Chương 17: 184. Learning the Ropes

Alex's feet shuffled on the ceramic tile of the Zone 1 Headquarters building. All of his muscles ached, and the lights overhead felt so bright, he wanted to get a pair of sunglasses and wear them for the rest of the day. He followed the receptionist's directions through the pre-integration government building. When he reached the briefing room, there was already a small cluster of people chatting toward the front of the large room.

The flooring was swapped to a thin carpet texture, and a dozen steps took him to the base of the room, where a table and whiteboard sat for larger demonstrations.

"Ah, Mr. Moore!" Xavier greeted him warmly. Alex had to keep himself from wincing. Even after drinking part of a healing potion, he had a headache that begged him to get more sleep.

"Good morning," he said. A large man stood next to Xavier, his laughter genuine and booming as he saw Alex.

"Man, you look like you spent the night in a duster's den!" he laughed again, the others joining him. That time, Alex did wince. Xavier stepped to the side to open some space in their circle for Alex to join.

"Alex Moore, this is Captain Crouch. These here are agents Tilly and Ross. Each of them is in charge of the day shift for running two of the city's checkpoints." Alex looked up at those gathered. Everyone looked at him with hints of amusement or curiosity on their faces. The captain was a big man who clearly leaned toward putting points in Strength or Constitution. Tilly and Ross looked small by comparison, but they both had the lean physiques of Awakened.

"Good morning. Nice to meet you all," Alex said, forcing himself to stand straight, the sore muscles in his abdomen and lower back protesting as he did. His brain worked quickly, cataloging how the group looked and going as far as to scan each of them, despite it being rude. Even though the System gave him a full readout for each character, he only felt the need to focus on names, levels, and class.

Ross Crouch - Level 14 <Leader I> Class: Warrior (Novice) Primary Stat: Constitution: 32 Sable Ross - Level 16 <Unbound> Class: Mage (Novice) Primary Stat: Intellect: 19 Jordan Tilly - Level 18 <Unbound> Class: Hunter (Novice) Primary Stat: Agility: 36 Their levels seemed to be fairly average for those he'd seen so far. The normal population he'd scanned in the city was normally below level 5. To normal citizens, these three would seem powerful. Guess it's like Maelis said… there's always someone stronger.

None of them seemed to notice Alex's intrusive scans, but even if they did, he would have done it and apologized after. He asked the question that came to his mind.

"Which zones? Xavier, are you in charge of two zones, too?" Xavier raised both of his hands.

"Me? No, no. I'm just here as a familiar face for you before my shift starts. One of the daytime leads isn't here." He looked a bit awkward as he said the last sentence. The captain snorted in a way that reminded Alex of a bull.

"Rosa doesn't think we need any outside help coming in—" Jordan Tilly elbowed the big man in the side and smiled at Alex. She easily picked up where he left off.

"Coming in and distracting the normal process. Personally, I think it'll be good to see someone so specialized in action." Alex looked at each of their faces before giving a small shrug. Agent Ross spoke up next. His brown hair was cut short, and his clean-shaven face made him look the youngest of the leaders.

"Trust me, no one's going to get in the way of you doing your job. Even Rosa knows that you're here on some pretty high authorization. Just let any of us know what you need, and we'll be happy to help." He nodded at Xavier.

"Sergeant Carter will walk you through the on-call system and generally what's expected. You've got authorization to use movement skills in the safe zone, and each of us will let our CPs know about you and how to get in contact if they need you."

"Sounds good," Alex said.

"Which checkpoints are each of you in charge of?" Xavier answered, moving closer to Alex and holding out a powered-down cellphone.

"Agent Ross is in charge of CP-1 and CP-2. Those are both the Check Points in Zone 1. CP-1 is the Main HQ gate, and CP-2 is the South Admin Gate. Captain Rosa is in charge of CP-3, which is the East Trade Gate located in Zone 2, and also the West Trade Gate, also in Zone 2, which is CP-4." Each of them nodded or gave a small acknowledgement as their areas of work were called.

"Agent Tilly is in charge of Zone 3, which is where I work. Those are CP-5 and CP-6, which are the North and Northeast entry points."

"Last is me," Captain Crouch said.

"I've got CP-7, which is Zone 4, and CP-8, which is Zone 5. Both are residential zones."

"Yeah, I'm ready for another rotation whenever you are," Tilly said.

"Seriously," Ross agreed. Captain Crouch gave them a grin. His easy manner and constant grin reminded Alex of Mark. Looking between the group, he felt like he was missing something.

"Why are you the only one covering two zones?"

"Ignore them. We rotate every two months, but this section is a lot calmer than the others," the captain said.

"CP-7 and CP-8 are both the lowest traffic checkpoints, so they got combined into a single shift."

"You'd think the residential area would be the most in-and-out traffic, but surprisingly, it's not. Zone 2 and Zone 3 are by far the most heavily trafficked. The large majority of Safe Zone residents don't want to leave the safety, especially the F Rankers. And even those who are looking to get out normally go through the trade areas on their way or stop by one of the HQ outposts to update their status on the way back in."

"I see. Is an F-Rank an unawakened?" Alex asked.

"It's just an unofficial term," Agent Tilly gave Xavier a stern look.

"Sorry. It's considered slang," Xavier said.

"It's definitely stuck, though," Captain Crouch pointed out. He glanced down at his watch and motioned toward the door.

"We should probably get going. Xavier will give you the rest of the information you need. My contact is on the phone. Let me know if you need anything or if Rosa gives you too much trouble. I can just pull rank on him." The large man laughed in a way that made Alex think doing so would only aggravate the current situation. Alex waved as the group left and spent the next half hour with Xavier. The soldier was well spoken, friendly, and took his job seriously. Alex felt like he would enjoy working together.

Xavier gave Alex his cellphone and walked him through the login process and how to connect to the HA's secure network. There were contacts already in the phone along with several PDFs, including Alex's original briefing packet, an organizational chart to show the hierarchy of the checkpoints, and a full roster of those on shift for each CP. He had pointed at the phone while Alex flipped through the home screen.

"This app, here. If you click on it and tap the 'On Call' button, no one will stop you while using your movement skills. Think of it like sirens on a cop's car. You can leave it on until you're done at whatever CP you're at."

"Sounds pretty convenient."

"They'll use it to log your hours, too. So, you really should turn it on every time— but yeah, I'm jealous. I wish I had access to the net, just for that."

"Any idea how much of this is going to be me running around to the different checkpoints?" Alex asked, realizing just how spread out each of them was.

"Honestly? My guess is maybe one or two calls per day. In my experience, we're able to scan the vast majority of people, but the gap in levels is starting to grow, so it's not exactly uncommon. Majority of your calls will probably be to my zone, so feel free to come say 'Hey' if I'm on shift."

"Will do," Alex said.

"Hey… are you doing okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be okay. Just overdid some training last night, that's all." Realization dawned on Xavier's face.

"Oh, now I get it. Look, if you need to, you can always go by the Mana Fatigue Clinic. They're expensive, but the mana in there is so thick, and whatever buffs they're able to give, gets your mana topped off again real fast." Alex simply thanked him, unsure of how to explain what he'd actually been working on the night before. Soon after, Xavier walked with Alex from the HQ building, and they went their separate ways. Alex rubbed his temples as he started the walk to his temporary housing.

A few hours later, Alex's phone interrupted his testing. He flipped the switch on the small Dremel tool he was using and blew a puff of air into the cracks of the small piece of stone. As the tool whirred to a stop, he gently set down both the tool and the practice engraving he'd been working on. Grabbing his phone from his pocket, he used his free hand to pull the small banded helmet from his face.

The magnified lenses were difficult to get used to at first, but he quickly understood the benefit of being able to focus on such small detail work. The new work phone presented a single text. Carmen Rosa: Check Point 3 - Group of four, Tent Holding C Alex let out a breath.

"It's just got to be the unfamiliar face for my first time, doesn't it?" He shook his head and followed the steps Xavier had shown him. Once he'd activated the "On Call" function, he looked around. Satisfied that nothing too valuable was being left behind, he adjusted his bracer and grabbed his sweatshirt. He pulled it down over his head as he took to the stairs. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Outside, he hesitated, unsure of the best way to cover the distance. More excitement and anxiety filled him as he settled on an idea. Looking up, Alex wove a direction breeze spell and jumped straight up using [Feather Step]. Between the reduced weight and propulsion, he easily cleared the edge of his building. He still landed awkwardly, but was able to catch himself with his hand as he came down and continued with his forward momentum for a few steps on the flat, rubber roofing. He laughed like a lunatic.

"Holy shit," he said, expelling some of his nervousness with the rush. Realizing that he was still needed, he jogged to the edge of the roof and looked up at the adjacent building. It was taller, and this time, as he repeated the process, he didn't clear the edge. He almost didn't make it to the roof at all, panic gripping him as he felt his momentum petering out and his weight returning before his head had even crested the top of the building.

His hand grasped the edge of the roof, and with some awkward scrambling against the side of the building, he was able to pull himself over the side and roll onto his back. He took several deep breaths, laughing again at the insanity of it all. The analytical part of his mind couldn't help but note the distance he'd been able to travel and mentally mark it as his current jumping limit. He continued westward, toward the Zone 2 primary checkpoint, enjoying the solidarity that he found on the empty rooftops.

Several times, as he leaped gaps in buildings of equal or lesser height, he looked down to see the large groups of moving people that painted the ground. It only made the experience of his roof travels feel that much more special. The city had a lot of verticality to it, and even though there weren't many people up there now, he did spot one group of two as he moved. They looked at him from afar, yet when he waved, they jumped off the side of the building, moving away from him.

It won't be long before even the average person has the stats or skills to travel up here. Hell, maybe even fly. That thought piqued his interest, though he had to set it aside as he came up to the checkpoint. This one had been set a few hundred yards away from the city proper, using another merging point on a highway to funnel people toward the gates. He stopped and looked at the busy traffic from his position on the roof.

When he arrived, he showed the nearest guard his ID and his phone, asking for directions to the proper tent. The guard pointed him in the direction with a description of the tent he was looking for. He forced his breathing to even out, surprised at the toll the travel had taken on him. After covering the full distance to arrive in Philadelphia, he was surprised that the jumping and gliding of the rooftop travel was more tiring.

"Hello," Alex said to the enlisted soldier standing in front of the tent.

"Sir," the younger man said, saluting.

"Uh, I'm not in the Army. I'm here to help scan your four people." He pointed to the tent behind the soldier. Glancing at his chest, Alex made a mental note to look up the military ranks when he was finished.

"Is Captain Rosa here?" Stepping aside, the black-haired man shook his head.

"No, she's not. She said to let you in when you got here."

"What if they aren't who they say they are?" Alex looked around, curious what the protocol would be. The soldier sputtered for a moment, unsure of how to answer.

"She didn't give any other instructions other than for me to process their information after you let them through." Alex raised an eyebrow at the phrasing. He shrugged, unwilling to cause an issue before there actually was one.

"All right, I'll scan them. If they're good, I'll let them through."

"Uh, just a warning. They're pretty pissed about being held up. I think they only stepped aside when the Captain was called over and threatened to have rations pulled from their IDs and their housing adjusted."

"Thanks for the heads up," Alex said. With that, he ducked his head under the open flap and walked through the open space to a separated section of the tent. It was still made of a canvas wall, but had a plastic door keeping it closed off from the main area. Stepping into the small room, Alex found four individuals lounging in various positions. One woman stood against the far wall with her arms crossed, looking down at a smaller, skinny man who was lying on his back and throwing a ball in the air.

A larger man sat at the only table in the room, leaning far forward on his elbow with his head propped on his palm. To his left, along the same wall as the door, near the far corner, he saw the flash of mana from what he assumed to be the fourth member.

Alex instantly activated [Spell Storage: Swift Mage's Spell Circle] and stepped back out of the room, using the enhanced speed to raise his hand, draw his wand, and begin spinning a barrier spell circle with his left hand before the others in the room could so much as raise their heads Opting not to activate any of his spells before understanding the situation, Alex used the limited time of his spell to scan the three members he could see.

Two were melee fighters based on stats and class names, with the woman showing as an archer. He felt the spell's effects end, and he paused just outside the door, viewing the party through the narrow doorway. Wand still raised, he exhaled and slowly drew back in the mana he'd prepared in his wand, though out of caution, he kept the barrier spell circle hanging in the air in front of his body.

"Martin, you fuckin' idiot!" the girl said. She raised her hand and threw the marker she'd been idly toying with toward the corner he couldn't see. The man on the ground had rolled to his knees and looked around, confused, while the other at the table had wide eyes as they watched Alex. They all stayed in their positions for an extra heartbeat before the woman who'd thrown the marker addressed Alex.

"We're so sorry. He really is an idiot. The skill he activated wasn't anything combat-related." Alex didn't move, watching the three carefully.

"Tell him to come into view."

"Come over here, you moron." There was some mumbling from the corner that Alex couldn't make out through the thick canvas tent wall.

"I don't care. He has a wand pointed at us because of you. Get over here." Another pause. Slowly, two hands came into view around the edge of the open door frame.

"I'm going to step out now. The skill is deactivated, and I've got no weapons," Martin said. With a few hesitant and shuffling steps, a muscular young adult came into view, his face turning from sheepish to fearful as he saw Alex's wand tip still half raised toward the room.

"I'm really sorry," Martin said.

"They made us wait for an hour without any other information than we'd need to wait for someone to come scan us."

"So your first thought was to activate a skill from a blind spot of the room before any of us had said anything?" Alex said. His voice was hard and loud enough to draw the attention of two others in the tent.

"Yeah, that was stupid. I'm really sorry," he repeated.

"We just waited so long, and I've never seen anyone with higher Willpower than me. So, I figured I could scan you and see who they thought was so good they could verify our statuses." Alex relaxed, pretending to put his wand into his back pocket while tucking it into his ring.

"All of you just sit down at the table and put your hands where I can see them." Everyone moved to take their seats, the woman going as far as to slap the back of Martin's head as they sat next to one another. Having already scanned the others, he checked Martin. He was a mage and did have a Willpower-focused build, though Alex was shocked at how low the man's mana was. Even then, with most, if not all, of his points invested into Willpower, he wasn't close to Alex's.

Not even split into fours with the clones, especially not with me at 50% of my normal stats. He stepped into the room, a cautious eye watching them for any shift in mana around them. All eyes were on him as he sighed and shook his head.

"I don't know all of the protocols here, but you're really lucky you didn't just get one of your friends shot." The man who'd been at the table all along paled slightly, but the one from the floor frowned.

"Don't you feel like that's a bit of a drastic reaction?"

"Is it? I just walked into a room of four Awakened, I don't know. One of them seemed to be hiding, and as soon as I entered, activated a skill." The furrowed brow turned to the mage.

"It's not that big of a deal. I would have just felt bad if I hurt you for something like that." He looked at the young mage seriously.

"You guys are strong compared to the average person, but just remember: there's always someone stronger." Their meeting didn't last much longer, and once Alex gave the 'all clear' the group was let through without issue. While he waited to be dismissed, his thoughts returned to the advice he'd given and how it echoed Maelis's advice to himself. What would I have done if they had been attacking me? He looked around the tent, realizing two different scenarios.

One where things went as he'd thought they might in the moment. Another line of his mind analyzed the worst-case scenario. One where he was only at a quarter of his total stats, and the group had been trying to attack or detain him. He looked at the fragile structure of the tent in a new light, wondering how it might play into a fight-or-flight scenario. The exercise kept his thoughts entertained until he was dismissed by a sergeant, not the Captain.

Feeling slightly miffed at the Captain's refusal to interact with him, Alex left and made his way back to his temporary housing. Once there, he dove back into his mana battery project. It allowed him to push aside thoughts of politics and potentials, and focus solely on the magic at hand. The pattern and concept for the container rune marked a new level of trust between him and his mentor.

He could tell, just from the questions the spirit asked him about his understanding of what a container was and what it meant to hold something, that he had a decent amount of work ahead of himself. This was the first time that the grumpy spirit had insisted that he spend some time each night contemplating what it meant to "contain" and to "be a container." The second call for assistance didn't come until later in the afternoon, just before the sun set over the city.

He'd lost himself in the detail work that he was starting to find enjoyable with the Dremel tool. The hand-held device was powerful and incredibly accurate when paired with the physical mana threads to keep the lines steady and consistently within the rails he set for the rune. As the phone started to buzz in his pocket, he repeated his earlier steps of removing the headband and puffing air through the rune-work of his practice stone.

He checked his phone to find that the new request was for a single person at the 1st checkpoint in Zone 1. Agent Ross was friendly when he arrived and was shocked when it took almost no time at all for Alex to scan and determine the man as a non-threat. Ross was friendly and offered him some coffee, but Alex declined.

"…but, I could use some advice on food. Any recommendations on where I could get some dinner? I just realized I haven't eaten much today."

"Well, you can always go by one of the ration depots if you haven't claimed your weeklies yet. But if you're looking for something a bit more wholesome and don't mind monster meat, you should check out Zach's Skewers. It's just a little cart, but it's the best I've had, and the meat skewers are amazing. From what he told me last week, he's made enough to start opening carts in every zone, but I think Zone 2 is where he sets up his main cart now."

"Huh, I don't think I mind." His mind went back to Gabby's cooking and some of the meat they'd tried from her various dishes.

"Guess it depends on his skill. I'll check it out, thanks."

"No problem," Ross said, waving as he turned to go back to his work. Alex waved back and deactivated the app on his phone, signaling that he'd finished aiding the checkpoint. This left him to walk through the safe zone, rather than use his skills to quickly cross the distance. There were thoughts bouncing around in his mind, and the walking felt like a great way to focus them. I need to prioritize my training and what's getting delegated.

There are too many things that I want to do right now, and some of them will be a waste of my limited time. Even with the clones, there's just too much to get done before the Continental Event. He pushed his thoughts to Mage and Warrior, who were both still working outside the Safe Zone. He checked on Warrior first, pleased to find him diligently working on physical training and combat with his limited stat pool. During his downtime, Warrior scouted the surrounding area to find Rifts and mark their locations.

Mage was also diligently working on the next significant step in the development of spell circles. While layering circles worked, it wasn't something that Alex could do with a single consciousness, and with how he was using clones, it wasn't currently viable. Which left the next best option. He prodded his own memory, checking through the work that Mage had started.

No real progress had been made toward affixing a second catalyst node to the spell circle base, yet his clone had methodically begun to test what limitations they currently knew. Even from the initial attempt he'd made in the Shadow Rift, Alex knew that the main hurdle in a second rune slot came down to circle stability. It was almost like starting over. Back to square one, like he had been before mixing spellcasting's control nodes into the spell work.

One of the first thoughts had been the simple step of "try adding more," though it hadn't worked as intended. It only served to convolute the flow of mana, and his threads seemed like a hindrance here, constrained to rigid paths and choke points. He pushed some thoughts toward his clone, prodding until he got a mental response.

"Yes?" Mage asked.

"Let me take over on this for a bit. Keep working on drills for mana-thinning and mana shaping with the 25% stat limits. I'll let you know when I'm tapping out for the night."

"Sounds good to me."

"Actually, also see if you can find any stuff online about engraving or enchanting."

"Got it," Mage said. Alex found the skewer cart after a bit of searching, asking those he passed for directions. With the perfectly seasoned monster meat in hand, he wandered through the Zone 2 streets, working through thoughts of prioritizing his growth. By the time he got back to his space, he felt beat. Mentally and physically, the day at taken its toll on him. The next several days passed at a similar tempo.

There were only one or two calls a day and, for the most part, the CP teams seemed to value his input and appreciate his help. He made steady progress on his projects in the downtime and felt that, despite all the changes to the world, there was a sense of normalcy to this routine. It was like going to work every day. He was starting to make friends with some of the CP guards, found his favorite food spots, and connected with a merchant who still had access to coffee beans.

It wasn't until the fifth day that his suspicions built to the point that he contacted both of his clones outside of the Safe Zone.

"Warrior, Mage, I think we have a problem."

"What's up?" Warrior's mental response came quickly.

"I am just starting to notice a consistent pattern here. Nothing is wrong yet, but I need to check on this, and I'll need your help. Come on back to the Safe Zone and be close enough to the outside that I can shift to another Zone from the outside if needed."

"On it."

"Oh… oh— yeah, that's not good. I'll be standing by for your next call." Mage said, clearly having checked their shared thoughts. The timing of where and when Alex was getting called to Check Points was starting to form a pattern that his mind was picking at, like a loose thread of a sweater. He knew that once he started down this route, there was little chance he'd stop until he found what was tugging at his mind.

"There's a traitor in the military branch."