Initial Merger Slain!

Doubled Experience Earned!

+78 EXP

Dismissing the screen, Jordan took in the small group of people before him. At first, he’d been following five of them, plus the Crab. But on the way here, he had noticed an odd point where the Crab and one of the Human tracks suddenly shifted away from the rest. From how the number of unique footprints then decreased to four from that point onward, he could make an educated guess on what happened.

He then approached the group as his drone followed next to him. The distance between him and them wasn’t much, and with his physical Stats being what they were, even a brisk walk was much faster than what the average pre-System could jog. Jordan took note of the broken spear sticking out of the Crab, with the lower half of its shaft on the ground. Then there were the chunks of ice as well, making it definitely seem like these people weren’t entirely helpless, at least.

When Jordan had felt his air drone desummon despite having orders to engage, he’d known that it must have been destroyed. That was why he then made liberal use of Overcharge to quickly close the last stretch of distance. Yet at some point before his arrival, while it would have been dangerous to do so, they’d taken a shot at the Crab. He could respect that.

Jordan felt the cold shiver of one of them using Appraise on him. At first he wasn’t sure who, but then the man wearing the more warrior-like armor widened his eyes. A reaction was as big of a giveaway as any. But since someone had used it first, he took that as fair game to then Appraise them in turn and find out what variety of Levels and Classes they had. Starting with the man who’d used Appraise on him, of course.

Name: Daniel Martin

Species: Human (Earth)

Guild: N/A

Class: Spear Master

Subclass: N/A

Level: 2

Grade: E

Name: Sammy Jackson

Species: Human (Earth)

Guild: N/A

Class: Cryomancer

Subclass: N/A

Level: 2

Grade: E

Name: Antonio Garcia

Species: Human (Earth)

Guild: N/A

Class: Healer

Subclass: N/A

Level: 3

Grade: E

Name: Kelley Green

Species: Human (Earth)

Guild: N/A

Class: Enchanter

Subclass: N/A

Level: 1

Grade: E

From the way they reacted, each of them obviously noticed the returned usage of Appraise. But Jordan had to admit that despite the icky feeling it brought, Appraise would probably be normalized sooner than later. It would almost have to be, considering just how useful it was to know the essentials about the person as soon as you met them.

So the Healer’s the highest Level. Huh, now that I think about it, aren’t they pretty unique for a combat Class? Like as far as I can recall, they don’t have any Skills that actually hurt things. Is it just from the healing they do that they can gain Experience Points? That must be it, though I wonder how the System does the math on that formula. Hmm, something to ask about later, Jordan thought to himself.

Other than that, he was actually the most interested in the Enchanter as a Class. Nobody had picked it in his original group, so Jordan genuinely didn’t know the exact details. All he rememberd was from when he skimmed it during his initial Class selection.

Although… that actually was something that he should also be able to simply have the System pull back up. Something Jordan now figured could actually apply to every Class he’d been offered back then, Healer included. But since that would take up both his attention and a bit of time, he decided to just push his curiosity aside for later. Since at that moment, he also felt the others use Appraise on him.

“Hello there. As you would have just seen, I’m Jordan. I’m sure you have a lot on your minds, but…” Jordan then reached into his pocket space, a motion that made a couple of people tense up.

He pulled out some food and his water bottle. “But first, here. I’m not sure if snake meat will be to your liking, but at least it’s something, right?”

Three of the four still seemed a bit weary. Jordan couldn’t blame them, at least not really. With all the Crabs being Level 3 with the exception of the single Level 4, his own Level was even higher by a relatively good margin. As far as being cautious around someone much more dangerous than yourself, it wasn’t like he didn’t do the same thing upon meeting Haje just earlier.

But then the fourth, the female Enchanter named Kelley, almost immediately stepped forward to take the water bottle. She removed the cap and quickly began to chug its contents down with heavy gulps. After a few seconds of chugging passed, she handed back the bottle and wiped at her mouth with the sleeve of her light purple robe.

“Thank you… we haven’t been able to drink anything since those Crabs found us. I’m Kelley, but uhh, I guess you also already knew that?” She said as Jordan took back the bottle. Something which he then refilled in front of them by directly accessing the plenty of pre-boiled fresh water in his pocket pace.

“I guess so,” Jordan replied with his best easy-going smile. He then handed her a share of the cooked Bark Snake, which she also gladly took.

But while Jordan wouldn’t have considered himself the biggest people person back on Earth, he was damn glad to just be in their company now. Not just for the company itself after mostly being alone for the last few days, but for what they represented. They were people he’d actually managed to save this time. And while having more people around him like a crafter obviously had its pragmatic benefits, it also just felt nice to see the thankful look in her eyes, and know that he did something good today.

The male Healer was the second then the second person to take a drink and share of food. Followed by the female Cryomancer, and then the male Spear Master last. Refilling the water each time for them, Jordan then filled it up for one last time for himself as well. As they all sat down on the iron powder to just chew on their individual pieces of Bark Snake, Jordan didn’t miss the sighs of almost pained relief that came from sitting after being on your feet for who knows how long.

For a little bit, none of them said anything. Jordan himself wasn’t in any particular kind of rush. From the math he did in his head for how far out they were from the Crab’s base, he assumed they must have been walking since yesterday evening. However, that was based on what he knew about the average walking speed. It could have been even longer, considering that one’s pacing tended to slow down when exhausted. But eventually, the Cryomancer was the first one to speak up.

“Are you by yourself, or are there others?” Sammy asked after finishing the last of her small meal. “It’s just that the System mentioned that you’re in a Guild.”

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Jordan tapped his knee as he decided to answer truthfully. “As far as Humans like us go? Then it’s just me. But I did meet someone named Haje not too long ago. You could say he’s uh… stone giant of sorts. He’s pretty nice, though.”

“Do you know about any other kinds of aliens?” Daniel asked with a raised brow.

“None that I know personally, no. The only ones I know of for sure are the Crabs, and Haje’s Species is called a Jabelite. But if you filter the Mightiest Individual leaderboard by Species, there are plenty more on there that don’t fit either, or are Human. So I’m sure we’ll probably find out more about the other sapient races sooner or later.”

From that point onward, the back and forth in conversation was pretty straightforward. The four Humans would ask him the most questions about the things he knew, which he openly and honestly answered as best he could. And then in return, Jordan would ask his own questions to learn more about them and what they’d been up to in the Merging so far.

Something which quickly led to his hearing of some rather… disturbing information. Specifically when they informed him what happened to them right after the Merging actually started. Of how their group, originally numbering 30 people, the vast majority perished within the hour from a condition of unknown origin. From the way it was described, it couldn’t help but remind Jordan of what happened shortly after being able to move in this world.

He recalled the few people who’d started to throw up right after the Merging began. What still remained a mystery without answer was what they vomited. It hadn’t been food or any other ordinary substance found in a person’s stomach. Instead, it’d been a dark substance that had both stank like Hell and reminded him of mud in its general appearance. Jordan then inquired about another aspect he remembered, which was how Audrey had commented about her Healer Skills telling her that they had suffered some sort of intestinal damage.

“Yeah, I guess…” Antonio said as he solemnly shook his head. “But for the people I tried to help, that’s an understatement. It’s like… it’s like the insides of their organs were shredded, fused back together, and then wrecked from the inside again. I managed to help a few, but that’s only because they were in the best condition to start with. We did have a couple of other Healers…”

Antonio’s gaze shifted to Sammy. The Cryomancer was just staring down at the ground with a downcast expression. With a deep sigh, Anotonio looked back at Jordan.

“But they ended up having the worst of it. God, the way they…” The Healer glanced back at his companion, and stopped himself. “Anyway, then as if things couldn’t get any worse, that damn Elemental found us. We ended up having to leave behind the people I managed to help, since they weren’t in any condition to run quickly on their own. I don’t know if it’s some cruel joke from the System, but how were we even meant to deal with something like that monster?”

Your Species has been found to have reached an acceptable level of compatibility for this process. Huh. The exact words of the System once again entered the forefront of Jordan’s mind.

And then, in an explanation that made him look into the distance with a bit of worry, they told him more about the Elemental itself. That it actually wasn’t just an Elemental, but had been a Level 19 monster of a creature called an Earth Elemental Lord. If you were to walk directly away from the beach, it wouldn’t take long before you entered its biome. That was a direction that would roughly be East, based on Earth’s standards of where the sun rose from.

It at least confirmed the theory that not all starting areas were created equal. Jordan’s own group had been relatively lucky, in that sense. Due to only encountering the Level 1 Rabbits at first, one could argue that it’d been their own fault for letting their guards down and slowly spreading out.

So even those who remained in smaller groups of three or four people had still been vulnerable to getting picked off by the Grass Panther. But if the Grass Panther had been that high of a Level at 19 instead? Well, it was pretty safe to say that in such a case, there was no shot in Hell of him managing to defeat it and surviving to be here right now.

In any case, it was after that they ran into the Crabs. And from the way it was described, it sounded like Jordan’s cautious approach to killing the Telepath without getting close had been the right call to make. But speaking of the Crab…

Knowing that they’d all be there to see it anyway, Jordan went ahead and turned the corpse into an Advancement Crystal before their eyes. Aside from the gem, there were only a couple of items on the ground that had already left its pocket space upon death. While he put most of those away, he did take the two halves of the broken spear and walked back over to them to the presumed owner.

“What is that gem? Is it from some kind of Skill of yours?” Daniel asked as he took the pieces of his spear back.

“No, it’s just a standard feature anyone can do. I’m guessing none of you touched the bodies of those who died?” Jordan asked.

“We didn’t exactly have the means to bury them anyway. And… just the way they smelled from, and how that dark stuff began to ooze out…” The Spear Master visibly shuddered as he seemed to recall the memory.

Got it; definitely not someone a reasonable person would ever want to touch. And from the vibe I’m getting, the reality of how the corpses looked like after they died is probably way worse than what any of them are willing to put into words. Just means there are a couple dozen unclaimed gems out there, if it weren’t for that Level 19 monster that might still be close by… Jordan then blinked as he realized where his thoughts were going.

Had it really become already so easy for him to see the dead as just gems wastefully not claimed yet? But at the same time, was that really such a bad thing? It wasn’t an inaccurate description, to say the least. Unless necromancy ended up being a thing, which who knows if that’s a Class somewhere out there, it’s not like preserving corpses did any favors for anyone. One could even argue that it was an even better way to honor the dead than just burying or burning them, by letting their power aid in your own survival.

“If you use Appraise on it, it’ll give you some info,” Jordan began. “But basically anyone with the Initial Merger Title can be turned into one of these after they die. I already did it just earlier with all the other Crabs you guys ran into, for example. As for how these Advancement Crystals work…”

Jordan then proceeded to give them the rundown on how they functioned. He told them everything he’d learned so far, still not hiding anything. Now, one might question this level of open honesty, especially considering his earlier hesitation with Haje. But it really was a simple difference that came down to one main factor: confidence. Per perhaps just plain old arrogance, depending on how you looked at it.

The Enchanter wasn’t even a combat Class, and the Healer didn’t really count as a fighter either. So against the pair of Level 2s, Jordan simply didn’t feel very threatened. If he ever felt paranoid that they might turn on him during his sleep or something, he could always keep a drone close by. Though thanks to the inflated Stats from all his Title bonuses, Jordan kind of doubted they could kill him with one shot in his sleep anyway.

When he breathed deeply now, the pain he’d felt in his chest after falling several dozen feet earlier was already gone. If that wasn’t a testament to how his body had changed in both durability and its ability to recover, he wasn’t sure what was. In any case, while Humans had a notoriously bad habit of making dumb decisions, Jordan hoped that they would know that sticking with him would be in their best interest, more than the short-term benefit of a betrayal.

“But rather than just sticking around here,” Jordan eventually continued after his explain about the gems. “Why not come with me? I have a base as part of my Kingdom in a forest, one that I’ve already cleared out any immediate threats. There’s a pretty cold area on the way, so I’ll need to head back first to get you guys some winter clothes. That should only take me a couple of hours to get there and back at most, though, so how does that sound?”

The four took a minute to discuss it among themselves, but the result was practically a foregone conclusion as it was. They’d seen his name and Level, and recognized it as one the first you’d currently see when looking just under the top five of the Mightiest Individual leaderboard. When someone who already helped you out then promised more safety, you took it.

Especially when they then got the official System invitations. Something which implied that what he offered wasn’t just a handout given for free, but part of following under him and everything that would mean. And despite how strange it might seem at first, the latter was actually more trustworthy to many in times of crisis.

Soon enough, the membership count of both the Kingdom and Guild called Industry went up by four.