Chương 129: Chapter 112 (B2-ch6) – Talk-Blocked

Cade dragged his attention back to Earl who was still rambling on about the fight.

"Do you know where this Lord's den is?" Earl stopped mid-sentence.

"Its what?"

"A den. You know, a place where the Lord goes to rest," Cade said.

"The two Lords I killed earlier in the Tutorial each had their own territory and they both had powerful treasures tucked away inside. That's where I got the bead you're holding for me." He paused for a moment, then held out his hand.

"Speaking of which, mind if I get that back?"

"So you did kill the other two Lords! Ha, I thought I heard you say that but I figured it was bullshit. After seeing what you did to this one though I reckon you have to be telling the truth." Earl looked from Cade to Kharvaxis' corpse, then back again.

"Just how strong are you? What's your Class? And what's its rarity? Even with my rare Class, I wouldn't want to stand toe-to-toe with one of those things." Cade let the question hang between them. Earl had been honest with him so far. Loud, blunt, and overenthusiastic, sure, but he seemed like a genuinely good person. More importantly, the man had already seen too much for an easy lie to hold.

Cade could claim he had some strange magic skills, but not being honest with someone who was honest with him was starting to wear on him. Earl shifted under the silence. His grin faded a little, replaced by the awkward look of a man who realized he might have stepped a bit too far. After a moment, he cleared his throat and dug into his pants pocket.

"Right. Here's your bead." He pulled out the small teardrop-shaped gemstone and dropped it into Cade's open palm. Earl's gaze flicked down Cade's body and his grin returned.

"Ha. Looks like you need some new pants. The ones I gave you didn't hold up so well."

"Yeah," Cade said dryly.

"Turns out normal sweatpants don't really do well in combat. Good thing my cloak can cover my more… vulnerable parts."

"Why don't you just buy some from the Tutorial Store?" Earl asked.

"You must have a pile of credits after taking down that Lord." Cade closed his fingers around the bead and sighed. He could change the subject back to Kharvaxis' den but all that would do was delay the conversation and Earl did not strike him as the type to forget once something piqued his curiosity. Might as well rip the bandage off.

"I can't access the Tutorial Store," Cade said. Earl frowned.

"Why not? It's easy. You just think about it, and the menu comes up. Then you search for what you want, pick it, and boom. Pants. Weapons. All sorts of good things. How have you not used it before?"

"No, you're misunderstanding me. I can't access it at all." Cade sighed and met his eyes.

"I don't have a System Core. Without a System Core, I can't access the Tutorial Store." For once, Earl went completely quiet as he took Cade's words in. Then he said, "What? That can't be right. Everyone got a Core before the Tutorial. That's how we have Classes and skills and shit."

"Most people got a Core," Cade said.

"But I didn't. There was some kind of compatibility issue and the Automatic Core Formation failed for me." Earl stared at him as if Cade had just told him birds weren't real.

"I was supposed to be sent to a Tutorial for people like me," Cade continued.

"People who weren't compatible with System Cores. Instead, something went wrong, and I got dumped here." Earl absorbed that in silence. His gaze drifted back toward Kharvaxis then back to Cade.

"Well," he said at last, "that sucks." Cade huffed a laugh despite himself.

"But considering what I just watched, it looks like you're doing alright for yourself."

"I had some… lucky opportunities." Earl gave him a flat look.

"That's a bit of an understatement considering you went from no System Core to a lightning-eating swamp wizard."

"I'm not a wizard."

"You said you don't have a Class, right? So how do you know you're not a wizard?" Cade closed his eyes and sighed as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"So wait," Earl said, leaning in slightly.

"If you don't have a System Core or a Class, then how do you do all the magic stuff? Do you just have really good Mana control? I've wondered how mages cast spells, but I figured it was like my skills. I just think about using them and they activate." Well, in for a penny, in for a pound.

"I don't use Mana," Cade said.

"I use essence. And honestly, I'm not even sure what I do counts as magic." He looked down at his hand, where the rhizome had vanished back beneath his skin. The skills he had, his Laws, essence—none of it fit cleanly into the categories the System used. Earl stared at him for a long second before blinking.

"So you're just gonna leave me hanging and stare at your palm?" Cade frowned.

"What?"

"How do you cast those spells if you don't have a Class?"

"I just told you," Cade said slowly.

"I use essence. All of my skills run on essence, not Mana or Stamina." Earl's expression shifted from curiosity to confusion.

"What?" Cade stopped. The question did not sound like Earl being dense. The man looked genuinely confused, as if Cade had answered with half a sentence and expected him to fill in the rest. Cade narrowed his eyes. Something is fucking with Earl's comprehension. He thought back to the System Entity. To the way it had failed to synchronize with his Core. To the way the System had offered to replace what he had forged.

If the System could not recognize his Core properly, it made sense that it might also prevent other people from understanding parts of what he had become.

"Alright," Cade said.

"Let's test something. I'm going to say one sentence at a time. After each sentence, tell me whether you understand." Earl gave him an odd look.

"Okay."

"I don't have a System Core, which means I don't have a Class or Profession." Earl nodded.

"Yeah, I get that."

"I do have skills."

"Still with you."

"My skills don't run on Mana or Stamina." Earl frowned.

"What do your skills use if not Mana or Stamina?"

"They run on essence." Earl stared at him with a blank look. Cade closed his eyes and dragged a hand down his face. Of course. He really should have seen that coming. The frogs and tortoises had talked about essence freely inside Cynthia's Legacy, but they were part of a corrupted dungeon cut off from normal System access. The System had already shown that it did not like people walking paths outside of its design. Cade explaining essence to a Core-bearer was probably something the System didn't want.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. He lowered his hand.

"I think the System is blocking what I'm saying," Cade said.

"Or rather, blocking your ability to understand it. I can say the words, but you're not hearing them properly." Earl's face fell a little.

"Okay," he said after a moment.

"Fine. Keep your secrets, then. You don't gotta make up excuses." Cade met his eyes.

"I'm not making an excuse." Earl's expression tightened, but Cade held his gaze.

"I swear I'm not hiding it from you," Cade said.

"I told you what I use. You didn't hear it. Or couldn't understand it. I don't know exactly how the System is doing it, but something is blocking the explanation." Earl studied him for several seconds. For once, the loud, cheerful bluntness faded into something more measured. He looked Cade up and down, then glanced at the corpse of Kharvaxis, then back at him.

"Fine," Earl sighed.

"I believe you. You seem like a decent enough guy, considering you saved my ass from Richard and all. Besides, I can usually tell when someone's feeding me bullshit. That's why I left Richard's camp in the first place. You don't look like you're lying. Annoyed, sure. But not lying."

"That's because I am annoyed. I don't like the System talk-blocking me."

"Yeah, that tracks."

"If I find a way around the System's block, I'll tell you what I know," Cade said.

"But as long as the System is interfering, some of my answers are probably going to come through wrong… or not at all." Earl grimaced.

"Well, that sucks. But it is what it is. Since you can't access the Tutorial Store, looks like I'll need to buy you another pair of pants. Can't have you running around with just your cloak covering up your boys, now can we?" Earl's face went blank for a second as he focused. Then he held out one hand, and a folded pair of gray sweatpants appeared out of nowhere. He tossed them over.

"There you go. Try not to get these ones vaporized by lightning."

"No promises." Cade chuckled as he caught the pants.

"But thanks." He bent down, keeping his cloak wrapped around himself as he pulled the sweatpants on. When he straightened, he noticed movement near the distant tree line. Two figures were walking toward them across the ruined clearing. One moved with careful, measured steps. The other kept her arms slightly tense at her sides. Cade recognized them immediately and a complicated knot of emotions pulled tight in his chest. Relief came first. At least Nadean and Sasesh were alive.

Whatever had happened at Richard's camp, at least two familiar faces had made it through. That should have been the only thing that mattered. Unfortunately, Cade also had enough self-awareness to know this conversation was about to be awkward as hell. Especially with Nadean. He had left the group without saying goodbye. He had given them no warning or explanation. One argument with Sasesh and a bruised ego had been all it took for him to walk off alone into the swamp. At the time, it had felt necessary.

But looking back, he could admit he should have handled it better. He should have at least waited until morning and said his goodbyes. He focused on them and used [Greater Identify]. Nadean Montgomery — Level 19 Race: Human (F-rank) Highest Attribute: Dexterity: 84 Sasesh Mustafa — Level 17 Race: Human (F-rank) Highest Attribute: Intelligence: 89 Cade frowned. Why are they so weak? Sure, they were around the same level as Earl, but he had been alone.

A melee fighter with no healing magic going at the Tutorial alone would likely have to take things slow. But Nadean and Sasesh had been with a group. A good group, too. Bryan was their tank. Amanda was a healer. Professor Sanders could act as their tactician. The others filled out damage and support roles. They had numbers, structure, and the advantage of having System Cores from the start. So why were they only level nineteen and seventeen? And why were their highest stats so far below his lowest?

Earlier, Earl had mentioned that they had been in the Tutorial for an entire month. What the hell had they been doing with that time? Hiding and avoiding fights? Why hadn't they been trying to grow stronger? Then another thought settled cold in his stomach. There's only two of them… where are the others? Earl finally noticed the approaching pair and broke into a grin.

"Hey, that's the earth mage I was telling you about. Good to see he survived."

"Yeah," Cade said.

"I'm glad Sasesh made it. I know the other one too, her name is Nadean. We all knew each other before the Tutorial."

"Oh, that's cool, man," Earl said.

"Must've been good to have some friendly faces around, considering you started out without a System Core." Cade gave him a dry look.

"Yeah. Something like that." He started toward them before Earl could say another word.

"Come on. Maybe they know if there are more survivors." The four of them met halfway across the clearing, far enough from Kharvaxis' corpse and the ruined camp that the air no longer smelled quite so strongly of human blood and freshly killed shellfish. For a long moment, no one spoke. Cade looked between them. Sasesh stood rigid, his jaw tight, eyes fixed somewhere near Cade's shoulder rather than his face.

Nadean looked much as he remembered her, though color had risen high in her cheeks, and her eyes kept flicking over him before darting away. Both of them were covered in mud. Earl, apparently not sensing the tension, clapped his hands together.

"Well damn, Sasesh. Good to see you standing on your own two feet again." Sasesh blinked as if Earl had startled him.

"Thanks," he said.

"It's good to see you too, Earl." Then his attention shifted to Cade. For a second, Sasesh looked like he was gathering himself to say something important. He swallowed hard, lifted his chin, and met Cade's eyes. The contact lasted less than a heartbeat before he looked away. Cade's brow furrowed. What the hell was that?

"It's good to see you, Cade," Nadean said. When he turned to her, Nadean's eyes flicked over him again before darting away just as quickly, though Cade couldn't tell why she looked so flustered.

"Looks like the Tutorial has treated you well." She winced slightly.

"I mean, I'm sure you've had your share of hardships since leaving the group. Obviously. But you know what I mean."

"Alright, enough with this awkward shit," Cade said.

"Look, I'm sorry I left without saying anything. I should have told you and everyone else. I'm sure Sasesh told you that we got into a bit of an argument, but that's not a good enough reason for me to leave without at least saying goodbye." The words felt uncomfortable but they needed to be said.

"Speaking of everyone else…" Cade paused, the cold feeling in his stomach deepening.

"Where are they?" Nadean hesitated. Her gaze drifted toward the ruined camp behind them, as if the bodies scattered through the mud had pulled her attention despite her best effort not to look.

"Not everyone made it," she said quietly. Cade's chest tightened, but he kept his expression still.

"Who?" Nadean swallowed.

"John died during our escape from Camp Persistence. So did Miriam." Cade closed his eyes for half a second. John was the spear user, the one Amanda had rushed to heal after he got hurt. Miriam was the Scottish woman with two handaxes. He remembered that she fought like a battle maniac. Shame she died. She and Earl probably would have been two peas in a pod. Cade had not known either of them well, not really, but he remembered them. He remembered the way they laughed around the campfire.

He remembered how they had fought as one unit. How they looked out for each other.

"How did they…?" he asked.

"The leader of Camp Persistence, Richard," Nadean said.

"He was no good. Kept everyone in the camp under his thumb somehow. Sasesh and Kyle tried to ambush him, but they failed. Then Richard unleashed these horrific shadow creatures. We tried to get as many people as we could out of the camp through tunnels Sasesh had made, but there were too many. John bought us time. Said that he could handle the shadows in the tunnels. Miriam wouldn't let him fight alone…" She paused, a tear rolling down her cheek. Cade nodded once.

"I'm sorry that happened. It must have been hard. From what I remember, they were good people. Earl told me about Richard. About how the camp didn't seem right to him." Sasesh cleared his throat.

"Maybe we should talk about this in the bunker," he said. Cade turned to him. Sasesh's posture had straightened, slightly though his eyes still did not quite settle on Cade's for more than a second at a time.

"We don't know if Richard will come back," Sasesh continued.

"For all we know, he saw the lightning and is already on his way. You may be strong enough to kill a Lord of the Swamp, but Richard is on another level entirely." Cade felt one corner of his mouth twitch. Earl burst out laughing, one hand slapping against his knee as he doubled over. Sasesh stiffened.

"What?" Earl tried to compose himself but failed as he saw the look on Sasesh's face. Nadean looked between them, confused.

"What's going on?" Cade couldn't help but let out a small chuckle.

"We don't have to worry about Richard." Sasesh finally looked him dead in the eyes. Fear and irritation warred across his face.

"Why? For all we know, he could be coming here right now. That lightning could have been seen from miles away."

"Yeah," Earl said, still trying not to laugh his ass off.

"Probably could."

"It isn't funny," Sasesh snapped.

"It kind of is," Earl said.

"Because Richard ain't coming." Sasesh's brow furrowed.

"What does that mean?"

"Cade already killed him," Earl said, grinning like the entire situation was the best joke he had heard all month.

"Took him out before fighting that big crab bastard. Richard didn't even stand a chance against Cade's crazy-ass magic." Silence settled between them as Earl finally got himself under control and wiped tears of laughter from his eyes. Nadean and Sasesh stared at Cade, both looking dumbfounded. Cade met their shock without much reaction. Was Richard really that big of a deal? Kharvaxis had put up more of a fight, though Cade supposed that wasn't exactly fair.

He had avoided using his [Mantle of Dissolution] against the Lord to test himself. Richard hadn't been so lucky.

"Like I said, you won't have to worry about Richard," Cade said, meeting Nadean's eyes.

"Now what about the rest of the group?"