Duncan, having given me all the information I need, points me in the direction of a popular recruitment center for expeditions.
Such places tend to be more popular with the smaller guilds, as the larger ones generally have no shortage of their own members. They also have ways to communicate with each other in case they need help from a member of a more specialized guild, for example, a healer.
The information I got from Duncan is a lot to process, and I’m still sorting it out in my mind. He told me a lot about everything from the rankings to guilds, trading, Beyonders, and Beyond itself. All in one big info dump. It was certainly costly but it was well worth it.
I check my timer, only a few hours have passed, but figure I may as well not waste time heading for the place Duncan mentioned.
As I pass between buildings, I watch the people around me. This time, it’s a demon that catches my interest. He looks almost human, though his eyes are red, and he has horns growing from his forehead curling backward until the tips point at the back of his head. They’re jet black and probably as long as my forearm.
What I find curious is that the demons I saw in the crowd before had different types of horns. Some demons have shorter ones, some have one horn longer than the other. Even the bends and lengths differ without any obvious connection to their relative strength.
And the demon I see right now doesn’t care. He bears that confident, crazed expression on his face, and lines trace his body like tattoos pulsing in time to his heart as red light flows through them. These lines pulse in sync with his heart.
The demon’s movements are nimble, each step measured, like those of a predator. He wears no armor, but there is a hilt hanging from his hip. Though nothing extends from it.
His senses don’t touch me, otherwise, he could probably have felt my heart. Demons seem to be good at that even with all my attempts at camouflage.
According to Duncan, this is one of the smaller outposts on the Entrance floor. There are dozens of outposts, and it’s possible to travel between them. It’s just that doing so tends to be expensive given the fees charged by the guild charged with keeping up the arrays.
Obviously.
Some of the biggest outposts have headquarters for the top guilds, granting one the chance to meet with some of the oldest and most powerful locals around, and sometimes, very rarely, you can even run into the handlers that seem to be the one of top dogs in the Beyond.
Following Duncan’s instructions, I reach the building he recommended as a starting point. It’s a white building, on the smaller side, made out of stone. It isn’t guarded, and the big doors in front are wide open. Entering, I see a group of people seemingly in the same boat as me. Newbies, just entering Beyond.
It’s funny when I think about it. Each of us represents the top 100 members of the first generation of our planet, yet here we are - no better than common newbs.
There’s a hungry look in their eyes, though some of them seem nervous. Nobody came here to stay at the bottom.
I find a spot in the corner and sit there. In an attempt to avoid wasting time, I devote more of my attention to focusing on my improved method of Mana Cycling to better hide my mana and keep it from seeping into the area.
Gradually, each of the people around me enters one of the small rooms, only to exit the building upon their return. When it’s my turn, I follow instructions given to me by one of the locals and enter a room.
It’s a simple room, with a red carpet spread out on the ground and two seats placed opposite each other and separated by a small table. A window offers a view of a small garden at the back of the building.
A woman who’s clearly been waiting patiently gestures for me to take a seat, and when I do, she launches into a well rehearsed explanation.
“As you know, you will be able to visit and explore Beyond until the end of your tutorial. Your handler will be there to help, but as always, the results will depend on you and your decisions. There are a lot of dangers and opportunities to match.”
At this point, I decide to keep quiet and listen to her before asking anything.
She seems to take notice, humming in satisfaction, “One thing I can tell you though is that the surface is usually much more dangerous than the 1st and 2nd floors of the First Dungeon, so take that into consideration.”
I nod to acknowledge her, and she continues, “Beyond explorers are separated into five ranks, D, C, B, A, and S, with S being the highest. These rankings only serve a purpose here in Beyond and will have no effect on your stats. They serve to ease guild recruitment and the formation of expeditionary parties, and some groups will only accept people of a specific rank. You will be given an identification emblem that will contain information about your Beyond rank. It was created by one of the Rulers, and will update as you improve, your rank will be calculated based solely on your performance in Beyond.”
“Sounds clear so far.”
“Good. You can hide your emblem or display it at will. With a bit of practice, you may learn how to share select information about your status through your emblem. Lying is not possible with this method, so I’m sure you can imagine how that might be useful. That’s all for the most part. Any questions?”
“How many people have S rank emblems, and what year of tutorial is usually what rank?”
“Typical,” she smiles, “most attendees ask about the S rank. For now, don’t let it bother you. There are usually only around ten S ranks at a time. It’s not a limited ranking, but that’s the average. They are the most talented of all attendees, each of them is almost certain to become an Absolute or a very powerful Champion in the future. And it’s with that that I would like to remind you that these ranks are only relevant in Beyond and aren’t a clear indication of a person’s talent. Plenty of A ranks go on to become Absolutes or Champions. So I can’t really answer your other question.”
“That makes sense. Then what is the average level of attendees before they leave the tutorial and Beyond? Any Champions?”
“This will be the last one I answer. And no, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone becoming a Champion within the tutorial. It is a rank not to be taken lightly and not something one can reach within a mere 5 years. Now, show me the back of your hand.” She demands, reaching into her pocket to retrieve a small item that resembles a stamp.
Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
I offer her my pale left hand, and she stamps the back of it, leaving a black circle on my skin.
The circle quickly starts to fade, but I send a bit of my mana into it, which brings it back into stark relief, and a simple but beautifully illuminated letter D appears in the middle of the circle.
“Obsidian Black for D rank, Ivory White for C rank, Royal Blue for B rank, Shimmering Silver for A rank, and Radiant Gold for S rank. There will be a surcharge of a thousand shards for the identification emblem.”
That sounds cool, but what was that last sentence?
The woman gives a quick gesture, and a notification pops up.
Request to transfer -1000 shards. Confirm?
Yes/No
Yo, what the fuck.
I hesitate, my eyes flicking between the window and the woman in front of me. Should I run? Is this place full of scammers? Would they try to hunt me for a measly thousand shards?
“Is there any problem? If you don’t have enough shards, I will have to ask you to wait so I can remove the identification emblem.”
Damn it.
“It’s fine,” I answer and confirm the trade, “but can you answer any more questions?”
The woman leans back in her chair, “I don’t mind answering some within the limit allowed by the system. What would you like to know?”
“Before I ask my questions, will you charge me for the answers?”
She tilts her head in a confused manner, “Obviously, I will.”
Maybe my handler wasn’t that bad after all. Maybe she was right too and I probably should be more adventurous and make more of an effort to learn the answers on my own.
With as polite a goodbye as I can muster, I quickly leave the place behind.
----------------------------------------
A few minutes later, I'm in a massive room at the very heart of the outpost. There are hundreds of people rushing in and out, and I can already feel the energy being drained from my body just by sheer proximity to such a large crowd.
Most of the people here seem to be fairly new to Beyond, going by the number of active identification emblems I see, their obsidian black lines standing out on their owner’s hands.
I follow their example and move from bulletin board to bulletin board.
There are boards for the 2nd and 3rd floors of Beyond, though they don’t have many requests posted on them. The most occupied is the board for the 1st floor of the First Dungeon, with hundreds of fliers covering every inch of the surface.
Before checking it, I move around, taking notice of the other boards, loaded with requests for crafting, training, and information. There are jobs listed for almost any task with contacts listed on the relevant fliers. Some direct people to inns, others ask to meet at specific times and places to discuss details.
I also notice that every once in a while, a flier will burn and disappear.
Perhaps the listings time out and disappear to avoid cluttering the boards.
It’s kinda interesting and cool. It makes me think of the inscriptions I could use to duplicate the effect, and I come to the realization that I should be able to do it.
Another thing I find fascinating is that some of the listings are seeking people from specific planets. Aetherion, Grimhold, Orynthia, Pyronix, Eldros… and many more. Likely attempts to find people in other rounds that they can’t communicate with through their Community tab.
I spend the next 30 minutes going through all the papers, searching for something similar for Earth, but in the end, find nothing. Either no one from Earth has had the idea yet or no one is in this outpost. It’s highly possible that others have appeared somewhere else.
In the end, I just pick a flier posted by a group seeking additional members for an expedition to the 1st floor of the dungeon in 2 days. Out of all the offers I went through, this one seems to fit best with my timing.
The only problem is they need a melee attacker capable of resisting disruption and reaching and disposing of ranged attackers.
Well, it’s not too big of a problem, and I shift Flamebearer on my back. Having this weapon should give me something of an advantage, you can tell just by looking that it’s a high rarity piece of equipment, even in its damaged state.
Then I change some settings and shift my focus to better manage my kinetic energy which I allow to radiate from my body in a small area around me while keeping my thermal energy safely tucked away in my core.
None of these people can be trusted, so I’ll lie low for now, though I’ll need to balance that with being enough of an asset to find a group. Skilled, but not too much. I got plenty of warnings before.
Until I become stronger and more confident in my place here, I’m Noname, a melee fighter with a damaged arcane ax. No shards in the bank and one of 5 well-known primordial energies, kinetic energy. And an asshole for a handler.
And like that, I arrive an hour later, approaching the group I picked out for myself, at the place and time of their choosing. There are a few more people looking to join the group, and they take some and send others on their way.
The core of that group seems to be a party of 7 people and an additional 13 to be chosen from the mass of hopefuls before me.
When it’s my turn, they ask a few simple questions by a woman who seems to be their second in command, wearing the armor of the Fallen Hero from the 4th floor.
“Do you have experience with the 1st floor?”
“No experience. This is my second time in Beyond, and I spent my first token on a 3-day Stay to collect information and learn about the place.”
The woman nods, “Smart. Plenty of rookies are overconfident and die on their first expedition. How much time do you have currently left?”
“Two days and 14 hours.”
“Hmm, that’s not a lot but it should be long enough for us to reach a safe zone where we won’t need you anymore. Abilities?”
“Primordial kinetic energy and a lot of experience with close-range combat, and this is a damaged arcane ax from the 5th floor.”
“That’s what caught my interest. Flamebearer is extremely rare, barely anyone has managed to get a hold of it. You must have some skill or luck. Okay, go and talk to that man over there; he’ll have more questions for you.” She decisively points at a scrawny man who holds a number of items and talks to other people and calls, “Next! Hurry up!”
I quickly leave and start heading towards him.
Well, that was simple. Simpler than I thought and quicker than it should be.
Someone’s in too much of a hurry.
This expedition smells, it stinks to high heaven, and everyone here seems to know it. The new recruits, the core seven, both. The newcomers are already making smaller groups and other deals. If it comes to it, I’m sure the newbies are going to be ready to fight the core group.
Yet no one seems to be backing out, and as dumb as it is, it also makes sense. You won’t get into Beyond without being daring and confident in your abilities.
And then, while I wait for the scrawny man to deal with a woman with small wings on her back and color changing hair, I think about the name of Beyond’s 1st floor dungeon.
The floor attendees call The Corpseyard.