Frank continued his walk back, down the highway, towards the main street. Eventually, he made his way back to the city hall and went upstairs. He went over to the room everyone had gathered in.
Anna sat in the corner, looking much the same as when she had left. Hugo, Maria’s father, was still unconscious on the couch. Bill was sitting at the table closest to the door, feet bandaged and resting on the table. A South Asian man, younger-looking but balding unfortunately early, sat across.
Both Bill and the other man turned to see who it was as Frank entered.
“Frank. You’re back. Everyone else on the way?” Asked Bill.
“Yes. They’ll be a little longer. We rescued eight people.”
“Really? The aliens had captured eight of em? And you guys broke 'em out? I wish I could have been there.”
“Good that you hadn’t. You’ve no skin on the back of one heel, blisters all over. You could ruin your feet.” The other man interjected.
He spoke to Frank next. “I am Ghulam Singh. Most of those here call me Dr. Singh because I am the only family physician in town.” He spoke, the slight lilt of an accent present, but only faintly.
“Frank. Frank Morris.” It took Frank a moment to bring up that fact. It’d been so long since he had used it. He stepped inside, taking a seat on the unoccupied couch along the wall. He placed his sword underneath his feet, handle below him, blade under the sofa.
Ghulam continued as Frank settled in. “I have been curious to meet you. You were here for but a few hours and many people spoke of you curiously.” He glanced over. “Of course, I have been here for the day with only Bill for company, and he has the strongest impression of you, I think. The events of the past few days loom large on my mind and his.”
“Mine as well,” Frank replied.
“For me,” said Ghulam, “my thoughts drift to the basis for this situation. The origin. Bill here suspects aliens. I suspect the divine, though I was never a believer before now.”
Frank thought for a moment. “I don’t know. My first thought was Ragnarok, violence and apocalyptic change seems to match that the closest.”
“It’s a shame most of the Norse myths were lost,” Ghulam said.
“Are they?” Frank asked.
“Yes. Almost all the pre-Christian traditions of Europe are lost, except the Greek and Latin, which were written before then.” Ghulam replied. “I wonder if this construct, with these numbers, these rewards it gives. Can it reward the knowledge of the past?”
No one Frank had known had received, or asked for, ancient knowledge. There was a rumour, at one point, that someone had asked for Emperor Claudius’ Etruscan dictionary, whatever that was, but most people who had spoken to him agreed that if someone had done that their teammates would have abandoned them immediately. The necessity of survival tended to trump other considerations.
He chatted with Bill and Ghulam, aimlessly. It was not a particularly long wait before the others arrived. Greg was first, and when he saw Frank there was a bit of relief in his eyes. Frank took note of that. It meant that Greg wanted something from him.
“Dr. Singh, there are eight people downstairs who’ve had a horrible two days who could probably use a checkup. Even if there’s nothing wrong they’ll be relieved that you did it.”
“Certainly. Glad to see you back safely Greg.” Ghulam turned to Bill and Frank. “Gentlemen, it has been a pleasure.” He said, before leaving.
Greg stepped aside to let him through, then looked at Frank. “Once I get everyone settled, I’d like to have a conversation with you.”
“I’d be fine with that,” Frank replied simply.
“I’ll come back once everything immediate is sorted.”
Greg left. The others who had gone out with them filtered in. The four siblings, Maria, Sasha, Brook, and Laura. Everyone settled in and made themselves comfortable. Soon, the new arrivals followed in one after the other.
It was dim, the sun partly set already. In the future, there’d be candles or a fire or a simple lamp. But until such things were gathered, no one had anything. It was the kind of oversight that any person used to the ubiquity of light would make.
Greg and Ghulam returned, and Greg closed the door behind him. Laura stood up and spoke. “Everyone is here now. I know that everyone here has suffered a lot over the past few days and that everyone wants to know what to do, and what is going to happen. I have some ideas, which I’m going to share. Then anyone else can give their thoughts. After that, I want to get some things together for tonight specifically.”
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She paused after declaring her intent, signifying that if someone had an objection they could air it, but then continued quick enough to prevent anyone from thinking it over. “First, what has happened to us is beyond explanation. The majority of us are from here in town, but Frank, Bill, and Allana are not.”
She nodded to each person in turn. Allana turned out to be a mousey looking middle-aged woman who had been freed from the encampment. Then she continued. “Allana was in Oklahoma, Bill was in Minnesota, and Frank was in…” she turned to Frank.
“Northern Canada.” He supplied.
“Unfortunately this indicates that this was not local. Furthermore, upon exiting from that ‘tutorial’ that we all found ourselves in, I and several others were told that about two and a third billion people were left.” She looked around the room.
“Given these pieces of information, we cannot rely on immediate relief from the government. I personally hope that the message that appeared was in error, or a deception, but I do not know.”
“With this in mind, we, collectively, need to secure for ourselves food, shelter, and other necessities in the absence of electricity.” She paused again.
“Combustion engines no longer work. Neither do guns. Jim has tested both extensively. Electronics are all dead. We have limited resources, and as we have discovered, there are monsters outside. We need a plan of action to deal with these.” She sat down, and Greg immediately stood up.
“Enemies are out there. Where? We don’t know. We found one though, so I can take a guess and say there’s more. On top of that, I suspect there are others in the surrounding area in need of our help. How many people have been strewn throughout the woods and lack the skills to find their way to us? We need to help them if we can, and find if there are any other threats around us.”
He had much less to say, and sat down after that. No one else had too much to say. Things had been hit on the head pretty precisely. The people gathered had all survived a trial by fire and were of a certain mental fortitude, so there was no hysterical shouting or denials or demands. Frank decided now was as good a time as any.
He stood up, nodding to Greg. “I have some things to add.”
“As far as I am aware, this is global. There’s no reason to suspect that it isn’t. It’s more likely something with enough power to accomplish something like this in a small area also has enough to do it everywhere, than it is they can only affect this area and no more. And if they were limited in power, it would make no sense to choose the area it did over another.” He channelled David as he explained things in a matter of fact way.
“There’s no justification for a being or force that can beam thoughts instantly into your mind and teleport you a thousand miles to be limited to only you, or only a small area. Whatever it is that has caused this, I assume it has godlike power. You’d be best served doing the same.” He continued, not waiting for others to interject.
“The stats each do a different thing. Strength increases physical power.” Frank casually lifted the sofa behind him up with one hand.
“Agility is body control, hand-eye coordination. Constitution is endurance and hardiness. I’ve noticed that it modifies the HP field by its value times your level. Vitality is your recovery rate, both from wounds and fatigue. It changes your SP field the same way the HP field is modified.” Sasha made to ask a question, but Frank just bulldozed through.
“HP is your physical condition. If it falls to zero you will die unless given help. SP is your energy. If it falls to zero you will collapse.” Frank looked around.
“All that is very obvious and you can confirm it by simple observation. What I’m going to explain next I cannot prove to you at this moment, but I am sure it will be shown to be true later.”
“First. The ‘status’ that you’ve all seen lists you as human. There are others who are not human who are in the same situation as we are. Alternatively, we might not remain human. That’s what can be inferred.” Frank paused again, a necessary sidetrack came to mind.
“On a related note. A powerful godlike being causes this to happen. It can teleport me a thousand miles and force me to fight in a series of deathmatches. What reason would it have to lie other than amusement? If we assume the messages are lies, then no information can be gotten from them. But there is no good reason to assume that.”
“You all got a deed at level 3. You can level it up five times, including the level you get it. Once you have done that, you pick a new one. The deeds available are based on what you already know or have done. I had the option of picking from five deeds when I chose. Thus I must possess some ability or have taken some action to allow me more selections. Logically, to keep getting deeds, you have to keep learning or doing things. The system said that if you did not have a deed you got to place one stat point where you wished among the stats. All my options offered more points than that, so choosing a deed is probably better.”
“That means that it is imperative to find ways to get new deed options otherwise the ‘system’ will give you lesser rewards. I will tell you now that I got the ‘Assassin’ deed, and the ‘Survivor deed by achievement, according to the system. It did not tell me how, but I can make a guess. For the Assassin, I defeated several of my enemies with a single blow. For the survivor, I made an improvised weapon.”
“If any of you have a deed you got by achievement, it’d be a good idea to share it and try and figure out how you got it, in case someone else can also use it.”
“Then, there are the other four stats. Knowledge directly increases the amount of information the system provides. No doubt if you compare the messages you’ve received with Dr. Singh, most of you will have been told less. Intelligence determines your ability to comprehend information and skills the system may reward you with. It does not make you smarter.”
“Stability is your mental toughness. Wisdom is the strength of your subconscious to react to your surroundings and notice details. I have no idea what MP does or how to get it.”
“Finally, the system can give you physical things as rewards. If you look at this sword while focusing on the idea of a description, you’ll see that some things are special.”
Goblin Scimitar. The work of a skilled smith. AGI +1
Frank finished, then looked around the room, waiting for the first question.
“Are you an alien man? Don’t tell me you’ve been fucking with me this whole time and you’re an alien.” Bill asked.