"Let’s get the day going strong with a hot new hit from Spider and the Demons! That’s right, it’s the rockin new single, !”
- DJ Demophon Kerner, on K-RAD LA, April 2nd, System Year 453
I squinted, the harsh morning sunlight always blinding when leaving the dark, windowless room. I briefly wondered what time it was, before remembering that I could actually find out. I concentrated, trying to project my thoughts to the System silently.
“PAST, what time is it?” No response. I tried again, and then a third time because I’m stubborn. Finally, looking around to make sure no one was close enough to hear me, I whispered instead.
“PAST, what time is it? Why aren’t you responding?”
[GOOD MORNING, CITIZEN!]
I jumped at the volume even though I knew what to expect.
[THE TIME IS 07:48, APRIL 2ND! IT IS NOT APRIL FOOL’S DAY TODAY!]
Jerk!
[I DID NOT RESPOND TO YOU PREVIOUSLY BECAUSE NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION IS NOT ENABLED! WOULD YOU LIKE TO ENABLE IT?!]
“Yes, and tell me what other options I have. Can I reset my user settings now?”
[NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION MODE ENGAGED! USER SETTINGS RESET NOT AVAILABLE! DISPLAYING SETTINGS NOW!]
A System screen appeared in front of me, unlike any of the others I’d seen before. It was huge, with line after line of text, and before I’d even finished reading the first line it was gone. I realized the whole mess of text was flowing upwards as more and more lines were added at the bottom. Just looking at it was making me dizzy and I immediately dismissed it.
“Just show me the important options!”
[WHICH SETTINGS ARE IMPORTANT TO YOU, GUNNER?!]
“Is there any way to get you to stop shouting so loud?”
[DISPLAYING COMMUNICATION-RELATED SETTINGS NOW, GUNNER!]
System Communication Settings
Volume: reduced | normal | enhanced
Voice Selection: male | female
Personality Matrix – locked: Patriotic American System Triumphant | default
…
More lines appeared, but I was focused on the first few. This is normal volume? Wasted hells… It looks like I’m stuck with PAST for now, but I swear I’m going to find out how to unlock that setting!
“Set volume to reduced,” I demanded.
[Confirmed, Citizen!]
I sighed in relief. Less relief than I had hoped for, though. Now, instead of it sounding like PAST was shouting directly into my skull, it just sounded like he was shouting at me from a bit further away. “Better than nothing,” I thought.
[I am most certainly better than nothing, Citizen!]
Shit, that wasn’t a command… This is gonna take some getting used to.
“Set voice selection to female.” I was curious.
[Confirmed, Citizen Ashley!]
I didn’t think it could be worse than PAST’s previous bellow, but as usual the world managed to disappoint me. The female version of PAST’s voice sounded like what I bet that ass Sasha thought she sounded like when she was throwing herself at one of the Guards the instant she’d turned eighteen. I did not need that image in my head every time I had to deal with the System. I reset the exaggeratedly seductive voice to male with a shudder.
I looked up and realized that my feet had carried me nearly to the inn. One of the largest and tallest buildings in town at three stories, most of the first floor was taken up by the restaurant and bar. Significantly cleaner and more luxurious than the saloon, the inn was too expensive for most of the townsfolk to afford, except on special occasions.
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Instead, it was popular with the caravans that visited every month or so, along with their guards, anyone from the Gleason family, the Mayor, and so on. The dungeon-jacks were often drinking there right after getting paid, until they’d pissed away too much money and were forced back to the saloon with the rest of the townsfolk.
The front of the inn was a porch, a couple steps up from the street. It was broad, deep, and always very clean. Several couches and chairs surrounded a few small tables in the shade of the porch’s roof. I made sure to use one of the boot scrapers prominently set to either side of the stairs before climbing them. As I stepped onto the porch, a pair of figures rose from where they’d been sitting and approached me.
The taller of the two was a girl about my age, a couple of inches shorter than me with a bit more meat on her bones. She was dressed casually in a jeans and t-shirt, her boots broken in but considerably newer than mine. There was a Delver’s Guild pin on her shirt, and I remembered seeing her in the square. She had reddish-brown hair, green eyes, and didn’t look very excited to meet me. She opened her mouth as if to say something, then closed it when the other person started to speak.
“You must be Az, then. Nice to meet you.”
Her voice was a bit rough but quite normal coming from someone who was barely taller than my shoulder, but looked like she weighed at least twice what I did. She had to be one of the most muscular people I’d ever seen, with massive shoulders and bulging arms that were larger than my thighs. She looked older than me, but probably younger than Hazel.
Her face was surprisingly delicate, with dark blond hair cut short, dark eyes, and tanned skin. Her body was thick all the way down, with few curves – unless you counted the bulge of her muscles. Unlike the casually dressed girl next to her, she was wearing brown leather armor, though it left her impressive biceps bare.
“Hi, yeah, I’m Az!” I said, more cheerfully than I felt. I was definitely not hiding that I was upset at Hazel.
“Name’s Vale, Delver’s Guild. This here is Elin.” She indicated the girl next to her with a thumb. “Follow me. Elin, make sure the others are up and have breakfast.”
Swept along, I gave Elin a friendly nod before hurrying after Vale. For someone so short, she moved quickly, heading right up to the young man behind the luxurious wooden bar.
“Good morning, Miss Vale, what can I do for you?” he asked respectfully, clearly doing his best not to stare at my mutilated hair.
“Need a meeting room.”
“Of course,” he said, and gestured towards the back. “Both of our private rooms are currently available, please take your pick. Do you require refreshments?”
“Water’s fine.”
I was getting the feeling she’d spent her morning allowance of words already and didn’t feel like asking for a loan. I could respect that. I followed her broad back past the bar and into one of the two smaller private rooms. Used both for serving meals and business meetings – often at the same time – I’d never been in one except to clean it when one of the usual staff was sick and they needed extra help.
The room featured a large, frosted glass window, a good sized fine wooden table – dungeon wood, I knew, and very expensive – and six chairs. Along one wall was an equally nice side table with a pitcher of water and six beautifully clear glasses. They were real glass, I was sure, not the tin cups I was used to. Vale looked around, grunted, and leaned back out.
“Bring us a stool and take one of these chairs out,” she called out to the apprentice behind the bar – his name was Abel, and he was three or four years older than me – then looked at me. “Take a seat over there,” she gestured to the seat at the far end of the large table.
I was suddenly nervous as I pulled out the heavy chair and sat down, distracted momentarily by how comfortable it was. Waste it, I think this chair has more padding than my bed! Stay cool, Az, there’s no going back now. Hazel is fucking pissed, so you’d better make a good impression on the Delvers. At least Mason must be interested, they would have just left otherwise.
I heard the sound of approaching steps.
clickclick clickclick clickclick
Fortunately, before I had time to do anything stupid, Mason entered the room, having to duck slightly to fit through the door. I realized that the sound was the claws on his feet clicking on the stone floor of the inn.
“Morning Az,” he greeted me, and I noticed that he looked slightly more normal now. At least he didn’t look like he was standing in a shadow. Strangely, his eyes were now a bright green – even where the white part should have been. I could have sworn that they were grey last night.
Sure as shit he didn’t make any noise walking last night either.
He looked at the chairs, grunted, and then pulled out the one at the far end of the table. Casually lifting it with one hand, he relocated it to the corner of the room just as Abel appeared with a padded stool that looked like one of the ones I’d seen out on the porch. Mason plucked it out of his hands, nodded, and then plopped the stool down and sat on it, his tail behind him.
Abel backed out of the room, almost running into another Delver on his way out. The new man was tall, over six feet for sure, though nowhere near as tall or wide as Mason. His hair was cut very short, almost shaved, and his eyes were an interesting purple. He was wearing armor, though I couldn’t tell what it was made out of as it was a dark blue color.
He stepped over Mason’s tail and took the seat next to him, by the window. As he sat down the color of his armor suddenly changed from blue to a dark brown that perfectly matched the chair he was sitting in, and I realized the previous blue color was actually the same shade as the walls. My eyes widened at the casual display of magic. That is awesome!
Vale closed the door and took the seat opposite the new guy, leaving the three of them all around one end of the table and me alone on the far side. I gulped audibly and Mason chuckled.
“Relax kid,” he rumbled, “this isn’t an interrogation, we just want to get to know you a little bit. Now, you already met Vale, and this dour individual to my left is Kitten.”
I gaped at the name as the man – Kitten, really? – obviously kicked Mason under the table before turning to me and holding out his hand.
“Ignore that, my name is Hassan,” he said as I shook his hand and nodded quickly. Not touching that nickname with a pole!
“Great,” Mason continued with a smile, “now that we’re all friends, why don’t you tell us about the Tutorial? Specifically, I’d like to know why you picked the Advanced Tutorial, what it was like, why it took you so long, and what you think about your Class so far.”
Mason