The moment Cynthya’s AR gave her the green light about Morty integrating with the house, she presented the pre-prepared contract for the sale. Raine was just as eager to seal the deal. He sold enough stock to complete the purchase of both houses, and pay the first month's salary for his new employees.
Cynthya stayed long enough to transfer the authentication procedures into his name, then hustled out with an excuse of another appointment that magically presented itself. No doubt she was uncomfortable knowing how many had died in the residence. Raine’s senses were on high alert, almost hoping Morty would try something.
After seeing her out and confirming his retinal scan could unlock the doors, he knocked on Morty’s closet, “Everything okay in there? Any homicidal inclinations yet?”
A muffled, robotic voice responded right away, “You should be concerned. Very concerned!” Morty’s voice boomed through the house's built-in speakers, followed by creepy canned laughter.
Unfazed by the attempted jump-scare, Raine merely nodded sagely, “Perfect. Not doing myself any favors by living comfortably and safe. Come at my anytime, tin can. Just be aware, every failure will result in the loss of a limb.”
“Hah! jokes on you. I don't have any limbs!”
Raine snapped his fingers, his eyes widening melodramatically, “Oh, good point. Guess I'll just take your head then. Better not miss.” Morty didn’t have anything more to say after that, and Raine walked away from his closet with a chuckle.
In the master suite, he adjusted the walls and layout to his liking, then connected his AR glasses and ZL headset with the hypernet. His first order of business was contracting an autonomous bookkeeping service. Starting a small company, he created an ongoing payroll for the group. Within fifteen minutes, they received their first month's salary, more than enough to get them on their feet.
Fortunately, ZionLine was ahead of the curve and personal information could both be used for employment purposes, while remaining anonymous. Raine had signed countless recruits up in the past and was intimately familiar with the process. He found the old motions both refreshing and disgusting.
Highest priority: hire a secretary. If I have to deal with this administrative crap a second time, I'll go insane. Speaking of insane, its crazy ZL was set up to integrate their anonymity algorithms with bookkeeping on the first day. Did they know how dangerous their game would become before launch? They must have.
With another thirty minutes until the appointed meet-up time, Raine checked on the group. They confirmed receipt of their pay, were settling into their new home, and would be back in ZL on time.
He spent some time walking the grounds and rearranging the house. Preferring to exercise in public where there was far more motivation and human interaction, he dismantled the fitness area and turned it into an outdoor meeting space for virtual conferences once the guild was up and running.
With only a few minutes remaining, he jotted down a grocery list on the kitchen's intelligent counter and retired to his new master suite. From the virtual window, he watched a flock of drones detach from their charging station and set off to fulfill his order.
image [https://i.imgur.com/7AF18SZ.png]
The party was already there when Raine logged in. Their heads were together as they watched a video on their interfaces. Kevinsbakon was by far the most animated, his excitement palpable, “See! I told you he used the boss’s own attack to kill that caster! He didn’t even look back, he knew it was dead meat. The guy’s a genius. I wonder if we’ll ever meet him.”
“That was hours ago. He’s long gone by now. We haven’t seen another system message, so he’s probably moved on to a higher level region. By the time we get there, he’ll be two further,” Richtor’s splash of reality had all their shoulders slumped.
Not surprising they found my fight with the chief. I changed my armor before I got here, it's no wonder they don’t recognize me. It's for the best. Can’t have a connection to me in real life or I won’t survive the week.
“Alaric?” Raine asked the group. The fact they hadn’t noticed his approach until that moment had him stifling a desire to berate them. They would learn eventually, and they weren’t level five yet so there was room to cut them some slack.
Deloralicious sent him an awkward half-wave, jerking her hand back to her side, “You saw it too? That’s… I can’t imagine being able to do half of what he did. No matter how many times I watch, it doesn’t make any sense.”
“No point worrying about it for now. We have our own issues to deal with and you’re short on time,” Raine was all business, leading them off the trail in a seemingly random direction. They passed between two small hills, rounding one toward a small copse of trees.
Richtor saw the small cave first, pointing it out to the others while talking to Raine, “What do you mean we’re short on time? You’re not expecting them to find us way out here, are you?”
“No and yes. They will eventually find this place without a doubt. You’re short on time because I’m not going to stay with you for more than a couple hours.” The rest of Raine’s sentence was interrupted by a warning growl that arrested the group’s steps.
Raine jabbed the air, and a flash of light solidified into a stubby piece of wood.
[Novice Wand - Dull Trash: (Elemental Power +2) (RES +1)]
The lumbering bear that bounded from the cave was easily three times the height of a man. Its body rippled with powerful muscles and its roar shook their bones. Raine was more interested in the reactions of the group than the beast. All but one of them locked up, frozen and unable to move a muscle as the massive creature bore down on them faster than they could possibly escape.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
The last released a high-pitched girl's scream. Raine cringed from the ear-rending force of the squeal. The bear reached them and stood to its full height, towering over them. Raine swung his wand. Blast activated for the first time, sending out a perfectly timed ball of force that impacted the bear's chest. [Critical hit! -321]
The unfortunate animal was only level five, which was relatively high considering how close they were to a newbie town. Its torso exploded, splashing the nearby rocks as it received nearly double its health in damage. Before its weight collapsed Raine spun to face the group. They were still in shock, all save Kevinsbakon whose screaming continued unabated until the bear crashed into the ground with a shaking thud.
Raine frowned at him, then clipped the recording he always kept running. He flicked the file to the whole group so they could rewatch their friend in exacting detail whenever the mood struck them.
Only a few minutes later, Milkdud roared, tears streaming from his eyes, “Bahaha! Best boss ever!” The rest were just as enthusiastic, even Deloralicious was bent over and heaving for breath. Of course, Kevin’s attempts to salvage his reputation fell on deaf ears.
Richtor, ever serious and observant, held his laughter, questioning Raine, “Are you going to teach us how you did that? What attack was that? How was it so strong? That looked completely different than what you did to the wolves.”
Raine shook his head, “One thing at a time.” With their nerves settled after what would be a harrowing encounter for anyone new to ZL, Raine clapped for attention, “This cave will be your home for the next few days. It's hard to find from the road, easily defensible, and close to where you'll be leveling up. As for training, we’ll begin immediately.”
Kevinsbakon turned pale, stepping back, “E-easily defensible? Is that bear coming back?”
“Yes, in twenty-four hours. So you've got that long to get strong enough to deal with it on your own. But I don't think any of you need a reminder that the wildlife isn't the worst threat around. you'll be level five shortly. The moment you are, and I mean the very moment, expect a dagger in your back. There’s no easier prey than a fresh level five staring at his level-up notifications.”
image [https://i.imgur.com/7AF18SZ.png]
“No, not like that,” Raine bit back a sigh, knowing his exasperation would only discourage the eager TwistedReligion. Instead of continuing to reiterate the usual method of firing a ranged skill, he decided to fully explain, hoping a deeper understanding would correct the issue, “You need to fully commit the moment of the skill's release before you start the swing. Remember, the system reads your brain waves to understand the trajectory of your intended swing, before you enact it. You picture a punch in your head, then you do it. The system takes that picture, and creates a probable response in the game whether you enact the punch or not. Well before you actually punch, it’s too late to change the outcome. You following?”
TwistedReligion gazed about the darkening night, his eyes anywhere but meeting Raine’s. He nodded slowly, “So, you're saying that portions of my actions are random, unless I tell the system not to be random, in advance… with my mind?”
“Yes! Now you’re getting it. Without guidance, the system has no choice but to randomly determine when the skill will be released from your weapon. If you don't override that randomness at the exact moment it's being determined, the skill will be uncontrollably released at any point along the trajectory of your swing.”
“This is ridiculous. No wonder I couldn’t hit anything. How did you figure all this out?”
“Well, ZL is run by quantum computers and they’re all about multiple diverging simultaneous probabilities. It just makes sense, you know? C’mon. Try again.”
TwistedReligion's face skewed like he was in actual pain as he tried to wrap his head around Raine’s info dump. For the fiftieth time, he focused on the staff held in front of him like a club. He lifted it above his head and closed his eyes to concentrate. A moment later, he swung down and shouted, “Kyah!” Finally, instead of a bolt of energy being released to fly randomly, the attack flew true and straight, splashing harmlessly against a boulder.
He threw his head back, laughing maniacally, “Yes! I did it! Did you see that? I'm the kiiiing!” His shouting was ignored by the others as each of them was immersed in their own training.
Raine failed to hold his sigh back this time, “When you can hit the rock ten times in a row, you'll be ready for moving targets. At that point, you should start attacking the others while they're training. Keep ‘em on their toes an’ all that.”
TwistedReligion’s eyes grew wide as an excited grin crept across his lips. He spun back to the rock, more motivated than ever. Raine sighed again and made his way to Milkdud who was crouched in the mud, peeking over a tuft of tall grass at a nearby treeline.
“Find it yet?” Raine whispered, kneeling beside him.
“Nope, you sure it's there?”
Raine took a quick peek at the trees, instantly spotting the three perfectly motionless monsters that were watching their group, “Yup, it's still there. Remember what I said, skills are an augment to reality, an addition, a bonus. The reality is that there's a forest with monsters in front of you. So long as you know in your bones that there's a beast, Far Sight will find it and light it up for you. Don't think, don't assume, know.”
Milkdud nodded and narrowed his eyes for a few seconds before shaking his head. Suddenly, he smacked himself upside the head, hard. A moment later, he pumped a fist in the air and whooped, “That did the trick! Nothing like a little pain to focus the mind.”
“Great job. Now find the other two,” Raine released a bark of laughter at the man’s dumbstruck expression before heading over to Richtor, Kevinsbakon, and Deloralicious. They were in the middle of a far more intense method of training.
“What are you doing? Don't listen to his moaning and stab him!” Raine berated Deloralicious as he closed the distance on their mock sparring match. Since they were still protected from PVP, Raine had them sign a system contract that allowed them to hurt one another. Kevinsbakon shot him a nasty scowl, clearly unhappy with the prospect of being stabbed.
Raine crossed his arms, eyeing her form critically as he offered further suggestions, “Your right hand shifted six millimeters out of position. Your lead foot isn't far enough forward to transmit momentum into adequate power for the thrust.” On and on it went, broken by Kevinsbakon’s shouted complaints whenever she managed to hit him. Surprisingly, Deloralicious was really getting into her role. The depressed anxiety hanging around her like a blanket was quickly shifting to a bloodthirsty gleam in her eyes and a malicious twist to her lips.
“Why does it hurt so much when I block?!” Kevinsbakon whined, sporting a freshly oozing hole on his shoulder.
“Because your Block is novice grade and it doesn't negate all the damage. This isn't the type of game where you stand in front of a monster and trade attacks. If you don't like the pain, get out of the way!”
Kevinsbakon scoffed, “Like it?! I hate it! I don't think I'm cut out to be a tank.”
“Nonsense, people who can't stand pain, but also don't want to see their friends experience gruesome death after gruesome death, make the best tanks. It takes courage, and a deep seated desire to get the hell out of the way! Now stop complaining, everyone knows complaining makes pain hurt more.”
Richtor’s bark of laughter accompanied the Mend that shot a short distance to splash against Kevinbakon’s back, healing his injury. The wound had yet to seal when Deloralicious’ dagger created a fresh hole in his leg.
“Argh! At least let me hit her back. Look at her eyes, man. She’s really trying to kill me!”