The superior monsters around me were transforming back into people. They were screaming in pain, cursing, and crying for their mothers, but they were people. Once again, I pulled up the messages. It looked like I had a new goal for the whole damn game.
You destroyed all the farms belonging to the larva in this location.
***
You destroyed the larva in location 352, hexagon 118.
Valkyrie, Fang, Ulbaron, Raptor, and Zelda levels increased by 1 (14).
Level +10 (170).
5 free attribute points received.
***
You destroyed a larva and its farms. Because there is no safe village or managing function in this location, you became the head of the safe zone in location 352, hexagon 118. All location monsters are your captives.
You are a natural release player, so your captives have been transformed back. Location 352 has been pulled out of hexagon 118 and can only be returned after your death. All natural players in the hexagon have received news about the zone.
***
Non-natural release players are required to leave the zone within 12 hours and can no longer remain in it without your permission. The game functionality itself provides for the location’s safety.
***
The game owner is furious at you and applied the Sanctions penalty …
Note! Sanctions cannot be applied to personified noa.
***
You cannot be in the safe zone longer than 24 hours.
The Tsarter mercenary group has been updated. Current makeup: 5 players. Group objective: liquidate Mark Derwin and return location 352 to hexagon 118.
***
You are the first natural player on Earth to become head of a location.
Level +30 (200).
15 free attribute points received.
***
You cleared a location of monsters.
Valkyrie, Fang, Ulbaron, Raptor, and Zelda levels increased by 1 (15).
I looked around at the people on the roof. Yes, they were people. Breathing hard, they were starting to come to their senses, though a first glance told me they had their wits about them. They weren’t brain dead. I’m going to have to stick around here a little while longer.
They needed to learn how to survive.
Chapter 8
“SO, WHAT ARE we supposed to do?” The question, one that was simple enough, took me aback. When I gathered the people around, I’d assumed at least one of them would be mature, able to take care of business. I hadn’t been ready for most of them to be children and helpless old people. World of the Changed was such a popular game, it turned out, that it had pulled in most of the working-age population, and I only saw a few middle-aged adults. But their appearance wasn’t enough to give me any confidence. They were behaving oddly, too, hiding in the shadows, watching the proceedings from a distance.
“You need a leader,” I said as I looked around. It was like some sort of protest. Good thing Ulbaron has a built-in loudspeaker. “Does anyone know how to get people organized? Anyone with managerial experience?”
“Let’s say I do,” a gray-haired man said as he stepped closer. Judging by his bearing, he was a veteran or, yes, some kind of top manager. “What do you need them organized for?”
“Winter is coming.” There was no reason to mention how the location was only independent so long as I stayed alive. Let them hope. “Humans aren’t just back in the city; they’re in all the areas around, too. You need to collect them, find clothes, find food. Help them survive, and remember that you can’t count on anyone to help you in the next six months. Until we destroy the game, all our energy will be focused on that. No help, no police, no army. It’s all you. Oh, and you can’t leave the location right now — there are monsters out there.”
“Will you be able to take down the game?” the old man asked dubiously as he adjusted the cloth wrapped around his waist. That could have been one more problem, only everyone was so scared they hadn’t had time to notice each other’s naked bodies. The game, as it so happened, didn’t wipe out their monster memory; it just returned consciousness and their memory of their previous life. And they were all shaken. There hadn’t been a single inferior monster in the location, and promotion to superior status only happened when you killed players. Many wept, unable to come to grips with what they’d done, while others retreated inside themselves. The vast majority, however, were able to pull themselves together and listen to me.
“Look around you,” I replied. “You’re all alive, which means we’re making progress. But you have to take care of yourselves.”
“We need money…those…coins. There are a lot of old people, so we need to heal everyone. That’s what the regeneration kits are for, right?” The old man was wrapping his head around the situation quickly, already digging through his phone. I started feeling better about the location. He’d be fine. He had to be.
“Exactly,” I said as I sent him five hundred thousand coins. “That should last you quite a while. Spend it only on the necessities, and make everyone take a picture of the larva, that big dead thing over there. That’ll give you all two thousand apiece.”
“Got it. Anything else I should know?”
I said nothing, though the old man was apparently very good at reading people.
“Understood… I’ll tell everyone that things are going to be fine, that we’ll take care of everything. When are you flying out?”
“I’m going to take a picture of the monster and head off. Tons to do. Oh, and buy a weapon.” I saw the old man tense up and continued. “Not all of the people here were people before the game started. You might have problems. Here, this will come in handy.”
I gave him a level three universal protection necklace and nodded in the direction of the characters hiding in the shadows. Happily, there were no further questions.
You took the first picture of a dead larva. 120000 coins received.
As I glanced around at the tear-stained faces, my stomach sank. I just didn’t have the opportunity to calm them all down, no matter how much I understood what they were going through. Not only had they been ripped suddenly out of the world they knew; in that moment, they were thinking back to the time they’d spent as monsters. It was a heavy blow to their psyche, and they were all going to have to accept what they’d done and forgive themselves. Forgive themselves for doing something they’d had no control over. I wasn’t worried about the kids — they would quickly adapt. But the elderly, the ones with habits and mindsets forged over years… It was going to be difficult for them.
I was once again in the hexagon’s list of top players, which meant I could no longer travel back and forth between locations undetected. And that meant I needed to drop a few levels. Happily, I had a great way to do that. I flew up to the roof of a building, turned on my invisibility, and skipped over to another roof. Better safe than sorry. Once there, I activated my camouflage field and hit the trial button. It was time to see how that whole thing worked.
“Welcome to the trial, Mark Derwin,” said a mechanical voice. The familiar tablet appeared in front of me on its stand, though there were just two buttons that time: Trial and Exit. There was nothing about classes.
“How many levels are you willing to bet?”
“Fifty.” I’d decided to go with the minimum, still not knowing what the trials were all about.
“Which attribute would you like to change?”
“Skin strength,” I replied, that answer also prepared ahead of time. I needed a way to stand up to the Tsarter group’s weapons.
“Your selection was accepted. Impenetrable skin, fifty levels at stake,” the emotionless voice said. “Allow me to explain the rules to you.”
The instructions were simple and to the point, the way they should be when you’re talking about torture. My job was to stay conscious and on my feet for as long as possible no matter what was done to me. And they were going to do quite a bit… Every second I stayed awake during the t
rial would set one level in stone. Easy enough, at first glance. But the reality of the thing turned out to be horrific.
“The trial will begin in 3… 2… 1… Good luck, Mark Derwin.”
A ferocious cold gripped my body. It was so sudden that I forgot to take a breath, frozen in place with eyes bugging out. And right then, burying down to the bones, making me twitch, and squeezing my heart into a tiny bundle, came a wave of electricity. I wanted to scream as the awful pain tore through me, but I couldn’t. All that came out was an unintelligible gurgle. The electricity and cold left, replaced by a hellish fire… But that was all I could take. My legs buckled, and I collapsed to the floor. Almost no sooner than it had begun, the trial was over.
You locked in 6 levels. 44 levels were discarded in favor of the game.
Current level: 156 (6).
I woke up in front of the tablet and looked myself over. My body was whole, though my mind was shattered. And the result left quite a bit to be desired — I’d only lasted six seconds, making me seriously doubt that I’d be able to go through the horror yet again. Tough skin…yeah, right! After that kind of experience, it should have been hard as steel. What do they do for the other trials?
“Are you prepared to go through another trial, Mark Derwin?” The impersonal voice couldn’t have cared less about my problems. Its job was to strip me of my levels, and honestly, that got under my skin. I let the emotions get the better of me and shot back.
“Yes, give it to me! Organ strength. Fifty-five levels!”
“Your selection was accepted. Reinforced internal organs, fifty-five levels at stake. The trial will begin in 3… 2… 1… Good luck, Mark Derwin.”
You locked in 36 levels. 19 levels were discarded in favor of the game.
Current level: 137 (42).
Reinforced internal organs +3 (3).
As soon as my consciousness was back, I started sucking air into my whole and healthy lungs. I felt for my pulse — my heart was beating on the inside, not the outside, even though it had been torn out of my chest with steel torture implements. The same was true of the rest of my organs. They were all back inside. Once you knew what to expect from the trials, it was easier to get yourself ready for them psychologically. Of course, it was sheer willpower holding me up through the last few seconds, but that did the trick. And while I didn’t know what those three reinforced internal organ points got me, I did know I was done with trials for a while. Who’s the bastard who thought those things up?!
“Are you prepared to go through another trial, Mark Derwin?” The system knew I had available levels and wanted to get its hands on them.
“Next time,” I replied, and I was returned to the roof. The old man who’d taken charge turned out to be a great pick — things were already bustling down below. Squads had been sent out to forage for clothes, food, and water. The children had been collected into a single spot, and some entertainment had been organized for them. And judging by the feed I was getting from Flyer, some people were heading out of the city in the direction of the neighboring villages. Everyone was going to be grouped into one spot. Excellent! The location gave them a fighting shot at building some kind of life for themselves. Really, it was an oasis of humanity in a monstrous desert. So, should I even kill monsters now? Larvae and alien players, of course, but champions and superior monsters… They were the very same people. It was a tough question.
Attention!
A group of natural players entered your location. Access was granted by default.
I got the message as I was flying toward the location border. The coordinates were on the way, and I didn’t even have to adjust my course. Turning on invisibility and activating Valkyrie, I approached the border.
There was a battle raging ahead of me.
I’d already seen the group entering the location — it was the same soldiers who had done such a good job taking out the monsters. The only problem was that instead of monsters, they were up against players. One player, that is. And they were being handed a crushing defeat. The player’s name didn’t tell me anything, though its level 560 and named armor I saw gave me a pretty good idea what group it belonged to.
There weren’t many vehicles left. Shot-up remains were smoking on the horizon, with the ground from there to where we were littered with corpses. The rest of the troops were hiding, crawling, hauling away wounded, and, what impressed me most, constantly shooting back. Not one of the twenty-two soldiers still in the land of the living had thrown down their weapons. Not even the wounded. They kept shooting, even though they weren’t making a dent. The mercenary was wearing universal protection, and even though Ulbaron was shattered, the bullets smacking into it just slowed it slightly. It marched relentlessly forward, Terminator-like, cutting down targets with terrifying accuracy.
I knew what I was risking. I knew it might not work, and I knew the other Earthlings might start shooting at me in the heat of battle, but I couldn’t just fly away. While I’d been fighting the monsters, I kept trying to sneak off south, but that already wasn’t going to happen. They knew where I was. And that meant I needed to help.
But as soon as I flew out of the location, the mercenary started looking around. It even stopped shooting. The bastard saw me on the list!
The people down below made good use of the pause and took off running, though the high-level player I was targeting no longer cared. It occurred to me that the whole thing had been a trick. The troops could have been allowed to get that far just so I would come out to help, though that only crossed my mind in passing as I came hurtling down on the mercenary from above. Your regeneration isn’t going to help you this time, bitch…
Deraven Raknul was sacrificed and received a penalty covering the next 4 releases.
You can collect 4 items at your maximum available level (current equipment level: 6).
Level +5 (142).
Fang practically split the mercenary in half. Its body immediately began to rot, and I picked its phone up and waved to make sure nobody shot at me, happy with my maneuver. My protection was up and running, but it was still worth making sure the troops knew I was friendly. Stray bullets and all…
The needle in my chest was so slender that I barely noticed it. Really, it felt more like I’d been bitten by a mosquito. Thinking that Ulbaron must have somehow just pinched my skin, I looked down and…actually, I wasn’t able to look down. My body wasn’t responding. But my perception was still just as good as ever, and I noticed the tiny thread reaching toward me from the smoking vehicles. A fire burst out in my chest. I was a harpooned whale being dragged through the water, only I couldn’t fight back — my body was no longer under my control.
I was hauled over to a burning armored troop carrier, and that was finally when the pressure from the harpoon relaxed. Somebody grabbed my legs and dragged me away from the safe location. My eyes stared straight ahead, as I couldn’t even move them. Even breathing was impossible, and my chest was about to burst from the lack of oxygen. But I was powerless to do anything about it. The feeling was awful. If it hadn’t been for the trial, which introduced me to something similar, I would have lost consciousness long before, though it stuck with me in that moment despite the agonizing pain. Also, there was nothing keeping me from thinking or giving mental commands. The picture from the drone was right in front of me, so I found the strength to call Flyer over and show me what was happening.
Damn it! I was being pulled away by Shartun Po, with Galrun Po next to me. Both had the same last name as the Tsarter fighters I’d killed; both had the same level 538.
When I checked to see the direction we were heading in, it led me straight to some kind of flying vehicle. My consciousness was fading quickly from the lack of oxygen, but I fought to stay awake. We finally reached the vehicle. I was tossed on a seat like a sack of potatoes.
“Five won’t like it if he dies,” said the barking voice of one of the mercenaries. I couldn’t tell which.
“He killed our brothers,” came th
e reply. “He deserves a painful death.”
“Five promised to give us what’s left after their conversation. We don’t want a fight with the general or its spawn.”
“He…killed…our…brothers!” the second barked back. “The owner will protect us!”
“The only protection the owner will offer is a quick death and the next release. And we need to stay here, right in this hexagon. I heard the local digger is getting close. Our group is supposed to help with the excavations, and that might even earn us a promotion. They don’t get blood on every planet. So, really, we need to stay on the general’s good side. For now, at least.”
Instead of hearing an answer, I felt another needle and went limp. Once more, I was in control of my body, and it took everything in me not to jump to my feet. I decided I should have lost consciousness a long time before. And with that in mind, all I allowed myself was a jerk and the chance to hungrily gulp down air. That was it.
Pearl of the South (World of the Changed Book #2): LitRPG Series Page 11