The boy looked over the group of strange people in front of him. There were five in all. Two were female and three were male. They looked like they came out from a fantasy movie with their leather armors, iron breastplates, and long cloaks.
“Are you mute?” the teenager asked, his face turned fierce.
Seeing him up close, the boy noticed the teenager looked around 18 years or 19 years old. He had long messy hair and piercing green eyes that seemed to glow in the night.
“Wish I could tell but I don’t remember who I am,” the boy finally said.
“Can’t remember?” the teenager frowned. “What kind of bullshit is this? What the hell were you doing here?”
“Like I said. I don’t remember anything. I just know I woke up in this place.”
“Just know you woke up in this place, you think I’m a fool? You’re one of Crowel’s spy, aren’t you—here to steal our dungeons and ambush us?”
He pushed his spear against the boy’s neck causing blood to ooze out.
The boy glared at the teenager.
“I don’t know who this Crowel is or what he or she has got to do with you. From what I can tell, you prefer me to be a Crowel’s spy rather than being interested in what I have to say.”
“Keise, stop. I know him.” A girl stepped forward putting her hand on the teenager’s shoulder.
She knows me? The boy stared at the girl. She had long, curly, brown hair, and sharp eyes, making her seemed even more unapproachable.
“You know him?” Keise gave the girl an inquisitive look.
“Yes, he’s Sid. The brother of a friend of mine. It has been a few years since I’ve seen him, but he looks exactly the same as I remembered him.”
She paused, then peered into the boy’s eyes.
“I’m Ridley, Rae’s friend. Do you remember who I am?”
The boy, Sid, racked his brain. He couldn’t remember anything about this girl or his sister, Rae.
“I—can’t remember anything.”
Ridley stared at him, deep in thoughts.
“Knowing him…I doubt he has the courage to lie to us. He must have really lost his memory.”
“That doesn’t mean he is not Crowel’s spy.”
“Do you think Crowel would use a person like him as a spy?” Ridley turned to Keise, crossing her arms and signaling with her a turn of her head. “You noticed right? His name and his title aren’t showing when you use Analyze.”
Keise looked at Sid and frowned. He pulled back his spear and nodded his head.
“He hasn’t been initialized yet.”
“That’s right.”
“But, what is wrong with him? His legs and hands look fine.”
Ridley turned to Sid as if looking at a fish on display.
“You know it takes more than usable hands and legs to be initialized.”
Keise smirked.
“Then, what do you want to do about him?”
“Let’s take him back. The monsters here would mow him down if we leave him.”
Keise tapped his spear in thought before turning his gaze back to Sid.
“Tell us truthfully did you get abandoned by your faction?”
Is this guy thinking I’m faking my amnesia? Sid thought.
“I have no clue what you’re talking about. All I know is that there used to be a cemetery here and a hospital and they suddenly disappeared.”
Keise didn’t react at all to Sid’s words.
“Of course, we cleared the Fragmented World. So those things that didn’t belong here before fade back to where they supposed to be.”
Keise said it in such a matter of fact way that Sid had a hard time believing it was a joke.
Seeing Sid’s confused expression. Keise couldn’t help but think, this kid…does he really have amnesia? How could anyone not know about Fragmented Worlds?
“Do you even remember anything about the apocalypse or the events that transpired three years ago?”
“There was an apocalypse? What happened?”
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
Keise roared out in laughter and thought. Is he so mentally weak that his mind erased everything to protect him from going crazy?
Keise didn’t expect he would meet another one here. Then again, there were people back in Hoover Fort who wished to return to the moments they were most happy, the time before the apocalypse.
Whatever the case, he had more important business to take care of.
“Let’s do what you suggest, Ridley,” Keise said, then surveyed the surrounding. “It is not safe to stay here. Let’s get back and report to Gerald.”
Then turning to his members, Keise continued.
“Good job everyone on clearing your first level 20 dungeon.”
The other members who had stayed quiet the entire time, burst out in celebration.
Ridley motioned with her finger for Sid to follow.
“Ah,” Sid fell down onto the ground. His body was exhausted and his muscles gave up on him.
“Help him, Gazzel,” Keise said to a big man. “He is completely exhausted.”
Sid couldn’t tell how Keise could have known, but he was right. When he had regained control of himself again, his entire body felt weak. He could hardly stand without his body screaming in pain.
The big man bowed to Keise and went to Sid’s side. Seeing him up close, Sid noticed the big man towered over him. The man Gazzel was built like a bear. A thick mustache sat above his lips as his angular face rounded out his appearance.
“What were you doing? Your body is all sticky and wet.” Gazzel said, as he put Sid on his back. Suddenly, his face contorted. “Holy Grandma, you stink!”
“Sorry, I was fighting skeletons.”
“An Uninitialized like you?” Gazzel said, laughing.
They said that too, Sid thought, thinking about Keise and Ridley’s conversation.
“What does being initialized mean?”
“It means The Voice has chosen you.”
“The Voice?”
“Yep, our Lord and Savior,” Gazzel said with a laugh.
“It is he who gives us the power to fight back against the monster invaders. Without being initialized you aren’t able to receive The Voice’s personal messages. You won’t be able to level up, gain skills, titles, and use the weapons from the dungeons.”
“Dungeons?”
“Another word for Fragmented Worlds. People use them interchangeably.”
“I see.” Sid mused about what he heard.
Seeing, how Sid was deep in contemplation. Gazzel thought back to what had happened. Unless he was a top actor, Sid didn’t seem to be lying. Everything Gazzel had said was common knowledge.
He must be telling the truth, Gazzel thought.
When Sid first saw them, he might have thought they were just a group of crazy weirdos in cosplay. Gazzel’s eyes seemed to look far back. Those were the times uh?
“Keise said something about clearing the dungeon,” Sid brought Gazzel back to the present. “It is like how you kill all the monsters in a game?”
“Ah, what do we have here? A fine gentleman with fine taste. You forgot everything, but still, remember about game mechanics? You sure got your priority straight,” Gazzel teased.
Sid scratched his head. He didn’t know why as well.
“Fragmented Worlds are a bit different. There are different clear conditions. For this dungeon, the requirement was for us to kill the boss,” the man said, then looked at Ridley. “If she wasn’t there, we would have lost a leg or an arm, trying to finish off the boss.”
Sid traced Gazzel’s line of vision to Ridley. Then, he turned back to Gazzel who was still staring.
“Your eyes are going to fall out if you stare like that,” Sid said with a grin.
“Can you blame me?” The big man made an exaggerated expression. “I didn’t know a body like that can even exist!”
With a sigh, Gazzel continued, “Man, I’m jealous. You guys are childhood friends, right? Getting to spend your youth with such a beautiful girl.”
Sid’s expression turned solemn.
She said she knows me and that my name is Sid. But even now I have no recollection of that name or my sister or her.
But she was so sure it was him, making Sid more confused.
“What is wrong with you?”
“Just confused.”
Gazzel went quiet for a bit in thought.
“It would be…”
They continued onward, in silence, through the seas of trees with the bright moon up ahead, illuminating the dirt road path.
“Word of advice,” Gazzel broke the silence. “This world is different than the world with games you lived in. In this society, there is only a front of law and order. The strong and powerful are the ones in control and who make the rules. That is why you need to lower your head to the strong and don’t act defiantly. You have to choose your words when speaking with them, because in all honestly, we’re like ants before them.”
Feeling Gazzel was trying to insinuate something, Sid replied. “Are you talking about how I communicated with Keise?”
Gazzel nodded but didn’t look at Sid. His face was solemn with no trace of playfulness.
Sid turned his gaze forward.
“I was telling the truth.”
“The truth doesn’t matter if you communicate it in the wrong manner.”
“Do you think Keise is the type that would have let me live if I grovel at his feet saying I lost my memory so please don’t kill me?”
“Well…no,” Gazzel said, then laughed. “He would pierce your neck either way…but that is because we’re currently on high alert for Crowel’s men.”
Searching his brain, Gazzel continued, “Look, what I’m trying to say is that your chance of living will increase if you live with your head down, especially for an Uninitialized. It is the land of the strong. You need power to have a voice. You need power to be respected. They can slaughter us like ants so we respect and listen to them. Age, knowledge, laws, equality, justice, they dun matter. No sir, not in this world.”
Sid went quiet as he began to take in what Gazzel had said.
“By becoming initialized, allow you to have a voice in this world.”
“That’s right.”
Sid frowned.
“So without becoming initialized, the person can’t get skill, levels, but they still can get titles, right?”
“Didn’t you hear what I said before? They can’t get any benefits if The Voice hasn’t chosen them.”
“Then, what about the Player Profile screen? Are they able to see it?”
Did I mention about the player profile to Sid? Gazzel thought. In any case…
“They can’t see it,” Gazzel replied, “Think of it as playing a game. If you haven’t made your character, you can’t play the game. That is what initializing roughly does.”
Sid went silent before asking, “You’re an Initialized right?”
“Of course, I am. Why else would I join the dungeon expedition?”
Sid nodded his head.
“How do you bring up the Profile Screen?”
“You just think or say show me my player profile,” Gazzel said, looking at Sid. “Are you seriously going to try? It won’t work, you know…well it’s better for you to find out.”
Gazzel waited a moment before saying, “Told you it doesn’t work.”
However, Sid’s expression was stern as he lost himself in the flickering static screen in front of him.
Player Profile
Name: Error: Entity has not been initialized.
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Title: Member of the S Club, T̵͉̩̑̓̔h̷͓̔̌̊e̵̳̋̉ ̷̼̋̆͊Ǘ̸̘̐ǹ̷̯̳͊̿i̵͉̦͘͠n̶̦̺̫̐̎͐ì̸̼̪͝t̷͔̺̀i̷̹͝a̶̺͆l̸̟̾í̶̟̎̉z̵̨͌̿e̶̮̠̙͐͠d̸̻̘̜̹̻̼̺̥̍̀̕
Level: Error: Entity has not been initialized.
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Str: Error: Entity has not been initialized. +0.2
Agi: Error: Entity has not been initialized. +0.2
Con: Error: Entity has not been initialized. +0.2
Sol: Error: Entity has not been initialized. +0.2
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Skill Point: Error: Entity has not been initialized.