New System, Who Dis?

Thursday, April 4th, 2069

“Is—it—always—” I began, my teeth rattling around in my mouth at the jarring impacts of the huge moving vehicle.

My dad shushed me without making a sound. Instead, he placed his finger over his lips in a universal sign that was understood worldwide, but was also somewhat infuriating. I felt like a child being scolded and that mood clearly shone through my expression.

“While these are pretty sound proofed and probably make more noise than we could speakin’,” Willa whispered from her seat on my other side. She even went as far as to lean to my shoulder to keep her voice down. “For some reason words attract them more than crick-cracks, and ATV noise.”

Despite the constant jarring ups and downs of the ATV, she seemed to be completely unaffected, both in her whispered words and in general. I tried to mimic her, my father, and the other experienced Miners. I could tell they were somewhat bracing with their legs and the lower half of their bodies to act as shock absorbers. A closer examination showed me that most were even hovering their butts above the seat.

I gave it a try and felt my legs burning after just a few minutes. I collapsed back to the chair, and saw my dad give me a smirk.

Rolling my eyes, I mentally asked Smegma, [You don’t happen to sell a body-strengthening Skill for cheap?]

Smegma was hovering near the roof and scoffed at my question. “We have plenty, but they’re all higher than E rank, which is all a wastrel like you has access to.”

My mouth twisted and I looked up through my eyebrows at the Demon-Imp. I had been trying to lighten the mood, but then realized that it was getting close to time to dump my Mana for Mana Coins. Plus, I had a timer set on my phone, which I should probably turn off, if my father’s shushing was any indication of proper Miner-etiquette.

I did that first, accessing my phone and first silencing it, before finding my timer. The silencing was likely wholly unnecessary since I had no reception, but you never know…

I closed my eyes and entered my Mental Universe before willing the Mana stars toward Demonic Vault. As the first point moved across my mental bridging straw, I frowned. I still had thirteen points, but I couldn’t help but question if I had been ‘full’, or if it was just my imagination that I could have possibly gotten another point. The thirteen points did bring my Mana Coin total over a hundred, though, which made me consider purchasing a Low Grade Spent Mana Crystal but since I was about to mine a bunch of unspent ones, I figured I’d wait.

[Wait—how come I’ve never seen ‘spent Mana Crystals’ for sale on Earth?] I asked, realizing for the first time that they should be readily available on almost every street corner with how much we relied on Mana Crystals for energy.

Smegma narrowed his eyes.

“That’s a good question. They said this thing runs on Mana Crystals, right? Be right back.” Smegma flew off and phased through the door that led to the cockpit, or whatever the cab of an ATV was called. He returned a moment later, “How the husk is your race even still alive?”

Because of his incredulous tone I almost responded aloud before thinking better of it. [What’s wrong?]

“That ‘engine’,” he enunciated the word, clearly showing his distaste. “Is literally burning Mana Crystal shards.”

[How else would we get the energy out of them?]

“Oh, god’s no. Please tell me that you’ve heard of Ritual Circles, Mana Circuits and the like?” Smegma asked, his face earnest despite his aghast tone.

[I’ve got a feeling this is going to upset you, but I’ve never heard of them. That doesn’t mean they don’t exist.] I added the last hurriedly when thunderclouds seemed to roll over the Imp’s small face.

No response came for an awkwardly long time. Finally, I prodded Smegma mentally and he twitched. I gave him a look with both my eyebrows raised, hoping he’d take the hint and explain. He did but his tone was beyond frustrated.

“I’ve been sent to the ass end of the universe. I literally would have been better off with the drug-dealing Llamas than on this backward ass rock!”

It wasn’t really an explanation, and it brought up a great deal of questions, not the least of which was—drug-dealing-Llamas?—but I got the message loud and clear. Smegma was upset about Earth’s lack of strength, technology, and progress. He was probably seeing this as a useless waste of time. I wasn’t going to disabuse him of that notion. On one hand, if he took it into his head that we were stupid and could be ‘fleeced’ in trade, it would become infinitely more difficult for me to increase my Mana Pool Skill rank or purchase an offensive Skill to become a Hunter.

On the other hand, his bias could work in my favor…

The distinctive sound of air brakes firing perked me as well as everyone riding in our ATV up. The group of ten Lynx members and their Mana Banks closest to the drop ramp began tightening straps on their gear, and adjusting weapon straps for use. The scene made my heart stutter for a moment. Were we stopping because we were at the Portal or because a monster was outside?

My father tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to the green light near the door. Beside it was a red and an amber light. I assumed green was ‘good’, which meant we’d likely simply arrived at the destination Portal. The drop ramp soon cracked its seal with an audible hiss, before it began lowering on its massive hydraulics.

I could tell that the ATV was still moving, but coasting to a controlled stop. The Lynx Hunters unclipped from their seats and stood up in near unison. They braced with a forward lean toward the drop gate just as the ATV jerked to a stop with a particularly loud screech of the air brakes.Only then did the Banks stand up to join the Hunters.

In fascination, I watched as the opening widened, but that fascination soon morphed into something else. I was certainly captivated by what the ‘window’ to the outside world revealed, but it had shifted into something that was more morbid. Disturbingly shocking, actually.

No wonder the ATV was jumping all over the place. It looked like an industrial dump or landfill. Maybe the site of a recent demolition before cleaning up? Concrete, rebar, glass, brick, wood and so much more littered the area in various states of destruction. Planks of wood were reduced to long sharp splinters. Some windows were whole while others were square shards seeming to be in the process of returning to sand. Concrete dust surrounded concrete blocks and even walls, and structural bones of what used to be sky-rises.

[Is this where Hollyhood gets its scenery for Apocalypse movies?] I thought. I didn’t mean to send it to Smegma, but my thoughts weren’t really private anymore thanks to the shitty imp.

“What the husk is a Hollyhood?”

Like with the question about ‘shitting not’, I just shook my head and continued to stare at the ever-enlarging scene. I felt like I could stand here and study the small amount I could see for days and still find new horrors that would give me nightmares. The view had layers. Starting with what was nearest the door, I could be shocked by the state that a city could be reduced to, or I could scan into the distance and never sleep again.

It felt like pictures I’d seen from ships at sea, with water in every direction but up. It felt isolating. It felt like there was no end, that what we had left behind no longer existed. I couldn’t see the walls in the distance that contained the Field. I couldn’t see any structure that would indicate an intact human civilization. Instead, no matter where I looked, I found signs of human ingenuity in ruins.

Then the smell hit.

The air we’d traveled with, or perhaps due to the ATV’s air filters, had neutralized the smell. However, with the ramp down, it washed into the space, displacing the ‘clean’ air. It was a scent I couldn’t place, but it ‘tasted’ awful. It reminded me of a landfill, swamp, dying forest, and slum all at the same time. I began breathing through my mouth to avoid the nauseating experience. It remained in my memory, and I imagined the ‘taste’ still with each breath.

Was this a glimpse of what was to come?

“If your race doesn’t start figuring some shit out, then yes,” Smegma answered gravely, despite me not meaning to ask the question to him.

His answer only made me more anxious. My watch beeped a warning at me, and I looked at it to see that my heart-rate was at about one-eighty. Since I was sitting down, and had been for the last half hour, that wasn’t a good thing.

My dad squeezed the back of my neck. Willa saw this and squeezed my shoulder nearest her. She whispered, “Don’t worry, monsters usually steer clear of the ATVs when they be stopped. Any that might still be alive, in any case. Pull up your face-guard.”

She deliberately pulled her dust covered face-guard up from around her neck and I looked down to find a similar, dirt-filled one attached to the chest piece I wore. I pulled it up and felt my breathing grow easier. The smell changed to that of old dry earth, which allowed my inhalation to return to my nose if I chose. A hint of the decay still came through, but it was tolerable.

They both misinterpreted the reasoning for my anxiety. Sure, monsters were a worry, but Smegma was making me question the methods and future of our entire race. Still, I tried to use their comforting gestures to remind myself that I wasn’t alone and I was in a rather remarkable piece of human ingenuity. My heart did at least begin coming under control with that line of thinking.

The Lynx members rushed down the ramp and their well-armored Mana Banks were right on their heels. I focused on their actions as they swept the immediate surroundings near the bottom of the ramp. It further helped and I managed to unclip my seatbelt with slightly trembling fingers.

My legs protested standing after the bumpy trip, but soon recalled what they were meant to do. I waited for the others onboard to gather their gear and prepare. The experienced Cleaners, Miners, and Gardeners all shuffled to the top of the ramp before waiting. No one spoke, and I took my cue from them thanks in large part to Willa’s warning on the trip. Moments later, a short but intense beep sounded. It came from two small speakers on each side of the door. It was clearly a signal because the leaders nearest the door jogged down the ramp. Each subsequent line of people took a moment to react, but the group moved like a sluggish military formation, which honestly surprised me.

“So, you’re Mining in a Sective Agora Portal,” Smegma said, and my brow furrowed.

A what? I had just made it to the side of the ATV and looked at him, which brought the large shimmering green Portal into my peripherals. He was staring at it. Why was it green? All Portals were blue, weren’t they?

“Sective Agora Portals are much better for medicinal herbs and other fauna than it is for minerals or Crystals. I wouldn’t expect anything other than Low Grade Mana Crystals.”

I wanted nothing more than to ask questions but decided to wait. Even Smegma’s minor distraction had made me fall a step or two out of line with my father and Willa. I quickened my steps and focused on staying in the formation. Something told me that a group of civilian workers acting this way were doing so because it was important.

The people in the front of the line began entering the Portal, creating ripples in the energy, as if it was a pool of green water that sat on a vertical plane. It was strange that it took me until this moment to realize that this would be my first time inside a Portal. As a porter in the past, I’d remained outside and carted the boxes to the transport vehicles. Just as the verdant water grew to take up my entire field of vision, I made another realization without even having to look around. We had no porters, at least not in the way I had performed the duty, today…

A chill seeped through my armor, feeling at first bearable and then like a cold dip in a near frozen lake. My skin under the armor prickled with goosebumps as a humid heat wafted over my chest, even as the intense cold froze my head, and back. My nose and face suddenly flushed as it too entered the Dungeon.

“A god damn rainforest Dungeon,” my father said even as he stepped out beside me. Willa groaned from my other side, and I couldn’t help but marvel at their casual banter after having walked through a Portal. I guessed that was because the Monsters were all dead except for the boss…Or they were just used to this mind altering moment!

[Is this the Agrano whatever Portal you mentioned?] I asked mentally, trying to distract myself from reminiscing on the strangeness of the sensations I’d just gone through. It was surprisingly easy, probably thanks to Mental Fortitude..

“Sective Agora. That’s what the locals call this planet, yes.” Smegma casually inspected the trees, forest floor and then seemed to bolt up into the canopy. I stared up at him, which luckily wasn’t too strange since the trees were huge, and captivating. Had he just insinuated that the Portal took us to another planet?

[We’re on another planet?] I thought pointedly at him. I saw Smegma look down at me and then decide to fly further up, before disappearing and poofing back into existence at my shoulder.

“Humans have never run into one of the locals?” Smegma asked just as pointedly as I had.

I slowly shook my head, then wondered if I had missed a news article about intelligent creatures being inside the Portals. After a moment I shook my head more firmly.

Making his thinking face, which consisted of a face scrunch and a talon tapping on a tooth, Smegma mumbled, “How is that possible?”

“All Miners to Jeral, all Cleaners with team three, and all Gardeners spread out in the immediate vicinity. You can begin harvesting anything you find. No one is to go more than two kilometers north, as that’s the location of the boss. Understood?” a new Hunter I hadn’t seen upon entering shouted from gaps between the bodies in front of me.

I shifted from foot to foot to get a better view and almost gasped when I did recognize the speaker and even the name of the one we Miners were assigned to suddenly clicked. Beastmode, the B-ranked Hunter, was standing not more than twenty feet from me, and we, the Miners, were supposed to ignore him and find Sturdy Jeral, a B-ranked tank?

“Let’s go son,” my father said, placing a guiding hand on my back. I gaped at him.

“Close your mouth,” Smegma said. “The air isn’t edible.”

My mouth did close, but only so my jaw could clench tightly. Mentally I shouted, [But that’s Beastmode and Sturdy Jeral!]

“They can’t be stronger than C-ranked surely.” Smegma moved to Beastmode and hovered inches in front of his face studying the man. Was something clenching my heart in my chest? My feet hit a root and I would have fallen if my father’s second hand didn’t steady me.

“I know it’s your first time in a Dungeon, but surely you can walk, right?” he laughed, as I transferred my earlier frustrations with Smegma to him with a scowl. “That’s better. The Hunters are just doing their job, and extraterrestrial scenes like this become everyday things once you’ve been through enough. Just keep your head on straight, okay?”

His laugh allowed my scowl to turn into a smirk. Willa held out a Mining pick, and I realized I had forgotten to grab mine before departing the ATV. I opened my mouth to thank her, but she chuckled and punched my arm. “We all started where you are now, kid. Don’t worry about it. Your father did the same for me.”

“What was that a hundred years ago?” I teased.

“Ya little shit!” Willa said and punched me harder, making it very clear that she had held back last time. I rubbed the spot she hit and then stumbled on a root again when Sturdy Jeral in full armor, minus his helm, came into view leaning on his door shield.

He smiled at the group and my body reacted with an awkward wave before I could stop it. My father and Willa facepalmed on both sides of me, but Jeral’s grin widened.

Unfortunately, Smegma was hovering nearby. “Oh, are you smitten? I didn’t know your tastes lay in this direction.”

[I like women, Smegma,] I mentally corrected the Demon even as my cheeks flushed. Admittedly, Jeral had a very rugged charm to him and thanks to Smegma’s comment I momentarily considered him as an ‘option.’

Jeral pointed to me and included Willa and my father in the gesture. “First time?” he asked.

“Yep. This here is my son, Jer.” My dad added a slap to my back and wore a look that contrasted his long years of pushing me to attend school. He was clearly proud to introduce me.

Jeral stepped around his shield and stepped toward me. Maybe it was all of the new experiences today, but I suddenly felt faint as Jeral extended a hand to shake. Smegma flying to examine the man’s standing shield helped shake me out of my stupor.

Hesitantly I extended my hand and jumped a bit when the mitt of the much larger man seemed to envelop mine. From this distance I had to look up to him, which was rare for me because I was taller than most men.

Is this how people felt when they met me?

“You are smitten!” Smegma crowed from his perch atop the shield.

[Shut up!]

“Introduce yourself,” my dad encouraged with a chuckle, which emphasized that we were standing there in awkward silence. Or I supposed I was.

“Hi! I’m Brodie!” I said with far too much enthusiasm. Jeral took it in stride.

“I’m assuming by the look on your face that my reputation precedes me, but I’m Jeral. I’ve worked with Gary many times. He’s a good man, but looking at your frame, you might be even stronger than him one day, no?” Jeral added the last bit to Gary while reaching out a hand to grip my bicep. My dad’s face broke into grins usually reserved for my mother, and me when something wonderful happened. I of course smiled wider.

“He’s just on a hiatus from University, but he certainly got the best of mine and Clara’s genes!” my father answered, his voice filled with paternal pride. I felt my face heat up and knew I was flushing.

Jeral released my hand, shook my fathers and then Willa’s before he made an apologetic face and excused himself. He clearly wanted to chat more but also was supposed to be taking charge of the group that was slowly accumulating around us.

He was only a few steps away when I turned to my father and hissed, “You never told me you knew Sturdy Jeral!”

“Want him to set you up on a blind date?” Smegma teased. I ignored the obnoxious Demon.

“More than just him, my boy,” my dad said even as his smile slowly fell. “I didn’t want you dreaming of joining me as a Miner…” he explained softly. “You should be joining them in a different, more managerial role. Or their personal salesman!”

Willa reached behind me and lightly tapped my dad’s shoulder in an imitation of her earlier friendly assault of me. “Yeah, cause kids dream of vacations like this or of bein’ a personal salesman, Gar!” she said before looking me in the eyes with firm resolve. “There’s nothin’ wrong with Minin’, kid, but your da just wants more for you. That’s all.”

My dad socked her back in the shoulder. “Don’t go putting words in my mouth.”

Since Beastmode had given his directions, a low hum of conversation had been constant for the Miners, but now it died down in slow spurts. My father and Willa looked around and their eyes along with mine landed on Jeral who had a raised hand.

Silence fell.

In the hush only interrupted by steady breathing, I finally realized that my mask had fallen when my mouth had dropped open at Beastmode’s appearance, and that my nose was delighted in the surroundings. The air felt fresher and more vibrant than anything I had ever experienced. Like I had been smelling imitation candles or colognes my whole life but was surrounded by a real forest. Because that was the only way to describe the earthy richness of the aroma.

“The cave with the minerals and Crystals is a kilometer east. It was filled with nature slimes and may still have some hiding. So, do not leave my sight as we descend. Everyone good to go?” Jeral announced from behind his shield. I nodded and others must have as well because Jeral heaved up his shield which made a sucking sound as another foot of it exited was must have been semi-soft ground.

I tapped a foot under me and found the ground to be far harder than ‘semi-soft’. Just how strong was Jeral? Armor clanking, the man in question spun the shield onto his back like it weighed nothing, before turning and leading the way between trees to the intended destination. I noticed that no Mana Banks seemed to be following close behind him.