I returned to Ludmilla, weary but not empty-handed. After selling off all the equipment I’d scavenged from the husks, my penalty had been reduced to a more manageable 20,000 UC. Still, the events of earlier clung to my thoughts. That grotesque creature—it didn’t make any sense. The entire mission reeked of something off, and the Federation’s treatment of contractors as disposable assets felt more apparent than ever.
“You seem to be deadly tired,” Eleanor’s voice broke through my thoughts.
I glanced over at her, seated across the guild bar. She was watching me with her usual calm curiosity, her sharp eyes not missing a thing.
The guild building was as quiet as always, save for three other mercenaries seated separately in the dimly lit room. Me? I was nursing a glass of beer at the bar, accompanied by a platter of chips, cheese, and other snacks I’d barely touched.
“Yeah, you could say that,” I replied, swirling the amber liquid in my glass. “Let’s just say it’s been a long day.”
Eleanor leaned back in her chair, smirking faintly. “By the look of you, I’d say more like a long war.”
“Feels like it,” I muttered, taking a sip of the beer and letting its bitterness go down my throat.
“Still,” Eleanor began, her tone casual but tinged with curiosity, “you’re leveling up pretty fast, you know? When I was your age, I don’t think I progressed nearly as quickly. Then again, we used to go to other realms for speed-leveling.” She eased herself into a seat across from me, her sharp eyes scanning me like she was trying to figure out a puzzle. “Maybe it’s because David was quite the revolutionary back then.”
“Hmm?” I raised an eyebrow, intrigued by her sudden mention of him.
“He’s a medic,” she continued, “working for the Federation now, but back then? Oh, it was fun. We just wandered around, realm to realm—sometimes doing heists, sometimes pulling spec-op missions. And other times…” She chuckled, a faint grin tugging at her lips. “Sometimes we’d just screw around, shooting stuff without a care in the world. It was chaos, but it was our chaos.”
I leaned back, swirling my glass. “Sounds like a wild ride. You miss it?”
Eleanor tilted her head, her grin fading slightly. “Maybe. But back then, we weren’t chained to this system, these rules.” She gestured vaguely around the guild hall. “We made our own way. Now? Well… retirement isn’t exactly as fun as I expected, but it is certainly more relaxing.”
“I’ve met David,” I said, raising an eyebrow. “The guy’s sitting on billions.”
Eleanor smirked, her eyes gleaming with amusement. “Oh, is he now? Well, I’m still richer than him.”
I nearly choked on my drink. “Holy shit, no wonder you pay us a lot.”
“Hahaha, not really,” she said, waving her hand dismissively. “For me, it’s just spare change. At my level, most jobs I take pay more than enough to cover the cost of a thousand contractors like you. So don’t get too excited—my generosity isn’t hurting my wallet.”
I leaned forward, resting my arms on the bar. “Must be nice to be able to throw around that kind of money.”
Eleanor chuckled, leaning back with a knowing smirk. “It is as glamorous as it sounds, but let’s be real—most of my jobs would have you newbies wiped out before you even knew what hit you.”
“Like what?” I asked, genuinely curious.
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She leaned back, casually swirling her drink. “Hmm, let’s see. Taking down a dragon horde? Destroying an entire union/federal military installation under full lockdown? Acting as a decoy while infiltrating a planetary fortress?”
I blinked, and she smirked, clearly enjoying my reaction.
“Then there’s bounty hunting in hostile realms,” she continued casually, “neutralizing rogue AIs that’s gone off the rails, or escorting Federation diplomats while practically every assassin in the continent is gunning for them. Oh, and let’s not forget dealing with corrupted deities—those are always a headache.”
“Corrupted deities?” I repeated, incredulous.
Eleanor leaned back, her expression serious for a moment. “Yeah. The level 500+ crowd. They’re a nightmare to deal with—smarter, stronger, and nearly impossible to take down without a full team of people just as strong. Not to mention, they also have their equally strong friends.”
“Ish, I see.”
“Don’t worry too much about it, kid,” Eleanor said with a reassuring smirk. “Contracts like that are rare—maybe once every hundred years or so. I just happened to get lucky—or unlucky, depending on how you look at it—and participated in one.”
She leaned forward, lowering her voice slightly. “Heck, if I remember right, the Federation’s president is level 2,000, and the prime minister is somewhere around level 1,500. Those kinds of people deal with the real realm-scale threats.”
I blinked, trying to process the absurdity of those numbers. “Level 2,000? That’s insane.”
Eleanor shrugged, her tone calm but firm. “It’s a different world up there. At their level, they’re more myth than human. They don’t fight threats—they end them before anyone else even knows they were there.” She leaned back in her chair, her grin returning. “So, yeah, you’ve got a long way to go before you’re in that league.”
Eleanor then grabbed a bottle of whiskey from the cabinet right behind her, she then poured herself a glass.
She paused, swirling her drink thoughtfully. “You know, the original inhabitants of this world were the Union. They were powerful in their own way, but their… authoritarian communist approach didn’t sit well with the Federation. Let’s just say their ideas of ‘unity’ and ‘shared wealth’ didn’t leave much room for individual freedom, and it caused more than a few conflicts.”
I raised an eyebrow. “So what happened?”
Eleanor smirked faintly. “Let’s just say they’ve been... marginalized.”
“I haven’t seen many ‘inhabitants’ of this world if you get what I mean,” I added, taking a long sip of my beer.
Eleanor nodded thoughtfully before responding. “This is the realm of survivalist looters if you catch my drift. The cities do exist, but you need an aircraft to get there, and the jobs aren’t exactly as exciting as what you’re dealing with here.”
As the adrenaline from the day began to fade, I felt the heaviness in my eyes creeping in. The exhaustion was undeniable—it was time to finally get the rest I’d earned.
“Hey,” I called out to Eleanor, stifling a yawn, “can I get a room? I don’t think I’ll manage with the cot in the tent tonight.”
Eleanor raised an eyebrow, then smirked as she reached under the counter, pulling out a key. “Sure, 80 UC,” she said, setting the key on the table with a faint clink. “You’ll get a nice bedroom with a king-size bed and, bonus—a bathtub to soak in.”
“Deal,” I replied, sliding the credits her way without hesitation. I grabbed the key and stood up, already picturing myself sinking into the comfort of the promised bed.
“Enjoy it,” she added with a knowing grin.
image [https://i.imgur.com/8qWW1iK.png]
The hotel room was rather simple, a room with a bed, a television, a small bathroom, and a small chair overlooking the window outside. I sat down on the chair, looking at the grassland outside. I recounted my first day in this world. It was rather… fun.
Like, when you played the best game for the first time in your own entire life. It was nice, to say the least, if I have to be honest. I then looked at my inventory, browsing through my weapons and my equipment. I wondered whether these ballistic vests and weapons could be upgraded.
[Equipment]
* ULACH Lvl.1 Helmet
* Federal-Issued IOTV Gen V - IIIA Lvl.1 - Lvl.VI Plates Lvl.1
* Juggernaut Suit [On Call]
* GPNVG-24
[Weapons]
* H&K G36 Lvl.1 [Elcan Sight 1-4x]
* Barrett MRAD Lvl.1 [6-20x Sight, Bipod]
* MG-338 Lvl.1 [LPVO 1-8x Sight]
* M249 SAW Lvl.1 [EOTECH Holosight + Magnifier]
I saw no upgrade button. Maybe if I brought this to Wilhelm, he'd know what to do with it, but for now, I needed some sleep. It had been a long, exhausting day. Besides, being revived from death would likely mess with your physics in ways I couldn’t even begin to understand.
I tucked the inventory away and sank into the soft comfort of the mattress, closing my eyes, and letting the quiet embrace of sleep take over.