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SoK Chapter 140
🕑 Added 2025-05-07 15:00:13 +0000 UTCTJ didn’t hesitate to summon a blade of wind just behind and above his head as he stepped in front of the other Participants. His Perception had slid over this person until he was aware of them, and he didn’t like that. It was probably a Stealth Skill or something adjacent to that, but he hated the idea of being surprised by anyone.
“Come out, there.” TJ said, looking directly at the corner of the house where he could feel the person’s presence.
“Not yet.” The woman replied, somehow making her voice sound like it was coming from the opposite side of the street. “I want to ask some questions first. Don’t do anything or else I’ll—”
“No.” TJ growled. With a thought, he made a lasso of wind around her and yanked her out into the open. Even with several hundred MP expended for the action, TJ didn’t mind as his eyes met their stalker’s. She was an ordinary looking woman, maybe early 20s, and what looked like an English longbow was in her hands. As she was forced out of her hiding place, her eyes opened wide and she looked everywhere in a panic.
“Happy to talk to you now.” TJ said as he Appraised the woman.
Acolyte, 23
Pretty high level. TJ wondered if she’d had as rough of a Tutorial as he had, given that she was as high level as she was. He’d guess that she was close to Copper tier, given the way she held herself.
“You–you shouldn’t do that!” The flustered woman replied. “I’m dangerous!”
“Yup.” TJ answered. “I am too. Now don’t do anything stupid or you’ll find you’re more injured than dangerous. Capische?”
She seemed to weigh her options before deflating and nodding. “Yeah, I got it.”
“So.” TJ drawled, “You wanted to know what we were doing?”
“Yeah. Yeah! This is the land claimed by the New Republic, and all resources found in our lands belong to us.”
“Is that so?” TJ chuckled. “Then I’d like to know where you get that authority. After all, I’m a sovereign citizen, and I am not under your jurisdiction.”
“Really?” The woman replied, shocked out of the formal tirade she was building herself into. “You’re one of those freaks? Laws still apply to you, even if you say they don’t, dumbass.”
The soft chuckling changed into full laughter, making TJ’s companions look at him strangely. He didn’t mind it, and sighed. “No, I’m not one of those people. I will tell you that I don’t recognize any authority from a ‘New Republic’ I’ve never heard of, though. Going off how close we are to campus, though, I’m gonna guess you’re Sven’s people?”
“You know Sven? Why didn’t you say so! I’m one of the new members of the Republic, so I wasn’t in your Tutorial. My name’s Maddie.” Her attitude shifted completely. “I haven’t heard many stories yet, so I’m sorry I don’t recognize you. What’s your name? Sorry, I got scared when I saw you were level 26. I just didn’t know what to do!”
“Sure.” TJ said. He figured it would be better not to correct this misunderstanding just yet, as it would let him get closer to Maddie and see how she and the others in Sven’s camp reacted when they saw someone who didn’t immediately fall in line. “I’m TJ.”
“I… I’m sorry. I don’t know your name.” Maddie apologized genuinely. “I only got to campus last night. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it.” TJ shrugged. “Lead the way. We wanted to check out what he’s managed to come up with so far.”
“Uh… huh.” Maddie answered, looking at TJ with a bit of confusion. He didn’t ask about it, though, and gestured with his head for her to continue walking. She did so, and while they continued forward, there were signs of hunting nearby. Splatters of blood but no human bodies. Fur here or there, a couple discarded feathers, things like that. Looking around, TJ didn’t see anyone in the houses they passed, and no sign of people living in there right now either.
“So… is this your family?” Maddie asked as they walked in silence. “Niece and nephew, maybe? Parents or in-laws?”
“Yeah, you can call us family if you want.” TJ said. “If there’s any complaints from these ones, though, I wouldn’t.”
“Nope!” Mimi said, holding her spear uncomfortably as they walked. “No complaints.”
Sam smiled while Roger and Susan shrugged, so TJ chuckled and figured he’d made the decision for everyone else.
“Sounds good. Found family in the Apocalypse. Sounds good.” Maddie repeated herself. She was… genuinely trying to have a conversation with him, and TJ felt a little bad. After all, she hadn’t done anything wrong except for being waspish when they’d met. That was far from a cardinal sin, and she didn’t deserve to be so obviously uncomfortable as they went back to a place she wanted to fit in at.
“Look, Maddie–”
“Find some strays, Maddie?” A loud male voice demanded as they walked across the street to get to ASU campus.
“No, this is TJ, from your Tutorial? Right, Gus?” She answered, though it seemed like she’d already suspected what she was about to learn.
“This guy’s not from our Tutorial. Are you stupid? How could you not know?”
“He knew who Sven was! I don’t know, were there other questions I was supposed to ask?”
“Look.” TJ interrupted both, stepping between them as he Appraised the man.
Zealot (Copper (I)), 26
He was tall and fair-skinned, his hair a light blonde. His eyes were dark, though TJ couldn’t say if that was because of the evolution to Copper tier or he was born that way. Something was stony gray in the brown of his iris, though. A shield appeared on his arm while he pulled a metal club from his waist.
“My name’s TJ. When I got back from the Tutorial, a guy said that Sven was going to be gathering people here on campus. Figured I’d swing by and see what’s up. Maddie was just being kind enough to bring me here. So, let me know what’s up, ok?”
“Shut up.” Gus snapped. “You don’t know what the difference is between you and me. And you need to surrender all that stuff you guys are carrying. It’ll go to the people who deserve it in here. Taxes, you know?” He grinned in a distinctly infuriating way. TJ nearly activated Divine Transformation and threw himself at the arrogant fool right away. Instead, he limited himself to speaking.
“Good for you, Mr. Barely got to Copper. How about this. You can collect some fuckin’ taxes when you’ve provided some fuckin value, how’s that sound? And yeah, I’m someone who knows you’re Copper while you’re too stupid and greedy to figure out I am?” TJ answered, his blood boiling. “Or were you too weak to?”
Saying that pulled Gus out of his anger immediately. His skin had flushed red with the fury of his emotions, but as soon as TJ said it, Gus grinned.
“My bad, man. I saw your level and figured you were Copper, but my Appraisal’s not able to check Tier. Figured if you were Copper, you’d get pissed by what I did.”
TJ sucked on his teeth, surprised at the sophistication of the plan. He filed that away for future use, but still was pissed at the demand for taxes right away. Gus continued speaking as TJ processed the way he’d just been spoken to.
“Looks like you were probably the strongest person in your Tutorial too if your Appraisal tells the tier of whoever you Appraise. We had a couple Neophytes in ours, and they were really impressive. Sven wished he could choose again when he saw what a Divine Transformation could do!”
“So he’s not?” TJ asked, trying to fish for information.
“Nope.” Gus didn’t seem to mind giving an answer. “Zealot, like me. He was offered a different kind of Class for being one of the first people to evolve, though. Didn’t take it, preferred what he took.”
“He was offered Overwhelming Origin?” TJ asked in disbelief.
“Oh, I’m speaking with one of his fellows!” Gus grinned wider. “Glad to hear it. We’re looking for more and more people who’re strong enough to protect campus while we make it a safe zone, and if we’ve got someone who was one of the first to get to Copper, then I’m sure it’ll go even better for us! Sven will want to meet you as soon as he can, and I’ll take you to him. Do you want your friends to come with as well? Frankly, because they’re so much weaker than you, they probably won’t be given the same benefits that you will, but if they can evolve soon, they’ll be among the elites!”
“I’m not sure if I’m sticking around.” TJ shook his head. “I just wanted to check things out.”
“Sure. Sure.” Gus grinned. He seemed like a happy guy, and sure that TJ would want to stick around. “Maddie, would you keep an eye out here? I’m gonna walk everyone in and introduce them to Sven and Raya and everyone.”
The confused Acolyte nodded before Gus tilted his head inward towards the main buildings and began leading the way. As they walked through campus, tall buildings surrounding them, TJ had a flashback to walking through the University he attended. He smiled, seeing that, though it wasn’t nearly as busy as it should have been in the middle of the day in the beginning of the semester, there were hundreds of people walking around. No monsters were around, either, and TJ hoped it could stay that way.
“Over there is where the… I think the Occupation is Horticulturist. Anyways, there’s where the people making crops and new magic plants and shit are. I know Sven was hoping we got some Farmers too, since that’d help a lot. Yeah, so, I think they’ve almost got some baby spinach or something growing, so that’s nice. There’s only so much meat you can eat before you just want something green, right? And over there is where we’ve got our Crafters and so on. Raya was saying something about a training ground, but Sven hasn’t made any decisions on that, since the more places we claim, the more we’ll need to defend, you know?”
Gus continued speaking, pointing out a couple places he thought might be of note, such as where everyone was sleeping, where they were putting excess items, and so on. After maybe five minutes of nobody but Gus talking, he asked, “So, what do you think?”
“Looks good.” TJ shrugged. “But really, the main reason why I’m here, and the main thing I wanted to check out, was the leadership. The world’s gone down the drain, and I don’t want to set down roots where there’s a weak or bad leader.”
“Well, if that’s your only concern, then welcome to the New Republic!” Gus laughed and clapped TJ on the back. TJ wasn’t too moved by the hit, and he was pretty sure that Gus had far fewer levels in the Copper tier. Even so, TJ didn’t know anything about his Class or anything else. As such, he kept his mouth shut and shrugged.
“We’ll see, Gus. Are we close to where Sven is?”
“I don’t think he’s gone out yet today, so he should be in here. There’s plenty of planning ‘n shit that he has to do, so he’s set up an office over here to make sure he can take care of things as they come up. As a matter of fact, there he is!” Gus waved to another man as he jogged forward.
Sven was even taller than Gus, who TJ supposed was 6’2” or so. Sven was at least 6’5”, and with broad shoulders that strained at the chainmail shirt he wore. Long platinum blonde hair brushed at his shoulders, and his eyes were a striking blue. However, the sclera was a dark grey, making for an off putting combination. TJ saw that the armor wasn’t his Holy Vestments, so he also had a shield he could create at a moment’s notice. The handsome man had a faint scar that ran down the right side of his face, puckered and healing.
When Gus reached Sven, they locked arms together as Sven also patted Gus’s back.
“So,” Sven said in a Norwegian accent. “You’re a new friend of ours, are you?”
