Chapter 151: Euphemisms

  Saylee scorched the last Pristine Hare with as Teresa watched from a distance, ready to step in if there were any problems. They had come across a level 15 Portal. It wasn’t out of their way, and they figured Saylee could use the experience.

  The actions one took could impact the quality of skills and even classes offered at level 15, though Saylee had already gotten her class change. Maybe having Teresa as a golden parachute should something go catastrophically wrong would impact Saylee in the future somehow, but ultimately Saylee didn’t care. She wasn’t that heavily interested in combat, it was just the only way for anyone to level up and she liked the extra stats. Her class didn’t give her skills for combat anyway, though it would probably put a limit on just how powerful she could grow in the long run.

  Once again, power wasn’t really something she worried about. Being able to casually beat the pre-System 100 meter sprint world record on the other hand was just pretty fucking cool by anyone’s standards.

  They destroyed the Portal and continued on, having only traveled for about three hours by this point. It was a very brief break in what was basically an extremely uncomfortable road trip, which may have also played a part in Saylee wanting to fight monsters for a bit.

  Because after a three hour piggyback ride at highway speeds, fighting creatures that wanted to eat you became pretty nice if it meant walking on your own two feet again for a bit. Teresa was just glad she didn’t have to be carried around due to her Agility.

  The Pristine Hares also would provide good food, at least the ones that Saylee didn’t overcook while killing them. There was only so much space in Teresa’s anyway, so it wasn’t a big deal. She could only put so many flesh eating rabbits in her Soul. Hopefully the monsters didn’t eat anything that would make their own consumption of the rabbits questionable. Could you eat an animal after it ate another person? Either way, Teresa wasn’t keen on the idea.

  Not that the Pristine Hares were animals. There was a distinction between animals and monsters. Monsters came from Portals, and animals were just the creatures from pre-System that may or may not have changed since then. It was a weird distinction, as it meant that the Pristine Hares which looked extremely similar to regular rabbits with sharp teeth were monsters while if a squirrel evolved into some Lovecraftian eldritch Cthulhu creature it would still be considered an animal by the System. Not a monster.

  During her brief time at The Mall after the Contaminated Zone fiasco, Teresa had spent some time with George and Jonathan learning about other skills while also categorizing her own. Skills that targeted animals and monsters had that distinction, meaning Teresa wouldn’t be able to use to track creatures like the Albino Gorillas. Technically humans were animals too, meaning she wouldn’t be able to track other people even if she considered them monsters. Like Angelo.

  She had also learned more about the Tutorials animals went through. They were essentially given a choice between a System facilitated evolution that would drastically alter them, or they could go through a Tutorial similar to what Mijo had. The Albino Gorillas had chosen the evolution option, hence the four arms. It also let them start out at a higher level, though they weren’t able to learn skills the same way Teresa or even Mijo could. They either got lucky and started with one, or they were shit out of luck and had no skills.

  Aside from , anyways. As far as they knew, everyone had .

  She had also used her questline rewards store points, though only 650. Teresa had purchased something called a Glyph of Self Repair, which was actually still at The Mall.

  

  Cost: 650 points

  Materials: ???

  Status: Ready (100% Remaining)

  Requirements: Level 99 item or lower

  A consumable capable of applying the enchantment ‘self repair’ to any F rank piece of equipment.

  Teresa planned on using it on her sword, but actually chose to hold off for now. She left it with George, who was studying the glyph which looked like a rock with a bunch of veins in it. The rest of her points were going to be spent on the E+ evolution feed, unless she found something similar on her own. She would have some leftover points, but with the world still in a chaotic state she didn’t want to spend her points on something she could easily get somewhere else.

  That had been the consensus of everyone in the group, who all wanted the evolution feed. They all had 1,000 points less than Teresa since she had been the one to retrieve the Elephant’s Foot, so they had a lot less wiggle room for their spending.

  Teresa only went on that random train of thought due to the conversations she and her party members were having to pass the time. Jake had asked if they would rather be stuck on an island for a year with a pre-System monkey friend or go to prison for a month, and from there her mind just got off track.

  They were all pretty used to traveling for extended periods of time, but it was still boring. There was no such thing as a pointless conversation if it helped pass the time.

  Thankfully, the mountain that contained Nouarosso was in view and rapidly approaching. It had been visible for well over an hour, and now they were finally getting close.

  Sarah spotted a large door that was built into the side of the mountain, looking large enough to let a pack of elephants through. As they got closer, they were able to make out several guards stationed outside the gate, ten in total. Teresa rapid fired and found the level range to be from level 15 to level 24, though only two of them were above level 20.

  The questions about the would you rather hypothetical died down, as fun as it had been to keep adding stipulations to the kind of prison and the kind of island they needed to actually be serious about this.

  Ten guards watched them cautiously, and one approached with a hand on his sword.

  “You don’t look like you’re from here.” The guard said, his tone entirely unfriendly.

  “We’re here looking for one of our relatives.” Saylee explained. “We know he lives here, as-”

  “Name?” The guard asked.

  “Benjamin Miller.’ Preston answered, eyeing the guards carefully. The guard’s attitude put them on edge, as he didn’t strike them as welcoming in the slightest.

  “Last name Miller? Check the list for a Miller!” The guard yelled out to one of his coworkers, who entered through a smaller door built into the large gate. Sarah’s head shot towards the entrance for the brief moment it was open.

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  Teresa and Sarah made eye contact for a moment, and Sarah shrugged. Neither of them had been able to hear anything on the other side, meaning the gate likely had something to keep the noise in.

  The party stood there awkwardly for a few minutes as they waited, Preston clearly tense.

  “What are you checking if you don’t mind me asking?” Preston asked.

  “Don’t worry about it.” Another guard answered.

  About fifteen minutes after their initial arrival, a guard exited and shook his head.

  “No to a Benjamin Miller. Matched to a last name, but wrong family.” The guard said as he exited. “Had to go talk to him, said he doesn’t know a Benjamin.”

  “I’m confused, what are trying to say? Did you talk to my dad?” Preston asked.

  “There’s no Benjamin Miller here. Get going now.” The first guard they talked to said, making a shooing motion with his hands.

  Randall placed his hand on Preston’s shoulder and looked deep in thought for a moment, before speaking up.

  “He’s definitely here.” Randall said, looking at the gate. “We’re close enough that I can sense a path straight to him.”

  “No, he’s not.” The guard replied, making a show of grabbing his sword. “You’re not welcome here.”

  “We already came a long ways for this. If he’s here, we’re going in, and it sounds like he’s here.” Teresa told him, taking a step forward. It was hard for her to look very threatening, but if any of them had then that might change. They wouldn’t be able to see her exact level, especially since she was confident none of them were Completionists, but they might have someone lying in wait nearby.

  The guard drew his sword and pointed it at her, a scowl on his face.

  “Fuck off or die, those are your options.”

  Teresa was half tempted to pull out her own sword and tell him that hers was bigger, but she wasn’t going to take an unnecessary risk just to get into a sword measuring contest. They were all decent levels, maybe not compared to their party but they at least had a few skills under each of their belts. No, Teresa was confident they could kill each and every last one of these guards.

  The issue was they had home field advantage. There might be a Completionist watching from a distance. There might be a bunch of people behind that gate that they can’t handle.

  Then there were the diplomatic and political implications, which Teresa was oh so worried about.

  Just kidding! Of course she was going to pull out her huge fucking sword from seemingly thin air.

  “Mine's bigger.” Teresa said, pointing her own weapon back at him as she made sure her Perception was fully active. Everyone drew their weapons, though Teresa wasn’t worried. While she had her sword out for the funny quip, the reality was they were in a position where a single shotgun could take almost all of them out at once. “We’re going inside, getting who we’re looking for, then leaving. The only thing that changes is how long you get to live.”

  Teresa didn’t give half a flying fuck about political implications. These guys were assholes, and being polite was going to get them nowhere. There was something sketchy going on here, and if she had to kill a few people then so what? She could slaughter them all right now and she wouldn’t even remember their faces after a few minutes if not for her stats.

  A part of her wanted them to try something. They were keeping people from reuniting with their families. Killing them would give her some experience, maybe not a lot but she would take what she could get.

  One of the guards began laughing, a grin on his face as he looked at Teresa.

  “Jesus, look at her! She might fit right in here.” The guard said, standing towards the back. He had a jovial tone, especially compared to the others. He took another look at her party before looking back to Teresa. “Tell you what. We aren’t supposed to let just anyone in, but we can make an exception with the right motivation. As a matter of fact, I think you’re someone we can do business with.”

  “Tell me exactly what you mean. No half assed euphemisms.” Teresa told him.

  “I’m just saying that I wouldn’t mind going home with a heavier wallet, if we had wallets anyway. You get it. Just recently we got a new System blacksmith, and I’m thinking I wouldn’t mind making a few purchases.”

  “So you want me to bribe you.” Teresa replied. She was kind of annoyed he didn’t listen to what she said about not using euphemisms, but the point was clear. “Just say that then.”

  “Bribe is such an ugly word-”

  “I swear I will cut your head off and keep the change if you keep talking like a smartass.”

  “Alright alright, give us a hundred each and we’ll let you in.” The guard said, finally being straight to the point.

  “Why would I not just kill you and save myself the trouble?”

  “See! I told you she’d fit in!” The guard said, still smiling. “Shit, you just might be able to kill us all, and I don’t particularly feel in the mood to die today. The bribe includes information, and saves you a whole lot of trouble. You kill us, then what happens when management sees nobody standing guard? You’d have the whole city after you.”

  Teresa just glared at him, not saying anything. Staying quiet would get her more than speaking. After a few seconds of awkward silence, the guard started talking again.

  “I think we all got off on the wrong foot here. Let me put it this way, didn’t work on you and the rest of these folk are pretty strong in their own right, so if we don’t report back in five minutes shit hits the fan. Besides, if you pay us now, I’m sure you’ll be able to make it back tenfold in no time. Just got to be willing to do some business with us is all.”

  “Elaborate.”

  “No. The information comes with the bribe.”

  Teresa contemplated it for a moment. She really could just kill them all, run in, grab Preston’s dad and leave. Might be a bit difficult to do that in five minutes, but not impossible if she just kidnapped him. Hell, Preston was pretty damn fast, he could even be the one to do it with Randall while she secured the exit.

  Only issue was there weren’t a lot of entrances to Nouarosso from what she could tell. Maybe they had one on the other side of the mountain, but regardless there were a lot less that needed to be guarded. The Mall, Arconette, Stormwreck, New Haven, all of them were out in the open and needed protection from all sides. It would only take one monster with a decent level slipping into a city undetected for mass casualties.

  Nouarosso didn’t have that problem, at least it didn’t look that way. There were singular points they had to guard, making every entrance easily defendable. She didn’t know how the levels of people within Nouarosso looked yet either.

  As tempted as Teresa was to just take the violent route, she decided to pay the bribe. Everything about this was sketchy, and she would be getting information that she might not get otherwise. After getting Preston’s dad, Nouarosso wasn’t just going to disappear or anything, and inside information could prove useful in the future.

  Teresa transferred the money, totaling to $1,000. It wasn’t a lot, and they had spent more on teleporting. As Teresa leveled up and killed stronger monsters, that amount of money would be nothing.

  It already wasn’t much to her.

  “Good, let me show you all in.” The guard said upon receiving the money. “Names Brahim, by the way.”

  “Rebecca.” Teresa replied, as they passed by the rest of the guards. Maybe she was getting a little too bloodthirsty, Teresa had been quick to resort to violence lately. They were assholes, sure, but Teresa was more than willing to jump straight to murder.

  As they entered Nouarosso for the first time, Teresa reflected on this. She decided she was on a slippery slope, getting too close to taking things too far. Killing the guards could have a large number of consequences. Teresa couldn’t just go around slaughtering people. She was the equivalent of an army by herself, and she needed to be mindful of that. It would start with the guards, then it would only escalate from there as more and more people got involved.

  She knew recent events had impacted her a lot, but it might be getting excessive. Threatening to kill them was one thing, but she had actively wanted to and was willing to act on that desire, seeing the guards as nothing but walking sacks of experience. They had threatened her first to be entirely fair, so she didn’t feel that bad about it. Just because she felt the need to reflect on all of this didn’t mean that she felt she did anything wrong, just that she needed to consider the potential weight and implications of her actions a little more.

  Teresa decided she needed to be a lot more mindful of others in that regard. She couldn’t just go around killing a shitload of people.

  It was a sentiment that would not last to the end of the day.