I spent a good part of the morning cursing up a storm.

Hours wasted going to the western bridge only to find someone had blown it up or destroyed it with magic, didn't really matter. There were no more options west as I was starting to close in on those new mountains and I decided not to chance it.

I ended up having to bunker down for the night under some fallen logs while it rained. I was wet and grumpy, and now I had to backtrack to the bridge that I had wanted to avoid. If these Black Dragons were even semi-organized and it sure seemed like they were, they would have the only bridge within miles under guard.

"I hate when I'm right," I muttered under my breath as I sat in some bushes a good hundred yards from the bridge.

The hill I sat on was a good vantage point, allowing an unobstructed view to see across the bridge and the hive of activity beyond. It was easy to discern what was happening as groups of people lead by a few others were herded like livestock into large fenced in areas. Anyone that stepped out of line was cut down with weapon or magic. Occasionally groups were taken away somewhere that I couldn't see.

From this distance, I hadn't been one-hundred percent sure that these were the Black Dragons, at least that was until I spotted her.

That damned mage from up north. She was hard to miss with her short stature compared to others, but that wasn't all. It was her bearing and the way everyone seemed to bow to her. Behind her, being dragged along by her henchmen was an unconscious Fiona. Her distinctive armor making it easy to spot her, even from this distance.

"I hate when I'm right," I hissed quietly. They had Fiona and I would lose out on my mission if I couldn't rescue her, but a more alarming concern was they had her alive. Which means they probably needed something from her that she didn't want to give up, likely information? This would lead to only one other thing, torture.

There was no other reason to keep her alive since they weren't stuffing her in with the rest of the prisoners. If I wanted to fulfill my mission I had to come up with a plan, one that hopefully, didn't result in my death. God, why did I have to be this way, it would be so much easier if I could just brush her off and leave but I had a feeling making an enemy of the Commander would be unwise, and since I was already an enemy of the Black Dragon my meddling wasn't likely to make it any worse. Or at least that's what I told myself.

I watched the female mage take Fiona into a small house close to the far side of the bridge and exit about an hour later with one of her guards. Ok, so one guard left to keep an eye on her, now how to get across the bridge.

I focused on the bridge with the three guards and the makeshift barricade of razor wire and sandbags. From here I could make out the guards carrying guns. From my experience, anyone who carried a gun had either a shit class, for whatever reason or was on the low end of the totem pole in this new world as I also noticed Miss Black Dragon's guards had upgraded or been upgraded and no longer sported the less than useful weapons. Both appearing to be armed with a set of swords.

It made sense for the bridge guards to sport guns still; it had been drilled into people for ages that guns were dangerous after all, so it was a natural response to not piss off the guy holding a gun. My options were pretty limited for getting across. My only quiet skills were Earth Fist, Aura Strike, Flurry of Blows, and Stunning Gust.

Well, quiet-ish, with the guards being stationed on the bridge that meant my Earth First was no use. The rest weren't really useful in taking out three people in silence. That's when I saw an opportunity. I smiled and started back down the hill to wait.

The group of three goons walked down the road guns slung across their backs without care. As soon as they got close enough I checked their stats. They were level 5, all with soldier classes yet they sported the black armband and that was what I was after. I wondered, if they forced their underlings to pick certain classes, it sure seemed that way.

I continued to let them get closer preparing my staff spells. When they were within ten feet of my hiding spot I popped up and cast Seismic Strike. I could tell I surprised them as they fumbled to pull their guns off their backs but I got my spell off before they could and unlike centipedes, these jokers all fell over.

One even lost his gun as it went flying from his grip. I decided to reward him with an Earth Fist to his face as he fell hearing a loud crack as I rushed the other two. A Stunning Gust was flung out at the most competent one and he collapsed on the ground.

The last one standing almost got a shot off until I shoved my staff into his gut triggering Flurry as I did so. The first strike drove the air out of him and I moved my staff up crushing his ribs with each successive strike. The man died on the seventh strike. I switched target to the man with the broken jaw cracking him over the head with a violent overhead smash.

Critical strike: you have crushed Soldier's head

I had decided to toggle off the names in my options for when I fight intelligent creatures. I no longer wanted to know the name of the people I was forced to kill. It was bad enough their faces haunted my dreams already. The last man was starting to shake off my stunning effect so I went over and finished him off.

While my heart still pumped fiercely from the battle it seemed like I was getting used to the battle lust, it didn't seem to impact me as much anymore. I should feel something from killing three humans, but I didn't. My life had changed so radically within a week that something like this didn't affect me much anymore. It just came down to it being a necessity. I am sure the faces would be added to my nightmares, a growing army of angry ghosts asking, why?

I dragged the bodies off the road and into a ditch with tall grass and reeds. It would do for now to keep their bodies from being discovered. I grabbed one of the black armbands. From what I could tell they all appeared to be the same and I hadn't seen anyone saluting or being deferential to anyone but that mage woman.

If it got me across the bridge that would be best but if it even got me to within striking distance of the guards on the bridge I could take it from there. I decided to loot the corpses as well. I found a few credits, a knife that I strapped on, and a silver ring.

At first glance, I thought it was just a simple ring but when I touched it, it felt odd.

"No, it can't be," I whispered and opened my inventory tab. There in my inventory was my backpack and the ring as storage items. I did a little shimmy of joy at this, finally, I had a dimensional storage item and decided to check the rings storage space. The ring could store up to three cubic feet of items.

I wondered if the items had to be under that three-foot length to fit or if it only measured total volume. My first thought was to try my staff but I quickly changed my mind as I didn't want the ring to possibly damage my only weapon. My next thought was to try and toss a body in to see what that would do but decided against that ghoulish idea at least for the moment.

I looked around for something to try and my eyes landed on the stop sign, specifically the post. I bet most people didn't realize just how tall these things were, I know I didn't until I was standing right next to it and the top of my head barely reached the bottom of the sign itself. First I tried just grabbing the pole and thinking storage, but I felt a wave of vertigo at that and I almost threw up.

'Ugg, ok not sure why that happened, perhaps because it's stuck in the ground. Now how to get you out of the ground?' I thought as my head cleared.

I decided to use Earth Fist to force the sign out of the ground. It took two casts to force the sign and the concrete base out enough for me to use the ring on it. This time there was no vertigo as the pole disappeared inside the ring. I guess that was a warning that you were passing the rings limit on storage space. I decided to check the storage tab to see what it said. I was surprised to see that the pole and the concrete took up less than one cubic foot of space.

"That can't be right," I said scratching my head in thought, "Unless it accounts for empty space as well."

I recalled the pole from the ring and it appeared from the ring in my hand unbent and undamaged from storage.

"Noice!" I said smugly, setting the useless pole back into the ground. The ring had a few other tidbits inside, mostly food and some collars labeled as slave collars. 'Disgusting,' I thought almost tossing them but decided against it for the moment. Who knew if they might come in handy and it also explained the large number of prisoners.

'But why bother with prisoners or slaves at all, instead of killing them all for the experience?'. I mean it's what they were doing up north, or at least that's what the Commander suspected them of doing. No, they had to be using them for something.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

My thoughts clicked as pieces of the puzzle were starting to fall into place, could this explain the Chaos Mage's quick rise in level? Frathsar did say some skills allowed war leaders to share in the experience. Did she possibly possess a skill like that, or similar to it?

I also wondered where they got all the gear from, it didn't seem likely that they purchased it in bulk from the Bazaar considering how short a time had passed since the System went live. Were they staging weapons and magical gear prior to the System startup? If that were true it would explain a few things, the weird message from the system, Frathsar's warning, and the seemingly instant creation of the Black Dragons right after the system went live. I would have to see if I could uncover anything while I was in the camp.

I let that train of thought percolate in the back of my mind as I fiddled with the ring some more. I tried putting my backpack in the ring but got the same vertigo sensation only not as severe as before. Instead, I emptied the contents of my bag taking each item into the ring. It was a slow process but it felt nice not having the weight of my bag slowing me down anymore.

Everything fit with plenty of room to spare so I tossed my staff inside and two of the guns. I equipped the best gun, which wasn't saying much but it helped with my disguise. I took the other two armbands as well just in case, now the bodies just appeared to be three unfortunate souls that ran afoul of something instead of three Black Dragons that were attacked.

I walked back down the road from where the men came from, it was a bit nerve-wracking. I had to pretend to belong and was putting on an air of pompous authority, strutting down the road as if I owned it. The other Black Dragons only gave me a cursory glance as I approached the bridge and upon seeing my armband ignored me. I was only stopped as I got to the roadblock.

"Where is the rest of your team?" One of the men asked in a bored tone.

"We ran into a larger group of people and they stayed behind to secure them while I went for more men to assist."

"Fine," he said, waving me in without a second glance.

Operation Screw the Black Dragon was a go. So sue me, it was a working title. I walked past the barricade, covertly glancing to my left and right. Seeing that no-one was paying me any additional attention I made my way to the house I saw the guards take Fiona into. I looked around again before easing the door open as quietly as possible.

The entry was empty so I swapped the gun I stole for my staff and cast Aura Strike and Flurry on it silently just in case. I could hear noises coming from one of the rooms and as I got closer they got clearer.

*Smack*

"You will tell me what you know slave, or your beatings will continue until you do."

This was followed by a low murmur that I couldn't pick up.

"Speak up insolent trash!"

I approached the door noticing that it was slightly open. Peeking inside I could see a man with his back to the door and Fiona strapped to a chair, stripped of her armor. She was covered in blood and bruises. I decided to check the man's stats.

Questioner | Level 13

His high level wasn't ideal for me but this seemed like a class that would be more reliant on charisma or intelligence as a stat rather than endurance or so I hoped. As I quietly eased the door open I saw Fiona look up. She almost blew my entrance as her eyes started to grow wide but she managed to school herself quickly.

"You should fea-," the Questioner started to say before I struck out. His aborted scream was cut off as my strike hit his spine cracking it. The man fell to the ground like a marionette with his strings cut. I was honestly surprised that he was still breathing after taking all nine of my blows from Flurry. I finished him off with a few more whacks to the back of the head.

"Wha are you doing here," Fiona forced out through bloody lips and a swollen face. They had worked her over good.

"I have a mission to complete, so I'm saving your dumb ass," I replied, a bit of heat in my voice.

"We can chat later," I added quieter, cutting her free from her bindings. That's when she decided to fall on the floor unconscious.

"Ugg, really," I said shaking my fist at the sky in frustration. I stored her armor in my ring having to dump a few items to make room and tossed her over my shoulder in a fireman's carry. It was starting to approach dusk but I didn't want to wait around in the house any longer so I headed towards the back door.

Glancing out the window I didn't see anyone.

"Time to go," I said to my unconscious load.

I made my way east, along the small town's buildings before heading south again. It wasn't long before I was stopped by two men wearing black armbands.

"Whoa there fella, would you look at this Bob," the man said tapping his friend on the chest with the back of his hand, "looks like our new friend here found us a nice night-time plaything, so how about it friend care to share?" The man asked, both him and his buddy smiling in glee.

They must have thought this was their lucky night. I decided to check their stats.

Footman | Level 5

Guard | Level 4

These two were likely nobodies in the Dragons' hierarchy which seemed to have the stronger or higher leveled people rule over the weaker lower-leveled, and considering their levels versus some of the other members I came across, these were not high-level members. They must have thought I was one of the weaker members as I had equipped the rifle again and I was also still sporting the armband.

"I was kind of hoping to have her to myself but I guess I could share," I said, feeling the nastiness of my words, "Not here in the street though, you know any house nearby where we won't be disturbed?" I added, trying to put on my creepiest smile. It must have worked because the man that spoke just smiled and waved for me to follow and we hurried to a house a few streets over.

"There's nobody within a few blocks of here, cleared it last week," The man said smiling as he opened the door. Both men stepped inside and as they turned around I tossed Fiona on the Guard and he let out a grunt of surprise as he fell to the ground under her dead weight. She should be fine I healed her a bit before leaving the house.

"All yours buddy," I said, pulling my staff from inventory and smashing the dumbstruck Footman in the throat as he turned. A red glow had started to appear on the man but as he fell to the ground choking it disappeared.

This had been the first time I saw one of these underlings using an ability or at least one that had a visible display. I finished him off with a Flurry strike as his buddy attempted to extricate himself from Fiona's body. As soon as he was clear I hit him with a Stunning Gust and he fell over.

"Time for some questions," I said, dragging the stunned man to a chair and tying him to it with the rope I had taken from Fiona's torture room. I used the man's armband as a gag. Then I slapped him on the face to get his attention.

The man came back to his senses trying to scream through his gag, but it only came out like, "Mhff mhffff."

"Shut up and listen," I said, pulling out the knife I stole earlier.

The man's eyes grew wide and he tried to struggle free.

"I'm only going to say this once if you answer my questions we can go our separate ways and nobody needs to know that you abandoned your post to come and have a little fun. Nod your head if you agree," I said, waving the knife in front of his face.

The man quickly nodded.

"Good, now I'm going to remove the gag if you scream... I have no more use for you. Understand?"

The man nodded again. I went around behind him and untied the gag letting him spit the cloth from his mouth.

"First question, who is the Black Dragon and where did they come from?"

"I... I can't answer that if they find out I told anyone they will kill me," the man said pleadingly.

I just tapped the knife on his shoulder letting him know that if he didn't answer my questions that I would kill him as well.

I needed to become a hard man if I wanted to survive in this new world.

"I was recruited a few months ago, they don't tell us low levels much," the man said, fear in his voice.

"So you knew about the system?"

"Not... Not until a week before it started then they gave us a training session. I...I thought it was all a joke at first but they paid well so I stayed. Look man just let me go if they catch us they will do worse things than torture us."

"So are they from Earth?"

"Uh..., yeah, uh I mean I think they are, I overheard some fellas say that they started in Chicago in the 80's"

Geezus, no wonder they seemed to level so fast they had taken forty years to learn how to game the System beforehand.

"Next question," I said, ignoring the man's earlier warning, "How many Black Dragons are there?"

"I don't know man, I'm just a low-level grunt."

I tapped on his shoulder again, "Make an educated guess."

He flinched at my touch but he answered anyway.

"We have around a hundred in this area, I heard there were a few up north that got cut off when the system went live early or at least that's what I overheard. I also heard some are in the metro area to the south but I didn't hear numbers on them. Their headquarters is located in Chicago so that's where the majority of them are located," The man's words seemed to stream out once he got started and I had to stop him.

"So, why you?" I asked offhandedly, not really expecting a response.

"Aw, man I don't know. They were hiring all kinds of less than savory people, I'm just trying to survive man," the Footman replied, starting to blubber.

"Question three," I said without hesitation, knowing the type of people the Black Dragon seemed to employ, "Where is the Bazaar?"

"The what?" the man asked between blubbering breaths.

"Where did the Black Dragon get magical gear from?"

"The quartermaster brought it up from the staging area," he said through his sobbing.

"And the high-level woman, the Mage, How did she get that level so quickly?"

"She is the district leader, a bigwig sent up to recruit people. Please if they find out I told you they will do horrible things to me."

"Just answer the question," I said with finality, god this man was spineless.

"It has something to do with slave contracts, that's all I know they don't include us guards and soldiers with whatever they're doing to level, we can only order the slaves around as long as we have the armband," he said his sobbing and blubbering petering off.

That was interesting, I could definitely think of a few ways to use that knowledge to my advantage. I couldn't think of any other pressing questions I needed to be answered and the other unanswered questions I had could wait until I wasn't surrounded by an entire village of hostile people.

Before the man could realize my questions were done I ran the knife across his throat, holding his mouth shut. He spasmed and thrashed in the chair for a bit before going limp as his life force drained away. Another ghost to add to my nightmares.

I dropped the knife from shaking hands and ran over to the corner to vomit. There was something decidedly worse about killing someone who couldn't fight back versus fighting someone face to face. I never wanted to have to do something like this again... if I could help it.

You performed a death blow on Guard. Death blows can be used on targets that are unable to defend themselves.

You have reached level 9, modifiers increased by 1, 4 free skill slots available

The system seemed to have a dark sense of humor giving me a level at this moment. I shook off the shock looking at the notice. At first, I thought the system had awarded me extra skill slots but I realized it was just counting the two I earned as rewards from clearing those dungeons as well as the two I got for this level. Adding the new skills would have to wait though as I needed to escape this town and Fiona was still unconscious. It was probably for the best.