TEKI
He was in an ocean. He could stretch his body for the first time. The light was soothing. It didn’t have the harsh quality of the sun of Tsanh. Teki felt at ease for the first time and let out tension that he wasn’t aware that he held in his body. He didn’t say anything, just enjoyed this situation, just enjoyed that there was nothing constraining him for a moment, that he seemed to be in an infinite ocean. He felt at an ease that he had not been in in a long while. He swam a few strokes. Then he saw a message in front of him: “Do you seek integration into the system (Solidarity)?”
He verbally confirmed: “I do.”
The letters shifted: “What do you desire from integration into (Solidarity)?”
Teki breathed in: “How can I say it? I feel betrayed by the other system and the groups that uphold it. I understand that you have access to things that the Keani cultures don’t. Yanigal as a class was, like, a message to me. In the system Unlimited Potential, the sheer name was censored. I know that Yanigal was a revolutionary… someone who eventually was defeated. And that his name was suppressed in the system. Like, you cannot even talk about it.” Teki paused, “That was just one of the cracks. What I desire is to live with more integrity. I know that Sarah recommended integration to me, and I thought that it was preposterous initially, but then, I realise how much freer she is on Tsanh. I understand that there have been long-standing battle plans old enough to precede discovery by the corporation and I plan to assist you in your plans. I feel deeply hurt and betrayed by Unlimited Potential and the organisations it spawned. I used to feel like there was a chance to succeed in it, but these days, this feels like a lie. Sorry for rambling.”
There was a pause, then a question: “Do you have any allegiances in the catchment area of the other system?”
Teki thought for a moment about the place he was from: “None really. There are some people that I like, but the relationships were often more transactional than emotional. I didn’t have a family per se and the swarm, or school I used to belong to, I quit my allegiance.”
Another question appeared: “Why did you leave your swarm?”
Teki responded: “Because since the integration, the water seemed to have become worse and worse. The swarm seemed to not notice it, but it felt suffocating to me.”
There were more questions that the system asked and Teki tried to answer them as much as possible. Eventually, he woke up again. After the seemingly endless ocean, he felt cramped immediately. He felt like doing something harsh but that would only cause issues. Instead, he checked his status. To his surprise, there were two screens, his status screen from the system of Earth and a red status screen that must be of Solidarity.
Name:
Teki/Thrives-In-Water
Home repository:
Village-of-the-gathering-shore (Level 4) (current restriction to this repository)
Species and state:
Post-integration keani (generally optimised)
Skills:
Coherent Presence (Level 1)
He gulped as he saw the skill he had: Coherent Presence Level 1. He had no idea what that could even mean, how he could use it or even where to get more information, and how to pay for it once he would find someone to trade with.
He took a deep breath and opened the hatch of his pod and stopped for a moment: The climate was off, the oppressive heat had been replaced by temperate air. The terrible smell of salt had weakened to a bearable level. It even felt as if there was enough moisture in the air to remain out of the water for a while even though this had never been true on this planet. Not even in its only ocean, as it was too salty for that in there.
He felt for the first time like he could remain on this planet without pain and fear that a single equipment malfunction could end his life.
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He looked around. The village was nothing more than a few tents with a thin barrier towards the land. Then, he left the pod without bothering to get into his watersuit. He knew that it was not required.
SKIPS-ONE-STEP
The village was quickly re-constructed. What was more of an issue was the destruction of the farms. The groups worked together re-building the farms for the feed of the creatures, but the snails almost escaped. Skips helped Shivers to care for the animals, which was when she paused: “Shivers, your class in the black system is Solidarity’s heliciculturalist, right?”
Shivers, who was fixing a fence in the farm, confirmed this: “Yeah, it is, why do you ask?”
Skips paused for a moment: “It doesn’t fit most classes of that system which have combat application. I mean, you cannot have your snails fight for you, can you?”
Shivers looked at her and asked: “Do you think that that might be possible? I never tried!”
Skips nodded: “I assume that this would be the synergy between both systems.”
Shivers touched one of the snails, Hangs-upside-down and a flash of light shone through it. The snail looked unchanged but then, Skips saw it move much faster. “Hui, that’s impressive!” she exclaimed.
Shivers nodded: “I am amazed myself. This is pretty strange.”
Skips asked: “What did you do?”
Shivers made a vague gesture: “Apparently, temporarily transferred some of my attributes to it. So, I can have one of them fight in my place.”
Skips smiled: “Shall we try it out?”
Shivers shuddered: “Go into that dungeon? No! Not again!”
Skips shakes her head: “That is a very strong one, but we, potentially, can find a less difficult one. I can scout the area out if you want.”
Shivers tilts xir head in a gesture xe must have copied from her. “How do you know?”
Skips explained: “The colour and the texture of the portal borders can tell you the grade of the dungeon. This was a grade 9 one, which I wanted done NOW before it released worse things onto the Kha Zha plains. But there are dungeons between grade 1 and grade 9 in a newly integrated world. Higher dungeons spawn as soon as the first person reaches Level 10.”
Shivers bristled: “So, we should assist in levelling up others just in case some of the humans reach level 10?”
Skips nods: “That is a good idea. Maybe you can assemble some level 1 people and I look for a dungeon? Maybe also think about how they can work in combat.”
CVETKA KRALJ
Cvetka stood at the entrance of the Grade 1 dungeon and looked around. She knew that most of the roamers had been defeated, but she expected a Salamar or a sandspiral to emerge at any time. Suddenly, there were noises in the distance. Fast ones. She thought about any monster that could be that fast but came up empty. The only once she could think of flew and thus were much more quiet and would only emerge at a higher level. Moments later, she saw Sarah arriving, seemingly just sauntering casually by, but spending too much mental effort seeming that way and thus destroying the illusion.
“Hey Sarah, are you here for the dungeon as well?”
Sarah smiled, somewhat belatedly as if she had to recall to do so: “Hi Cvetka! Nice seeing you here. Yeah, planning on a delve. You too, I reckon?”
Cvetka nodded: “Indeed. I have found this one and messaged my group to come. We plan on doing a first clear.” The last sentence had a provocation in it that Sarah didn’t seem to notice.
“Sure, so our folks get in after it resets so we don’t end up grouped? No problem. I’d actually prefer it.”
Cvetka tilted her head: “You’re not going after first clear?”
She shrugged: “I mean, it’s not that I’d eschew it, but I don’t force what isn’t supposed to happen. And I much prefer a harmonious relation with you and the other drop bears over a First Clear that isn’t worth as much as the one I already have.”
Cvetka smiled: “Thanks for letting us go ahead. We need to level up a lot for the tournament. I kinda doubt you will participate.”
Sarah smiled: “A Grade 9 First Clear should qualify my group and me, but I don’t want to be underleveled either. So, yeah, we do need to level up as well.”
Cvetka asked, confused: “Grade 9 first clear? Isn’t that a bit ambitious for a mostly native group?”
Sarah shook her head: “First it’s impossible, then it’s highly improbable, then it’s happened!”
Cvetka gave a smile: “I appreciate your optimism.”
Sarah shook her head: “Check my status.”
Cvetka checked the status of woman in front of her and frowned:
Name: Skips-one-Step
Level: 5
Class: Solidarity’s Longstrider
Titles: First Clear – Unnamed Grade 9 dungeon (Tsanh)
“What‽ How‽” Cvetka asked.
She felt that Sarah, or Skips-one-Step, as she seemed to have persuaded the system to call her, was checking her status as well and flexed her Grade 2 First Clear and her Level 3, making it look slightly sarcastic.
Sarah responded: “Sandsharks were threatening our settlement, so we kinda had to group up and clear it to prevent breaks.” She looked into the distance: “Oh, there’s my group!”