Marge’s grin faded with a sigh as she gave Julian a critical once-over with her dark eyes. “Before the fun can begin though, you need a proper night’s rest. Astrid over there’ll give you a room key, just go find it and get some sleep. In the morning I can give you a brief overview of this world you find yourself in and how it works; just make sure you get a bath first so I can focus.” Marge’s grin had returned, and she waved her large hand in front of her nose with a wink, before standing up and heading to a different table to join a rather boisterous argument in progress.
Julian blinked slowly; he was completely exhausted. As he stood to approach Astrid, his multiple stab wounds complained and he barely managed to hold back a limp. The blonde-haired human woman, wearing overlapping bands of metal armor and with slightly terrifying make-up, nodded at his approach before handing him a thick iron key and a stoppered glass flask filled with dull red liquid. “Low-quality healing potion; it will turn a few weeks’ recovery into a few hours,” she said by way of explanation. Julian nodded, his tired mind barely managing to be impressed by the miracle in a bottle he had just been given, then chugged down the flask while suppressing a slight gag; it tasted exactly like crushed medicinal pills from Earth.
By the time Julian made it up the stairs, he barely remained on his feet. He had worried he might have to battle another flight of stairs, but was relieved to find room 23 was indeed on the second floor. On his third attempt Julian managed to unlock the dark wooden door, and he found himself in a simple bedroom. A medium-sized bed stuffed with feathers called his name, and while walking to it he passed a sturdy wooden desk topped by a small vanity mirror. Almost tripping over an iron-banded storage chest at the base of the bed, Julian threw himself on the mattress without fanfare, falling asleep instantly.
His dreams were not what he expected. Julian had always had rather intense nightmares, so with the stress of the last day he expected that trend to continue. What he found instead was the same void where he had picked his starting skill, and the same white text spelling out messages before him.
[Status]
[Name: Julian Barth]
[Race: Human]
[Attributes: 10 10 10 10 10 10]
[Skills: Create Zombie (1), Dagger (1/20), Spear (1/20), Toughness (1/20), Unarmed (1/20)]
Like with the Skill selection menu, Julian was able to expand on each Skill in his list and view a description. Create Zombie hadn’t changed at all, unsurprisingly, but he received some little additional context for each of the new entries in his Skills list.
[Create Zombie (Int): In an hours-long ritual, raise a corpse as a Zombie (Mindless Undead), keeping the physical stats of the corpse, limited by Skill Effect.]
[Dagger (Dex): UNLOCK 1/20]
[Spear (Dex): UNLOCK 1/20]
[Toughness (Con): UNLOCK 1/20]
[Unarmed (Dex): UNLOCK 1/20]
It seemed Skills he had not fully acquired did not provide a full description, but Julian could guess from context what they meant. With a frown, he also realized all four Skills were related to his fight with Jasper; he had punched, kicked, stabbed, and slashed his assailant while enduring much of the same, before finally killing his would-be mugger. That bloody battle had only earned him one twentieth of the progress needed to unlock a Skill, at least if his assumptions were remotely accurate. He hoped there were less risky ways to unlock and progress Skills.
Beyond the new Skill unlocks, Julian’s status contained little new information, so he dismissed it. Immediately he dropped into proper sleep, and the expected nightmares soon followed. An amalgamation of stressful scenarios presented themselves throughout the night, and Julian woke more than once releasing cries of fear and anger while attempting to strike terrifying apparitions standing beside or above him. In the hours between his half-waking nightmares, however, he managed a decent night’s sleep.
The next morning greeted Julian with three loud and crisp knocks. Blinking rapidly for several moments to clear the last vestiges of his most recent nightmare, Julian slowly crossed his room to open the door a crack. A wiry middle-aged man with cropped salt-and-pepper hair, a smooth face, and horrific tobacco breath announced, “Get a bath and get dressed, kid. Boss wants to meet with you within an hour.” The man paused before continuing, “She’s pretty forgiving, especially on the first day, but I’d suggest you hurry; the more training you can get the better off you’ll be.”
Julian nodded and thanked the man, who turned around without another word and walked rapidly away. On the floor just outside the door was a fresh change of clothes, which Julian happily scooped up as he left his room, carefully locked it, and went down the hallway to a large door with pleasant steam coming out from under it. Opening it slightly, he confirmed it was indeed the bathhouse and entered.
Thick steam obscured the details, but he saw around a dozen large bathtubs, around a third of which were occupied with curtains drawn. Approaching an empty one, Julian was ecstatic to find a shower head attached to the side of the bath, and with intuitive-looking controls as well. With little hesitation he stripped down, barely remembering to close the curtain, and immersed himself in the heaven that was a hot shower. The water ran a dark brown with tinges of pink, and the disgusting sight multiplied his joy at the opportunity to shower instead of sitting in his own filth.
All too soon the water ran clear, and Julian sighed as he remembered the stranger’s advice. Though he had no particular reason to listen to the man, the advice was more common-sense and a gentle reminder of the world he found himself in, even if he had attained some temporary safety. With deep regret, he turned off the water only a short time after he was fully clean, dried himself with the provided towels, and spent several minutes figuring out how to dress himself in his new clothes. They were simple enough, but he was slowed down by needing to tie several lengths of string where more modern clothing would have had elastic.
In the end, it took Julian just over thirty minutes to arrive downstairs, well ahead of the hour deadline. His early descent was not early by local standards, however, as the common room was already filled with people going about their business. Marge took notice of his arrival and stepped away from some form of card game and called out as she approached, “You’re looking a lot better this morning! Hope you rested well, you’ve got a lot to do today.”
Marge’s grin was infectious, and Julian smiled as she grabbed his hand to shake. She led the two of them to their own table a small distance from any other patron, and took a seat. Marge spoke at a quieter volume now, though still with a subtle authority, “Now, I’m sure you’ve got questions, but the sooner you’re trained up the better. I’ll be giving you a brief overview of the plan, but that’s about it; details will come as they can, but I want you training as soon as possible.
“First and foremost, you need a quick overview of how this System works. You probably already saw some of this in your Status last night, which will show itself to you every night by the way, but the System grants us new Skills and strengthens our existing Skills when we kill other System creatures in a certain way. If you used that spear and dagger when you killed Jacob, for example, I imagine you’ve started to unlock the basic spear and dagger Skills.” Julian nodded as Marge took a swig of some brew freshly delivered to their table, before she continued.
“That’s the main thing you’ll be training for with us, Skill unlocks. Before you’re done, you’ll have some basic Skills for a primary melee weapon, a sidearm, a ranged weapon, and at least one defensive Skill. In addition to that, since you’ve an advanced Skill, we’ll be helping you unlock the most important support Skills for it. After all that, you’ll meet a few representatives for various sponsor factions from outside the Town, some of them will make you an offer, and you’ll move onwards and upwards while we get paid by the sponsor.” Marge released a solid belch and pounded her chest with her fist a couple times while she coughed. When she recovered, she finished, “I think that’s pretty much everything. Any questions?”
Julian had plenty of questions, but he started with the first one that popped into his head, “About how long will this take?”
Marge replied, “At least twenty days. That’s about the standard, because of how much the System likes its twenties, and trainees need time to recover each day. With your advanced Skill it might take a bit longer, lots of the minion creation Skills can take a full day to utilize properly.”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Julian was a little surprised. Twenty days did not seem like nearly enough time to prepare a person for combat, at least based on how long US army basic training took, but the System likely sped up the entire process. With that answered, Julian asked, “How come we’ll just be focusing on Skill unlocks? I’m guessing they’re hard to level?”
“Yeah, that’s pretty much it. Leveling Skills is a huge pain, especially in Town here where the only monsters are basically fancy vermin. Out with your eventual sponsor you’ll have plenty of stronger monsters around to kill, but here the experience requirements quickly outstrip the available monsters. And while vermin are a relatively easy fight, that does not guarantee a lack of danger, so it’s not worth it.” Marge took another swig of her drink, before she looked around and called over a man sitting alone at a nearby table.
The man was a brick. He stood at nearly seven feet tall, with bulging muscles underneath a thin but visible layer of fat. He also wore nothing but a pair of shredded pants that only maintained an opaque cover for a few more inches than modesty required. The man quickly stood and made his way to stand behind Marge’s left shoulder.
Julian had thought Marge was well-built, but this man was a little ridiculous. Marge took a moment to introduce the newcomer, and Julian’s hand was crushed by a monstrous handshake. “Julian, this is Daisy. He’ll be in charge of your training today. I’ve got to get going on my other tasks, best of luck to you.”
As Marge walked away, the newcomer spoke. “Julian, well met. Come with me, you need gear.”
Julian scrambled to catch up with the rapidly departing Daisy, who declined to look back as Julian caught up. Instead the man led Julian up to the second floor, past all the rooms, then down another set of stairs that actually led further down than the first set went up, and Julian found himself in an underground armory.
To the left of the entrance Julian stood in, the wall was covered in assorted armor, with the heaviest metal pieces on the far side. To the right was a diverse assortment of weapons, including far more options than had been available at the summoning. The options available were impressive, and while the gear was not fancy, it all looked extremely well maintained and functional. Daisy faced Julian, and commanded, “Your spear and dagger are functional, and decent choices. You still need armor and a ranged option. Make your selections.”
Julian’s selections took little time. He immediately discarded all exotic options, as while he knew the System would help him once he unlocked the accompanying Skill, he’d much rather stick to selections he’d either used before or which could be used easily. With that criteria in mind, he selected a crossbow as his ranged option. For armor, he selected an outfit of hard and thick leathers, with metal plates stitched in to provide additional protection in vital areas. He knew his endurance was not great, at least before the System, so he avoided the heaviest armors, but he still wanted good protection.
After Daisy helped him don the armor and mount his crossbow and bolts to his belt, the two walked back to the common room and out the front door. The giant explained, “We will go to a poorer area. The refuse and waste attracts more monstrous vermin to hunt. Keep your guard up.”
Julian followed Daisy for several minutes, but it did not take long for the surroundings to begin to shift. Marge’s….home? He wasn’t exactly sure what it was to her organization, but the building they had left was obviously old and could use some repair work, but was maintained well overall. The area they were in now, on the other hand, generated a quiet anxiety that the nearby buildings would collapse on them at any moment. They turned down a tight alleyway, and the smells on the wind suddenly burned Julian’s nostrils with rotten meat and excrement.
After waiting for Julian to stop gagging, Daisy pulled him forward. There was a giant rat eating from a pile of waste in the middle of the alleyway, right behind what Julian could only assume was a restaurant. The monster stood just over three feet tall at the shoulder, with deep brown fur masking its grime, and glowing yellow eyes. It noticed their approach and abandoned its meal in favor of hissing at them.
Daisy stepped back, and motioned Julian forward. With a racing heart full of adrenaline, Julian readied his spear and advanced. The rat continued to hiss, spittle flying across the short distance to splatter against Julian’s skin, but it held its ground. Julian waited till he was about ten feet away from the creature, then opened the fight with a lunging thrust, hoping to spear the creature straight through its skull before it could properly react. It threw itself to the side as quickly as it could, so instead of taking the strike through its skull, Julian’s spear caught in its shoulder, crippling one of the monster’s forelegs.
The rat reared back, pulling the spear out of its shoulder in a spray of dark blood. Julian stumbled but retained his feet, and as the rat attempted to recover from his first strike, he attacked again. Another quick thrust, this time without needing the accompanying lunge to close distance, and the rat collapsed to the ground with a large hole in its skull. As Julian stood there recovering his breath, Daisy approached and slung the rat’s corpse over his shoulder. The walking brick looked over his unoccupied shoulder at Julian and said, “Good job, follow me,” before walking back the way they had come.
Still struggling to catch his breath after the adrenaline rush, Julian complied. His fight the night before had been against another human, an even match, so his body expected to go through the same trial again. However, it seemed Marge’s, or Daisy’s, training methods were not so severe that his risk of death was too overt. As the pair walked back to the building they had started from, Julian felt a small sense of pride forming within. He had earned whatever progress he might make today.
It took about the same few minutes to return as it had to set out. Daisy walked Julian to one of the brawling arenas on the ground floor, then dumped the rat corpse in the center of the arena, before drawing a circular curtain down from the ceiling to hide whatever may happen inside. “You will create a zombie from this corpse. You do not have the Skill to control it, so you will kill it. Then you will rest. Tomorrow, we will do this again.”
Julian stared at the man for a second, then nodded, and Daisy departed. He was again glad to have stumbled upon this particular group; had he created a zombie without knowing it would be uncontrolled, it might have killed him in his surprise.
As he set about figuring out how to create a zombie, Julian felt an almost instinctual knowledge fill him, just at the edge of his consciousness. In an almost trance-like state, he began to draw a series of circles, composed of ancient logograms, around the corpse, all created with the rat’s blood. The circle was completed in a few minutes, and Julian placed his hands in two circles inside the outermost ring which were designed for them.
Next, Julian began to hum. He never could sing, and the instincts pressing at him seemed to indicate singing was a focusing method rather than a necessary part of the ritual, so he hummed instead. It seemed to be sufficient, because as he hummed he felt a tug of something against him, against his own sense of self. It wasn’t a violent or damaging tug, so much as the tug of an overly enthusiastic child eager to go on an adventure.
It took several minutes, but eventually Julian managed to relax and felt himself flow with the tugging sensation. It felt as if he left his own body, and his view changed. Instead of the world being mapped by the light bouncing into his eyes, he now had a perfect comprehension of the transformations of the atoms around him, though only within the outermost circle of blood on the ground. As hours passed, and he watched his real body continue to hum, it felt like the vision became even more detailed. His sense of the world changed from atomic, to subatomic, to realms he didn’t know the names of. Eventually, instead of a physical world, he began to sense underlying concepts and ideas. His senses were guided by the circle around him to a collection of concepts in the center of his current frame of reference: a dead giant rat, as well as the infinite other concepts that made it up.
On pure instinct shaped by the System, Julian reached out and touched the concept of dead within the rat. In a flash of light, the concept vanished. The world shook, and reality rushed to fill the hole left in the concepts making up the monster. An aetheric wind rushed around him, like wind through a car when the window is opened while traveling at high speeds. After several moments, it felt like reality managed to plug the missing concept. Julian felt his perception beginning to return to normal, but before he lost access to this strange state of being, he looked at the results of his work. The dead rat had become the Dead rat, though he felt a strange feeling of incompleteness he couldn’t quite put his finger on.
Finally, Julian’s perceptions returned to his body, and he stared right into the closing jaws of the rat-monster he had just resurrected. With a yell, Julian threw himself backwards, but not quickly enough. The jaws of the creature closed down on Julian’s left collarbone, and he yelled in surprise, but strangely the pain never came. As Julian looked closer he discovered the zombie had failed to pierce the thick leather that now wrapped his shoulder. He wrapped his left arm around the creature, pinning it to himself as the monster attempted repeatedly to bite through his armor, and drew his dagger with his right hand. Several rapid stabs to the neck eventually turned into a decapitation, putting an end to the monster’s attempts to bite him.
It collapsed to the ground, followed not long after by Julian, though he collapsed from exhaustion rather than death. With the adrenaline fading, he discovered deep aches all over his body, and his eyes barely held back sleep; the ritual had taken a long time. While he wanted to return to his room for a proper rest, he could not muster the energy, and instead fell asleep where he lay. The white text soon appeared before him.
[Status]
[Name: Julian Barth]
[Race: Human]
[Attributes: 10 10 10 10 10 10]
[Skills: Create Zombie (1), Control Zombie (1/20), Dagger (2/20), Spear (2/20), Toughness (1/20), Unarmed (1/20)]
With mixed feelings of triumph at his success and dread at the exhausting work needed to fully unlock his new Skill, Julian dismissed the Status and fell into a deep sleep.