Chapter Twenty-Nine - Fight for Your Right

As I entered the lounge, Geri almost jumped at me, her daggers in her hands. “Where is that—“

“Cut it,” I told her, instantly regretting my choice of words. But she understood that I wanted her not to cut Chloe and she dropped the weapons. “Give me one good reason not to,” she growled, her vampire teeth elongated. I opened my mouth to give the explanation I had prepared when I heard one of the new members in the background.

“Yeah, bitch fight. You think they’ll rip their clothes off and give us a show?” a young man named “-=XXX69eric69XXX=-“ said. So, the system had a nickname feature? I held up a hand and said, “This has to wait a sec, Geri. Sorry.”

Then I turned towards Eric, assuming that part was his real name, took a deliberate step forward and told him off. “You are so close to violating the guild rules about sexual harassment; I’m surprised the system hasn’t slapped you for that. Consider this your last warning. Next time, I’ll do the slapping. And drop that ASCII garbage in your name unless you can show me some ID with that on it. This ain’t this kind of game.” Manner maketh men? But I had no umbrella at hand.

“Wanna fuck with me? I’m good at—“ he said while trying to stand up. He didn’t get far as Marco and Rune grabbed him each by one shoulder.

“That’s the guild mistress,” Rune said.

“She’s better at fucking, man. She does it professionally,” Marco said. Hey, thank you. Nice compliment.

“Let me be clear here, Eric,” I said. “I don’t give a shit about how you talk to people outside these walls. Be a dick all you want. But in the guild hall, I want everyone to feel safe and welcome. If you want to howl at naked women, go to a strip club. If you want to spend some pent-up energy, go to a whorehouse; I can recommend one if you don’t know how to find them. But in here, you will keep your keep your tongue in check and not talk like that about people you’re not in bed with. Understood?”

Halfway through my speech, his eyes had taken to that unfocused look I associated with people accessing their character sheets. Before I was done, his name tag had changed to “Eric”. “Yes, boss,” he said afterwards, although it didn’t sound very sincere. Whatever, I didn’t need people to believe in the rules, just to follow them.

“But while I already have all of you here,” and indeed, the whole guild, apart from Chloe, was filling the small room to capacity, “I have an announcement to make regarding the fourth new member today. We have been assuming she’ll team up with you three,” I pointed at Eric and two others, a babyfaced young man named Harry and a woman in her mid-twenties named Rebecca, “as we had exactly four new players show up each day, so far and it seems likely the system selects them to be compatible as a group. However, that isn’t any kind of rule, and you are not forced to join with anyone you don’t want to. It may take some time until there are enough players to mix and match freely; be aware of that.”

They nodded, indicating their understanding. Kinasteria would have told them the same thing already.

“Chloe is the fourth player to show up today. You might have seen me drag her upstairs earlier. She is a monster tamer. I wouldn’t ordinarily announce someone’s class publicly, but for her, it is necessary as her taming skill has side effects on all of us.” Now I had the room; even Kinasteria was leaning on the counter, listening intently.

“It has a passive effect on people and monsters she interacts with, one she cannot control until she levels the skill up. While it will not ‘tame’ you the same way it will tame a monster she uses it on actively, it will induce friendship and loyalty. At its full effect, you’d do everything you’d do for your very best friend you had since childhood. That may not be much for some of you,” I looked at Eric for a moment, which might be unfair of me, “but it hit my group very hard earlier. Geri was ready to slice her to pieces after she noticed the effect.”

“The system protects guild officers from mind-altering effects while we are inside the guild hall, but out there,” I pointed to the door, “we’re no different than any of you. I have talked to Chloe, and she is now aware of her skill’s effects and has promised not to exploit it. Furthermore, she has willingly accepted being enslaved to the guild until she has gained full control over her skill. This means the system will hold her to that promise.”

I let that sink in for a moment, especially the emphasis I had put on the word “enslaved”.

“I will not force anyone to team up or even speak to her. But I have given her the guild job of support staff. I hope that by interacting with more people for shorter times, the effects of her skill are less pronounced. Call it ‘watered down’, if you will. It should also provide her with more chances to level her skill up. Any questions?”

The new girl, Rebecca, raised her hand, and I nodded in her direction. “Does every player have some kind of psychological damage? Is that why the system picked us first? Because we’re all batty nutjobs?”

I wanted to disagree with her, but she did have a point. From what I’ve seen so far, every one of us had some baggage. “I honestly have no idea, Rebecca. Maybe being able to accept the system without going nuts means you can’t be fully sane to begin with? Or maybe being a player just highlights all the issues everyone always had and was hiding before. Who knows? But, if you’d allow the question, what’s the ‘batshit crazy’ thing about you?”

She answered with no delay. “I lack any kind of emotional empathy. Forget forming friendships for me; people drop me quickly when they notice I don’t give a damn about them. But I’m way better at not trash-talking than Eric. Usually.”

“I see. So maybe the system has picked you for compatibility. This may make you immune to Chloe’s passive effect.”

“I hope not,” she said. “I am curious how it is to feel something for someone.”

“So we’re all just strangers with benefits to you?” Eric asked. It was close enough to what he said earlier that I could have barked at him again, but considering Rebecca’s confession just now, I let it slide.

“Pretty much. But you said no to the benefits, so why bring that up now?”

“We were covered in grave dirt, head to toe,” he replied.

Rebecca looked at him for e moment. “Oh, I see. Then the dirt was a turn-off for you, I guess? Then…want to do it now?”

“Here?” he asked, his face colour shifting into the red.

“There’s no guild rule against consensual sex anywhere in the guild hall,” I remarked mischievously, “but please be considerate about people around you and ask if they’re ok with having to see it.”

The room erupted into a mix of “fine with me”s, “sure”s, I’d watch that”s, and “go”s, with only Eric and Rune using traffic light colours on their faces to protest. Damage control Jane…

“Performing in public isn’t that easy for men, Rebecca. I don’t think Eric’s up to that yet,” I said to bury the idea.

“Bummer,” Rebecca said. “I always wanted to see how people react to seeing me fucking someone. I have no idea how that would make them feel, but I can read emotions on faces…”

“Have you ever considered doing porn?” Livia asked. “I can connect you to some people if you want.”

I sighed and dropped down on the only free seat in the room, Sam’s lap, and watched the circus of crazy people perform. And I had thought my ability to talk without a filter was exceptional…

🙚⚜🙘

After a while, I looked up to the spot the CCTV feed was looking at the room from. There was nothing there. I gave a thumbs up toward it anyway, then made a “come here” gesture in the hope Chloe was watching the feed, and if it was from pure boredom. The CCTV monitor in my room didn’t turn off when I left the desk, unlike the guild management one.

She arrived a couple of minutes later, peeking into the room carefully. Various loud discussions, none of them suitable for a public place, were going on, but a couple of people noticed her anyway. To my surprise, there was no open hostility, and a couple of people waved her over. None of my fam, though, but I could understand that. They respected what I had said but hadn’t had the chance to let their anger dissipate as I had when talking to her.

Chloe looked at me questioningly, and I pointed in Rebecca’s direction. She and Eric were discussing what not to say to people. Or maybe they were competing to see who would come up with the most inappropriate things to say. I couldn’t tell.

She joined them and it seemed she and Rebecca hit it off, just as I had hoped. The only one looking like they sat on the sidelines, apart from Sam and I, who were doing that intentionally, was Harry, the second new guy of today. He sat with the group, intently following the conversation with his eyes, but he didn’t participate.

I filed that away for now. I’d keep an eye on it, but it wasn’t my job to pull people out of their shells.

“Jane,” Sam said quietly from beneath me.

“Yeah, Sam,” I answered at the same volume. “Am I crushing your bladder?”

“That, too,” she said, “but I’m more concerned about my stomach. I’m hungry.”

“So am I. Any suggestions? Burger again?”

“We brought plenty when you sent us to feed Chloe,” Sam said and pointed with her head to a large stack of different takeout bags.

“That looks like enough for the whole guild,” I said.

“We weren’t sure what she’d like, so we got a wide selection,” Sam explained. “How about we do just that? Feed the whole guild?”

“Good idea. Let’s call it a bonding party, then.”

🙚⚜🙘

We got home some time past eleven, just on this side of the day. The ad hoc party had gone well, and people had suggested we make it a regular thing. Guild Thursdays or something.

We got ready for bed, trying to outdo each other in miming exhausted zombies, interrupted by laughter when one did something exceptionally silly. Then we piled into bed and one by one, the breathing turned regular.

I couldn’t fall asleep. I hadn’t dived into the fray as the others, keeping a bit of distance as the mistress prima to keep an eye on everything. My mental list of observations about people had grown, and some of those still stuck in my mind. Megan had integrated into her group nicely and gotten into the habit of turning into her battleform to help her out, like when she had to go to the bathroom or wanted to pick up a plate from the counter.

Harry had been quiet but happy-looking all evening, barely saying a word every once and then. Paul seemed to really be at ease like something had taken a load off his shoulders. Marco integrated himself nicely into conversations once he knew the people. Eric couldn’t keep his mouth out of the gutter, but people were quick to return the favour.

I wanted to toss and turn, but that would wake the others. Finally I decided to get out of bed and walk around in the living room for a bit.

Seems I wasn’t the only one up late at night. Gamma sat there at the computer, clicking away colourful crystals.

“You missed a 5er combo,” I said.

“Wrong colour; I need pink hearts now, not points,” she replied without showing surprise.

“And those do?”

“Increase romance with that girl,” she pointed to the anime drawing next to the grid. “And if I get enough, I get to bang her at the end of the date.”

“Alessandra not enough for you?” I teased.

“She won’t send me nudes,” Gamma complained. “Tells me to keep up my energy for when we’re together…”

“She has a point,” I mused. “But then, at your body’s age, you should have the stamina for both.”

“I told her that, but she’s unrelenting. Insists she has the skills to tire me out.”

“Talking about skills, you promised to help me with a class. Could we tackle that soon?”

“Of course. First, tell me what class rarities you have listed as available.”

I opened my character details for a moment to look that up. “12 common, 2 rare, 1 epic, 1 unique. Are those specific classes I could select?”

“Reasonable guess, but no. They are more like tokens you can exchange for a class. Do you have any class shards?”

“No. Where would I get those?”

“Mostly from killing other players. Some also drop as rare dungeon loot. You also get them from class quests, which is the only source you can count on.”

“Killing people is rewarded?”

“Sure. It’s harder than killing monsters, so why wouldn’t you gain from it? You should understand that; you have the killing skill, don’t you?”

“I have, but that’s more like getting better with stuff you’ve already done, not an incentive to do it for something else…”

“And that’s why killing players comes with a temporary title that massively increases the rewards others get for killing you. Kill more people, and it sticks around longer and longer until it becomes permanent.”

“Would someone get that title for killing people who have it?”

“Only in one specific case: When killing without seeing the title first.”

“Ok, that makes some sense then. So back to those tokens…”

“Right. When you are ready to invest a token, you also need a couple more things. The first is called ‘the request’; it’s a mental image of what you want. There’s no guarantee you get what you’re aiming for, but the better you know what you want, the better the result. Although going too specific can be counter-productive, too, if it doesn’t match the second requirement.”

“And that is?”

“Experience. Not the numeric XP one, but stuff you have done or seen. That’s why I delayed this. Had we done it on day one, what would have gone into it? Some good sex with Livia and confusion about digitisation?”

“And now I have fought a couple of times with my group, led the guild, and so on.”

“Exactly. Unless you think what you did over the last days is not what you want to do in the future, that’s a nice basis for a class.”

“Is there another thing?” I asked when she stayed quiet.

“There is. But it’s a bit weird.”

“Just tell me.”

“A sacrifice.”

“What kind?”

“That depends on how powerful the class should be. For a common, you can sacrifice a minute of your lifetime and be fine.”

“And for a unique?”

“A soul. You need to kill a person. And as this comes from the setting, it doesn’t have to be a player.”

“But those NPC copies of people don’t count, do they?”

“They would if you weren’t aware of it. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be fair to non-player magicals.”

“Not that anything about this setting is fair or well-thought-out,” I said. “I really hope this one’s an exception, not the norm.”

“It is,” Gamma confirmed. “It already has been withdrawn. We’re the only shard stuck with it.”

“About the sacrifice, do I have to provide it in any special way?”

“No, just doing it with the intent of it being one. After that, you have a day or two to do the class roll. For that, you simply concentrate on that part of your interface, or even the idea of getting a class, with the request in mind. You’ll then get a selection.”

“Easy,” I said quietly. “So any suggestion on my request?”

“Yes, but none I could tell you. There are so many overpowered classes from the setting that would be nice to have. Just one hint: Unique classes are not one-trick ponies.”

“Thanks,” I said, leaning back and trying to take it all in. Tiredness began to creep up on me and I felt like I could go to bed now. Just one more thing…

“Gamma?”

“Huh?”

“Aside from that class selection, there’s one more thing that has been bugging me lately…”

“Ask away. I may not be able to answer, but asking doesn’t hurt.”

“Ok, then. I’ve been going with the flow, keeping busy, so far. But when I think about it, I don’t have a clear goal. Or any at all. You see, I’m not hurting for money, am not on the run to survive, driven to become some famous whatever, or anything. The guild is nice, but it doesn’t demand much from me. Power is nice, but it seems to be just power for power’s sake, and so on.”

“Ah, I see. Quite the conundrum, isn’t it? What is it that gives you life sense and direction.”

“Yes. If this were a story, I’d be asking for the big overarching plot…”

“In a sense, it is.”

“How so?”

“The changes that are planned for the world, they are planned out like the plot of a story. Or did you think we just digitised humanity with no idea what to change? You’ve encountered settings, which are more of a flavour thing, and gamification. But there’s more.”

“And I guess you can’t tell me what that ‘more’ will be?”

“Not really. But I can hint. Let’s give you some completely unrelated facts. Those systems that were installed to run ‘digi-Earth’ on were not free. Sure, they are solar-powered and were assembled here from local resources, so they are relatively cheap. But not free.”

“Ok, so return on investment is a factor.”

She shrugged. “The next fact is that gamification with all those classes and skills and XP wasn’t a random choice. That progression isn’t just there for fun.” Her mouth jerked as if she wanted to say something more but couldn’t find the words. Or couldn’t say them.

“Got it. Getting stronger serves a purpose.”

“Maybe it does? Next fact. There are always limits to a computer system’s capacity. If the hard drive is full, what do you do?”

“Uninstall some programs…Shit, I think I get what you’re saying.”

“I’m not saying anything. Just rambling about random stuff.” She winked.

I leaned back and let that information settle. I had no doubt in my mind that what she had just told me boiled down to “get good or be deleted”. But then, the system had the capacity to run about 10 billion people, so how good had one to be to be deemed worthy enough not to be dropped? Now, how to talk about that?

“Gamma, you mentioned computer capacity. I understand that, but you see, our computers have evolved so quickly over the last decades that we throw them out because they are outdated, not because they reach the end of their lifecycle. I have no idea how long a computer, like the one you run on, lasts until it must be replaced for old age.”

“Oh, that depends. On well-established planets, good maintenance can keep a computer up and running for thousands of years until it has to be rebuilt completely. Sure, after a couple of hundred years you’ll have spent as much in replacement parts as you paid for it initially, but that’s still cheaper than replacing it with all the hassle of downtime and such. A frontier one such as mine? That is a network of interchangeable modules that get thrown out and replaced when they fail. They last about, hmm, between 50 and 80 years, maybe?”

“Thanks, that’s interesting.” So whoever was financing this had to spend the same amount of money to keep this thing going as they had initially invested every 50 years. That meant, we either became profitable within decades, or the capacity would shrink, no longer holding all of humanity.

Bloody bullshit. I had asked for a reason I should feel the need to push my arse out of bed, and Gamma had given me a reason to push all of humanity forward rapidly.

“Did that help?” she asked in an innocent tone. I wanted to strangle her, but she didn’t deserve that. Instead, I grinned.

“Very much. I think I’ll make it my goal to push the whole guild ahead. The guild members, I mean, not the hall. That is just a means to an end. Let’s all become super powerful and show the rest of the planet how it’s done!”

That sounded awful, but Gamma’s double thumbs-up was all I needed as confirmation that that was the right strategy.