While the other three slept, completely passed out, the others chatted in hushed conversation.

Jul remained quiet, staring from one end of the corridor to the other. Non-stop.

Nar, while still paying attention, thought it was a good time to get familiar with his UI and the other stuff the induction hadn’t covered.

He had been warned to do it before combat after all. It would be idiotic of him not to.

First, he considered his weapon.

There had been mention of a basic proficiency being given to him.

Strangely, and surprisingly, the sword didn’t look so unfamiliar anymore.

From his seated position, he raised the weapon in mock slashes, cuts and stabs.

A smile spread over his lips.

Yes. He could definitely see himself using it now.

He doubted he would be very good. It had always been in his plans to find someone to instruct him in combat, when he reached the O-Nex. But at least now, he had some idea of what to do with the weapon.

A tab popped into view, startling him.

Climber’s Longsword

Common

A simple longsword given to a Climber. It has a longer reach than a sword, but less than a two-handed sword. It offers slightly better protection due to its thicker blade, but it's also slightly slower in attack because of this.

Attributes

● DPS: 8-12

Scales with [Strength], [Agility] and [Speed].

● Damage block: 0-7%

Scales with [Strength].

Before he could even register his confusion, a new window appeared next to the tab.

DPS stands for damage-per-second.

It is a simple estimate, commonly used to evaluate one’s damage dealing potential.

It is a measure of theoretical damage that the class holder can deal, roughly, per second during combat, be it with a weapon or by other means.

It does not mean that the weapon’s wielder simply does X amount of damage-per-second. It is just an aggregate, average, rounded down numerical representation for ease of calculation and comparison.

Scaling lets you know which, if any, of your attributes affect your DPS, or any other weapon attributes.

Other variables influence your DPS, such as an enemy's armor.

Other variables might influence your weapon’s attributes.

Because of its importance, DPS is also the term by which all damage focused classes are referred to.

Nar rubbed his chin, considering the words.

So, if I gain more [Strength] I’ll be able to block more damage? And deal more damage too?

But why did the block range start at 0%?

He looked down the sword's length.

Is that because it’s a sword and not a shield?

That could be why, perhaps.

It made sense when he thought about it. A shield was a shield, and a sword wasn't really meant to be used as one, right? All he had to do was compare it to Gad’s bulky, tough looking hunk of metal. It covered her whole torso and even most of her thighs. How could his sword compete with that kind of protection?

He sighed. Why hadn't the Crystal given him one?

As it stood, his sword was slightly longer than usual, which gave him a bit more reach, and slightly wider than usual as well, which was both good and bad. Good, because it offered him some extra minimal protection, as little as that was. And bad, because that came at the cost of reduced speed, which had to mean reduced DPS as well.

All in all, the longsword was barely okay for a tank/DPS hybrid, but it was good for neither of those roles individually. This had been exactly what he and his dad had feared.

But too late for regrets now.

It would work. Somehow, he would make it all work.

Frowning, he wondered how he could close both windows and they just went away.

He wasn’t going to admit defeat yet. He couldn’t.

Instead, he focused on his clothes, but nothing happened.

Hmm. Guess they’re just clothes…

Undaunted, he moved on.

Skills.

Apparently, he would need those for combat, and he hoped they would make up the shortcomings of his [Climber’s Longsword].

Skills are special abilities gained from one’s connection to the Source. They are interpreted by the System for better ease and effectiveness of use.

Skills can be upgraded, forgotten, and new ones can be gained.

Skills have a cost associated with them, as they require an energy source.

Warning: Using skills without enough resources to satisfy their cost will result in injury, even in death, if the cost is too high.

Current skills:

Strong Attack - an attack that does an extra n * 0.35 damage, where n is your current [Strength]. Costs 10 stamina.

Strong Defense - For three seconds you receive 7% less damage, by means of temporary [???]. Cooldown 30 minutes. Costs 15 stamina.

He stared at the words in front of him, a new and unknown part of his brain effortlessly running the calculations for him.

The result had to be a mistake.

He had 10 points in [Strength].

That meant that [Strong Attack] gave him a grand total of an extra 3 points of damage on top of his meager 8-12 DPS. Now, he hadn’t expected to leave his cubeplant and stumble onto his Name, but he had expected more. A whole lot more.

And his [Strong Defense] skill was only marginally better!

What in the pile was the meaning of 7% damage reduction? Did that even do anything? And what was the meaning of that [???]? He focused on it, but nothing happened.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

He frowned. Now that he thought about it, had he not seen two [???] unknown attributes on his stats tab as well?

His breath froze on his throat as he recalled what else he had seen amongst his attributes list.

No… No. No. No. No. No...

Wishing he had seen wrong, he pulled up his stats tab again.

NAR293457741235645XAV

Basic 1

Health Points: 100/100

Stamina: 100/100

Attributes

● Strength: 10

● Constitution: 10

● Stamina: 10

● Agility: 6

● Speed: 6

● Aura: 21

● ???: 5

● ???: 10

A wave of nausea washed over him.

He had seen correctly.

Right there, under [Speed], was [Aura].

For a moment, he simply stared, his already sore stomach churning away into a spiral of growing doom.

Not only was there [Aura], when there shouldn’t have been any, it was also his highest attribute by far. By. Far.

Panic threatened to overcome him.

His fingers clutched around a receptor he would never have to touch again. A smooth, hot sensation that he would never forget. And something stirred within him… Something that shouldn’t be there anymore.

Why?

Why did he have [Aura] outside of the cubeplant?

Why was it so damned high?

It didn’t make sense.

It didn’t make sense at all!

He understood the lack of the [Aether] attribute. Magic had to be earned and he hadn’t done anything for it yet.

But this… This disgusting thing…

The floor swayed under him, the walls closing in.

It was so hot.

He had made a mistake.

His class was a mistake.

It was bad at tanking and bad at DPSing.

His skills were worthless.

Two of his attributes were unknown.

And worst of all, aura had followed him out of the cubeplant and turned into an actual attribute.

It had chased him all the way out of the factory, and the machine he had operated for almost fourteen years.

His dad had been right.

Everybody else had been right.

The Crystal Itself had warned him about his folly, and he had ignored It!

He had thought the Crystal merciful. Understanding! Finally giving him something good for once in his miserable life.

Oh! How wrong he had been!

The Crystal must have laughed at him.

It hadn’t been benevolence. It had been punishment! And he had chosen it!

A sudden, sharp gasp drew his attention away from his spiraling misery.

Cen, with both hands covering her mouth, stared in abject horror at something he couldn’t see.

It must be her attributes… Nar thought, numbly. Almost hatefully. Maybe he wasn’t the only screw up. Crystal. He kind of hoped he wasn’t. Why should the Clean fare any better than he?

“What's wrong?” Mul asked her.

For the first time since he had met the lengos, he saw something other than anger, annoyance or irritation on his face. The brawler looked pale, his worry for his sister showing true and absolute on his expression.

“I-I…” Cen swallowed and licked her lips. “No-no, it’s nothing. I just thought that as a caster I would have magic from the start. But I… I don’t even have [Aether].”

Mul sat back down with a breath of relief. “Even as a caster, I didn’t think you would have it straight away?”

Tuk nodded.

“Need to earn it like the rest of us,” he said. “Unfortunately.”

The trugger looked a little pale as well. A little wild around the eyes. His smile just a tad off.

Did he also get bad attributes? Nar wondered. Or was he just projecting now? Trying to make himself feel better?

“I-Yeah. You’re right,” Cen mumbled, her eyes still distant, staring at something none of them could see.

“I’m sure you’ll be the first one to get it,” Mul said, squeezing her shoulder.

“Yeah. Yeah… For now, I can just use my staff, I guess. It comes with a ranged attack built into it. Although, it…”

Nar looked away from the trio and caught Jul staring at him. Her eyes were slightly bigger than his, and the iridescent green and blue compound eyes were the most prominent feature on her face.

When she realized she had been caught, she looked away, and pretended nothing had happened.

Nar ignored her.

He passed a hand over his sword, and breathed steadily, to combat the dread and nausea that had taken over him. He needed to make himself calm, so that he could think.

Thankfully, Cen had shaken him out of his downwards spiral.

He continued to breathe, in and out, deeply, like he used to when powering the machine.

Slowly, he regained control over his thoughts.

You are what you do.

That was the tenet by which all those who lived under the System lived by. It was one of the few pieces of knowledge the workers had held onto, and now, finally connected to the System himself, Nar felt a much deeper understanding of what that meant.

The tenet was absolute. What one did affected everything. Their gains, their skills, even their class. One’s path was built by one’s choices.

A coward would have a much different path than one who bravely stood in the face of the challenges before them. A tank would become tougher, the more damage it took (and cheating would not work!). A DPS, as they were apparently called, would become better the more damage they dealt.

A tenet. A law. Such was the Crystal’s Will.

Earn your path… Nar remembered the Crystal’s words.

Like it or not, it slowly made sense to Nar that he had [Aura], and so much of it at that.

After all, he had used it every single day, in double shifts of eight hours each, for fourteen years. It was surprising to learn that the cursed energy they were forced to use was an attribute, but once he accepted it, everything made perfect sense. It was what he had been doing for most of his life, so of course, it would be there.

One thing that bothered him still, however, was that focusing on his [Aura] attribute gave him nothing at all. Unlike say [Speed], there was no explanation. Not even a shred of information whatsoever about the attribute.

With a sigh, he closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall.

Nothing to be done about it. It is what it is...

His shoulders eased, his heart beat steadying once more.

Right, then. What does all of this mean?

He was left to look at the disjointed, and somewhat useless pieces that he had on his hands to build the foundations of his path with.

He considered his attributes again, analyzing them with a much calmer mind.

[Strength] and [Constitution]. Those will be the main ones. And then [Stamina]... Going to need a lot of that. [Speed] is also very important, I’m guessing. Have to be fast in a fight. And that leaves… [Agility]. Being agile has to be good too, right? Make you move better and all that?

Nar crossed his arms, leaving the sword atop his crossed legs.

It’s not that bad. They are good attributes. Other than [Aura], I actually need all of them.

A hint of a smile peeked on his lips.

Uh… Maybe I didn’t really screw up. I’ll gain more attributes, and skills can be upgraded. I’m sure that the…

The words “damage modifiers” came to him, with the lightest of tickles within his head. It was like someone had dropped a single drop of warm liquid into his mind, and it expanded lazily like jell-o throughout his brain, finding a home for itself.

Yes, that… I’m sure they’ll give me better numbers as my attributes stack up and the skills upgrade.

He stretched.

Come on, Nar. This is just the beginning. We knew it was going to be hard! It just looks a little bit harder than we expected. But we can do this!

He looked up his skills again.

Current skills:

Strong Attack - an attack that does an extra n * 0.35 damage, where n is your current [Strength]. Costs 10 stamina.

Strong Defense - For three seconds you receive 7% less damage, by means of temporary [???]. Cooldown 30 minutes. Costs 15 stamina.

So, [Strong Attack] for when I need more damage, and [Strong Defense] for when I need more damage absorption. Ah… Absorption. That’s also another one of those new words, isn't it? But [Strong Defense] has a cooldown of 30 minutes? That seems a lot…

An image of searing Source coursing through his brain and body, liquefying on the spot, flashed to his head and he recoiled from it.

Ah… So, cooldown is there to protect me, and is based on how much Source energy, or stamina, I can handle at once, before… Well, that. Hmmm. As long as it gets shorter as I level up, I guess it makes sense…

Crystal. Just how much had the workers been deprived off and forgotten? Even things such as a word like “absorption”...

He clenched his jaw.

What had the First Workers done that had elicited such a punishment? And not just for them, but for the untold numbers of their descendants as well. They didn’t even remember how long the Long Dark had lasted. They had even forgotten how to keep track of it!

Just how long had they been down there in the dark? Just how many generations had toiled away to pay for the Original Sin? A sin they had never even committed in the first place! A sin they shouldn’t even be…

Nar caught himself.

I’m sorry, Almighty Crystal. Forgive me. I… I didn’t mean to.

It would not be so easy to undo years of very… Disrespectful and unkind thoughts and feelings he had nursed and harbored towards the Crystal. But for the sake of his Climb, class and his dad, he had to move beyond it.

He closed every tab and window and glanced around him.

The twins seemed to have fallen asleep, holding onto each other.

A hint of a smile touched his lips at the scene. Maybe, if he didn’t let slip that he was an Unclean, he might actually grow to like these people. Maybe.

Though if he had to, he was still prepared to drop them.

Never forget what they did. And remember that your dad is the only thing that matters. The only thing, he told himself.

Tuk was also nodding off in the soft yellow light, propped against a wall next to the lengos.

That left only the quam. Jul.

From the moment they had exited onto that corridor, Nar didn’t think he had seen her relax even once. Even now, she was still staring from one side of the corridor to the other, as if expecting guardians to pounce on them at any moment. Or worse…

Which, I suppose, can actually happen from now on.

Still.

“Hey,” he called.

She yelped and nearly jumped to her feet.

“W-wait!” Nar stammered, raising his hands in a placating gesture. “It’s just me!”

The girl flinched again, her eyes going wide at his raised hands. She quickly looked away, hiding her face under a curtain of green hair.

Heat ignited within Nar.

Unfortunately, it looked like he may have been right about her after all.

Workers' lives were tough. Management was relentless. The quota, unyielding.

It was enough to drive a worker mad, and some didn’t take it as well as others.

They took it out where they could. On their spouses. On their kids. On themselves… He had seen it before, even amongst the Unclean, in the early days, while there were still plenty of them.

The boss had strived to put an end to such behaviors and, later on, fortunately, his dad hadn’t had to carry on with that particular duty. Those who survived came to cherish the little family they still had left above their lives, and the little time they had with their loved ones in between their grueling shifts was all they had to life for.

He wasn’t exactly sure how it went for the Clean, though. He had a feeling that the same administration that withheld the Unclean’s food on a monthly basis, would just the same turn a blind eye to any such behaviors, as long as the quotas remained unaffected.

The quotas were all that mattered to them. To everyone, in their endless goal to reach the end of their labor and to keep the Doors shut. No one was going to be exiled for beating up their kids and even other people.

To Nar, they should be. It was inexcusable. And it was a damned pretty good reason to Climb.

He felt really sorry for the quam, and what she had been forced to endure.

“It’s Jul, right?” he asked, his tone softening.

Jul glimpsed at him, from the corner of her eyes. She nodded.

Nar smiled. “Nice to meet you. My name’s Nar.”

She nodded again.

“Ah… Well, I was just wondering if you were alright,” he said, starting to feel a little awkward. She was a Clean, after all. He had never spoken to any of them like this. Like an equal sentient. Like a person.

Jul glanced at the darkness behind him, and Nar followed her stare.

“Kinda scary, isn't it?” he asked.

She nodded.

Nar offered her a gentle smile. However, before he could say anything else, she got up and walked a bit further.

She sat back down a few steps away from him, and resumed her watch.

Nar sighed.

Damn… Was I too much?

Jul looked even more terrified now, which both angered him and made him feel bad.

Should definitely exile them all, he thought, bitterly.

Considering what had happened to Jul, he wondered if she was going to be able to Climb at all. Fear was bound to be a constant in their lives now, all the way to the very top. How was she going to handle that?

Guardians and you know what else… he thought, a shiver running down his spine.

The darkness behind him seemed all the more foreboding now.

There was a reason why nobody wanted to fail the quota and have those Doors open. Same reason why there had been so many workers guarding the door when they had left. Guardians didn’t enter cubeplants. But as for the others…

He shook his head, dislodging the thoughts from his mind.

Wonder how long it will take us to get up there…

How many days, or months, of yellow lit corridors, and guardians, and fear? How much would he have to endure, to suffer, before he earned his forgiveness?

Only the All-Knowing Crystal knew how long it would take. And he purposefully avoided thinking about one of the new words he had learned. Years.

A year encompassed four entire work seasons, and those went by slowly. Very, very slowly.

Yes. He hoped he wouldn’t have to be stuck here, with these people, for years yet to come.

But surely that wouldn’t happen, right?

And speaking of people, how long were the others going to sleep for?

His eyes were suddenly very, very heavy.