The Fool's Freedom

“Uh, hi Em,” Ashlyn greeted. Alan noticed she kept some distance. He hoped it was not her [Danger Sense] going off, and she was just careful.

They haven’t talked about killing other humans yet. Alan still saw the faces of the three he had killed a few days ago, but he would be worried if he didn’t. He didn’t feel like a monster, this was a different world. If they came to haunt his dreams in the future, he would deal with that too.

Emerson’s executions looked different though, but Alan decided not to judge too quickly as that would be hypocritical.

“What’s going on, man?” Alan asked.

“Oh, she tried to slit my throat while I was sleeping. Thankfully the Goddess warned me on time!”

“She did, huh?”

“Yes. I truly am blessed,” Emerson stood up and climbed out of the newly dug grave. Alan looked around and noticed many places that looked as if there had been recent digging. How many had he killed?

“Why are they trying to kill you?” Ashlyn leaned back on one of the ruins and crossed her arms defensively in front of the hole in her armor.

“The Goddess doesn’t say,” he shook his head and kicked the head into the hole. “Some are from gangs; others are normal people. I’ve been called a blasphemer, traitor, and scum, for believing in a foreign god. Some just wanted to scare me so I would join their group.”

It took him little effort to throw the corpse in too, uncaring how it landed. Then he picked up the shovel and started filling up the hole. Alan noticed the tool was strange too. It was a pretty normal shovel, but it looked to be made of a single piece of strange metal. Which would be preposterous and would make it way too heavy to be useful. However, that was hardly a concern in this new world. And it was not what was important now.

Emerson filled the grave in no time, shoving huge amounts of dirt with sweeps of the strange shovel. He kneeled and prayed for a minute when it was done. Alan and Ashlyn simply watched, perplexed about how to react.

With that done, Emerson stood and invited them to his home. He took the time to pat both of them on the shoulders and cast [Cleanse], making them both sigh with pleasure. No feeling like being freshly clean.

They told him a bit about their adventure. Emerson listened carefully, asking questions and gasping at the tense moments, and then he shared some details about the Sanctuary with Alan, with Ashlyn helpfully filling in things he missed. Both seemed to be outliers in that they preferred being alone, so they couldn’t give the fullest possible picture, not that Alan cared that much.

Emerson also shared some boar and vegetable stew with them. Alan hadn’t seen this type of vegetable before, but they resembled beets and grew extremely fast, aided by the skills of the [Farmers]. It was good some people decided to go for non-combat classes, despite the effect of Pioneer. Not everyone wanted to live in constant need to fight and kill to grow.

The Sanctuary had a few people with [Farmer] classes and everyone respected them, even the gangs. This was their work. The beets were sweet and refreshing, and Alan could swear he felt some mana enter his body as he ate them.

There was balance he hadn’t noticed in the Sanctuary. It was quite a civil situation and it was reached in very little time. Conflicts were dealt with by dueling like the one he had with Dusty; a rule agreed upon by all the stronger groups. The gangs grouped up and punished anyone acting outside of the few rules in the Sanctuary, mostly leaving hermits like Emerson alone. There was no set leader, but things seemed to be working out.

Judging by the graves in Emerson’s backyard, there was also a lot else going on, but the man was strangely calm about it. They asked him again and he denied knowing what he had done to deserve so many attacks. By his estimate, he had killed about seven people now, making Alan and Ashlyn look at each other in shock.

“You know,” Alan said, deciding to share, “I killed three people too.”

“You did?” Ashlyn looked raised her eyebrows.

“Yeah, before finding the Sanctuary. I saw one of them and said his name’s Roger. We spoke before his companion shot at me. So, I killed them.”

There was a short stretch of silence.

“Evil roams the land and comes in many forms. Humans and beasts alike cannot be trusted,” Emerson spoke and clapped Alan on the shoulder with his big hand, “Do not burden yourself. Times are changing.”

“I have to agree, the world is different now. We are different,” Ashlyn added, “I only had to kill one for everyone to leave me alone, but he was someone with a class. Cole’s friend. He had decided that his new strength let him do anything… and it didn’t.”

Alan felt somewhat relieved by sharing and the same time angry that someone had forced Ashlyn to do something like that. He wished the person was still alive, so he could kill them himself.

A strange thought.

The three chatted a bit more while Alan polished a second wooden bowl of the stew. He felt much better with his belly full.

The two left Emerson and headed towards the center of the Sanctuary. It was time to see what his night of work and almost dying was worth. The mana stones were a priority, but he also wanted to check on weapons or items. Enchanted items were important, but Alan doubted anyone would be trading them.

The walk took them a while and he watched curiously as they passed by the people roaming about the Sanctuary. Almost everyone wore some sort of weapon. There were a lot of fires going on, and a lot of cooking as food seemed to be in abundance.

He saw wells, obviously recently dug – an accomplishment probably impossible without the help of a skill. Cloths in different colors covered missing windows and doors. He saw women and men weaving with dexterity of the fingers which made him jealous. The ringing of hammers carried through the air. There were carpenters and butchers, and he even saw a small building that looked quite odd in construction, with its circular roof and multiple windows, covered in herbs and plants. Some he had seen in the forest; others were completely unknown to him. Society as everyone knew it would never be the same again. Skills and classes would redefine life.

He made a mental note to return sometime.

Groups of armed people sat around, drinking from wooden mugs and smoking. The smell reminded him of something and Alan almost found himself reaching for the bundles still in his beaten-up bag to compare. They were once again soaked in water, from the broken jar. There was also glass everywhere so he probably had to throw everything away.

A new bag was a must, or even better - some magical way to store things. That would be great.

People stared at them curiously all the way through the dirt streets and alleys that weaved between the ruins until they finally reached the center and the Temple.

Up close it was a massive thing, wide and tall. Columns rose towards the sky, and simple statues adorned the sides of the steps leading to the inside. All featureless and blank.

It would be eerie and imposing, if not for the two groups of armed men and women on both sides of the entrance Alan and Ashlyn approached. The temple had four entrances, and supposedly each was guarded by the gangs that had come to an understanding. The central power structure of the Sanctuary showed their strength and influence in this way. It was a pitiful show.

Ashlyn walked past them and continued in, without sparing them a glance. The guards hesitated for a second before deciding it was not worth it, but one particularly daring one stepped in front of Alan.

“Who are you and who are you with?” the man barked.

Alan stopped and tilted his head.

“Is this a friend of yours, Ash?” he asked.

“No.”

“Can I kill him?”

“Go ahead.”

Alan let his face twist into a maniacal smile as he stabbed his spear into the ground and drew the ritual dagger from his back.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” the man took a few steps back, while his companions stood frozen, not knowing how to react.

A few pointy sticks don’t make you scary.

Alan frowned, “What?”

“Chill out man, I just asked a question!”

“But she said I can kill you!”

The man looked around for help, but no one seemed to want to step in front of the crazy guy in the torn cloak. One of the women suddenly gasped, “That’s the one who beat up Dusty!”

There were multiple exclamations and a few more of the supposed guards stepped back.

The brave one standing in front of Alan paled even further and raised his hands in a gesture of surrender, “Come on man, my bad, okay? My bad!”

Alan was laughing inside as he pretended to be disappointed and sheathed his dagger.

“Aw, fine… But next time I get to kill you! Okay?”

The man gave an awkward smile and scurried out of the way.

Alan kicked the ground and threw one last look filled with desire towards the scared man, before rejoining Ashlyn and climbing the large steps. Everyone stepped back as far as possible to give him distance.

As soon as they were far enough Ashlyn started giggling and Alan joined her.

“That was good. I bet everyone will think you’re a madman now.”

“Having such a reputation will save me from a lot of trouble. I’d rather pick a few fights now and act like a fool to teach people not to fuck with me than suffer when we are all much more powerful and dangerous… and crazy.”

“Fair enough. I think I achieved something similar.”

“Yeah. Plus, most people, even those with classes, will hardly go out there in the forest to hunt and level, now when they can simply be better than the rest in the safety of the Sanctuary. It's human nature.”

“Hm.”

They walked the rest in silence. It was surprising how long it took them to enter the main chamber of the Temple. The path up the staircase had looked much shorter than the outside.

The hall was wide and tall, impossibly so; the walls and the ceiling both disappeared in swirling mists and darkness. There was no sign of the other entrances.

There was no sign of Ashlyn.

You have entered the World Temple of Sanctuary 142 Earth

You have been granted access to the Sanctuary Trading System.

Information on all sorts of objects entered his mind, and he felt as if he had stepped into an emporium that held the world. There were clothes from Earth, watches, rings, simple armor, sheets of cloth, shoes, food items, rusted items from Earth, beast and monster parts, and crystals… More and more appeared in his mind, mostly all the trinkets people had decided they no longer needed.

Alan felt dizzy and mentally focused on Enchanted Items. The whirlwind of things disappeared. There was quite a big amount of information remaining to his surprise and they all seemed to hold some of the basic skills the System had offered at level one.

Like the item he had won from Dusty, the piece of metal that allowed the cast of [Spark]. Was that human-made? It looked like someone had figured out how to create enchanted items and flooded the newly established market with them.

Alan perused the list for what felt like an eternity. It was helpful that he instinctively received the knowledge of what he was looking at. He felt like he was floating, a kid in a toy store. Finally, he focused on looking only at enchanted items that would help in combat.

There were results. A sword that could return to its owner, a shield that repaired itself if given suitable materials, a pair of pants that kept the wearer warm, and others. The enchantments were simple or strange, but much, much different than the flood of human-made things.

These were probably artifacts awarded by the quest he had finished too. Who knew what had happened to their owners? Most likely dead, or in need of something else… probably dead.

Alan was certain no one would trade their enchanted item so soon out of their own free will. Maybe some people who had gotten artefacts unsuitable to themselves, looking for something better. That was a distant possibility.

Alan couldn’t imagine the System fucking up that badly though. It had given him the best thing a man could want for life post the apocalypse – a pair of the most comfortable sturdy boots one could ever dream of.

Yes, the System was a good and generous overlord. The boots were way too amazing.

He focused on a particularly attractive ring that could help the wearer suck drinkable water out of the atmosphere, and the price appeared too. Whoever was trying to sell it wanted an enchanted bow to trade for.

Good luck.

Alan browsed for a while. He checked a few items that caught his attention but ultimately decided he needed more time to gather information and things for trade. He liked all of his items and he didn’t want to give any away for a new toy.

He focused on the crystals. The cleansing was an option provided by the System itself. It traded at a 1:1 ratio for the ones he had. Cleanse one, pay one. With his 27 wailer crystals, he could get 13 cleansed wailer crystals. They were much smaller and less concentrated than the mana crystals from Ig-Thun, but it was something. He had only one big one, but he needed 15 of the small ones to cleanse it. Unfortunately, Alan didn’t know if that was a good deal or not or if there was someone out there with a class that could help.

As he kept wondering, another system message flashed at the back of his brain.

Due to the title [Friend of the Spirit World], you have been invited to visit the Transient Bazaar. Do you accept?