Shit… I still had flashbacks to that terrible job I hadn’t even finished. Was the system testing me?
“I got gray slime. Eighty buckets. Zone three, Block six. What about you?”
“Collecting gray slime. Eighty buckets. Zone three, Block six.”
We stared at each other, puzzled. Yorka was the first to break the silence:
“That’s not a coincidence.”
“You’re right.” I agreed. “More like a party bonus — all party members get sent to the same location to support each other. Makes sense. Very gamelike…”
“Our whole life’s a game.” Yorka stretched and felt her face tentatively.
Her bruise was turning yellow, which I immediately let her know about, not hiding my glee. She frowned at me and asked:
“What’s our plan?”
“We have to work hard before breakfast!” I raised a fist. “Let’s show that slime the power of our party!”
“Screw you.”
“Come on! Faster! Harder! To battle, Yorka the Yellow Goblin!”
“I’m an orc! And why did you call me yellow?”
“Well, your bruise faded to a nice yellow, so…”
“Go die, Elb. Just die…”
I TOTALED OUR ASSIGNMENTS in my head. A hundred and sixty buckets between the two of us. I quickly decided on our course of action. We were going to work efficiently, saving our strength, one bucket at a time. We would carry them together and take turns putting them on the conveyor belt. First Yorka, then me, then Yorka, then me, and so on.
This system meant we managed to finish both our jobs before eight in the morning, after almost five hours of working with a few short breaks. We weren’t even that tired. My knees were shaking a little, and the pain in my back had returned. My new equipment meant I was steadier on my feet, and didn’t fall once. I had wrapped my hand in a strip torn from my handkerchief. The oval hallway of Block 3 was completely empty — we were the only ones who had showed up here so early in the morning. The first other workers didn’t start arriving until eight, when we were almost done.
Our party had definitely proven its viability and usefulness.
Current time: 09:25.
“Are we done?”
“We are!” Yorka smiled broadly. “Awesome! We finished our jobs! You held up really well, even though your muscles haven’t fully recovered yet.”
“It’s good to have the right equipment.” I smiled back, looking down at myself.
I wore a baseball cap, a t-shirt, shorts, and sandals. My left arm rested in a sling made from more strips of the handkerchief. The strip that had protected my palm from the bucket handle was now wrapped around my left wrist — I was saving it for later. The empty bottle from the Solar Flame Brigade we had secretly kept was tucked under my arm. I looked really tough.
“You really got into the role of a peppy goblin, Elb. I mean, a peppy orc!”
“Why lose heart? What do we get by feeling down? Nothing! Let’s go have breakfast! Let’s increase our debt!”
“Yeah, and get shots…”
“Right! Our debt just keeps snowballing!”
“How’s your elbow?”
“Oh, you know,” I pointed my chin at the bandaged arm. “It could be worse. We’ll deal with it later. Let’s go eat. Let’s feast like true savage orcs!”
“Ugh… Not really a feast. Just a tiny cube and a mouthful of water to wash it down with.”
“No arguments! Historical accuracy is everything!”
“Orcs aren’t historical. Or… Are they? Did they really exist?”
“No idea! But
WE DEVOURED OUR BREAKFAST in an instant. Each of us drank half a liter of water, pouring what was left into our communal bottle. Then we lay down like the lazy goblins we were, our paws on our full bellies. We felt great. There was still a whole day ahead, and we had already done our most important task.
STATUS:
Number: Eleven.
Rank: Nullform (volitional).
Current status: ORL. (three standard meals per day and standard water ration).
Balance: 0
Debt status: in debt.
Total debt owed: 5 sol.
Current time: 10:36.
After making sure we had plenty of time, I started to think about a nap, maybe an hour and a half or so. We had to restore our energy before we went to intersection 17. Suddenly, as if someone was guiding my hand, I clicked on Jobs before I left the interface menu. I glanced at the text in front of me and sat up straight.
“Woah!”
“What’s up?” Yorka asked lazily.
“Check your Jobs menu. Just look at it.”
“It’s blank. We finished our jobs.”
“Just look!”
“All right…” she said and, in a few seconds reported back just as lazily: “Well, I checked it. Now what?”
“Is it blank for you?”
“Yeah.”
“I have an active job,” I said very thoughtfully, studying every word with my full attention.
“You’re kidding me!”
“I swear by my left tusk!”
“Oh, come on! Are you serious?”
“Totally. Now, keep your voice down.” I said. “I’ll read it to you. It’s a job for both of us, for our party! Guess that’s the plus side of joining forces!”
“Why did we get it? I’ve never heard of that before.”
