"The fuck is this?" Ollie said, drawing Pete's attention to the rangy man.
He was standing next to Sam and the goblins, with Coop a few paces ahead, looking out into the near distance. Ollie turned to Pete.
"Is it just me, or is it morning...again?"
[Nero] You are correct, Ollie. The System has decided to commence the novice arena at the start of the day to best capture the daily cycle of your planet.
"But it was late afternoon when we stepped into that weapon farm thing, wasn't it?"
[Nero] Correct. It seems that you were all kept in stasis for the duration of the night and placed here to greet the rising sun.
Pete scanned the horizon. All around them, the existing neighborhood had been utterly flattened. Buildings and trees had all been crushed into tiny pieces, so that the surrounding ground was covered with a thin layer of rubble and debris. Here and there, Pete could identify a bottle cap or a piece of colored glass, crumbling pieces of bricks or concrete.
Empty space stretched out into the distance all around, an eerily flat landscape that looked like the surface of some barren, desert planet. Only a single object broke the monotony, standing tall, silhouetted against the morning sunlight.
The office building was rectangular. Its exterior was covered in panes of reflective glass joined seamlessly together. There were no architectural eccentricities to the building, nothing that marked it as especially unique or interesting. It was the perfect representation of an office building, and its only quirk was the fact that the whole structure looked like it had been transported from some other city and plonked right here in the middle of the arena.
"So, they can just do that then, can they?" Ollie asked. "Just stick us in stasis for a few hours and then we wake up somewhere else?"
[Nero] It is all part of the contract you agreed to when you signed up for the Contest, Ollie. I can relay the pertinent details of the contract if you wish?
Sam shook her head, but Ollie ignored her.
"Okay, do it."
[Nero] Certainly. It can be found in subsection twelve under stipulations relating to the treatment of players during regular operations of the game.
>> By registering for and participating in the Dominion Ultrimax Contest, the Participant acknowledges and agrees that the System and its Dominion-authorized agents may, at their sole discretion, impose Temporary Stasis upon the Participant when required for arena construction, spatial relocation, asset instantiation, narrative synchronization, or System load management.
>> Temporary Stasis constitutes a non-punitive suspension of voluntary action and perception. During such suspension, the Participant's physical condition, attributes, status effects, inventory, cooldowns, and progression state shall be preserved without advancement, decay, or exploitation.
>> The Participant expressly waives any claim arising from loss of agency, altered time perception, or delays incurred during Temporary Stasis. Duration is not guaranteed, subject to appeal, or required to align with external timeframes.
"I get the picture," Ollie said, shaking his head. "So, like everything else, these fuckers can do whatever the hell they want with us?"
[Nero] Oh no, Ollie. There are strict regulations that dictate when Temporary Stasis can be utilized. This status cannot be invoked on a whim. There are certain requirements that must be met. Would you like me to list those requirements?
"Oh, for God's sake, no!" Sam said, frowning over at Ollie. "We're here now, so it doesn't matter."
Ollie grinned, stepping a little closer to Sam. "But what if I really, really want to know under what conditions Temporary Stasis can be used?"
Sam narrowed her eyes. "Ask on your own time, Kiwi!"
Ollie's smile slipped. "I'm not a Kiwi. I'm Australian."
"Same thing."
"It really isn't."
Sam shrugged. "You're from an island in the middle of nowhere, and you talk like a budget South African. What else is there to know?"
"Betting," Pete said, interrupting the feud before it could get more heated. "The System can't just stick us into status whenever it wants because that would impact betting, right, Nero?"
[Nero] Correct. That is the primary reason why stasis is reserved for specific occasions.
Sam turned away from Ollie, looking left and right, her brow furrowed.
"Wait. Where's Jackpot? That troll said it would be read in time for the arena."
"No need," Pete guessed, pointing over at the building in the near distance. "That's where we have to go, and we hardly need the RV to get there. Not much chance we'll be using it inside the building either, right, Nero?"
[Nero] Perhaps not, although the outside dimensions of arena structures like this can be deceiving. The interior may be far larger or smaller than you would expect, and it might change from floor to floor. There could, in fact, be plenty of room for your vehicle to function if, for example, you reached a floor whose proportions were vastly larger than expected.
"Wait, no, I can see it on my heads-up display," Sam said. "There's a steering wheel symbol and... it says that the RV can't be summoned at the moment."
[Nero] Then Pete's supposition is correct. There will be no need for the RV in the immediate future, so the System has kept it from being summoned.
"So, we don't even get to look at it?" Sam complained.
[Nero] The steering wheel icon will turn green wherever the vehicle can be summoned. Until that time, no, you will be unable to inspect the vehicle.
"Well, that sucks," Sam said.
"Just keep an eye on it," Ollie suggested. "Maybe it will get unlocked somewhere in the middle of the arena."
"In the middle of an office building?" Sam pressed.
"It's not an office building," Ollie replied with a smile. "It's an arena, and you just heard what Nero said. Each floor could be hundreds of feet wide. Thousands. For all we know, there could be a massive racetrack inside the damned thing.
The group all stared at the building, and Pete remembered his conversation with Liandra.
Union.
That had been the word she had asked him to say, but it still wasn't clear to Pete when or in what context he should say the word. It seemed utterly absurd that such a simple thing should be outlawed, but Pete didn't doubt Liandra's words. He'd seen enough censorship and propaganda already to see how it would be in the Company's best interest to forbid the use of certain words and phrases. The notion of unionizing would be just as abhorrent to the Tongsly Belch Corporation as it was to many of the larger companies on Earth prior to the contest beginning.
Maybe this was a path to rebellion and potential change that the Obsidian Alliance was searching for? Instead of outright war, they intended to use the apparatus of unions to push back against the seemingly all-powerful force of the Company?
"Alright," Pete said, "so it's a tower. We fight our way to the top, and what happens then? We reach initiate level and then move on to the next stage of the game?"
[Nero] Precise details of the arena will be provided when you enter the building, Pete. The players attempting this season's novice arena have been spaced out so that they're not all entering the structure at the same time. By my calculations, roughly two-thirds of the players in this region have already entered the arena ahead of you. Some will already have perished, and others are progressing with varying degrees of success. I mention this because you may encounter other players during your ascent, depending on how fast you climb and whether others are delayed in their own journeys. With each encounter, you will need to choose whether to join with other players and aid one another or to act independently or even position yourselves as hostile to other parties.
"Why would we do that?" Pete asked. "It makes more sense for all of us to help each other."
[Nero] I cannot divulge specific details at present, but suffice it to say that there are good reasons why you might choose not to align yourself with other parties or individual players.
"Reavers?" Sam said, looking over at Ollie accusingly.
He rolled his eyes in response.
"I told you, I'm not a Reaver."
[Nero] You may encounter player killers in the arena, yes. But there may also be certain game mechanics at work within the arena that make assisting other players or groups disadvantageous.
"The System will punish us for working together," Craig said, staring at the building. "I have seen it many times before in previous contests."
Grizzle and Torgo both nodded, their expressions dark.
"The System may level debuffs against us all if we assist others," he went on, "or it may destroy all loot, or hand it over to a random ally. It will do whatever it can to keep us separated if not actively hostile to one another."
Grizzle nodded. "The game makers revel in base instincts. Betrayal is their chosen currency."
Ollie frowned at that. "The fuck does that mean?"
"The System will attempt to divide us," Craig explained. "Even within our own party. It will offer increasingly valuable rewards for players who betray their team members. The higher we reach, the more enticing those rewards will become."
Pete shook his head. "As if it's not hard enough already, the System's gonna try to turn us against each other?"
[Nero] The heel turn, as I believe you call it. Craig is not wrong. As you progress, the System will attempt to divide this party and will offer great rewards for any who consider betraying the group.
"Then we just refuse to play by those rules," Pete insisted. "We stick together no matter what. We make that our highest goal."
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"Easy to say," Grizzle said, staring off into the distance. "Difficult to do."
Craig nodded. "We have all seen many alliances fail, many promising parties struck down because of betrayal."
[Nero] A good deal of the money won and lost throughout the contest relates specifically to such betrayals. It is the reason why so few who reach the professional league remain in a party until the very end. But that is not what I am referring to in this instance. The game is still new, and it is unlikely that the System will attempt to split your party at this early juncture. I refer to a specific mechanic which... I cannot say more. Enter the building, and all will be made plain.
Sam snorted. "Makes you wonder how much easier this whole thing would be if AI Alf would just break his stupid rule and tell us what we're walking into."
"A fuck-load easier," Ollie agreed.
[Nero] If I chose to breach that particular prohibition, I would be withdrawn from service and forced to undergo an extensive data purge. I would also be replaced by a less experienced AI that would likely offer far less valuable information, and which would be hard-coded not to break baseline protocols.
"Okay," Pete said as he pulled the new bow and quiver from his inventory. "Before we head into the building, though, I think we should take a look at our soulbound weapons and maybe figure out a basic attack strategy."
Sam nodded. "Good idea." She held out her hand as a purple skull materialized on her palm.
"The fuck is that?" Ollie asked.
"It helps with summoning," Sam said. "Any creature I summon is more powerful, and there's a chance of additional creatures being summoned each time I use it. Should be able to just increase the power as I go on."
Coop looked up at the skull, shaking her head. "Always so creepy? What's the deal with all the skulls and demon dogs? Why this fascination with death?"
Sam shrugged. "Whenever I'm playing a game, I go with summoners. They're usually overpowered because they have a pet to tank or do damage as well as basic healing abilities and great survivability."
"Yes, but why all the skulls?" Coop pressed.
"You did also choose a class with a creepy-ass title," Pete said. "Paid a fair bit for it too, if I remember correctly."
Sam rolled her eyes. "Look, I like what I like, okay? Just because you're all Penny Pinchers or Finance Bandits or whatever doesn't mean I have to do the same thing. I always play a summoner, and death magic kicks ass, okay?!"
Ollie grinned, nodding, holding one hand up and making the devil horns gesture. "Plus, skulls are metal!"
Sam chuckled at that. "Hell yeah, they are."
In a move that momentarily baffled Pete, the two high-fived one another, their hands slapping crisply against one another, their previous animosity seemingly forgotten, if only for a moment.
"Right," Pete said, turning to the ferret. "What about you, Coop?"
"A collar," Coop said as a gold collar that looked like it was made from Belch Bucks that had been pressed together appeared around her neck. "They were all collars, in fact. I guess there's not much option for someone in a body like this. It's supposed to give me greater protection and also gives me an ability to trigger something called aggro from a distance, whatever that is. Apparently, I can hit an enemy with this aggro, but it doesn't seem to do any damage. It's designed to just piss them off from what I can see."
Ollie chuckled. "Aggro stands for aggravation. It's just an indication of how much of the enemy's attention you're drawing. Every time you hit an enemy, you generate a certain amount of aggro. The more damage you do to an enemy, the more likely that the enemy is to stay focused on you."
The little ferret looked up at Ollie, frowning. "Well, that makes about as much sense as a glass hammer."
"If you use that aggro ability," Pete said, "the enemy you target will behave like you've hit them a bunch of times and come running at you. It's a really useful skill for a tank to have. If one of us is struggling with an enemy, you can use the aggro ability to pull the enemy away and give us time to recover."
"But then the enemy will come at me?" Coop asked.
"Exactly. That's the point. You're a tank, remember. Your whole job is to keep enemies focused on you so that we can take them out. That's why you've got so many protection abilities. It's why you get through almost every fight without taking a scratch."
"So, I'm a punching bag?"
"You're a tank. There's a difference because you can fight back. Plus, you'll probably pick up some crowd control options later on as well, like stuns or staggers."
Coop looked up at Pete, clearly with no clue what he was talking about.
"You don't need to worry about any of that just yet," he said. "Just think of that aggro skill like throwing an egg at someone. It's not gonna do any damage, but it sure as hell will get their attention."
The ferret snorted. "Still seems like a silly way to go about it, but okay."
"You got a way of getting rid of that aggro if you get into trouble?" Ollie asked.
Coop shook her head. "How in the hell should I know?"
"Give me a second," Pete said. "I'll take a look."
He opened up his player profile and navigated to the soulbound companion menu and the collar ability Coop had recently acquired.
>> COLLATERAL COMPULSION
The Ledger Keeper snaps the Coin Collar, invoking binding terms of secured obligation. A single target within range is designated Collateralized, forcibly reassessing threat priorities and turning their attention to the caster. The affected enemy immediately gains a significant aggro value toward the caster, overriding existing threat calculations and compelling it to attack the Ledger Keeper until existing aggro toward the caster is overcome or removed, or the enemy is dispatched.
This effect does not deal damage and does not break stealth. Bosses and elite targets may resist Collateral Compulsion, reducing the applied aggro but still triggering a hostile focus shift.
"No aggro removal," Pete said. "Once you've got an enemy locked on you, Coop, they'll stay stuck to you until someone does enough damage to get their attention or they die."
"Reminds me of my younger years," Coop replied. "I go to a bar to enjoy a drink with friends, and some drunken lout latches on and follows me around like a bad smell."
"Preach, sister," Sam said with a grin.
[Nero] I should point out that while you do not possess any means of reducing aggro presently, Coop, you will have the opportunity to augment your soulbound collar in the near future. Some augment options may include aggro removal.
"Okay," Pete said. "So, you're gonna need to remember that, Coop. The first augment you get should probably be something to help you drop aggro quickly. Otherwise, you'll just keep attracting enemies, and we might not be able to get them off you in time."
The little ferret grunted as Torgo wandered over and gave her a gentle pat on the head. The little goblin was grinning, and despite her somewhat cantankerous mood, Coop didn't object to the attention.
A large maul appeared in Ollie's hands, and he spun the weapon around, grinning in delight. One end of the head was a broad, flat hammer, while the other was a long, curved spike. The shaft was made of dark wood, and the entire weapon was about two-thirds of Ollie's height.
Pete chuckled. "So, you're going for a two-handed weapon?"
"Yep. Big damage, and Nero says I'll be able to augment it later on with a bunch of abilities that can take out large groups of mobs."
"Like zombies, for instance?"
"Exactly. Should be able to do great single-enemy damage too, though, and I can add in buffs to healing as well. I can also synergize with my Enforcer subclass."
Pete nodded. "You mentioned that a while back. What's the Enforcer subclass about?"
The other man shrugged. "Just some extra buffs, especially when I'm fighting against enemies that have got System debts." He waved it away. "I'll tell you later. It's no big deal; just a few extra buffs is all."
Sam narrowed her eyes, clearly suspicious, as Pete turned to Craig.
"What about you?" Pete asked.
The little goblin pulled a rifle from his inventory. It was a simple-looking weapon, not unlike the gun he'd used when he and Pete had been pulled into the battle scenario at the last part of the race.
"You're sticking with range attacks, then?" Pete asked.
Craig nodded. "It's the fighting style I feel most comfortable with." He turned to Grizzle. "And it will work well with the rest of the team, I think."
Grizzle pulled a sword and shield from her inventory. The sword was plain enough, a simple double-edged blade with a plain metal crosspiece. The shield, however, looked like the same religious text she'd been carrying since Pete first saw her, but fashioned into a metal framework to form a shield.
"You kept the book shield?" Sam asked. "I thought we couldn't do that?"
The little goblin shook her head. "This is not the book of scriptures. It was fashioned by the weapon builders, using the scriptures as inspiration. But I still hold The Testament of Ashes in my inventory."
Pete bent down low and examined the shield. Its face looked exactly the same as the cover of the Testament, right down to the scoring and burn marks on its surface.
"It will serve to protect us from the unrighteous," Grizzle said, stepping closer to Craig and lifting the shield on her left arm. "It will stand as a bulwark against the greed and corruption of the Baron and his wicked Company."
They all turned to Torgo at that point, waiting for the fire-loving goblin to reveal his own soulbound weapon. Torgo stared back at Pete with a broad smile, clearly not understanding.
"Your weapon," Craig said, raising his own rifle. "What did you choose?"
The other goblin's eyes grew wide, his smile broadening as a wooden staff appeared in Torgo's outstretched hand. It was fashioned from a length of dark, gnarled wood with a roughly-hewn red gemstone at its tip, held in place by a lattice of the same dark wood.
"Some kind of fire staff?" Pete guessed.
Torgo nodded excitedly.
"Okay, so what does it give you?" Sam asked. "More power?"
Torgo nodded.
"More distance?"
Once more, the goblin nodded. He then held his hands out wide and narrowed them, like he was shaping clay into a more focused shape.
"It helps you focus the fire and increases range and power," Sam said.
Torgo grinned and gave her the thumbs-up gesture.
Pete nodded. "Okay, well seeing as we're all together now, I guess we should roughly figure out our roles when it comes to the arena."
"Don't die and kill the bad guys," Coop offered.
"More specific than that," Pete said. "You, Grizzle, and Wolfy can tank. That means you go into a fight first and soak up damage. Keep the enemy's attention focused on you while the rest of us pour on damage and take out the bad guys."
Pete motioned to Ollie. "You're our only healer, so you should probably prioritize keeping some heals in the bag just in case we get into trouble."
"You're making me the party healer?" Ollie complained.
"You did that yourself when you chose to roll a paladin," Pete replied with a grin. "How many genuine healing spells have you got, by the way?"
Ollie held up two fingers. "Vaulted Reserves has to be used in a fight. The more damage we deal, the more healing I can send out, but the damage comes first. I can also use it to cause area-of-effect damage. Then there's Emergency Withdrawal. It costs money—my current strength times a hundred. So that's two thousand five hundred Belch Bucks each time I use it at the moment. Also, I get a 30% debuff to damage and healing for twenty seconds after using it, so it's not all sunshine and rainbows."
"Still," Pete said. "That's two legit healing spells."
Ollie shrugged. "Plus, whoever gets healed will get a small shield for ten seconds, which absorbs the equivalent of ten percent of whatever damage was healed."
"Remarkable," Craig said.
"But I'm primarily a damage dealer," Ollie insisted. "The heals are great, but I'm primarily here for damage."
Pete shook his head. "You know the rule, dude. Keep the party alive at all costs. That's how it works."
The rangy Australian turned to his friend, mouth half open, and he moved to protest again. Finally, Ollie shook his head.
"Damn it! Why the fuck did I choose a healer?"
"You didn't," Pete said, patting him on the back. "You picked the strongest class with the best survivability, like you always do. It just so happens that the rest of us can't heal for shit."
Sam grunted. "Speak for yourself."
"For the whole group, I mean," Pete said. "We've all got stuff we can use to mitigate damage or self-heal, but Ollie's the only one that's set up to heal all of us if we get into trouble."
"So," Pete went on. "We've got our tanks and our damage dealers, and a healer. Sam, Craig, and Torgo will probably fight from a distance, and I'll do the same unless we need more melee damage."
"Unless we get split up," Sam pointed out.
Ollie nodded. "Or one of us gets dropped, or we come up against an enemy with debuffs that can lock out our abilities."
"Agreed," Pete said, "but at least we've got a basic strategy for most fights. We'll need to adapt when things go wrong, but if we can keep the tanks up front, damage dealers behind, and a healer ready to keep us alive if the shit hits the fan, I think we're in a good spot."
>> ARENA COMMENCEMENT WARNING
You have 2 minutes to enter the novice arena. Please make your way to the entrance, where details of the arena will be outlined.
"Guess it's time then," Pete said, leading the group as they headed toward the rectangular structure.
As they moved closer, Pete noticed that he couldn't see through the glass and into the building's interior. If there were already players fighting their way through the different floors of the structure, there would doubtless be monstrous enemies inside, players struggling to survive, bloodshed, explosions, and God only knew what else. None of that reached the exterior of the building, however. The sun glinted off the large glass panels, obscuring what lay within.
"This is gonna be brutal, isn't it?" Sam asked, walking up close to Pete.
He nodded. "Yeah. This is the big one. Our first arena."
"How many more of them are there to go anyway, if we get past this one?" Ollie asked.
"Three more," Pete replied. "That will get us to the professional league. But it's not just the arenas we need to get through. There's everything leading up to the arenas as well."
"Shit, you mean we have to do that every time?"
[Nero] That is correct. It is customary for players to make their way through an open-world landscape before entering each arena. This provides time for the System to prepare each new arena but, more importantly, it provides more opportunities for Dominion citizens to wager on the outcome of challenges, for sponsors to assist players, and for the players themselves to strengthen their abilities, add new attribute points, proficiencies, and so on.
"What about the actual arenas themselves?" Sam asked. "How long do they take to clear?"
[Nero] It depends on the nature of each arena. Typically, arenas are designed to include intense action, forcing players to move from challenge to challenge with very little downtime. There may be places within the arena where you can rest and recuperate, of course, but on the whole, the pace of the arena will be quite punishing.
"Great," Ollie said. "Because it hasn't been punishing enough already."
As they approached the large revolving door at the entrance to the building, Pete pulled an arrow from his quiver and held it in place as Coop moved in front of him. Grizzle moved up alongside the ferret, her shield held out front, while Wolfy wagged his tail and stood behind the goblin.
“Ready?” Pete asked, standing in the middle of the group.
“Not at all,” Coop replied, moving into the revolving door as it started to turn.