As Jordan then rode through the forest on the top of his drone, the other inhabitants of Vervina-C also remained active. For those on the same part of the planet as him, night turned the fear of being in a strange world into pure terror as darkness shrouded the land.
For those on the opposite side of the planet, the promise of dawn brought hope to end what’d been a long first night. Then for others still who’d been dropped in the vast underground networks of the planet, the time of day mattered not in dealing with their new reality.
The System did not discriminate on who was considered an Initial Merger. Even toddlers who had barely any concept of how to act were not removed from those considered valid competitors. Out of the many who died in just those first several hours, a non-zero amount had been due to the obvious consequences of these children being given lethal powers that they should have no right to be given in a sane reality.
However, not all would pass even the initial culling. For when the System said that the people of Earth had reached an acceptable level of compatibility, what it considered to be so was a figure less than 100%.
The few people in Jordan’s group who had suffered ruptured internal organs would have been considered on the luckier side. Because compared to those who were considered the least compatible, not even a team of Healers in each of their respective groups would have been enough to save them from the resulting effect on their bodies.
In terms of the total number of deaths within that initial period, those killed as part of the Mightiest Slayer Quest were but a tiny fraction. Even for those that had survived so far, their lives were filled with suffering as the System had been equal in their population’s distribution, but only up to a certain degree.
While Jordan and his group had started in a field with only a single threat that they could have easily dealt with if they’d been working together as a cohesive unit, only so many got such a kind start. Many other groups were put into environments that were considered fair only by the System’s unknown standards. Where some areas had a high density of monsters, and so the group placed there would also be given a higher number of members to start with.
Yet that didn’t always prove to be a good thing. More people also meant more chances for something to go wrong, which can cause a domino effect. Sometimes, it’d taken just a single person violently lash out during a panicked moment to spark a fire of chaos. Though even when this wasn’t the case and the large group remained stable, those who’d been dropped in areas with particularly aggressive and high Level beasts would often get wiped out anyway.
Such was the reality for humanity. Of the different sapient races that’d been part of their universe and now also forced on Vervina-C, they were the second most populous. Yet in terms of overall mental hardiness and readiness for an event such as the Merging, humanity was undisputably in last place.
Unfortunately, the competition would prove fierce for placement of the top Species of their world. For there was another Species that would prove to be both the first most populous and capable of handling the Merging. And as Jordan did something so mundane as moving to collect water, it was the one at the forefront of this top Species that only continued to strive toward climbing the ladder of progression even higher.
The Species in question was one not limited to just the 42nd universe, but widespread and feared across the entire multiverse. Their size made even the largest humans seem childlike in comparison. Their tough bodies allowed them to shrug off all sorts of physical attacks with ease, where even if humanity had been able to bring their guns, it still wouldn’t have made a difference. And their fierceness in combat would make even the most aggressively territorial of creatures reconsider if defending their territory would be worth it.
The most common sapient Species in the multiverse, always evolving on almost every planet capable of supporting life. It was only a question of if they evolved to eventually become the peak lifeform of their world, which they most often did. Such a trend led to their standard belief that they were chosen by the System itself as the destined Species that would someday rule over all of existence.
Even the planet Earth had these creatures, although it was still only in their relatively stage. Had the Merging waited another billion or so years before occurring, they would have most likely evolved by then to become the apex of that planet as well.
The Species in question was, of course, the Crab.
----------------------------------------
God damn, just how fast is this guy going to keep leveling up? Jordan asked himself as he drove away from the source of fresh water. It’d been a river, perhaps over 15 feet wide on average and at least just as deep.
It was at its shore that Jordan had discovered a very, very neat trick. When it come to something that it could take in, his pocket space was very generous. His initial plan had been to clean and then use the helmets in there as makeshift buckets. But when gallons of water had been easily absorbed right into the tattoo on his palm from an idea he’d tested just on a whim, that hadn’t proved to be necessary.
But now with plenty of water for the near future secured, Jordan had decided to see how the leaderboard for Levels was going. And while his own placement had obviously jumped by quite a lot compared to just a couple of hours ago, others had clearly also remained productive. Particularly the person who continued to absolutely dominate the top spot on both it and the Mightiest Slayer list.
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Mightiest Individual:
1: Wilfred Wilbur Wyndham III (Level 7)
2: Carl Rowe (Level 6)
3: Zorliay Qorath’zyrunch (Level 5)
4: Yvaro Qorath’zyrunch (Level 5)
5: Sebastion Ironclaw (Level 5)
…
12: Jordan Joyner (Level 4)
Alright, maybe even quite a lot was actually a humble way to describe his own jump up the leaderboard. To go from the hundreds to just a smidge outside the top ten was most certainly not something to downplay. And that was even considering how others had placed higher than him in the Quest for the Mandate.
If the System did provide an additional reward for the top five or top three, he wouldn’t be surprised if it’d been in the form of even more bonus Experience. Especially since the Title seemed to have already been the best it was willing to offer from how it was described. Or at least that’s what he hoped, because Jordan didn’t want to imagine how insane it’d be if there was an even better version of the Title with higher Stat bonuses.
Though from the current status of the leaderboard, Jordan noted a few things while on the journey back to his new base. The first was that Wilfred had broken the record for the highest Level again by being the first to reach Level 7.
Though assuming that he’d also placed well for the Mandate claiming Quest, it was still a significant slowdown in progress compared to earlier that day. Perhaps it just went to show the degree that the Experience requirements per Level went up and basically forced one to Level slower.
The second point was that one of the previous members of the top five was down. Her first name had been Karin, that much he could remember for sure. But while Jordan did scroll down the list a bit to double-check, he confirmed that she hadn’t just gotten pushed down.
No, she appeared to have simply been removed from the leaderboard entirely, which could only mean one thing. That at some point since he last checked it, she must have died. And now her spot had been taken by Sebastion, who was someone that notably was also a peak performer on the Mightiest Slayer listing.
Third and finally, Jordan once more did a quick check for his friends and family. Hell, he even checked through the Slayer leaderboard too, because one never knew what could happen. However, he still couldn’t find any names that he could recognize. That was something he could have accepted earlier when he first checked after reaching Level 2, but considering how much time had already passed…
Adam I can get, but at least Leo should have hit Level 2 by now. But if he hasn’t, then… fuck man. Then there’s Mom and Dad. If something like the Grass Panther chased them, they wouldn’t even be able to run with Dad’s leg being what it is. Please… please, just let me be wrong. Let them be okay, somewhere out there. Jordan could only hope that whatever circumstances they faced had prevented them from joining either leaderboard without meaning their deaths.
Yet that kind of vague hope could only carry a man so far on a good day. And having seen firsthand just how brutally efficient in murder the creatures of this world could be, today was not a good day for hope. Jordan sometimes wished that he could be a little more naive, a little more willing to just accept that hope as what had to be reality.
Over the course of the next few minutes, tears trickled down his face. With both hands needed to hold onto the drone and his arms fully extended, he had little ability to wipe them away. But perhaps somewhere in himself, for the sake of his heart, these freely flowing tears were an emotional outlet that he actually needed to have.
Asking himself if they were still alive every few hours would only compromise his mental stability and thinking in the long run. So, until proven otherwise, Jordan had to act with the assumption that his friends and family were already dead. That he would take the night to grieve, but only tonight.
When Jordan returned to the site of his base, the tears had already dried from the air that hit his face while riding his drone. And despite wanting to start focusing on his grief, he couldn’t, at least not quiet yet. First, he needed to prioritize his basic survival needs and have dinner.
Cooking the meat and boiling the water would require fire, yet the blanket of dry leaves covering the ground was a major hazard for a forest fire. And as tempting as it was to just let one happen and burn a part of this world down, that would ultimately be just self-destructive since he’d get caught in it too. Jordan hadn’t yet reached the mental breaking point needed to intentionally do something like that, and hopefully never would.
So Jordan spent the next several minutes clearing a spot. It was a large circle almost directly in front of what would become the entrance to the building. Once the hazard was mitigated, he then built a pile made from some dry twigs, branches, and such he’d found while clearing the ground. Finally, Zap as a Skill finally made itself useful as an excellent fire starter.
It took a bit of fanning to actually get going, even with the extremely dry material. But once the fire caught and became self-sufficent, Jordan felt himself finally relax a bit. For a human in a strange place in the wilderness, a campfire was an inherently comforting thing. Yet just as he was about to start setting things up to get some water boiled first, a notification interrupted him.
Automatic construction has now been completed!
The user’s First Boon has now been installed within the finished building!
Congratulations!
By attaining your Kingdom, you have now qualified for placement on the leaderboard of the Quest: Mightiest Kingdom. You may now view the Mightiest Kingdom leaderboard and your current place on it at any time.
Kingdom created!
Before leaderboard placement can be finalized, the user must affirm a name for the Kingdom.
Jordan rubbed his eyes. He thought that he was done for the day, but it seemed not quite yet. Now he needed to check inside the building for both what the First Boon was like, and just to generally see what it looked like now that the interior was done. But before that, he supposed that he could take care of this first.
Assuming that there wouldn’t be a chance to change ever again after affirming his choice, it would likely be a permanent decision. So, with that being said, just what kind of name should his new Kingdom of one even go by?