“How long is he going to be like that?” Jack asked, pointing to Sensei. The otaku was sitting as still as a statue, deep in thought.

Alice lounged across two chairs, resting her legs on Jack’s lap. “Few minutes. It’s worth sticking around to listen to though.”

Jack raised an eyebrow.

Hiro chuckled. “Oh yeah. Everyone had that response at first. He might not look like it, but he’s a veritable genius. I mean literally.”

Jack was skeptical. The smelly nerd looked anything but reliable. Then again, he’d survived this long during the apocalypse, so maybe his value was worth it. Or maybe that was just the strength of humans working together.

“How many people are adventurers?” Jack asked.

“Six now. It used to be me plus three.” Hiro said. “Maurice’s our handler of sorts. He’s the one that decides where we should go next.”

“Neat.” Jack said without emotion. He could feel his social battery draining in real time.

“Can’t believe you’re not interested in your big sister’s career.” Alice grumbled. “I admitted to taming a boss monster! How’s adventuring cooler than that!”

“How’d you tame a boss monster if you don’t go adventuring?” Jack asked.

Alice kicked him. “At least ask what I tamed!” Alice huffed. “Sensei predicted there was going to be a big hog in the forest a little ways away. He said if we could tame it, we might be able to put it to work, rooting out mushrooms and stuff. Turned out, hoggy was more than just big. She was bigger than this building! Didn’t exactly fit inside the walls. A few people suggested we make bacon, so I said if they could get to her, they could have her.”

“If they could get to her?”

Alice waved away his question. “I live in the veterinary clinic a few blocks away. Nobody wants to leave the walls, and the adventurers listen to what I say because I told them I’d tame them a monster for a companion.”

Hiro shook his head. “She’s not going to.”

Alice grinned, giving Hiro the finger.

“It’s an invasion.” Sensei said.

Alice’s expression fell to neutral. She sat up and listened intently. Jack did the same.

“Hiro’s been to a few dungeons now where there’s depicted three deific members of differing species toasting above a fourth figure in ruin below them. The doors that showed up at the end of the year each have a depiction of one of the member species, but not the deities themselves, fighting against random earthlings to open the doors.”

Jack had stuff to input, but he waited patiently for Sensei to finish.

“Judging by the murals, the three species, or at least the three deities, are working together. Which rules out the apocalypse being some form of freak magical accident. Whatever happened to our world that brought monsters and dungeons was deliberate. So then the question, what’s the purpose in the apocalypse?”

He pointed to Jack. “Your Legendary achievement. We cannot presume that there’s a singular size for territory that’s able to be claimed. After all, cities are different sizes, so how could anyone else claim that achievement? Extrapolating from there, let’s then assume that there is NO max size for claimable territory. Now, each achievement has its own requirements to gain, but a common thread between them is struggle. We cannot gain achievements by training each other, we need to put our lives on the line or otherwise achieve something beyond reason. Otherwise it’d be easy for everyone to have every achievement and skill as soon as we taught each other how to get them.”

He spoke softly. “That’s not to say that the methods for gaining achievements can’t be taught. There’s several people in Clearview that have identical achievements. So then take everything together. Deliberate action requires forethought, which means planning. Planning requires information, which means they most likely already know about the achievement system, and further they possibly know about Jack’s Legendary achievement.”

He met their eyes. “Regardless about their direct intentions, methods, or if there’s some other reason, they are invading us. And the doors are the key. They’re gates to the other worlds of the different species, and they’re coming here to lay claim to whatever they can.”

Everyone within this city reveres you as its leader. Would you like to claim this city as your territory? Jack thought. He could make a few assumptions of his own about what that meant for Earth. Especially when one considered the violent method Jack had gone through to get that achievement.

Suddenly, any information he felt obligated to contribute felt negligible. “So what’s the plan?”

Sensei shrugged. “Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do. Not without more information at least.”

Jack nodded, getting to his feet. “That sounds like something to do then.”

“And where do you think you’re going?” Alice asked, getting to her own feet.

“To get information? The doors are still closed, right?”

“For now.” Hiro nodded. “But we don’t know how long they’ll stay that way.”

“Right. And waiting just wastes time.” Jack hoisted his backpack. “I can go alone, or you can come with me.”

Hiro flapped his lips, trying to figure out what to say. Alice laughed and gave Jack a side hug. “I missed that part of you too. Oh Jack, you have no idea how bad my anxiety got without you around.”

“I’m sure it was much worse.” Jack allowed. “You coming?”

“Well someone’s gotta show you the ropes!” Alice grinned. Anubis got to his feet. “Wanna go for a walk boy? Do ya!?”

Hiro leapt to his feet. “I’ll get the other adventurers!”

Jack nodded. “What do you have for supplies?”

Hiro led them out of the building. Sensei stayed behind, waving them goodbye. “Well, that depends on what we’re doing. If we’re just scouting, everyone’s got their own stuff, but if we’re going on a supply run, we have a little cart we bring along.”

Jack rattled his bag, eliciting some clinking sounds. “Are they any good? I’ve only got four health potions left, and I don’t want to waste them.”

Hiro froze. His smile struggled to lift. “I’m sorry, did you say only four health potions?”

Jack knew that Hiro was asking that because he was surprised by how large the number was, not how small. Still, he had an act to play out, so he gave a nervous smile. “Well yeah. The rest were all destroyed when the city kinda turned into a door.”

Hiro groaned, crouching and wrapping his hands around his head. Jack leaned in close to stage whisper to Alice. “Are health potions rare?”

Alice nodded. “Clearview as a whole has only ever had five in total. We don’t have any now.”

Jack hummed acknowledgement, but kept any further words to himself. After all, he didn’t want to insult the Asian kid with the baking sheets for armor.

“I’ll introduce you to the rest of the team.” Hiro said. “If you’re going to join us, you’ll be staying with us in the guild house.”

“The… guild house?”

Hiro blushed. “Not my idea. Sensei started naming it that, since all the adventurers started sharing the same house. It’s a play on his stupid adventurer theme.”

Alice nodded. “To be fair though, without him, I’m not sure half the people here would even be here. He’s never left Clearview, and yet he’s the one that found each and every single one of us, corralling everyone here so everyone could help everyone else.”

“Humans tend to do that.” Jack said nonchalantly.

“True, but Sensei helped us thrive. He taught us how to make water filters, how to cook, and just how to survive overall. He even had us set up the beginnings of a forge if you can believe it! The only problem is that nobody’s skilled enough to use it properly.”

“Yet.” Alice pointed out.

“Yet.” Hiro agreed. “There’s two or three people who’ve been working with it in shifts. I keep telling them to listen to Sensei for advice, but they can’t stand him.”

“Can Sensei forge?” Jack asked.

“Mentally, yes. Physically, no.” Alice said with a smirk.

“We’re here.”

They stopped in front of a regular looking house. Aside from some boarded up windows, like all the other houses, it didn’t look all that special. Hiro led them in. Lounging around the living room were three individuals. Two boys and a girl. After taking off their boots, Hiro introduced everyone.

“Everyone, this is Jack, Alice’s sister! He came from that city that was destroyed as the only survivor. Oh! And he has nine achievements, so be nice to him.”

“NINE!?” They shouted.

Something tells me this is going to be a running theme. Jack grumbled silently.

Hiro gestured to them in turn. “Big fella’s name is Chad. He’s got two achievements, plus the Adventurer Apocrypha. He was a football player, and is acting as our current tank. Next is Ben. Resident gun nut turned swordsman. His achievement helps us detect danger before it arrives.”

Ben waved. “I still prefer guns, and as soon as I figure out magic, I’ll switch to that. But for now, swords are more useful.”

“His Apocrypha is also Adventurer.” Hiro said. “Last but not least, Lee, our archer. She’s got one achievement that helps her aim for targets up close. Her Apocrypha is kind of obvious, as an Archer.”

Lee stood and bowed politely. “Nice to meet you.”

Jack nodded. “Same.”

Hiro grinned. “Starting today, Alice and Jack are both going to be joining us on our expeditions!”

Ben and Chad both leapt to their feet, shouting. Chad thundered over to Hiro, slamming him on the back. “I knew you could do it!”

“Oh thank god! This is going to make things so much easier!”

Hiro laughed nervously, his eyes constantly going to Alice, who was rolling her eyes with Lee. Although Jack noticed, he didn’t care. He cleared his throat.

“I know the names of three of my achievements, and three effects they have on me. The names don’t matter, but the three effects I have include my Apocrypha, which affected my body to turn me into a predator, a taunt skill, and a critical hit skill.”

“You have a taunt skill!?” Chad beamed. “Nice! Maybe you can take some heat off me!”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“More like some heat off me!” Ben laughed. “You don’t tank shit!”

Jack raised a hand. “Sorry, but what skills do you have if you're a tank without a taunt skill?”

Ben wheezed, pointing at Chad. Chad blushed angrily, kicking at Ben but missing. “Stalwart and Tough. Stalwart is a Magnificent skill that means I don’t move unless I want to be moved, and Tough is just a Great skill that gives me extra durability.”

“Sensei actually recommended Chad use Stalwart to push things over, since if he only wants to move forward, he won’t be nudged backwards.” Hiro explained.

“Makes it hard to rock things though.” Chad said, rubbing away his blush.

Jack nodded. “Interesting.” Not really.

Hiro nodded. “Alright, we’re being sent out on a mission right away. Get your gear, let’s head out!”

----------------------------------------

The group gathered their various items. Ben was the most similar to Jack, with a sword and shield to Jack’s mace and shield. Granted, his shield was a modified trash can lid with extra shit bolted on, but the point stood. He traded Hiro armor sets, taking the baking sheets for chest pieces while Hiro wore a worn down leather jacket.

“The metal is better against sneak attacks.” Hiro explained. Since their sizes were similar, they shared the armor for when it was their turn to guard the wall.

Chad wore football gear, with the plastic bits traded for metal, as well as a helmet. Despite being a tank, Chad didn’t wield any shields. Instead, he used a modified signpost like a spear. Apparently, after they filled it with extra metal and stuff, it became neigh unbreakable, making it a much more effective crowd control tool than shields. And if he wanted to go on the offensive, the stop sign at the end had been folded and shaved down to look like a halberd ax.

Lee was the most stereotypical of the group. Light clothes that didn’t get in the way of her bow, and a full quiver of mismatched arrows for her bows. She used her compound bow normally, but her quiver had an unstrung wooden recurve as a backup. Jack approved.

Hiro had his leather gear, plus a well kept sword and not much else. Besides Alice, who just wore thicker than normal civilian clothes, he was the least prepared person here. And yet, the other three seemed to defer to him as the leader by default.

Before they could leave, Sensei caught up to them.

“There are a few things you need to know before leaving today. First, I figured out what Jack’s skills do. Executioner isn’t as scary as it sounds. It’s a skill that directs Jack’s attacks towards the weak points of a creature. I’m like, 80% certain it only works on creatures Jack’s already killed though. Slaughterer is a lame skill, it just increases your strength and intimidation a bit. But since it’s a Magnificent skill, the bonuses aren’t insignificant.”

Ben and Chad mirrored each other, backing away from Jack with faux horrified expressions. “Your first two achievements are Executioner and Slaughterer?”

Hiro shook his head. “His second is his Apocrypha. His third is Slaughterer.”

“Spooky.” Ben chuckled.

Sensei continued. “Next, you should go towards Highpoint estates. One of the houses there might have some supplies we need for making our windmill. Look for ‘old lady’ houses and try to find some sewing stuff. Needle, thread, cloth, whatever you can get. There should be a door for you to investigate on the far side of the apartments.”

Everyone but Jack nodded.

“Do you know if we’ll all make it back ok?” Jack asked.

Everyone fell silent. Jack sensed he had done something wrong.

Sensei sighed, rubbing his face. “Yes, you’ll be fine. I accounted for everything. Even if the doors open, unless they’re bullshit OP, you’ll at least be able to make it back here. But be warned! Even I don’t know what lies beyond the doors. That’s why you’re going to investigate. So exercise caution, and stay safe.”

The group nodded.

Sensei chuckled, tipping his fedora. “Travel safe friends.”

“Bye Maurice!” Alice said, waving as she took the lead. Anubis trotted beside her.

“It’s Sensei!” He shouted.

“I said something…” Jack said quietly.

Alice smirked, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. Just don’t ask about the outcome of an expedition again.”

“Sorry.” Jack muttered meekly. Being normal was so hard.

“Hey, you didn’t know!” Hiro said. “It’s just… the last time he did that, we got cocky. Or relaxed too much, or something. You know, that whole ‘knowing the future changes it’ trope from movies? Yeah. Sensei can’t give us prophecies. Only hints. Otherwise he gets things wrong.”

Jack nodded. “I’ll be careful.”

Hiro nodded back. “Good. Just follow us, and you’ll be fine.”

True enough, Jack was fine. Hiro was a smart and cautious leader. Much like Jack’s early days, Hiro stuck to the edges of buildings, peering around each and every single one of them with almost exaggerated caution. Jack put some emphasis on almost exaggerated caution, because he knew just as well as everyone else who’d survived this long that all it took was one instance of lowering your guard for everything to go horribly wrong. There was more than one moment when Jack was alone that he entirely relied on his caches to keep himself alive.

Still, almost wasn’t all the way there, and the kid could stand to speed things up a bit.

Jack didn’t say anything though, and just followed silently behind. He noticed, with some amount of amusement, that whenever he heard something, Hiro’s ears would twitch and he’d hold a hand up for everyone to wait while he figured out what was going on. Occasionally he’d glance at Ben, who would raise a number of fingers. Knowing his ability to determine danger ahead of time, the number of fingers he raised probably indicated the amount of danger a certain event presented.

There came a point where the way forward was blocked by two things. A sleeping mound of a giant monster that nested in the ruins of a house, and a lizardfolk hunting party that was preparing a trap for the thing a little ways away. The ways around went too close to known ‘dangerous’ territories, according to Hiro.

I wonder how far out from the compound they’ve scouted? Jack thought idly, watching the group prepare for battle.

Alice was standing uncomfortably close to Jack, but he figured this was just her way of protecting him. Where she’d gotten that instinct, Jack didn’t know. In his mind, she was still that five-foot-six nerdy girl who couldn’t open juice boxes sometimes. Maybe it was a sister thing.

Jack didn’t know why all this prep was necessary, he’d been ready for battle since setting out. Maybe it was because the group dynamic had changed, and the regulars were adjusting their mentalities.

In the end, Chad would take the lead as normal, Hiro and Jack had his right side, and Ben, Alice, and Anubis had the left. Lee, of course, would watch their backs.

The lizards totaled eleven in number, with eight of them actively holding weapons and keeping watch. The other three were in the process of setting up simple, if supersized, snares, tripwires, and springing branches with spikes on the end. Lee started the fight with a long distance headshot.

Maybe I should learn archery… Jack thought. It didn’t suit his close up style, but it could still be useful. Something to think about.

Chad led the vanguard in a silent charge. They didn’t want to wake sleeping beauty after all. It seemed like the lizards recognized the same, as their cries of challenge were much quieter than Jack was used to.

Jack trotted in behind Hiro. He could easily overtake the swordsman, but it wasn’t his place to do so. It went unsaid, but the reason he was on this side of the formation was so that Hiro could analyze his usefulness to the group. Which was fine, because Jack was going to be using this little warm up to do the same for the rest of the group.

Chad speared the first lizard in the gut, effectively pinning it in place. He pivoted in place, using the lizard's momentum to drag it over to the awaiting Ben, who was able to deal with it after a short clash. Jack noticed with some approval that everyone was keeping wary eyes out for the spearman in the back. Lizardfolk didn’t use bows and arrows. They threw spears instead.

Thankfully, Lee distracted the two ranged spearmen with her archery. Due to having multiple opponents, her aim was a little hasty, but she did manage to keep them off the vanguard’s back.

Jack casually bonked the lizards that got around Hiro. He didn’t kill them, just knocked them out. They might bleed out if he left them long enough, but that didn’t matter. By not committing to a killing blow, Jack gave himself more agility to respond to dynamic threats. Besides, this was more fun.

Hiro’s swordplay looked entirely textbook. It wasn’t bad, nor was it predictable. He was just practiced enough that each and every step he took felt deliberate. Jack didn’t know dick about swordplay, especially different schools of swordsmanship, but he could tell that this was something Hiro had created from scratch. There was a few weak points in his balance that wouldn’t work on heavier opponents. Jack suspected that he was used to fighting smaller opponents.

On the other side of Chad, Alice and Ben worked well as a team. Alice, who’d picked up some scrap wood as a weapon, was keeping the majority of their opponents at a distance so Ben and Anubis could deal with the lizards one at a time. Jack saw Anubis in a new light with blood on his maw. It was clear his fighting style was influenced by humans. He fought like none of the dogs Jack had needed to kill in the past.

The fight ended with Hiro rushing the last spearman down. The three builder lizardfolk had gotten away. Jack didn’t want to use his taunt, thinking it might wake the sleeping beast a few houses away.

Chad had gotten the shitty end of the deal. He was still standing, thankfully, but his football gear only protected so much. Surprisingly, his stomach, which Jack had thought was unprotected, looked fine. It was his thighs that had gotten the worst of it. Maybe it was a product of his stance, being so low to the ground.

Jack fantasized about how he’d kill the jock when Hiro returned, triumphant.

They spoke in excited whispers.

“Dude! That was so easy!”

“Speak for yourself.” Ben huffed and puffed. He went over to their bags.

“How many’d you get?” Chad asked Jack.

“Just one.” Jack said. He’d bonked three, but Hiro was the one to get the kills. Jack’s only kill was accidental.

“C’mere stupid.” Ben grumbled, rolling out some bandages for Chad.

Alice rushed over to Jack, squishing his face. “Are you ok!? Hurt anywhere?”

“Fine.” Jack managed, but Alice ignored him, searching for wounds.

“Pass me the bandaids.” Hiro asked Ben. He had a small gash on his side, where a lizard’s spear had cut him.

Lee silently went about the battlefield, collecting her arrows. Jack noted that, besides her and himself, everyone else had small injuries. A cut here or there, bruises, scratches, whatever. Most of it was obviously hidden beneath their various armor, but Jack could still see them in the way they handled themselves.

A shadow enveloped the group, and they all froze.

Minus ten points. Jack said, rolling his head to stare the cause dead in the eyes.

A creature, somewhere on a spectrum between an armadillo, bear, and insect stared them down with its multifaceted eyes. The giant, six armed creature stood on thick hind legs, bracing itself upright on the adjacent house with sharp, spindly upper arms that ended in blades. Its long, furry beak opened up, dangling half a dozen needle-like tongues.

That’s a new one. Jack thought. He wasn’t scared though, the big creatures were easier to deal with than tribes or patrols. Even as he had that thought, he was thinking of the many various ways he could kill it.

“RUN!” Hiro shouted.

Run? Jack silently questioned. Still, he didn’t hesitate to obey.

He jogged next to Alice as she fully sprinted, Anubis at her side. The giant monster followed suit, quietly chasing after the group as they ran between some close houses. The giant creature crashed into either wall, throwing the roof up a foot before it backed out, climbing the flimsy building to chase them out the other side.

“What the fuck is that!?” Chad shouted.

“Lee! Shoot it!” Ben shouted.

“NO!” Hiro vetoed instantly. “Just keep running! To the apartments! They’re made of bricks!”

Jack sighed internally. He debated disobeying orders and just turning around to fight the thing. But he knew human nature, and if he fought, so would they. And despite his praise of the group for fighting cohesively earlier, he wasn’t blind enough to know there was a significant gulf between their abilities. After all, Jack was unscathed, and these guys weren’t. Against less than a dozen lizardfolk? That was evidence enough.

Besides, he didn’t feel like getting yelled at by Alice for being ‘reckless’.

The beast scrambled against the dried grass of the lawn the group had turned on. The group’s strategy seemed to be weaving between the houses in the hopes that the larger creature would either get stuck between them, or just get tired and give up. Jack had to admit, the group was good at running though. They were moving at a speed just faster than their enemy, enticing it on and tiring it out at the same time. Jack had employed a similar strategy in the past. Granted, he did it on purpose, but still.

Up ahead, a building was flattened. It was the only one left between them and the apartments, but there was still the street and a parking lot to get across. Jack visualized their path, and speed, trying to determine if they would make it. With no more obstacles to slow down the beast, it would be close. Jack imagined the myriad of ways he could slow the thing down without disobeying the order to run. A strike to the head, as they were running up the hill of rubble… yeah, that’d be effective.

Jack slowed down slightly, watching to make sure Alice didn’t notice. The others began climbing first.

“Ks!” Hiro said, halfway up. “Left! Back to the camp!”

Full retreat? Jack asked himself, bemused. What for?

He himself got halfway up the small hill when he noticed why. On the other side of the parking lot was a small crater, devoid of rubble. Like a black hole had sucked the materials of the apartment and sidewalk had been sucked up into the car sized arch that now sat in the middle.

Open.

Three heavily mechanized figures stood at the entrance. Centaurs, minus the tails and with hammerhead helmets. Their legs were not like a horses, but instead looked closer to what Jack had seen on velociraptor’s. They also only had four fingers per hand, which were holding thick, long mechanized weapons. Jack’s only word for them was ‘ray gun’.

The lead centaur raised the weapon slowly.

Jack didn’t like how calm they were.

He silently halted, spinning in place. His mace swung wide, bashing against the hard cheek of the creature. Several of its tongues lashed against his arm with the blow, but none of them damaged anything. Having bought time, Jack bolted at full speed for his sister, holding his shield up between her and the centaurs. He glared at the mechanized intruders over the top. All three were staring at him, and the leader had retrained his gun in their direction.

Then the beast screamed in rage.

Only the two follower centaurs aimed at it.

Fuck. Jack cursed, preparing himself to receive the bullet, or energy blast, or whatever else would come out of the gun.

They pulled the trigger.

Jack continued running, watching the gun. But nothing happened.

All three centaurs began panicking, and suddenly, the beast fell upon them. Jack and the rest of the adventurers vanished down the street, leaving the invaders to their fate.

Damn. Jack thought, lowering his shield. I kinda want to watch.