SARAH AVERY VASILIAS, REBORN LVL 5
CRICKET’S RV, CATACLYSM MOUNTAINS
Cricket took a big breath in through his nose and out through his mouth.
“Smells like home!” He said, grinning. “Let’s see where we got to while we made our, uh, unscheduled visit back home.”
He peered out the RV’s front window and Sarah, head still spinning with the conversation she’d just had, craned her neck to see, too. The landscape hadn’t changed as far as she could tell: they were still surrounded by rugged, arid mountains and the RV was moving, driving steadily uphill along a dusty road. Oddly, even though boulders and dead brambles were choking their way, the RV wasn’t bumping or knocking around all over the place.
Cricket clambered over the mess in the RV, heading toward the front. Sarah stood frozen for a moment, trying to process everything that had just happened, still feeling the palm of her flesh hand with her Power Arm. Her synthetic fingers ran gently over the skin on her palm where the Oathworm had drawn its burning circles.
Cricket’s voice broke through her reverie as he said, “Quit yer day-dreamin’ and climb up front here. We got a long way to ride to Rydelle an' the toh-yeh ain't gonna be happy 'bout the interruption.”
Sarah made her way through the crowded cab of the RV and up to the front. The first thing she noticed was that there wasn’t another driver who had been driving the RV; it was just Cricket settling into an elaborate pilot’s chair. Sarah blinked. She wondered if Cricket had a spell or something to drive the huge vehicle or if it was an advanced form of self-driving.
“Any sufficiently advanced technology…” she said to herself as she navigated up to what could only be described as a cockpit.
This was the only part of the RV that wasn’t filthy. It looked downright futuristic; there were far more dials, gauges, screens, lights, and buttons than what Sarah thought of as ‘RV standard’, though she’d never actually driven one before. The buttons and screens only occupied her attention for a minute though.
The landscape was far more arresting. They were driving through the now-familiar tortured, barren stone of the Cataclysm Mountains. They were traveling along the bottom of a canyon where two mountains towered above them, their craggy edifices blocking the sun entirely. All Sarah could see of the daylight was a tiny strip of bright golden light where the two mountains nearly met high overhead.
Sarah looked over at Cricket who was studying a bank of monitors on his left that were just columns of rapidly shifting numbers, graphs, and other diagnostic-looking data. “Where are we? Is this where that raid is happening?”
“Nah, raid’s gonna be near the border,” Cricket said absently, tapping at one of the screens and grimacing. He swerved the RV several times, avoiding nothing that Sarah could see. “They got some kinda camp out near th’ border cuz they think they’re safer that way. We’ll learn ‘em,” he looked over at Sarah. “But we got a bit of an errand to run first.”
“An errand? At the bottom of a canyon?” Sarah shook her head. “Gonna pick up some eggs and lettuce from the supermarket?”
“In a manner o’ speakin',” Cricket said, turning to her with a wicked grin, “We’re goin’ to the market, all right. The Rydelle Market. After all, we cain’t take a level 5 Reborn with no Class on a raid, no matter what Aadhrika said.”
“And we do that by going to the Rydelle…Market?” Sarah asked, skeptically.
Cricket grunted sourly, “This’ll be yer first Dungeon dive in Aadhrika. It ain’t gonna be easy but ya gotta git yer Class. Rydelle used t’be a city—or at least, that’s what Aadhrika says,” Cricket nodded at the horizon. “In the war, the place was pretty much destroyed but Aadhrika managed to claim what was left. She’s got a low-rank Quest Gate in there an’ it’s the closest one. It shouldn’t be too hard to get to--jus' some slimes t' sweep out. We’ll meet the rest of the toh-yeh at the outskirts o’ Rydelle in about a week. Git some rest while ya can.”
Sarah was about to protest—she had far more questions—but there was a lot to absorb. She needed time to process what had happened lately and had no desire to keep talking to Cricket. The old orc seemed specially designed to get on her last nerve. And now she had a whole week to look forward to.
She’d had enough frustration to last two lifetimes, so she didn’t argue with him. She just got up and made her way to the back. She thought, It’s hard to believe Kimi-Lim and me were separated just a…what, a day ago? Really? She flopped onto the bed she’d woken up on yesterday. It stank like an old man’s furniture and sour cigar smoke.
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She sighed, staring up into the nicotine-yellow ceiling. She called up her System profile, staring at her entry as if it held more answers than it did.
Sarah Avery Vasilias
Race
Human
Rank
Reborn - level 5
House
House Vasilias
Racial Gifts
Great House Seal, Enhanced System Access, Unlimited Inventory, Willful, Never Unarmed, Fast Healing
Attributes
Dominion
18 [Dimension] / 20
Speed
14 [Lightning] / 20
Precision
12 [Bow] / 20
Growth
17 [Strength] / 20
Arcana
20 [Cybernetics] / 20
Tensa Pool
39.7 ks
Gear
Vindaari School Archer's Greatcoat, Vindaari School Infinibow, Vindaari School Archer's Brace
Grafts
The Edge That Cuts Anything [Dimension], Electrify [Lightning], Hyper-Zen Archery [Bow], Oni-Blooded [Strength], Power Arm [Cybernetics]
Was this who she was now? It felt reductive to have her entire existence rendered into a few numbers, a few power names. This is how the System knew her. She frowned. No wonder Kimi-Lim didn’t trust it.
What did it say about her? She was level 5 now. That meant she had five magical powers. Magic powers! She should feel like Harry Potter meets Kirito meets Neo. But her powers left very little to the imagination as to their purpose. The Edge That Cuts Anything; Electrify; Oni-Blooded… The only thing that wasn’t explicitly combat-oriented was her Power Arm and even it had a built-in shield.
What did it mean? Was that what she was supposed to do now? Fight all the time? Could any of her grafts even be used outside of a life-or-death fight? She couldn’t imagine using Electrify outside of combat—or Oni-Blooded. Sarah shuddered. The rage that graft flooded her with felt so good it terrified her. All of her grafts terrified her.
And now she was here. Riding in a disgusting RV with a cranky old orc who wanted her to participate in an attack against Imperials. Against people. Up to now, Sarah had only used her grafts against monsters. These people didn’t know her. They didn’t know that they were going to be attacked.
Sarah rolled over and looked out the window at the dark canyon walls as they sped by. There was nothing to see, so she ended up staring at her dim reflection. Who is this woman looking back at me? She wondered, touching her face with one hand. She’d hardened, that was for sure, but that wasn’t it. Or that wasn’t the only thing that had changed. She frowned.
She looked…different. She wasn’t sure how. Her face was leaner and her hair was longer. It had been months since she’d cut it last in the bathroom of her room at Gammon’s little house. She had a hard edge to her eyes that hadn’t been there before. Where had it come from? Unconsciously, she flexed her Power Arm into a fist, servos whirring almost silently.
It’s been eight years since I’ve seen Griffin. Will he recognize me now? Right on the heels of that happy thought was another one, If Griffin is alive, how the hell am I going to find him? Another question without an answer.
She tried laying her head on her Power Arm, but the armor plating made for a poor pillow. You have incredible magic powers, Sarah. Now what? What are you going to do with them? Go on a raid with a bunch of orcs? I sound like I’m talking to one of Griffin’s World of Warcraft buddies. Her thoughts refused to stay focused, no matter how she tried to concentrate.
The transition from the Tutorial Realm to the Cataclysm Mountains had been more jarring than she’d realized. She still more than half expected to wake up in her bed at Gammon’s place and head out into the yard to start her daily warm-up run.
And where’s Kimi-Lim? She thought. She missed the elf almost as much as she missed Griffin. Where’s that sunny disposition and the bright smiles? Cricket had said they’d agreed to work as an integration architect for them. Does that mean they’ll be locked away somewhere doing…integration…architecture somewhere?
Sarah rolled onto her back, away from her reflection to stare back up at the dirty ceiling. She blinked up at the dim light and sighed, thinking, I have no idea how I’m supposed to rest like this. This place smells like ass.
She closed her eyes. It did feel nice to not have her eyes open, so that was a plus. I can’t believe I’m going to sleep, she thought as she drifted off. A soft snore escaped her lips as she slipped deeper into sleep.