Chapter 3 Instead of Becoming an Adventurer I Chose to Fish

My mind was clearer than it was yesterday. My grandmother always said that during sleep you process what you experienced during the day, helping you accept what had happened.

She said that to me when her husband, my grandfather, died. She was right then, and she’s right now. Back then it took a few nights, but slowly I started to comprehend that I was never going to see him again.

I had gotten better with loss after that, but right now I was feeling like that young child again, feeling a bit better but still not truly comprehending what I had lost.

Opening my eyes, I saw the bunk house now filled with people. In fact, there were so many that some seemed to be sleeping on the ground. While that sounded bad, it actually wasn’t. That meant more people were being saved.

It seemed that some had claimed some of the beds for longer term. I was surprised to see so many had actual possessions. Still, the misery of this place was like a heavy blanket.

Getting up, I saw nearby a mother with her child.

“You can have my bed. I’m not going to use it anymore.” But it seemed like they didn’t speak English. A few hand gestures later, she was giving me a sideways hug and thanking me profusely in her language. Pretty sure it was Japanese.

They curled up on the bed together and were asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow. I wasn’t too far from the door that took me outside, only to find that there were so many more people here. The place was crowded.

There were a few non-humans here, most seemed to be refugees from Earth. It was actually quite easy to tell apart people from Earth from our rescuers. We were all wearing simple sweatpants and sweatshirts, while they were all wearing some type of armor, mostly leather.

I watched as some of them explained what was going on to desperate people, using some kind of devices to make them understandable to us. If they were speaking to each other, others didn’t seem to understand what they were saying.

Whatever language they were speaking, I could still understand them. So whatever those people who saved me did was still working. They shouldn’t know this, so time to figure out how bad this situation actually was.

It felt better to have something to do, even if it was spying on the people who rescued me and so many others.

There were so many more people outside, so it wasn’t hard to blend in. There were stations where help was given, but they didn’t speak much as they were constantly working. Some of them seemed thoroughly exhausted.

I watched as these healers seemed to do miracles. There were people who were praying next to them like they were figures of worship.

It was understandable why they were doing so, because these people were healing, simply by touching or saying some words, injuries that should have killed.

For a moment I thought about abandoning my plans and helping the injured here, but I wasn’t the only one who was thinking so. The people in charge, however, didn’t want help, saying that we would get in the way instead of helping.

Fair enough to that, so I moved on, kind of glad that I didn’t have to be around what was happening back there. This seemed to be like a large aid centre, as there were permanent buildings here, although a lot of it was temporary large tents put up to handle the influx of refugees.

That word made me realise that I was now a refugee from Earth. It didn’t feel good, as everything I had ever known was now gone, and most likely there was no way I would ever be able to see my home again. Instead of thinking of that I refocus on my mission.

It didn’t take me too long walking around to find a good spot to settle down. I was kinda hungry, but I didn’t want to eat just yet, and the lines near the places where you could get food seemed endless.

There were plenty of people around at almost every corner where they could get a bit of shelter and rest their heads against something. I picked a spot near where our rescuers seemed to hang out.

It was in front of a larger building, most likely their command centre. There were people constantly moving in and out, but a lot of them stayed out front, talking to each other and smoking from what looked like pipes, some did seem to have cigarettes.

All of them had the same symbol of the six balls connected by a thick lined circle. There were symbols like that everywhere around here, even some of the tents. Most of their shoulder patches were different, it was hard to find a match and when I did those people seemed to always be together.

“There are way too many coming in, we need to send them to other camps?”

“Yeah, I just heard from my friend who works in the sister camp. They are above capacity as well. She said that the Adventurer Guild is using basically every camp they have and they’re still having trouble fitting everyone.”

Another one joined their conversation.

“It’s because of the new world. It’s one of the worst mana scars they’ve come across. The world itself already has A class rank as of 30 minutes ago, and many think it will go all the way to S.”

“That makes even less sense. How are there anyone still left to be rescued?”

“It’s because of their population density. That world seemed to have over eight billion humans.” One of them started to cough at that.

“Eight billion, that’s impressive. Oh, but so many will be lost.”

They all looked solemn at that. Wait, were they not actually evil? Although these were just low-level workers, so they could still be compassionate, even if the upper leadership was anything but.

“What I can tell you is the reason so many have survived. One is the rapid onset of the mana. Animals mutated so fast that anyone who killed one would get a class slot, giving more and more power to the system there. That allowed us to get to that world so fast.”

“Still wouldn’t explain these numbers, as that world is full of life.”

“I’m getting to it. It is their domestic animals, more specifically two different species, dogs and cats. They seem to have had a long history of domestication, and the two species were quite smart to begin with. I’m hearing a lot of them didn’t actually mutate, and the ones that did still somewhat had their protective instincts towards humans.”

“No way, really? That’s some really good news, not just for them but everyone. Having domestic animals capable of surviving that much mana exposure is extraordinary and I bet a lot of them will have the spark.”

“Well yeah, but don’t get too excited. As you know, monsters are still monsters, and it seems their versions of cats are more possessive of humans than anything else. It’s like another type of monster, but with humans.”

“That’s beyond scary.”

“Agreed,” a few of them answered back.

“Speculation is nice enough, but if there are more people coming, and if I understand correctly there are, what are we going to do?”

“They’re talking about fast-tracking as many as they can into the beginner towns.”

“That’s going to cost so much. I guess it’s going to be a couple of years of tight budgeting for us all. Kinda unfair that they can get a problem free life if they want like this.” Many didn’t seem to agree with that last point.

“Yeah, I don’t think it will get to budgeting. That world even if it’s only going to survive the next 5 to 10 years, is going to be worth more than an entire world filled with gold mines. I’m guessing that everyone who survives will get a pretty big payout as well, on top of their lifetime access to beginner towns.”

“You really think it’s going to be so profitable?”

“Oh right, you guys haven’t been there. It’s madness how well some of those creatures can absorb mana. They can go from zero to C rank in an hour or two while not going completely mad.”

“Never trust S ranks when they say something too good to be true. But if what you’re saying is correct, that world is going be filled with every S ranker who can make it there for the next decade.”

The group split off after that, their break seemingly over. There was a lot of information there, but from the sound of it this adventurer guild didn’t seem to be evil or wanting to enslave us.

I continued to listen in to every conversation I could. Usually they were just complaining about work, which actually made me feel better, as these people still seemed quite human even though some of them weren’t.

It became quite obvious that for the adventurer guild, rescuing our world was a business, but they still seemed compassionate about the ones they rescued.

I could accept the fact that they would be making a profit from Earth and using that to cover the expense of rescuing us, because in the end we were getting rescued and not left for dead. Everything in the end still cost money, no matter if it was a good deed or not.

Surprisingly, that left me even more empty. It seemed there was a part of me that wanted to find something truly evil in their actions so that I would have a purpose, something to fight against, but now all that was left was emptiness.

In my hands there was still the broken fishing rod. Even more people had shown up in the few hours I’d been here. I was now feeling hungry, but the line for the food was so long.

There were also more troubles brewing, as with so many people here finally feeling safe, they were starting to ask more questions and get angrier if they couldn’t get the answers they were looking for.

During the time I had sat here more people had showed up near this building constantly asking questions. As of late they even have started demanding answers and items. A large group seem to have surrounded a small child sized adventure.

Other adventurers seem to have noticed, and they did not look pleased. Some of them had their hands on their batons. This could get bad. Before I knew it, I was standing trying to tell them to stop, but I wasn’t the only refugee to do so. The angry mob did not seem to care.

“Stop acting like Karens!” This I yelled as loudly as I could. To my surprise this actually worked as everyone looked towards me. The adventures looked confused while most of the refugee looked abashed as they realized what they had been doing.

The few that were still mad realized that they no longer had the support of the mob, so they backed off sending me evil looks. That smelled like trouble for me. Why can’t I keep my big mouth shut.

The adventures then got to work dispersing everyone. I myself started heading towards the food lines.

The adventures that got close to me sent me grateful looks. I also overhear them notifying their superiors that more guards were needed to keep everything peaceful.

“Thank you,” I heard someone say from behind me. As I turned around, I saw the small adventure that had been surrounded by the mob. She was using her communication artefact, so it was a good chance to ask something that could help me. Especially now considering I’d managed to make a few enemies.

“No problem, but can I ask you something?”

“Of course, what is it?”

“How long will we be staying here? I’m guessing we cannot go back to Earth, but this place does not seem like it’s built for a long stay, and it’s getting so crowded here. Just look at that line.” I pointed towards the food line that was continuing to get longer and longer.

She seemed to deflate a bit. “We will be trying to move even more people soon, but there are other problems that will come with it. For example, if we move you right now, it will be a lot harder to get you in touch with any of you family of friend.”

She looked towards a large gathering of people, where a lot of the adventurers were constantly helping anyone there. That was the place where people who were trying to find their family members or friends were. Most of whom would probably never be found, as they were already dead on Earth.

“I don’t have anyone,” I managed to get out.

She looked at me with such compassion that if I had lost someone I cared about in the last day, I would have broken down, but my losses were older.

“Do you have a class slot?” She asked. I gave her a nod.

“Then follow me,” she said, and I did. We were soon back where I had listened to everyone speak during their breaks. “Wait here. I will go inside.”

I waited minutes going by. It was a bit awkward now standing amongst others who were taking breaks. I was getting a few weird looks, but no one spoke to me.

Then finally she came out. She didn’t exactly have a smile on her face, but she seemed pleased.

“Come. Eventually, all of you are going to be sent to beginner towns. Those are places that will teach you everything you need to know about how everything works.” She then showed me a bracelet.

“Here, put this onto your right wrist.” I did as she said feeling it click in place.

“That will be your identification. It shows who you are, that you are from Earth, and that you were rescued by us. I will be taking you to a system obelisk. As soon as you touch it, that bracelet is going to turn into a permanent tattoo. Sorry, but that’s the only way of doing things to make sure that no one can steal your identity.”

“Wait, how does it know who I am?”

“The system will handle that part. You will learn in the beginner town. When you touch the system obelisk, do not accept a class. Do you understand? Do not do it no matter how tempting.”

She was serious enough that she stopped walking and looked me in the eyes, waiting for my answer. “Yes, I understand. I will not accept one.”

“Good. You should be able to get better choices a bit later on. Oh no, do you even know about classes? It doesn’t matter right now. Just don’t accept one. Instead, choose to claim one free transport. That will allow you to go to another world free of the mana cost usually associated.”

“I’m going to be honest here, I’m a bit lost. Are there even more worlds?” She looked at me with so much pity. That was starting to get a bit annoying, to be honest.

“I managed to talk my supervisor into getting you a really good spot. The beginner town you are going to is one of the best ones. Here, this is the location token. When you are using the free teleport, think of this coin. The location’s name that should show up. It should be named the town of Pristine Beginnings in a world named Andulin.”

When we got to a huge black pillar that I was surprised I hadn’t noticed before, I saw that there were already groups of people with similar bracelets to mine already being sent to touch the obelisk.

We got into line, but the wait wouldn’t be long. It was scary to watch people disappear in a flash of light soon after they touched the obelisk.

Some of them before disappearing seemed to glow in a different color. When that happened the adventurers around us shaked their heads. Then told everyone once again to not choose any class.

“It's really unfortunate you only get one class, and if you choose one of the beginner ones you will have a tougher time advancing.” The small adventures said. I realized I didn’t know her name.

“I’m sorry, I haven’t introduced myself. I’m Ray.”

“Oh, how rude of me. My name is Kia. You will probably never meet me again. Thank you for the help once again. I shouldn’t have been out there in the first place, it’s against policy. I usually just deal with the children, because my stature I doesn’t intimidate them as much.”

“Thank you for all the help and for all the help you are providing to everyone here. Some of them can be assholes, but most are just scared, so please don’t take it to heart whatever they’ll say in the future.”

“I will remember that. But it’s now your turn.”

I was still a bit hesitant about all of this. What if this still was some evil plan, something that would doom me for the rest of my life? Taking a deep breath in, I braced myself for whatever was to come as I placed my hand on the system obelisk.

“Class selection available.”

“Choose a class.”

Warrior

Ranger

Mage

Healer

Angler

That last one caught me by surprise. I did what I was told and rejected the class selection, hoping that I didn’t mess up my future because of it.

“Teleportation. One free teleportation available.”

As soon as I saw that, I thought about the coin in my hand. A series of numbers filled in. The string was incredibly long, but when everything was filled in the location was picked with a name of the Town of Pristine Beginnings, World Andulin, Region Hartur.

That seemed to be the correct place. I accepted, and then there was a flash of light.