A deep silence filled the underground room of Industry’s main base. With the Industrial Miner currently not active, the only sound was the quiet breathing of one man. Seconds passed as cogs turned into his mind, still trying to fully process everything that he had just read.
When Haje had sent him that message, Jordan hadn’t put that much thought into what would come next. If anything, he’d only felt grateful toward the stone giant, in the back of his mind. He believed that as someone who’d gotten a Title for being the first D Grade, Haje must have been fully aware that the first to slay a Lord-type monster would likely be a major achievement. And yet, for something as incomparably small as being gifted a few Advancement Crystals, he had practically reserved that achievement for Jordan instead.
Of course, why wouldn’t he have been thankful for such a thing? Between the Experience Points gained and the subsequent Title and its bonuses, Jordan had received a massive advantage. In just raw Stats alone, Haje and his objectively lopsided Class would likely make him the only one on the whole planet with a greater Stat advantage relative to one’s Level.
In the very back of his head, a stray thought had come up about if the System would do something in response. Yet even then, he hadn’t thought it would be a bad thing. When a Mandate had been claimed during the very first day, the System had practically celebrated that achievement by giving everyone else a Temporary Quest with the chance to claim 24 more Mandates to start their own Kingdoms. For the achievement of just one person, others had been rewarded. So, with that as an established precedent, he’d believed it wasn’t wrong to assume that other special events would trigger similar things.
However, reality turned out to be a rather harsh mistress. Rather than a reward for everyone, it felt like a punishment instead. Compared to how long he’d been on this planet, six days was almost double that amount of time. From that perspective, it seemed like quite a while for people to train up and get some Levels under their belts. Yet, at the same time, Jordan knew that a crucible was coming.
It was impossible to know exactly to what degree the System would spawn new creatures and increase their Levels. That lack of knowledge would lead many, himself included, to assume the worst. To survive the upcoming spike in difficulty, basically everyone would need to fully dedicate themselves to hunting for Experience Points wherever they could find them. But just that alone would lead to a higher rate of lives lost, as taking the risks required to hunt more would inevitably lead to some rolling poorly on the cosmic dice.
Shit… and it’s not like I’ll be able to hide it from those four. Even if they’re asleep right now, they’ll see the warning whenever they wake up. All it’ll take is one look at the leaderboard to see that my Level just skyrocketed to the top, Jordan thought as he opened said screen for himself.
Mightiest Individual:
1: Jordan Joyner (Level 12)
2: Wilfred Wilbur Wyndham III (Level 8)
3: Carl Rowe (Level 7)
4: Sebastion Ironclaw (Level 7)
5: Zorliay Qorath’zyrunch (Level 6)
…
Aside from himself, the only notable shift was the man named Carl. From how Jordan understood the leaderboard to work, it also factored in the difference in Experience when Levels were tied. So now this person was closer to Level 8 than Sebastian, although both would likely hit it soon if the warning also inspired them to redouble their efforts.
When Jordan had filtered the leaderboard by humans only, he also had it go straight to the bottom to see the total number of humans that had at least reached Level 2. But now, he was curious to find out what the top of the list would be like when that same filter was applied. Communicating his intent to the System, it only took a moment before the text shifted.
Mightiest Individual:
1: Jordan Joyner (Level 12)
2: Carl Rowe (Level 7)
3: Tammy Young (Level 6)
4: Leo Price (Level 5)
5: Hannah Garcia (Level 5)
…
Jordan’s stomach only felt heavier upon seeing the fourth name on the updated leaderboard. He still didn’t know if this Leo, or any of the other few Leos he’d seen on the list before, were actually his friend. There was every chance that his friend had been one of those whose insides had basically exploded after getting teleported to this world, and had basically been dead from the start of the Merging. But even if that wasn’t the case, and the person on the screen before him was really him, it still made something twist inside Jordan’s body.
The idea of potentially dooming millions upon millions of people was one that quickly became… hard to comprehend. The sort of thing where when the numbers and scale become too big, one simply cannot truly wrap their head around it. However, it was far easier to fully imagine a much smaller scale that only counted one’s actual friends and family, rather than countless strangers.
Even if he couldn’t have truly known the consequences, the responsibility for what happened next would still be on his shoulders. If that Leo on the leaderboard were to disappear after six days, it would be his fault. If Adam was also alive and simply hadn’t gained any Levels for some unknowable reason yet, or the same for his parents, it would also be his fault if they died in the coming days. Speaking of which, however, Jordan took a moment and asked the system to check for their names while still maintaining the humans-only filter.
…
12,201,570: Chad Joyner (Level 3)
…
35,201,570: Adam Wright (Level 2)
Jordan’s eyes widened a bit, as he genuinely hadn’t expected the results. His mother hadn’t come up, sadly. But just the fact that his father and Adam’s names had now popped up was hopeful news. The same logic for Leo could be applied, that it might just be different people that shared the same first and last names, yes. But even so, having at least something to attach his hopes to was always infinitely better than nothing.
He wasn’t quite sure about Adam’s, but Jordan knew from a cursory search a couple of years ago that his own last name was pretty uncommon. At least in the United States, the total number of people with it as a surname totaled only in the tens of thousands. Which was already a pretty small figure on its own, even if he wasn’t sure about how prevalent it was for the rest of Earth. But either way, the number of people with it would now definitely be much, much smaller after the Merging.
Yet with that hope came an impending sense of dread. Their names on the list now were also those that could just as quickly disappear in the next several days. In his mind’s eye, Jordan saw a mental image of his father trying to defend his mother. Maybe despite being an older man with medical issues on Earth, he’d invested in physical Stats while hitting Level 3 to alleviate those issues, like his bad leg.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Jordan wasn’t quite sure if that was actually how physical Stats worked. Even after gaining enough points in Strength to make him pretty sure that he was pushing well past the peak of regular humanity, he’d never felt stronger. And when he’d been bathing in the river earlier and had plenty of time to inspect his own body, it also hadn’t looked any different. Rather than suddenly looking like he practically lived in a gym to pump iron daily, his build appeared the same as always.
But there was no question about the fact that he was stronger now. So there was every chance that an increased Vitality or Endurance would have a positive impact on someone who was considered to be in a less-than-optimal condition. Was the point in having high enough Stats to survive falling from dozens of feet or to heal unnaturally quickly from the damage such a fall incurred, only to not heal from a pre-System injury as well?
From the kind of man his father was, Jordan could see him going far if he was healthy. To the point where even just that jumpstart of improving his condition would put him a step ahead. At the very least, just the initial Title and Trait as a start to lead to the first Level gained would be enough to get the ball rolling, and it easier for him to hunt creatures to keep getting stronger. Just the fact that he hadn’t been on the leaderboard at all a few hours ago but was now Level 3 was pretty good proof of that idea being true.
However, it may still not be enough. Jordan couldn’t help but imagine that after six days had passed, a pack of Level 10 or even stronger creatures descended on whichever spot his parents used as a shelter. That his parents were even alone somewhere in the wilderness, with nobody around to help. And when such an overwhelming force came down upon them while his father would most likely try to hold them off to give his mother a chance to escape…
A chill ran up his spine at the thought. Sometimes, it wasn’t so nice to have a vivid imagination. But it wasn’t even just about him and his loved ones. The people sleeping above would still have their friends and relatives somewhere out there as well, since he doubted that all of them happened to be loners with at least one person to worry about. What would they think of Jordan when they inevitably connected the System’s warning to him?
Would they blame him in the same way that he had already started to preemptively blame himself?
Several minutes passed in nearly total silence as Jordan just stared at the machine in front of him, but wasn’t actually looking at the Miner as his thought still rolled around in his head. During this time, various emotions swirled around his mind, though the prominent ones remained blaming himself for the deaths that would happen, and self-justifying himself with his inability to have known what the System would do.
After a short while, Jordan let out a heavy sigh. “What’s done is done. If people find out and blame me, I can’t deny them that. The only way thing to do now is to take responsibility and use how far ahead I am now to make up for it… somehow.”
He wasn’t quite sure how to actually go about that. But at least in terms of humanity’s chances, there was a silver lining. When Jordan had checked the total number of humans who’d reached Level 2 shortly after meeting Haje, that figure had sat at a bit over 40 million. Now, just a couple of hours later, it was already at 46 million.
And of those, the majority were past the bare minimum of Level 2 for getting on the leaderboard. When Jordan checked through the list, he saw that the lowest person at Level 3 was currently sitting at around the 31st million spot. And then when he asked the System to go up farther for the lowest person at Level 4, their placement was at 10 million. Something which also indicated that his father was ahead of many of those at his Level in Experience Points, and would likely hit Level 4 soon.
He must have fought off a whole pack of monsters, or did something equally drastic to get almost three whole Levels in such a relatively short amount of time. Please, Dad, just… stay safe and alive. Jordan clenched his fists as he dismissed the leaderboard, as that worried thought had made him no longer interested in seeing how many humans were at Level 5.
Once again, Jordan sighed. He’d already told himself that what happened had happened. While he could keep wallowing about the unintended consequences of his actions, a large part of him already knew that it wouldn’t do any good. The only thing left to do now was make the best of it, and at least put his gains to the best usage possible.
With that thought, he pulled up his full Status for what would be the first time in a good bit. Yet even before he actually opened the screen, Jordan already knew what to expect in terms of the huge difference of numbers that his eyes were about to read through.
General Info:
Name: Jordan Joyner
Species: Human (Earth)
Guild: Industry
System Info:
Class: Combat Engineer
Subclass: Advanced Drone Artificer
Traits: Tech Savvy, Drone Savant
Titles: Initial Merger, Adept of Advancement, High Lord of the 42nd, Truly Ambitious Expansionist, Truly Prodigal Lord Slayer
Level: 12
EXP: 3557/27225
Grade: D
Resources:
Tech Points: 10/10 (58)
Tech Points Regen: 25.92/Min
Stats:
Strength: 62
Dexterity: 66
Vitality: 69
Endurance: 65
Intelligence: 153
Wisdom: 178
Will: 63
Free Points: 25
General Skills:
Active: Appraise-E5
Class Skills:
Active: Summon Land Drone-E5
Active: Summon Air Drone-E1
Active: Overcharge-E1
Passive: Mental Blueprint-E2
Passive: Tinker-E1
Passive: Basic Technomancy-E1
Subclass Skills:
Active: Build Advanced Drone-E5
First things first, Jordan knew exactly what do to with all 25 of those Free Points. And when he did so, he took a good look at the immediate changes that investment led to.
Wisdom: 215
Resources:
Tech Points: 10/10 (62)
Tech Points Regen: 29.62/Min
A regeneration of nearly 30 TP per minute. Had the System adjusted it to say it’d be just under 0.5 per second instead, he would not have been surprised. Right now it would be enough for him to maintain four air drones with a bit of regen to spare, and just a smidge more would get that figure to a solid five drones. When combined with his land drones and what would be an updated Scaling for their cap and reserved cost, he was well on his way to what could genuinely be called a swarm of drones.
Though just like before, the current reserved cost for his Tech Points was effectively out of date. Jordan would first need to cut the TP connection to all his current land drones, wait ten minutes, and then summon a new batch with the updated Scaling. But since he would be happy to miss out on just a bit of farming now for much more efficient Experience farming afterward, he went ahead and pulled the trigger to cut off the connection to all his current land drones.
From there, the first part of those ten minutes pretty quickly came and went as Jordan remained sitting in the underground room of his base. It was mostly time just spent thinking some more and reflecting on what would happen in six days. He remained sat in place, eyes closed as his thoughts were allowed to sort themselves out.
If I have the chance to get the Communicator or something like that as my next Boon, I’ll take it. As far as I can imagine, that’d be the only way for me to at least somewhat make things up for what the rest of humanity’s about to deal with. That way I’ll be able to potentially contact some people, and work with them to at least secure this forest when the System ramps things up. Speaking of which…
His newest Title had also given his Kingdom enough Experience to increase its Rank again, so perhaps it was about time he headed upstairs to check that out next.