A Theory

"No problem. My monster was the one that cut you in the first place, so I'm partially responsible." 

Claire winced. "Ah. Yeah. Sorry again about your gopher." 

"I told you, it's fine. He'll be back soon enough." 

She sent him a doubtful look but didn't press the matter. "You're a summoner, then?" 

"An Evoker," Alex corrected, but it didn't look like the difference meant anything to her. Now that he knew Claire wasn't moments from betraying him, she was the best source of information he had. "Do you know anything about this place at all? How long have you been down here?" 

"I'm not sure. A few days at least. It's hard to keep track," Claire admitted. She shifted onto her knees and then rose up to her feet. "You'll see soon enough." 

"We'll find a way out," Alex said with more confidence than he felt. "Have you been down here alone this whole time? There isn't anyone else?" 

Claire's expression tightened and she looked to the side. "Not anymore. I — it doesn't matter, actually. There was someone else down here, but they died. It's just me now. You're the first new person I've seen." 

That wasn't good news, but Alex didn't let it hold him up. Information was just information. It was what they did with it that mattered. He clung to the trial that the System had given to him like a raft in a violent storm. 

There was no point giving a trial if it was impossible to accomplish. He just had to find out where the escape was. And, in the meantime, he had to learn everything about the System that he could. 

"Do you have a class?" Alex asked. 

"Yeah. Everyone does," Claire said with a sigh. "Mine is just kind of useless." 

"How so?" 

"I'm a Dhampir Warrior," Claire said dryly. "You saw when I took my bracelet off, didn't you?" 

Alex nodded. "Yeah. What about it? I've never heard of it. What can you do? If we're going to find a way out of here, it would help to know." 

"Here? Nothing. Literally nothing. Dhampirs are energy vampires." Claire rubbed at her teeth and let out a huff. "The problem is I can't eat any of the energy down here. Energy is stored in blood, and nothing down here has blood. I might as well not even have a class." 

"Wait. You're telling me you were a vampire before the System showed up?" 

"Dhampir," Claire corrected, an affronted note in her voice. "And yes. Why? What's wrong with that?" 

"Er… nothing, I suppose. We just didn't have anything like that on Earth." He scratched at his chin. It wasn't really all that much of a surprise if he thought about it. If there was magic in the universe, then it was perfectly realistic for there to be a world where both vampires — or Dhampirs — and matches existed. "No matter. Well… what can you tell me about the System? Anything useful?" 

"Kill stuff," Claire replied immediately. "It makes you stronger. Any challenge related to what you're aiming for does, really. I'm far from an expert on it." 

That caught Alex's attention. "Any challenge? What do you mean?" 

"The System is a sadist or something," Claire said with a snort. "The harder something you're doing is, the better the reward. We figured that out pretty quickly when the easy monsters stopped giving us energy when we killed them." 

"So it's measured by relative difficulty?" Alex asked, tilting his head to the side. He'd definitely gotten more energy from killing the Shade than he had from the Hauntling. 

Claire nodded. "Yup. As far as I know, at least. The first few days of the System's arrival were mostly a panicked blur. I really don't have that much time on you. Honestly, I'm surprised you're not a gibbering mess right now." 

"I'll save that for once we're out of here." Alex chewed his lower lip and looked over his shoulder at the street behind them. "If it's relative challenge… what would happen if you made a fight harder for yourself?" 

"I don't know. That sounds like a good way to get yourself killed. I don't know if you've noticed, but we aren't exactly in the right place to test that. The monsters here are nothing like they're supposed to be. There's something really bleeding wrong with them." 

"Yeah," Alex muttered. "I've gathered that much." 

His thoughts were still on her answer to his question. If the only thing that mattered was challenge, then it would make logical sense that making a fight harder would result in better rewards. A grin pulled at the corner of his lips. 

I can't just not test this out.  

"We should get moving," Alex said. He poked his head out of the doorway and glanced around the street to check for monsters. 

"To where?" Claire asked. "It's screwed everywhere… unless you happen to have an idea as to how we can get out of this hellhole?" 

Alex's eyes caught on the mountain in the distance once more. It towered over the city, crackles of purple energy dancing at its peak —the exact same color as the portals that the City-Eater Centipedes had been going through. 

"You know, I might just have an inkling." 

Chapter 7 

 

Alex and Claire remained in the house to rest for a little longer before leaving. Claire looked exhausted and definitely needed the breather, and Alex wasn't eager to press further without Glint to back him up. 

"So what does killing monsters actually get me?" Alex whispered from where he sat beside the Dhampir. "More abilities? Or is it more like levels?" 

"Just raw energy. It enters your soul and floats around in it until you refine it." 

Alex tilted his head to the side. "And how do I do that? I take it that refining the energy will somehow let me use it or the like?" 

"Yeah. You refine it by meditating, and it'll let you improve your soul's strength, gaining levels and eventually going up Stages. That's how I'm a Novice 3. Then you can use that refined energy to get or improve your Auxiliary Skills. You're Novice 1, so you have one of them, right?" 

"Yeah. Do I get one every level or something?" 

"You get one at Novice 2 and 3," Claire replied. "The strongest person I knew reached Novice 5, and he said that he got to upgrade them at 4 and 5. Apparently the upgrades were really useful, but I don't know much more than that. I guess we'll find out soon enough." 

"Good to know. And I can only refine energy when I meditate?" 

"Yep. It takes a while. At least it did for me. The System guided me through it my first time, so I'm sure it'll do the same for you as well." 

I'm not so sure. It hasn't given me much of anything other than errors so far.  

"Yeah, probably. I guess we'll see," Alex said. He felt a faint tingle at his side from his deck. He pulled Glint's card free to take a look at it. 

Spatial Mirror 

Stored Energy:  

Low Novice Grade (Shaded Hauntling) – 1  

Low-Mid Novice Grade (Shade) - 1 

Bonded Creature: Shardwalker  

"Ah. There we go," Alex said. He stretched his arms over his head, then rose to his feet and held a hand out to Claire. She took it, letting him pull her to her feet. 

/Author's Note///

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