Alexander found out quickly that he sucked at navigating. Still, he learned through a mix of internet searches and maps that he was about one hundred miles away from the nearest forest where arachnoid-culven were known to be. He decided to hop on a train that would take him north-west to a town that was once called "Woodstock." Apparently, the UNAA decided to invest heavily into trains, so the fare and time would be minimal.

He was able to book the ticket through the train's website. The UNAA had a standardized, state-run railway, and with all the creativity they had, it was named “ORTEM,” or Organized Railway Through Electronic Means. He booked a ticket that was a few minutes past his predicted walk time to the station, which was a massive complex that used to be called "Ogilvie" and was now called Railway Center number 2, or RC#2.

He walked to the train station, bustling through the crowd, and was able to get through all the checkpoints quickly. His HUD would display a code that was visible to anyone around, and all conductors and officers were able to scan it quickly using a strange, bar-code reader on their belt.

While stuck waiting for his train to open its doors, Alexander remembered his ability to think for the future and walked up to a nearby food terminal. He wanted to stock up on some provisions for the road, but was pleasantly surprised that he could withdraw a few free protein bars and bottles of water. He quickly looked it up, and it turns out that the UNAA had developed a food program. Alexander raised his eyebrows and took the supplies. Then the train made a chime, and he got on, taking an open seat on the upper deck. He then buried his nose deep in info about the goudeleaves and arachnoid-culven he was going to fight. From what he'd gathered, it wasn't going to be easy.

While on the way, he researched the surrounding area more in-depth as well. The UNAA took downtown Chicago the first day the game was playable, which was the first ever capture in the history of the game. However, two days after that, the Chicago United Alliance, or CUA, made up of ex gang members and defectors from the UNAA launched a war against the UNAA. It was costly, and thousands of characters died, but eventually the UNAA came out on top. Chicago itself was unscathed, but many towns in the surrounding areas were turned to rubble. Woodstock itself, which was now only called "Outpost 19," was one center of the conflict. Half of the town is now ash, and the other half barely held together. Still, there was a presence of the UNAA, and there were citizens living there, trying to re-build.

The train ride only took a little more than thirty minutes. He got off the train, only two others joining him, and looked around. The landscape was lifeless. There was rubble, abandoned tools of war, and scathed flags. Even after this many weeks into the clean-up effort. But through the desolation, Alexander saw fragments of hope. Right next to the station was the outpost itself. It had one small, metallic building and many large, blue tents surrounding it. Many other tents, these smaller in nature and meant to house humans, dotted the area as well. However small, there was a community here.

Alexander walked around the complex for a bit, taking in the sight, until he found what he was looking for. There was a small rack of about five, small electric bikes that were available for rent. It would bring him down to only fifteen credits, however. “I’d better be able to complete this quest.” Alexander muttered to himself as he paid for the bike, making it his for the next twenty-four hours.

Alexander rode off with the bike. Here in the game, licenses and insurance were unnecessary unless a governing body decided so, and the UNAA took a neutral stance. They didn't require any for now, and any disputes were said "To be handled by the involved parties, with the UNAA being available to be a governing body in the dispute."

He headed up north, out near a town that was once called "Hebron." The trip took another thirty minutes, and by now the sun was getting low. When he arrived, the town was completely empty. Hebron was in UNAA territory, but it did not have any outposts and no one had yet decided to settle there. It was empty and alone, but at least the water tower was painted like a giant basketball.

Alexander decided to set up shop for the night. He rode around and found an empty house, settled in, and fell asleep in no time. In the morning, he munched on a protein bar and did some yoga. He focused his mind and prepared himself for whatever he might encounter.

Alexander got out of the house, got on his bike, and tried his best to follow his map out into the country. Eventually, and after a lot of guesswork, he found a large forest and parked his bike. The bike had his hand-prints saved on the handles, and it had inherent GPS tracking on his map, so he left it at the edge of the forest as a beacon before he entered.

It was still early in the day, and the clear blue sky granted access for the brilliant yellow rays of the sun to perpetuate through the trees and cross each other to form glitters of light. The leaves shivered in the slight breeze, and the forest was alive with the noises of animals, both known and completely new.

Alexander wandered around, weaving through trees and traversing across the soft earth. Eventually, he found what he was looking for– a cave. He entered, only to realize he had no means of lighting the way. He silently cursed himself, but decided he invested too much to turn back now. He walked forth slowly, cautiously, and allowed his eyes to adjust to what little light there was. Then he heard it; the distinct chittering of an arachnoid-culver.

The beast had not noticed him yet, but he crouched down low just in case. In this cave, some light was able to seep through, so the area was just bright enough for him to make out shapes and outlines. He pushed onwards and found the thing’s web. In the center of the massive web complex, easily the size of a car, was the spider. It was currently weaving something together, and although the spider hovered near it, Alexander could make out a ball in the middle which held its nest. In that cocoon, there would be countless baby spiders. And inside that thing, there would be the leaf he was after.

Alexander could wait no longer as he plucked at the web and got the attention of the beast. It quickly turned and spotted him, raising its front claws and emitting frightening sounds. But he did not waiver. Alexander rose, readied himself, and when the spider got near, slammed his fist into the thing’s face. It made contact, and the beast was not able to bite him as it stumbled back and stuttered; Alexander pressed the advantage, grabbing at its head and started ripping. Piece by piece, the spider was killed.

Afterwards, the now quite messy Alexander made his way to the cocoon. He was not an arachnophobe, but the idea of shoving his hand deep within a nest of possibly thousands of young to potentially grab a leaf did not excite him. He shuddered in fear and disgust, then shot his hand into it. In the split second his hand was in there, he felt the massive leaf, grabbed it, and pulled away. However, he also felt tens of small insects starting to crawl on his arm. And he also started to feel many stinging sensations. He swatted and brushed while running away, and by the time he got out of the cave, there were no more on him. He read that the young could not inject venom with their bites, so while they hurt and would leave marks, they would do no permanent damage. To feed the babies, the mother finds the goudeleaf, wraps web around it to form a cocoon, and injects both its babies and a specialized enzyme to break down the leaf into food. This enzyme was highly prized, and it was the only chemical known at this time to allow the use of the goudeleaf for medicines and ointments. Now that he had gotten away, his quest marker updated, showing he had collected one of three.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Alexander spent the next few hours finding two other caves with mothers in them. When he went to grab the leaves, however, he wrapped his hand in webbing, minimizing the amount of times he would be bit. Still, by the end of gathering all three, his hand was starting to swell and had hundreds of red dots. After he left the final cave, he breathed a sigh of relief and started to head back to his bike. But, as he was walking, he started to hear voices in the distance. He cautiously walked closer, and also started to hear cries of pain and sorrow. Fighting the urge to barge in recklessly, he got even closer and was finally able to see the commotion.

Traveling through this forest was a convoy of about fifty people. Most of them were tied up by their hands and bound to one another in a long line. The others were well armed and armored as they directed the convoy. This was clearly a group of slaves being transported.

---

Alexander, grunted as he restrained himself, lying in wait. He was far enough away that the group could not see him. Still, his heart was beating fast. He felt adrenaline surge through his system as he repeated to himself again and again that this was real.

In total, there were seven guards and approximately fifty prisoners. Alexander could only see the names of the slaves themselves, and any traces of who the guards might be were hidden under armor and clothing. He wondered how they could hide their names, so he took a quick look through his settings and found where you could apparently disable that feature, though he decided not to. He wanted to be known.

As the slavers kept on their journey, he silently followed. The group of slaves were all wearing rags, and both their hands and feet were bound in a line with metal shackles. Upon closer examination, he saw that the shackles glowed a dim blue.

Two guards were in the front, and two were in the back. The other three revolved around the line and made sure nobody tried anything. Alexander felt fear trickle into him as he saw just how well armed the guards were. They all had ranged weapons of some sort, from laser rifles to classic machine guns, along with a variety of melee weapons at their sides. The three circling around the group also wielded cattle-prods, electrocuting any slave who lagged behind or got too loud.

While Alexander watched, he noticed that he almost didn’t care about the slaves themselves. He kept rationally telling himself that this was wrong, and that he had a moral obligation to free these people, but it was only rational. His heart didn’t buy it. The only excitement he felt was from the possible battle he might engage in. But that brought his mind to another problem. How the hell am I supposed to fight these people?

Alexander, in a moment of weakness, silently cursed at himself for deciding not to utilize weapons or tools and for not picking a different class that might have helped him here. He didn’t gain any levels from killing the spiders, and he had spent no time training to add to any of his stats. He had nothing.

He felt his heart beat faster, and every time he even thought of turning around his body rejected the notion. He wanted blood. Horrible visions of his battles thus far surged through his mind, and it sent him spiraling into a frenzy. Still, he used all his effort to keep his cool. He tried and tried to force his mind to come up with at least something. He needed a strategy, but all he came up with was smash things. But then, it happened. Something flashed through his mind. He had no tools, no weapons, no items, and no magic. But he did have an idea. It was sick, it was horrible, but his addiction needed to be quenched. The thing he let out of his mind was laughing once more.

The guards were nameless. It was designed to be that way. They all called each other by nicknames, and for them, this was just a job. Sure, some members took enjoyment in beating or raping any prisoners they escorted, but for the most part all they wanted was the paycheck. So, when a half-naked ginger clad only in a kilt walked out and blocked their path, they hesitated for a second. That second was all Alexander wanted.

Alexander let out a barbaric scream as he rushed the two guards in the front. They struggled to get their rifles ready, and one managed to pop off a shot, but it missed. Alexander closed the gap, reared his fist, and slammed it into the helmet of one of the guards. Immediately, some of Alexander’s knuckles broke, but the guard dropped instantly as their metal helmet caved in, broke their nose, and shoved the bone into their brain.

As the other guards readied themselves, Alexander rushed into the line of slaves, laughing as picked up their chains and forcibly moved them to close in on him. In a moment, he was surrounded by a wall of flesh.

“Don’t shoot! You’ll ruin the merchandise!” One of the guards in the back shouted. The guards hesitated. The slaves were now in a frenzy, not knowing what to do with Alexander or the guards. Alexander shoved the group in the direction of one of the guards, knocking them off balance. Then, he took one running step and drop-kicked the guard, slamming them against a tree. Using the momentum, he grabbed at an adjacent guard’s weapon, yanked it away from them, and started to bash their head in with it.

As he was finishing off the guard, the others moved around and gathered together. Alexander backed up into the crowd of slaves, once again hiding in the middle of them. There were four guards now, and they stuck together, weapons aimed at Alexander.

“I don’t know who the cinnamon toast fuck you are, but you better fucking cool it psycho.” One of the guards, the same one who shouted earlier, yelled out. “I swear to all that is holy we’re gonna chop your fucking balls off.” Alexander merely grinned as everyone stood still.

Alexander walked away from the guards and to the back of the slaves. He whispered something in their ears, then, after a moment, cried aloud.

The slaves, in a jumbled frenzy, suddenly rushed at the guards. They were without coordination, or even mobility for that matter, but they toppled themselves on their once captors. Alexander rushed over and aided their endeavor. In a sickeningly short time period, the four guards were ripped to pieces.

Silence filled the air as blood-covered people gasped for air amidst panic and exhilaration. While this happened, Alexander walked over the guard he drop-kicked. They were now starting to move, so he went over and removed their helmet. He saw a battle-scarred woman with white hair stained with the blood running from her head. She painfully drew her attention towards him.

“Fuck you, Alexander.” She muttered. Alexander grinned, grabbed her head, and slammed his forehead into her face, killing her instantly. He then turned to the group that was once slaves. They had found the keys and were freeing themselves. Some started to collapse, some puked, and others started to arm themselves.

“T-thank you.” One of them said to Alexander, walking over to him. He was a tall and lanky man with tan skin.

“I don’t care.” He laughed. “I did it for fun, not to save you.” The man cocked his head, baffled at the blood-soaked Alexander.

“What?”

“You’re weak. You got captured. I never cared what happened to you.” Alexander said while walking away with a limp.