I can understand that they find me interesting, not to say amusing, but that means little when it comes to joining forces and acting as a group. These people know next to nothing about me.
“I brought you to this dungeon, which seems to be an easy one. I am showing a way to navigate this place without having to deal with the crocs. This is pretty much my current value.” I said, while slowly leading them through the sewers.
Gareth was the first to stop smiling, sensing the shift in my tone.
“So, you know I have survived here for quite a while. You know I meant what I said. And you know I am not just the ‘run and hide while crying in despair’ kind of guy. Still, that doesn’t really tell me why you are not telling me to fuck off or killing me after getting what I had to offer.” I said in a somber tone to make a point, I have no need to tell them about my ways to deal with the crocs after all.
Then they all stopped smiling. Elara frowned. I am sure he picked up some deception while I spoke, I am not telling them everything after all, and I am indeed doing so on purpose. But she said nothing.
“My point is… why invite me, or tag along when you already got this? I got my ass kicked by rats. I have no gift and I am in a pinch when it comes to getting shards. Care to explain?” I said.
“The reason is twofold.” Gareth said.
“More like fivefold.” Rhys said.
“Wait, this is out of order, let’s go back to where we stopped, we didn’t even finish with the first impressions of all of us and…”
“Anyway…” Gareth spoke a little louder while glaring at Finn, who sighed and lowered his head, and Rhys, who shrugged.
“People, most people, are sort of broken.” Gareth sighed. “From what we have seen so far, there are four kinds of people around…”
“The whiners, the eager, the hopeful and the delusional.” Finn quickly interjected.
Gareth looked at him with a glance, Finn shut up and scratched his head.
“There are people who can’t break free from the past, from what they have and lost. They are broken and the only people who can fix them are themselves.” Said Rhys with clear disgust on his face. “We can’t wait for them. They are just burdens. Better left as crystal statues.”
“There are those who see this as some sort of game. A chance to rise to power. A new life, much more stimulating than before. They throw themselves at every chance to grow, some even ignoring obviously deadly scenarios.” Bronwyn said. “We can’t join them. They love it here. We don’t.”
“Then, there are some people that are not clinging to the past, but looking forward, trying to make the best with what we got and leave this nightmare.” Elara said, almost murmuring. “The ones who don’t like how things are, but accept this new reality, trying to make it better. Like us.”
“And, as expected, there are the crazy bunch. People who think this is some sort of ‘end of days due to god’s wrath’ and all that. Or the people who think they are paying for their sins. Or people that are saying the system is the devil himself. Or… well… there’s a bunch of them.” Finn sighed. “It’s like they have the innate skill to trick themselves into believing all sorts of stuff for no rime or reason. And these are even more dangerous than the eager ones. They are the kind of people who light torches and set others on fire while giving themselves some sort of moral high ground or even sacred duty.”
Gareth glared at all of them in succession. As if they were stealing his limelight.
“As I was saying…” Gareth said a little louder once again. The others smiled. And he continued after a deep breath. “You are between type two and type three from what we had seen. Clearly not type one and nothing led us to believe your confidence comes from something that could land you as a type four. So far, at least.”
I scoffed. They are sort of right. But also sort of wrong. People can’t be just put into boxes like that, I got some type one and some type four or me as well. I do miss and want back the confort I got before this mess, I just won’t expect to achieve it by whining about it. And I do think this system is not just some tool to oversee this integration, although I can’t be sure as of now.
I can understand how they see the type two in me. I do want more. Much more. But I am not going to risk my life to achieve it if I can take it easy. That’s why they also put me in type three, not because I am not type two, but because I don’t act like one, which led them to believe I am one of the hopeful.
Should I tell them I have no hope at all that this shit will improve? That will get much, much worse as people slowly reveal their true nature while gaining powers? Tell them that the reason I am thinking of making a path for people to follow is because that’s the best way to ensure my safety while gaining power to protect myself from the greedy, the envious and the crazy?
“In a sense, you are just like us, people who want things to improve, a type three, but are forced to adapt to this new reality and do their best to thread the path of a type two.” Gareth said while smiling and circling his hand to indicate they are in agreement about this. “We are not going to whine as the ones who are stronger keep on improving, because they will eventually come to take what we have if they wish to do so. And we aren’t delusional in believing that doing nothing and cursing all day long or looking for imaginary enemies will solve anything. We know what we must do. And we will try.”
Well, so at least they know that being weak is a sin itself now. That’s reassuring.
“Still didn’t answer my question. I can see how you can find me… agreeable. But that doesn’t make me someone… valuable. Does it?” I asked. I understood how we might share some, or maybe many, goals. But, that’s not enough. Not in this place.
“I said the reason was twofold. That was the first part.” Gareth smiled. “Elara?”
Elara cleared her throat and I could feel her eyes burning my back as I walked.
“You said you can take care of the rats. We can do that easily. But that’s now, as a group and with gifts. We can’t do that alone and without gifts. You know you can. You are sure of it.” Elara said, then he started speaking a little louder. “And you are also sure you can handle the… spinos? crocs? The big bad lizards. Also alone. Also without gifts. And I have no choice but to believe you.”
I am quite sure the girl was pouting. As if it was my fault that she felt betrayed by her own gift that told her I am not spewing bullshit to make a point.
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“Just to make it clear, Vincent.” Finn said. “We can’t handle those, alright? Not without risking losing the little we got and ending up as crystal statues.”
“When we started we were lucky enough to start in a much more ‘manageable’ instance. This one is a nightmare compared to that.” Rhys said while sighing. “And this told us that you were good when it comes to surviving. We saw potential. We already wanted to help you, because you would help us in return. But that was before your little speech.”
“That was a shitshow.” Bronwyn smiled. “With each sentence things got increasingly outrageous and Elara could do nothing but signal us that you were being honest. That’s when we realized we might have just found gold while looking for copper.”
It was my turn to look back at them and frown.
“You have potential, Vincent. We knew it the moment you walked out of the instance and met us. It was quite easy to see you weren’t broken. That was already enough reason.” Gareth said. “When we confirmed you weren’t delusional or drunk on the quest for power, it was pretty much a given that we would try to convince you to tag along.”
“But you… man, you got some plans.” Finn smiled while giving me a thumbs up. “Not like us, we are humble people”, he said while faking humility, “people who are happy to simply improve and perhaps rescue some people in the hopes they do it as well”, he lift right hand while holding his chest with the left, like the theatrical jerk he is, “and spread the will to help others.”
Then Finn quickly turned his gaze at me and dropped his voice and octave lower. “But you, the scary bunny, the scariest bunny…”, ok, the man clearly has issues, and Elara blushed when he mentioned it, “will kill your way through a nightmarish instance to make your own kingdom.”
“Clown.” Said Gareth.
“Six out of ten. Decent.” Saig Bronwyn.
“He said colony, but kingdom has a nice ring to it.” Said Rhys.
“Can we please stop with the bunny talk?” Elara murmured.
Ok, they concluded I am not crazy and have survived here so they wanted to help me so I would, in return, help them since our interest would be aligned for quite a while. Good. Not some sort of weird friendship trip or companionship or anything like that. It makes sense. Agreeable.
Then, they realized I can do more because they knew that I meant what I said and now they want to… what? Help me so we can farm lots of shards from the crocs?
“So, Vincent. We will help you to get your gift, help rescue whoever you need to rescue here and see if we can be of aid when making the foundations for a functional colony for survivors.” Gareth said with a serious face. “Because you are sure you can do it. We know that. And we want that as well. We want to know how to do it. So we can do it as well. And even teach others. Eventually.”
Gareth’s face turned a little somber. Even a little sad. Did he find it hard to say such things? I frowned a little. But frowned even more and tilted my head when I looked at the others. They weren’t looking much better. What the hell is going on?
It’s perfectly understandable. They want to see how I, someone weaker than any of them and somehow sure about pulling it off, will make it happen so they can also make it happen somewhere else. Well, creating stable colonies does help much more than rescuing potentially unstable survivors. If you do it properly, that is.
Should I tell them if they just put a bunch of weaklings together all they will make is a gigantic ‘all you can eat’ weakling buffet? Nah, if they stick with me they will get it.
In short, they are not really after me, they are after my knowledge. Is that why they look like they ate a spoonful of shit? Do they think that I would feel hurt or something? People, I can respect that. And, more importantly, I can work with that.
So, I did my best to smile at them. Which surprisingly worked quite fast. All it took was for them to look at me then look at Elare, who was smiling and nodded at them. Their faces brightened and even their postures seem to improve. Gullible much?
“So, can we go back to the first impressions now?” Finn asked tentatively.
“Yes, Finn, carry on. Why does this amuse you so much, anyway?” Bronwyn asked.
“Because I was looking at everyone while it was happening in real time, it was awesome. I could see all of you flinching, frowning, smiling, confused, nodding, smiling again… and Vincent without a clue about what the hell was going on.” Finn said while smiling.
No one found it funny. So Finn cleared his throat and continued.
“So, where was I? Yes. First impressions.” Finn clapped his hand. Clearly excited. “So, Vincent came out and I knew for a fact he was an ordinary person. But how could we possibly tell that you weren’t some secret martial artist or something like that?”
After a dramatic pause, Finn continues. “That’s because we all have some gifts to handle this kind of thing.” Finn took a couple steps to stand by my side. “I, for example, can sense threats. I can sort of feel things like killing intent and such. I can even tell when someone is about to attack, which lets me act as a defensive archer, aiming for potential threats first. I am the ‘attack is the best defense’ kind of guy. Quite cool, right?”
I just lifted my eyebrows. Finn’s smile got a little crooked.
“I got a flaw detection ability, I can see the places where your defense is lacking, where I can hit you better with this.” Gareth said while patting his big ass sword.
“And in your eyes I was weak all over.” I said.
“Something like that.” Gareth said while smiling.
“Guess what? Mine didn’t light up at all. Not a single spec of warning. It was like I was facing a bunny when I looked at you.” Finn was barely holding his laugh in.
“And probably still is.” I said while sighing.
“Sure is.” Finn nodded while smiling, but a little worry in his eyes.
“And that's scary.” Rhys said. “Because you…”
“Wait!” Flinn intervened. “No, no, no. We are doing this in order. Back to the first impressions.”
“As I said, I can see deception.” Elara said softly. “I knew that you were not fine when you said that you were fine.”
Bronwyn was about to say her piece when I stopped and turned towards them. I looked at Elara and smiled. The girl flinched. Am I really scary for her?
“So, does your ability work when questions are asked or it’s pretty much all the time?” I asked.
“It’s detection, not sensing, so I need to have it active, but there’s no need to ask questions.” Elara answered.
“So, do you have it active right now?” I asked while smirking.
“Yeah?” She said as if unsure of it herself.
“Good. There’s something I wanted to tell you guys since we met but I had no idea that Elara could vouch for me.” I smiled brightly.
They look at each other. Finn apparently knew something rather interesting was coming up and did as expected and said “Do it. If you need Elara to confirm it for us, that means it must be awesome.”
“Yeah.” I nodded and made a serious face.
“I have a special strategy in this place. A combination of preparation and tactical positioning that lets me handle things that should be quite dangerous with little to no actual fighting or danger.” I said in a somber voice. “I tested it. I succeeded on the first try and all others that followed. It works and it will keep working for us here. We will conquer this place because no rats nor crocs can handle me and my technique. And I will tell you the final step to make it all come together. So you can do it as well.”
Elara nodded nervously. Finn’s eyes were sparkling. Rhys was expressionless, but I could see his firm grip on his dagger, he was also excited. Gareth just nodded to me, also serious.
Surprisingly, Bronwyn was the only one who seemed to realize that I was playing them. She smirked while shaking her head. But didn’t intervene. She even stepped back so the others couldn’t see her.
“My final move, to nullify danger itself, it’s to…” I made a dramatic pause, Finn wasn’t the only one who could pull this move. They were all staring. Except Bronwyn who had put a hand to her face and was watching from between her fingers while smiling.
Then, as seriously as possible, I looked at my shaking hands, forcefully set as if I were ready to claw or grasp the world itself, before returning my gaze at them, ignoring Bronwyn. And spoke.
“... bleed all over the place and scream alone at a dark corner.”