This time, there was no levitating or flying through space. One moment Erik was standing in front of the faux-ATM and trying to digest his intake summary report, the next he was standing on a large platform, surrounded by all manner of… people? Monsters?
Erik staggered at the sudden change in scenery, falling into a large creature that looked like a bright blue sasquatch. The creature didn’t budge as Erik fell into him. Straightening quickly, Erik looked up to see the creature looking down at him with a clear look of disdain.
“Er, sorry about that.” Erik said as he tried to get his bearings.
The creature grunted, then looked forward and walked away.
In fact, everyone around Erik was walking off of the platform and towards the center of a large room. It was perhaps slightly smaller than the waiting area he had just been in.
From his vantage point Erik could see that platforms just like the one upon which he was standing were placed all around the room—and all of them seemed to be in the process of filling up or emptying. At this point, he was alone on the platform.
His gaping was interrupted by a bored sounding voice calling out, “Off the platform, next port in thirty seconds.”
Erik looked at the entirely normal looking human woman in a gray jumpsuit for half a moment too long before realizing she was speaking to him.
“Ah sorry…” he muttered, before hustling forward and off of the metallic platform. He walked over to the woman, intent on asking some questions.
As if recognizing that he had questions for her, the woman adopted a weary expression. She eyed him up and down, taking in his pajamas and lack of shoes but said nothing.
“Hi… is this Planet 303?” In a daze, he looked around the room as he asked.
Her loud snort drew his eyes back to her. She was looking slightly incredulous. Speaking slowly, as if Erik were an idiot, she replied, “This is a transfer hub. Head that way.” She pointed across the room at a small crowd standing in front of a closed door.
Erik glanced over at the crowd before turning back to ask her for more information.
She was already walking away.
Figures. The first human I run into out here and she’s totally apathetic. Was she the equivalent of space TSA?
Sighing, Erik made his way over the group the woman had indicated before her abrupt departure. He wove his way through the crowd of alien creatures and humanoids without trying to take in what he was seeing. He was afraid that if he slowed down and tried to understand any of what was happening his mind would break.
The room was noisy and everyone seemed to be hurrying from one place to another. There were lines formed up in front of various platforms that he now believed were teleporters, and as he walked past the nearest line a commotion broke out.
The blue sasquatch he had bumped into earlier appeared to be trying to cut in front of a small reptilian man dressed in tight fitting brown clothes with an array of daggers belted to his waist and chest. With a wave of his massive arm, the sasquatch made to sweep the lizard man away like an irritating fly, only for it to miss entirely.
Reacting with a speed that Erik couldn’t comprehend, the lizard man had simply appeared on the sasquatch’s back. Two of its daggers were buried in the blue monster’s eyes. As it fell forward the lizard man withdrew the daggers and jumped nimbly to the ground.
The sasquatch lay, unmoving and clearly dead as a silence descended in the immediate area. Erik stared in total shock. It had all appeared to happen in an instant. The lizard-man wiped his daggers coolly on the sasquatch’s fur before sheathing them. Then, he returned to his place in line as if nothing had happened.
The silence was broken by the appearance of two people at the lizard-man's side. Both wore black robes and had bone-white masks with intimidating geometric designs on them. Before the lizard-man could react, it was knocked unconscious, cuffed, and collared by one of the humanoids. Straightening, the masked man looked around before disappearing with the lizardman.
The other man was examining the sasquatch’s body, taking notes in a small notepad with a tiny pencil. Nodding to himself, he pocketed his notepad and straightened, his gaze never leaving the body. He waved a hand, and it disappeared. Almost immediately after, so did he.
People began to speak again, and he saw several people shaking their heads and making expressions of irritation—as if the entire affair had been an inconvenience. One woman made what must have been a humorous remark to her companion, who was laughing heartily. The line reformed and continued to advance under the direction of another grey-suited employee. The blood that had pooled out from the sasquatch had disappeared with the body, but its iron tang still lingered in the air.
Erik’s mind reeled.
Okay so don’t cut in line. And don’t… kill people in public, I guess?
The actions of the two masked men had made this clear, but the reactions of the bystanders had been far more telling. Erik had not failed to notice that no one had seemed particularly bothered by the violence or death itself—in fact, several had found it amusing. Rather, most people simply seemed annoyed by the fact that it caused a small delay in the line.
Imitating the people around him, he continued on his way towards the crowd by the door. They did not seem to have noticed what had happened, and he slowed as he approached. The last thing he wanted was to draw attention to himself. He felt very vulnerable in this odd place.
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A harried looking gray-suited official stood directly in front of the door, speaking to the crowd.
“... one more person. It doesn’t matter who you—” he cut off as his eyes landed on Erik, and then he quickly raised a hand to cut off a red-faced human man who appeared ready to start on a rant. He was dressed in robes of gold and white, with elegant patterns Erik couldn’t quite make out. They were clearly expensive.
“Good. We’re all here now.” He glanced down at a clipboard Erik hadn’t noticed before and made some sort of mark with a tiny pencil.
What’s with the tiny pencils everywhere?
“Let’s get going, you’ll need to go through basic orientation before we send you down to 303.” Having said that, he turned and walked to the door, quickly opening it and walking through, as though eager to escape his previous conversation.
The red-faced man shot Erik a dirty look but said nothing, hurrying after the official. His robes swished dramatically as he stalked forward, and people seemed to give him a bit of space before following. Being the last one to arrive, Erik brought up the rear.
Once through the door, he found himself in yet another unremarkable waiting area, with harsh lighting and uncomfortable looking chairs.
Who the hell is designing these places, anyways.
As the people—many of which were not human—found chairs to sit in, Erik found himself forced to sit in the only open chair. It was in the front row, and next to the grumpy man from the previous room. The man was young, but wore an expression that said he demanded respect.
Erik nodded to him politely, and the man looked him up and down. His expression tightened and he opened his mouth to say something before he stopped himself. He glanced over at the official and then back at Erik, as if reconsidering something. Then, with no comment, he looked away.
Erik instantly disliked him.
The official took his place in the front of the room and began speaking without waiting for the room to quiet down. He simply droned on over everyone else, his voice carrying throughout the room and somehow clearly audible even over the noise of people settling in and several quiet conversations.
“Welcome to the orientation for Planet 303. My name is Galdus, and I’ll be giving you a quick overview so you know what to expect.”
“We already know what to expect”, someone called out from further back in the room.
Galdus simply continued without acknowledging the comment. His tone implied that this was a speech he had given many times before, without variations. “Training planets, like this one, exist to help cultivators get started on their path. As unsparked candidates, you are all here because your family or sponsors have secured you this opportunity. Once ignited, you’ll become cultivators in truth.” The man’s eyes briefly lighted on Erik and something in his expression suggested that he knew this was not why Erik was here.
Was it common knowledge?
“On this world, there will be many opportunities to build a strong foundation for your cultivation. As you know, the opportunity is not available to all citizens so be sure to make the most of it.”
Erik could feel as the crowd settled in to endure what was winding up to be a long speech. It was a vibe that was almost comforting in its familiarity; the room felt like a class settling in for a boring lecture.
Contrary to the general mood, Erik was excited. Perhaps now he would have a chance to get some answers.
“While most of you will have some knowledge of how things work here, I will be outlining everything clearly so everyone knows the rules.”
Galdus’ eyes briefly darted to the youth next to Erik as he continued, “In your time here, you will all be required to perform system-mandated duties. You’ll all be assigned an ongoing role at whatever facility you are placed at. Most of these are mundane tasks, including maintenance and physical labor, while others can involve tasks such as culling local monster populations or tending crops. Failure to complete your assigned tasks will result in punitive action by the System or possibly expulsion from the planet, depending on severity and frequency of the problem.”
Erik’s eyebrow rose at the word ‘monster’, though no one else batted an eye at it.
“This service will result in weekly allotments of credits that you can use to purchase equipment, medical services, and, of course, cultivation resources. Quests are available for you to pursue in your free time, and you are encouraged to do so once you have settled in. There is no quicker way to earn credits. Though, as you all no doubt know, these are highly competitive and typically dangerous.”
“All zones are tier-restricted, and some have an associated credit cost to enter them. It will likely be some time before any of you are able to move past your starting zone. While advancement is obviously the goal here, remember that the system will be monitoring your advancement. We recommend working with your groupmates, at least initially. You’ll get a better idea of who they are next week, when you have your initiation tournament. Participation is, of course, mandatory. Killing is strongly discouraged.”
Erik glanced around the room and noticed a variety of reactions. Many, like the man next to him, had varying degrees of smug self-assurance on their faces. Some looked bored, and one blue demon man looked half asleep. Erik was wearing his neutral work expression, trying to appear attentive without showing outward signs that all of this was shocking to him.
Killing is strongly discouraged. Those words shook him, and his mind couldn’t help but go back to the image of the blue sasquatch, dead and lying in a pool of blood not ten minutes ago.
“Now, I’ll walk down the rows and I need you each to touch the system scanner so we can assign you your base, work assignments, and accommodations. You’ll have to share apartments at first, though once you have more credits you can get access to better housing.”
The last elicited a few grumbles and the grouchy man shifted in his seat, but Galdus ignored them and conjured an orb of dull white light seemingly from thin air and began walking down the rows. As he passed, people would pass their hand through the light before sitting back and adopting the expression of someone reading.
When it came to Erik, he tried to suppress his rapidly beating heart and passed his hand through the light with a forced air of casualness.
Touching this creepy white magic orb is probably fine, right? Didn’t seem to bother anyone else…
Galdus had held an unbroken stare on the orb since the start of this strange, quiet ritual scanning of the room. He had silently stalked up the rows, without having to look where he was going at all, utterly engrossed in the white light.
However, when Erik’s hand passed through the orb Galdus stumbled slightly. He glanced at Erik briefly, tilting his head to the side. Then, without a word, he continued to the next person.
As curious as Erik was about what had just happened, his attention was already captured by the blue screen floating in front of his face.
PLANET 303 — INTAKE COMPLETE
User: Erik Carlson
Status: Active Trainee
Tier Classification: Seed (Unignited)
Assigning base accommodations
Assigning service duties
…
[Custodian clearance verified]
[Modifying assignments]
Accommodation Assignment: Administrative Lodging [Legacy Allocation]
Location: Zone C-7
Service Assignment: Deferred
“Orientation is now complete. Good luck out there.”
Those were the final words Erik heard from Galdus before the world went dark.
