Ray
The first thing he heard as his awareness came back to him was a soft humming noise. This was followed by incessant tapping, almost as if someone impatient was waiting nearby. Groaning, Ray cracked one eye open, the dried blood that caked his face flaking off onto the ground around him. His other eye didn’t seem to want to work, so he gave up on trying to get it open.
He felt like he had gone thirty rounds against a team of professional fighters. Thirty rounds of them using him as a punching bag that is. Testing out his movements, every tiny shifting of his body or muscle contraction wracked his body with pain. He wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
And that could be bad.
Licking his dried lips, he tried to form some words. Not that there was anyone one to talk to, but he had to try and do something.
“Hurbubble?” he finally managed to groan out, the words entirely unintelligible. The world around him came into focus, even as his mind struggled to understand just what was going on.
A ping got his attention, causing him to look around as much as he was able to. He didn’t see anything near him that was living … or undead. He could clearly see the front door was still closed as well. The sound had simply rung out around him, much like a notification would.
“Grung hroo?” he said aloud through cracked lips and blood-stained teeth. He was unsure if whatever was there would understand him, but that wasn’t going to be from his lack of trying. Fortunately for him, something was there. And it was listening.
The response was immediate and surprising. A blue box popped up in front of him:
UNNAMED HEX CLAIMED
SAFE ZONE CLAIM TIME REMAINING: 63:27:13
SAFE ZONE SERVICES AVAILABLE
SHOP
DEVELOPMENT
INFORMATION
Ray read the list a few times, wondering if possibly there was something that could help him survive. By all rights, he should probably be dead right now. His body had certainly lost enough blood. Yet here he lay, essentially immobile but still alive.
THE CLAIMANT'S LIFE WILL BE PRESERVED UNTIL THE EXPIRATION OF THE SAFE ZONES CLAIM TIMER
Ray dry swallowed at that. The message insinuated that, by all rights, he should already be dead. At most he had another 63 hours to live. If he couldn’t find something to essentially bring him back to life by that point … well then he would probably remain dead. Re-dead? Deader than he was right now at any rate.
There were another dozen or so notification icons in the corner of his vision, but he opted to examine this shop list first. The other things could come later. Flicking his eye to the shop option, he selected it. Maybe there would be something inside of it that would help him. A medkit or something.
The list was short, but the description gave him all of the reasons as to why that was.
BASIC SYSTEM SHOP
LEVEL 0
NO PHYSICAL LOCATION IS AVAILABLE
GOODS CATEGORIES
CONTRACTORS
ITEMS
EQUIPMENT
MATERIALS
Blinking, he clicked on items. This list was also depressingly short with its number of categories restricted. Apparently level 0 for a shop ensured it wouldn’t provide much, however, it had a section for medical items. One that Ray immediately began looking through, hoping something would be on there that could heal him.
Most of the items there were basic. Things such as bandages, splints, and basic first aid kits for a variety of maladies, injuries, and illnesses. However, at the very bottom was a single item that stood out from the others. One he hoped would at least get him back on his feet. Clicking on it for more information, Ray read the description:
TERRA’S TEARS
ITEM CLASS
MEDICAL – SINGLE-USE
ITEM GRADE
RARE
A SINGLE-USE RESURRECTION ITEM THAT BRINGS A RECENTLY DECEASED OR DYING ENTITY BACK TO FIFTY PERCENT VITALITY AS LONG AS THE BODY IS MOSTLY INTACT
COST
250 NEX
Bingo! Now he just had to buy it and … shit. He had to buy it. He not only had no money, the only NEX he had was on a card in his inventory. However, it was only fifty units of the currency. Grumbling to himself and wondering what he would do next, Ray tried to take a deep breath only to realize that he wasn’t breathing. Right. Basically dead.
Closing that window for now he turned his attention to the other windows. Maybe one of them would have something in them that could save him. And when he opened up the queue … damn did he have a lot of notifications. It was almost like he was back in his office doing paperwork again. Leafing through them quickly he found one in particular that he was sure would help him accrue the NEX he needed to remain alive.
NEX ACCRUAL CALCULATED
BASIC ENEMIES KILLED: 312
NEX AWARDED: 312
ENCOUNTERS SURVIVED: 1
NEX AWARDED: 50
EVENTS SURVIVED: 4
NEX AWARDED: 40 NEX
SPECIAL ACTIONS: CORE PLACED
NEX AWARDED: 155
TOTAL NEX AWARDED: 1902
Ray stared at the numbers. This was more than enough to purchase the medical item. Quickly accepting the payout, Ray selected Terra’s Tears from the list causing it to vanish entirely. He was startled when he received a notification that the item had been deposited into his inventory. Reaching in, he withdrew a glass bottle no bigger than an average-sized test tube.
The glass tube was ornately carved, with gold filigree cascading down the sides. The stopper was gold with silver inlay, two small wings came off each side. But the liquid itself was the strangest thing. Staring at it for far longer than was comfortable, Ray examined the silver liquid intensely with his eye.
Unable to discern whether it was indeed a liquid or some kind of heavy gas, the conclusion the wounded man arrived at was that it was both and neither at the same time. The silvery liquid seemed almost to fold into itself at any given moment in time. Like some kind of otherworldly substance that reality couldn’t quite quantify.
Thinking about the best way to use it, as it hadn’t come with instructions, he decided to play it safe. Ray ripped the topper off with his working arm and tipped the vial into his mouth carefully. He only hoped that he was using it correctly and that there were no side effects. After all, what was the worst that could happen? He certainly couldn’t be any closer to death than he was at this very moment.
The contents of the vial gave Ray the feeling he was slurping down mint-flavored jelly. Not his favorite flavor, but it could have been much worse. Overall the experience wasn’t that bad. Up until the last of the strange substance passed his parched and puckered lips. The moment the last drop hit his tongue his entire body spasmed.
It felt like someone had lit him on fire, dipped him in napalm, and then tossed him into a volcano. Every nerve ending in Ray’s body lit up causing his body to shake and contort before spasming again. His back arched as he screamed soundlessly in pain, his voice unable to fully form passed his cracked lips and dry throat. Rasping gasps of air escaped giving off the only noise as his body soundlessly convulsed.
He wasn’t sure how long his body seized for, but at some point, his self-awareness was restored. Taking in massive lungfuls of air, he realized that he was no longer in pain. Anywhere. He ran his hands over his body, and while the suit he had been wearing was torn to shreds with massive gaping pieces missing, his chest and stomach were whole.
“What the hell?” he muttered, realizing that even his voice had been restored.
Sitting up, he checked the timer left on the core and saw that nearly six hours had passed. Shaking his head in disbelief, he stood up. “What the hell is this time even for?” he wondered aloud.
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
SYSTEM CLAIM TIMER: A TIMER SET BY THE SYSTEM FOR EVENTS
“What? Really? Thanks for the in-depth explanation,” he responded sarcastically. “Why don’t you just tell me how to get someone who knows where they’re doing on the line.”
PLEASE REVIEW THE CONTRACTORS TAB FOR MORE INFORMATION
Ray didn’t know if the system was mocking him or if it was serious. Either way, the System seemed to respond to active inquiries. Like a codex of some kind. It didn’t look to be self-aware or hold any kind of intelligence that a sentient being would have.
Opening up the contractor's tab, he was immediately presented with an overwhelming number of options. From mercenaries and soldiers all the way down to general advisors and cooks. There was every kind of profession and specialty that he could imagine here. Even ship engineers.
Ray whistled as he continued to look through the thousands of professionals for hire. Then a thought struck him.
“System, uh, can I call you System?” he asked out loud. Receiving no answer he shrugged, “Right, whatever. System how do contractors get to where I am? Do they just … appear?”
CONTRACTORS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR TRANSPORTING THEMSELVES TO THE CONTRACT HOLDERS’ LOCATION
SLAVES AND PURCHASED GOODS WITH NO SENTIENCE AND LACKING TRAVEL CAPABILITIES WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY RELOCATED TO THE NEAREST SAFE LOCATION
“That’s both … vague and gives me the answer I wanted, although that second bit makes more sense,” he grunted. Refocusing on his task, he explored the filter options on the side of the menu. Setting them to display the various contractors by type, cost, and length of contract, he made several startling discoveries.
“Slaves? There are slaves on this thing? That’s … insanely barbaric,” he muttered. “How can advanced societies have slaves?”
SLAVERY IS A SYSTEM-SANCTIONED SERVICE THAT IS GOVERNED LOCALLY BY EACH GOVERNING BODY
“Well shit, I knew that. I wanted to know why it was allowed in the first place!” said Ray angrily.
The System didn’t respond with another text box, however. Instead, the settings for one of the slaves opened showing specific stats of the creature on the screen.
GOBLIN FODDER
RACE
GOBLIN
CLASS
NONE
NEX
CALCULATING
LEVEL
1
PHYSICAL STATE
HEALTHY
MENTAL STATE
SHINEY ROCK
ATTRIBUTE
BASE
CURRENT
NEX TO INCREASE
STRENGTH
4
4
40
AGILITY
11
11
110
POWER
0
0
100
WISDOM
1
1
10
LUCK
0
0
-
GOBLINS ARE COMMON SLAVES USED FOR MENIAL LABOR, COMBAT FODDER, AND ENTERTAINMENT. THEY ARE NOT SMART OR LUCKY.
“Monster? Wait, so they are not sentient races? I am … so confused here. I need to figure out more, and quickly,” he muttered to himself.
He flicked over to the advisor's tab and began searching through the options. They were all … immensely expensive. Ranging from a thousand NEX on the low end to several hundred million at the other end of the spectrum. There were advisors such as Dwarves, Aelvin, Fairies, and even Dragons available for any number of topics.
Changing the filter to general advisors, Ray wanted someone who could help him understand what was going on. Even for a time Based on the prices, he was seeing, it would be a very short amount of time.
He continued to leaf through the options until he came across one in particular that stood out to him. He didn’t recognize any of the racial information at all. Alien races weren’t well known to Humanity Afterall. But what had caught his attention was the contract stipulations.
GALE
RACE
DRAKLING
CLASS
ADVISOR
NEX
-
LEVEL
74
PHYSICAL STATE
HEALTHY
MENTAL STATE
CURIOUS
ATTRIBUTE
BASE
CURRENT
NEX TO INCREASE
STRENGTH
47
112
-
AGILITY
61
131
-
POWER
80
80
-
WISDOM
144
208
-
LUCK
77
77
-
CONTRACT TYPE
PERMANENT RESIDENT
CONTRACTOR RATING
6/10
CONTRACT COST: 1200 NEX
CONTRACTOR NOTE: I AM SEEKING A PERMANENT PLACE OF RESIDENCE. A NEW WORLD I HAVE YET TO VISIT WITH PLENTY OF OPPORTUNITIES TO LEARN. MY SERVICES WILL BE BASED ON A ONE-TIME FEE OF 1200 NEX AS LONG AS LODGING, FOOD, AND SAFETY ARE PROVIDED
“She’s overpowered as fuck. But … if she’s willing to relocate then I can’t knock it. Hmm, That’s interesting, I wonder why this … Darkling? No, just gonna call her Gale. Wonder why Gale is looking for a new home, and for so cheap?” Ray wondered aloud. Then he saw her rating was six out of ten. That could pose problems, but he wasn’t in any position to be picky.
Checking the time quickly, Ray realized he was hungry and thirsty. Making a snap decision he shot off an offer to Gale, along with a very brief description of his current circumstances. Hiring her would consume most of his NEX, but he needed the help quickly and badly. He was far outside of his realm of knowledge here. Besides, it seemed that he could always kill some more undead for money.
Taking out a bottle of water and some noodles, he chewed his way through the small, crunchy lunch and drained the bottle. He had only just finished when a notification popped up in his view. It was letting him know that Gale had accepted and would be arriving in just a few hours.
Shaking his head and the System, and at just how quickly people could traverse the stars, it was apparent that he wouldn’t be the only one here pretty soon. Looking around Ray decided that this place wouldn’t foster any confidence. He grabbed a nearby piece of paper and a pen and make a quick list of things to accomplish. Looking down at himself, a set of clothes would be at the top of that list.
He couldn’t greet his new advisor half-naked after all.
He began searching through the cubicles for any scraps of clothing. Finding some jeans and a grey and white hoody that fit somewhat, he slipped those on over the remains of his suit. The suit wasn’t pretty, but it still provided far better protection than anything he was likely to find here. Minus the chunks that were missing over his abdomen and shoulder that was.
After he was suitably attired, Ray began taking apart the cubicle walls with his multi-tool. Stacking the walls of the cube against one side of the room, he worked up a sweat dismantling everything on the first floor. Taking off the now warm sweatshirt, he wiped away the sweat with it. He definitely needed a shower at some point. He was covered in gore, sweat, and dried blood.
Getting into a rhythm, he became engrossed in the work. He wasn’t sure how long he labored for, but eventually, his body told him it was time to stop. Increased strength and stamina or not, he could only do so much. Stepping back and wiping off the sweat that had built up on his face and shoulders, he realized he wasn’t alone.
Turning slowly he saw a large lizard … no that wasn’t right. He saw a lizard woman sitting on the receptionist's desk, observing him. If that was who he thought it was, then he had been cleaning far longer than he had meant to.
She had long silver hair tied up in a ponytail flowing from the top of her head. Deep blue eyes observed him with a casual yet intense curiosity, and while her face retained a human-like shape and orientation, she clearly had fangs and much longer teeth than any person would.
But that was where the human-like similarities ended.
Two large deep silver wings were folded neatly against her back. The same silver color spread to the rest of her body, which was covered in small fine scales. A tail stretched off her backside, wrapping around her lithe, muscular form.
As he drank in her otherworldly beauty, he startled himself by realizing she was examining him just as much as he was her.
“Uh, hi there. Welcome? You’re either Gale or an undead that I haven’t encountered yet. Either way … please don’t eat me?” Ray asked kindly.
Her response was tinkling laughter.
***
RAYMOND ‘RAY’ FINNEGAN
RACE
HUMAN
CLASS
NONE
NEX
CALCULATING
LEVEL
1
PHYSICAL STATE
HEALTHY
MENTAL STATE
AWE
ATTRIBUTE
BASE
CURRENT
NEX TO INCREASE
STRENGTH
5
7
50
AGILITY
3
4
30
POWER
0
0
100
WISDOM
4
6
40
LUCK
2
2
400