a gun to be pressed to his and Devin’s head when they entered.
“Sit down,” the boss gestured with his shaky hands. They did as they were ordered. “Put the video on the projector please.” A woman in the room kicked on the video. It showed a soldier exiting an armored truck, stumbling through the strange woodlands, only to come across Goblins. They fired upon the creature, but all it did was agitate them. Not a single bullet penetrated the body, at best only stunning them. The goblins then surrounded the soldiers and rushed in. They aimed for the soldier’s throats, trying to claw and bite them. The footage then shows the man abandoning his comrades and hopping into the truck and driving off.
Bradley noticed something odd about the video, “Did that creature hop onto the truck?” The Head Manager nodded, “Yes, it’s down in the vehicle bay now. We don’t know how to kill it. If you can kill it for me, I’ll give you your gun, ammo, and passes. In return I expect the deal you originally offered to be on the table.”
Devin and Bradley agreed, “Let’s kill a Goblin.”