Chapter 12 - System Question

  "I once asked the System where I could find the love of my life. It took my question and never answered me. Some say that's because I don't have a love of my life. I think it's because the System is sabotaging me."

  -An old drunk.

  "You ask him then!" Hans shouted at his sibling.

  "You're the one that wants to be a sorcerer!" Ana shot back.

  "Yeah, well Solis is a wizard not a sorcerer." Hans corrected.

  "WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?" Ana went from sitting to shaking her brother in the span of a couple of seconds. Their previously civil argument having devolved into shouting, shaking, poking, and overall bothering each other relentlessly.

  "The diff-er-ence. STOP SHAKING ME." Ana stopped, and Hans cleared his throat, "The difference is that wizards do a bunch of stupid math and sorcerers are cool as hell."

  "Screw it. I’ll talk to him, as long as I don't have to listen to you." Ana spat and then stomped off towards the "wizard" Solis. She halted a few feet from his prone form, cleared her throat, and used the hand sign they had decided for [Translate]. It was the same idea as saying it. You only needed the skill while listening, not talking, so it was more for Solis’s benefit. Those few seconds added up in terms of mana usage.

  "We want to know your suggestions about our question." Ana started.

  Solis sat up, gave her a smile, and a nod. "Sure thing. Just to let you know. My question was what class would fit me best."

  Ana's eyes widened, and she felt a substantial step towards her goals.

  "It was a stupid question," Solis said, the smile never leaving him.

  "What?" Ana said, confused, "Why?"

  Solis gestured for her to take a seat on the ground and continued his explanation. "In truth, I asked what the best classes for my group of four were. Three of us got decent answers. The last one though, Ricky, he had some requirements that he just couldn't fulfill."

  Ana shook her head, "I don't care what the requirements would be. I could do them. I'm prepared."

  Solis laughed, but Ana could tell it wasn't at her. "I'm sure, but no amount of preparation changes what day you needed to be born."

  "What?" Ana asked. Not for the first time, that conversation.

  "Ricky needed to be born under a full moon for the class that fit him best. He reached the other requirements just in case his parents forgot that detail, but he wasn't offered the class."

  Ana grumbled, "That's stupid. Why tell him something that wouldn't help him."

  "We said the same thing!" Solis exclaimed. "We were pissed back then. Luckily, that was my question, not his. He asked a better question." Solis raised a hand preemptively to ward off any questions, "He asked, 'What are the steps I need to complete for the class that fits me and that I can achieve in the next month?’"

  Ana gave him a blank look, "That's the same fucking question. Is the system a genie or something?"

  "Hey. Language." Solis chided.

  The blank look stayed, and Solis sighed, just as exasperated as Ana, just for different reasons. "No, the system is not a genie. It's a program. It's not malicious, it just doesn't understand. Everything is literal. I didn't ask what the best achievable class was for my group, just what the best class was. I also stretched the question, which made the question weaker. I don't know exactly how it works, but the more people or qualifiers like 'and' you include in the question, the weaker it is."

  "So what question should I ask?" Ana said.

  "Well what do you want?" Solis questioned back.

  "Hans was right. You are a wizard."

  "Not yet, but hopefully soon."

  "I want to kill monsters."

  "You don't need a question for that. Your cap is level nine, so you're already doing that in part."

  "No. Not like that. I want to actually kill monsters. Not ones crippled like that."

  "How much mana do you have? I thought the conversation would have fizzled out by now…"

  "It will if you keep saying useless things!"

  "Fine. Let me think."

  A whole two minutes passed, and Ana was just about to walk away when Solis signaled he was about to start speaking.

  "If that was my goal, I'd ask, 'How do I destroy the source of a monster's ability to exist?"

  Ana's eyes went glassy for a moment, and she stared at the response in confusion. "The System said it didn't have an answer and didn't know and I can ask a different question."

  It was Solis's turn to ask, "WHAT! Did you already ask? What do you mean ‘ask a different question?’ "

  Ana shrugged, "Just what I said."

  "Okay. That's… weird, and a lot to unpack. Uhh. Maybe think about the question more before you ask it next time."

  "You're the wizard." She agreed.

  "Clarifying question. Do you want to kill a lot of monsters or strong monsters."

  "Uhh," for the first time, Ana seemed to hesitate, "I'm not sure actually."

  Solis nodded. "Give it some thought. Some actual thought, after I can check your question again. Seriously though, how do you still have mana?"

  "Sorry, can't hear you. Ran out of mana!" Ana said before darting away.

  She stared hatefully at her [User Sheet] and wished she had never taken the [Mutation]. Now her build might be permanently broken. The [Mutation] was [Permanent Translation]. It had seemed so useful at the time and, admittedly, had helped both her and her brother with eavesdropping, but now. Surrounded by people of all different languages who were willing and able to help it just seemed like a waste.

  Unlike skills, [Mutations] were permanent. She hadn’t been trying for a mutation, nor had Hans. They had just fallen sick. Their internal [Corruption] had increased and increased, and the System told them if they didn’t choose a [Mutation], they would die. There weren’t many good options back then, but looking back a lot of them would’ve been better than fucking [Permanent Translation].

  She returned to her brother, where they talked long into the night about builds and their System question.

  —

  One day is all that Solis was willing to spare after his conversation with Ana. How the girl possibly had that much mana, he wasn’t sure. The assumption, on his part, had always been that the kids were level two, or that maybe they got lucky and raised their cap to two or three and were keeping it a secret. Obviously, that wasn’t the case, else the conversation would’ve ended much earlier.

  That particular mystery was among the least of his concerns. At the other end, his main concern was the [Nominal] rank zone and getting water. Which is what he and Samir were talking about. By this point, Solis had a good rhythm for brainstorming.

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  It went something like this: talk to Samir first to hash out the ideas, go to Ira and try to explain it in the simplest terms possible, using basic drawings, and have her point out flaws, then go back to Samir and finalize the details. Not quite the well-oiled machine of his previous group, but it worked.

  “Can you not make a door with [Mana Manipulation]? Something hinged at the entrance for easy coming and going?” Samir asked.

  “Nope,” Solis tossed his rubber ball straight up. He was lying on the floor, so he had much of his focus on catching, lest he hit himself in the face. “The constructs are annoyingly stiff in design. When the System says “static,” it means that. I don’t know if you noticed, but the top of the kill box vanished all at once. One part not static, the whole thing is smoke… mana, I guess.”

  Samir grumbled at that.

  “Can you disassemble it? Dematerialize it and take back the mana?”

  “No— actually. I don’t know. I tried disassembly, but that didn’t work. Taking the mana back into myself… I haven’t tried. Once mana is external, it feels different. I can claim it, but it still doesn’t feel like mine. I should try that,” Solis admitted.

  “I don’t like relying entirely on you for protection.” Samir admitted, ceasing his pacing to sit down in a heap.

  Solis raised an eyebrow at that. “You do know I’m not a fighter right? Even in my old group I was the planner. Wait. You do know Ira’s class right?”

  Samir frowned, “She’s a boxer. It seems unwise to me, to fight monsters hand-to-hand.”

  It was Solis’s turn to frown. “I mean. I guess it depends on your build. As far as I can tell, she has a good one so far. She wrote down her details. Let me… Ah, here we are.

  “Impact absorption seems particularly good. She’ll be our front line when entering the [Nominal] zone,” Solis said.

  Samir picked up on the implication there and looked towards Dimitri, “All three of you are going in? I know it would take a while for you to build a tunnel, but humans can survive without water for a little bit.”

  “Look, I know you’re worried about this, but there’s not another good option. After we get some more food and water we can look at our options.”

  The older man grumbled at that, but eventually turned away. “I’ll go with you all then. Stabilize is literally a life saver.”

  Solis hesitated, “I was hoping you’d stay here. Having the healer go with us seems … unwise.”

  Samir shook his head, “I get that, but I’m the highest level here. If something in there kills me then we’re at the end anyway. In fact, if any of us die the group may never recover.”

  “I will literally never tell someone they can’t do something, so I’ll bring you up to date on that part of the plan.” Solis nodded his head towards Dimitri. “We’ll basically be using their usual formation. Ira in front, Dimitri behind, he used to use a fireaxe, but I’ll be lending him my pistol. I’ll be with him in the back with my rifle. That’s where you’ll be, too, I suppose. You know how to use a pistol?”

  “No. I’m a terrible shot. We’re putting a lot of pressure on Ira.” Samir grimaced.

  Solis just shrugged, “She thinks she can handle it. The only other option we have is Ana. I’m not one for child soldiers, but in her case I don’t think we’ll have a choice.”

  “She will not be fighting monsters.”

  Solis tousled his hair, a flash of annoyance passing over him. He wanted to tell the man it wasn’t his decision, but that wasn’t quite it, and he didn’t entirely disagree, so he stalled. “So you say. Regardless, maybe we can get Dimitri a level or two in there and get him some points in [Body]. Until then, this is the plan.”

  “When do we start?”

  —

  An hour later, Solis had recovered enough mana to feel comfortable going forward at 430 mana. They didn’t know how far away the water was, just that Dimitri could hear it from the crack, so it had to be fairly close.

  To confirm the water even existed, they had decided to forgo making a long passageway and instead build a series of “bunkers” they could run into and quickly blockade if needed. Over time, they’d be able to connect the bunkers for easy access to whatever water source was beyond. If there was one at all.

  “Monsters?” Solis asked in slightly better Russian than the days prior.

  “None,” Dimitri responded.

  That was Ira’s cue to step up; she had three different layers of rock to get through. She activated Body and began open palm striking the rock, which cracked and shattered easily, dispersing into almost translucent wisps of clear mana. It reminded Solis of a heat haze more than anything else.

  Remembering his conversation with Samir, he stepped forward and grabbed at the mana. It felt thick now that it had dispersed. He had felt dispersed mana a few times, but had always used it shortly after, never fully studying it. He spun it in the familiar whirlpools, bringing it to his palm and sucking it inside.

  His mana ticked up, increasing by thirteen whole points.

  Then the nausea hit.

  The vertigo was so intense that it took the young man off his feet and sent him crashing to the ground. He heaved and fought back, wasting breakfast. He rolled onto his stomach and crawled to his knees. No sooner did he start recovering his bearings than a second wave battered him back to the ground.

  Everyone started crowding around him, their voices lost on him, and he had to wave them back with closed eyes.

  Five more minutes passed before Solis got a hold of himself, and when he did, a System prompt made itself known

  Corruption: 0.01 -> 0.3

  “For the record,” he rasped out. “Don’t try to take back your mana. Shit sucks.”

  Samir started looking him over, asking questions, and having him do some basic motions to ensure his balance hadn’t been affected and that he wouldn’t hurl from doing a jumping jack. “You should be fine. Whatever that was, it was temporary.”

  Solis gave a slightly forced smile and rubbed at his neck.

  “It gave me 0.3 corruption. I think I absorbed some from the air along with the mana.”

  Samir’s eyes didn’t widen as much as sharpen as he gave Solis a long look.

  “0.3? Are you sure? What’s your total Corruption right now?”

  The older man spoke with the professionalism of a detached doctor, and it sent a chill through Solis’s spine.

  “Yeah, went from 0.01 to 0.3, is that a lot? We didn’t get this much from the crickets.”

  Samir let a small breath out.

  “Yes, that is a lot. Before you say it. I am aware 0.3 does not sound like a lot. Before I took Purify, we had people dying at as low as 0.7 corruption.”

  Solis swallowed hard. “Don’t suppose you could hit me with a [Purify]?”

  Samir held his hand out, “For this amount of corruption, I need to place my hand on you directly, between the shoulder blades works best. Although, if you prefer a different placement, you can let me know.”

  “The back is fine,” Solis said, “just don’t make a big deal about it ‘kay?”

  Samir just nodded. “If you’d remove your shirt you can step behind the corner if you wish for some privacy.”

  “I would, thank you.”

  Solis stepped into another section of the cave and did as the doctor asked, and when Samir saw the numerous, thick laceration scars on his back, he didn’t react and didn’t ask. The doctor cast his spell, and it felt like hydrogen peroxide on an open blister all through his veins.

  A distinctly unpleasant feeling – to put it mildly.

  Corruption 0.3 -> 0.01

  Rubbing his neck and back, Solis rounded the corner, still talking to Samir. “Hey, it’s at 0.01 instead of 0. Why’s that?”

  “Once you have any points in corruption that’s as low as it can go. At that level it’s basically 0, so there’s not much to worry about,” Samir said.

  “Thanks, doc.” Solis saluted Samir, a stupid grin stretched across his face as he gestured to the partially cracked barrier.

  “Finish us off Ira. It’s time we head in.”

  Ira just blinked at him, causing Solis to cough awkwardly, trying to remember the word. “Right. Language. Uhh. Udar?”

  That got a smile out of Ira. She balled her fist again and struck the wall. One by one, she destroyed the remaining layers of stone. With nervous anticipation, they entered the [Nominal] rank zone proper.