Ajax stood straight as he looked ahead to the far expanse of the parking lot. Then he looked down at three boys that looked at him with sparkling eyes and holding joined hands.
He didn't reveal any expression as he expanded from his last statement. "Alright Thing 1, remember what you learned in the past two months? Teach the others. Send a connection to them as I did to you."
The boy, Thing 1, looked at the others and opened his mouth before closing it in thought. "Alright, here I go."
Both Thing 2 and Thing 3 were completely confident that Thing 1 could teach them and had complete trust as Ajax himself entrusted the position to him.
To the three of them, Ajax was as relevant as an emperor. His wishes were orders and his complaints were death sentences.
Thing 1 closed his eyes as he habitually sat on the floor cross-legged. The other two followed.
As the two were becoming increasingly confused, they felt some sort of familiarity with Thing 1, as if they knew each other.
Thing 1 formed a connection through their mind world's memories!
Thing 2 and 3 weren't too surprised at the fact that such a connection was formed. Rather they were more excited to learn it.
But at that moment Ajax looked across the three and spoke monotonously, "Now spread out and collect information. Such as: 'where are we', 'how did we get here, etc. As for any other information, you'd think would be important, just transfer a memory over. Thing 1 will teach you."
The three nodded heavily and let go of each others' hands.
As Ajax watched the three spread out, he found a rock on the grass floor.
Everyone was chatting and forming their own individual plans. What came as a surprise to Ajax that also made him want to check out the notifications he received from the screen was that some people were eating food and wearing different clothes.
Moments ago, he was sure that no food existed here.
So, he immediately looked through the system to eventually become disappointed.
In the [Shop] section, there existed almost anything a person can think of in the modern world and even more. A person can buy anything from a burger to even a bucket of paint.
It was just that in order to buy from the shop, one would have to exchange experience.
Ajax had no experience. Negative experience, in fact.
Just to test it out, Ajax pressed on a salad bowl.
[Error.
Purchase failed.
Insufficient funds]
He clicked his tongue and looked at the others eating to their heart's content with a hint of jealousy.
As he always was taught, 'Whenever a person has something you want, just take it. It's that easy!'
Recalling that, he glanced at Jean who was trying to hide behind a tree, changing clothes. Besides the tree, Ajax saw a large plate of chicken and bread.
He checked through the system but still couldn't find any 'storyline' as it had started earlier. This lead him to rationalize, 'It never said exactly who or what the 'storyline' was 'revealed' to.'
He shook his head and thought to look for Billy, who asked him earlier about what Job Ajax had. 'That person could quite possibly have a bit of exp.' was Ajax's first thought after discovering a transaction feature in the shop.
Looking through the crowd he saw Jordan who was around six feet 4 inches. He easily stood out, so he first looked for him, and assuming Jordan and Billy were friends, it was fastest.
In the large separated crowd, he was probably one of the few odd ones out besides some of the few kids that didn't mind wearing the t-shirt and underwear very much.
Ajax didn't mind how strange he looked because, whenever he wanted to, he could easily conceal himself with his Invisibility ability. Still, even if he couldn't, he still wouldn't care.
With a deadpan expression, he swerved through the crowd like a snake and navigated to Jordan.
Once Ajax went into a certain range of Jordan, he suddenly turned back to look at Ajax with an inquisitive expression.
Once Jordan recognized Ajax, he revealed a relieved expression.
Ajax deactivated his invisibility and walked up to Jordan with a sudden smile.
He knew he couldn't suddenly ask for Billy out of nowhere, so he exchanged small pleasantries with Jordan and glanced around at the crowd surrounding Jordan. "What's going on over here?"
Jordan followed Ajax's gaze and swept through the kids before them.
One of the kids spoke up with their chin tilted upwards, "As the noble people we are, we find that the act of shying away from such small danger is shameful."
The same kid gestured to where the corpse of the kid outside of the blue bubble, implying that the danger involves the monster roaming out there.
Ajax ignored the kid and looked at Jordan, repeating his question, "What's going on over here?"
The proud kid felt damaged and before Jordan can answer the question, called out to Ajax. "You have a problem, hombre?"
Ajax controlled the emotions that screamed at him to kill the kid and maintained his small smile.
The kid snickered, "The little boy's scared, eh? Little pussy, huh?"
Ajax inwardly memorized the kid's facial features and other characteristics as he listened to Jordan calm down the situation and answer his question. "With the shop that opened up in this-um-screen, we bought a few things."
Ajax glanced behind the six or so kids and saw a few crates with a handgun laying on top of one of them.
Jordan noticed his gaze and chuckled awkwardly. "I know it might seem excessive, but we don't know what's really out there. Better careful than sorry."
Ajax's smile revealed his teeth as he also chuckled, "It's 'better safe than sorry, but I completely understand. That's very true."
It was at this moment where the shop was brought up that many stared at his clothes. The twelve or so people surrounding Jordan and him started showing confused looks.
Each of those people was wearing cargo pants and either the same t-shirt or a tank top.
Ajax explained succinctly, "Saving my exp for other things."
Jordan nodded with his arms crossed. "A saver, huh?"
The others also understood the reasoning at least somewhat, calming down the discussions. Jordan continued, "Ah, so do you want to join us? Oh and again, you don't have to, of course."
Ajax wanted to get closer with this group that seemed so rich in exp, so he immediately caught the opportunity to increase favorability. "No, I'll join. This seems like the perfect opportunity to get a grasp of where we are."
Jordan didn't respond to that as he directly asked after exchanging looks with the others who agreed, "So, Ajax, what's your Job?"
Though, when he looked back, Ajax was nowhere to be seen.
One other kid pointed out, "It's definitely a sneaky Job. Now that's proven."
Meanwhile, Jean who finished changing, noticed the pervous eyes that were looking at her suddenly look away as she revealed her new look.
Ripped dirty brown khakis and a dirty white t-shirt. Her hair was messy and her skin was covered in dirt.
Ajax, who was sneaking away to a certain part of the large area, caught this and pulled back a chortle at Jean's intention of changing her clothes. 'What a silly little…'