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  The secretary typed on the keyboard and read the screen. "The system has two missions available for you: maintaining the wind turbines and checking our borders. Which quest would like you like to do next?" she asked in a neutral tone of voice. The border quest would take more time to finish and it was the ideal quest to accept next if the boy wanted to spend time alone. She was surprised by his answer.

  "The wind turbine quest," he replied. Suddenly, Schmendrick remembered the promise that he had made to Drey; the two of them were supposed to visit the turbines together. "Can you use the system to check on the status of Drey?" he requested. "He's in the medical clinic right now. He was injured by an adult weevil. We're all worried about him."

  Ava looked at him for a moment and hesitated. "Technically, I'm not supposed to use the terminal to check on the Reborn," she responded. Seeing the worried look on the boy's face, she relented. "Just this once," she grumbled. She typed a few more commands and pulled up Drey's screen. Suddenly, her eyes widened and she gasped. Across the screen was a word in red: "DECEASED."

  "What happened?" Desin asked. He stood right behind the seated Schmendrick.

  Ava looked up at him. She remembered that Desin was Drey's best friend. "I'm so sorry but he just died," she revealed in a mournful tone of voice.

  Desin stared hard at her. "Is he going to be resurrected?"

  "I'm not certain," she replied softly. "The Priest-King has not made a decision."

  Abruptly, Desin grabbed Schmendrick by the collar and pulled the boy off the chair. "You should have obeyed my order and helped me pull Drey off the weevil's snout! Instead, you had to waste precious time killing the fucking adult weevil!" he yelled into the boy's face. "You don't give a shit about your party members," Desin accused the teenager.

  Schmendrick stoically accepted the scream. He knew that Desin was looking for a scapegoat for Drey's death and the boy was a convenient one to take the blame. The one ultimately responsible for Drey's death was Desin because he was the party leader for this mission. But the teenager didn't want to talk back to the man and pin the blame on Desin. Otherwise, Schmendrick would be no better than Desin.

  "Stop it!" Leira yelled and tried to make Desin release his grip.

  Desin stared at the boy. "Well? Why don't you say something?"

  The newcomer kept silent.

  "Let the boy go," Fan said quietly. "Drey would not want you to hurt the kid."

  Desin turned his head and glared at Fan. His face resembled an ogre.

  The Asian man looked back at Desin with a serene expression. Fan was not intimidated by the larger man. If Desin wished to make a fool out of himself, in front of Ava, then Fan was prepared to leave Desin's party. His Class of Field Medic was highly sought after and Fan would have no problem finding a new group to join.

  Finally, Desin released the boy and dropped him to the ground. "You're not a team player," he said with disgust and spat on the boy. "If the Priest-King refuses to resurrect Drey, I'm coming for you," he threatened. The angry man stomped across the lobby and slammed the door on his way out.

  Fan bent toward the boy and offered his hand.

  Schmendrick ignored it and pulled himself back up. He wiped the spittle off his left cheek. It was clear as rain where Fan's loyalty laid.

  Fan sighed softly. He left the office.

  Leira and Nana each gave the teenager a hug. Leira ruffled his hair while Nana kissed him on the cheek. "Take care of yourself," the two women spoke in unison and left together.

  "I'm sorry," Ava said quietly. She was aghast at the way the boy was treated by Desin.

  "You have nothing to be sorry for," Schmendrick replied.

  "You don't understand," the secretary shook her head. "Desin said, 'You're not a team player.' What he meant by that is he's going to badmouth you to the other parties and try to get them to blacklist you. You won't be able to join any more parties," she explained.

  The boy shrugged. "I'm more of a solo player anyway."

  Ava sighed aloud. He was proving to be very stubborn. "I'm going to go out on a limb here. If you find yourself stuck or have questions about something in the Recovered Land, you can always come see me. I'll try my best to help you."

  "Why help me at all?" Schmendrick asked. He refused to be pitied by anyone.

  "Because I don't like to see a Reborn being bullied. Not in this so-called afterlife. Besides, I was bullied as a child back in my old life. And I don't want you to go through the same ordeal. You died when you were so young! I want to see you succeed and enjoy your new life in the Sanctum," she honestly expressed her hope for him.

  "Okay," Schmendrick nodded. He didn't want to piss her off. Especially since Ava was a quest giver. Furthermore, he was genuinely touched by her concern; very few people seemed to care about him. He turned his attention back to his next quest. "How do I get to the wind turbines?" he asked.

  "Hold on," Ava replied with a grin. She typed on her keyboard. After a few commands, she pressed "Enter." "Okay, I just added a quest map to your menu. Just say 'map' aloud and it will show your current location and your quest destination. Plus the terrain in between the two locations."

  "I thought the Recovered Land does not have access to the system," Schmendrick remarked.

  "This is the Administrative Office. We are connected to the system. I just downloaded the maps in the system database directly to your brain," she replied.

  "Downloaded the maps?" he repeated her words incredulously.

  "Yup," Ava nodded. "A 'brain chip' has been implanted into your brain. This implantation occurred, via magic, when you were on the altar in the Rebirth Chamber," she explained. "The brain chip is how the system can keep track of all the Reborn, no matter your location. The chip also keeps a record of your activities and constantly updates your current status including your experience points."

  "I see," the boy said quietly. Alarms were sounding off in his mind but he didn't want to discuss his serious misgivings with her. "Thank you for your help. I will head to the wind turbines now," he said politely and bowed. Schmendrick turned around and walked out of the building. According to the map, it was going to be a long walk to the beach.

  2.4 - Beach

  When Schmendrick stepped out of the administrative building, he saw that the truck was long gone. The dust kicked up by the vehicle had already settled on the road. He was alone. Just as he preferred. The teenager consulted the map. He turned his head slowly. The map re-oriented itself in his mind. According to the map, the beach was south of the administrative building. Thus, Schmendrick turned south and started jogging. Out of curiosity, he sought the location of the granary. It was to the northeast.

  There were many buildings in the area, including the subsidized housing facility according to his map. Schmendrick paused for a moment. It was another wooden building which was two stories tall, like the granary. There was a chimney on top where black smoke dispersed into the air. The teenager smelled a delicious aroma drifting from a window on the right side of the building. It was chicken if he had to take an educated guess of what the cook was making for dinner. He also saw people entering and leaving the building.

  Schmendrick wondered if he should check into the dormitory and claim a room. After some thought, he declined to do so because the newcomer had no idea how long it would take to complete the maintenance quest. It was quite possible that he would spend the night on top of a wind turbine. Thus, the teenager continued to move on.

  Schmendrick passed by the other Reborn on the road. Some of them stared at him with open curiosity. Others were indifferent or simply pretended he wasn't there at all. The friendly folks nodded or waved at him. But no one tried to make conversation with him for some reason. However, Schmendrick didn't mind. It was already late in the afternoon and he wanted to reach the beach as soon as possible. He resumed jogging.

  After jogging through a few blocks, he reached an entirely different section. The grass started dotting the landscape until the yellow dirt was full
y replaced by greenery. He was still on the road but now it was marked by large rocks. The land began to be sectioned off with wooden fences painted in bright colors such as red, yellow, or orange. The teenager paused for a moment to take a breather and checked his map. His current location was a red dot in an area called "The Farms." He saw faces peering out of windows from houses and workshops. No one came out to speak to him. Furthermore, he heard loud clicks of doors and windows being locked. Schmendrick decided not to linger for too long before the farmers decide that he was up to no good and force him to leave. After all, his Class was a Thief and they could easily assume that he was there to steal their crops or livestock.

  Schmendrick resumed his light jog for the next hour until he finally passed by the last fenced property. The grass started to thin out and patches of yellow dirt returned to the ground. Suddenly, he heard a weird buzzing sound above his head! When he looked up, Schmendrick saw a vehicle hovering in the air! The design of the hovercraft was similar to Desin's truck, with two front seats and a box in the back to transport goods and personnel. The wheels were extended out like wings on an airplane and turned parallel to the ground; there were three on each side. The buzzing sound came from those turning wheels, which somehow generated sufficient lift for the vehicle to hover above the ground. There were also two large fans at the back of the hovercraft to propel the vehicle to move forward.

  The man behind the wheel called out. "Why are you here, son? This is a restricted area."

  Schmendrick saw a man with dark skin, dark brown hair which was shortly cropped and a beard that extended a few inches below his chin. The pilot was wearing sunglasses. "I'm trying to reach the beach. I received a quest to do maintenance work on the wind turbines," the boy explained.

  "Is that so? I'll give you a lift then," the pilot offered. He dropped down a ladder made of rope and yelled, "Climb up!"

  Schmendrick grabbed hold of the ladder and started climbing.

  The pilot steadied the hovercraft so that the ladder would not sway.

  Soon, the teenager reached the side of the craft and the pilot pulled him into the box.

  "I'm Lance. What's your name, kid?" the man asked while offering his hand.

  "Schmendrick," the boy replied and offered a firm shake.

  "You just graduated?" the pilot asked as he reoriented the vehicle to the direction of the Control Tower.

  "Yes, sir!" Schmendrick barked.

  "Don't call me 'sir,'" Lance laughed. "I ain't that old." His face turned serious. "I'm going to take you to the Control Tower. They will confirm with the system that you have been assigned to do maintenance work on the wind turbines. After that, the folks in charge will teach you what to do."

  "So what do you do exactly? And how does this thing fly?" the teenager asked. He hadn't seen anything fly in the air in the Recovered Land until now.

  The man held up his right hand. "Let me talk to the control tower first. Then I'll answer your questions," Lance replied. He pressed a green button on his dashboard and said, "This is Eagle Alpha. Returning to the nest with a friendly package." The pilot then released the button.

  "This is the Nest. Eagle Alpha returning with a friendly package. Confirmed. Please use landing pad Gamma."

  Lance pressed the button again. "Landing pad Gamma confirmed." He waited for a response from the control tower. But the radio remained silent. The man then said, "Okay, kid. We can chat for a few minutes. Your entry into the Restricted Zone was picked up by our radar. I was sent to investigate and see if you're a hostile or a friendly."

  "As for your second question, I'm not a hovercraft mechanic. So I can't get into the nitty-gritty stuff. I understand that you weren't expecting to see a flying machine out here in the Recovered Land. I totally get it. Now let me try to explain in layman's terms. You know how if you throw a stone at a pond, the stone will skip a few times on the surface of the water before sinking?"

  Schmendrick nodded.

  "Think of the Aether-saturated air as water in the pond. The spinning wheels act like skipping stones. This hovercraft is constantly skipping on air. A long time ago, Reborn scientists discovered that the air in this world has a certain degree of buoyancy. And they figured out a way to take advantage of this atmospheric buoyancy to create vehicles that can fly," Lance explained.

  "How come there aren't more planes in the sky?" the teenager asked.

  "Because we're not in the right location to observe them," the pilot replied. "If you think of Rezdi City as the center of Sanctum, there are three sets of Control Towers surrounding it to the North, East, and West. Rezdi City is bordered by the water to the south and there is no room to build a Southern Tower. We're heading for the Eastern Tower. Each tower has flying vehicles to patrol its respective district. We have 4 hovercrafts. The other towers have different types of fliers."

  "Tell me more about the districts surrounding Rezdi City," Schmendrick requested. This information wasn't covered by Ruffuss at The Noob Academy.

  Lance was happy to oblige. "As you know, Redzi City is the center of the Reborn's settlement. It's where our best and most talented people live. The city has the highest concentration of Aether and the Gifted experiment with Aether in the city. The districts of the Recovered Land, however, have a different focus. The graduates of The Noob Academy are sent to the Eastern District because the hostiles are the lowest levels in The Sanctum, usually at level one to five. The Northern District is inhabited by monsters at level six through ten. Western District hosts monsters of level eleven and up. Because the Western District is the most dangerous region, it is the least populated part of the Recovered Land."

  "So the Reborn stay in areas based on the monsters that they can handle?" the passenger asked.

  "Correct," the pilot nodded. "The rule of thumb is for a Reborn to move on to the next region when his character level advance to at least five levels higher than the most powerful monsters found in the current region. When you reach Level 10, you will be ready to go to the Northern district. Frankly, you gain no experience if you're fighting monsters which are too weak relative to your character level. So people are forced to move anyway unless they decide, intentionally, to remain stuck at a certain level. Or they may have other reasons to stay such as having a farm, house, or workshop in the area. What level are you now if you don't mind my asking?"

  "7," Schmendrick answered honestly.

  "You're kidding me!" Lance turned and looked at the boy. "When did you graduate?"

  "Yesterday. I spent the overnight hours inside a tube. I arrived in this district a few hours ago," the teenager recalled.

  "Yeah, being naked and stuck inside the test tube for your Evaluation wasn't a very nice experience," the pilot chuckled. "But that doesn't explain how your character level is so high already. How many quests have you done so far?"

  "I finished one quest. I had to clear out a weevil infestation at the granary," Schmendrick replied.

  "Ouch. I hope the system will send another noob to ditch the tainted grain. I wouldn't want bug legs in my bread," he joked. "You ended up clearing a ton of baby weevils?"

  Schmendrick shook his head. "One baby and one adult."

  "You're shitting me! How did you manage to kill an adult weevil? That's a level 10 mob!" Lance was shocked. He wanted to call out the kid for his blatant lie. However, the rational part of him realized that Schmendrick was telling the truth because otherwise, the kid wouldn't have reached level 7.

  "But it was a costly win. Gram sent some experienced Reborn to accompany me because it was my first mission and he wanted to ensure the granary will be completely cleaned out. However, the adult weevil ambushed someone in my party and he was stabbed through the gut and died," the teenager said. Since Desin was going to blame Schmendrick for Drey's death and spread the word to the district, the boy may as well tell the pilot first.

  Lance winced. "Who died and who was the leader of your party?"

  "Drey and Desin," the boy replied.

  Lance wh
istled. "That's a tough combo. Desin is the type of person who holds a grudge. He and Drey were tight because Drey would fix Desin's truck whenever it broke down." The man glanced at his passenger and continued. "Look, I know Desin's going to blame you and spread lies about you. The best thing you can do now is to reach Level 10 ASAP and hope the Testing Center will grant you magic power and allow you to live in Rezdi City. Because if you're going to be stuck in the Recovered Land, you'll have to watch your back everywhere you go."

  Schmendrick nodded. "That's my plan," he agreed. He already realized that Drey will create problems for him in the Recovered Land. He was desperate to reach Level 10 and be granted the right to live in Rezdi City. Otherwise, where will he live?

  "We're here," Lance said. He directed the hovercraft to a platform made of concrete. A big "G" in red was painted at the center of the platform. Finally, the hovercraft settled on the ground. He pointed at the stone tower looming over them. "We're going inside."

  2.5 - The Control Tower

  Schmendrick hopped out of the back of the aircraft and looked around. He saw a tower made of cinder blocks surrounded by four platforms. Three of them were occupied with a hovercraft. Next to each platform was a wooden hangar. On the horizon, he saw wind turbines. There were 12 of them arranged in a row. They were built on top of the water beyond the beach. A thick cable connected to the base of each turbine. The other end of the cable connected to a metallic box. Eight cables extended from this box: one each to the hangar and four to the control tower.

  The tower itself stood five stories tall and its width was the size of his classroom at The Noob Academy. The tower cast a large shadow over half the platforms and their accompanying hangars. At the base of the tower was a double set of thick metal doors.

  Lance approached the tower and stood in front of the doors. He pressed a green button and said, "Lance seeking permission to enter the Control Tower. Accompanied by a noob."