Chương 8: Gainfully Employed Individuals

After parting ways with Aliyah who'd gone back to the campsite of the group Nihil sat down on the beach in the dark and practiced some moves that he couldn't use while scouting. Moves such as detaching and shooting out his arm, reattaching it and separating it further into the forearm and hand. He attempted the same set of maneuvers with his leg, but failed, although the experience granted him a fresh new wave of experience points and further reduced the cost of the skills waiting in the queue.

Exp +3 Exp +2 Exp +3 Exp +1 After a few hours of relatively mindless grinding however, Nihil grew tired of playing around and knew that he'd have to get back into the forest to find an appropriate perch for the morning. The floors didn't really have a true division of poles so there was no east and west or south and north divide. However, if one assumed that from the direction that he'd approached the center of the jungle was south, then today he was going to be doing so from the west.

The first floor really gave humanity a lot of face. 30 full days to experiment with their skills, explore the jungle, understand the logic of the rules and enjoy the beach life, albeit without swimming. The main reason Nihil was exploring and familiarising himself with the jungle in such a fastidious manner was because he wanted to nullify the home terrain advantage of the fishmen whom he'd eventually slaughter. Additionally, taking his time would allow him to familiarise himself with his new skillset.

In all honesty, he likely could have picked off the fishmen patrols even in his unaltered body if he was willing to be patient. However, using the threads as a core skill when engaging enemies would increase the experience gained while also reducing the skill costs further down the road. The island allowed him to approach things calmly, a luxury he wouldn't have in the future. Nihil stood up and walked further down the beach, aiming to walk exactly a fourth of the island perimeter before diving into the jungle.

Once he reached the intended space he dove into the thicket of the jungle, but not before turning around to look at the beach one last time. It was then that he once again glimpsed the curious creature that he'd been encountering. It was a small monkeyish critter that didn't seem all that organic now that he was observing it more closely as it bounded past him on the beach towards the camp of humans further down. Nihil narrowed his eyes and let it pass to get as good of a view as he could.

It was through this operation that he was able to recognise something he hadn't previously. The creature was small, perhaps as big as his head, but it was also completely black. Not in the way a crow was black. After all, even if it was hard to see, crows still had gradients to their blackness, old feathers falling out, newer, grey ones growing out. The little monkey creature was completely black, like a puddle of ink. Nihil didn't remember anything like it from his last run-through of the deserted island.

Naturally he'd been rather disadvantaged in terms of experience, knowledge and ability back then in comparison to now, so he was unsure if he'd really seen everything the island had to offer. However, considering it was his first time seeing such a creature at all, he would rather take a guess that… That he'd miscounted, and there weren't seven mouths of feed on this island, but rather, eight.

There was another ability user somewhere on this island, and his ability was most likely related in some way to this small creature who seemed responsible for stealing the coconuts from the group further up the beach. Nihil didn't rush to investigate immediately, instead moving further down the beach through the jungle so as to blend into the foliage.

It was as he traversed another quarter of an island, a bit further than where he'd been dropped off in fact, that he found a somewhat suspicious structure out in the sea, very close to the shore, looking like it could be reached during low tide. It was a large rock outcropping, one of those acne-ridden brown stones weathered smooth by the water over the years. About the size of a small barn, nothing special really.

There was about a meter and a half of water between the rock and sandy shore, perhaps just enough for a human to jump over if they took a bit of a running start. The night was still young, dawn a few hours off so Nihil decided to wait and test his hypothesis.

"But I'm a creep," he sang softly to himself, threads wreaking havoc across the inside of his body as he churned himself like an out of control washing machine. He didn't have to wait for long as the small creature, this time dragging a coconut appeared on the scene, noticeably encumbered.

"I'm a weirdo…" Nihil got an even closer look, unable to identify the species of monkey. He watched as the little critter held the coconut over its head while standing in front of the water line and looking intensely at the rock outcropping.

"What the hell am I doin' here?" Then it jumped, managing to keep a hold of the coconut all the way. It scrabbled out of sight a few moments later.

"I don't belong here," Nihil finished softly, unenthusiastically confirming his hypothesis. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

"You could have made it more interesting," he muttered discontentedly before shaking his head.

"Patience, Nihil, patience. There will be more exciting challenges in the future." He turned around and disappeared into the jungle. It seemed that he'd found the ability user without really trying much. That gave him something to do after this scouting run. Creating little creatures like that… It had its uses. And Nihil, well, he could be very, very persuasive when he needed to be. -/- The terrain leading up to Nihil's hiding spot was mostly the same as that of the other route that he'd explored.

Deep jungle with very few animals, just enough of them to justify the survival of the fishmen as what seemed to be a hunting tribe. He plonked himself up on a tall tree and spent the day observing his surroundings as insects and birds crawled and chirped their way across his body. Just like last time, he'd found several X shaped markings on the trees, leaving him wondering if the fishmen were noting down the edge of the perimeter from which they could still run back to their water source.

He made this conclusion because he once again saw a group of spear-holding insults against fish and man who promptly turned around when seeing the X on the large vine-wrapped tree that Nihil was hanging off. One of them was carrying a dead snake around its shoulders. Food for the night? Just like yesterday there were no indications that more fishmen would emerge in the evening.

The sun hadn't yet set, but most tribal societies likely refrained from activities that could potentially lead them caught out in the dark if a mishap occurred. Nihil similarly returned before the sun fell fully down, emerging on the beach with the rock outcropping. The tide had since shifted and the amount of water separating the large rock had evaporated into thin air, leaving the rock easily accessible.

"Coming over!" Nihil shouted out of basic courtesy before hopping onto a ledge and dragging himself up all the way to the top. He used the opportunity to throw a glance at the island from a higher position but didn't find much of note. After traversing the rock, to the side facing the sea, he found a young-looking man curled up in pain and seemingly experiencing a fever dream. Nihil tilted his head, not having expected the person to be sleeping.

He'd even gone to all the effort of coming here while it was still a bit light out and announcing his arrival. He shook his head and sat down on the edge of the impromptu ceiling covering the sleeping man as he observed him. He was dressed in a very normal outfit of jeans, a t-shirt with a rather elaborate drawn design on the front and a light brown leather jacket and some pumps. Oh and also, his right leg was bent in the wrong direction, pants crusted over with blood from what seemed to be a pretty gnarly wound.

As for the creatures? There were none to see. Four cracked open coconuts did prove the deed however. Nihil observed the man as he hummed, chin on hand, kicking his legs up and down on the ridge. It wasn't long before the boy's eyes slowly started flickering open, looking hazily at the perfect blue sky before startling as they beheld the foreign individual sitting in the rock.

"You look like shit," Nihil told the young man, continuing to kick his legs.

"I'm Nihil, by the way." The man warily eyed Nihil, seemingly unsure as to what to do, before eventually replying.

"I'm Kevin. What do you want?" he asked distrustfully. Nihil hummed thoughtfully.

"Money, fame, a lamborghini," he offered with a laugh.

"The usual." Kevin dragged himself in a seated position against the rock. The move seemingly hurt quite a bit going by the sweat on his brow that was turning his short brown hair into a wet curtain.

"How did you find me?" he eventually asked.

"Followed your little friend. Where is it? Don't see it anywhere?" Kevin remained tight-lipped. Nihil continued observing, seeing the barely healed wound on the man's pointer finger and connected the dots.

"Let me guess, you turn your blood into ink and can animate and control what you draw." Kevin startled again, starting to breathe rather harshly.

"Where'd you break your leg?"

"In the golden pyramid," Kevin answered quietly, face palling at the memory.

"I got my hands on the pouch, then someone pushed me off a ledge."

"Well, you're lucky to be alive, and to have met me," Nihil said happily, clapping his hands.

"How come?" Kevin asked dubiously.

"I can right your leg, I can even stitch it up," Nihil proposed.

"No antibiotics on me, but if you haven't noticed, this place isn't quite as real as it seems. I doubt there will be any inflammation unless you smear it with some sort of animal shit. I can even bring you to the group down the beach. They're useless, but alright I guess."

"Don't!" Kevin shouted feverishly at the mere suggestion of making him interact with more people. A man of culture?

"Alright, alright," Nihil said calmly, raising his hands in the air placatingly.

"Then let's just stitch you up."

"What's the catch?" Kevin asked suspiciously. Nihil thoughtfully tapped a finger on his chin.

"Well, I guess I would have to ask you to stop stealing from that group down the beach. They're going to start fighting each other if food keeps disappearing. Especially once they descend into the full depths of starvation mania and explosive diarrhea."

"My creation isn't strong enough to pluck the coconuts from the trees," Kevin admitted silently.

"I'll bring you the coconuts then, maybe some meat from the jungle while I'm at it. You'll need it to heal and to concentrate on your task."

"Task?" Kevin asked dubiously.

"Of course, of course," Nihil said while nodding his head.

"The thing is, that you work for me now," he explained, hopping off the ridge and standing over the downed man who was looking up at him fearfully, hand going to his shirt slowly.

"Healthcare, housing, food, isn't that the standard package for when you become gainfully employed?" Nihil explained, lifting a foot to stamp violently on the hand Kevin was slowly moving towards the drawing on his shirt. Next Nihil punched down, detaching his arm and slamming it into Kevin's throat, starting to choke the younger man absent-mindedly as he explained.

"You see, I'm exploring the jungle. There's something in there that I want. Floor 0 taught us that taking on unnecessary challenges at least had reasonable rewards attached. Thing is, I can't explore the sea and hadn't even considered it. Until I saw your little creatures," he started explaining, as his fingers dug painfully into Kevin's neck, the man desperately trying to release the hand from his throat.

"So I was thinking to myself," Nihil continued, bonking himself on the head in faux-chagrin.

"What if I have you draw up some little fishies and have them explore the sea. I'm sure there's something there. If only I could have it. It would really make my day, you know?" he asked rhetorically. Kevin's tongue had started swelling up, escaping his mouth to dribble saliva onto his chin and Nihil's hand as his pupils started swivelling into his skull. The arm grasping feebly on Nihil's hand was starting to weaken, eventually falling slack and laying there limply.

Nihil slowly loosened his fingers and reattached his arm which had been hanging off an amalgamation of black threads for all to see. Kevin breathed in air like a newborn baby, desperately and with tears in his eyes as he choked and sobbed, rolling around in what must have been agony.

"That's the carrot, of course," Nihil suddenly said coldly, looking down at the youth.

"I'll tend to your bum leg, bring you food, water, even some human company. As for the stick?" he squatted down next to the man who was scrambling away from him with terror in his eyes, almost falling into the sea below.

"As for the stick," Nihil muttered softly.

"If you have nothing to show for my kindness by the end of this floor…" His glare intensified and a smile blossomed on his face, revealing his perfect teeth.

"I'll kill you," he promised lightly, as if speaking about the weather. Then he stood up and clapped his hands together.

"Well, all work relationships have to be based on mutual agreement of course, so what do you say?" he asked, reaching down an arm towards K.

"Shake on it?" Kevin looked at him with teary eyes for a full minute. Then he shakingly raised his arm to shake, which was double the shake and thus double the agreement.

"We'll make a great team, you and I," Nihil confided with a smile.

"Now let's look at that leg of yours."