The Systemic Lands

Chapter 5: Day 3 – Viewpoints

Frank

We had walked back before it got dark. I looked at our leader and shook my head. He knew what he was doing, but he was clearly exhausted from his weight. At least he didn’t complain. There was something off about him. Too hyper and then too calm. Maybe some kind of mental disorder? For a fat guy, it was surprising how willing he was to put in physical effort.

The other two members of our little group were concerning in other ways. Jim clearly had his head somewhere else and wasn’t focused. This place was a death trap. A game like environment, I could only think of the stupidity of such a thing. What was the point or the end result?

I guess I should have paid more attention to my son, when he was talking about games. This wasn’t a sports game either, this was a weird thing with monsters and a shop. It was surreal, like something out of the Twilight Zone or that show Squid Game. It had been entertaining to watch said show, but I wouldn’t want to be a part of it.

We needed to look for a way home. Unfortunately, I had no good ideas, and I was sure Michael would tell me to shut up if I started complaining too much. He sent me a look whenever I muttered something. I was older than him by a little bit if I had to guess, but he had some sort of weird environment sense or gamer sense.

I was losing it. I wasn’t meant to fight or any of this. That is why I liked living in New York City, away from nature and creatures. Not away from the fighting, but that was why I tried to avoid the subway. I liked order and understanding, which this place was sorely lacking in.

The problem was Jesus, I didn’t trust him. Coming up to us early in the morning, he was probably a gang member of some kind. I hadn’t seen any tattoos, but you can never be too careful. I was probably over thinking things like I normally did.

I had been robbed recently, by someone that looked like him. My biases were probably affecting things. I needed to be aware of that and not be dismissive of him. This entire place was getting to me.

I was going to make it through this hell and escape. Nothing was going to stop me, not my bitch of an ex-wife, not this shop, and not any of these other idiots. The one thing I was good at was learning and math. I would learn and figure out a way out of here and back home.

Jim Park Soon

I was worried. This entire place was a nightmare. Weird monsters, an empty city. I knew the others found it wrong, but it was truly disturbing. Where were the animals?

I knew I was lucky that Michael and Frank had picked me at the start. Just fighting the slimes was scary. I would never be able to do it without both of them pulling me along. My parents and grandparents had to be worried sick.

I wanted to treat this like a homework assignment, but I never had a homework where my life was in danger. I shivered a bit despite it not being that cold. That was something I had noticed, even at night it didn’t get that cold.

How the others were so easily able to kill and fight scared me a bit, but I was glad I was on their side. What Jesus had talked about and the screams from the plaza had scared me. This entire place scared me.

Growing up I had wanted to be an archeologist like Indiana Jones. When I learned what real archeologists do, I wanted to be an astronaut. My parents told me to be a doctor. After reading about the effects of vacuum on a human body, I decided a doctor was the best path. Though I could admit to myself my parents going on and on about my cousins who were doctors probably pushed me in that direction.

Now it was all for nothing. I wanted to scream and cry at the unfairness of it all, but my parents had literally beaten it into me that life was unfair. The only way to make life work, was a good job that everyone respected.

My younger sister didn’t have that pressure and took up an instrument instead. Her ability to play on a piano was amazing and she enjoyed it. I wiped my face a bit. I couldn’t afford to lose any more water, shedding useless tears.

I needed to focus more and not get caught in the past. I almost wanted to laugh at how I had grown up. ‘Jim Park Soon, games won’t help you out in life and get a good job. No games. Do extra homework.’ Now my life was a game and all that studying was pointless.

Even if it was all a waste of time right now, that didn’t mean it would keep being like that. If Michael was right and more people were teleported here in the future, then being the only doctor would be huge. Even if I was only a medical student, I could provide care to people. I just hoped that when the store upgraded there would be medical equipment.

Michael wasn’t hopeful about that; he had talked about tech progression and thought the next level might provide wood or stone tools. Maybe iron if the power scaling was even more.

How anyone could work that out was surprising, but he had explained it was a common theme in civilization building games and survival games. He pointed at Minecraft in the hopes that we had played it, or at least watched a YouTube video.

I had only played it a couple of times in a computer lab at school. It was interesting in an observational sense, but not something I would normally spend time on. Too much studying to make it into a top college, then a top medical program, and then to get a top residency.

Still, his guesses had been quite accurate from what I had seen. I was concerned though about his health. He was morbidly obese and sweating and panting all the time. Honestly it was a bit impressive he hadn’t passed out or had a heart attack yet.

Maybe that was why he wanted me, for CPR. I smiled a bit at that. My parents were right about that, everyone always needed a doctor at some point in their lives, but astronauts only go up once or twice.

Jesus

The first thing I had looked for was other Hispanic people when I had showed up in this place. Always look for friends in a new place. That was key to staying safe. There weren’t many and several people present viewed them with distrust or not wanting them to be part of their group.

This place had a bad atmosphere, like home. Where there was no law, and even the police couldn’t be trusted. They were just the biggest gang. The Americans here were soft, and the leader of this group was a tub of lard with legs.

Still the other two listened to him for some reason. He knew some stuff, but that wasn’t enough to survive. He was careful but he didn’t have strength. Still, he was useful to keep the other two in line and keep everyone moving. I saw the looks Frank had given me, and there was no way he would listen without a beating.

I was just annoyed I didn’t have my gun with me when I was transported. I had kept an eye out for anyone else with a gun, but no one had been waving one around. Smart, keep it a secret and whip it out at a critical moment.

We needed more people, to form a powerful group. I had brought up the idea, but Michael had been hesitant. He had talked about drop rates and something called optimal farm speed. It was a bunch of math and completely useless.

Well maybe not useless. These crystals meant points, which meant food. People would soon be desperate and willing to work for a chance to live. When we got back, I would split off and form my own group.

I smiled at the idea. Soon I would be the big boss. I could make these idiots work for me. They can kill monsters and give me crystals. That would work out perfectly.

Michael

We were in one of the stone buildings a short distance from the plaza. My teammates’ breathing had leveled off as they fell asleep one by one.

It was a struggle for me to keep awake with my eyes closed and my breathing steady. I had a choice to make and went back through my reasoning. I had vowed to consider all paths and that was what I was doing now.

If I killed them all, I would have 560 crystals instead of 140. That meant 2,800 points instead of 700 points. Enough for 20 or so more upgrades. It was a risk based on how much the individual powerups scaled and if I could kill all three quickly enough to prevent a counterattack.

There was also the downside that I would have no one to watch my back. I couldn’t just kill one of them either, it was either all or nothing to make this plan work.

I thought about how fast I could farm monsters. Again, it came down to the upgrades the store provided. I knew these idiots didn’t realize how powerful such a thing was until they saw it. Gamer logic was worth more than gold here. Also being in shape, I mentally cursed my fat body and kept my breathing steady.

The thing was, I wasn’t a killer. What I was, was an individual who tried to think of everything. I would rather think about killing my teammates and stealing from their corpses and decide not to, than to never have that thought in the first place.

The moment one puts a limit on their thoughts, is the moment they limit themselves in the truest sense. Killing is a final solution and while I wouldn’t stand for a life-threatening individual to exist against me, these people had not reached that point.

Killing them was not noble and was only so I could gain an unknown advantage. That led my thoughts to consider at what point were their lives worth the upgrades? The upgrades had to push my body to a certain level so I could carry on alone. If they didn’t do that, then I would be severely hurting myself by removing my allies.

To kill or not to kill? That was the question. In the end I decided not to kill them and steal their points. The risks were too high, and the rewards weren’t known. I still didn’t know if killing others would give me points.

Things were working for right now, better not to create unnecessary drama. Still, I felt a bit better after having consider all choices, even an extreme one, and making a decision. Working together was safer and more efficient than being a murderhobo and going down a path of bloodshed.

Tamden

I leaned against the wall looking out on the groups that had formed in the plaza. There were three large groups of sheep for the most part and four or so concerning smaller groups.

Things were starting to reach a point of desperation. The white knights and sheep were holding together for now, but everyone was too scared to leave and be ambushed. I frowned at that. There were no points from killing other people.

I reached for my pocket and had to stop myself. One cigarette a day and I already had mine. The cravings were getting annoying. There was talk of trying the gate outside the city again, but after two groups hadn’t returned, no one was willing to risk it.

Also, who knew how many people were hiding and slowly dying in this cursed city. Whoever controlled the plaza controlled everything. But more points were needed. There had been talk of more people appearing, but that would just compound the problem.

This place was like prison, but without the guards. All automated and fake, grinding people to nothing. I clenched my hands and breathed out; I really wanted a cigarette.

The four other people in my little group were ready for a tussle. We had clubs and made sure to eat every day. Better to be strong when the fighting started, than weak and helpless. A fight with clubs would be messy and there were no doctors or anything to use really.

This whole place was shit, a giant heaping pile of shit. The problem was everyone else was waiting for someone else to make the first move. Once the violence really started, it would be brutal. The lack of food and water was pushing everyone to the brink of insanity.

There had been the one guy who had gotten a body upgrade and shared the information. It was garbage or he was lying about the small improvement he experienced. Well, it sucked to be him, since he couldn’t afford any food now.

I looked out at the other groups, we needed allies. My eyes caught the eyes of one of the men in the group next to us. I jerked my head to the side, and he nodded. I got up from the wall and walked over to an empty spot.

The plaza was big enough, no one felt crowded, and no one camped out near the eight pillars by some unspoken agreement. “What’s up?” The man asked me.

“Thinking things are going to heat up soon. Might be a good idea if we sorted out our friends beforehand.” He nodded at that.

“Not a bad idea, thinking the same myself. I have four counting myself.” He looked over at my group. “Five for you. Probably need at least one more just in case.”

“I will ask around. We each get one more group. Then slowly move to where we are. Don’t have bands or colors or anything. So, need everyone to know each other.”

“You think you in charge?” I gave him a look.

“No. But if my ideas are shit, then say something. If your ideas are shit, I will say something.” He nodded at that, and the tension left the conversation. “Tamden.” I held out my hand.

“Samson.” I shook his hand. He was a large guy, probably why he was in charge of his group. Like a football linebacker if he wasn’t one already. I wasn’t that worried if I got into a one-on-one fight. Still, the risk of getting injured was huge and I wasn’t about to clue my ally into that fact.

Talking after that would just be pointless. I put my hands in my pockets and set off to talk to some other groups. It was already the third day since we showed up. Day four would get messy for sure.