[Poison Resist] Activated

Jane blinked at the message. “Poison Resist? When? What, his clippers? Motherfucker.” She looked down, fiddling with the pouch on her hip. “I’ve got a poison nullifying potion somewhere around here… Damn, Renee is right. I really need to organize my inventory.”

Vivian’s eyes flickered open. Jane dug in her pouch, distracted. She twisted her lips. “Where is it…”

Vivian jumped up. He charged at Jane, stabbing the clippers toward her.

Her hand snapped out. She caught the clippers mid-stab. “Nice try.”

Vivian raised his other hand and squeezed the spray bottle in her face. Jane flinched back.

[Stun Resist] Activated! Stun failed.

But it doesn’t matter. She still flinched. Dropping the spray bottle, Vivian punched Jane in the face with all his might. She fell back again, releasing his clippers.

He chased her down. Grabbing the clippers in both hands, he smashed them into Jane’s face.

Jane crossed her forearms over her head and blocked the clippers.

Mid-stab, Vivian yanked the clippers open. [Trim!] He snapped them shut on the underside of Jane’s forearm, severing her tendons.

Jane cursed. She yanked her arm back, turning it to frown at her forearm. “What the shit?”

He plunged the open clippers toward her throat. [Trim!]

Swaying back, Jane dodged the blades. She raised her hands again. The one Vivian had [Trim]med hung half-open, unable to curl properly into a fist. “What the fuck, asshole.”

“Ghost Roses, bitch,” Vivian returned.

Jane narrowed her eyes. “You were faking this whole time? What are you, a Player?”

Vivian grinned. “Wanna try me?”

She stepped forward, only to stumble mid-step. Jane caught her breath, then pressed a hand to her chest. “What…”

“Oh, it’s finally taking effect? [Poison Resist] is stronger than I thought,” Vivian commented. He stepped back. “[Poison Resist] isn’t [Immune Poison]. It only slows the process. Once I poisoned you, it was just a matter of stalling you out and distracting you from using your [Antidote].”

Jane grabbed at her pouch. “I—”

Vivian darted in, firing a punch at her head. She blocked it, only to sway wildly. Her breath came short. She shivered, her face growing pale.

“Dammit, let me—” Jane grabbed at her pouch again.

“Fuck no. Did you not listen to my monologue? My whole purpose was to stop you from getting that antidote!” Vivian said, shaking his head. He slashed at Jane again, forcing her to jump back.

Jane landed awkwardly and slumped to the ground. She glared up at Vivian. “Our guild… the Masters of Exclusion… will hunt you down.”

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“Wow, impressive. Hunting down an NPC? Your guild must have a lot of free time,” Vivian said, clicking his tongue. Masters of Exclusion? What kind of dumbass edgy name is that? Damn, I hate guilds.

I hate guilds? Huh. I guess I wasn’t much of a party player, then. Was I powerful enough I didn’t need a guild to survive? Or… Vivian looked at his hands. Well. I’m a Gardener now, and I died a bunch out the gate, plus I do totally remember getting ganked at some point. I don’t know if I should go ahead and assume I’m super strong.

Jane dragged an antidote out of her pouch. Her hand trembled as she lifted it.

Vivian stomped her hand to the floor. “No! Stop that. That’s my antidote now.”

“You…” Jane’s eyes rolled back. She fell to the ground, limp.

Noah peeked out from around the corner. He eyed Jane nervously. “She… passed out?”

“Uh… yeah,” Vivian said slowly.

Noah licked his lips. “Vivian, did… did you have to kill her?”

“I mean, look here, kid. How else were we going to get into her inventory? People don’t drop stuff when they’re incapacitated. They drop stuff when they’re dead,” Vivian said. He patted Jane’s shoulder. [Compost.]

Jane’s body crumbled away. A few shining objects rolled out of the fresh pile of rich dirt and pale bones, including the antidote bottle. Vivian sifted through them, pocketing the useful items. “Potion, potion, potion… hey, SP potion! Here you go.”

Noah gave the SP potion a nervous look. “You took that off a dead body. Off a woman you murdered!”

Vivian frowned at Noah. “It’s the Tower. Jeez, you’re acting like no one Player-Kills.”

“Not anymore! Not since the wild west days of the first Tower Climbers! Player-Killing is rarer than murder on the outside of the Tower. You’re nuts!” Noah said, recoiling.

“You’ve been going on about this “First Generation” stuff for a while, but seriously, it’s been, what, twenty years since the Tower appeared?” Vivian said, shaking his head.

“It’s been a hundred years. Over a hundred,” Noah said.

The two of them stared at each other. Vivian broke first, blinking. “Uh. What?”

“It’s been a hundred years and change since the Tower appeared. Are… are you actually a member of the First Generation? But… how? You should be ancient,” Noah said, eyeing Vivian up.

“I don’t know. How am I an NPC?” Vivian returned rhetorically.

Noah opened his mouth, then froze. “Wait. You said your name was Vivian?”

“Yeah?” Vivian asked.

“The Vivian?” Noah asked, squinting.

“I don’t know. I’m a Vivian, anyways. Who’s the Vivian?” Vivian asked.

Noah threw his hands out. “The Climber. The original Climber. The Climber that all Climbers aspire to be. That Vivian.”

Vivian frowned. “I… don’t remember being the Vivian, but I do remember being a Climber.”

“It’s gotta be you, right? But… how?” Noah murmured, frowning at himself.

“Look, let’s not get carried away. I really have no idea who or what I am,” Vivian said, shrugging.

“Oh! I know,” Noah said, looking up. “If we get to the Rankings table, your name will glow blue when you get close. Then we’ll know if you’re the Vivian or not.”

“Or we’ll know the Vivian is somewhere nearby,” Vivian snarked.

Noah squinted at him. “Vivian should be a hundred years old. And he’s dead.”

“Well, I died,” Vivian said, shrugging. “A couple of times, at that.”

“Wait, so are you not an NPC? And we aren’t… I mean, you just killed someone! I almost… almost forgot…” Noah said, staring at the lump of black, moist earth where Jane had been.

“Oh, right. Let’s not let all this Vivian talk distract us from her drops,” Vivian muttered, turning back to the pile.

“That’s not what I mean! I mean—I mean, you’re a murderer! You just killed someone! I should run!” Noah said. He backed away nervously.

“’Kay, go ahead,” Vivian said. He pulled a plastic baggie full of sandwiches out of the dirt, and his eyes lit up. “I’ll just sit here and have a peanut butter and jelly, you go on.”

Noah hesitated. He eyed the sandwiches. His stomach grumbled, and a little bit of drool dripped from the corner of his mouth.

“I mean, I’m not gonna kill you,” Vivian said. He grabbed a sandwich and held the bag out to Noah. “Here. Eat and walk?”

Noah hesitated another second, then darted over and grabbed a sandwich. He retreated, curling over his sandwich like a nervous squirrel. “This is insane.”

“I know, right?” Vivian mumbled through a mouthful of peanut butter. He stood and gestured. “C’mon. Let’s get moving before the Lost Ones catch up.”

“So crazy. Super crazy,” Noah muttered to himself. He lifted the sandwich and took a bite.

Vivian gestured. “It’s really nothing worth getting worked up over. I mean, she isn’t even the first Player I killed since I woke up!”

Noah coughed, choking on his sandwich.

Vivian thumped him on the back. “Take it slow, kiddo. Let’s not Player Kill ourselves.”

“Crazy. I’m crazy. We’re all crazy,” Noah grumbled, rubbing his throat.