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SoK Chapter 168
🕑 Added 2025-06-12 15:00:11 +0000 UTC***
With two sturdy packs stuffed with everything that his Skills and Occupation told him were the most valuable, TJ made his way back towards campus. He had a couple hours still to decide which options that were available to him were the best, and he figured that the longer he had outside of Divine Transformation, the more rational his thinking would be. More and more, he was feeling the influence of the coatl, or his Bloodline, whichever it was, while he used the Skill.
To be honest, he also felt it quite strongly while not transformed, but without the snake’s additional pressure, he could better push off the mania’s influence. Keeping Wind Manipulation whirling through the surroundings, TJ kept his head up and looked where he was walking. Off to the east he could see the mountains, and to the south was Four Peaks and Camelback. Each mountain peak was slowly changing, though. Only because he hadn’t been paying much attention these days was he able to realize that the mountains were shifting.
Camelback was growing into a range instead of a couple isolated peaks, while Four Peaks were becoming One, a thick circular cloud hovering above it without moving at all so far as he could see. Then, most strangely and concerning of all, the stretch of mountains to the east were glowing. Faintly, but TJ could see the smoke and lava.
“Was I right about the Pacific?” He wondered aloud as he watched something large move on one of the mountaintops. Through the smoke and distance, though, TJ couldn’t tell what it was other than mobile. Something to avoid, then. Maybe a Silver or Gold tier? He almost hoped it was Gold, since that would mean that it couldn’t wander, at least for now. A Gold lava monster trailing through the city… it would destroy everything in its path. There simply wouldn’t be any way around it.
Pulling his attention back to the fight he’d just completed, TJ wondered to the System, “Why was the Vargr way more dangerous than the Chieftain was? Even the regular minotaurs seemed less dangerous to me than the asanbosams were.”
There are creatures created by the System which are not combatants. The Vargr is a monster created and blessed by Fenrir, the Sky Devouring Wolf. Its Skills and Attributes were specialized for battle. On the other hand, until they were largely eradicated as a tribe, the Tempe Minotaurus Encampment was a dangerous but potentially friendly tribe of individuals. They could communicate and were not exclusively made and bred for battle. Some scant few of their number grew as combatants, and you killed their few combat-focused individuals. Those whose strength was underwhelming was due to their being Occupation-focused individuals.
Despite himself, TJ felt his stomach twist. He knew they’d killed people, children even. It was stupid that he cared at all. Even so, the thought that he’d slaughtered a bunch of creatures that didn’t want to fight and wouldn’t have fought if he didn’t push them was uncomfortable. As the coatl in him sneered at their weakness, TJ pushed that feeling down, more and more hating these changes in himself. He’d said he’d become a monster for Junior and his future, but was this what that felt like? That twisting of the knife as you thought of your past self and how far from him you’d become?
TJ walked quietly back to campus, his attention partially taken by ensuring his travels were safe and partially taken by deliberately looking at any and everything that could take his attention away from his thoughts. Back at campus, he could let himself wallow in any stupid sentimentality as he tried to rip it from his conscience. Until then, he needed to try to keep his bleeding heart silent and his eyes peeled.
A couple monsters, mostly strangely twisted versions of the creatures that already lived in the area, like geckos the size of a dog, dogs the size of wolves, and dive-bombing pigeons that really wanted to eat his eyes. All were Dirt tier, and other than the pigeons, they all fled in his presence. The pigeons died to idle blades of wind that blasted them from the sky. He tried to use lightning as well, but it was particularly uncooperative, even though there remained some smell of ozone in the air. It seemed to be telling him, “Take the Skill, it’s the best option you’re gonna get.”
Eventually, he made his way back to campus and forced himself to stand tall, to walk purposefully, and project confidence. The petty fears and so on that were currently plaguing him didn’t matter, not really. Instead, he needed every one of Sven’s people to respect and possibly fear him. If they didn’t, then he’d be in much deeper water than he already was. Fortunately, nobody stopped him, though several of the citizens nearby gave him strange, possibly unwelcoming looks.
That didn’t matter. Instead, TJ made a beeline for his room, where he could figure out what he was going to do next. There, too, were going to be some people he could at least talk and counsel with, instead of just stumbling blindly around. As he made his way into the room, he couldn’t help but feel a little of the fog of the day burn away from quiet, contented conversation.
“It was pretty big, but we’d seen TJ fight one.” Mimi was saying. Her voice dripped with forced confidence. “We knew what its main Skill was, so we just kept away from its head while it bit. Got a little dangerous, but not too bad. Sam was good at keeping the mouth busy while I kept stabbing it. Kinda weird to kill it with a weapon made from one of its kinds’ bodies.”
“Not really.” Seth chuckled. “I killed the Boss of our Tutorial with a weapon made from its lesser versions. Kinda fun if you ask me. Maybe poetic justice or something like that?”
“I thought TJ killed it…” Sam said, sounding disappointed.
“No, it was Seth here.” Sarah laughed. “Sure, TJ made the weapon, held the Boss down, took care of its minions, and took the brunt of the damage while keeping it from eating more corpses to get back to peak condition, but Seth here was the real MVP when he picked up TJ’s weapon and stabbed the monster.”
“I mean,” TJ interrupted as he walked in, “that’s severely understating the help that Stanton and Lailani and the rest of you gave. Honestly, I think Stanton was the number 1 in that fight. Suzie was able to do some massive ranged damage to take care of so much of the biggest issues that we could have encountered.”
“Who’s Suzie?” Mimi asked, looking confused.
“What he named his gun.” Sarah answered as TJ tried to find a place to set his materials and himself in the cramped room. There were so many people in here, and Luz was grumpily looking for him. In the end, TJ sighed and tossed the pack of items into the bathroom and kicked the door shut.
“Is Stanton… kind of a crazy guy? One of those preppers?”
“I don’t think so.” TJ shrugged. Luz held her arms out to him and he picked her up as he cooed and poked her nose. “I think he just likes guns. My understanding is that the gun he came into the Tutorial with was his daily concealed carry?”
“Yes.” Farid agreed. “He was happy that he had it with him. That is why he made the Skill decisions that he did.”
“Yeah, anyways,” TJ continued, “Stanton was a huge help in the final siege and battle. Lailani too, since she took care of the Chindis basically all by herself, and they… well, they were the worst.”
Farid and Sarah both nodded in agreement. Sam and Mimi looked curious, but they didn’t answer immediately. Instead, TJ looked around the room.
“Disregarding telling tales of days gone by and so on, have you all heard about what’s happening tomorrow?”
“We’re getting the boot?” Sam shrugged. “Not too far off of what we were getting before all this.”
“Not quite, but honestly not that far off. I don’t mind having every one of you come with me to wherever I end up going, or even a couple people you want to bring along, but honestly, I think your lives would probably be a lot easier if you were to just stick around here. I don’t want you to think you’re betraying me or my feelings or whatever if you decided to stick around here because this is a better fit for you. I can guarantee that we won’t have the same amenities that everyone’s getting around here, and I’m gonna have expectations of you all while we’re there. Altogether, it’ll be a harder time. So—”
“Yeah, we get it, you’re a negative Nancy. That’s life.” Sarah interrupted with a wide, lazy grin. “You’re not scaring me off that easily. I don’t think anyone here isn’t aware that following you is a choice, and what the options are around here. Frankly, though, now that I’ve been here, I really don’t want to stick around. While I was sleeping, it almost felt like there was something pulling me deeper and deeper into the bed. It was weird, and I don’t like it. I wonder if it's some Occupation thing from the leader here, but whatever it was, it gave me the creeps, and I wouldn’t want to stick around for any longer than was absolutely necessary.”
“I agree.” Farid echoed to TJ’s surprise. “There is something off about the cycle here, though what I can’t tell. Perhaps you have been here long enough that the effect is less noticeable to you, but whatever the case is, I want to follow you away. And soon.”
“I kinda felt that way,” Seth said, “but I wasn’t sure if it’s just because of Gus being here.”
TJ investigated his own feelings as they all said as much. Maybe the reason why he was always wanting to be out, to go hunt or be anywhere but here, was that because of this miasma or whatever that was here? Maybe. But if it was, it was subtle. It could…
“Maybe that’s why Sven has been visiting me so frequently.” TJ muttered to himself, and the quiet conversation in the room went entirely silent. “If he’s reapplying some affliction that I can’t see every time we come in contact, then that would explain why he’s so desperate to keep me around, to get me under his thumb.”
The idea enraged him, and TJ nearly stormed out of the building to go fight, if not even kill Sven for the audacity. Instead, though, he breathed deeply and let the air carry out the worst of his stress as he breathed out. Then, with gritted teeth and another meditative breath, he asked the System, “am I currently suffering from any afflictions?”
There are no detectable afflictions affecting you at this time.
He instinctively understood that the reason why the System specified “detectable” was because of his own internal qualifications he’d applied to the question. He didn’t know. If there was something, it was subtler, and potentially more insidious than the Chindi’s.
“Fuuuuuu…” He breathed out the curse. “I don’t know. As far as I can tell, there’s no way to know for sure. I think you all’ve probably got the right of it, but there's nothing I can do about it right now without just starting an all-out fight with Sven and his lackeys. I’m not willing to do that over no evidence, especially since it generally seems harmless at this point. I know another person whose Occupation gave them the option to promote friendliness in the area, and if it’s something like that, then I wouldn’t want to stop it.”
Then, after sighing, he continued, “But I don’t want to stick around here any longer. If you or anyone you care about want to come with, just say the word, because there isn’t much time left.”
