Chapter 6 – Coaching

Heart pounding, Luke was still riding high on adrenaline from the battle. That was probably for the best, considering that at any moment, those flying monsters could swoop back in through the tower’s open pillars on the top floor.

He kept a watch out for any incoming threats while moving with haste. Luke looted the body of every slain monster there, hoping to find some more useful items.

He would use anything and everything he could get his hands on. They weren’t back in the office anymore. Earth was already a distant memory.

Monsters and magic were real. And they were in incredible danger. Sooner rather than later, those things–which had likely been roosting here–were going to come back.

Luke intended to be scarce when they did.

His group needed to get off this floor, and fast. Except only a few of them weren’t injured. Alice was able to heal the worst of the injuries, but there was only so much she could do with the magic at her disposal.

The Gladiator hadn’t woken up yet. And in that heavy metal armor, she was even more difficult to carry.

Dexter, his arm in a makeshift sling, helped Luke carry the unconscious Gladiator down the steps. Luke’s macabre sense of humor almost slipped out in the form of a joke about the Gladiator’s lost arm, making her light enough to carry.

Considering the sour looks he was getting, Luke didn’t think that would go over very well. Besides, it wasn’t as if he was the reason Tracy lost her arm. He was already chalked up as dead by the time that happened.

His sudden rise in power was exhilarating. Though even with some levels under his belt, he still struggled to carry the woman with Dexter’s help.

He barely noticed the blood seeping through the side of his black cloak, but their lone Healer did. Alice, who hadn’t hovered over him like a helicopter parent since they had arrived, had finally noticed him.

Really noticed him.

“Luke, you’re hurt!” She sounded so tired.

The glow of magic radiating out of her outstretched hands slowly knit up his injury. It didn’t work like he would have expected.

Rather than knit up the wound on its own, he felt all the little scraps, cuts, and bruises from his fighting heal equally, as if his body was repairing itself back to 100% without any concept of prioritizing the worst injuries.

Looking at Alice’s grief-stricken face, Luke almost wished he had picked Healer as his class too. But that wasn’t Luke’s path. He wouldn’t have been able to defeat all those dire bats if all he had was healing magic.

Healing was useful, but as Jeff had illustrated, they were weak and easy to pick off. It was clear that the group had learned from Jeff’s death, but that was a hard lesson to learn. Not only because they were down a Healer, but the loss of Jeff likely was the reason they lost the other 3.

Luke didn’t know the Rogue or the other Warrior, but he knew Alden Tate. He didn’t exactly like him,but that didn’t mean the guy deserved to die.

Once they were down on the lower floor, a few of those better off bustled around setting up areas for people to rest at with whatever could be scavenged.

There wasn’t much here except for the remains of Luke’s fight with the red-eyed beast, but it was more defensible than the top and there were a few tables that weren’t smashed to flinders that they could put some of the unconscious survivors on.

The window was smashed in, but they were able to stack some debris to cover it up. It wouldn’t resist one of those things trying to force their way in, but their group would escape notice easier.

Luke was about to head upstairs when John grabbed his arm. “We need to talk,” he hissed in his best “I’m doing you a favor by talking to you instead of yelling in front of everybody” voice.

A glance at the other members of their group showed everything from pity to open disgust and a few glares of genuine anger.

For looting a body that was already dead? Luke thought to himself. He kept his own counsel though and let John lead him back up to the upper floor, where they were just out of earshot of the people below, but not fully onto the exposed floor.

There was plenty of light, and Luke was still on high alert, but he couldn’t see any sign of the bats.

He knew this was a waste of time when he could be looking over his logs and picking his stats. He tried to keep that sentiment from showing on his face. Everybody was having a hard time adjusting. It had barely been any time at all since they were initialized into the System.

It wasn’t their fault they failed to adapt as fast as he did. Sometimes it was hard to remember that.

“Listen, I know you did what you thought was right, but you can’t just go off and do whatever you want, Luke. There are rules that we need to follow. Society isn’t gone just because we aren’t on Earth anymore. There’s a social contract we all need to keep intact or else we’ll devolve into savages…”

The entire time that John lectured him in that altruistic, ultra-patient tone of his, Luke couldn’t help but think that his lone battle with a monster much stronger than himself had been infinitely easier than that mess he returned to.

Half the time he was busy dodging his supposed ally’s attacks.

John eventually wound down, watching Luke to see if his message of “don’t loot the dead bodies because we should bury them” sunk in.

An imp of the perverse tickled Luke for a moment and it was all he could do to not walk over to the remaining bodies and loot them right in front of John.

“Can you at least understand that we are resource poor and need to pool everything we can before we are forced to fight some other unholy abomination?” Luke asked in his best level-headed tone.

John’s biggest issue was that he was nice. He genuinely wanted to help people, so it made it hard to hate the guy even when he was being an idiot and failing to see the writing on the wall flashing like a neon sign.

It would be like kicking a puppy.

“Yes, Luke, I can see that. But we can do it respectfully. These people were our coworkers, our friends. They had family and loved ones. You just… you made a body disappear, Luke. Please tell me you understand how messed up that looks.”

When you put it that way… “Yeah, I get it,” Luke said tersely. “I still don’t think I did anything wrong. We don’t exactly have a shovel to bury these people, and spending time rolling their bodies doesn’t seem much more respectful.” He took a deep breath. “But I do see where you’re coming from.”

John pinched the bridge of his nose, a clear sign he was frustrated and burned out. “Thank you. And you’re right, going through their pockets is not much better. But it is less unsettling. I know the difference might not seem like much, but there is a difference, Luke. Jeff was a good guy, a little high-strung, but good.” He gestured to the Warrior–what was left of him–at the center of the circular room. “Michael had three kids, Luke! What will we tell his family if his body is gone because you looted it?”

He knew what John wanted. He wanted a suitably chastened Luke who thought about his actions. The problem was, he had thought about his actions and still believed they were right. “We can at least survive long enough to tell his family.”

“And when they ask what happened to his body?” John pressed.

“Say it’s buried under a pile of rocks,” Luke told him with a shrug. He was suddenly so tired of this. This was nothing like the high of fighting. This was… like the office politics were back. That world was destroyed, gone, forever lost. Good riddance.

This new world was different, exciting, and Luke wasn’t going to let the old stale traditions drag him to an early grave.

He never had much of a mind for what his future might have in store for him back on Earth, but here… here he was truly free.

Only they want to put you into a cage and make you act like this is all a temporary thing and everything will be fine soon.

Luke wasn’t going to put up with it anymore.

“That would be lying,” John told him.

“You think they’d check?” Luke couldn’t stop himself from asking. “Give them comfort if that’s what is truly important to you, but don’t harm our survival out of misplaced traditions. This is a battlefield, John. We aren’t doing a stand-up at the office. This isn’t a place for a scrum meeting. There are no deliverables here. We’re fighting for our lives, and the sooner you all understand that, the more likely we’ll get out of here alive!”

Luke hadn’t meant to, but by the end, his anger had gotten the better of him and he realized he was shouting. A glance down the stairs showed a cluster of gawkers watching them.

He went on in a more measured tone.

“We need to take care of ourselves,” Luke pointed out. “Find somewhere safe, because this sure isn’t it. Secure food and water. Watch out for threats, pick our stats and prepare ourselves. These should be our priorities, because I seriously doubt those monsters are the only things out to kill us. It’s not just going to be more monsters, it’s going to be people too.”

“Just… think about what I said, all right?” John said limply.

Luke hated himself for the way he snapped at the guy, but John needed to be shaken up a bit. People had just died because they didn’t have the sense to do something as simple as keep quiet for a few minutes.

Heading down the stairs, Luke found a quiet, dark section of the floor to sit down and go over his notifications during the battle. Something was nagging him. Judging by that warm fuzzy feeling all over, he had leveled up again.

It was at odds with the guilt and shame that felt like a heavy lead ball in the pit of his stomach. It wasn’t as if he had mutilated the body or anything. Looting certainly seemed a cleaner way of disposal than anything they were equipped to do.

There was another grim possibility that Luke hadn’t brought up. Dead bodies could potentially attract monsters.

You have defeated [Dire Bat - Level 1]. Bonus experience split between party members for group combat. Extra experience gained for slaying an enemy above your level. 1 LP obtained.

You have defeated [Dire Bat - Level 2]. Bonus experience split between party members for group combat. Extra experience gained for slaying an enemy above your level. 1 LP obtained.

You have defeated [Dire Bat - Level 2]. Bonus experience split between party members for group combat. Extra experience gained for slaying an enemy above your level. 1 LP obtained.

Luke noticed something odd about the defeat notifications. The monsters were referenced as level 1 or 2, but his Rogue class was the same level. At least, at the time.

So why exactly was he getting extra experience for that? It seemed like it was based on his race level, not his class level.

He continued going over his prompts.

Level Up! Your [Rogue] Class has reached Level 3.

Stat points earned: +2 Strength, +3 Dexterity, +1 Perception, +1 Free Point.

Three kills and only one level? That didn’t seem right.

Dexter quietly pumped his good arm. “Level two, baby!” he had the good graces to at least keep a lid on his voice so it barely carried.

Though Luke was farther away from the group–which suited him just fine–he could pick up that anybody who survived the fight was at most level 2.

Something wasn’t adding up.