Tess opened her eyes, going from full sleep to full wakefulness in an instant. The sun was coming over the horizon, its blue-yellow light casting a comforting glow through the trees. Tess supposed she should have been cold and stiff, sleeping in the snow all evening, but she never did anymore. She didn't know if it was The System or Fara, but whatever it was she was grateful for it. She didn't even feel the urge to stretch as she stood.
"Well, let's go see who this last person is." She pushed the bike onto the road, the only sound was the crunching of snow under its wheels as she willed it forward at full speed.
Tess pulled the bike to a slow stop, controlling the sliding of the rear wheel in the snow.
"There's definitely something in there. What do you see?"
Tess reflected on how odd it was for Fara to see more than her, despite using Tess's own body. The world brightened and darkened momentarily before returning to normal. This was standard for them as well - Fara would operate Tess's irises to full open, fully contracted, then back to normal, taking in all the information and processing it. To Tess it just looked like everything got way too bright then way too dark, but it gave Fara what she needed.
"I agree. There are vehicles blocking most of the roadway, obviously meant to hinder but not fully block the way. There is a recreational vehicle that appears to have someone living inside of it. I saw movement through the front windshield."
"Yeah, that must be what I picked up on. Think we should go say hi?"
"This is where the drone has stopped, so I believe this person or persons are our destination."
"That settles it then." Tess swung her leg over the bike, checking on her bonuses from her equipment.
Shimmer: Attack +4, Agility +2
Moonfang Shadow Pendant: Defense +1
Goliath's Edge: Attack: +7, Agility: -1
Arc-Talon Mark IV: Attack: +6, Agility: +2
Exo-Shell Combat Vest: Defense: +4, Agility: +2
Shimmer, Goliath's Edge, and the second Arc-Talon were stored in her dimensional pack. She considered pulling Goliath's Edge out and locking it into the magnetic holder on her back to activate the bonus, but decided to wait. She didn't want to come across as too aggressive right off the bat, and she and Fara had been working on a new fighting style that involved pulling weapons rapid-fire from her dimensional space, using them sometimes for as short a time as a fraction of a second, then returning it and pulling out another. It was much faster than sheathing and unsheathing them and gave them the element of surprise. Besides, she always had Weapons Mastery to fall back on in an emergency, now that her entire body could become a blade.
"Hello?" Tess called out loudly, waving her hands in the air. "To whoever is in there, I don't mean any harm. I'm just here to talk. We have a neighborhood that we're building to make it through the upcoming Cryptid Challenge and we're gathering as many people as we can. We're stronger together. Is that something you'd be interested in?"
The speech was well-worn and familiar at this point. Tess had learned not to beat around the bush or wait for people to ask why she was there - just tell them. People were more skittish in this new world and it was good to make your intentions clear from the beginning. That didn't always guarantee that the people she approached weren't looking for easy prey, though. That's why Tess kept the Exo-Shell Combat Vest on and swept her head back and forth constantly, scanning everything.
There was a creak of old hinges and the bang of a screen door too light for the spring slamming it shut. A young man walked out of the shadows, obviously still putting himself together. He threw her a disarming smile. "Good morning! I apologize, you caught me waking up." He continued tucking his shirt in before straightening a blazer. Now fully-dressed he looked at Tess with an appraising eye.
"You are…" his eyebrows raised, "strong. What skills do you have? You don't have any running, not even any passive ones, but you are still incredibly strong. Level 17 too…" he whistled.
"This is very weird. I don't like whatever he's doing right now."
"What about your danger sense?"
"He's not dangerous, or at least not an immediate threat. His strength, agility, endurance - they're all baseline. Nothing special there. He has really high luck and charisma though."
"Likely some sort of persuasion skill then."
"I agree. Indomitable should prevent any attempts but if it looks like he's taking me over you have permission to kill him."
"I hope it doesn't come to that, Mother!" Tess couldn't ignore the hopeful excitement in the girl's response.
She adopted an easy stance, balancing lightly on the balls of her feet. The form was meant to look casual and non-threatening while allowing for instant reaction. "I would appreciate it if you didn't do that. I know things are different now, but it's rude to invade someone's privacy like that."
"That's hypocritical Mother. You did the same to him."
"Shut up Fara."
The young man waved the objection away. "I'm sorry, but it's honestly irrelevant. You may be what I've been looking for, either to add to my repertoire or provide enough of a fight for grandfather to level - maybe quite a few levels. How strong would you say your fighting skills are? Do you supplement them with magic or are you strictly martial?"
Tess really did not like the direction this conversation was going. She wasn't scared of him, she just didn't like the casual way he discussed adding her to his repertoire - whatever that meant.
"Fara, are you getting any other people?"
"No. With 99% certainty we are alone."
"Where is your grandfather? I'm happy to train with him if it will provide experience, but we need to get back. I meant what I said about our neighborhood - we're building a community that is strong enough to outlast the Challenge. You are obviously strong enough to survive out here alone, especially for someone who is only level 13. You must have some powerful abilities - that's what we're looking for."
The young man smiled easily, wagging a finger at her. "Oh ho, now who is being rude?"
"Look," Tess continued, ignoring his comment. "We need strong people and we're not being too picky right now. If you can pull your own weight in a fight, support the community, or just generally do something to give us better odds of survival, then you can come back with me. But I won't allow any weird or dangerous stuff. I'm going to chalk the last few minutes up as a misunderstanding and start fresh."
She took another step forward, dropping her hands to her sides. The man's eyes flicked downward then back up when he saw she was still unarmed. "My name is Tess. What's yours?"
The smile he gave her was too casual, too amused. "I am Masaru Saito, but you can call me Ash."
"Okay, Ash - are you interested in joining our community?"
He considered, tapping his lips with a finger. "I… I guess I am interested. I must admit that it may be possible that I'm not strong enough to survive what comes next on my own. Be aware that I'm not desperate, though - I can just go to any city."
"Okay," Tess said. "Same here. I'm not desperate to have you, but I'd welcome another person. That being said, how have you survived out here this long? Is it luck? Skill? Were you with another group? Are you with one now?"
Ash laughed at that, giving Tess a sympathetic look when he saw the confusion on her face. "Well, I believe that is the next part we need to discuss."
Tess listened as he gave his own pre-prepared speech, the words flowing out of him as smooth as honey, for all their deadly intent. When he'd finished she considered him for a moment, discussed it with Fara, and considered longer. This was weird, even for The System.
"How would it even work with you if we lost, Fara?"
"I have no idea but I can only see two viable outcomes from losing: One, he would take you into his soulspace and I get left behind, since I am entirely physical, surviving as long as I could until I encountered another host. Or two, I would join you and we would both be absorbed. That option would not turn out very good for him, I think." Even Tess shuddered slightly at the threat in her tone.
"I just don't understand how he's a threat. He's weak."
"I don't either and further speculation seems pointless. You should either accept or reject his offer so we can move on."
Tess gave an internal nod. "True. I'm going to reject it. The upsides seem very low and the downsides are potential death for both of us. Doesn't seem like a risk worth taking."
"As much as I would like to see what he can do, I agree with your assessment."
"Sorry, Ash, but I'm going to have to reject your offer. We don't need you, and you're offering nothing but downsides." Tess turned and began walking back towards the bike when her danger sense exploded inside of her. Instantly she flung herself to the side, coming up in a roll facing Ash.
Only now there was no Ash.Hhe had been semi-replaced with a man who appeared much older.
The old man nodded. "I greet you. I am Takeshi Saito, swordmaster of the Saito Clan and the victor of 54 individual duels, 29 of which have occurred since the arrival of The System. Now you know me. It is my unfortunate task to inform you that the challenge presented by my grandson was not optional."
Tess adopted a ready stance. "You don't want to do this."
He shrugged. "Whether or not I want to is irrelevant. This is the circumstance we find ourselves in."
"And what, exactly, is the circumstance?"
"I will defeat you and you will join us, you will defeat me and may yet replace me, or you will die and fuel my path to more power."
Tess couldn't believe what she was hearing. He seemed like such a kindly old man! "You're really okay with this?"
The conflict in his eyes was quickly stamped out by determination and avarice. "Maybe at one time I was not, but this is the path we are on. We can fall to the side of it or advance down it. I choose to advance."
Tess sighed, rolling her shoulders. "You're going to regret that decision."
The old man only smiled, unsheathing two swords.