Just like a burned spy once said, To affect the targets you want with your identity, you have to live the life of the man you’re claiming to be. Spend enough time as an alcoholic ex-spy committing the occasional crime to pay the rent, or in my case, as the sole survivor of humanity, and getting a bit rough with how I should survive in a forest such as hunting with a sword, pretending to be old and the line between fiction and fact becomes blurry.
Eventually, the question isn't whether the identity will convince the target. It's whether there will be enough of you left to complete the mission when it does.
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“Huff, huff…” A woman’s voice panted as she runs from something. “For an old man, you’re so quick!” She yelled as she looks back, running forward along with her peers.
“Eyes up front, Sara!” A woman swinging on the trees said, exhausted but still able to jump from branch to branch.
“Do you have any idea how hard it is to run in a robe?! I might as well run covered in blankets!” Sara shouts, flipping the bird at the woman up above.
“Sara! Ana! Stop chatting and focus!” I yell at them, as I run past trees, as the loud bellow of a rampaging bear chases us. The bear’s back is covered by a couple of arrows that shallowly dug into its back. “Let him chase me! Atlas, Lance! Split and surround the bear once I’ve got it to stop!”
“Alright! Lance said, a well-built man with a spear on his back splits from me, while Atlas, a large man bearing a small shield in both hands, held like gauntlets and a large shield on his back do the same, diverting the attention of the rampant bear onto me.
I run to an open area, surrounded by trees, I stop, and the bear charges straight at me.
“Everyone! Ready your weapons!” I shout as I jump high to dodge the destructive charge.
Lance readies his spear, Atlas switches his smaller shields to the larger shield on his back, and Ana drops from the tree as she sets her short bow, while Sara stopped in her tracks and began charging her magic attack, gripping her staff.
Just like any animal, they’ll fight back if they’re cornered, and now the bear stops and looks around. It exhales deeply as it readies his roar. I know that move. Anyone close to him who can hear it will be stunned.
“Remember! Cover your ears! Distance yourself!” I shout, the thundering roar of the grizzly bear roaring in the woods.
The people surrounding the bear jump back just in time before the roar inflicted the [Fear] status onto them. Tamer is a bastard with these monsters, you know? The bear both of its arms, readying to slash down with its claws.
“Atlas! Block it with your shield! Ana! Get behind the bear and shoot it down!” I shout while I climbed one of the trees around the bear.
Atlas, a big man bearing a shield just as big as him, nods, runs in front of the bear and tanks the slash the bear made with its claws. Ana, a lean woman with arms as thick as her legs runs at the same time behind the bear, shooting an arrow using a shortbow at the bear’s thick back as it slashed down, roaring in pain.
“It didn’t go through! Just like the other arrows!” Ana shouted.
“The arrows are just there to tire it out! It’s our time to shine! Sara, now!” Lance shouts, a ball of fire flies above their heads as he thrusts his spear to its left leg. The spear pierced through along with the fireball scorching the bear’s back, as the bear cries in pain.
It tries to turn around but with an injured, all it can do is move limply. I jump from the tree, readying my sword, and in one fell swoop, in one swing of the sword, the bear’s head falls off its body.
“[Water Ball]!” Sara chants, firing a fist-sized ball of water at the burning back of the bear carcass.
I look at them, panting and on their knees. This is not adequate. I need them to be strong enough in order to have stronger descendants. I’m beginning to think that we’ll need more time. I might need to ask to change the flow of time to whoever has the System Ownership right now.
“Good work, everyone. The moon’s about to go up, we need to prepare the food now. Atlas, help Ana hang the bear so we can drain the blood.” I tell the two, Atlas nods while Ana gives a thumbs up.
Ana ties a rope on the bear’s foot and runs the rope up a sturdy branch, then she hands the rope to Atlas. Atlas starts pulling up the bear with the rope, a couple of feet up, before tying the rope to the trunk of the tree, making sure that the bear won’t fall.
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“Sara, create Ice Buckets and catch all of the blood, freeze them once you’re done. And once the bear is all done dried up, Lance will skin and butcher the bear.” I command them, while I tend to my sword.
“You got it,” Lance says as he does the same, maintaining his spear.
Sara began making buckets and catching the dripping blood. In the meantime, Atlas is wiping off dirt and blood on his shields while Ana is standing on his shoulders plucking her arrows off the bear carcass.
It’s been a year since then. Once I made the Humans, with memories and all, the group made a vote, on whether or not to seal our abilities unless needed. It was so that we wouldn’t rely that much on our divine Celestial Energy. It only applied to Aleph and Me, as they were still using Celestial Energy to build the tower.
I really feel like we’re trying to speed things up. We’re not on a deadline. I think it would’ve been better if we waited until the tower is complete, but at least it does its job spewing out monsters from time to time.
Right now, Aleph and I are doing a bet. I, the leader of the group, am teaching the group how to survive while we travel, so we’re living a nomadic life, and Aleph, is the “mysterious” being following us, teaching them magic and aura. Of course, I need to be oblivious to it, but the bet is about whether I can make them loyal to me. The story he and I planned will change if I couldn’t win it.
“Gramps, can you take a look at my spear? I think it’s damaged.” Lance says, handing me his spear.
I made four humans before my powers got sealed. I also gave them different memories, that will be unlocked from time to time. Lance is the first of the four.
I made Lance to be a Neutral Good character of the four, living as kind as he can be, following orders but will break them if needed. I expect him to reject Aleph in a heartbeat so I’ll have to treat him well. If I get too strict, he may leave.
“Your shaft’s cracked. You’ll have to make a replacement.” I hand the spear back to him.
“Thanks! Atlas, you’re up.” Lance leaves, then he pokes Ana’s leg, telling her to get off Atlas. Which she does with a smile.
I would consider Ana to be the True Neutral of the four. To me, she might switch immediately to Aleph. There’s not much I can do except reach her standards, I think I can keep it up. And I’ll hope for the best that she won’t switch.
Atlas hands me his shields, the two small and the large ones, after walking to me.
Atlas is the gentle giant of the team, the Lawful Good if you will. A very expressive guy, I don’t know why he doesn’t talk, I didn’t make him mute, he did speak at first, but I rarely see or hear him talk now. I don’t think he’ll want to switch to Aleph, but he does come along with the others to visit him.
There are a couple of dents and scratches on his shields, especially the small, metal ones. But nothing he can’t fix, he’s the blacksmith of the group, after all.
“It’s nothing you can’t handle. Why are you showing me this anyway? You’re better than me at seeing flaws.” I ask. Atlas simply smiles and shrugs his shoulders, before turning to go back to the bear, helping Sara switch the ice bucket every couple of minutes or so.
Sara… I can’t figure her out at all. I made her a Neutral Good character, just like Lance, but she’s the complete opposite of Lance. Lance is a generalist and an extrovert, while Sara is a specialist and an introvert. She likes books more than hanging with others. She also likes searching for crystals that the others and I made, she already has three. I don’t know the other two, but I’m familiar with the one she likes the most. It’s Tamer’s One Piece’s first episode. He recreated everything with my help.
She’s like a fangirl obsessed with the show as others did. Asking if the fruits exist, and if she were able to find one, what would it be, asking me if I ate or found one, and so I covered the lie with another lie. I told her it was in the past when Mana only existed inside the fruits. And there was a plan to eradicate the fruits, and it worked. Leaving mana to permeate the world.
Of course, it made her sad, but she bounced back, saying that she’ll be the first one to recreate them.
“Michael, I never asked you this, why don’t we settle down? Set up a base for us. You know?” Ana asks as she jumped down from Atlas’ shoulders again. “Isn’t it better for us to have like a base then we just hunt animals, bring it home, and cook them?”
“While setting up a base is good, We are going on a journey so you can adapt yourselves to any environment. If you four are the only humans left, I hope not, then at least the human race has a hope of rebuilding itself when I’m gone.” I say, putting my sword back in its sheath on my waist.
“What do you mean when you’re gone? I thought you’re an immortal?” Lance asks as he checks if the bear is completely drained.
“Being Immortal does not mean I like living,” I say, as their faces are filled with grim and sad expressions. To be honest, I’d love to plot out my death and live my life as a teacher, or something. Maybe a beggar. Or trap myself in the tower until people can make computers now, with video games.
“Cheer up, guys,” I say with a smile. “I’m not gone yet, You all will need to become strong, you are all given a chance to bring humanity back to life. I’m here to guide you all.” Lance and the others smile back, as Lance prepares the bear after he had cut the rope.
A caw of a raven echoes throughout the forest, the four look up in the sky and see a small infinity sign on the side of its surface. That will be Aleph’s sign. That means they’ll need to find him after an hour, to teach them, or something.
“I’ll go set the tents!” Ana says, taking the backpack off my bag, which was enchanted by me, to have a larger space inside it. My excuse is that I found it in ruins. The crystals Sara has are also found in ruins, so everyone’s eager to raid one.
“I-I’ll set the fire!” Sara says as they all perform their roles. Ana sets the 3 tents from my backpack, Lance prepares the food, Sara prepares the fire to cook on and for us to stay warm, and Atlas…
Atlas is punching a nearby tree like it’s Minecraft, using his handheld shields as an axe. Atlas is in charge of the firewood. Of course, they’ll all try to get everything done, so I can cook, they can leave to go and visit Aleph, under the pretense of taking a bath, and come back in the camp, with food ready for them.
What a handful…