Chapter 52: Epilogue

“Holy shit. Holy shit.” Sean sat heaving on the ground, still barely believing he had made it. “How did that actually work? Like actually how?”

“I was thinking sort of the same thing.” Estesia dropped from a nearby wall down to where Sean was still laying on the ground. “A week ago, I was watching you get curb stomped by the little ones. Shit like this doesn’t happen around here very often.”

“Does it happen anywhere?”

“You hear stories. Everyone says they knew some guy, a friend of a friend, who took down one of the big, dangerous things most people run from. You never actually meet the guy who did it, though.”

Makes sense, some of them are probably lying and the rest of them are people who either escaped off-planet or entered the competition. If Estesia wanted to think he was some world-beating outlier of awesome, she could just go on thinking it for a while. Nobody had been impressed with Sean-the-failure back in his own time, and Sean-the-big-hero would be a nice change. He’d take the good feels where he could get them, for now.

Estesia eyed the big crack uneasily.

“I’m hoping that was the last round? If not, we better get out of here.”

“Nope, that was the last round. That’s it.”

“You are sure?

Sean was.

Competition Entrance Challenge Complete!

You’ve probably gathered this already, but the potential story the system sees in you is the tale of the guy who wins even though the numbers say he shouldn’t. It might be because your build is just that broken, or it might be because you have enough tools in your toolbox to make up in times when you should, by all rights, find yourself countered.

Or, hell, it might be because you do a bunch of really weird shit, and you’re just one of those guys for whom it works out. Some people are like that, you know.

So we made a challenge that tested all three. Is your build OP? It must be, at least a little, or you couldn’t have taken out the all-rounder Medium Zeus. Are you just that versatile? We didn’t expect you to go full waffle-stomp on hundreds and hundreds of enemies, or to be able to shift gears into fighting an over-powered boss with shit you just found lying around that fast, but you did.

Do the heavens just shine down on you? Look, we aren’t saying the KaiJupiter was fair, but we warned you. The stuff that’s coming is worse. You have jack-shit worth of training, a week’s worth of experience, and the only way you could have proved to the Apocalypse System that you had a snowballs chance in hell of achieving the ultra-impossible was to give it a taste of you doing just that.

But you did. Somehow. And that statue thing? Chef’s kiss, Sean. Chef’s kiss. So now we get down to loot.

For better or worse, you are behind in three big ways. Levels, loot, and training. Starting with levels, do you remember how we told you the average level for competitors is 35? Poof. I just waived a fairy wand. You are now perfectly average. If that doesn’t seem like a lot, remember that levels are harder to get as you go.

For loot, there’s a limited amount we can do, mostly because of how your weird weaponry works, and the fact that a few of your items are a little better than you even realize they are yet. But your armor? Absolutely. We’ll give you the skin of an actual god. Well, a fake god, but you know firsthand how tough that shit can be.

Another thing you don’t know is how big of a deal The Shanktuary is going to end up being. Having that before the competition is an absolute edge in ways you don’t even understand. Having another thousand points to upgrade it with? Even bigger, and you’ll find out you have them the very next time you check.

Training is already partially complete—that’s part of what the waves were about. If you haven’t checked, your adhesive skill, healing skill, and alchemy skill are up to levels four, five, and four respectively. On top of that, we are bringing your general combat skill up to seven, using that bullshit you pulled with the statue as an excuse.

You are on your own with Hard Time, though. Figure that out yourself.

The quick summary is that you earned the chance to be strong enough to stand a chance. You aren’t a front-runner, no, but that’s not your style anyway, is it?

Temporary System Shield in Effect!

Due to attempted interference in your entrance challenge originating from several sources, the Apocalypse System has deemed you are at risk of being attacked, kidnapped, or otherwise held back from your destiny.

For the next 24 hours, those that the Apocalypse System has identified as your active enemies will not be permitted within attacking range of you. In addition, you will be ignored by the Apocalypse Beasts.

Lest you think you’ve found a loophole, any attempt to attack or otherwise harm an experience-bearing entity will result in your immediate entrance into the crack, whether you like it or not.

The same forced-entry will occur at the end of the 24 hour period, should you try to flee. With these facts in mind, understand that the Apocalypse System will do its best to make sure you are able to set your affairs in order, prepare provisions, and otherwise prep yourself for your journey however you see fit.

“Estesia. It’s going to be fine. The battle is over for now, unless the system’s lying.”

“The system doesn’t lie.”

“Good. Because I have something very, very important to ask you.

Estesia gave him a puzzled, suspicious glance.

“What’s that?”

Sean stood, stretched, and smiled.

“Would you like to have some lunch?”

—

Despite the general mayhem the rabbits had wreaked on the corpses of the other monsters, there was still a huge, high-quality rabbit pelt to harvest from the second wave boss. Brett took one look at it and made Sean an offer that was actually much more cash than he actually needed. He found himself in the interesting position of actually negotiating someone’s offer down, since market credits  wouldn’t help him where he was going.

Brett turned down an offer to join them for lunch, since he was going to have limited time to churn out Sean’s newest and perhaps last order using the god-skin that the system had rewarded. But after a quick trip to the Shanktuary to rinse off, Sean found Estesia waiting for him back at the food carts, raring to go. It turned out she could pack out a massive amount of food for someone without an ounce of body fat, and both of them ate until they walked funny.

In a proper story, we’d be dating by now. Sean thought. Estesia had a boyfriend, or at least had said she did. Sean had never seen him, but it didn’t matter much.

She was a friend, and he was starting to get the sneaking suspicion that every protagonist he had ever read about who somehow got a long-term romance going in the midst of constant life-threatening dangers was probably a little less than realistic. He hardly had enough time to remember to eat, let alone assess whether or not someone was long-term Apocalypse-girlfriend material.

After a quick stop to buy some more dried food from Janey and some better camp cookware, Sean found himself at a loss as to what to do next.

Ah, well. I could always sleep. Sean thought. I don’t really know when I’ll be able to do that safely again.

—

One extended nap later, he stood above the crack in the Earth, flanked by the only two friends he had who could get to him right now. With some time to think under her belt, Estesia had thought up some more questions.

“So that dragon…”

“It’s hard to explain.”

Estesia rolled her eyes. “Try.”

“He lives in the proving ground in the forest. He’s… nice? Don’t try to shoot him and he’s nice, or at least he was to me. I don’t know why he’s friends with me.”

“Eh, don’t sell yourself short.” Estesia picked at her new set of armor, absentmindedly. “You’ve turned out to be an OK guy.”

Giving her some of the Zeus-leather was the least he could do, considering she had broken her rules again to help him and had caught a lightning bolt to the chest as payment. Brett had pulled an all-nighter to make sure both of their sets were done as soon as possible. She hadn’t shared the stats of hers, but his system-identified Zeutsuit was pretty damn good, all things considered.

He hoped it would last a bit longer than his last two sets of armor did. Although given that the god-skin allowed Brett to craft the first set of armor he had ever made with a self-repair function, it was possible that durability wouldn’t be as big of a deal as it had in the past.

“Have you thought about it at all? Coming with?”

Brett shrugged.

“A bit. Haven’t decided yet. From what you said, it could still be months before the system actually starts the festivities. I’ll figure it out over the next few days.”

After expressing its general simulated incredulity that Sean was still alive, the system had laid out a few facts it thought he needed to know.

First, on the other side of the crack was the inner-earth Apocalypse System space, where the competition would take place. But before that, he’d be trapped in time for a bit again, although not nearly as long as he had before. All competitors started the competition at the same time, but since each of them reached their various thresholds for entry on their own schedules, the system had to finagle things a little to get everything to line up.

Second, he could take along some level of support staff with him. Estesia had flat-out refused, and he couldn’t blame her. But outside of a few slots for support combatants he wouldn’t end up using, there was one slot he was given for a merchant/craftsman, someone who could interface with the system shops.

Sean gazed into the abyss again. He was academically aware he wouldn’t actually fall through in a conventional sense, but every part of his lizard-brain was scared of it. He had a few more minutes to get used to it before he had to jump, anyway.

“No problem. For what it’s worth, the Shanktuary isn’t very nice yet, but I’m sure I could get it a little better over time. I’ll see you down there if I see you.”

“You really knew that guy? The motorcycle guy?” Estesia asked. “And you are sure he’s an Earthling? That was offworlder tech. I don’t see how he would have got it.”

“Ah, yeah,” Sean said, smiling. “I’m not absolutely sure, but I think that was a guy I know. Jeff. And if it was him, it’s not that weird. He can do pretty much anything.”

Sensing she wasn’t going to get a much better answer than that, Estesia seemed to give up. Sean took one last look at the crack, tightened his pack, and made sure all his weapons were well-secured in the various holsters Brett had devised for them.

“Well, I guess that’s it. I’ll see you guys when I see you.”

“Hey, Sean?” Estesia asked, just before Sean jumped. He looked back over his shoulder just in time to see her give a little fist pump. “Thanks for doing this. Give them hell.”

Sean nodded, turned back to the crack, and jumped into the future one more time.