Chapter VI: System's rewards

BOOM.

ZAP!

Explosions rocked the sewers of Level 5 in the hive city of Vandalor. Gunfire flickered in the darkness, where nine figures ran frantically, struggling to keep pace while being pursued from a distance by several servitors and armed individuals.

The bulk of the security forces in the heart of Level 5 was on high alert following multiple explosions at one of the depots belonging to the Most Esteemed House of Waltdorf, the lords of this level and the victims of this attack.

On the surface, several aircraft and vehicles kept pace with the forces in the sewers, while more security forces mobilized from various enclaves. Like a hive, the actions of Gino's group had awakened the entire nest, and now the bulk of the forces loyal to House Waltdorf were in hot pursuit.

Oblivious to the grave danger he was in, Gino struggled to contain the exhilarating feeling of joy and hope that surged within him. A wide grin spread across his face. The discovery that he could receive missions from this type of work had his mind racing with possible future scenarios.

However, reality quickly brought him back to the present when one of the stragglers was hit by a gunshot. A cry of pain rang out, and the figure collapsed.

Gino, the only one who glanced back, could barely see beyond the small flashes of light that gave them visibility. He swallowed hard as he realized the others were unmoved by the fallen comrade, running even faster.

"DROP A BOMB HERE! IT'LL BUY US MORE TIME TO ESCAPE!" Bea's voice boomed. Gino caught sight of one of his escorts immediately moving, and soon he heard the metallic clink of five objects hitting the ground.

'Oh shit!' Gino summoned strength from the deepest parts of his exhausted body, pushing beyond limits he didn't know he had as he sprinted through the darkness.

BOOOOM!

The blast roared, nearly deafening him, while a wall of air slammed into his back, knocking the wind out of his lungs like a punch. The gunfire and smaller detonations ceased entirely, replaced by the louder sound of liquid gushing.

With the path momentarily clear, Bea led them through a maze of turns and corners, moving with such confidence and ease it seemed she had a map in her mind, not Gino.

Halfway through, Gino noticed they weren't retracing their steps but taking a different route, heading toward the outer ring of Level 5, toward the exit to Level 4's sewers.

With his lungs burning and his throat too dry to swallow, Gino began coughing and sneezing. Despite the tunnel vision clouding his sight, he gritted his teeth, pressing on until they reached a hatch leading to Level 4, in the middle of the commercial district. Emerging into a dimly lit alleyway, seven figures surfaced and soon blended into the crowds filling the streets.

Unlike them, the crowd continued with their daily routines, blissfully unaware of the danger the group had narrowly escaped.

Here, Gino took the lead and began guiding them, having found a relatively quick route up to Level 3, where the Guild was located. Gesturing to the others, he set off along the path marked in the system.

Blending in with the crowd, the group tried to remain calm, even as Gino's height and imposing build made it hard for him to do so. The journey to level three would take almost an hour.

"Hey, I just realised I haven't asked you your name yet. I'm Beatrix, nice to meet you," Bea suddenly said, breaking the silence. Gino turned to look at her and noticed she no longer had her black goggles on, revealing her deep brown eyes.

Extending his hand as a customary greeting, Gino flashed a bright smile despite his sickly appearance and replied, "Gino Salerni, the pleasure is mine, Beatrix."

Hearing his response, Beatrix let out a low whistle of appreciation. Nearby, their companions raised their eyebrows and stared at Gino with more interest.

"Wow, a surname! Just listening to you earlier, I had the idea you'd had a good life, but who would've thought you were well-off enough to have a surname," Beatrix revealed something that Gino hadn't known—the fact that not everyone in the Imperium had a family name.

Caught off guard, Gino quickly recalculated what to say next. He avoided Beatrix's gaze and looked ahead at the path, then replied after a few seconds, "On my planet, it's pretty common for regular folks to have a surname. I thought it was the same across the Imperium."

His answer seemed convincing enough for those around him, but Beatrix shot him a playful glance and shrugged.

Silence fell over the group once again as the others kept a watchful eye on every person, wall, and corner in the district of level four. Their weapons were hidden beneath their worn-out cloaks, while Gino and Beatrix appeared unaware of the heightened alertness around them.

After a while, Beatrix's voice reached Gino's ears again, but this time, it was much closer, "Hey, Gino, how about we start working together? For a modest fee of five credits, I can teach you everything I know about Vandalor while helping you out with your jobs, and you can do the same for mine."

Gino stopped for a moment, turning to face Beatrix with an expression of surprise and suspicion. He looked the small young woman up and down and replied, "Why would you want to work with me, and why should I pay you five credits for something you're offering yourself?"

Seeing Gino resume walking, Beatrix smiled behind her metal mask and responded arrogantly, "Come on, it's clear you know almost nothing about Vandalor. If you want to survive day by day while working for the Guild... well, let's just say having someone around whom you can ask anything isn't a bad idea, is it?"

Her words, though convincing and logical, weren't enough to sway Gino. Especially since he needed every credit he could get to leave this planet.

Seeing that her offer wasn't tempting enough, Beatrix pouted behind her mask and crossed her arms.

Silence returned to the group as the noise of the hive city streets echoed around them. The eyes of the hooded figures briefly glanced upward as squadrons of ships flew overhead with their lights on.

After passing through several more districts in silent procession, Beatrix mentioned to Gino about a cargo transport that ran on rails up to level three, which could greatly reduce their travel time. Initially reluctant to take her advice, Gino checked the location of the cargo transport and its route twice before agreeing. The group then climbed into one of the wagons that appeared to be carrying industrial goods.

With the left side of the rails opening up into the void between levels, Gino once again took in the breathtaking view of the hive city of Vandalor. The colossal, gothic-styled buildings with their imposing grandeur were a common sight among the outer rings his eyes swept across. The bridges and streets seemed to float between levels, creating a feeling of awe that made Gino feel small in the face of these towering structures that stretched endlessly across the cityscape.

Transport ships sliced through the skies with their plasma engines, while hundreds of thousands of much smaller figures flew over the many bridges in the vicinity. Squinting, Gino realized that these were Servitors, hovering with their gravitic motors.

'If I'm not careful, that could be my future from now on—or worse, if anyone discovers The Forge System,' he thought grimly, sighing as he recalled what he knew about Servitors.

These were biological machines created by the Imperium to fill countless roles, from doors to floating computers—anything that needed a person or computer, a Servitor could handle. However, the sinister and bleak part was their essential components and origin.

Humans or homunculi were selected and forced to serve as Servitors for eternity, whether they were death row prisoners or politicians; they were stripped of their being and bodies to perform basic functions throughout the Imperium. Others had parts of their bodies used as mere components of a larger computer or gears in a greater machine.

'Christ, they even use them as damned cherubs—floating babies with metal wings, all for some godforsaken aesthetic,' he thought, his face momentarily pale as he remembered this fact. Gino promised himself he would do everything possible to avoid such a future, 'Even if it means summoning those bloody cruisers given to me from the tutorial and having them crush us all.'

With this thought in mind, Gino remained silent, contemplating Vandalor in all its splendor during this brief moment of peace and quiet.

As they approached level three, Gino noticed one of the hooded figures aiming his scoped rifle at a point in the distance. Alarmed and worried by this, Gino was about to ask what he was doing when the man spoke in a dry tone, "There's a damn Servitor taking pictures of us. Do you think we've been spotted?" The man never stopped aiming.

The rest of the group, after scanning the sky covered by level five, responded, "I don't think so, or they'd already be on us with their damn ships and vehicles shooting us," a woman replied with an exasperated voice.

Gino bit his tongue as he listened to them, then exchanged glances with Beatrix, who simply raised her eyebrows and asked him, "Well? Are you going to respond to my proposal?" Even though he couldn't see her, Gino knew she was grinning cheekily beneath her mask.

Shaking his head side to side and sneezing, Gino replied, "Though your proposal is quite good, I need every credit I can save if I want to get out of here. I'm sorry."

Beatrix didn't react to his words and simply turned her gaze to observe the Vandalor landscape. After a few moments, she said, "Do you know how much it costs for a damn ticket on a ship? Or the permits you need to leave the planet?"

Beatrix's questions made Gino think seriously about both matters, realizing that until that moment, he hadn't considered or even known the cost of either.

Shaking his head from side to side, Gino remained silent while Beatrix let a slight smirk slip across her face as she continued, "The last time I asked about it, a trip to Noravis, a nearby planet, was around a thousand credits, while getting all the permits and papers in order cost almost another two thousand credits if you didn't want to wait several months for the basic price of two hundred credits."

As Gino listened to the sum of credits Beatrix mentioned, he felt his blood run cold, his mind processing how much time and work it would take to gather such an amount in the shortest time possible.

Turning her head to look directly at Gino, Beatrix added with a frown and a hint of anger in her tone, "That is, if you can even get someone to accept such a proposal—something that doesn't happen often unless you have connections with a merchant or a member of the Administratum."

Realizing and coming to terms with the harsh reality for the inhabitants of Vandalor, Gino began to understand why Beatrix had told him she would never leave this planet. For the average Vandalorian, it was an impossible and unthinkable task.

"But... but there has to be another way, right? Like finding someone to smuggle me out..." Gino tried to ask, imagining an unconventional solution, a normal and logical response to the restrictions imposed by the Imperium over the inhabitants of this world.

But it wasn't Beatrix who responded; instead, one of the hooded figures let out a laugh and said, "Ha! Of course, there's that option—as long as you're not afraid of getting scammed or ending up somewhere you never agreed to. And that's if you manage to avoid the patrol checks outside the planet, which are pretty common." More laughter followed, and Gino could feel the mocking tone from those around him.

Even though he wanted to retort, Gino reminded himself that these were individuals who were involved in the marginal and illegal aspects of Vandalor. Their words held some certainty and truth, and he couldn't just dismiss them outright.

'After all, who better than a thief to know all the tricks, right?' he thought to himself, an ironic smile forming on his lips while a bitter feeling settled in his chest.

After ten minutes, they all got off the wagon and made their way through level three until they reached The Guild. Beatrix told Gino she'd be waiting in the cafeteria while he headed towards the task distribution area where Brund was, along with the remaining members of the original group of fifteen.

Ignoring the other busy members of The Guild as he moved through the hallways, Gino had to wait for several minutes until the group of individuals finished their conversation with Brund. Brund then approached the desk, pulling out several cylindrical metal objects with inscriptions and engravings on them. He positioned himself in front of Gino and said in an indifferent tone, "Congratulations, lanky git, you've successfully completed your first job. Now go buy yourself a damn handkerchief so you stop dripping snot all over the floor, damn it."

Gino nodded his head with a stern expression, though his ears didn't register a single word Brund said; his eyes were focused on the system notification confirming the mission's completion, which appeared the instant Brund spoke.

-------<• >-------

[• Mission Complete! The mission <Surviving in The Sewers> has been successfully completed. The user has altered the fate of the city of Vandalor, and the system has granted the following rewards:

(> You have received 5 experience points. 5/100 to level up.)

{•> You have received <1 > Tier I Military Platform = Centinel Platform}

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After everything that had transpired and been discovered throughout the day, Gino felt that the only thing truly worthwhile from today's efforts was the experience and the system's reward. The hundred credits in his hand felt light and useless.

Even more so when Gino's own objectives required much more than that to bear fruit.

'It doesn't matter; step by step, I will make my way through Vandalor and earn my ticket to Terra.' Gino reassured himself as he made his way to The Guild's cafeteria.

Though the idea of piloting his own ship, won through the system in some mission, was more than tempting, Gino recognized that he had no idea how to pilot or navigate through space or the Warp.

Thinking that he could even handle a small atmospheric cargo ship without a shred of preparation was a notion that didn't even cross his mind. Even with his limited knowledge of Warhammer 40,000, he knew he didn't have the current skills or capabilities.

From now on, it was up to Gino to grind his way to the top and recognize any opportunities that might come his way in the future.

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