[SD:M/H] Getting Out - Chapter 6

Gem looked down at their new ring and was mildly shocked, though they had been expecting something after Crystal called attention to it. So yeah, it now looked like a stylized frog, because of course it did. “Cool. So what needs to be done now?”

Crystal shrugged, “You need to escape? Good thing we have a few hidden ways out you can use. If you’re the type, consider staying outside of the city for a week. By then, a new batch will be dropped off here and drawing all the attention.”

Gem squinted at her, “The guide said something about sticking around the city and doing minor quests. Why the different advice?”

Crystal raises an eyebrow and gestures at Gem. “That advice must have been given before you turned into that. Alignment species get snapped up. Since you haven’t joined anyone yet, I have to assume that like most Chaotics you don’t want to.”

Crystal shoves a stack of crates to the side and reveals a tunnel. “So that changes things. Leave through here and get as close to a gate as you can, then run for it when they find you. They can’t force you to join, but they can definitely pressure you.

“To be honest, this is a bit of a game for those that deal with new players. Some try to recruit the special cases and others make sure the players get what they want. So since you want to escape them, I’m going to help you in what ways I can within reason.

“Right now, the recruiters are winning. Though it isn’t all that fair since the last five randoms that got a locked alignment were some flavor of order. Of course, they were going to join a group! They wouldn’t be ordered if they didn’t. Now run along, if you stick here too long they’ll accuse me of cheating.”

Gem rolls their eyes, “Sounds stupid, but I would like to avoid the crowd. Maybe I’ll see you later.” And Gem jumped down the tunnel in the floor.

The drop isn’t far, but by the time Gem hits the ground, the crates up top had been pushed back into place. The tunnel is pitch black for a moment. When with a flicker, magical lights come to life on the right wall.

That’s cool, but Gem has one more thing to do before walking for an indeterminate amount of time. “System, show me what I missed.”

{

Lesser Mana Control acquired

}

“Huh, managed to rate lesser instead of minor. That’s nice.” Gem waves away the blue screen and begins to walk.

Though it isn’t long before something new comes into view. To the left there is a doorway, except it is filled in with solid stone. Weird, but not a way out so they continue.

These doorways continue to pop up every minute or so, always to the left. Then Gem almost misses it, but there is an open doorway. A glance in reveals what some might call a staircase, but Gem classifies as a slightly angled ladder.

Gem shrugs, this must be the way out and so climb up the ladder. It leads to a small closet of space with a single door with one of those spy hole things that let you see who is on the other side of the door. A handy addition for this situation and so Gem gladly takes a peek through.

Oh look, there are a trio of people loitering around. Gem shakes their head and retreats down the ladder.

After that, they climb up two more ladders, before they come across a door without people waiting on the other side. This doesn’t mean it is safe, just that whoever is watching is clever enough to not reveal themselves. Whatever the case, Gem decides the risk is worth it.

With a light push, the door swings open with nary a sound. Not because it was maintained, the door would stick out like a sore thumb in that case. But because the hinges had some kind silencing magic on them.

After a quick look to both sides and directly up, Gem rushes out and practically dives behind a pile of boxes. It was slightly farther away, but no way in hell were they going to be caught dead driving behind a trash pile, especially since most of the trash is food waste. They wait a beat to see if someone appears out of nowhere and then with great haste sneaks from alley to alley.

This gets them pretty far, but for safety reasons alone, there is no direct way to get to the gates through the alleys. All they can do is get close, before pausing at the edge of a busy road. Moments pass as they wait, only for a break to open up in the crowd that they jump right into. The people behind them notice that they just joined the crowd, but not from where and having avoided the food waste, Gem doesn’t have any pungent odor to give themselves away. Though their giggling at having gotten away with it doesn’t do them any favors.

Of course, things had been going too easy so within sight of the gate, Gem was spotted. To be fair, the number of gates out is small, so easy to monitor. Also, they aren’t exactly blending in with the crowd.

Anyway, no one at this gate has the authority to actually close the gate or even stop those exiting. They do have more than enough people to turn and carol Gem away from it. Except that is only assuming that they feel obligated to keep to social norms.

So when Gem sees how things are going, they instantly ignore that nonsense and starts bull-ing their way through the crowd. Though once again, there are only so many gates to leave the city, so even if you can just walk out, things are crowded to the point of a slow walk at best, even if you’re one to shove your way through.

Welp, up and over it is! The people making their way to Gem have begun to shout at them how so and so wants to talk to them. And as Gem reaches the first, they shout, “Sorry, what? Can’t hear you!”, as they take a jump and step on one of their heads.

Gem, of course, isn’t going to submit those simply trying to get through to this indignity, so is soon back on the ground. Except by this point, a lot of people had noticed the ruckus and turned around to look. So when they see them heading right at their location, they wisely make way.

Gem books it at this point, making it to the gate in moments that would have likely taken minutes. The guards standing at the gate don’t try to stop them, but Gem does notice some coins being exchanged, because of course they would know about them. The only question on Gem’s mind being if they had been betting on if this would be the gate or if they would make it at all.

Then Gem is out of the city and running right towards the nearby forest. Behind them, a bunch of people stop before leaving the gate, not wanting to deal with waiting to reenter. One of them who seems the most important shouts after Gem, “Why are you even running? Our masters only want to talk to you!”

Gem doesn’t turn around so they don’t don’t see them roll their eyes, “Did you say something? Can’t hear you!”

As if Gem was some newb without an idea of how this worked! They had spent days designing so many characters, so how likely do you think it was that they hadn’t spent at least that much time looking into the random option? As long as Gem doesn’t acknowledge having heard them, Gem was simply rushing to grind out in the forest. If they had heard those people, though?

Well, Gem is just a low level player and they represent big shot nobles and organizations! So they better go and listen to all of those people who want to “sponsor” them. And if Gem decided not to go with any of the groups or people? Well, life wasn’t going to be easy until they could escape to another city.

And yes, this was a game, so if this wasn’t to your taste, you had options. For instance, start a new character and don’t choose random, because the random option will put you right back where you were. See, this nonsense was part of the inherent balancing the game included to make up for the fact that random characters could be so powerful right from the start.

Gem, however, was going for option two. The wild child route! Go out into the wilderness and forge your own path, avoiding cities and only stopping at small towns until you’re strong enough in either power, fame, or some other noble recognized way. That or make yourself a liability. Gem didn’t want to pigeon hole themselves, but...

Anyway, they made it to the forest and with their B rank body were still fresh and full of vigor to start bashing on things. With magic. They learned magic to use it.

Not that they were alone, this was a forest a short run away from where new players get dumped. There were rabbits, foxes, and so many players who were more animal than the monsters. Gem had read that the devs ended up making these forests unreasonably thick with trees just to hide how many monsters were shoved into the area and they were willing to believe it!

In the short time they had been running deeper into the forest, Gem had passed ten people and over twenty monsters. That’s crazy density! Good thing the SAI who made it all didn’t have to follow things like the food web when needed.

Then Gem ran into a boar. Maybe they shouldn’t have been looking over at that fox they just passed and kept their eyes forward? Anyway, neither of them were quite sure what to do about this. It isn’t every day a player accidentally crashes into a monster at a survivable speed. Most accidental person on monster collisions involve one side not surviving it.

Though Gem might not survive this in the end, anyway! The boar got its act together a lot quicker and went for a gore attack. This snapped Gem out of it and they jumped over the monster, using its back as a springboard, into a flip that landed them on their feet.

The aerobatics were a bit misplaced at this time as, by the time they were facing the boar again, it had turned around as well.

Wind Blade to the face!

The boar’s snout is scratched by this, and Gem gets a sinking feeling. Maybe there was a reason they had seen so many rabbits and foxes, but no boars? At least not until just now, having gotten deeper into the forest.

“Hey, idiot! What are you doing out here?” A voice yells from up in the nearby tree.

Gem dodged the boar’s charge before looking up and finding a woman with short cropped blue hair that seemed to be a baseline human otherwise. “Probably the same as you? Not up in that tree for the fun of it, I bet!”

The woman snorts, “Well, come up and join me so we can be stupid together!”

Gem unleashes a barrage of weak Wind Blades at an adjacent tree as they run over to it. The blades are walked up the trunk, leaving furrows at a regular interval. Furrows that Gem then uses to get their butt up the tree pronto!

And not a second too soon as the boar crashes into the tree below them, almost knocking them off. Gem ignores it though, and continues climbing until they make it to a sturdy branch that can support them.

The woman nods, “Well that was clever enough. Almost makes me wonder how you could figure that out and yet be stupid enough to go too deep into the forest.”

Gem shrugs, “First day, and I didn’t want to join up with anyone back in town. Was running and ended up–”

The woman snorts, “Running into that boar, literally! One of the funniest things I’ve seen in the last hour. Though that might have more to do with the fact I’ve been stuck in this tree for a bit more than that.”

Gem smacks the branch they’re on, “At least the trees are sturdy! Now, since you know so much, why are you here? Like, I got into this mess by not looking where I’m going and just running into the unknown. You, though, claim to have known better.”

Learning A Spell - Chapter 5

Tongue Too Twisted - Chapter 7