Chapter 34: First Meeting
Reidar meets Malcolm for the first time.
Malcolm gestured to a round table near the center of the store they assigned as a meeting room. Mismatched chairs surrounded it, clearly taken from different areas of the building.
<Well, it’s surely better than what I expected. I assumed these people would have been in a much worse state.>
The group settled into seats while Malcolm remained standing. He had clearly been a soldier before all of this started. Based on his manners, it must not have been something that happened in the far past. It actually looked more as if he had just been discharged, only for him to have been thrown in a much worse place than a human-filled battlefield.
"Level fourteen," Malcolm said while looking at the name and level above Reidar. His voice had a peculiar tone, one that Reidar recognized as being a mix of disbelief and... hope.
"Most of my people peaked at level four. I reached level five last week, and that made me one of our strongest fighters, and yet..."
He studied Reidar like a commander sizing up a recruit. "How’d you do it? The system doesn’t just give levels for staying alive. You had to kill something—a whole lot of something."
Reidar met Malcolm’s gaze without flinching. "I blew up a gas station. Took out close to two thousand Rift-Sprites in the explosion."
Malcolm’s expression shifted from hardened skepticism to a sharp, calculating interest. It was weird. When he told this to the others, they could not even speak.
His eyes narrowed a little—the soldier in him was already breaking down Reidar’s story like a mission report. It was weird. When Reidar told the others, they just stared, too shocked to speak. But Malcolm took it all in, focusing like he was picturing the explosion, the fuel, and the whole setup.
<This guy must have seen quite a lot of things in the army... That, or he is a psycho. I’m actually not sure which of the two options he is. >
Around the table, Kate leaned forward to study Reidar’s face and see if he was lying.
"Two thousand? In one explosion?"
Reidar nodded.
"The sprites swarmed the highway after the terraforming," Reidar said. "They were feeding on the people who had died in car crashes. I lured them to a gas station I’d rigged with flammable materials and set off the underground tanks."
Malcolm’s expression said it all: Two thousand kills. That’s more than my entire group put together. If we could pull off something like that... Reidar was not wrong in his assumption of the man.
"It’s unfortunate we do not have a gas station here," Malcolm said. "But... Controlled explosions. Lure large groups into kill zones. That was why I wanted to get the recipe for the explosive. I guess Kate told you about that, right? She is really chatty despite her first look."
"She did," Reidar nodded.
"Malcolm," George said. "I’m searching for my wife. Where is she?"
"Yes."
George shifted in his chair. "She’s alive," Malcolm said without looking away from Reidar. "She’s been with the medical team patching people up since day one. You’ll see her soon."
Relief washed over George’s face, but Malcolm kept his focus on Reidar—and the potential he brought. People didn’t reach level 14 in less than two weeks for no reason. Either Reidar was hiding something, or he was just that good at killing, or maybe he was simply lucky.
Malcolm’s gaze swept across the rest of the group. Sarah, Mike, Margaret, Frank, and Linda sat quietly, aware they were being evaluated. Though they found it weird. It wasn’t that in the old world these things didn’t happen, but not everywhere, and not so blatantly.
They weren’t used to being treated like this—like assets on trial. It rubbed them all the wrong way, but Frank was the one who got most worked up about it.
But Malcolm had to do it—he didn’t enjoy it. Their level two status meant they were barely beginners in this new world. Not that his own group was much better, but from what he’d seen, these folks weren’t exactly fighters. Still, he turned back to Reidar, who’d been watching him the whole time.
He noticed how the settlement’s leader looked at the others. As tools that the man had to train. At first, he wasn’t liking the situation. These were just some additional mouths to feed, but then a thought occurred to him, and Reidar noticed.
<He must have figured out that if they were with me and if we came from outside the town, maybe they are not so useless as he might have assumed because of their level.>
Though Malcolm tried not to show the change in evaluation.
"Your friends," Malcolm said to Reidar. "They are level two. That’s below most of my people."
"Don’t pretend you didn’t notice," Reidar said. Malcolm stayed quiet.
"You’re a sharp one."
"It comes from boosting your A.C.U.M.E.N. Plus, I ran a company and was its CEO and owner. You don’t get there by luck."
"What are you talking about?" Frank asked.
Reidar turned to him. "Nothing. It’s just that Malcolm realized your real worth." He turned back to the Three Lakes leader.
"They survived the forest from Route 16," Reidar said, referring to his party members. "Spent nearly two weeks out there, where monsters are way tougher than what you’ve got in town. Plus, Kate saw me fight. You might just have the secret to how I got this strong."
"Quite smart indeed." Malcolm said. "Yes. That was exactly what I was thinking about, and you are right. They are most likely better at fighting than my people, despite the lower levels. The problem is that levels matter. Skills matter. In a world where monsters get stronger every day, being lower-level means having fewer attributes, and this means being dead."
Frank’s jaw tightened, fearing they would be kicked out of the city, but he said nothing. Margaret gripped her screwdriver tighter. Mike’s knuckles whitened around his crowbar.
Malcolm noticed their reactions. "I’m not refusing you. Five more people means ten more hands to help. George especially." He nodded toward the older man.