I made my way to the road that led to the slis and picked a wall to stand against. I pulled out my copper dagger and began carefully trimming my nails with it.
Then I just waited and watched people. I wasn’t discrete in my conversation with Carlos earlier, so people had overheard. I saw several people give looks and whisper.
A large man ca up to . “You are supposed to be the toughest person here?”
“Yes, you want to fight to the death?” I asked and he seed taken aback by my apparent bloodlust.
“No, just wondering if what Carlos said is true?”
“All true. No reason to lie about this hellhole.”
“You are looking for people?”
“I need soone to carry stuff for . It is dangerous and there is a good chance of death. I go to places that others don’t co back from. I am the one who found out about the slis.” He seed to think on that and just looked at for a long mont.
“What’s in it for ?”
“Twenty sli crystals for each full day. You have to buy your own gear and food. You can keep whatever crystal you get from a kill, but you have to keep up with . Crystals you earn are crystals you don’t get paid. You earn ten crystals from killing things, you only get ten from . But if you earn more than twenty, you can keep the extra. Also, no taxes. So, you get to keep it all.”
The man seed to give it so serious thought. “I won’t sacrifice my life or anything like that.”
“That is fine, but I need soone with steel balls. Who can swallow their fear and not run at the first fight? I won’t ask you to go first, but I don’t want a coward either.”
“How dangerous are the monsters?”
“Slis are easy, anyone that has t anything else has died or disappeared. I need soone to carry things for in the area I want to check out. But like I said, it is pants shitting terrifying and I need soone with balls of steel.” I wasn’t about to sugar coat things and have the person I hired run at the first sign of danger.
“I need to think about it.”
“That is fine. Not forcing anyone.” The man walked away. Well, that fish slipped the line. Another man and then a woman both ca over and I had similar conversations with both of them. In the end both of them declined.
The fourth person was a wiry looking chap with glasses. He gave villain vibes with the suit he was wearing. Like a young wolf of wall street but only nerdier. He would be an ani villain for sure with that look.
“I’m in.” I was a bit surprised at how quick his decision was.
“Alright, we are going to hunt slis for five days to see if you can cut it. You need a pack, club, and fruit to eat. Don’t worry, the food doesn’t go bad. You might want to see if the restoration from the pillar will fix your eyes as well and how much it costs. I will wait here. Na’s Michael by the way.”
“Carl Smith.” He held out his hand and I shook it. He bought his gear and then ca back.
“Let’s go. If you can’t keep up my pace, let know.”
“So how will this work exactly?”
“Well, we are going to go outside the city and then I will kill slis. Your job is to grab crystals and toss them in your pack. When you are ready to fight your first one after watching , let know. There is a bit of a technique. Whatever happens don’t let any acid get on you. If you do, then you are screwed.”
“How bad is the acid.”
“Eat right through your flesh with a drop kind of bad. The slis are slow and stupid, but they are incredibly deadly. The biggest risk when fighting them is having them burst on your body or completely ruining your weapon. Body ans death, and weapon ans a waste of points.”
“I see.”
“I doubt that. If you notice anything, I an anything that concerns you speak up. I would rather retreat alive, than be stupid and dead. Trust your instincts, always look up, and listen. There isn’t very much ambient noise, so breathing is easy to hear.”
“What is after the slis?”
“You keep up, then we can talk. Don’t want to scare you off. But if you leave, you get taxed again.”
“You are a survivor of the first group, aren’t you?”
“What gave it away, the beard?” He blushed a bit at that. I just chuckled. “I am from the first wave. There was no one here before my group as far as I know. They might have all died. The store wasn’t upgraded then so probably no previous group. But even the slis are risky. So how much was the restoration for you?” There could have been 100-point upgrade, but that seed pointless when everyone started with 100 points.
“1,285 points.”
“Ouch, that is really expensive. But glasses are a huge liability. Better to fix that so future restorations are cheaper. Worth it over the upgrades.”
“What do they do?”
“Pretty much what you can figure out from the na. If you learn more, let know.”
“No magic, powers, classes, anything like that?”
“You are like , hoping for things like that. But nope. None of that right now. But this group is the front line so to speak. So, if anyone figures it out first, it will be us. Well, that is if you don’t die of course.” Carl was quiet as we walked quickly towards the gate.
We reached the gate and he looked up at the wall. “No way to get up as far as I know. You okay to go or need a break. Feel free to speak up.”
“Just a few minutes to catch my breath.” I nodded at that.
“No problem. Just let know when you are ready to continue. If you need to slow down or stop, let know. Communication is going to be key if we are going to work together. The goal is 100 sli crystals today.”
“A 100, that seems like a lot.”
“Upgrades go up in price by 5 points for each one you buy. Also, if you want to fix your eyes, you need to get those points.” Carl nodded at that. “Focus on your breathing. Keep it steady. If you start gasping like a horse after a derby, the noise will carry.”
“Anything other than slis?”
“Saw sothing camouflaged in the deadlands past the forest. Don’t want to ss with anything like that for now. Would need to get a bow and so arrows maybe to test and probe it. Still risky. If you have ideas, or you think sothing is risky, speak up. I will only get mad if you say useless things while we are in combat.”
“That’s all I can think of for now. You are different from what people were saying.”
“Like bathing in the blood of innocents?”
“Um…no?”
“I have my reputation for a good reason. But this place is tough. If you are going to make it here, you are either a sheep or a wolf. Being a sheep isn’t all bad, but you don’t get the right to complain when you are sheared.”
“I got my breath back.”
“Good, then let’s go.” I headed into the forest with Carl right behind . After a bit of walking, we ca across a sli. It appeared that no one else had made it out here. They had waited by the plaza for today’s show. I can’t bla them since I did the sa thing.
I spotted a sli. I quickly went over and swiped my club at its side ripping it open. I waited for it to die a couple of seconds later and turn to dust. I then gave Carl a look. “Oh, right.” He went over and picked up the crystal and put it in his pack.
“Leave your pack slightly open and learn to put it in without taking your pack off. Let’s keep moving, I am going to go faster. Pay attention to and the surroundings.”
“Got it,” Carl replied. He was already getting a high score in my book. Asking questions and paying attention to what I had to say. If he was a new employee, I would be quite pleased. Still, I needed more than a drone, I needed soone with balls of steel for what I had planned.
I picked up my pace moving to the high-density sli area, closer to the deadlands and began killing sli after sli. I occasionally glanced back. Carl was keeping up, but he was struggling, and exhaustion was on his face.
After fifty or so slis I ca to a halt. “Keeping up, okay?” I asked.
“A bit winded,” he said through heavy breaths. At least it wasn’t dying for once.
“We will take a short break and then keep going. Don’t worry, after a couple of days of this, you will be in great shape.”
“Don’t know how I will manage to kill a sli. You race from one to the next.”
“You have to race up there with . Well, if you want to fight one, I can let you take on the next one, get a feel for it.”
“Alright. A glancing blow, right?”
“Yes, you might need more than one. Also watch where your feet are, so they don’t lt off. Slis are low to the ground, so it is a pain to hit them while not getting your feet lted. Saw it happen, the man killed himself after that from the pain and no real chance of recovery.” I saw Carl look a bit nervous at that.
“Alright, let’s go.” We moved forward a bit and ran into a sli. “All yours.”
He went over and missed on the first swing. The second swing he managed to hit it, but the sli was only leaking slightly. The third swing it the sa spot and the sli died, but his club was degraded a fair bit.
I walked over. “Don’t hit the sa spot twice. They leak.”
“Yeah, I see that now.”
“Well, that is one for you and no feet lting. Good job. Now let’s keep moving.” We managed to get around 120 crystals by the ti the sun started to go down. Carl looked completely winded and exhausted.
“Alright, ti to head back. Good job this afternoon.”
“Thanks, that…was…you do…this…every day?”
“Pretty much. But I am hoping to move onto other areas and monsters. Giving up, that is okay. I won’t force you to continue if you don’t want to.” Carl hesitated for a bit.
“I will let you know in the morning.”
“That is fine. Free choice and all that. Well, we should get headed back. Let’s go, unless you want to sleep out here over night.” Carl gave a look of terror.
“Night…?”
“Yeah. Co on.” At least he didn’t complain at all, a huge plus in my book. We reached the gate as the last bit of light was disappearing. I picked a building about a minute walk from the gate, and we went up to the second floor. Carl basically collapsed on the floor, completely tired from what we had done.
“Eat so fruit, it helps.”
“How?”
“You just need to have more ntal strength than the pain your body is telling you.” He let out a groan as he sat up. He brought over his pack and took out an apple. I was already peeling an orange.
“I don’t think I can physically make it if we do that all day tomorrow.”
“Hmm. Well, you can’t get a partial restoration. Like I said if you want to quit, that is your choice. I had to push through a lot of pain to reach this point. Lots of chaffing, pain, and suffering.” I patted my still overly large gut.
“Well at least it gets easier,” Carl mumbled. He was already falling asleep. I didn’t say anything else and let him fall asleep. I waited for a while listening for anyone else but didn’t hear anyone. I fell asleep as well.
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