When the recruiter finally reached where we stood, he instructed one of the Guards that he'd brought along with him to open the vehicle's trunk and then distribute the assault rifles to the specific people he would point at.
After arming those of us he'd singled out, he pulled out a sleek, compact drone from the briefcase he carried and then plugged a thin wire into an earpiece he fitted into his ear.
He then turned the drone on with a larger, handheld controller.
Everyone else also began to gear themselves up, checking either their familiar melee weapons or their side arms, or often both.
I brought out my own recently acquired holster and wore it around my waist, then carefully placed my two new axes into it, their weight feeling unfamiliar but reassuring.
"Taiko, you will take point on this one, and the others will follow closely behind him. Go in precisely 30 seconds after I send in the drone," the recruiter said, his voice all business.
The drone whirred to life, then flew swiftly into the air, zipping directly inside Gate.
We all just stood there, a tense, mismatched group, until Taiko, a hard-looking man, finally told us to move in.
The ever-endearing chill washed over us, as we stepped into the alien jaw of the Gate.
Like the others, it was completely different from the outside, an alien terrain; so similar yet noticably different from the lands of Earth.
Inside the Gate was a thick, oppressive jungle with a very humid, almost suffocating atmosphere and a slick, muddy ground that made footing treacherous.
A dense layer of strange, greyish clouds hung low, about 300 feet above the jungle floor.
There was definitely light filtering down from something beyond those clouds, but it wasn't our sun or any star for that matter, because this whole damn jungle was clearly confined within the Gate's dimensional space, and the ambient light itself had a weird, unsettling blue tinge.
The constant, overlapping sounds of different sorts of unseen creatures rustling, screeching, and chirping from deep within the shadowy forest only added to the generally freaky, unnerving nature of this outer worldly jungle.
"Alright, listen up, Gutter-Guards," Taiko suddenly dictated coldly, his voice cutting through the jungle noises, addressing us Mercenaries.
"Firstly – don't talk or ask any damn questions once we start moving, understood? Secondly – you will all stay and move closely behind me and my men, and you will only attack when I attack. Lastly - if any of you try anything remotely stupid, anything at all, I will personally kill you myself, without hesitation."
He didn't wait for any response or acknowledgement, before he and his uniformed men started moving forward into the dense undergrowth.
We reached a certain, particularly dense place in the sprawling forest.
Taiko gave a sharp, clear gesture by raising his right fist straight up into the air, which we all knew meant to stop immediately and be absolutely quiet.
He then made a series of quick, silent hand signals to his men, directing them to go and take up certain pre-arranged, tactical positions around the immediate area, before finally saying curtly, "Go!"
I think he actually said that command to his men through his earpiece, not out loud.
His men instantly started firing their weapons, a sudden, deafening eruption of gunfire, while we, the Gutter-Guards, followed closely behind Taiko as he led us into a small, cleared field.
There, he started shooting at a sizable pack of what looked like White-face Zipper-spines, about 30 of them in total, caught completely by surprise.
The effective ambushing of these Zipper-spines made us clear their startled numbers down to zero in a matter of mere tens of seconds, a brutal, efficient slaughter.
"They already know we are here now because of all the damn gun shots, so from this point on, we should all be extra fucking vigilant and do our best to avoid any kind of surprise attack, or we will end up just like them," Taiko then said to all of us, contemptuously pointing the muzzle of his advanced arcane assault-rifle down towards the fresh corpse of a White-face Zipper-Spine that lay twitching under his left boot.
The White-face Zipper-Spines were essentially the same in their aggressive behavior and general grotesque appearance as a regular Zipper-spine.
The only noticeable differences were a slightly darker grey skin tone and a large, distinctive white stripe that ran vertically from the top of their humped head down to the place where their nose would be, if they actually had one.
We continued our cautious, tense raid deeper into the alien jungle.
A shimmering, translucent Message Box suddenly popped up in my vision as I walked.
MessageBox
[Level Up!]
[Reward: 5 Status Points]
I also noticed, with a jolt, that my 'Elixir' count had also increased, going from 915 up to 995, right after I personally killed those four Zipper-Spines in the last skirmish.
Soon enough, we encountered another pack of Zipper-Spines.
These ones, however, weren't just relaxing or caught unawares like the previous pack had been.
This new pack was already heading directly, purposefully, towards us, and they weren't really surprised at all when they made contact with our group.
Instead, they immediately, ferociously, rushed in to attack.
But they were still gunned down, though perhaps less quickly and efficiently than we had managed to end the previous pack.
Some of them, the smarter or luckier ones, actually tried to retreat when they saw their numbers dwindling rapidly, but Taiko's men chased right after them into the jungle.
A few more shouts and bursts of gunfire were heard from the gloom, and then the Guards returned, looking grim.
"Boss, these guys were heading straight for the exact place where that other pack we just killed had been staying," one of Taiko's men reported, his voice tight, as he quickly reloaded his arcane-assault rifle.
"That means more of them will definitely be on their way now. And with all the goddamn shoot-out we just had, they will most likely change their original direction and instead head straight towards us," another one of Taiko's men commented, his eyes scanning the dense treeline nervously.
"Alright. We will turn now and head due east from here, then circle back around towards our original objective later," Taiko announced decisively, pointing all the fingers of his left hand sharply towards the east.
"It's much better to play 'cat and mouse' with these bastards for a while, then to risk being totally surrounded and attacked from all sides at any given point," Taiko concluded, his logic sound, if unwelcome.
We moved quickly due east.
Over the next hour, we encountered another two more packs of those White-face Zipper-Spines, and they too were completely, ruthlessly wiped out by Taiko's well-drilled team.
But there was a definite cost this time around.
One of the other Mercenary-Guards, one who didn't have an assault rifle, was unfortunately killed, torn apart before anyone could react.
And two of Taiko's own men were badly bitten during the frantic fighting.
It was a serious, ugly injury for both of them, but apparently it wasn't immediately fatal, and they quickly got tended to by their concerned comrades, who applied field dressings and some kind of healing salve.
After that last, costly engagement, Taiko made us abruptly change direction again and go back south, saying that more Zipper-Spines, and probably some scouting Goblins as well, were very close to catching up with us if we foolishly stayed on that same eastward trail any longer.
We walked for what felt like hours after that, without seeing anything else hostile, before Taiko suddenly held out his hand in a fist, which prompted all of us to halt instantly.
"Hey, Control, I thought you were supposed to be our goddamn eye in the sky up there! Why the hell aren't you effectively guiding us in to take down these bastards, huh?" Taiko said with clear annoyance, speaking into the small microphone attached to his earpiece.
He made sure not to shout too much, though, trying to avoid attracting any more unwanted attention from whatever else might be lurking nearby.
"What do you mean, they will instantly be able to circle around us if we continued playing this 'cat and mouse' bullshit any longer?" he continued, his voice growing sharper.
"Shit!" Taiko then said, his voice tight with vexation, as he angrily let his finger go off the transmit button on the earpiece in his ear.
"Damn Drone-pilot," he then muttered, almost like a whisper, clearly frustrated, before finally turning back to address all of us.
"Alright, listen up. We were apparently lead into this particular area because the combined noise we've been making has unfortunately drawn a lot of different Aggressors towards us, far too quickly.
So, we will have to stay put right here for a while, dig in, while the bloody drone-pilot and the tactical control team try to figure out how the hell we can proceed from here without incurring severe, unacceptable casualties," he said, his face grim.
He then chased some buzzing, mosquito-like flies away from his face with an impatient wave of his hand and proceeded to sit down heavily on a large, exposed tree's root.
"What about those goblins you mentioned, boss? We haven't actually seen any sign of them since we first arrived in this damn Gate," one of Taiko's men asked, his voice laced with apprehension.
"Nothing new on them yet. Just try to relax while we stay put here, but make damn sure you all stay on high alert," Taiko said curtly, as he began meticulously checking his arcane-assault rifle for any damage or malfunctions.
Most of us reluctantly obeyed his order, sitting down on exposed rocks, gnarled roots, or whatever else we could find to rest our weary legs, while some of the more paranoid, or diligent, individuals still stood on guard, their weapons ready.
We stayed there, in that tense, uneasy silence, for almost a full goddamn hour.
It was then that I suddenly realized, with a jolt, that I didn't see any new 'Levelup' message pop up after those last few fights, nor did I notice any corresponding increase in my displayed 'Elixirs' count.
Elixirs: 1095 *Profile
Coins: 15 *Interface
*Codex
…and the 'EvolutionPod' option, which had been there before, was now completely missing from the interface.
After a moment of confused, anxious thought, I guessed that my earlier action of enabling that unknown 'ReflexEvolutionPod' must have somehow caused this unexpected change.
I guess I'm finally starting to understand why that kid back in the shopping mall had warned me so sternly not to mess with any of the System's damn advanced settings if I don't fully understand what they do, or if I'm not prepared to follow up on the consequences.
The amount of 'Elixirs' required will probably continue to increase for every subsequent Level-up, which meant that the next cost to reach Level 4 was likely going to be annoyingly high.
'Now that I actually think about that last Level up, it is pretty damn clear that I didn't get any noticeably stronger or faster from it, not really,' I thought to myself, a cold knot of disappointment forming in my stomach.
I looked around the dense, oppressive jungle, trying to determine if I could somehow distract myself for a sec.
Using in all of my brain power to figure out how to actually become stronger, especially when more Zipper-Spines or those goblins could potentially show up, bursting out from any corner, at any given fucking moment.
Then, I steeled my nerves, a grim resolve hardening within me.
I had to take a calculated risk, right here, right now.
I might be destined to die anytime, even in this moment.
Since the first day I've been scrapping in Gates, it has always been terrifying to go up against Aggressors and too many close brush with death, figuring this whole mysterious 'Level Up' thing out properly might just be the only damn way to really save from losing my shit-stained life.
I mentally commanded 'Profile' to open, and then I saw 'my' personal details displayed again in my vision.
Most of it still isn't totally clear to me, a lot of jargon and numbers, but I selected the 'PowerStatus' option this time.
I vaguely remember coming across this particular screen once before, back in that abandoned shopping mall Gate, and I also definitely remembered something about getting 'Statuspoints' every time that 'Level Up' message box had popped up.
PowerStatus
Strength: 1 Heart: 1
Speed: 2 Vitality: 1
Stamina: 4 Energy: 2
Construct: 10 Cognition: 2
Available Status Points: 10
'Well, now. It looks like I might have finally found what I've been desperately looking for,' I thought to myself, and I almost fuckin' snickered aloud with relief, but then, after a brief moment of actually processing what I was clearly seeing on that display, I began to feel pretty damn bad, real bad.
I do not really know what the specific numbers behind each of those listed attributes actually mean in practical terms, but they looked far too goddamn pathetic for comfort.
'My Strength is only a fuckin' 1, and my Speed is just a 2?
Why the fuck are they both that freaking, unbelievably low?
I'm an Evolve, and the number are freaking unimpressive... I know I'm an E-Grade, but c'mon.'
A wave of self-disgust washing over me as thought all that.
I might not properly understand about half of what I am seeing on this damn screen, but there's certainly no fuckin' need for any lengthy explanation when basic attributes like 'strength' and 'speed' are clearly listed out like that.
They were undeniably among the attributes with the very lowest numerical values, and seeing them displayed so starkly, so unequivocally, broke something deep inside me.
I currently had 10 unused Status points available; 5 from each of the two times I'd managed to level up so far.
I immediately, without further hesitation, decided to put 7 of those points directly into Strength, and the remaining 3 points into Speed.
I didn't want to just dump the whole 10 points into Strength alone, because Speed is obviously equally fuckin' important when you're fighting for your life, and besides, I still don't really know what most of those other listed attributes, like 'Construct' or 'Cognition,' might actually mean or do for me.
I immediately reached down and picked up the arcane-assault rifle I'd kept resting beside me on the ground, primarily to test if there was any noticeable, tangible difference in my physical strength.
The previously heavy assault rifle now felt significantly, almost remarkably, lighter as I held it in my hands.
I then experimentally threw the gun a short distance up into the air, just to check if I wasn't just fuckin' imagining the gun's surprisingly lighter weight.
It wasn't profound but noticable, due to the difference of what I felt few seconds ago before the upgrade.
I caught it back with relative ease as it came down, but my little test also earned me one or two colorful insults from Taiko's nearby, ever-watchful men.
"Are you completely fuckin' daft, boy? Why the hell are you messin' around with that like it's a toy?" one of Guards growled menacingly.
"The bloody fool probably thinks it is just a toy, ehh," another one immediately chimed in with a sneer.
Their ignorant insults didn't bother me in the slightest, though, because I was, for once, internally, genuinely happy.
Maybe even truly, genuinely happy for the very first damn time since I can clearly remember.
I truly wasn't just imaginin' things; this was real.
I had somehow, miraculously, acquired some kind of System, a power, that will actually allow me to become stronger, to change my shitty fate.
I didn't even know when a wide, uncharacteristic smile had appeared on my usually grim face.
And the same men that had just reprimanded me for casually tossing the assault rifle into the air apparently took my unexpected smile as some kind of personal offense, or a sign of disrespect.
They even started to move towards me, clearly intending to try and take the rifle away from me, but Taiko himself then sharply stopped them, curtly telling them to just leave me be, then warn me sternly never to pull that shit again or else the only thing that will be tossed aside, will be my corpse.
Even if they had managed to take it away from me, or even if they'd decided to beat me up right then and there at this particular point, I honestly couldn't have cared less – I am fuckin' happy, truly happy, and that's all that mattered.
I now know that I am definitely stronger than before, but I still didn't quite understand how this whole System thing actually worked.
That quick, sobering thought made me swiftly put up my guard again and immediately regain my previous vigilance, my newfound joy tempered with caution.
I'm still lacking, not really a good time to get cocky.
I mentally commanded the Power Status screen to close and then noticed some subtle but significant changes in my main Profile display.
*Profile
Name: None
Nature: EvolveHuman
Level: 3
Title: Ratty
Hitpoint: 100
Damageperhit: 40
ArcaneEnergy: 6
ArcaneSkills (None)
ArcanePhysiology (None)
PowerStatus
Trophy
My 'Damageperhit' is now 40.
I guess it means a damage of 40, for every hit I land. What ever 40 actually means, but it's still a huge boost because I had only 2 points of Damage per hit before.
Now, I have 20 times more Damage per hit.
That has to be a pretty drastic fuckin' increase in overall power, no matter how you slice it.
I quickly closed all the distracting System screens.
I have now, at least, learned the basics of how to make myself stronger after each subsequent Level up.
It would be fuckin' stupid of me to try and push my new, surprising luck any further right now by investing all my focus into tryin' to understand the entire System better, especially not out here in the open, in hostile territory.