After a bit of talking, Arthur learned the woman’s name. She’d been trapped in a jail since the advent of the System, along with all the others that had been in the area. The quakes had torn the building right in half, a fissure opening up directly under their feet. Many died in just the first few moments of the quakes, and those who were left were inundated with monsters. She didn’t know much about what happened next, as this was the moment her husband had forcefully taken her away.
Afterwards, she’d been stuck with him and all the prisoners and guards that had gotten away alive. She didn’t know everything that’d happened next either, as she spent all her time since sequestered away in fear. All she knew was that the guards and the prisoners that’d previously shared a safe haven had some sort of falling out, and there was now a conflict between the two “factions”. Arthur hadn’t said much after learning about it. He’d simply listened, giving Mary the other sausage halfway through, as she seemed like she hadn’t eaten in days. They ended the night with him pointing her to the main cabin with one of his blankets in tow.
The next morning, Arthur introduced the new addition to the survivor group. After telling them her story, it was clear what he was edging towards; Arthur wanted to go to the previously discussed area and grab the innocent people who were trapped there. According to Mary, there had been quite a few, as it’d eventually sucked in people who hadn’t even been there during the initial quakes. As the only “safe place” for kilometers around, the surrounding civilians had been forced to either die in the streets to monsters, or join whichever faction they found first. The result of this was a small, strange town-like zone that was mostly free of monsters, but was practically lawless, with fights and deaths breaking out all the time.
Some parts of the story didn’t make sense. Why would the leaders of each keep trying to kill each other rather than moving to make an entirely safe haven? Why would either party even stay in the area? Either of the groups were large enough to make a concerted effort to find the new city, and if a group of survivors stuck on a college campus heard about it, surely this place did as well. If anything, they should’ve known about it first, yet they did nothing. They kept killing each other, and forcing people who had nothing to do with their fallout get caught in the crossfire.
Arthur was adamant about going to this perverse “town” to extract everyone who didn’t want to be there, but was rebuffed by the entire rest of the party. Even Sherman questioned the “wiseness” of what Arthur suggested, causing him to rebound in shock. The others in the party asserted that turning the entire mass of survivors around to go to this new area was an all around bad idea. Turning around such a large group with no previous warning would be hard to do, and would confuse the survivors. Their group wasn’t a monarchy; they would need to explain why they’re going back and where to. That’d be difficult in itself, but the reason they were doing it in the first place would be difficult to justify. It was not only Arthur that would be doing this; it would be the dozens upon dozens of people they’ve accumulated over their trek to find civilization.
Arthur argued that it’d be worth the hardship. There were people there that needed help; maybe badly, and maybe as many or even more than the amount of people they currently had. Ignoring them would be tantamount to sentencing them to death, and while they weren’t exactly next door, they were closer now than they would be later.
Gideon pointed out that it wasn’t that simple. Even if they could somehow frame this turn around and new location as a “good” thing, the truth was that they’d be putting the survivors in danger; again. Gideon threw down the gauntlet, challenging Arthur on whether he’d be willing to do such a thing. Making a sour and conflicted face, the heartless tin man acknowledged the point and walked away, more than a little frustration in his steps. Aurora stopped Ema from chasing after him while the dark-skinned man simply watched with a blank face.
The following night, Arthur was alone again. They’d already left the summer camp they’d taken refuge in previously, and were now in a less forested area. Arthur sat behind a half destroyed building, close to where the rest of the survivors put themselves up for the night. Though he hadn’t thought about it much over the day, he considered whether he should follow through with his plan.
After talking to the rest of the party about it, it’d become clear that involving the entire herd of survivors with this mission would be a poor idea. He’d acknowledged that point previously, and had meant it. Doing what he’d wanted to do with such a large group that already had a singular goal in mind would backfire. Not everyone was like him and could take a direct hit from a speeding car and be mostly fine; he knew this.
Which was why he was debating leaving the group temporarily to go clean up this city.
What he hadn’t shared during his discussion earlier was that there were more reasons he wanted to go to this new city. Hearing about the way the “leaders” of this town treated their civilians infuriated him. He’d wanted to do more than just extract the people, he’d wanted to take out their leadership, or at least get to the bottom of why things were like this. Not only that, but from the moment he’d heard about what was going on, he’d had a feeling that it was related to the Raiders. There were simply too many holes in their logic.
Leaning his back against the wall of the half destroyed building, he brought up a notification that he’d received a while ago.
Your weapon’s skill:
[Lifechained Dreamscape]
is once again available for use
[Lifechained Dreamscape]: Allows the user to visit the dreamscape once a month until they reach Level 51. May give rewards if certain conditions are met.
Had it already been that long? Looking at the weapon’s description, he could see it almost pulse in his consciousness, urging him to use it. He held it at the edge of activation for a bit, then followed through with it, falling asleep just as quickly as he had last time.
Arthur opened his eyes to a familiar scene. The entire dreamscape was still suffused with blue, in a way that almost reminded him of how things looked while his title was in overdrive.
Enjoying the scenery, he walked to the destroyed castle once again. Now that he knew where he was going, he tried paying more attention to the details of the area. He noticed that there were signs that people had lived there; destroyed houses that, while overgrown with plantlife, still held cracked water jugs, kitchen utensils, beds and… children’s dolls. Trying not to let his mind wander, he refocused his efforts on getting to the castle.
He was surprised to see the suit of armor already waiting for him when he arrived. It was sitting on a bench, not facing him, looking at the castle in silence. Arthur moved to join him on the bench.
“Don’t,” the armor said coldly. Arthur stopped, surprised at the armor’s change in personality from the last time he’d come.
“I’m going to ask you a series of questions,” it said, not facing Arthur. It continued to look at the castle. It seemed almost… forlorn. “If I don’t like your answers, or if I sense you are lying, you will be banished, and you will not come back. If you do… I will kill you. Do you understand?”
Arthur reeled at the statement said with such nonchalant directness. Although he’d been in enough battles at this point to feel at least semi competent, he had no doubts that the entity before him was leagues above him in power. He hadn’t felt this pressure before, as his first impression of the armor had been a wise-cracking but fun individual. He gulped… and nodded.
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“Good,” the armor said, still not looking at him. The area was just as beautiful as it was last time; large flowers and leaves growing on the vines that inundated the destroyed palace. The eerie quiet was broken by a bubbling brook nearby, the blue tinged sunlight reflecting on the surface of the water. “So… why are you here?”
Arthur thought about it for a moment. “Well… the main reason was to visit you, I suppose. There really isn’t much else to do here.” Arthur looked around. “I guess… pure curiosity, as well.”
The armor didn’t move. “How did you come into possession of the weapon you used to gain access to this space?”
“I got it from a chest… remember? I told you the first time we met. It was some kind of super chest from completing the first dungeon on the planet.”
The armor shifted its head toward Arthur slightly. “The first dungeon on the planet?”
“Yeah. That’s how I got my class and everything else.”
“Hm.” The armor said nothing else for a moment, but eventually broke the silence. “How did you get your class and title?”
Arthur narrowed his eyes, unsure of how the armor knew about his Heart of Devotion. Looking down in reminiscence of the bitter memory, he spoke. “I… was trapped in that dungeon, the one I just told you about. The System had just arrived while I was…” He sighed, finally just sitting on the bench next to the suit of armor. It didn’t move.
“Before the System, I used to go to this aquarium. I used to talk to the fish there like the total loser I am.” He chuckled despite himself. “I was in the bathroom when… when the System came. I only survived the initial hit because of a bathroom stall. When I got up, I knew that… that I couldn’t leave until I found the rest of my people stuck in the new dungeon. But I didn’t find them.” He took in a breath and paused before speaking again. “I found a man… and his child. I don’t know how old he was… maybe a few months old? Maybe older. There was an abomination attacking them, and I just… jumped between them. I had a ‘shield’, so I figured I could push it back and let the two escape, but… it didn’t go that way. It pretty much killed me instantly, but not before I unlocked the title.”
“Which was why you’re still alive, because of the 3rd level of synchronization.”
“Y-…Yeah…” Arthur said, once again surprised at the amount of information the suit of armor had. It somehow knew what the synchronization levels did. “After it got me, another person jumped in and killed it. I leveled up from the shared experience, and the only option I had was-”
“The Audacity Knight.”
“…Yes.”
The armor didn’t say anything for an even longer time that before. “This is my last question.” Arthur felt meaning in its statement, as though this was the most important question of all. This would decide what the armor would do; if it allowed him to stay, banished him, or maybe even outright killed him.
“Why do you want to level up in the System? Why… do you seek strength?”
Arthur didn’t answer immediately, taking time to think about it. Despite the tense atmosphere, the armor didn’t rush him. It was almost a full minute later before he spoke again.
“Over the course of my life, I’ve never really had any… goals.” He said, honestly. “Short term things I wanted to do, sure, but nothing beyond that. There was nothing I was good at, nothing I particularly wanted to do. I guess you could say… I had no purpose.” Arthur shifted in his seat, leaning forward as though the weight of the conversation was on his shoulders.
“I failed at almost everything I tried. I have something called ADHD, a chemical imbalance in my brain that makes it hard for me to focus, makes me impulsive. I have autism too, and the combination was… weird. I was always different from everyone around me. I can’t handle talking to people for too long, and-” Arthur stopped himself, shaking his head with a slight smile. “See? Difficulty focusing. What I’m trying to say is, before the System came, I didn’t really have anything. In the beginning, I thought about just leveling up for… well, the fun of it. Power for its own sake, you know?” He took in a breath, and let it out slowly.
“But I realized… that’s not really what I want. The only thing that’s really given my life meaning up to this point were the smiles I could put on other people’s faces. Through all the gray of my life, the spots of light for me were always witnessing other people’s happiness, even if I couldn’t have my own. I realized that… the power the System gave me… didn’t change that. The greatest joy I get is from giving.” Arthur shook his head, looking down again. “Maybe it sounds stupid, sounds bad, even. Someone deriving contentment from other people’s positive feelings like some kind of… happiness vampire. But it’s who I am. Pursuing power for its own sake isn’t a bad goal, leveling up simply for what it is might be good, even. But it’s not what I want. I want to be there for the people who need me as often as I can. If that means I gain power in the meantime… then it’ll be a happy side effect.”
No one spoke for what felt like an entire half hour. They say in silence, both individuals looking at the morose beauty of the destroyed castle. Finally, the armor broke the silence once again.
“The Aged Blade. It was bound to you the moment you took it out of the rewards box… wasn’t it?”
Arthur thought about it and realized the armor was right. He hadn’t bound the weapon to himself like Mira had with Mercy’s Kiss; it’d just acted like he’d already bound it the moment he checked its description.
“I hadn’t thought about that before, but… yeah.”
“Then we’d better head to the training yard. You’re stuck with it, but you really suck with that thing.”
Arthur sputtered in surprise, finally looking at the armor. “Wh-What? How do you know? I mean… no I don’t!”
The armor chuckled, getting up and motioning for Arthur to follow it.
Arthur and the empty suit of armor were in an area Arthur hadn’t seen before. A large training yard, full of greenery, with various training paraphernalia strewn about. There was a huge board that hung weapons of every kind; swords, shields, halberds, glaives, daggers, maces, bows, quarterstaves… every weapon one could think of. The armor had grabbed a longsword from the hanging rack, tossing one of the same to Arthur. Its weight and bulk were suspiciously similar to the Aged Blade.
“Spread your feet.” The armor said, making a stance. “Each foot just outside of your shoulder length with about a foot between your front’s heel and your back foot’s toe.” Arthur imitated the footwork of the empty shell of armor.
“Straighten your back. Shrug your shoulders up, then push them back, then down. The barrel chest stance people make during a sword fight isn’t just for show; it helps transfer the power from your core to your arms. It also helps you brace against impact when you swing.” Arthur once again did as he was told, the superhero barrel chest making him feel slightly self conscious. He understood the value of what he was learning here, however, and did it anyway.
“Blade up, shoulder height. Dominant hand on the top, off-hand on the bottom. Loosen your grip; you don’t want to choke it. Only your bottom two fingers should be tight on each hand. Do not grip the pommel; it counterbalances the blade, and will throw you off if you do.” Arthur held his sword up, imitating the stance the armor showed him. He couldn’t help but already feel stronger.
“So… like this?” Arthur said, thinking his stance was identical to the armor.
“No, but close enough for now. Straighten your back.” Arthur straightened his back out again, slightly embarrassed at his bad posture.
“Now, move your sword like this.”
The armor showed Arthur how to swing his sword. It was different to how he thought it was done, and it was more like a flick than a full on swing. The armor moved to the side with the attack, keeping its body behind the blade. “Keep the steel between you and the enemy. Even if you have monstrous defensive stats, it will always be better to not get hit. Now pick up that shield.”
Arthur did as he said, and the armor showed him techniques for using a sword with his shield. It included stabs, counter attacks, sweeps, and more as the minutes turned to hours. The armor drilled him mercilessly on the moves, footwork and stances, berating Arthur more than once for “breaking his core”, or messing up his stance.
Hours continued to pass, Arthur’s sweat staining his outfit. He didn’t even realize he could still sweat, as the only other time his stamina had gotten this low, he’d been fighting for his life. Despite his exhaustion, he continued to drill the moves the armor showed him, attacking a long wooden block with sticks jutting out to simulate swords.
Arthur used the various two-handed grips and guards the armor had shown him. The middle, high and low guards, the inside and close left and right guards, the hanging guards, even the back guards. He practiced with the shield in his off-hand too. The armor had said that for normal individuals, a longsword was impractical to use with a shield because of its length, but he was not a normal individual. Because of the System, he was a superhuman, and therefore impracticable worked fine for him. The armor did warn him to be wary of tight spaces, however, as his sword’s length would become a weakness in such an area.
During his drilling of techniques, he received several notifications. After continuing to practice for a while, he finally looked at them, and his jaw nearly dropped.
You have learned the Miscellaneous Skill
[Martial: Smite]: Level – 1
Miscellaneous Skill
[Martial: Smite]
Has leveled up!
[Martial: Smite]: Level – 1 ? 2
Miscellaneous Skill
[Martial: Smite]
Has leveled up!
[Martial: Smite]: Level – 2 ? 3
New Skill!
[Heavy Blitz]: Passive – Enhances blunt damage. Enhances medium-length weapon damage. Enhances grappling strength. If your STR is greater than your DEX, grants additional bonus to blunt and heavy weapon damage commensurate to the difference between stats. Maximum value commensurate with levels in [Martial: Smite].
New Skill!
[Burst]: Fire an energy wave from your sword to strike at a distance. Does minimal damage. Inflicts [Enraged]. Expend a stack of [Audacity] to increase damage.