《What it means to be a sentient being》


 Prologue

    The heavy sandstorm that had been blowing relentlessly finally stopped; no it would be more correct to say that this part of the dessert didn¡¯t have a sandstorm on it. This uncanny phenomenon would run chills down the spine; it was almost as this section belonged to a different dimension.


    The half naked man fastened the pace; he had finally found what he had been looking for. During the last past month he had been traversing the dessert, apparently aimlessly, but the only way to find a lost place is to get yourself lost first, and thus it was exactly what he did. He currently stood on ¡°mirage oasis¡±, a warping zone, and probably is the only active participant that has ever made it through the dessert.


    The crystals on their back shined under the sun¡äs light. The crystals were clinging to his back on a complex layout, giving the impression of reptilian¡¯s scales. These crystals were the only reason he was able to find this mythical place. Not only would they provide protection towards the elements, as a form of armor, replacing the tattered clothes worn down by the persistent sun and wind; but they also provided fuel for his body.


    The scale crystals were a manifestation of his ¡°Sync ability¡±, a troublesome rule implemented after he was transported to this realm. Upon arrival, after being kidnapped, from earth; they were modified and every participant was given their very own ¡°Sync ability¡±. The reason why they all were different was that the modification was affected by their own personalities, thought process, and experiences and as a result no two abilities were identical; although, there was a few that seemed to overlap with each other.


    Every individual would also receive a ¡°core¡± which was basically a battery to power up the ¡°Sync ability¡±. This were also different on the amount of charge they could hold, how fast they could discharge it, and how much time would it have to pass for it to recharge naturally. He was sure there was some logical reason why the cores were different from participant to participant, but so far he hadn¡¯t been able to figure it out. And thus the combination of your sync ability and your core would determine how strong you would be on this realm, they had basically granted them superpowers.


    Of course, none of this was done out of good will. No, in fact, it was far from it. The one million humans that were transported to this realm were now part of a test; a test to determine if humans were advanced and adaptable enough to be considered ¡°Sentient Beings¡±. There wasn¡¯t any noble quest to save the humankind from extension of from an alien attack; no it was more like a membership test. No real benefit or downside would come to humankind either way.


    The ¡°president¡± of the ridiculous club was the ¡°Rheios¡±, for humans they would be akin to gods, and humans would lack the ability to comprehend them. However, they weren¡¯t the ones imparting the test; that task fall under the ¡°Conis¡±. The Conis were a far less advanced race if compared to the rheios, haven¡¯t themselves passed the test recently (under rheios standards of time anyway) but still were far superiors than human. Unlike humans they lacked a physical form and were a little more than a mass of pure energy that had gained conscious. The reason they had taken so long to pass the test it has not been because of raw power but adaptability, the total opposite case of humans.


    Not every race would get modifications in order to participate in the test, humans were given because it was judged it was a race that was dependent on tools, their adaptability was high but power input was low. However the low power input was not a problem in long term since their tools would fix it. So humans were equipped with technology that they could fairly fabricate on their own given time. It was done with the idea of accelerate the test, because otherwise the test would take several decades to finish; waiting until humans were to develop the tools themselves during the test.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Obviously, humans were not able to use their sync abilities and cores on a natural way. Their bodies felt odd to them and they will most likely fail the test without a fair chance if they were to do it on this state. The solution had been to give them crash courses to master their sync abilities. The crash curses had duration of only a month, a far cry to be enough time to master these odds abilities but since they were testing their adaptability either way, it was more than a perfect setup.


    It was in this crush course that he had discovered the dire problem that he faced; his core had an almost nonexistent capacity to hold power. With a core with no power it was impossible to maintain his ability for long time, making it tricky to use despite being able to discharge great amount of power at once, power that he didn¡¯t have. Restoration was average but with such a short power hold it was of no importance, he would be a full charge very fast but that full charge was too small. Fortunately his sync ability could somewhat compensate for it. He had the ability to create and control crystals. It was a very specific type that he had never seen before, however they were of very familiar a pale green shade of color and thus he had decided to name his ability ¡°Jade¡±.


    The crystals he could form required a huge amount of power to create; using a full charge he was only able to create a shard the size of an apple. This was insufficient to do anything with it; however, once created the shards were easy to control and morph into all kind of shapes by marinating a flow of energy towards them. The flow of energy was very easy to maintain since it required so little energy input and the shards wouldn¡¯t fade on their own, even if you cut the power flow to them. So in theory he could haul a stockpile of shards created before hand and use that as his tools, although highly impractical it gave him a fighting chance of survival.


    No matter how impractical his ability seemed at first glance, it had a saving grace. It had the ability and absorbs and converts all kind of types of energy. The amount he could absorb and convert were dependent on the type and his own ability on using his sync but given the right circumstances it could be close to one hundred percent. This means that as long as he had a friendly unit supplying power, or as long as he could counter enemy energy and transform it on the fly, his small core wouldn¡¯t be much of a problem.


    After a month of training, they were given a map of the region and tossed outside. The realm was filled with non sentient monsters, little more than beast, it was divided in 109 levels and the human objective was to reach the final level. If they were able to reach, they would clear the test. Contrary, if all humans were to die without reaching that level, they would fail the test. The monsters were there to halt their advance. However the path was a non lineal one, you could jump from level one straight to level eight without going through all the other levels. It was a labyrinth designed to trap humans. The test have started a little over a year ago and the map given at the time was highly inaccurate and only of a small area. That has been when his trial had started.


    After taking a sip of water from the oasis and shedding his scales, he stood in front of one of the portals, a faint smiled escaped from his face. He took a deep breath and finally exclaimed out loud ¡°Are you ready monster? This is where things finally get interesting.¡± However there was no one to reply to him.

 Chapter 1 – Bargain (Part 1)

    Having finally reached the destination on her map, she looked around. There was nothing there but a small and pitiful wooden shack. The shack, that at some point have been painted green, looked beaten down by the elements and deplorable. Most likely, at the blow of the most gentle breeze it would collapse on itself. Rae wondered if someone really lived there, it seemed questionable but her source could be trusted. No matter how unlikely was that someone would live there, the mark on her digital map wasn¡ät moving. She was at the right place. She gathered courage and moved forward, stopping in front of the main door. With her fist she knocked at the door; however, there was no answer. She knocked one more time, this time she applied way more force to it. Like before, there was no answer; but, unlike before, the door gave up due to the force applied to it and slowly opened.


    In front of her, the interior of the shack was revealed. It was a single room with barely any furniture on it. In fact, most of the room was empty. The only thing that was visible was a green pedestal on the middle of the room. Rae slowly walked inside and started inspecting the room. It was evident that no one had been there in quite some time; the thick layer of dust that has been accumulated over the wooden floor, and the green pedestal, confirmed that fact. Could it be that her friend had lied to there? That seemed unlikely, her friend was aware of the dire troubles they were into; and furthermore, she had nothing to gain from misleading Rae. She decided to inspect the pedestal on the middle, maybe it could give her a clue of where the owner of this place had moved to.


    She moved closer to the pedestal and with a fast swipe of her hand she cleared most of the dust that have collected on top of it. The pedestal was a pale green in color and seemed to be made of a natural occurring stone. The pedestal was firmly set in the ground; so much in fact that Rae wondered if perhaps the shack was built around it instead of being moved in there. There was no way to move it and the foundation of it was probably set below the wooden floor of the shack. On top of it there was only a strange stone of a rhombic shape, probably made of the same material as the pedestal itself. An inscription could be seen at the bottom of the rhombic stone. Rae quickly removed the dust so she could read clearly. The inscription was the following:


    ¡°To those consumed by unreasonable desire,


    to those with high and unreachable goals,


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. know that a small sample of your hearts and souls


    is enough to call forth the magic genie.


    As long as you pay the proper tribute


    your request surely will transpire¡±


    On the pedestal, in front of the rhombic stone, there was marking of a summoning circle. It was part of the technology given to humans to work on this new realm and Rae knew immediately what she had to do. She took a knife from her back pocket and slightly sliced her right hand. Without delay, she placed the now bloody hand on the pedestal and started focusing energy from her core. Normally, all you had to do to activate a summoning circle was focusing some energy from your core; Rae had done it several times before. However, that only would work if you were the original caster of the summoning circle. Rae assumed that the blood was needed so anyone would be able to use the circle; most likely that was the reason the inscription above said ¡°hearts and souls¡±. Rae had never heard of this method, but sure enough it had worked; and the summoning circle was now shining. Below the circle, a counter appeared ¡°00:16:00 request received¡±.


    Rae was upset. She was not happy about having to wait 16 additional hours. From the format of the counter she could tell that she had been lucky that only has been hours instead of days; but the idea of having to wait here while her companions were in danger was not pleasing. It had been a long travel to reach this shady shack. First Rae had to travel from level 36, where she and her companions were fighting to breach level 37, to level 12 where this shack was located. It had been a week of travel to reach this level, even with the fast travel portals. After finally reaching level 12 she had to travel by foot for another 4 days to get to ¡°Northern Wastelands¡±, after entering the region she had walked 3 more days, completely lost, until she had found this place. Her locator could do very little to help because of the inaccessibility of the terrain; furthermore, since this region hadn¡¯t been thoroughly explored, it only showed the final destination and not what roads or path to take to reach it. In total it had been 14 days of travel. Rae had been receiving updates from his companions regularly; but she was still felt uneasy knowing that danger would break at any moment. She felt worse knowing that even if she could find help; there would be another 14 days before she could rejoin her companions. How many of her friends would die on that time. Sure 16 hours didn¡¯t look like much but for Rae it meant an eternity.


    There was naught for it. For now all what Rae could do was wait. So she sat on the floor to rest. Soon after she started to wonder how this summon circle worked; not only required blood to be activated but it wouldn¡¯t transport it target immediately. The inner workings of this set up were incredible weird for Rae. After 6 hours or so of waiting, Rae felt asleep.

 Chapter 1 - Bargain (Part 2)

    Rae woke up to the sound of a male voice calling her ¨C Hey little girl, do you think this is a hotel? You made yourself awfully at home, didn¡¯t you? ¨C Rae quickly opened her eyes and stared surprised to the owner of that voice. Rae didn¡¯t know for how long she had been asleep but considering that it was still night time outside, it was unlikely that the 16 hours have passed while she was asleep. The faint light coming from the pedestal confirmed her suspicion. This person could not be who she had been waiting for; furthermore, this person in front of her had horns coming from his head. Rae took a few steps back and took another look at this mysterious being. Besides the long and thin horns at his head; his legs didn¡¯t seem human either but instead they were more akin to the legs of a goat. The horns that looked on shape like a gazelle¡¯s horns were of a pale green color; similarly the goat legs were of the same color and the fur had a feeling to be stiff. The fur didn¡¯t have the flow that normal hair would have; instead it had the feeling of being made of something more solid like metal wire. This was not a human.


    Rae took the knife out of her back holder. Knives were not her favorite weapon but unfortunately grabbing her equipment would take too much time. She sensed she was in danger. Without hesitation she moved her arm in an arc to slash the face of the monster that keep staring at her with his head tilted while he smiled. She had aimed the slash to eye level to blind him; hopefully that would buy enough time so she could grab her equipment and put up a proper fight. Rae¡¯s knife hit a hard surface. The monster in front of her had slightly lowered his head, intercepting Rae¡¯s knife with one of his horns. Rae jumped back to gain some distance, she knew this would be a troublesome opponent. Failing the first attack, she knew she was now in disadvantage; not only surprise attacks wouldn¡¯t work anymore but she was ill equipped for this fight. The future looked grim for her.


    ¨C Aren¡¯t you awfully rude little girl? Not only you break into my home, fall asleep on your own without waiting for me, and to top it all off, the first thing you do after waking up is attacking me. I¡¯m in a bad mood now. ¨C


    Rae was surprised. The monster had not followed up with an attack as she had predicted but instead it was complaining about her rude behavior. Also, it had said it was his home. Does that mean that it had killed the previous owner and made this its home? Or had the previous owner abandoned it before they met? There were so many questions swirling on Rae¡¯s mind. For now her priorities were: Getting out of this alive, retrieving her equipment and gather information. With this on mind she asked:


    ¨C Who are you? What do you want?


    ¨C Are the roles reversed? Usually it is I, as the genie, the one that should be doing those questions. Did you happen to spend too much time on the desert that it fried your brain?You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    Rae was annoyed; this monster was clearing mocking her. There were two problems with its reply. First, it had referred itself as a genie, the same term used by the weird inscription. That would mean that she had summoned it here. Second, Rae had never heard of a monster that would grant wishes to humans, in fact most of them wouldn¡¯t even bother to try to communicate with humans. This was a completely unknown situation for Rae. For now, the best she could do was to keep the conversation going.


    ¨C My name is Rae. I was sent here to look for Sophos. Do you happen to know what happened to him?


    ¨C Sophos? Only one person has called me by that name before. Did Avangeline send you?


    Rae was surprised; the name of her friend had been mentioned. That would mean that this monster was the person she had been looking for. Rae silently cursed Ava for setting her up. Rae originally had asked Ava to help her beat level 36 but she had declined saying it was beyond her; that if she wanted to reach level 37 with very few loses she should look for his teacher Sophos. After that Ava had told her how to reach him. Ava never mentioned that Sophos was a monster and thus Rae had assumed that it was another human.


    ¨C Yes. Ava told me that you could help me


    ¨C That is strange. Why didn¡¯t Avangeline come to make the request herself? If she needs something from me she should come and ask on person, don¡¯t you think?


    ¨C The request is not from her but from me instead. I asked Ava for help and she said it was beyond her capabilities; that I should look for you.


    ¨C Huh? Something that Ava can¡¯t beat, that sounds interesting. Fine rude girl, you picked my curiosity; I will listen to your story. But first let me turn off the alarm, is starting to get on my nerves.


    The monster named Sophos started to walk towards the pedestal. Why was it calling it an alarm if it was obviously a summoning item? Rae was interested on the technology behind it if it had been made by a human: but now knowing it was made by a monster, it made more sense. They had access to technology humans were not capable of reproducing.


    ¨C Hey little girl, did you happen to fight something on here?


    ¨C No, I didn¡¯t and like I told you my name is Rae ¨C she replied wondering what have made you reach that conclusion


    ¨C If that is the case, would you mind explaining me why is there blood on my phone? ¨C Said Sophos pointing at the pedestal.


    ¨C Phone? There is summoning circle on top of it. I thought it was a summoning item.


    ¨C Is common knowledge that summoning circles only work with the signature energy of the one that drew it. Why would I leave a summoning circle as a way to contact me if no one but me would be able to use it?


    ¨C I thought it was a new kind. The inscription said hearts and souls¡­


    ¨C So you used blood. That is disgusting. Please clean it up.


    Rae took an old rag from her bag and used it to clean the dried blood from the pedestal. Afterwards Sophos put its hand on it and the pedestal stopped shinning. Rae was still wary of this monster but the prior conversation had drained all her energy; and thus, keeping her hostility was hard.

 Chapter 1 - Bargain (Part 3)

    Sophos sat on the dusty floor. He looked disgusted and calmly inspected the hand he had used to turn off the phone. Clearly, he wasn¡¯t happy about touching Rae¡¯s blood residues. He looked up to the still standing Rae and softly spoke.


    ¨CMy time is limited Hema. I don¡¯t mind if you wish to speak while standing, but you got to start speaking soon.


    Rae sat in front of him. She did not trust him but telling her story would be a long conversation, and she was still feeling half asleep. She took a brief breath and started talking.


    ¨CLike I said, my name is Rae, please learn it already. I am part of the fifth division of the liberation army, the arctic squadron. My companions and I are currently fighting on the tundra region of Level 36 where we have found the guardian conis soldier. However, the monster skin is too thick which have made it impossible to deal any damage to it. We are requesting your cooperation in slaying the monster and are prepared to pay for your services accordingly.


    Rae took a medium bag out her bag and presented it to Sophos. Then she continued:


    ¨C In this bag there are two thousand meal vouchers as down payment. We are willing to pay up to five thousand more depending on performance. If you are interested on the proposition I can give further details.


    As part of the equipment that had been given to human on this realm were the meal vouchers. Each person had received five thousand and five hundred meal vouchers that could be exchanged, at any time for, a ¡°Complete meal¡± on one of the marked stations on the map. The amount of vouchers represented a supply of food of five years, probably ten years if you were to rationalize it. The meals were disgusting on flavor and texture; however it was a granted meal. In this realm there were no farms for grains or meat; furthermore although there was some wild plants that could be eaten, you would need the knowledge to differentiate them. The meals had been dubbed the ¡°Pig¡¯s rice¡± because of their shape and form, it had all the nutrients and vitamins a modified human would need. The modified part was specifically important because soon after arriving here they had realized that they needed way more food to sustain their bodies. The calorie consumption was so high that depending solely on monster hunting or foraging plants for food was not really feasible. As a result, the meal vouchers had become the de facto currency, since having a meal would guarantee you won¡¯t die of starvation.


    Sophos took the bag, inspected their contents and presented it back to Rae. He then spoke:


    ¨C I decline. This does not qualify as payment.


    ¨C Is the amount insufficient? We believe we are making a very generous offer. Two thousand vouchers are enough to feed someone for almost two years, and this is only down payment.


    ¨C You seem to be mistaken. Is not the amount that is wrong, but the payment method itself. What am I supposed to do with all that food? Besides, is that disgusting grain; no one wants to eat that.


    Rae re-evaluated the situation. She had offered human food to a monster. It was true that the food was useless to him. She recollected herself; if Ava had recommended this being; it was certain that he would be powerful. All she had to do was convince him to join them and she would save several of her comrades. With some hesitation Rae asked:


    ¨C If this is not suitable, what payment would be acceptable to you? In pact with a devil, it usually asks for the wagerer¡¯s soul; but what about pact with a monster. What do you seek? What is the proper tribute?


    ¨C I¡¯ll overlook the fact that you are insulting me Hema. And about payment, let¡¯s see. What about the core of 300 of your fallen comrades? I could use some of those.


    Rae got cold feet. It was true that many more human have fallen over the two years that had passed since they were transported to this realm. A good deal of those people had been part of the liberation army; in fact, probably the arctic squadron alone had lost that many people. However, desecrating her comrade¡¯s bodies to extract the core inside them was not a notion that excited Rae. It would be a direct insult to those that had fallen. And even if you didn¡¯t take into consideration the questionable morality of the act; every one of them had been buried on makeshift graves on the lower 36 levels. Whenever someone died, it was a tradition of the liberation army to hold a small ceremony to pray and pay respect to the contribution they had made. The dead were meant to be left to rest. Where would she collect that amount of cores? Rae made a face of disgust and replied:


    ¨C I am afraid that it is impossible. The liberation army does not have that amount of dead bodies lying around, and even if they did they wouldn¡¯t allow the mutilation of the deceased. The arctic squadron could be more flexible on that regard but waiting for us to have enough casualties so that the required amount piles up would take a long time. After all, no one wants do die. Would it be possible to ask you to take just the cores of the people fallen on the single battle against the guardian soldier and supplement with another form of payment? ¨C Rae pledged with him


    ¨C That would represent a problem, I would have conflict of interests. What I want is human cores and you are offering me the cores on the one that die on battle; why would I try to end the battle on the most efficient way possible? It would be to my benefit to let as many people die to collect more cores and that would take a lot of time, and you guys don¡¯t want to die. Is a lose-lose situation for both of us. Is there some other deal we could make?


    ¨C Besides food there is nothing much we can offer. We can provide information about the surrounding territories but you probably wouldn¡¯t be interested on that. ¨C Rae replied shyly.


    ¨C I guess you are right. I suppose negotiations have failed, now if you excuse me.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    Sophos got up and started to walk towards the exit. Rae pushed her brain as much as she could to come up with a way to convince Sophos to help her; but just like she had told him, there was nothing else she could offer. The liberation army deals always were paid in vouchers, protection or information; and none of it was of interest to Sophos. Rae was out of options and thus she did the only thing she had left. She dropped on all four and bowed her head; she pleaded for the live of her comrades.


    ¨C Please. I beg you. You have to help us. If you don¡¯t several of my comrades will die; further more we are running out of time. We have only made it to level 36 despite having pass two years already. At this rate we won¡¯t be able to reach level 109 on the 3 years we have left. I cannot imagine the upper levels been easier than the lower levels, we need to press on and continue climbing. We can¡¯t stop here; neither can we afford to take a huge loss of personal. Please, help us.


    Rae begged with all her being. However, what was showing on Sophos face was disgust and perhaps anger. Rae¡¯s pledge has had the opposite effect on Sophos.


    ¨C Rude girl, do I look like a charitable person? Do I look like the type that would risk his life for the well being of strangers? If Ava had come without proper payment, I would have been disappointed but still would have helped because I know her; but the one that came was you. Let me ask you, would you risk your life for nothing more than a bag of sea sand?


    ¨C Yes ¨C Rae hesitantly answered ¨C if it will save lives I would.


    ¨C Save lives? No. The monster in question is just an annoyance to me. I¡¯ll pay you with a bag of sand since is all I have on this shack. A good deal don¡¯t you think?


    Rae bit her lip in frustration; the monster was mocking her again. He was comparing the deaths of her comrades to minor annoyances. Negotiations were not going well for Rae and she knew it. But she could not back up out of this.


    ¨C Ok. I will do it. Where is this monster?


    ¨C Are you sure? You might die you know.


    ¨CIt might get you in the mood to help me. If it will save my comrades, it would be an honour.


    ¨C Interesting. ¨C Sophos grinned ¨C but before I show you the monster I have to ask, why are you willing to go so far for your comrades? I don¡¯t believe such tight bonds could develop on such a short time.


    ¨C is the only chance. Only when we reach level 109 we will be permitted to go back to Earth. All of us miss our families, friends, lovers, our old lives. This is the only chance we have to make it back.


    ¨C You still might die. If you die then you wouldn¡¯t be able to go back anyway. Why are you willing to sacrifice your happiness for the possibility of the others reaching it? Do you have that much faith in them?


    ¨C No! I have fought alongside them and I am aware that we most likely will fail. But what if, what if we are able to make it? What if I am able to beat the monster without dying? I rather die early than live longer plagued with regrets. Besides even if I do die, if it helps the other makes it, it would be worthy. There is no need for all of us to be miserable, is it?


    ¨C Do you gamble? ¨C Sophos asked while laughing loudly


    ¨C I am guessing you don¡¯t mean money. What do you have in mind?


    ¨C I am glad you catch my drift fast. I will help you out of entertainment; so let¡¯s make it this as fun as possible. The wager is going to be your life, the terms are the following: I will help you kill that monster for a week. I think I should be able to kill it on that time; however, how many of your comrades will die? I predict it will be less than five, you predict it will be more. If I win I get your life, if you win, well, you get to keep your life and get my help to beat that monster. It is a sweet deal.


    ¨C So you are betting that I am going to go back and what I just said and sacrifice my comrades for my own life? You are underestimating me. I am in


    ¨C Good. I almost forgot there is one more rule. You can¡¯t tell anyone about this deal, if you do the bet is off and as a breach of contract I would take your life anyway. My fun will be spoiled if your comrades suicide so you survive.


    ¨C You are also including emotional torture since I won¡¯t be able to receive support for my teammates? Honestly, this just works to my advantage; I wouldn¡¯t want them feeling guilty about sending me to my death. I have but one question: What happens if the monster is not defeated within a week¡¯s time?


    ¨C If I get full command of troops I don¡¯t think that is likely. However, you mentioned being a commander so I am guessing you don¡¯t call the shots; that might hinder me. ¨C Sophos stopped for a moment to think ¨C I guess nothing. If I don¡¯t kill it within that time frame I¡¯ll just leave and the bet is off. You get to keep your life regardless of how many have died by then.


    ¨C That seems interesting. I accept the terms.


    Sophos exited the shack; Rae followed closely after him.


    ¨C It is about midnight. Get yourself ready Hema, we are leaving tomorrow night. There is some stuff I need to get ready.


    ¨C Excuse me for being in a hurry but is a long trip, wouldn¡¯t be possible to leave earlier? Even a single hour earlier would be of help.


    ¨C Well, I suppose we could leave right now and do my business on the way. But that wouldn¡¯t leave you time to get ready and rest. I can¡¯t imagine the trip here being easy on you.


    ¨C That is not as problem. My backpack is ready; I can leave at any time.


    Sophos though for a moment before replying.


    ¨C Did you made your way over here alone from level 36?


    ¨C No, two of my comrades came with me. One of the, should be waiting on the closest town, about a day¡¯s walk from here. Now that I know the road here it should go way more smoothly.


    ¨C Ratail town?


    ¨C Yes I believe that is the name of the town. We agreed that two of us would be entering the wastelands, and if we didn¡¯t return in 8 days, the other one would return to our captain with the bad news.


    ¨CThen it should be fine even if we don¡¯t inform him, he will go to level 36 on his own after 8 days. What about the other one? Do you have a way to contact him? The wastelands can be very dangerous; making him roam for 8 days without a reason seems cruel.


    ¨CYou don¡¯t have to worry about that. He is not longer among the livings. About a day ago we fell into a lion ant¡¯s trap. He didn¡¯t make it out.


    ¨C Do you remember the place? Lion ants on this area store prey they have captured by paralyzing it and keeping it alive. Your comrade might still be among the livings; he could still be saved.


    ¨C Really? Then we still could save him. ¨C Rae looked down for a moment ¨C However, I can¡¯t beat a lion ant on my own and I have no more payment for you. Reinforcements would take too much time. I know the place but he is a good as dead anyway.


    Rae kept looking down depressed. Knowing that her comrade was still among the living wasn¡¯t good news if she couldn¡¯t help him. Sophos went back into the shack, and came back holding the bag of meal vouchers.


    ¨C Well, I am going to have to take these stupid vouchers anyway. I might as well earn them. Let¡¯s go Hema.


    ¨C Yes! And my name is Rae! Learn it already!