The Manaverse

Slatewell Safe Zone

Granite City

Jut trudged back into the Safe Zone, his party having dispersed for the evening. His entire body burned from the extreme exercise Jonny had put him through over the last two days. His thoughts were a repetition of the word ouch, growls, and frustration.

As Jut sat at a table in the surprisingly empty food court, he pulled out a slab of cooked monster meat Randy had seared for him. The man had gotten really good at cooking the stuff on an open flame while it retained its flavor.

The food court was open for business and he did have food credits, but he didn't want to talk to anyone. For days now, he had been put through what he considered intense physical torture.

When his party traveled, they ran. Jonny had Jut swinging a heavier bat every time they stopped. He also made Jut lift, drag, or roll the monster corpses to a ring Jonny would carve for the rituals. Jut was not allowed to use his monster harvesting skill unless there were a lot of corpses. If he was, he had to use it as many times as was possible for "training". As the monsters seemed to be getting bigger by the day, moving their bodies to the ring was hard work and Jut was exhausted.

Jut closed his eyes and forced himself to take a bite of the meat. It reminded him of beef in color and in flavor, yet he knew this hunk came from a scorpion monster. He had watched as the green meat was seared to it's current state. It was shocking how much the food had changed under the heat. He kept his eyes shut and imagined a hamburger, made of regular cows, like he used to order from his favorite fast food joint before the integration.

"You have a problem eating bug meat too?" A slight clatter and a delicate voice he recognized had Jut looking up with a start.

Setting a food tray on his table and sitting down next to him was Juliana Blackwell. Her blonde hair was tied back and she was wearing jeans and a T-shirt, instead of the formal dress suit she normally donned. She looked just as tired as he felt with rings forming under her grey eyes.

Jut blinked at her lack of make-up. Unlike with a majority of the other women he recognized in the Safe Zone, Jut could barely tell a difference. She was either light on her makeup before or still had some stored away and he just couldn't make it out.

"Oh, Kit. Hey." Jut said, his mind tripping over itself.

"Hi to you too, Mr. Jaxon. I'm glad you remembered my chosen name this time." Kit gave him a soft smile and a wink.

Jut felt himself swallow involuntarily. "It's Jut now, actually." Jut said. "I'm glad you made it here alive." A sense of relief had washed over him once he recognized her.

Kit shifted her chair just a bit closer to his. "I'm glad you made it, too." Kit said softly but looked away, pulling out some of her own monster meat and setting it on her tray next to the slice of cake she had carried over. She looked back at him and she had a bit of color around her cheeks that hadn't been there before. "Mind if I join you for dinner?"

Jut shook his head, maybe a little too eagerly. "Not at all. Please do."

"Well, you did promise to take me out. Too bad the world ended." Kit pouted playfully. "I was looking forward to going out for drinks."

"We can make up for that a bit right now." Jut said, trying to sound cool and collected. "Speaking of, what happened to you after we spoke last?"

"You mean, where was I when the first wave hit? I was at the office. Most of us only noticed something was off when the computers started shorting out." Kit sighed. "I'm really glad the boss denied my request to have office fish. I've heard some stories."

Jut cringed. "Yeah, that's lucky. When I was at the mall during the countdown, there was a hamster-like thing that attacked us. Can you imagine?"

"Oh, God. If that poor child is still alive, they have to be traumatized." Kit covered her mouth as if to not laugh.

Jut shook his head, smiling. "Talk about an awful life choice when they asked for fluffy for their birthday."

Despite the dark side of the comment, both Jut and Kit chuckled softly at the image. He imagined asking his mom for a hamster that slowly grew until it comically burst out of it's cage one day like a cartoon.

If it weren't such a scary and likely scenario, they probably wouldn't have thought it very funny. Yet, they were both coming to terms with their new reality and, sometimes, that requires a little bit of morbid humor.

The comment had successfully broken the ice, allowing for the conversation to flow a bit easier. Any nervousness either of them felt floated away.

Jut told his story and Kit listened attentively. She asked a few clarifying questions along the way and was an overall great audience. Jut returned the favor when it was her turn to tell him her story.

"My office was pretty safe for most of the survival quest. That's until a troll, or a giant, fell through the wall. I was almost crushed by a huge green hand. Fortunately, the military made the monster ignore us and we fled." Kit became a bit animated as she spoke. She reminded Jut of Brick in that way. Yet, with her, he felt less annoyance about her hand waving. He wasn't sure why that was.

"Yeah, that's Jeffery. I guess he used to be a performing monkey at the circus casino. I wonder why he became a Troll or Giant?" Jut said.

"I saw that monkey once. That is strange." Kit said. "Anyway, as I worked not to far from here, our staff made it to the Safe Zone pretty easily. We only had to deal with a couple of monsters along the way." Kit pat a pair of knives on her hip softly. "Got these from a wrecked kitchen."

Jut guessed she fought like Randy, fast and from behind. Jut only nodded his interest and she continued.

"Once we got here, I met up with a few girlfriends I gamed with before the integration. We all go hunting together now." Kit smiled.

"I'm glad you connected with them. It's probably nice to see and work with people you know." Jut said, the yearning ringing louder in his tone than he intended. Oddly enough, he missed his work crew. He couldn't help but think of Martin, Sandy, Joe, and, of course, Diggy.

"It has been." Kit said fondly, then her eyes widened. "Oh, I almost forgot. I spoke to your co-worker. I don't know his original name, but he goes by Diggy now."

"You saw Diggy. Where at? How did he look?" The excitement burst from Jut. He couldn't contain it. He was sitting on the edge of his seat as if he was going to run out and find the man that very moment.

Kit chuckled and sat her hand on his, patting it reassuringly before pulling back and continuing to eat her food. Her touch made Jut realize how he was acting so he sat back again, also returning to his food. He doubted he could find Diggy just then anyway.

"He was fine from what I could tell. I saw him at one of the registration booths but that was the very first day. I haven't seen him since. I'm sorry."

Jut smiled warmly at Kit. "Thank you for telling me. At least I know he was here. I'll try to find him tomorrow." Jut didn't notice her blush deepen at his smile. Then a curiosity hit him. "Oh, hey. What skills did you get?" He took a bite and waited for her to respond when he noticed she was chewing.

When Kit was finally able to speak again, she gave him a grin before fading away in a ripple. She disappeared completely. Jut would have been caught off guard when she reappeared on the other side of the table, but he had heard a couple of her footsteps.

"You got a full on invisibility spell? That's awesome." Jut was only a little jealous.

"It's not invisibility. It's more like cloaking and it can break easily. The Skill is called Stealth. I also got a skill that lets me sense plants that are "useful"." She pulled out a green stalked plant with a white fluff top that reminded Jut of dandelions, only thicker. "I don't know what they do yet, but I'm going to figure it out." She added before stashing the plant away and sitting back in her original spot. "How about you?"

Jut explained his Skills, starting with Monster Harvest then moving to Magical Strikes. To his surprise, Kit was more impressed with the former.

"That's gotta be sweet, saving on chips. At least a few, right? I feel like I'll never reach a Mana Gem at this rate." Kit sighed.

"You can activate the ritual with just Mana. Did you know?" Jut asked. It didn't seem to be common knowledge yet and the information might help her out a bit.

Kit blushed again, this time in embarrassment. "I do, actually. The problem is my mana pool is too small. The one time I did the ritual without a chip, I nearly passed out from using too much mana at once. Fortunately, my small pool refills rather quickly."

"Oh. Wow." Jut said, stunned. "How much Mana does your Stealth skill use then?"

Kit smiled. "None. It uses Stamina. It's a hog though. You can't see it, but since it's the end of the day, that little demonstration consumed nearly all of my bar just now. My legs just barely stopped shaking. First thing in the morning, though, I can stay invisible for about six seconds before I bottom out. I try to keep it under five so I don't fall over."

"Still cool. At least you got something awesome that you can use. Does the sense one also use stamina?" Jut asked.

Kit shook her head. "It's passive and always works. It is neat, but the range is crap."

They sat there long after they finished eating and just chatted with one another. They might have done so all night, had an attendant for the casino not stopped at their table.

"Kit Star and Jut Zoak?"

"I am Kit." Kit said with a nod.

"What did we do?" Jut asked. He was never fond of people he didn't know asking for him.

"These are for you. Have no fear. I am sure you will be pleasantly surprised." The attendant pulled two envelopes from a pouch on her side and slid them across the table. "I hope you have a great night." She added before turning around and leaving, likely because she had more deliveries to make.

Silently, Jut opened the envelope and read it over quickly. The script was flowing and the letter looked to be mass produced, like it had been printed out. Jut was curious how the casino still had a working printer.

Greetings, Hunter Zoak.

As a registered hunter who regularly provides a great quantity of goods to the Slatewell Safe Zone, you are cordially invited to a Hunters Rally where we would be honored to present the best hunters with rewards for their service to the Safe Zone.

There will be free food and beverages for all attendees, and a live performance.

We hope to see you there the day after tomorrow at 4:30 PM.

Sincerely,

Adam Slatewell.

"I see. This will be good for the hunter's morale, at least." Jut said as he placed the letter into his inventory.

Kit agreed as she did the same. Her face turned pink again as she gained a contemplative smile.

"Would you like to go to this thing...with me?" Jut asked, nervously rubbing the back of his neck. "You know, for not being able to take you out for drinks?"

Kit blushed deeper and nodded quickly. "I would love to. Want to walk there together, meet up at like four?" Her words tumbled out in her excitement.

Jut also blushed and nodded. "Yeah. That sounds good. I'll be there."

"Great. I'm in the eastern tower." Kit said.

"How about...I walk you there when we are done here? So I know where to go when we meet up?" Jut asked, grabbing her empty tray gingerly.

"Sure." Kit said. Once he placed her tray in the return spot, she laced her arm through his and they walked out of the food court together, still chatting.