CWD: GA ~ Eleven

Nacho didn’t want his friends sleeping out in the open on their first night in the Juxtaposition. He had told them they were going to stop, but hearing all those people die had given him good leverage to make them press on willingly. Though he had definite plans, which he’d worked on in the six months leading up to the Juxtaposition, they still had a lot to discuss—but they could have their conversation on the move.

He and his friends left the rocky hill and made their way down through the forest, following a narrow dirt track; probably a game trail from the animals evolving into monsters. Nacho figured he’d recognize some of the wider paths, so he picked one that vanished in the same general direction he wanted to go.

Nacho, Brie, and Reuben had appeared on the Starter World with the sun directly overhead. The cook kept them moving west, toward what would later become known as Armor Mountain. Even from a distance, they could see the wall of limestone rising above the trees, with more trees growing on top; one of the biggest landmarks around. Even more importantly, Nacho remembered that a dungeon was located on the southeast side of the mountain.

It had originally taken a couple of months before the place had been discovered. People had clambered to get to the top of the mountain to defend themselves from the monsters, but little did they know that monsters would be the key. Nacho figured that at this point in the game, the dungeon would contain mostly low-level Tier zero monsters, not much harder than the initial Evaluation World creatures. It would take a bit for people to realize that monsters congregated in caves; if anyone wanted to level up fast, they went underground.

Nacho talked quietly while they traveled through the trees. He had his bow in hand, but his arrows wouldn’t do anything against even Tier one monsters, since he didn’t have an archery skill to juice up his damage. Hopefully, they wouldn’t run into anything too extreme.

He had worked hard and succeeded in gaining knives as his natively assigned skill for a specific reason—namely, he was going to get the MurderSong Blades. They’d clear the top floors of an easy dungeon first, grab enough credit to level their skills, then they’d journey over to win the MurderSong Blades. He hadn’t forgotten that Myron from the Gorged Guild had the best knives around.

Guild Master Kala hadn’t named her guild ‘The Gorged’ right away. Originally, it had been the Sunrise Brigade, since they woke up early to kill the easier monsters before everyone else. That was the secret of their initial success. Nacho couldn’t help but picture Kala and Myron somewhere, freaking out. While it was a nice mental image, he knew it wouldn’t last long. They’d eventually come together and start their guild, but he had time to get his plans in place before then. To start a guild, a guild charter had to be purchased from the Store—and that price wasn’t anywhere approximating cheap.

Reuben pulled him out of his thoughts. “Tell us what you have cookin’, Nacho. You did mention something about cooking, right?”

“I’d cook something right now, Reuben, but you’d probably eat it.” The newly-minted cook shook his head at that thought. “Not because I would intentionally make it poisonous, I'm just really bad at making food.”

Brie let out a growl. “Why would you intentionally choose to do something you knew you were bad at? This isn’t a game, it’s real life!”

“Real life is played in hard mode,” Nacho informed her grimly without meeting her eyes. The three of them had learned that early on: none of them had an easy go of it, not even Brie, who’d grown up in a wealthy family. Certainly not Reuben, who’d experienced more death than most. Definitely not Nacho, for his own reasons. “It looks like I was destined to cook for people, and not to kill them. Short version is that I spent two full weeks in the Evaluation World, and the Patrons pretty much killed the world to kill me. I could’ve lasted another week, easily. I had enough Evaluation Points to unlock the Satiation Classes. I chose to be a Common Cook, the most expensive of those classes.”

“Two weeks?” Reuben echoed in disbelief. “Youy lasted two weeks in that abyss-hole?”

“Practice makes better.” Nacho turned and grinned at his friend. “Two weeks. It was easy after I killed the Squirrel Lords.”

“Those are the things that got me.” Brie blew a strand of blond hair out of her face. “What can you do?”

Nacho was surprised Brie had lasted long enough to face the Squirrel Lords. He answered her question. “I can process ingredients and add a little magic to my dishes, and I can chop like no one’s business. Small Blades is my innate skill—what we call a native skill—that came over from Earth. It’s a passive skill, so it’s always on. Ingredient Processing and Cooking Magic are active skills. Each time I use them, there’s a mana, hydration, or metabolic cost. In other words, to process ingredients costs me five percent of my mana, water, and food.”

Brie closed her eyes for a moment. “I’m not going to get this until I can use my own skills and see all of it in action. There are no help menus, and the system is all very cryptic.”

“You’re not wrong,” Nacho agreed easily, even if he knew that agreeing was not going to help. “Let’s talk about you guys. How did your Evaluations go? I’m dying to know your classes and skills.”

“My evaluation was terrible.” Reuben chuckled at the memory. “But it was better than most other people, I’d imagine… all thanks to you. I got the armor and the club, and then went south to the shack to get the clay jars and weapons. In the end, I killed a bunch of insects and snakes. I got pretty good at luring them out and then smacking them from a tree. I made a spear, but I was taken down by a Gecko Bear.”

Brie stopped walking and looked at him oddly. “I killed the Gecko Bear. Wait… Did we all have the exact same monsters? Did I do better than you?”

Reuben shrugged easily. “Knowing you, I’m betting yes. I ended the Evaluation at five hundred EPs. What about you?”

“Five hundred also.” Brie’s brow was furrowed. “I bought the best Body Player class I could. What did you grab?”

Nacho couldn’t remember the price list, but he knew both of his friends had done really well. It almost made him self-conscious to think that he’d had a second shot at it. He had always known they would have done better than him, but this? Reuben grinned, but there was a troubled look in his eye. “With my history? I went full Healer. But you both would’ve guessed that. My plan is to keep you two alive no matter what.”

Brie’s gaze was warm on her fiancé’s face, and she scooted closer to give him a small peck on the cheek. Eyes searching the foliage, Nacho jolted to a harsh stop between two trees. The game trail they were following threaded its way through a tangle of brush, but he didn’t want to get ambushed. When nothing jumped out at him, he kept walking, arrow to string, ready for anything. “What was your free innate skill, Reuben?”

“I don’t want to say.” The big guy sounded completely embarrassed, so Nacho didn’t pry. “Didn’t you show up with a grilled cheese sandwich? How did that even happen?”

Reuben always had been great at changing the subject. Nacho accessed his Storage Slots and drew forth the sandwich into his hands, happy that it was still warm. “You want some, Brie?”

She waved a hand carelessly. “Your pocket sandwich? Yeah, no thanks.”

Nacho tore it in half. The entire meal was stringy, gooey deliciousness. Half was handed to Reuben. Both took a bite. Nacho figured it would be terrible, but no, the bread was buttery and crispy, the cheese was rich, and the whole experience was five-star. It was a huge surprise, since most of the time, Store food had problems. Reuben grunted in delight. “Now that’s some good sammich right there, and a guy named Reuben knows his sandwiches, believe me.”

Nacho motioned for Brie to continue. “Since Mister Sandwich is being all mysterious about his skills, tell us about yours?”

She wiped sweat off her forehead, then reached back and began to braid her blond hair. “I’m sure you both aren’t surprised, but I got Athletic Endurance. According to your dumb gaming system, I get a reduction to hunger loss penalties when using my other Berserker skills. It’s a passive ability, so there’s no cost.”

Nacho chewed and swallowed. “Wait… did I hear you correctly? Berserker? You?”

“I liked the outfit in the shop.” Brie stood with her hatchet tucked under one arm, both hands finishing up her braid. His eyes trailed over her with a frown; sure, she had that Valkyrie thing going on, but… the lifespan of a Berserker was measured in days, not years. “I chose Combat Dash and Defensive Whirl for my skills. Both are active skills. Both have a Metabolic cost, but no Hydration or Mana cost. That means it’ll only affect my Hunger points, right?”

“That’s right.” Nacho finished off his sandwich, staring longingly at the crumbs clinging to his fingertips. Hot dog, he shouldn’t have split it. “You’ll see how all of this works once we fight monsters. Bottom line: you did really well in your Evaluation.”

Brie cocked her head. “Of course. You told us where the armor and weapons were. I found a sword in a crypt and got to work. The barrels helped with water.”

“You didn’t go south?” That gave Nacho pause.

“I went east,” she stated lightly. “Knowing I wouldn’t die helped me take some chances I normally wouldn’t have, just like you said. Killing the turtle-mice and those grasshopper things was a lot easier with a sword. I also loved having a bow again. I’ve always liked archery.”

“When were you into archery?” Reuben questioned her around a mouthful of cheese.

Brie’s smile was mysterious. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

“Yes.”

“Too bad. I also liked hitting things with a sword,” Brie informed them after a while of hiking in silence. “The bow was fun, but there was something satisfying about chopping things up while getting up close and personal.”

Reuben laughed. “That’s my girl—a psychotic death machine.”

“That’s the plan.” Brie’s voice was only a little louder than a whisper.

Nacho adjusted his pack and looked at his friend dead-on. “Okay, Reuben. Out with it. What are your skills?”

“First is… Marketing,” the big guy grunted. “I know, I know. It’s going to be super useful for us. I’m sure that running branding campaigns and optimizing online search results will be key to our success. You’ll thank me someday.”

Nacho winced but tried to hide it. “We might want to buy you out of that skill. But we’ll talk about the Store in a minute. What else have you got?”

Reuben laughed a little as he tramped through the leaves. “I could’ve gone with something called Soothing Touch, but nope, Healing Hugs for the highest efficacy. A portion of your health will be restored through me hugging you. It’s an active skill, costs me Mana and Hydration, but no Hunger points.”

“I love your hugs, being all wrapped up in my Reuben.” Brie coyly trailed her fingers across his arm.

“Eh.” Nacho didn’t mind hugs, but that might be a little awkward during battle until they leveled up the skill. “Healing Hugs it is, even if it sounds like a healing spell for kindergarten teachers. What else?”

Reuben responded immediately. “Positive Vibes, brah. I can bless warriors prior to their warring. They’ll dish out extra physical damage based on my skill level. Active skill, costs Mana and Hydration. So, who’s the big cheese now, Nacho? I’m gonna be a hippie in armor. Healing Hugs, Positive Vibes, and eating a bunch of granola. Probably. I somehow imagine granola will be involved.”

More good-natured laughter was cut off by the Berserker piling on more questions. “Okay, I get the basic mechanics of the world. But there are a few things you’re not telling us about.”

“There’s a lot I’m not telling you. Some of it is… disturbing.” Nacho wasn’t looking forward to talking about the world’s eventual food source.

Extolling the virtues of Cannibalism was always so awkward.