Willow
Frazzlen Orientation Hall ,Farcem City, Motrendi
Even in a magic world, companies existed and managed to make things suck. Willow sat in the crappy chair made of a plastic-like material which managed to be super hard and flimsy feeling. She shifted uncomfortably as she half-listened to the man on stage drone on and on about the “Frazzlen faction.”
Upon Ray first mentioning factions, Willow had pictured medieval-style intrigue, war, assassinations and, most of all, excitement! She had secretly begun to feel excited, thinking this new life might be like one of the table top RPG games Vash ran for their group. Now, though, she was starting to feel a creeping dread. Is the afterlife all just corporate B.S.? Oh no… I picked the wrong religion. I died and now I’m literally in hell. I thought hell was supposed to be full of fire, but this is definitely worse. Demons probably upgraded their infrastructure to simulate meetings and such when they saw it on earth, realizing screaming in pain is less soul-destroying.
“Hey, are you listening? This seems important!” A studious looking young man pulled Willow out of her wallowing. He was sitting to her right on another horrible torture device similar to her own.
“Nope! What’s your name? Wanna cause a distraction so I can escape?” She leaned toward him a bit, eager.
In response, he leaned away, his hand coming up under his nose for a moment before dropping. Her paw-pa had the same habit for a bit after getting LASIK to correct his nearsightedness. “Of course not. I got good terms on my contract. If I rate in the top 2k for two consecutive years I’m guaranteed a promotion. The same deal goes for each successive level. I finally drew a good hand with this life and I’m not going to waste it.” While he kept his voice quiet, it was full of passion and excitement.
Willow did her best not to scowl at the idea of being stuck for a minimum of two years being a good thing. Instead she nodded along and asked, “And what’s your total contract term?”
“My what?”
“You know, how long are you required to be their employee or whatever?”
He stared at her for a long minute, blinking slowly. She was about to explain, but Naomi leaned over from her left with a malicious fire burning in her eyes, “Mine’s seven thousand years.”
Panic entered the man’s eyes and he frantically started looking around. The poor man’s plight would have been funny if it wasn’t for the fact that it was likely he’d gotten just as raw a deal as Naomi. After a few moments he realized there was no way to ask without disrupting the speaker; who was still waxing unpoetic about how incredible and generous the Frazzlen leader was. His eyes returned to Willow and he asked desperately, “What about you? Did you get better terms?”
Thinking it was best to not let these poor folks who had absolutely been scammed know that she wasn’t in the same sinking boat, she did her best to make a pained face, “Thousand years.”
He and Naomi both stared at her. Neither appeared to believe her. She wasn’t sure if their disbelief stemmed from how atrocious she was at lying, or from the much lesser sentencing. “How?” Naomi answered the question.
“Well the recruiter I got didn’t look very trust worthy so I kind of tried to talk myself out of it entirely. He was like, two maybe two and a half, meters tall? And he was muscled like a bear! So anyway, I tried to decline but he got right in front of me and put his HUGE hand on my shoulder. I stayed stubborn though and… Well yeah, one thing lead to another and here I am!” She did her best not to let how smug she was at having told them a fully true version of events, without ruining her previous lie. Thank you me, for loving books about sneaky MCs who give good advice about how to lie well!
Her conversation partners both looked like they had bitten a lemon, Naomi looked like she was about to go back to muttering and rocking in her chair - which is pretty much what she’d been doing since Ray left them here. The other guy was just frowning, lips twisted in obvious distaste, clearly deep in thought.
Their attention was collectively retrieved when a new voice boomed around them from the speakers, At least I think the sound’s from speakers, I can’t find any…, “Thank you Mr. Jones, for your excellent explanation of our Faction’s founding and our great leader.”
The new speaker’s voice was higher pitched, harsh as if restraining anger, and sounded a bit snide. Willow liked this person way more, immediately. At least whoever it was seemed not to be a hypnotized drone. She looked back to the stage to find the new source, in time to see them enter from the stairs on the stage’s left side. The rest of the crowd caught sight about the same time, as muttering and shocked exclamations were raised. It walked upright, had two arms and two legs, but that was about where the similarities to a human ended.
Suddenly more interested, Willow examined the speaker as they continued to walk unhurriedly to the center of the stage. The walk made it clear they were expecting this reaction and giving everyone time to process.
As far as Willow could determine, the creature was a human-lizard hybrid. It looked a lot like the anthropomorphic lizard creatures from her TTRPGs, actually. The artist renditions of them was a bit more appealing, in her opinion. Grey scales, yellow slit eyes, flicking tongue, clawed four-fingered hands, massive tail about the same length as the rest of the body. She thought maybe the lizard-like person had a frill folded up around their neck too.
She looked to either side to check her seating companion’s reactions. Naomi was staring with something approaching terror, the man looked excited. I should really get his name. Before she could ask either of them anything, the voice came again, “I am called Varshuth. I am a beast-kin from the Scorched Plains Tutorial. You humans are horrible at identifying genders properly, so I will tell you I am a woman, and an exceptionally beautiful one at that.”
Although she couldn’t be entirely sure, Willow was fairly certain that Varshuth’s comment about being beautiful was a joke of sorts. Either a joke at them being unable to notice, or maybe it was more of a sarcastic thing. She absolutely couldn’t say either way. What she could say is that human-sized lizards didn’t register to her attractive to not-attractive meter at all. The scales were a bit off putting as they looked a little wet and the claws caught her attention as clearly dangerous. That was about the extent of what she was able to gather from examining her.
Having given the crowd a good ten-count to process and think, Varshuth continued, “As you can see, I am not like you.” Her mouth opened in a crocodile-like smile, showing several rows of needle-small razor sharp teeth, “I am not so squishy or ugly as you.”
Willow looked around self-consciously, having been the only one to snicker at what she perceived to be a joke. She was about to relax, no one looking her way, when she froze as her eyes returned to Varshuth - who was staring directly at her.
“Good, at least one of you has a sense of humor.” Her voice was the same as before, not seeming to hold any measure of humor, anger, or anything else. Willow tried a smile, found it weak, but soldiered on.
Varshuth quickly moved on, “Now, Mr. Jones is an excellent speaker and has properly explained the overarching organization of our faction. I am here to help with specifics. I will be helping acclimate you to that which is imminently important. For example, you humans are not the only intelligent race in the universe.” After a pause to allow that statement to sink in, she continued.
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“Aside from getting you accustom to seeing, listening, and showing respect to non-humans, I will be covering several other topics of import. I will try to be brief and will take questions at the end. First, what will I be covering specifically?
“To begin, I will explain the tutorial you just left. We will proceed from that topic on to your recruitment. From there, we will talk about the multiverse, or simply ‘the world’ as most of us refer to it. Finally, we’ll go over the UICI.”
She ignored the number of raised hands, and even continued on a bit louder to override a couple shouted questions as if they hadn’t been asked, “The Tutorial. The tutorial is where you all have just arrived from. It is unknown exactly how many tutorials there are, or whether tutorials which are very similar are the same tutorial with similar parameters.
“Most tutorials offer different ideas of what an ‘after life’ will look like. These ideas can come from religion, some through magical studies, mysticism, scientific evidence, and so on. However, the tutorial actively encourages the concept in order to provide some comfort and avoid everyone having a near-crippling fear of death. Why the tutorials do not simply allow us to know the truth of what they are from the start, no one is entirely sure.
“This brings us to the next point about the tutorials. They are not fabricated or controlled by anything or anyone that we are aware of. There are theories that there are beings of a higher classification than gods, which are beings who have managed to reach the hundredth rank and beyond and have the ability to shape reality to their whim, but we have no concrete evidence. We know that gods cannot create new souls, which is part of what the tutorial appears to do. Everyone in existence started within a tutorial. There are no exceptions. This suggests that there was a first soul, a first person to enter the world. Not to be side-tracked by this fascinating topic, though, the important aspect is that it’s not something any faction or alliance controls. This is why you’ve never heard of what comes next, we surely would contact those within tutorials to streamline the process otherwise.”
She took a pause, appearing to think for a moment. Willow shifted in her horrible seat again, wishing she had thought to die with a pillow clutched in her arms or something. Surely, if I had died with something precious held close I would have arrived with it, right? Not that my clothes, or even my body, is the same…
Before she could get too enthralled in examining what all she’d actually brought with her, Varshuth continued, “This is about all you need to know about the tutorials for now. Moving on, you’ve been recruited by the Frazzlen faction, congratulations! In particular, you have been accepted within our economics department. Here, you will be put to work on solving advanced problems of accounting, marketing, profit innovation, and more. In general, you have been identified at having potential to aid us in expanding our economic status within the world. You may request a transfer after a month, if you find the work does not suit you. Unlike some other factions, we do not view you as labor slaves with no say in your future. You are employees which we wish to keep comfortable and happy.”
The slight pause and small swish of Varsuth’s tail were the only physical changes, but Willow thought that she was making fun with that last part. Clearly, signing a contract for seven thousand years was pretty much slavery. Unless there was a simple exit clause, maybe all of Naomi’s worries were for nothing. If…
“As for early release from your contract,” Varsuth continued, the odd voice combination of high and harsh recapturing Willow’s attention effortlessly. “An early release clause is not generally included in the contract. This is for two reasons. First, our leader Hazzabi is not a kind person and demands the base contract we offer be as beneficial to the faction as possible. The other reason is the world is also not kind. No one will give you anything for free. If someone offers something free, then they are planning to stab you in the back. We aim to educate everyone on this fact as quickly as possible.
“Despite what many of you are likely thinking is cruel and far too harsh, there are benefits as well. All employees are housed, fed, and provided with basic amenities and entertainment. If you are satisfied with this, then you are welcome to simply do your day-to-day job and enjoy an easy life. However, if you are not satisfied you can work harder. Those who go above and beyond are always rewarded. If you simply want more creature comforts, we are amenable to provide those assuming a high level of productivity. If you are looking to advance your own skills and rank, the path of advancement through promotion is quite clearly laid out for everyone. You will be able to access this path on our internal repository through the UICI.”
Continuing to ignore the ocean of raised hands, Varsuth was about to continue when the sound of shouted questions became too much even for her to speak over. Her tongue flicked out, her tail twitching in a manner similar to earlier, and she held up a hand. A feeling of pressure suddenly pressed down on Willow from above, then passed over her. The room was once again silent. Surprised, she leaned over to Naomi to say, “I’m surprised just that was enough to shut everyone up.”
The greater surprise was finding herself silent. She could feel herself speaking, yet not a single sound was made. Varsuth said, “An extra lesson about the faction for you all, dissidence is not tolerated. Earth humans tend to get ideas of unions, work strikes, protests, and other such nonsense into their minds. Let me save you a bit of trouble.”
Varsuth’s voice didn’t change at all, yet each of her next words seemed to fall like hammer blows, “It. Will. Not. Work.” She waved her hand again, this time all of the raised hands appeared to be physically pressed down.
“As I said before, the world is not kind. The only thing truly respected is power. Part of promotion is gaining access to the resources needed to gain more power. If you work hard, in a few millennia you may have enough power to be considered someone prominent. Assuming you do not truly displease someone stronger than yourself before then.”
Shaking her head in a very deliberate motion, Varsuth continued, “To return to the planned topics, let us discuss the world. You have just been given an example of how different your tutorial was from reality. Most people will simply refer to all of reality outside of the tutorial as ‘the world’, similar to how the people within the tutorial might refer to the planet Earth, or the known universe, as ‘the world’. This is a required simplification to avoid pedantic descriptions and qualifications when it’s not required within every day conversation.
“The world is truly a potentially endless multiverse. The current universe we are in is named ‘The Origin’, as all sentient life originates from here; so far as we know. There are a bit more than three thousand other origin points. An origin point, before you attempt, and fail, to raise your hands to ask, is where you all arrived. Sometimes they are also called ‘arrival areas’ or ‘entrance zones’. They are the place people are dropped from the tutorial into the world. There may be more origin points in other universes, but there are none that we are currently aware of.
“For now, consider The Origin as the entirety of your world, because it is for the foreseeable future. It is impossible to travel between universes until you have reached at least rank ten, which is currently far beyond you. This brings me the final topic I will be covering. No matter how vast the multiverse, ‘the world’ is, it is rendered manageable by the UICI.
“The UICI, or Universal Inner Connection Interface, is exactly what the name implies. It is an interface which assists in internally connecting a great many things. Since you’re from Earth, this is easier to explain than to other tutorial arrivals, it’s essentially the internet fully grown up. The UICI is intelligent, but it’s also restricted. It was constructed by a coalition of gods several million years ago, so it’s somewhat recent. Even so, it’s a crucial part of our daily lives. The UICI cannot be used against any individual directly. As to what this means, you need not worry about someone ‘hacking’ your UICI to steal your information or watch any private recordings you have saved. I won’t be boring anyone with details today, but be assured that the UICI is foolproof. Twenty gods, all of different goals, alignments, and moralities, worked together to create the UICI. None of them would be willing to leave holes open for others to manipulate it to their detriment.
“But enough of the what, let us move on to the ‘how’. How can you use your UICI? Simply think, ‘UICI, initialize interface tutorial.’ you will be prompted by the UICI itself and taught how to use it. This concludes my time speaking, you have an hour to become acquainted with the UICI before the next speaker arrives. Feel free to get up stretch your legs until then.”
Willow didn’t notice Varsuth leaving to stage, having already begun the UICI tutorial.
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UICI, initialize interface tutorial
WELCOME TO THE U.I.C.I
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This tutorial will walk you through the basic functions of the U.I.C.I.
Additional functionality is available, and you may develop your own modules assuming you have the magi-code knowledge and drive to do so!
What followed was like a mix of an online tutorial, a social media doom-scroll, and reading a technical text book. Crap, it really is hell. Corporate meetings and school.