Chapter 6: Visitors

  A burp reverberated through the campsite and Alex leaned his head against the tree behind him. He had eaten three more portions of the deer he had killed before he was finally satiated. He knew he was hungry, but he didn't realize he was that hungry until he remembered it was coming on four whole days now since they had been brought here. Wherever “here” was.

  He also didn't know for how long they had been lying unconscious, so Alex could have not eaten for seven straight days, or ten for all he could remember. Who really knew?

  Oh fuck, the timer, Alex thought. He projected his will to the system and brought up the quest timer.

  Alex wasn’t certain how much time they had when the quest first began. He could only guess that the starting point would have been two years. Or, at least whatever the equivalent of two years would be here. He truly didn’t think that they were all unconscious very long either.

  Probably started at 720 days then. He thought. That meant they were closing in on three days here. He could at least figure out how to keep track of time this way. That’s a plus. He then thought about what the elf had said about “ascendancy”. Does this place even have days? Like on earth? Or just scripted cycles like computer programs?

  He raised his eyes and let his mind wander. He still had a desire to figure out more about this system. Learn its secrets. Even though he was tired, mentally and physically, his spirit was restless. He wanted to be up and out there hunting, gathering experience, and progressing ahead.

  Alex sucked in a breath, and let it out slowly. Something was getting him wound up, and he had to keep his wits about him. He knew he was still stressed, anxious, and panicking deep down. He could feel the fear simmering below his consciousness, ready to strike even as he kept it shoved below the surface.

  To keep his mind busy until sundown, he picked up his makeshift spear and started to check on it. Looking at the cords and the spearhead, tightening the knot and chipping the head to sharpen it further. It was busy work, but it kept him focused, motivated in the right direction, and not aimlessly stalking about just because he was restless.

  He kept at this for an hour or so. Checking his gear and looking through his supplies when he was pulled from his menial task assignments by a rustling noise near the edge of his camp.

  The scrape of leaves and twigs was brought to his ears, and Alex dropped the sewing kit he was holding, snatching up his spear instead. He crouched low, staying by the log he used as his seating next to his fire.

  Alex had set up a lean-to of sorts as a shelter against one tree. His seating log roughly six feet away against a different tree, with his fire at the center of them. He managed to clear the leaves and brush in the six-foot circle there-in, and mentally declared that area his "campsite".

  Now, he regretted not trying to uproot and clear the surrounding brush, as he felt very exposed to the unknown noise so close to his person. He gripped the shaft of his spear with whitened knuckles, mentally getting ready for another behemoth badger.

  He instead sighed in relief when he saw Lance, the lean white male on the Uni squad, step through the foliage and pause in front of him.

  The man wasn't exactly "friendly" with him being on the opposite squad to his previous own. He was a Uni, after all. Alex should be wanting to kill him as much as the badger. But he didn't, Alex was actually glad to run into another human.

  "Why'd you stop?" A female voice called out from behind Lance just as another figure stepped forward, revealing the Asian girl Alex remembered to be named Holly.

  "Oh." She said, and her eyes narrowed as she looked at Alex.

  Well, now he might be in trouble after all. Did he just run into the entire squad of Uni's? How fucking bad could his luck get?

  "You alone?" Lance held out his arm, blocking Holly's path from Alex in a protective manner. Alex eyed the man, looking between him and Holly before finally shrugging.

  "Yes, I'm alone." He couldn't exactly lie. He was alone, and the lean-to, solo camp, and remains of his dinner he had earlier proved it. He wouldn't be able to just say he was out for a stroll or scouting. Lance being so defensive told him they were alone as well. If they had their whole team and outnumbered Alex six to one, he wouldn't feel the need to hold Holly back, nor be so nervous with him.

  "There was an... incident, with my team." Alex stuck with telling the truth for now. He could figure out more information if they trusted him. Being genuine was hard to fake, so he didn't bother faking it.

  The two of them looked at Alex and glanced at each other for a few seconds. The expressions on their faces told Alex neither one really knew what to do. Which was good, because he didn't either.

  He realized he still held his spear pointed their way, so he retracted it without actually letting it out of his hand. The first olive branch. Let's see how they respond then , Alex thought.

  Lance slowly lowered his arm once he realized what Alex was doing. Holly stepped forward, fully removing herself from the concealment of the bushes. Well, that was at least some progress being made in the overall trust department. Maybe it was just the not-killing-each-other-immediately-on-sight department? He was happy to take either.

  Alex let out a sigh and stepped away from his log. He instead moved to the lean-to tree and set his shoulder on its trunk. Still, the spear didn't leave his hand.

  "Please, sit if you'd like."

  The two soldiers moved to the log, but they did not sit down. Alex figured they wouldn't. He just had to be polite at least. He didn't see any weapons in their hands. Both Lance and Holly didn't have their rifles as well. Given that those weapons didn't work anymore, he wasn't surprised. He didn't see a knife or anything else either, which did surprise him. If they were scouts, Alex would assume they would have at least something to defend themselves with.

  "You out here defenseless or what?" He knocked on the wooden shaft of his spear to solidify his point.

  "Well," Holly spoke up first, "Lieutenant Locke, wanted to keep our weapons at our base camp. To protect everyone."

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  Alex nodded.

  It was a likely reason, but a bad one. They had four more people back at their base, assuming Lance and Holly were the only scouts sent out. Four people, even with sticks or inoperable rifle-clubs, would be better off than these two with the same tools. He didn't say that out loud. He could see the edge of resentment in Lance's eyes, and the twinge of upturned scoff in Holly's voice. They didn't like the answer either. They, too, knew it was crap.

  "You make that yourself?" Lance pointed at his spear. Alex only nodded again.

  "It looks good. Cole and Peter are working on trying to make a bow. I'll recommend this instead once we get back."

  "You come just to steal my ideas or what?" Alex's eyes flared and he tightened his knuckles on his weapon again. If they were just here to gain their own intel and steal from him, Alex should just kick them out now. He didn't think they had a fight in them, and even if they did, he could take them. He would start with Lance.

  It'll be swift , he thought, a spear thrust at this distance could pierce his sternum. Hit him with a lethal blow right away. Then I can turn on her and-

  Wait. What the hell was he thinking?

  Attacking them, just like that? Alex was a trained soldier and a practiced fighter, but he wasn't a murderer. He knew that he couldn't just kill someone. So where did that idea come from? Why was he so ready to just end the lives of these two people when they were in the same situation that he was?

  Lance and Holly seemed to notice something change in his demeanor because they both tensed. Alex shook his head, and let out a long slow breath. His muscles relaxed, and he felt the tension in his body release. Whatever came over him, it was gone now.

  The two scouts still glanced at each other, worry passed between their faces.

  "Sorry, just a little on edge. Being out here alone does things to you." Alex waved a hand, dismissing his previous action. "Look, I don't really know how I can help you two. Let's be real, once you leave, I'm going to have to pack up and move so that you don't all come back and ambush me. So this won't be a recurring meeting."

  The two of them seemed slightly offended at Alex's remark, but ultimately nodded in understanding. They would do the same in Alex's position. How could he really trust them?

  "Fair enough." Lance stepped forward and sat down on the log. "Let's just talk then."

  He eyed the blonde-haired man, searching his eyes for a kernel of deceit, but Alex found none. He set the spear against the tree and stepped forward as well. He still had the knife strapped to his thigh, and Alex was sure he could use it if he needed to. Anyone could ask the badger all about that if they didn't believe him.

  Lance held out his hand, and Alex shook it.

  "Alex"

  "Nice to meet you Alex, I'm-

  "Lance," He cut the man off. "and you are Holly." Alex looked at the woman with a small smile. He released Lance's hand and offered his to her instead.

  "You already knew?" Holly took his hand and shook it quickly before pulling away. She was maintaining her distance from him. Alex assumed she was the kind of person who was cautious through and through. Good for her.

  "Yes. I overheard you all, back when we first woke up. After you and I had our dance." He squatted down in the dirt, getting to Lance's eye level so that he was no longer looking down on him as they sat. Lance smiled and chuckled. Obviously the man remembered the mad dash they both made for their rifles when they had woken up. A futile race, given the weapons were effectively trash now.

  "Right. Well, nice to meet you either way then." Holly's voice was polite, but her face stayed stern. She sat down next to Lance on the log, and the three of them finally settled in.

  "So, let's cut to the chase and acknowledge the elephant in the room," Alex coughed, clearing his throat. "What do you all know about the system screens?"

  The two scouts once again stiffened in front of Alex's gaze, worried glances shot between the two of them as Alex looked at both of the scouts with a smirk on his face. It appeared he was right when he assumed they also realized the truth.

  ***

  "So you all don't know much either huh?" Alex rubbed his chin as he looked at the ground.

  A stick was held in his hand as he copied Sylvaris' methods of information transfer; the act of drawing in the dirt. However, he was far less skilled in such an artistic medium as earth particles. He had just spent the last ten minutes talking about the prompts, what Alex called the "system screens", with Holly and Lance. He didn't learn anything new in that regard, which was to be expected.

  At first, the two Uni squad members seemed to panic and pretended not to know what Alex was talking about. That lasted about two minutes once Alex asked if they had eaten anything and Holly admitted they got a squirrel. Which meant someone killed that squirrel, and someone got experience points.

  Once he got the two to admit the existence of the screens, they opened up from there. Which was a relief, Alex didn't want to have to play political games for every exchange between them. He had been honest in the beginning, why couldn't they? Ten minutes later, Alex learned that the Uni squad did not know anything that he already did.

  They didn’t how the skills and spells sections worked, nor the core prompt. They got the same responses Alex had gotten when he attempted to use those features. What he did learn though, was that you didn't need to earn experience points to gain access to your status screen. Every member of their team had been able to see theirs once they called upon it. Using voice prompts, or mental commands seemed to work for everyone. Which Alex was happy to learn about.

  The Uni team were also confused and worried about the quest screen of course. Which confirmed Alex’s suspicion that they had all received the same quest. Become legendary, and all that. It was a topic of taboo among the Uni’s it seemed. As the idea of being, well killed, for failure was an unsettling sword to dangle over someone’s head. No one appeared to be handling this realization well, even Alex.

  Further, no one else on their team had learned how to use experience points. Just as Alex had, they seemed to think there was a leveling system they had yet to unlock. So everyone was working on trying to gain as much experience as possible.

  Their team wasn't actually at camp like Holly had first said. Their team leader Kate -Lieutenant Locke- had everyone split up and try to go hunting. The two of them weren't out of a weapon because they kept it at their camp for defense, instead their lieutenant commandeered them all for her and Zach, whom she had partnered up with to increase their chances of success.

  Regardless of the current tyranny of Kate though, their team still hadn't unlocked the leveling system. The reason being, because there wasn't one. They were moving in the right direction, for the wrong reasons. Gathering experience but doing nothing with it.

  Alex listened to all this, asking questions and clarifying details when they mentioned something he was curious about. He did not tell them about his encounter with the elf, and what he had learned though. Information was power, especially now, and Alex needed to make sure he was at the top of the totem pole. He couldn't be letting these other people race on ahead of him. Keeping things close to his chest meant he could maintain his advantage for now.

  They would figure out the basic parts of the experience system eventually, but Alex could hopefully pull ahead before they do. That was the plan at least. So he listened and nodded, going along with Lance and Holly for some time until they ran out of information.

  "That's all we know," Lance said, tapping the dirt with his own stick he was using to draw in the dirt.

  "I see," Alex muttered, before turning to the man and giving a sigh. "I ran into the same issues as you. The spells and abilities sections, and the core screen. I hit a roadblock in unlocking levels; all of the same stuff actually."

  He dropped his stick to the ground and dusted off his hands. Lance clapped a hand on Alex’s shoulder and kicked away his own stick as well. The man's hand was rather burly, and Alex figured this guy was going to be putting most of his experience into strength, or maybe vitality.

  "So we gained nothing for all that time? We each already had the same problems and no solutions?" Holly looked at the two men and shook her head as Lance only laughed at her words.

  "True, but we can say we aren't going down a known faulty path, Holly." Lance gave the woman a thumbs up, who only sighed and returned the gesture, more of obligation than enthusiasm.

  Alex could tell these two had a good rapport based on how they talked. He figured they were the main scouts of their team, the same way Hank and Garret were for his squad.

  Though Garret never got as friendly with Hank as Lance managed to with Holly, it seemed. The woman at least spoke and smiled every once in a while. Alex wasn't sure he ever saw Hank smile.

  Alex ignored Lance's remark, as he knew very well they actually were going down the wrong path. He just wasn't going to say anything to them. Not yet at least.

  "We gotta head back then. Look, Alex, " Lance squeezed his shoulder, "I'll try to put in a good word for you back with the team. Since you are alone out here and all. I can't promise anything though, given... well you know."

  "Don't worry about it, I'll be fine. Thanks though." He gave them both a smile and a wave as they left. Lance returned the wave with what looked like actual friendliness. Meanwhile, Holly just rolled her eyes and stalked into the brush. He listened to their footfalls as they left, the crunch of twigs under boots getting quieter as the seconds ticked by. The sounds eventually vanished, and still, Alex waited, listening for five minutes for any sign they were around before he moved.

  Just like he said he would, Alex moved his camp. He broke down his shelter, covered his fire, and took all his supplies in a frantic flurry. He set off toward where he knew the river to be, deciding he might as well make some progress in that direction. Turned out it just happened to be back in the direction of his team's camp.

  Once he felt he moved far enough, Alex reset his camp. He was glad to have a fire going again as the warm glow of the canopy above him was starting to dim, meaning the threat of night was not far off.

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