"How fast is the camp developing, eh? " said one of my table mates. I'd seen him a few times around town while we were hunting.
"That's right!" laughed I. "Soon, bars will pop up and some entrepreneurs will be home brewing liquor. After that, magicians will offer ice cream with fresh fruit, and archers will supply us with game. This place could become quite profitable. "
"Let's start buying up the land then. "Laughs the man. "While it's still cheap."
"Who are you going to buy it from, though? "Another familiar face chimed in. "No government, no nothing. And how are you going to keep that land."
"Look over there." I pointed out. "The cook has hired two guards to keep order. This land is now 'his' and he's even protecting it."
"Damn, you're right."
In the meantime, the young man came with my clothes, his face slightly flushed from hurrying.
"Sir Meridin, I found a fire mage, and we dried them pretty quick. They are a little damp yet, but they will be dry by tomorrow."
"Well done, well done, besides I'm a Marquis, not a Sir."
"Yes, yes, Marquis Zlodar, sir."
I said with a sigh, "Good boy." and took the bundle of my clothes.
After our workouts with the various instructors in the mana-rich tower, all of us were in very good physical condition and I didn't mind standing in damp clothes next to a fire for a bit.
I hurriedly changed and then spent a few more hours talking to various groups. I managed to mention the needs of the alchemists to some of the more influential of them. In those hours I toured the bonfires of many recently formed political groups and powerful individuals. We had a lot to decide, and not all of us had the time we needed.
We selected volunteers to go around the camp in the coming days and record the count, names and skills of the people, and in addition, at my insistence, we would set up military training every morning for two hours. Also, after the training, there would be committees to help form new hunting groups. Plans were even being discussed for the eventual distribution of the zombie town and forest areas among such groups. Soon the conversations became too distant or not too focused and I hurried back to my tent. My goal above all else was to develop my personal strength.
The next morning I had to get up early before the sun was up, and after I bought a few things from the shop, together with the other volunteers we set to work putting up signs and clearing the area for training. We had found some specialists yesterday and planned to find more today.
For now, our best specialists were Zakaraya and Hank. One was an instructor at a large security training company, and the other was a medieval weapons specialist and had a company providing training in combat with specially made safe to use medieval weapons and often consulted in the film and game industries. There were no members of the military or the police, but we did have few specialists in various martial arts used to training people.
After the sun rose in the sky and the camp woke up, a lot of people started coming to us. Many of them helped and very soon we had cleared our own training grounds where we started to give various lectures or trainings. For now everyone was free to join in one or another lecture or training. I gave two lectures - one on mana manipulation and one on zombie logistics. I had learned quite a bit about zombie habits and placement with the help of my ever moving imp. Also I had various maps of the city's surroundings in my journal.
At the end of the two hours of training, a committee of volunteers was helping to form new hunting groups. Anyone could sign up by providing their name and skills. The committee's job was to record and analyze this data and create new groups or add applicants to existing groups. This way the groups could be more balanced and also people could find new groups more easily. However, I didn't wait to see their work and hurried to town. I had to hunt a lot more today to make up for lost time.
The groups that had come before me had cleared the streets and I quickly went deeper inside the city. The zombies were stronger again today, but my bear managed to keep up with them. Besides, my skills were developing. I was better at absorbing the zombies' mana and using it quite freely. I was shooting mana balls, practicing hiding in the shadows, shooting my crossbow, and using mana to pull crossbow bolts.
In addition, from talking to various fighters I had learned some tricks on how to improve my physical strength a bit with the help of mana, by carefully sending it to the appropriate muscle groups. These fighters had received special training, and various magical techniques were used on them to improve the performance of their muscles and energy channels.
After a lot of careful trial and error, I started to get some results and so I could now work my crossbow more easily, and I didn't get tired as quickly when I had to run around through the city streets.
Occasionally, after big fights, I would stop to meditate and absorb the zombie mana and grow my Meditation and my Mysticism skills.
Later in the afternoon I encountered a huge zombie further into town. With a lot of effort, I managed to get to a tall un-destroyed building where I climbed up and started watching it.
"What kind of monstrosity would that be?", I thought to myself.
I looked around hopefully but saw no other groups in the vicinity. Then, with the help of my imp and the binoculars I had purchased from the store, I began to look around the area carefully. Various plans popped into my head, but I kept hesitating. If this wasn't a game, I was going to go back to town to seek help from the other players. However, I knew that death wasn't exactly the end here, even if the details weren't clear to me.
I also knew I had to take some risks. After all, these zombies were also a valuable and maybe limited resource.
Half an hour later, I cleared the smaller groups of zombies in the area and sacrificed my bear to gather and lure two larger groups away from me. After repeating this a few times, I rested and summoned my bear, and after some preparation attacked the huge Zombie!
I slowly approached, taking cover behind the remains of a building, and fired my crossbow at the zombie. My bolt flew out and slammed into its back with great force. Without lingering I took cover and began to place a second bolt, during this time it turned and began to look around with a ferocious stare. I watched it through my imp's eyes and when it wasn't looking at me I showed myself for a moment and shot a 2nd arrow. I had practiced this maneuver often and usually was working very well with the zombies.
This zombie was at least three meters tall and its torso was huge. After the second bolt flew out of my crossbow and went into its unprotected back, I immediately ducked for cover while my bear leapt out of the ruins of one of the nearby houses and headed at a furious speed towards the monster.
When the bear was almost upon it, the zombie turned to meet it, and the bear leaped on top of the zombie with all its weight, delivering several powerful blows with its paws. The monster took the blow and then grabbed the bear and with great effort threw it against a nearby wall! I felt the bear's pain and I hurriedly urged it to flee. Clearly these battles couldn't be won easily.
Because of the potions I had drunk, and my persistent efforts to build my network of energy channels, the bears I was summoning were of the strongest representatives of their race. However, my bear, spurred on by my will and its sense of survival, barely managed to recover in time and escape before the zombie charged towards it.
As the bear ran down one of the streets with all its might I headed for the tall building from earlier. Minutes later, I reached the building and using the fire escapes located at either end of it, I climbed to the roof where I hid and summoned a new bear. Five minutes later I spotted my imp flying towards me being chased by the monstrous zombie! He was flying close to the ground and despite his fear he directed the monster to the far end of the building.
I kept my cool and, hidden on the roof of the building, watched over our link as my imp entered the building and began flying up the stairs and the corridors.
The building was four stories high and made of large red bricks. The monster entered the building and began to chase my imp, who I carefully guided with my will, and when they reached the fourth floor, I sent a large amount of mana at our link! So with new strength it headed for the nearby windows and at the right moment flew out of them!
The pursuing monster didn't hesitate and leapt after him. My Imp, however, was able to use his magic and wings to maneuver through the air and abruptly change direction, and thus once again managed to avoid the clutches of the zombie, which in turn slammed into the ground with tremendous force!
Here I would like to point out for those who may harbor any doubts about my maneuver that animals, and sometimes even humans, find it quite difficult to assess the risk of falling from a height, especially in an unfamiliar environment.
It is entirely possible that some, especially a child chasing, say, a pet or a toy could fall from a height if the building is not secured. Animals are similarly unaccustomed to residential buildings and can easily mistake danger in the midst of a pursuit.
I agree that the risk was much higher than, let say, that in bullfighting, but I was pretty sure that my imp could handle it… or die trying!
As the dust cleared, I saw the zombie slowly begin to stand up. One of its legs and one of its arms were broken and it was barely standing up straight. His wounds from the fight with the bear and his fall from the dirt were visible on his body. As I watched it, it slowly began to step towards the wall of the building and when it reached it leaned against it and began to stare viciously at my imp.
Slowly and carefully, I crept over the zombie, who had been standing still for the last three minutes, looking like he was trying to regenerate its wounds. I looked around and managed to find a few large pieces of the half-destroyed building and picked out a fairly big one. I took a breath, rolled up my sleeves, and... motioned for my bear to pick it up and come to the edge of the building. I walked behind it and when we got there, with my help, we stood right over the monster's head and dropped our heavy load.
The fragment flew towards the zombie and hit it hard, shattering into pieces. The zombie fell to the ground, but soon slowly began to stand up. "Are you kidding me?!" Then a crazy smile slowly appeared on my face and I looked at my bear. It glared at me, then its eyes kind of faded and it stepped towards the abyss and with a leap flew like a meteor towards the fallen monster. "Let's hope it doesn't miss, let's hope it doesn't miss" I prayed... and to my delight, the bear landed with its whole body on top of the already crushed zombie.
Here, I'll refrain from describing the ensuing anatomical situation, I'll just tell you that if I uploaded a photo or video of the incident to any social media site, I'd be banned immediately, and there'd be a good chance they'd come from the nearby insane asylum to put me in a straightjacket. Maybe to protect me from the enraged environmentalists.
"I think my bear will go down in the tower's wrestling history with that performance," I thought proudly, and loaded my crossbow. Not that it would do anything more than a bear falling from the sky, weighing hundreds of pounds, but somehow I felt more secure that way.
I stood there for a minute or so waiting for something to happen, then slowly stretched my senses looking for the specific mana that was slowly released after killing a zombie. I immediately found it and found that it was a lot. I had never seen such amounts of mana before! Besides, at its center, the mana didn't taste that bad. I sat down and began to absorb this more concentrated mana and soon felt better.
"I managed to kill a giant zombie! When I get home I'm going to buy myself something nice and strong to celebrate."
At that moment I heard a voice in my head. "Congratulations, player number 72161 from tower 199 reached an important milestone. As a result, 5,000 new players will get the opportunity to enter Tower 199.
This message was heard by all players in our tower and was repeated several times outside the tower. As a result, a number of countries sent "volunteers" who entered the tower one by one.
"Haha, I knew I could count on you," I heard the familiar voice of the tower spirit from the class selection room.
"Spirit? What are you doing here, what's going on?"
"Nothing in particular, it's just that you're the first from Earth to kill a miniboss. It would be better if you were the first of the races, but you're a whole day late for that."
"But how come I'm the first?" wondered I.
"Maybe it's because the way you hunt is that you move around a lot, and besides, you go pretty far into the city."
"My familiar helps quite a bit. He's the one I spotted the miniboss with," I agreed.
"And most of you humans are pretty fragile creatures. Barely half an hour of hunting and you need a rest, mana regeneration, it's always one thing or another for you."
"That's right, my class really gives me an edge in that regard. That's why I chose it. I knew full well what our species' limitations were, I understood perfectly well how fragile we were."
"Don't pretend to be too smart, Meridin. You're lucky you met the boss so early. A week later he would have been much stronger."
The spirit then told me a little about what was happening on Earth.
An official delegation from the central bureaucracy had been sent to Earth, and contact had been made the previous week. An information system has been created on the Internet where everyone can access information about the galaxy, the towers and the competition taking place. I also found out that time here and time on Earth flow completely differently, and that these 5000 people would be waiting for us after we left the tutorial.
"Why do you seek power, Meridin?" the tower spirit asked me surprisingly.
"I don't know, I haven't thought about it. " I replied after some consideration.
"Perhaps your kind seeks power to gain friends, true love and the acceptance of others?"
"I don't think it's that simple." I replied after a while.
"It would be simpler if you had some tragic background story. Maybe if you were born an orphan, raised by terrible foster parents or an evil orphanage, bullied by everyone around you and driven by your desire to lead a normal life..."
"I think you've been reading too many 21st century Earth novels on the Internet," I replied with a small smile. "Usually the one who seeks power is also the one who finds it. I agree that sometimes the accidents of life can present you with something you weren't expecting and didn't search for yourself, but it is usually the person who seeks is the one who finds."
"Interesting perspective. However, I want to understand what makes you move forward at this point. Here in this place."
We spent about half an hour talking, and during that time I managed to absorb every drop of the special concentrated mana from the zombie boss. Then I had to choose my prize.
I could choose between a few interesting items, a large amount of currency units, an upgrade to one of my skills, or surprisingly, I could choose to open a mystic box that would randomly choose something to help all 1000 people in the tutorial!
"That's not fair!" I railed. "I didn't ask for such responsibility! Is this still a reward or a punishment? Sounds more like some nasty psychological experiment to me. You don't even know what kind of reward the others will get."
"Don't worry," said the spirit, "you have five whole minutes to choose. After that, whatever you choose will be over and you won't have to think about it."
"You don't understand us humans, it's the other way around. Whatever I choose, I may regret it for the rest of my life! Whatever I choose, I may be blamed all my life."
"See, then it doesn't matter what you choose. Just choose what you like... By the way, time is running out."
I had to pick the prize for all the people in the tower 199 tutorial. It was the right thing to do. A 1000 people are more than one. But looking at the small prize I was able to choose, just an upgrade to a skill, few items or some amount of money, how much would the prize be for the others.
"Three minutes."
Damn! Not fair, after all my strategy turned out well. I was the first on Earth to kill a miniboss! Maybe it would be good to invest in myself. After all this is my personal achievement.
"Two minutes."
If I hadn't killed the boss, he would have killed a lot of people. That's a reward for others, isn't it? And if I get stronger, I'll save more lives. Or help a lot of other people. We all need strong players to help us. Right? Don't we?
"One minute. If you don't choose at that time, you lose your prize."
I can't, I can't, I can't!!! I looked at the remains of my bear, I looked at the imp perched on a nearby building, I looked at my hands..
"I choose.... I choose... To improve my summoning skill!"
"Wrong choice." I heard a whisper in my ear then the world spun around me and I found myself somewhere else.