Our journey to the Outdoor Center was not uneventful, we encountered more goblins. Thanks to a change in
formation and more familiarity with things we were able to get through 2 encounters of ten and twelve goblins
without any major injuries although Jackie had finished off using her Lay on Hands ability for the day. Thanks to
us now being in a party we were all now level 3 except for me who was still lagging behind at level 2 and Samantha
who was level 4 thanks to a boar we encountered that she powerbombed into the road which got her more
experience and Unarmed (Wrestling) Novice 2/100. Loot from the journey was also easier since we were in a
group no more needing to keep track of who killed what any of us could pick up loot crystals. The only real
surprise from the loot was the boar liver we got, other than that it was more copper pieces, a Puny Mana Potion,
and some more Scraps of Ruined Fabric.
“Does anybody else find it strange that we haven’t run into any people yet?” Candice asked.
“Yeah that’s weird,” Jackie said. “You don’t think all those goblins that we’ve been fighting were people
before do you?”
“Unlikely,” I said. “47 people work in our office and only 7 were transformed into another species, and none
of them repeated. I don’t think the odds of a random group of 12 people all close together being transformed into
the same species are very good. Also your minds don’t seem to be affected very much so I doubt they would have
been turned into mindless monsters.”
“So where is everybody?” Melissa asked.
“Thursday morning, work and school.” I said. “This is the empty part of town, we have a half dozen office
buildings, an Outdoor Center, a movie theater and a gas station nearby, not gonna be super busy on a Thursday
morning. Plus most people I think would hunker down is this situation and not roam the streets.”
“School vacation this week,” Melissa said.
“So what is your official recommendation for heading in there mister consultant?” Jackie asked.
“I recommend that Candice and Melissa as our most mobile and in theory our stealthiest members go ahead
and scout the front parking lot and try to get a look inside, without actually going inside themselves. While the
rest of us remain ready to rush in should they need our help.”
“I think splitting up is too dangerous,” Jackie said. “We all go in together.”
“I think that you and Melissa should take point,” I said. “Candice should watch our backs while me and
Samantha stay in the middle ready to rush in if needed.”
“Tight formation,” Jackie said. “Me and Samantha in the front, Candice and Melissa watching out, John trying
to be useful.”
I felt a twinge of shame at her bringing up my lack of combat ability, and another twinge of hatred for her
bringing it up. I had to bury those emotions for now, too much was on the line to make an issue out of it. We
headed towards the building walking directly up the side of it to the front. Upon reaching the front corner Jackie
poked her head out and looked around, once she was satisfied that the coast was clear she stepped out. We
followed her one by one, when I turned the corner I saw that there was only 5 vehicles in the parking lot, 2 cars, 2
SUVs and a van, if we couldn’t locate the wagon we may be able to use the van. We made our way to the front
door and stopped right before it.
“What are we looking for in here anyway?” Jackie asked. “Besides the wagon?”
“Well,” I said. “Either the wagon or a suitable substitute for it. Some tents would also be good in case we
need to sleep outside in the rain. Possibly an inflatable boat or a canoe in case we need to cross a river or
something. Something to start a fire with, something to cook food in, something to store water in, walkie
talkies, handheld radios, pillows, a light source.”
“Woah woah woah,” Jackie said interrupting me. “We’re going across town not across the country.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Where are we going after that? Also we should keep an eye out for cold weather clothes.”
“We’ll worry about where we’re going after we pick up the kids after we’ve picked up the kids.” Jackie said.
“We have the supplies here we should get them now, we have no idea where we will find more supplies.”
“How are we going to transport everything across town?”
“The wagon, Heather isn’t going to take up all the space in it.”
“We haven’t even found the wagon yet and you’re already filling it up with junk.”
“Junk? Everything I said is potentially necessary for survival, except the pillows.”
“We don’t even know if any of that will work.”
“Children!” Candice said interrupting Jackie and Is argument. “Behave.”
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“Let’s meet in the middle,” Melissa said. “We gather up the stuff we may need, and then we pack it up based
on how much space we have.”
“Fine,” Jackie said. “Let’s go in.”
Jackie and Samantha led the way into the store. The doors were already opened, pushed off their track
from the inside. The interior of the store was a mess shelves were strewn about, goods all over the floor. The
lights were off and everything that wasn’t directly in front of the front doors was covered in shadows.
“My thoughts on the matter are, Jackie has her Light blessing she can use, and the rest of you all have some
form of Dark Vision, so I recommend you split into two teams and search for supplies, bring them back here
and I can sort them out while keeping an eye on the front door.”
“No you don’t get to laze around John, you work too.” Jackie said. “Go with Samantha and Melissa.”
“How?” I asked.
“Try using your feet you lazy asshole,” Jackie said taking a step towards me.
“How am I supposed to see anything?” I asked. “Being with people who can see in the dark doesn’t give me
the ability to see in the dark. If I go with anybody I’d have to go with you because you’re the only one who can
make light.”
“Gee maybe if you put that brain to use trying to think of something besides naps you could come up with
something,” Jackie said taking another step closer to me so that we were face-to-face.
“Alright alright,” Samantha said stepping in between us. “First thing you two are going to do is stop fighting.
Second thing you’re going to do is tell me why you two hate each other.”
“We don’t hate each other,” Jackie said.
“She tried to get me fired three times,” I said pointing a finger at her.
“I caught you sleeping on the job over a dozen times.”
“I was not sleeping, I was dozing there is a difference.”
“You have a pillow and a blanket in your office.”
“You two fight more than my children do,” Candice said with her hands on her hips tapping her foot. “And
they’re three and five.”
“You two go stand over there by the cash register,” Samantha said pointing. “And we grown ups are going
to go have a conversation and we’ll let you know what we decide to do with you two.”
I went over to stand by the cash register, Jackie followed me after some grumbling. I sat down and closed
my eyes, it was time for me to go digging into my interface.
“Another nap, just what you need.”
“No I’m going to go through my interface see what I can learn,” I said. “Maybe you should too?”
“I will castrate you with a spoon,” Jackie said.
“Castrate me with a spoon?” I asked. “Do I need to report you to HR when we get back?”
“A rusty spoon.”
I gave a slight laugh hoping she was just letting off some steam, the first thing I noticed was my SP, it had
fallen to 13/20 during our journey here. I decided to wait until I could get a full 10 SP out of my stamina potions
before drinking one. I turned my attention to my inventory there were four icons one that looked like a backpack,
two that looked like boxes, and a lock icon. The two boxes had been empty squares before I put the Beginner
Storage Boxes in them, now I could focus on them and they would expand into four empty squares, I had nothing
in them. The backpack icon was labeled ‘weightless secure storage’ I had no idea what secure meant in this
context, it had 20 slots, each different potion I had took up it’s own slot, they did not ‘stack’ unfortunately. The lock
icon said ‘additional bag slots can be unlocked with points.’ What are points referring to, experience points, or
something else? Just as I thought that something popped up. Points are gained while engaging in any activity
relating to any of your Classes, Skills, Perks, Spells, Blessings, Powers, or Abilities and also gained while
accomplishing feats and using certain items. ‘Are you alive?’ I thought wondering if there was somebody intruding
upon my thoughts, nothing changed. I turned my attention elsewhere, to my abilities. The only one I had was
Bestow Title, bestows a title on those you deem worthy. It was grayed out as opposed to the white that everything
else was indicating that I couldn’t use it, but why not, were my base stats too low? Another notification popped up,
In order to use Bestow Title you must meet certain requirements, each title requires a different amount of MP, SP
and rarely HP to bestow upon a person, they also require something from the receiver usually an oath of loyalty or
a promise to undertake a quest on behalf of the Titleist. A Titleist can also bestow Titles as a reward or for past
deeds or even because he/she/it feels like it. Some very rare titles may be bestowed on an unwilling target as a
punishment. If the Titleist does not have a seat of power of some kind the cost to bestow Titles is dramatically
increased. So my stats needed to go up they had started at 1 and had only increased to 2 when I leveled up to
Titleist 2 Samantha seems to be getting 4-6 Strength per level which didn’t tell me much, was stat growth a factor
of your race or your class? Another notification appeared in my mind, stats go up based on what class you took
on level up. What determines what classes are available on level up? Most classes have different requirements in
the case of your first class you must ascend to level 25 (or it’s max level if you were randomly assigned a class
during world assimilation) in them before you can select a level in another class. After that you may take any class
you qualify for, qualifications can be virtually anything, but the most common requirements are stats and levels in
other classes. I also had a Perk Symbiotic Overlord, special interaction with Titleist class, grants you 1% of base
stats of anybody that has a title from you, or 3% if they have two titles from you. Also can allow for Spells, Abilities,
Powers, Skills and Talents to be shared back and forth between yourself and people who have your titles on a
case-by-case basis. My skills were lackluster for combat, but helpful for a supporting role I guess. First-Aid
Untrained 1/100 allows the use of basic first-aid measures, Medicine 2/100 Untrained allows identification of the
most common types of medicine, Potion Use Untrained 1/100 allows the administration of potions to others,
Battle Medicine Untrained 3/100 helps while administering Medicine of any kind during a battle, Battle Assist
Untrained 3/100 assists with many aspects of supporting your allies during battle. But what does untrained mean,
does it mean I can’t use it yet? Another notification popped up. Skills are special things you can do that are within
the bounds of normal activity or your expertise with different types of magic. Skills are leveled up with use. They
have different thresholds which are in order: Untrained, Beginner, Rookie, Novice, Journeyman, Advanced,
Experienced, Master, Aspirant, Savant, Grandmaster, Supreme Master and Godlike. The different thresholds may
have additional requirement to access beyond simply using the skill. There are 100 levels within each threshold
and some classes will automatically advance you to certain thresholds with certain skills.
A sharp jab into my side brought me out of my thoughts and back to the present situation. The others were
making their way back towards me and Jackie and I stood up.
“OK,” Samantha said. “This is what’s going to happen. First, you two are going to forgive each other for
everything that you’ve done to each other before right now. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” Me and Jackie responded.
“Secondly you both need to understand a few things,” Candice said. “First Jackie, you have nothing to prove to
anybody here, and John you need to step back a little. Jackie has real leadership experience so she should lead us
as a group, but you’ve already proven an effective leader in battle so we’d like you to direct us in battle.”
“I can agree to that,” I said, Jackie nodded slowly at first.
“John,” Melissa said. “I don’t know if you intend to come off as a know-it-all but you do. Whenever you give us
advice it seems like you’re talking down to us, this has been going on since at least when I started working here.
Err, at the office. You need to work on that, we can’t just passively be annoyed at each other anymore, we need to
be a team.”
I thought about what Melissa had said. Communications are not a strong suit for me, hopefully I’ll get a skill in
that later. “I will endeavor to improve.”
“Anyway we saw the wagon while we were talking, let’s go check it out,” Samantha said.
We made our way over to the wagon that they had found. It would certainly suit our needs, it was part of
some sort of display complete with a large fake horse, but that would be easy enough to disassemble to get at the
wagon. With Jackies glowing hammer illuminating it we could all tell that it was in good enough shape for our
plans.
“I would like to amend my previous recommendation concerning the wagon and getting supplies from here,” I
said.
“How so?” Jackie asked.
“I think we should hold off on getting supplies until we come back through with everybody. For two reasons,
first it’s slightly uphill from here to there, second with more people going through this place will be faster.”
“Will we even be coming back this way?” Melissa asked.
“Probably, where do you two send your kids for day-care?” I asked.
“Happy Tots Day-Care,” Candice said.
“Angels Touch After School Care,” Melissa said.
“Yeah those are both east of here,” I said. “We’ll be coming back through.”
“Sounds good,” Jackie said.
It didn’t take us long to disassemble the display and with Samantha pushing and Melissa steering we started
the journey back to our office.