Ch24 Outer City

They didn't stop running until the city walls came back into view.

For nearly an hour, the squad pushed through the forest, following the eastern ridge as it gradually descended toward the more heavily traveled perimeter. Their earlier caution had given way to a desperate need to put as much distance as possible between themselves and whatever had been moving through the trees. Branches whipped against their uniforms, loose stones shifted beneath their boots, and the oppressive heat made every breath feel heavier than the last.

Ryan had abandoned his barrier within the first few minutes of their escape.

He'd tried keeping it behind the squad, ready to intercept anything that emerged from the forest, but guiding it while running demanded concentration he could no longer afford. His Mental Energy was already strained from the three fights, and every time he glanced over his shoulder, he risked stumbling over a root or losing sight of the others. Eventually, he'd fixed the barrier between two enormous trees and left it there, hoping it might at least slow whatever was coming.

He never saw the creature.

That almost made it worse.

Every few minutes, a distant crack echoed through the forest. Sometimes it was followed by a heavy impact that sent a faint tremor through the ground. Once, the earth shifted strongly enough beneath their boots that Jessica stumbled, and Ryan caught her arm before she fell.

Whatever was moving through the wilderness was enormous.

Fortunately, it never caught up.

The deeper forest gradually thinned, giving way to the more heavily traveled perimeter surrounding the fortress. Old tracks crossed the dry earth, and signs of previous hunts appeared everywhere: dried blood, discarded pieces of hide, broken vegetation, and deep claw marks baked into the soil. Ryan spotted two distant squads moving in the opposite direction, their weapons drawn as they entered the trees, and briefly considered warning them before realizing he couldn't tell them anything useful about what they'd heard.

Then the walls rose above the forest.

Ben nearly cheered.

"I have never been happier to see an extortion racket."

Ryan slowed slightly, struggling to catch his breath. "You know we're about to pay them."

"Don't ruin this for me."

Jessica looked back toward the trees. Nothing moved between the pale trunks, but she kept her sidearm in her hand.

"Let's get inside first."

Nobody disagreed.

They joined the returning traffic near the gate, falling into line behind a group of armored hunters dragging a hovering cargo platform loaded with bloody pieces of some enormous creature. There weren't many newly Awakened cadets among the people returning to the city. Most looked older, stronger, and considerably more experienced, their equipment bearing the scratches and repairs of people who had survived far more than a single day outside the walls.

Humans walked alongside species Ryan didn't recognize. Several groups carried packs overflowing with harvested materials, while others transported entire sections of beast carcasses on hovering platforms.

One alien passed with the severed head of something larger than Ryan's entire body suspended behind it.

Ryan stared.

Ben followed his gaze. "We hunted lizards."

"Everybody starts somewhere."

"That guy hunted a building."

Ryan remembered the third beast they'd fought, its armored head crashing against his barrier with enough force to make his vision blur.

"After today, I think we've had enough buildings."

The line moved quickly. When their turn came, an armored gate attendant scanned their wristbands and gestured toward the payment interface without looking up.

[CITY REENTRY TOLL]

[2 LOW-GRADE X ENERGY CRYSTALS]

[CONFIRM PAYMENT?]

Ryan stared at the notification.

Five crystals. That was what he'd earned for surviving three fights that had nearly gotten him killed, and the city wanted almost half of it just to let him back inside.

He confirmed the transaction.

[PAYMENT ACCEPTED]

[BALANCE: 3 LOW-GRADE X ENERGY CRYSTALS]

A section of the translucent barrier covering the entrance shimmered, and Ryan stepped through.

Cooler air touched his face.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The difference was immediate. The city wasn't cold by any reasonable definition, but after hours beneath two suns, its environmental regulation felt almost luxurious. Ryan stopped just inside the wall and inhaled deeply, grateful that every breath no longer seemed to scrape moisture from his throat.

Ben came through behind him. "Oh, that's beautiful."

Raven wiped sweat from her forehead. "We're calling this beautiful now?"

"I've lowered my standards."

Jessica stepped through next, followed by Dezzy, and the five of them moved away from the checkpoint to avoid blocking the returning traffic.

They were filthy. Dust covered their boots and uniforms, dried blood stained Ryan's gloves and the lower half of Dezzy's armor, and Jessica's hair had begun escaping from beneath her blue headband. Raven looked as though she wanted nothing more than to lie down in the middle of the street.

Ryan wasn't far behind her.

He checked the local time and realized just how much of the solar cycle had passed. Their first hunt was over, they'd survived, and now that the adrenaline was fading, his body was beginning to remind him of everything he'd ignored since leaving the city that morning.

His stomach hurt.

Ben placed a hand over his abdomen. "Food."

Ryan laughed. "I was literally thinking the same thing."

"No strategy meeting. No cultivation. No shopping. Food."

"Water first," Dezzy said.

"Food containing water."

"That's not how hydration works."

"I don't care."

Jessica smiled tiredly. "Food first."

"Thank you."

Ryan opened Skynet and requested an outer district map. A purchase prompt appeared almost immediately.

[CITY MAP DATA: OUTER DISTRICT]

[PERMANENT LOCAL ACCESS]

[COST: 1 LOW-GRADE X ENERGY CRYSTAL]

He stared at the notification. "Of course."

Raven glanced over. "What?"

"The city map costs a crystal."

Ben groaned. "Can we just wander until we smell something edible?"

Ryan considered it, then looked at the enormous city stretching away from them. After spending more than two hours getting to the gate that morning, he had no desire to repeat the experience while hungry.

"No."

He confirmed the purchase.

[PAYMENT ACCEPTED]

[BALANCE: 2 LOW-GRADE X ENERGY CRYSTALS]

A detailed three-dimensional map unfolded across his vision, displaying the outer district's streets, markets, residential zones, medical facilities, transportation points, and equipment shops. For the first time since arriving, the city stopped looking like an incomprehensible maze.

Ryan located a food market ten minutes south of the gate.

"Found somewhere."

Ben immediately started walking. "Then why are we still standing here?"

The five followed the route through the outer district, passing beneath elevated transit lanes and between buildings that looked considerably older than the polished towers surrounding the central plaza. Many of the structures had been repaired so often that their walls consisted of mismatched layers of stone, metal, and unfamiliar composite materials. Shops opened directly onto the street, their entrances crowded with weapons, tools, beast parts, and machinery displayed beneath flickering holographic signs.

Humans were more common here, as were members of other species whose clothing and equipment looked worn enough to suggest they were struggling with the same financial pressures as the new cadets.

Ryan noticed how frequently people checked their payment interfaces before approaching a stall.

The city might have been enormous, but surviving inside it clearly wasn't free.

Jessica glanced back toward the distant walls. "I wonder how many of the other squads made it back."

Ryan had been thinking about that too. They'd passed other cadets heading into the wilderness and heard several groups fighting somewhere beyond the ridge, but he hadn't recognized anyone among the people waiting at the gate.

"Some probably used different entrances. Others might still be hunting."

Raven adjusted the strap on her shoulder. "Hopefully they know when to stop."

Ben glanced at Jessica. "We would've been out there a lot longer without Deadshot."

Jessica gave him a tired smile. "We still spent half the day fighting three animals."

"Three very angry animals."

"Four legs would've been enough," Ryan said. "I don't know why everything out there needs six."

Dezzy glanced at him. "Additional points of contact improve stability. That's part of why Raven had trouble knocking the larger ones over."

Ryan remembered the first beast digging its claws into the earth while Raven's Push barely shifted its weight. They'd eventually learned to attack its balance instead of trying to overpower it, but it had taken several dangerous mistakes to reach that conclusion.

"Tomorrow, we start with the legs."

Jessica looked at him. "Tomorrow?"

Ryan shrugged. "We still need crystals."

Nobody argued with that.

After a moment, he added, "I want to do more fighting next time, though."

Raven turned toward him. "You did plenty."

"I spent most of the day hiding behind a barrier."

"You spent most of the day making sure the rest of us didn't get bitten in half."

Ryan couldn't really argue with that, but he still glanced toward the sidearm at his hip. His Talent was proving more useful than he'd expected, especially when he treated the barrier as something he could position and manipulate rather than a simple shield. Even so, there had been moments when Jessica couldn't find a clear shot and Dezzy couldn't safely approach, leaving him wishing he had another way to hurt whatever was attacking them.

"Eventually, I want a proper melee weapon."

Jessica immediately shook her head. "No."

"I haven't even said which one."

"You want a sword."

"Obviously."

Raven sighed. "You have a gun."

"Guns cost five crystals every time we need ammunition."

"Getting your arm bitten off costs more."

Ben pointed at Ryan. "He does have a point about ammunition."

"Thank you."

Jessica looked between them. "We're all Rank One beginning, and we nearly died fighting animals that were supposed to be manageable for our rank. Maybe we learn to use what we already have before anybody starts charging monsters with a sword."

Ryan grinned. "So you're saying I should buy a spear first?"

"I'm saying you should eat."

That, at least, was difficult to argue with.

The smell reached them before the market did.

Smoke, spices, and roasting meat drifted through the streets, mingling with unfamiliar aromas that made Ryan alternately hungry and suspicious. They rounded a corner and entered a sprawling food district packed with stalls, where dozens of species crowded between counters covered in things he could only loosely identify as food.

Large cuts of meat rotated over blue flames. Bowls of steaming broth released clouds of green vapor, and a nearby vendor sold what looked like living worms coated in crystalline sugar. Another displayed fruit that pulsed faintly beneath its translucent skin.

Ryan slowed when one of the worms curled around its own skewer.

"Absolutely not."

Ben studied the display. "I'd try one."

"Of course you would."

Holographic menus floated above the stalls, translated automatically through Skynet. Prices varied dramatically, from fractional crystals for the simplest meals to several whole crystals for dishes Ryan couldn't imagine anyone willingly paying for.

They were passing a butcher's stall when Ben stopped.

He stared at the enormous cuts of meat hanging behind the counter, then looked at Ryan.

"We're idiots."

Ryan frowned. "What?"

"The beasts."

"What about them?"

"We left three perfectly good dead monsters in the forest."

Ryan looked toward the butcher's display.

He'd been so focused on extracting the cores and completing the directive that selling the carcasses hadn't seriously crossed his mind. After the first fight, he'd been too exhausted to consider carrying anything that large, and by the time they killed the third beast, everyone had wanted to leave before something worse appeared.

Dezzy studied the hanging meat. "We should find out whether the species we killed has any commercial value."

They approached the stall, where a broad alien butcher stood behind a black stone counter. Four thick arms worked independently as it carved apart an enormous slab of flesh, each hand wielding a different tool with practiced precision.

Jessica stepped forward. "Do you purchase common Rank One wilderness fauna?"

The butcher glanced at her, then at the others.

"Species?"

Ryan described the first creature, mentioning its six legs, gray armor, broad head, and ridged spine. The butcher listened without much interest until he described the shape of its claws and the arrangement of plates beneath its jaw.

"Velkar grazer," it said. "Common perimeter animal. Meat edible after preparation. Glands useful. Hide poor."

Ryan leaned forward. "How much for a whole one?"

"Depends on condition. Half a low-grade crystal for an ordinary carcass."

Ben's face fell.

"For the whole thing?"

The butcher returned to its cutting.

"Half."

"That thing weighed more than I do."

The butcher didn't look impressed.

Ryan considered the three carcasses they'd left behind. Even at that price, they'd abandoned enough potential income to cover a substantial portion of their cheapest meals.

"Can humans eat the meat?"

"After proper preparation."

"Any parts we should avoid?"

The butcher finally gave him its full attention, apparently deciding that the humans in front of it were even less experienced than they'd initially appeared.

"Buy the fauna database."

Ryan almost laughed.

Of course.

Information cost crystals too.

He thanked the butcher, and they moved away before Ben could start negotiating over carcasses they no longer possessed.

"We're harvesting meat tomorrow," Ben announced.

"Assuming we can identify what's safe," Dezzy said.

"Fine. We harvest the safe parts."

"And we don't spend the entire hunt butchering animals," Raven added.

Ryan nodded. "Cores first. Anything else we can carry is extra."

Ben looked at the food stalls again. "I can't believe we left dinner in the forest."

The cheapest complete meal they found consisted of pale gray paste, a small portion of softened vegetables, and water. It cost a fraction of a low-grade crystal per person, which was still more than Ryan wanted to spend, but after the morning's exertion, he wasn't about to skip dinner.

They collected their bowls and settled around a narrow table beneath a shaded awning.