Adrenaline Junkie [Book 2 Complete]

Pulling at his collar, Archie grimaced at how snugly it clung to his neck. It was always a pain in the ass wearing anything other than his usual combo of sweatpants, a slightly oversized T-shirt, and a cap back when he was still on Earth.

Was it generic? Sure. So what? Sue me - they're comfortable and practical.

People who praise and preach about wearing a uniform, a tux, or any other so-called 'monkey suit' as if it's essential for making progress are just plain stupid, Archie thought, rolling his eyes as he knelt beside a slightly ajar storage chest. Just focus on what you're doing, disregard everything else, and boom - progress. Who cares what you're wearing?

What? Is your code gonna jump out of the screen and beat you up for not wearing slacks? Archie grinned, both at the thought and at discovering a few more coins in the storage chest he was rummaging through.

Archie winced as his muscles spasmed, forcing him to grip the frame storage box he was rummaging through with a harsh, tremoring grip. He leaned against it, his breath hitching. Fuck me, he groaned as another wave of searing pain arced through his entire body.

For the past three hours, as the adrenaline faded into exhaustion, Echoing Pain had begun to surge at random intervals. The burns from the Detonation runic script, the root piercings from Earthen Grasp and Botanokinesis, the crushing weight of the tunnel collapsing on top of them - it all returned, as though his body was reliving every wound, fresh and raw, all at once. Not to mention the memory of the Giant Frostiron Tortoise's claws tearing through his skin, or the branch that had pierced his chest just below his ribs when he'd fallen off that cliff.

Fucking hell, Archie groaned. To say the pain was excruciating was an understatement.

He couldn't tell how much time had passed since it started, but after what felt like days of never-ending agony, it finally began to die down. He let out a long, relieved sigh as the tension in his body began to ease ever so slightly.

Hearing the metallic clack of boots against the floor, Archie quickly composed himself, evaporating the sweat from his face and body with a quick coating of Forgesmith's Flame.

He pushed himself off the storage box and turned to see Aoife standing in a forest-camouflaged Border Guard uniform, similar to the ones he'd seen on other guards. Like him, she was also maskless at the moment.

'Should we start teleporting to random floors to find a good place to escape from?' Archie suggested to Aoife as he gave a pointed look toward the teleporters, hiding his still trembling right hand in one of the many pockets of the Border Guard uniform he wore.

Aoife nodded before turning to head towards the teleporters with Archie in tow, still pulling at the turtleneck-like collar.

'Find anything good?' Archie signed with his left hand. 'The most I could find were Silver and Copper coins along with some moldy food.'

"It's like they don't teach basic hygiene here. Clothes everywhere, the shower room's a mess, nothing's locked down - it's weird," Archie complained, looking around at the messy state of Barracks No. 23 in the Southern Wall District.

Aoife eyed Archie out of the corner of her eye before looking away, something Archie caught on to.

'What?' Archie asked, confused by her sudden pointed look she gave him out of the corner of her eye, before looking affronted and craning his neck to stare at Aoife's face. 'I clean myself!'

Aoife turned her head to the side, unwilling to meet Archie's gaze. "You only use water for drinking or filling up that iron vat you made to cool your tools - and you use the same forge fire to clean yourself," she whispered, barely audible.

Archie's mouth opened and closed multiple times, at a loss for words as he was completely taken aback by Aoife's jab at him. 'I- Forgesmith's Flame is perfectly sanitary,' Archie signed, looking away from Aoife and at the messy array of bunk beds around them.

'It cleans off all the grime and filth - same as a shower, just more efficient,' Archie continued, clearing his throat. 'I just wanted to make sure we had enough water, in case it took longer than we thought to escape out of the Netharim Sovereignty.'

Unaware that, between the two of them, he had actually used the most water. His Water Tin was currently 32% empty, meaning he had already gone through 160 liters out of the 500 he started with, while Aoife's Water Tin was only 24% empty.

'Besides, I'd used the showers before I changed into this get-up,' Archie finished while tugging at his collar once more.

… Ah fuck, this is akward as shit.

Both Archie and Aoife walked toward the teleporters in awkward silence. Once they stood in front of the panel, Aoife finally broke the silence, answering Archie's earlier question that had gone unanswered.

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Fuck me… this is so awkward.

"I found similar things to what you did… I just can't help but feel a bit guilty going through their belongings," Aoife said, looking over her shoulder towards the hundreds of storage chests behind them.

'Why?' Archie signed, puzzled by Aoife's guilt over people who worked for a man almost certainly responsible for their troubles, whether intentionally or unaware. 'Their job is to stop us from crossing the border. And from the way everyone talks about this Duke Tips guy, everyone in a high position in his dukedom is on his payroll.'

'We are doing the very best we can to get away from here,' Archie signed. 'Until we get somewhere safe…well reasonably safe, then we can start caring about feeling guilt and remorse.'

"But we're taking from others - making their lives worse by stealing," Aoife argued, fists clenched as she tilted her head, eyes locked onto Archie. "How does that make us any different from slavers? Don't you feel any guilt for harming people who have done nothing to us? We're not even giving them a choice."

Archie nodded in acceptance, pausing to gather his thoughts. Earlier, he had noticed Aoife's hesitation when he suggested searching the storage chests for valuables, but had dismissed it, assuming her head was still reeling from the blast - his certainly was at the time.

"Are we making their lives worse by taking their money? Yes. But aren't we already in danger ourselves?' Archie signed. 'Do you really think these people would spare us for trying to escape into the Yndros Empire? Or for killing one of their duke's sons?'

Aoife opened her mouth to retort, but Archie cut in. 'They would kill us without hesitation.' He met her gaze, eyes steady. 'We have to do whatever it takes to survive - to get away from this place. We don't have the luxury of worrying about anyone else right now.'

"I understand… But it doesn't feel right," Aoife softly spoke, looking at her Pouch of Holding. "When we took the belongings of the Hounds who went after us, they tried to kill us, so I had no issue with taking their belongings, it was the right of the winner… But these people haven't done anything to us yet."

We are causing a war between ants and the Border Guards, so uh… Archie thought while looking at the hundreds of humanoids fighting against the thousands of ants above, Vital Sight active. And it's a pretty bloody one, Archie mused as he saw a flying humanoid shape get shot out of the air and onto the ground, where they were instantly bisected by a giant ant and dropped to the floor and devoured by the smaller ones.

'How about this,' Archie signed. When we're strong enough - when we're ready to take revenge on those who enslaved you and the ones responsible for cursing me - we can come back. You can make a donation or do something to ease your conscience.'

While Archie had no intention of returning the money he took, believing it was their fault for leaving their valuables out in the open, expecting them to remain untouched, it was clear that Aoife wanted to give it back, if not give them a bit more for the inconvenience.

Aoife remained quiet as her fingers began to fly across the teleporter's console, but after selecting their destination to be the top of the wall, she slowly nodded in acceptance. "We would need to at least be peak D-Grade for that."

"That shouldn't be a problem," Archie dismissed nonchalantly. "It'll take, what? A year at most? Maybe a month or so, give or take."

"Wha - ?" Aoife began, but before she could finish, her hand accidentally brushed against the teleport button on the console.

In an instant, they vanished from the messy, cluttered Barracks No. 23 and reappeared inside a lavish office adorned with awards and elegant furniture. But it wasn't the glass-framed accolades or the plush sofas that seized their immediate attention - no, it was the gorgon seated behind a large mahogany desk, staring at them dead in the eyes, her librarian glasses hanging on the bridge of her nose.

[Gorgon Lv ???]

"You're not supposed to be here," the gorgon said, turning back to her papers as one of the serpents melded into her skull lifted her glasses higher up the bridge of her nose, all the while hissing at the both of them.

And unless those glasses have some kind of wireless connection to the filtration mask attached to her cybernetic lower jaw, I'm pretty sure they're just for show, Archie thought. But he kept that jab to himself - best not to piss off the Teleporter Operations Chief Officer while they were still on the teleporter pad. At least, that's what her nameplate said.

'Sorry about that, accidental misclick on our part,' Archie signed. 'We were supposed to go to the top as reinforcements against the Dinomyrmex Gigas, but I accidentally selected the one just below it,' he lied, keeping his most stone-faced poker expression as he pointed at the ceiling above them.

The gorgon looked up from the pile of documents in front of her and gave Archie the blandest of stares. "We are not below the ramparts."

Oh, so that's what a rampart is, Archie thought in realization. So, what I fell off of when I first arrived was just a support beam, not a rampart.

'We are,' Archie signed, bringing himself out of his internal musings and staring up at the ceiling, Vital Sight still on full effect. 'Just above us are a group of ranged classes assisting those down below.'

The gorgon looked at Archie in confusion before her snakes hissed at her, causing her to lower her gaze and widen her eyes as she stared at his right hand.

Specifically, at the Spatial Ring he had taken from Laer, which he now used as a cover for his own Spatial Ring. Her eyes widened again as she looked at Aoife's hip, spotting her Pouch of Holding.

All spatial storage or items related to Spatial Affinities were heavily surveilled within the Netharim Border Wall. For them to wear such items so blatantly, in front of her - the Teleporter Operations Chief Officer - it could only mean one thing.

The gorgon swiftly stood up from her desk and walked stiffly to approach both Archie and Aoife, stopping four meters away from them and deeply bowing. "I-I apologize for not recognizing you both sooner, Young Master, Young Lady."

Only those of high noble standing with ties to the upper echelons of the regime could teleport into military bases, and those who were able to retain their belongings with them were of an even higher class.

The two in front of her were related to the ducal families, wearing disguises - perhaps the twins from the Mistshore Dukedom, they were just as infamous for traveling together as they were for entering restricted areas. There was no other explanation.

Archie and Aoife looked at one another in surprise before Archie internally grew a shit eating grin.