Primer for the Apocalypse

Having finished the first prototype of Jackle’s prosthetic during my time in the ‘wilds,’ I decided to go to the central village instead of Trinity when the external message exchange drew near. To keep my new friends from worrying, I sent a few messages letting them know my plans. I was quite surprised when my Kastet neighbor informed me she would meet me in the village at Jackle’s shop.

As expected, I got strange looks as I entered the unwalled village. I was not a familiar face to most, and those who might have seen me before probably didn’t recognize me without my sect robes. I was still wearing them; they were just obscured by a [Disguise] talisman.

I considered just teleporting into the shop but immediately got the sense that the dungeon would firmly rebuff such an attempt. Out of curiosity, I targeted the room I’d rented shortly after my arrival. It was similarly protected against unauthorized spatial magic.

It was probably better not to just appear in the shop anyway, I decided. Not only might it startle the hybrid Merchant, but it was probably also pretty rude. I certainly wouldn’t like it if people suddenly appeared in my workshop. That’s why my pods were all warded against teleportation by anyone other than me.

The shop itself was locked up when I arrived, but a quick message to Marjorie had Jackle unlocking the door remotely.

“Come on up!” he yelled as I stepped inside. The door promptly clicked behind me, letting me know it was once again secure.

I had no trouble finding the hidden staircase via Spatial Sense. The short hybrid probably forgot that I wouldn’t know where it was, having only interacted with him one time.

The Merchant’s residence was quite nice, and showed the effects of a few decades spent in one location. The furniture was all hand-crafted and high quality, making some of the items I’d brought along look cheap by comparison. The biggest difference, however, was in the amount of personalization within the space.

Where my pod was fairly sterile, even with a few family photos scattered around, Jackle’s apartment was very obviously lived in. It was clean and tidy, but the feeling of the place was much more homey than where I slept at night.

I was unsurprised to see Jackle and Marjorie were not alone in the sitting room. Three others I was only familiar with in passing sat in various locations around the room, having likely accompanied the Chef during her trip to the less-friendly central village.

Each looked relaxed as they snacked on various items they either brought or were provided. There were two large plates of food on the small table in the center, though some of the items being consumed looked different than what was on offer.

“Young Mistress! Welcome to my home!” Jackle said, rising from his seat with a look of surprise.

I waved for him to remain seated. “Thank you,” I said. “I don’t intend to stay long. I just wanted to drop off the thing we discussed before. I can come back another time if that’s more convenient for you.”

The Merchant looked confused for a moment before his eyes widened. “Truly? You managed to make something already?”

I nodded. “Do you want it now, or would you rather wait until later?” I asked, unsure if giving the man a prosthetic might be seen as something in poor taste. Dungeoneers were quite a bit different from the Alliance members I’d interacted with before, and I didn’t want to commit some kind of faux pas inadvertently.

“Now, please,” he replied excitedly, the rest of his guests quickly forgotten as they exchanged curious glances.

“It should fit well enough as designed,” I explained as I withdrew the item from my ring and handed it over. “I have Spatial Sense, so I was able to get a good idea of your measurements, but I included some adjustability just in case.”

The short Merchant quickly disconnected his old prosthetic and slid the new one on. With a small burst of mana and intent, Jackle activated the new prototype, connecting the enchantment to his body via magic.

He drew in a sharp breath. “Oh, that feels strange after so long.” The Merchant stood carefully and tested the balance.

“I’m going to use a general healing spell to trick your body into recognizing the feedback you’re receiving as normal,” I said. After the man nodded distractedly, I withdrew a Life wand and cast the spell, focusing the effect on both his mind and the nerves in what remained of his leg.

“That…” Jackle paused and took a few hesitant steps. “It’s almost like having the rest of my leg back,” he whispered in wonder.

I smiled as I watched him jump and dash around the apartment, testing his new mobility. The old prosthetic had been discarded as almost an afterthought and sat on the floor next to the table.

It was old and showed several signs of repair. There were a few novice runes engraved into the stone, making me wonder if Jackle had been the one to craft his previous one. He had an Earth affinity and a secondary profession as a Crafter, so it wasn’t much of a logical leap.

The others were smiling as they watched the man’s actions, clearly happy for their acquaintance. Feeling a bit out of place, I started backing toward the door.

“Are you going to get back to the climb now that you’re no longer being held back?” Marjorie asked her fellow dungeoneer when he turned his attention back to his guests. Curious about the question, I paused a few steps away from the door.

The question stunned the shorter man. “I haven’t put any real consideration into continuing my climb for decades,” he admitted. “With how slow my progression has been through the tier, I figured I’d be here for at least another ten years while I got through the last level. But now…”

“Now you can stop dragging your feet and get back to the climb,” Marjorie finished for him.

Based on our previous conversation and how long he’d claimed to have been on the floor, I figured he must have been injured pretty early on the floor. If he thought it would take another ten years to get through the last level – which was more than double his last since it would raise his tier, he must still have a way to go.

Having made my delivery and not wanting to intrude on the Merchant any further, I slipped away as they discussed the man’s new way forward. He was well ahead of me in levels, so grouping up with him wasn’t really feasible. Besides, I doubted he’d have a hard time finding others to party with.

Being overwhelmed with gratitude and excitement, I doubted Jackle even realized I’d left.

I handled my trades quickly after leaving. Since I was disguised to blend in, nobody bothered me much as I headed to the Trading Post and sold off the excess material I’d gathered since my arrival.

The Indian food lady was in the small market area, and I picked up a tasty meal before heading out. I could easily make something better with my MealMaker, but there was something to be said for food that had not been transmuted.

I was already well into the frozen tundra before the message exchange came through. Eager to get the responses to my first set of messages, I hollowed out a snowdrift and expanded a small pod inside. It was only large enough to sit comfortably since I didn’t plan on staying very long.

Master Kairos’s message was pretty basic. He’d extended the offer to my family and was awaiting their response. He would only be staying on Earth for another couple of months at most. After that, whatever contract he agreed to would conclude, and he planned to return to his/our sect.

I was quite surprised to learn he’d dispatched someone to the town outside the dungeon after learning broadcasts were being made. It seemed someone from Epikairos Sect would be arriving shortly to monitor my climb, if they hadn’t already arrived.

Knowing someone had uprooted their life just to monitor me was a bit… disconcerting? Daunting? I wasn’t sure exactly what I was feeling, but I definitely wasn’t comfortable with the thought.

Would he care? Probably not.

I reviewed the messages from my family, learning the family had been divided about whether or not to move. It wasn’t a surprise.

My parents decided to stay on Earth, feeling obligated to help shape the new reality into something good. Both were working toward gaining enough experience to unlock the upgrade, which was something that would take a while without dedicated focus.

Rhona had convinced Bell and Justin to take Amie and accept Master Kairos’s offer. The instability of a newly integrated world was too much for them to risk, especially with stable, relatively peaceful worlds open to them.

It helped that they were sponsored to go to a higher-tier world than new immigrants from Earth, and they intended to make the trip after Bell gave birth to the twins. My parents weren’t happy about it, but they were ultimately only going to be a couple of portals away. The only reason they were waiting until after the birth was because my parents didn’t want to miss it.

While I felt like the kids would probably gain more advantages being born on another world, I didn’t say anything about the choice. It ultimately wouldn’t matter all that much. It was like an American giving birth in a different state than the one they resided in.

Kevin had completely rejected leaving, especially with how much healing was needed on Earth. Deni and Ger, on the other hand, were already making plans to leave Earth. I’d helped them reconnect with their respective families as soon as things started to settle down, and both were eager to explore Atlas Online in real life.

Included in the messages was an update on the extended family, which I was surprised to find I was interested in. I’d never found out what happened to them in the other timeline, so learning they were mostly alright was oddly comforting.

After drafting and sending my replies, I exited my small shelter and shrank it back to its storage size. The ambush predator for the frozen zone was a Saltovenator – a sneaky hunter that used its massive hind legs to leap at their prey, latching onto whatever it could grab with its oversized maw and goring them with their hind legs as their surprised prey flailed.

It was described as some kind of feathered kangaroo creature, except instead of having a small head, it was more like a dinosaur’s. Lucky for me, they didn’t appear until the high-tier area of the zone, at the earliest.

The frozen zone had a lot of dinosaur-like creatures, which drew some interest from those like me who’d always secretly dreamed of seeing dinosaurs. Of course, I’d fulfilled that dream many times over since the apocalypse happened in the first timeline. Many rift creatures were somewhat reminiscent of dinosaurs in one way or another, after all.

Since I had no plans to go anywhere near the high-tier area of the zone, I wasn’t overly worried about a sneak attack. I’d still keep an eye out, though. From what Master Kairos told me before my departure, the dungeon was well known for changing things without warning. How else would it keep people on their toes and force people to fight who might otherwise shy away from such things?