Ruthless: Path of Conquest

[Ten of your minutes remain!]

“Alright, already!” James shouted nervously, as if the voice of the System was really listening to him. Then again, maybe it was. The quaking stopped eerily quickly after he raised his voice.

We’re rooting for you, James, he remembered the announcement saying.

There was no other answer besides the quaking stopping. James didn’t waste time waiting for anything else from the disembodied voice that had just produced a small earthquake in a part of the country that didn’t get earthquakes, as if shifting tectonic plates was as easy as setting a phone alarm. Maybe it was, for the System.

He pushed into high gear, hustling to complete any preparations he had yet to make. He rushed around, looking in closets and under the bed and behind the sofa. He double checked the bags and made sure that everyone was physically touching their go-bags.

Finally, after triple-checking that everyone had adequate rations, assorted supplies, and armaments, and seeing that Mina and Yulia were growing nervous from how on-edge he seemed, James sat down next to his wife and her sister and tried to relax. He put an arm around Mina, and she leaned in close and laid her head on his shoulder. He could feel her shivering slightly, so he leaned to the side and grabbed a blanket that was lying next to them on the sofa.

Once Mina was adequately covered, he resumed thinking about what was likely going to happen next. If the world was going to go through some dramatic change into a magical version of itself, there would probably be a choice of what kinds of abilities each person would specialize in.

Unless it was based on some innate traits. Status.

The Status screen toggled with the thought.

[Status

Name: James Robard

Race: Base Human

Class: Blocked

Job: Blocked

Health: Blocked

Mana: Blocked

Stats

Blocked

Skills

Blocked

Talents

Blocked

Titles

Blocked]

Still blocked, with less than ten minutes left to go. No clues there. I’ll assume we have a choice.

“You should both go to the bathroom,” he said. “Then we should have a quick strategy session.”

“Leaving it to the last minute, I see,” Mina said, looking into the air where her timer must be. Then she went.

Yulia went next.

Then the three huddled around the kitchen table, wearing their backpacks at James’ insistence.

“I think the situation we find ourselves in is a bit like a video game or a table top role playing game,” James began.

“You’re not going to the bathroom too, my love?” Mina interjected.

“We only have six minutes. I can wait until we see what the Orientation looks like. Anyway, if I’m right, we’re all going to be assigned classes and have the opportunity to learn some sort of magic or fighting skills. I’ve been thinking about this, and I want the three of us to be able to form a fighting party together. Yulia, you’ve played video games, right?”

“I like video games, yeah.”

“You know what a team usually looks like in a fantasy game where players form parties to fight together?”

“Umm.” She shook her head. James suspected it was the language barrier at work.

“We need a front line fighter, a magic user with long range attacks, and a healer to patch us up when we get hurt.” Now he’d put it in the simplest terms he could, and he saw very quick comprehension on Yulia’s face.

“I volunteer to be the fighter,” James added. “That means you two split the other two roles.”

“But I always wanted to be a warrior woman, like Valkyries,” Mina said, pouting.

[00:04:32] remained, and James was not amused by the last minute joke. His facial expression must have conveyed it.

“I volunteer to be the healer,” Yulia jumped in. “That way, Mina gets to cast lightning bolts and fireballs or whatever.” She had a reflex to try to diffuse conflict whenever she thought it was brewing, James had noticed before.

“Thank you, Yulia,” he said.

“Well, since the two of you have so generously taken on the boring roles, I suppose I will agree to be the magic user in a hypothetical party, in the event that the System is magical and offers us a choice between different magical paths as James imagines.”

The faintly ironic tone of Mina’s response put the cap on the absurdity of the situation, and James again seriously considered the possibility of the System and all its messages being a mass hallucination. But he couldn’t quite buy it.

The three of them quieted down a little now, with all James’ outstanding questions settled, knowing something was about to happen that might change their lives forever.

“I love you,” James said quietly, looking at Mina.

“I love you both very much,” Mina said back, taking both of their hands and smiling.

They sat like that for the last few minutes, holding hands in a semicircle around the kitchen table. James resolved not to let go, because he thought somehow, irrationally, that they would get separated if they let go, but if they kept hold of each other, they would stay together, despite the fact that this was a System that had the capability to speak into their minds and shake the earth beneath their feet.

He was looking into Mina’s eyes when the world faded to white.

It wasn’t like passing out. He could still feel his body, and he knew he was wide awake, but he couldn’t feel Mina’s hand or the chair beneath him.

He didn’t think he could move. There were no geographic features to the white space he now occupied. It was like being in the middle of a blank page.

Then a material space emerged around him. It was still white, an all white room, but now there were walls, a ceiling, a floor, a bed. It was like a hospital room from another dimension, so clean it was almost antiseptic. There was complete silence.

James realized he had regained his ability to move, if it had ever been lost, and he took an experimental step forward.

“Hello,” a gravelly voice came from his side.

James jumped six inches into the air and twisted in mid-jump to face the voice. It looked like a moving clay sculpture, clumps of gray flesh and few other distinguishing features. The thing didn’t have a real face, only a mouth attached to the general shape of a head, which was perched atop a vaguely humanoid figure.

“Who or what are you?” James asked once he’d landed. He kept his voice steady. The thing didn’t seem hostile, and he wasn’t intuitively scared of it. He finally had someone to answer his questions.

“I am a homunculus created by the System,” the clay man said.

“Homunculus? An artificial life form, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Can you tell me why I’m here, why the System is doing this?” James asked, cutting to the chase. He figured pleasantries would be wasted on what was effectively a robot.

“As for why you’re in this place right now, you are to receive a tutorial from me prior to Orientation, so you will not be lost when it starts. As for why the System does what it does, the answer is complicated, and my explanation might be more misleading than enlightening. Knowledge of the deep functioning of the universe is outside my parameters.”

“Alright then. I’ll save that question for someone whose answer will hopefully be enlightening rather than misleading. What are your parameters, to save us some time?”

“I can explain your interface with the System and what happens next. I can also offer you your choice of starter classes.”

I knew it! Hopefully Mina and Yulia stick to what we discussed, and we’ll be able to function as a party.

“That’s great! Could you explain why my Status screen shows everything as blocked, to start with?”

The System Homunculus seemed to frown. “It shouldn’t show everything like that anymore. It was only because you tried to access it before you got here, while the System wasn’t properly up and running yet.”

“Eh, up and running enough,” James said. “It influenced one of the people I met into attacking me and stealing my car before this tutorial started.”

There was a slight pause. “Influenced how?”

“He claimed that the System voice was telling him he needed to escape the region or that he might be caged again.

“That seems unlikely. It’s not supposed to happen. The System does not send individualized messages. My information indicates that your Earth was a dangerous world before the System arrived. Are you sure of what you’re saying?”

“Positive! I had a full conversation with him, while he aimed a weapon at my face! Then he pistol-whipped me. For reference, that isn’t a common occurrence for me! Or it wasn't, before the System. Since this apparently wasn’t supposed to happen, I don’t suppose you could do anything to heal my injuries?” James didn’t really hope for much, but he thought he might as well ask. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. His head was still killing him.

“You are to receive a starter kit of supplies when you enter Orientation. I could give you the potion from your kit right now.”

“Well, then I’d be at a disadvantage compared with everyone who didn’t use up their potion before the big event starts,” James complained. “What about you just giving me an extra? I promise I won’t tell anyone!”

“I am not authorized–”

“I get it,” James cut him off. “It’s not within your parameters.”

The System Homunculus nodded. “Exactly.”

“Homunculus,” James said, channeling his best Karen energy, “could I please speak with your manager?” Well, if it was willing to give me a potion early, there might be some leeway if I can talk to the right person.

“You mean the proctor for the Orientation,” the Homunculus said.

“Sure, whoever,” James said. Fingers crossed that whoever the proctor is doesn’t turn me into a frog or something for the impertinence.

“Now dialing the proctor,” the Homunculus uttered. A ringing sound began to emanate from its head. This is like something out of a cartoon, James thought. I wonder if there’s a handset that detaches from its head! He snorted to himself.

The ringing stopped abruptly, and James somehow felt that another presence was in the room, inside the Homunculus’s body. Accompanying it came a great sense of pressure, as if James was an ant, and there was a large child standing above him, holding him in place with a single massive finger pressed down across his whole body. It was almost paralyzing.

Then a very accented voice came out of the System Homunculus’s head, and it took a part of the psychological tension in the room with it, although James’s body still felt as if he could be forced to his knees at any moment. The voice reminded James a bit of a young Joe Pesci.

“Hey, Sisco, what’s the deal?! I’m trying to sleep here, the Orientation isn’t set to start yet!”

“Oh, hi, Mr. Proctor sir,” James said in his best earnest schoolboy voice. “I was just explaining to, er, Sisco here that I was injured by someone who was influenced by a unique System message that only he received, before I was pulled into the Orientation. We were talking about him healing me, so that the System wouldn’t have put me at a disadvantage relative to everyone else before Orientation starts. He said we needed your approval.”

“Kid, I think you’ve got a lotta moxie, lying right in front of Sisco’s face like that. I admire that. For future reference, even if a proctor played dumb or wasn’t already watching you before you called, I could just go through the Homunculus’s recently recorded memories and know that you were full of crap.”

“I may have slightly exaggerated. I’m just extrapolating where the conversation was going before you joined in.”

“Were you going to mention the part where he offered you access to your starter kit early, so you could heal yourself?”

“I’m sure you and I would’ve gotten there eventually.” James comfortably lied through his teeth. It had always been a skill he was proud of.

“A world-class bullshitter!” the proctor exclaimed. “Kid, I think your nose is growing!”

James pretended to check his nose, and the proctor chortled.

“Alright, kid, I’ll do you a solid this once. Like we said, pardon our mess. Errors in the functioning of the announcement machinery are on us. We’ve been a little busy, and you know, even the best of processes can be interrupted or interfered with by one thing or another. The transformation of Earth took us a little by surprise with how quick it was. Like you was all eager for it or somethin’! A lot of our attention was diverted there. A couple friendly words of advice, though. First, once you arrive at Orientation, it’s free game! Whatever happens to you from there, it’s on you. Asking to talk to the manager won’t do you a lick of good there!

“Second, for future reference, sharp negotiating with a representative for an omnipotent, omniscient System would usually not be a good idea. Maybe even suicidal, which would be a shame, you being a family man and all.” James felt a chill run down his spine. “You’re floating in a big sea, and you don’t have a paddle yet. Hell, you don’t even have a boat! But that’s why I like you, though! You’ve got big brass ones! I think you’ll go far, kid. Now hold still. First heal’s on me!”

A pale green light appeared all around James, and he swallowed and waited to see what effect it would have.