As the sun began to grow closer to the horizon, it was time to part ways with Violet. Aura needed to inform Jackie and Kaelen about the meeting that would be happening tonight, and Violet needed to get back to what she needed to do as a Runner. Aura offered to accompany her until it came time to deliver food to the barracks, though a lighthearted joke about not being able to keep up shut that down quick enough. So, knowing that they would be meeting again that night during the meeting, the two parted ways.

  It was a quick journey navigating back to the main road and traveling back to the barracks. From there, tracking down her friends and informing them of the impending meeting was easy enough. Jackie’s expression was skeptical about the matter, though she was still up for going. Kaelen, meanwhile, seemed relieved to have word from Calen, as well as hopeful that this meeting would set the trio of Orrin, Darek, and Jareth straight.

  What exactly did Violet do to get Orrin on board? And why she is sure that he will tell the other two? I do trust her, to an extent I guess, but something more is going on.

  With those thoughts, and speculations as to the details, lingering in her mind she goes through the motions of the rest of the day. Not that there are really many motions to go through though, with it being the day of a monster hunt people are more subdued. While things did go better than the first time, a bit of exhaustion was still lingering in the air. It was enough so that conversation was muted when it came time for the Runners to deliver the evening meals.

  As she eats, Violet whispers to Orrin again as if to confirm that he was on board with things. Some of the other soldiers notice the interaction, though her own gaze drifts towards Darek and Jareth. While they are sitting at different tables, they seem to be sitting up straighter with looks of confused concentration. They too glance towards the interaction between Violet and Orrin, though it is brief. When she steps away, some of the other soldiers do crowd Orrin and begin to presumably ask him questions. Aura though, is too far away for the words to carry.

  Following the evening meal, the exhaustion in the air turns to lethargy. Aura resists the urge to fall asleep even as she settles into her bedroll. It is only when the sounds of breathing settle down and some snoring starts to come from the others in the room that she quietly slips out. Heading back into the main room, she takes a seat at one of the tables and waits. One by one, the other players begin to exit their rooms to wait for Violet’s arrival. First Jackie, then Kaelen, followed by the trio. Nobody speaks to each other as they wait, not wanting to risk waking up someone and being caught. The only sounds audible being that of the other Soldiers breathing or snoring in their sleep.

  Without a way to tell time, it is hard to say how long they sat there for. While exhaustion was heavy thanks to the long march and combat, they had earlier anxiety gave them energy enough to stay awake. Everyone had their own little ticks while they waited, from patting for a pocket as if to pull out a phone that doesn’t exist in this world. To tracing designs on top of the table. She meanwhile has opened her menu and has spent time trying to see if there is anything hidden in it. Her searches do not find anything, though she is at least able to catch that her HP is at [94/100] thanks to the salve.

  The anxiety and building tension break then, as a head peaks around the doorway. The moonlight illuminates Violet’s somewhat tired face. Giving a smile as she sees everyone, a quick jerk of the head is given to indicate to follow along before it dips back around the corner of the entryway. Slowly, everyone begins to rise from their spots and head towards the entryway. As Aura does so, for the briefest moment a strange feeling runs down her back— like someone is watching her.

  Looking around though, nothing stands out in the darkened room. Figuring it to be paranoia, she joins her fellow players in leaving the barracks. Outside waits a tired looking Violet— and another familiar face. His black hair is a little messier than when they first met, and the dark circles of exhaustion under his eyes tell that he may not be getting the most rest. Despite it all though, Calen still has an air of confidence to him that puts her at ease.

  No words are exchanged though, and with her now outside Violet begins to lead the group into Fortress proper. Much like when she had walked back to the barracks that night after her spar with Maul, the streets are empty. It probably is not as late as it was then though, which is a depressing thought. Violet had mentioned before how there was not any real entertainment in the town. People seemed to just work, eat, and sleep to survive. Even the Soldiers were not excluded from that, with most of them seeming to use their free time to train or stay in shape.

  The walk to the meeting spot goes quickly, and on arriving they are all greeted by the other two players. Ryse and Taryn had been brought here first, and much like Calen they look tired. Taryn at least seems to be in something of a good mood if the raised hand and greeting to them all was anything to go by. Ryse sends a slight glare their way, focused on her in particular.

  I guess it makes sense. We both have stat spreads for more of a Mage-like build, but I became a Soldier while he didn’t. Still, I bet he has some magic at least. I’ve seen how good it is in a fight, so he can probably hold his own if I talk to him about it.

  Putting those thoughts aside for the time being, Aura knows that it is about time to begin this little meeting. Exchanging glances with Calen, she gives him a small nod as if to indicate that he can take the lead here. Really, he did deserve to do so since it is because of him they are all meeting. While they had talked about setting something up on the first day, she had been unable to connect with the other trio of soldiers. Not from a lack of trying of course, but after that spar and the resulting treatment afterwards, they had been giving her looks like most of the other soldiers.

  “Alright, we should probably get things started. I can tell that we are all tired here, so the sooner we get this meeting going the better. For the ladies, since I never properly introduced myself, I am Calen. While I wish the circumstances were better, it is nice to meet you.”

  Starting things off with a greeting, Calen sends a smile towards Aura and Jackie. Sure, he and her had spoken at that first meal, but a proper introduction was a good start to things.

  “It is nice to meet you Calen, and all of you as well. I am Aura, and I am glad that we are all finally getting a chance to speak.”

  Her own greeting gets a nod of acknowledgement from Taryn, though Ryse continues to give her a slight glare. The male Soldiers look a little awkward for a moment. Though Kaelen breaks the tension with his own introduction. And like that, the dam breaks and everyone slowly starts to introduce themselves. Orrin, Darek, and Jareth seem to be a little tense with their introductions but are polite enough. Jackie is somewhat brusque with her own and has situated herself nearby Aura since coming into the building. Violet’s introduction while short and soft, seems to have everyone’s eyes on her. Taryn sounds more tired than enthusiastic, while Ryse seems to match Jackie’s energy by coming off slightly hostile.

  “Good, good. We all can say we know each other now. But while that is nice, it isn’t what this meeting is about. I wanted this to happen sooner, but things have been… busy.”

  “Busy is not even close to describing how things are. Waking up before the sun rises, passing out shortly after it sets. And eating a single thing of gruel every day. Hell is more like what this all is.”

  With the introductions done Calen starts to try and lead the meeting, only for Ryse to cut in. Based on the slight wince that Calen gives off, and the fact that Taryn only can look down at the table confirms what was said. Before Aura can speak up though, Darek beats her to it.

  “No, hell is risking your life killing giant spiders and barely getting anything out of it. Oh, and you can’t forget having to work out every single day until you pass out after it gets dark. And then there’s the women, or lack of them. Outside of the Runners that bring our meals, there’s four girls to almost forty guys. And two of them are damn prudes.”

  “Excuse you, but Aura and I are not just eye candy for all of you men. We are trying to get strong just like you all are to get out of this fucked up situation!”

  Jackie of course retaliates quickly, seeming to have almost been ready for it. Aura is not all to surprised at that fact either. Given how long it had taken her to let her guard down around Kaelen, it was clear that there was some distrust of guys there. And while she did agree with the sentiment, things were on the path to devolving quickly. So she quickly slams a fist on the table to get everyone’s attention before speaking.

  “Enough! This is not the time for us all to be arguing. It doesn’t matter the details of the situation we are in it is fucked up regardless. We’ve all been taken from our homes, our lives, and thrust into this whole mess. But we are all adults here so let’s behave like them.”

  It works in defusing the fight that was starting to build. Jackie is still tense beside her and Orrin is giving a look of frustrated acknowledgement. He had looked ready to jump in but had been pacified at least. Ryse, meanwhile, has his head down with his electric blue hair covering his expression. His posture carries a hint of disappointment though.

  “Look, Aura’s right that we can’t be fighting each other right now. If anything, we need to figure out a way out of all of this. Honestly, it is probably for the best that we didn’t meet until now. After that… meeting last night a lot of questions were answered. At least we know why it is that we were brought to this world. So, we should probably discuss what to do about that.”

  Calen once more takes lead with the meeting now that things have calmed down. There is still some tension in the air, though the mood becomes more somber at the mention of the meeting last night. The shift in mood makes sense, and she was worried about how people were taking things. A large burden was placed on all their backs last night, and it still felt unreal. But then, this whole situation as unreal anyways.

  “I mean, we kind of are already doing all we can right? Fortress is a pretty strict place, but it is helping us get better. Sure, it is a little bit slow, but it is safe at least. Plus, there are a lot of other players so some of them are probably in a better situation.”

  Jareth speaks up, his voice sounding rather tired as he does so. And while his words are a little depressing, he has a point. While some people had died according to that mysterious man, who Aura still questioned the identity of, there were a lot of players out there. Which meant that there was a decent chance that some of them had woken up in better circumstances that could lead to being capable of saving everything.

  Only… that feels unlikely.

  At the same time though, she can not help but think of that image of the world they had been shown. Small and plain looking, thinking back on it something did stand out. There had been no real signs of architecture, no indications of any great towns or cities. While it was possible that such things were simply not being shown to them, a pit in her stomach told her otherwise.

  “Even if that is the case though, we should all still be ready. Outside of those ‘Grand Quest’ things we weren’t really told many details about what was expected from us. But, well this was all supposed to be a game before everything happened. And in some ways, it still is like a game, so I think we should take advantage of that fact.”

  “And how do you propose we do that? Like Jareth over there said, we can barely grow here in Fortress. We all get sent out on a single hunt a week and only get twenty XP for each one. Sure, we can train the rest of the time, but that only does so much when nobody will teach you.”

  Having cooled down a bit, Jackie contributes with a more even tone. Her statement gets reactions from Violet, Taryn and Ryse. Though Calen simply gives a tired sigh at the downside of his proposal being brought up.

  “I know that you all haven’t really grown that much. Something that I should have shared with you and Aura, which everyone else knows, is about my one skill, Insight. It essentially allows me to gain information on anybody I use it on. Basic things such as what some of their stats are, and even what they may be feeling. Though that is a more recent development from using it so much. So, when I came with Violet tonight to get you six, I knew that you hadn’t grown even a single level yet.”

  The revelation causes a quiet intake of breath all around, and Aura catches how it is implied that Violet knew about it as well. The girl had been rather quiet lately, and she even catches her sending somewhat guilty glances towards Orrin and the rest. Focusing more on Calen’s skill though, the possibilities of it are interesting. And Aura can not help but speak a question that bubbles to her mind.

  “If that is the case, did you use it on Fortress? When you went up to talk about what job you wanted in this place that is?”

  “Yes actually, I did. I used it on nearly everyone when I first woke up here, which is how I was able to make sure all us guys knew who else was from Earth. If our better appearances didn’t give it away anyways. But, with regards to Fortress, I couldn’t get to much from my skill. It was still only level one when I used it then, so maybe I’d get a different result now. But what I did get was his level, twenty.”

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  Dropping the revelation of Fortress’ level, a slight hush falls over them all. In the grand scheme of things, level twenty is not to high of one. Most gamers could reach that in the type of game this world was supposed to be in a matter of hours. So, for someone to only be that strong after presumably decades of life, raised a lot of questions. Did leveling become harder at higher levels? Did Fortress himself stop training and growing stronger out of choice? Or was there something more going on that none of them really knew?

  “Level twenty… that isn’t too high. And he’s in charge of this place, so that probably means this whole area is like a starter zone, right? I bet we could grow strong quickly if we did things smart.”

  Kaelen speaks up now, a little bit of hope and enthusiasm in his tone. Based on the smile Calen sends his way, he had the same thought process.

  “Exactly! While it may be hard at first, we are all gamers in the end. So, I’m sure that if we work together then we can all figure out a good way to grow stronger quickly. Then, we can get out of this starting zone and maybe find a better place to go.”

  The more that was being said, the more Aura was beginning to see a way forwards here. Their circumstances were bad yes, but there was potential here.

  As much as that man said that we were nothing special, I think we are. A lot of the people of this world have an average spread for their stats if I recall. Plus, their Innate abilities weren’t always that special either. But all of us have two of those and were able to choose the start for a build. Really, we are special when it comes down to it.

  With a smile on her face, before she can speak up another voice chimes in.

  “Listen, I know that you seem enthusiastic about this all. But you seem to be forgetting what that one guy said, none of us are anything special.”

  While he speaks up to get the attention of everyone, Taryn’s voice sounds rather tired. Of all the non-soldiers he looks the most tired of them all. And the look in his brown eyes is rather dull. With the conversation having been cut off, and all attention on him, he continues.

  “Sure, he said that we were brought here to save this place. But he gave us no clues on how to do that or anything. He also said that people have died already as well, so the whole world is dangerous. With all of that in mind… I don’t think that I want to risk my life like this. I mean, before this all happened I was a forty-year-old man going through a divorce. Now though, I’m young again and away from all that stress. Sure, things are dangerous and life kind of sucks in this place, but it is still better than back on Earth.”

  His words seem to take some of the wind out of Calen’s sails, and it is clear to see that what was said affected him a little. While Aura could not relate personally, she could somewhat see where he was coming from. Video games were an escape from the stress of the real world, and it sounded like Taryn was going through a lot. So, winding up in a completely new world away from all of that. Well, what more could someone ask for?

  “Look, I don’t plan on stopping all of you from doing what you are planning. Heck I’ll even help, if possible, by trying to sneak you all some food if I can. But after being here for a week, and especially after that meeting, I don’t think I can risk my life. I’m sorry.”

  With that, Taryn bows his head and takes a step away from the table. He begins to walk away through the silence before Aura finally speaks up.

  “You don’t need to apologize, not for wanting to live. It is honestly unfair of that… man to have pulled us all here and asked so much of us. I doubt that you will be the only one to not want to fight as well. And there is nothing wrong with that. Like you said, if you want to you can support us in your own way.”

  Finishing her little speech by offering a smile, a little bit of light seems to return to Taryn’s eyes. Just based on his body language, it is clear he was expecting to be ridiculed or something similar. But as some of the others, mainly Calen, Kaelen, and Violet, offer similar nods of acknowledgement his demeanor improves further.

  “So, you are just going to be another cog in the machine, essentially just an NPC. I suppose that is better than a leech at least.”

  The building good mood quickly comes crashing down as Orrin speaks up. His tone somewhat aggressive, he is not even looking Taryn’s way. Rather, he seems to be staring over towards Violet who looks to the side hiding her expression. Jackie, having gone quiet at what Taryn was saying notices this and speaks up.

  “Oh, great here we go again. What are you talking about being a leech? Violet here is the reason all of us have met up. She found us this place to meet. Has been running around probably getting us all to agree to meet. And—. “

  “Hah! Got us to agree to meet? More like she probably charmed us all to do so like she did with myself, Darek, and Jareth this morning.”

  Once more the room goes quiet as the accusation is put out there. Taryn is frozen in the doorway, looking conflicted on if he should leave or not. Darek and Jareth have both shifted to more angry expressions to match Orrin, while Jackie is fired up and begins to harshly defend Violet. Aura though, has shifted her attention to Violet.

  The girl has her head down and has a curtain of purple hair blocking her expression. While Aura wants to be arguing against the accusation like Jackie, some things begin to line up. She did not know how many Runners there were, but Violet was always among the ones who delivered meals to the Soldiers. More then that, she was always delivering the meals to herself, Jackie, and eventually Kaelen.

  Then there was what had happened today. At breakfast her words seemed to have shifted Orrin’s mood. Though not only his, but that of Darek and Jareth. Violet also seemed to have extra supplies and seemed shifty about it. The biggest tell though, was the lack of denial on the matter.

  “She must have forgot that Darek has Iron Resolve! He broke out of it quickly and—.”

  “T-That doesn’t mean it was her. She didn’t even go near him—.”

  As far as the argument went, Jackie was quickly losing ground. Her defense had been impulsive and was being torn down by facts. Doubt was starting to enter her gaze as she glanced towards the still silent Violet. Aura though, sitting next to her, places a hand on her shoulders gently.

  “Violet, I don’t care if this is true or not. But, please, you need to say something.”

  Whispering softly, to not be heard by the others, Violet shudders a bit at Aura’s words. An eye peaks out through the curtain of hair before she shudders slightly. Then, she speaks though her tone is uncertain.

  “Everyone… please be quiet and let me explain.”

  As those words are spoken, there is a slight shift in the atmosphere. Aura sees it more than she feels it, as Jackie and Orrin both shudder slightly before quieting down. Darek though, having been watching Violet, had covered his ears and lets out an exclamation. All the while, Taryn has quietly slipped out of the building.

  “Quick, check your statuses and you will see that we were telling the truth!”

  Violet doesn’t speak up at this, instead simply taking deep breaths as if to brace herself. There is some hurt and uncertainty in Jackie’s gaze as she raises a hand to do as suggested, only for her eyes to widen a bit in realization. Aura doesn’t check though her suspicions on the matter being confirmed already.

  “My second Innate Skill is called [Charming Voice]. With it, the words I speak have a chance to charm people to be more willing to listen to me and do things for me. I… I didn’t know how it worked initially. I used it without meaning to a lot on those first few days, but after I leveled it up once I began to understand it. Since then, I do admit that I used it on you three to convince you to come here. And, and just now to be able to say what I needed to.”

  With a trembling voice, Violet explains herself a bit. At the explanation, Aura wonders if the skill had been unintentionally used on her back on that first day. Jackie’s face grows somewhat pale, while Orrin and his group seem victorious. Before anything else can be said though, Calen speaks up.

  “I knew she had this skill as well. And to be honest, I asked her to use it on you three to get you to come along. Just based on how things went during those first couple of hours before we all were assigned roles here, I knew you wouldn’t believe her if she just said I wanted a meeting. So, this was my way of getting you to come here. I apologize for the deception.”

  That is certainly a surprise for Aura to hear, and for Orrin’s group as well. Their triumphant expressions turn shocked, before twisting into scowls.

  “Y-You knew and let her do that to us! Does she have you under her control as well Calen? You little bitch what did you do to him! Is this part of some plan of yours to—.”

  “She didn’t do anything to me Orrin! She came to me when her skill leveled up for the first time. She was worried about what it meant and the two of us figured out a bit more how it works.”

  A surge of hurt tightens Aura’s chest, though pushes it down quickly. While she did consider Violet a friend, it was understandable that they might be close with someone else. The two of them could only hang out in that brief time during meals when Aura had rushed to finish eating. Beyond that though, things were just too busy otherwise.

  Orrin, Darek, and Jareth meanwhile are not taking this news that well. They had clearly expected something more to be done on the matter but were not getting any support. While Jackie did look conflicted, and Violet regretful, nobody else seemed to be bothered. Calen was standing firm on the matter, giving the trio an exasperated look as if to say that this was not really an argument to be had. Kaelen, having not been able to stand up for her, has his arms crossed and is looking at the trio as if he is ready to stand up for Violet. Ryse meanwhile has a small smirk on his face as he glances towards Violet, an almost respectful look in his eyes. Aura herself though, gives Violet a squeeze on the shoulder and a small smile.

  “I doubt she has any desire to control us or anything either. I’ve not known Violet long, but I trust her in this matter. Not to mention, we all haven’t exactly shared what our second Innate skills are either. So, there is no way to know if you three haven’t tried to do something malicious with them either. My second one is Magic Resistance; in case you try to get any ideas.”

  A bit of a relieved look crosses Violet’s face, though Aura doesn’t focus on it. Instead, she gives Orrin, Darek, and Jareth a firm look. Her admission is both to dissuade them from trying to throw the same accusation her way, while also warning them off from trying anything. The trio looks around frustrated before scoffing.

  “You know what, fine. I was all for us all getting stronger, but clearly you want to risk it with someone who could make you into puppets and leech off your success.”

  Having said that, Orrin turns and stomps out of the room. His departure is quickly followed by Darek and Jareth’s, with them also sending glares Violet’s way. She doesn’t shrink under the glares this time though, but instead just looks at them with a blank expression. Their departure seems amusing to Ryse who begins to chuckle, with Jackie finally looking to Violet with a desperate look.

  “Violet… you didn’t use it on Aura or I did you?”

  “I… I don’t know if I did when we first met. Like I said I didn’t even realize that I was using it at all until it leveled up. But if I did do so, then I apologize for it. And I promise to not do so again.”

  Whether those words are believed or offer any relief is hard to say. Jackie looks conflicted on the matter still, though now is not the time to address it. While the tension and aggression are gone, the meeting has fallen into an awkward place with almost half of them leaving. The silence remains for a good couple of minutes as everyone calms down and mentally resets. Clearing his throat to get their attention, Calen begins to speak up again.

  “Right. I wish they had taken things better, but perhaps they will come around in time. If they do want to though I will insist that they apologize to you Violet. I doubt that you are the only person who ended up with a skill that they can’t control. Back to what I was saying before all this happened though. I think that if we can come together, we can figure out how to grow strong enough to leave this place. Does anybody have any suggestions on how to do that?”

  With the open suggestion thrown out there, it was clear there was an attempt to get the meeting back on track. The only issue though, was that Aura did not really know of any way to do so. Sure, there was training the skills that they had, but that was obvious enough. Killing things to grow stronger was clear, but the issue was that doing so required venturing out of the settlement to do so. And with how strict things were with regards to hunting down those spiders, she doubted that they could pull it off without being caught.

  “I do have a suggestion, maybe even a plan honestly.”

  Kaelen speaks up then, raising his hand a bit to get everyone’s attention before continuing.

  “I don’t know if you all remember, but one of my Innate Skills is called Hunter’s Sense. It allows me to get an idea of where things are for hunting purposes, like tracks and stuff. I’ve tried using it around Fortress, but there aren’t any real animal tracks. But, when all of us Soldiers went out and hunted down monsters I tried using it then. It only helped me find some tracks at first, but something was different when I used it today. The skill leveled up, and when I used it again, I got more information. And combined with some asking around I may have a plan.

  Basically, from what other Soldiers have told me they always seem to be sent out to deal with groups of ten monsters. They apparently are different kinds after a long time, but they have been Giant Spiders for a while. We deal with them daily, so there is a lot of them. Well, when I used my skill out there today, I saw that there were two sets of tracks. One set was fresh from the monsters we had just fought. But another was older, twelve hours older in fact. Which means I think those same Giant Spiders that come through every day also come through at night!”

  The information opens a lot of possibilities. Yet with as many possibilities as there are, concerns grow in Aura’s mind.

  “Okay, that is good to know and all but that only solves a bit of the problem. First off, let’s say that we go out at night to fight these things. The moon provides some light yes, but those Giant Spiders are darkly colored. They will blend in and could ambush us if we aren’t careful. Second, we don’t know if anything else comes out at night either. It would be great to go and kill the Giant Spiders, but it would suck if we then got ambushed by something more dangerous. And lastly, we will be noticed if we do this. Even if we are careful and sneak in and out of Fortress without being detected, people will notice when there are less monsters the next day.”

  Being negative in this respect was not something Aura wanted to do, but she needed to get all of this out there. Not so much as to dissuade them from possibly going out to hunt these monsters at night, but to come up with a solid plan to do so. Sure, they could take advantage of game knowledge and the like to grow stronger, but disregarding the realism of this world could get them easily killed.

  “The only things that wander around at night are what the Giant Spiders prey on. It is why he didn’t pick up anything else with his skill.”

  A deep voice cuts in, familiar and causing Aura to freeze in surprise. Looking towards the doorway, stepping into the light is a familiar figure. The tired, but somewhat thoughtful looking Maul steps into the building.

  “From what I’ve heard living with my father before Awakening Day; monsters always prey on beasts at night while trying to go for us during the day. It deprives us of a food source but also keeps the beasts from growing too strong. As for the worries that attacking the monsters at night will be noticed, that is doubtful. I was there when one of my father’s men reported back on these Giant Spiders numbers when they first emerged. And like all the other monsters, they travel in packs of ten in the day. And packs of twenty at night.”

  Dropping the revelation on them all, Maul looks them over. His expression is dismissive as he looks over Violet, Calen, and Ryse. Jackie and Kaelen get neutral expressions, while a grin grows on his face as he looks to Aura. She can see a bit of a challenging look in his eyes and feels her surprise fade away as her expression turns firm.

  “Maul, what is it that you want?”

  “Hehe, you know what it is I want Aura. We want the same thing after all, to grow stronger. And while your choice of company is questionable, I think we can make something work here.”