Healing Incorporated

The list of talents was endless, with no real way to filter or search among them. A few stood out at once, like hidden gems in a sea of gray rocks. The first one sat about ten spots from the top of the list.

Experienced: Gain 10% additional experience per rank.

That mention of rank meant you could pick the same one several times, Eli thought. That would add up to a lot in the long run. This was probably a far better pick than almost everything else on the list. It wasn't the flashiest of talents, but he was in this for the long-haul.

Not wanting to just pick the first great thing on the list, he read on. Many of the talents were meant for melee or ranged damage dealers, but there were plenty of crafting ones too. A few improved your chances of getting great loot, or more coins.

Another one drew his attention:

Executioner: Recover 10% of max HP and MP when a target is killed.

That would greatly increase your grinding speed, Eli mused, and he almost picked it right away, but backed off. He'd get it at some point, he promised himself, but it wouldn't help much when he was working in a party where he was not the one responsible for dealing damage most of the time. Then his eyes were drawn to a third option.

Harming Healer: Toggleable talent. When active, healing spells deal damage rather than restore HP.

Harming rather than healing. With that talent, he wouldn't have needed to pick Burning Light. Rookie mistake. This one sounded like a fantastic option. Next time, he'd need to consider all options before making his choices.

There were plenty of defensive ones too, giving more HP, more defenses and resistances, and ones that gave blanket reduced damage altogether. He found one that Amy would probably love:

Animal Friend: You understand animals and they understand you. Improves success rate of Animal Taming.

It was getting late, and Eli’s eyes felt heavy, even as he kept them closed and read. At some point, not even having reached the halfway point on the list, he began scrolling up again, figuring it was better to pick one of the ones he’d seen already. Before he made it to the top, Eli fell asleep.

He woke with a start, feeling like something had vibrated inside his head. Sitting up, caught a message from Amy.

Amy: Come on, sleepyhead, we’re waiting outside. Dana is here too.

Eli blinked, then his inner eye focused on the list of talents still in front of him. “I picked something?” he asked himself, frowning. He saw Experienced already selected and confirmed. As he focused on it, all the other options disappeared, leaving only that one, along with his previous talent from being human. 20% extra experience already was nothing to scoff at. Eli didn't remember picking it, but must've just as he was falling asleep.

Eli minimized all windows and then cried out, startled, as a face appeared right in front of him.

“Who are you?” he asked, blinking, trying to remember the name. He knew this guy. "Stu?"

“You remember? Good on you!” Stu said, taking a step back. “I didn’t know if I was supposed to wake you or just wait.”

“Wait for what?” Eli asked, not fully awake yet.

“I picked Crafter with Farmer as my subclass,” Stu said quickly. “I’m not good with fighting, you see, and I figured we’d need food, right?”

“Yeah, that’s a sensible option,” Eli said, rubbing his eyes. “We’ll run out of rations in a few days, right?”

“Right! So, I was thinking. Maybe I go outside and, you know, start farming?"

Eli looked around, then pointed to himself. "Are you asking me for permission?"

Stu nodded, his large wet eyes filled with excitement like those of a puppy. He was a middle-aged man with a potbelly and wrinkled skin around his eyes, along with a balding head that made him look even older. He was part of the crew working the cafe down on the third floor. Eli had bought breakfast from him a few times, but it had been a while.

"Yes, I'm asking you."

"Why?"

“Well,” Stu said, “I saw you heal that young man last night. Looked to me like people were listening to you. And with your level, I mean...”

“My level?”

“Yeah, you’re level 7. That’s the highest level in the company, must be.”

“I don’t think that means anything. Why don’t you ask management?”

“They just keep telling everyone to stay here,” Stu whispered, leaning in as if fearing someone would walk by and hear him. “But I don’t know how long we can stay just inside, you know? As I mentioned, we’ll run out of food. There are other crafters too who need more space. This guy George, he’s a secretary too, I think, and a builder. He can make walls and stuff.”

Eli sighed. “Okay, and?”

“So, what do you think?” Stu asked.

Eli shrugged. “I think you have the right idea. We all need to improve if we want to survive this place. For some," he pointed to Stu, "I guess that means farming. So, if you want to go outside and get started, I think you have the right idea. We’ll need all the food we can get.”

“Great! Thank you!” Stu said, rushing off towards the stairs.

Mr. Thomas was up early. He walked out from the staircase just as Stu entered and jumped out of the way to avoid getting barreled down. Shaking his head, Mr. Thomas approached Eli with a huge grin.

“Good news, Elijah,” Mr. Thomas said.

Eli stood and stretched. “What’s the good news? I could do with some of that right now.”

“Barbara found a crafter who hadn’t picked a subclass yet and convinced him to choose Scribe. He created paper for us! Look!” Mr. Thomas shook a small pile of yellowish paper with uneven sides. “And an ink pot too! And a quill!”

Eli raised an eyebrow. “Okay?”

“Mr. Harn, the rest of management, and HR didn’t take too kindly to you selecting Healer as your class. This is a great way to regain their, and my, trust.”

“I don’t follow."

Mr. Thomas shoved the papers and ink pot with the attached quill toward Eli’s hands. “We’ll need you to take notes today, sit in on our meetings, and write. This way, you can help shape the new policies we’re preparing. We’ll need some of your adventurous spirit in there, I think.”

Eli didn’t take the papers. “Do you really think that's the best way for us to spend our time? In meetings? Don't you see the rules are different here? We need action, not to sit on our hands.”

Mr. Thomas looked uncomfortable, shifting on his feet. “Yes, well, that’s the adventurous spirit I talked about. We’ll need that. A lot of it! But this is not the time to break everyone apart. We need a unified front, and we need a solid understanding of what has happened to us before we proceed.”

Eli walked up to the nearest window and pointed through it to the forest. “We’ll get our understanding out there, not by sitting here. I’m sorry, Mr. Thomas, but you’ll have to find someone else to take notes. I’m sure Barbara will do it if you ask nicely.”

"I can’t fault your logic, Elijah," Mr. Thomas said, shaking his head dejectedly. "I’ll try to minimize the damage and we’ll talk this through later.”

“Yeah, sure,” Eli said. “I’m sorry, but I have to go.”

Mr. Thomas stared out the window with obvious longing in his eyes. “Then go, Elijah. I’ll cover for you.”

The group waited for him on the bottom floor, right outside the doors, past the large spot of dried blood in the middle of the floor.

Daniel and Marsh were sitting in a pair of chairs, bleary-eyed.

"Did no one come to relieve you? Have you been sitting here all night?" Eli asked.

"Yeah," Daniel said.

"None of the other security guards were at work when it happened," Marsh added.

"It's only us," Daniel chimed in.

"But there are other fighters in the building and other classes that can stand guard, too. There's no reason for you to shoulder that responsibility by yourselves alone. You wouldn't do much good if someone did come now, would you?" Eli pointed out. "You should talk to management."

"No," Marsh admitted.

"We'll talk to them," Daniel promised.

"Good. See ya!"

"Be careful out there," Daniel said darkly as Eli turned to leave. "

"So, what talent did you pick, Eli?" Amy asked.

"Experienced. Gives me 10% more XP. With the human talent we all have, that's a total of 20% bonus right now. Not bad, huh?"

"I'm sorry, but the human talent we all have?" Amy asked, confused.

"Yeah, human racial benefit."

"Mine has that same name, but all I got was the ability to wear medium armor," Zack replied.

"I got 10 stat points in dexterity," Amy complained.

"Charisma for me," Dana added.

"What about you, Charlotte? What did you get?" Eli asked.

Charlotte shrugged. "Increased proficiency with weapons. 5% more damage."

"So, it must be random then, with some admittedly better than others," Eli said thoughtfully.

"One specifically, hugely better than others," Amy interjected. "I didn't even see the Experienced talent. It must have been far down on the list."

"Almost at the top," Eli said. "Maybe that's randomized too. There are some pretty good ones in there."

"Did you pick the animal-speaking one, Amy?" Dana asked.

"I did," Amy beamed, but then her face fell a little. "I tried talking to Rufus here, but that doofus doesn't have anything to say. Rats just want food and can't hold an intelligent conversation to save their lives. Their brains are the size of a pea."

"But the increased success rate with animal taming will come in handy. Does it mean that animals understand you better too?" Eli asked.

"It does," Amy confirmed. "Rufus is much better at doing what I want now. I think actually talking to animals will help with taming too, but I'm not sure."

"I was able to pick a talent that improves my Herbalism, and it gives me a chance to craft a higher-ranked potion every time," Zack said.

"Herbalism?" Eli asked.

He bent down to pick a small yellow flower. "Picking roots, flowers, the stuff I need for alchemy. It's a skill I have that highlights things all around us that I can make potions from. Like this little thing."

"That's cool," Eli said, nodding. "Did you learn to make any new potions from yesterday's leveling?"

"Sure," Zack replied, without elaborating.

Eli didn’t want to pry, so he turned to Charlotte instead. "I'm guessing you picked the life-leeching one, Charlotte?"

"No, I picked one that adds strength at a percentage. 5%" Charlotte said, then added with a bellow, "Make me big strong later!"

Guess even Barbarians can do a little long-term planning.

He turned to Dana, who shrugged. "I'm only level 4, remember? I didn't get a talent yet."

They walked past the tree line and entered the forest.

"So, about this cave monster," Amy said, "is it an animal?"

"I don't think so," Dana replied, as a twig slapped Amy across the face. She grunted in irritation.

"Are you okay, tiny woman?" Charlotte asked.

"Fine. I'm used to it. When you can't see stuff, things hits you in the face a lot. Walking in the forest is usually not a great idea with the roots and bushes and everything, but it's been surprisingly easy this time around. I'm not sure why."

"So do you see a little, or is it like there's darkness in front of your eyes?" Dana asked.

"It's just darkness," Amy said. "A skull fracture bledding that affected the nerves around my eyes. I could see colors the first day after I woke up in the hospital, but the day after that, it was just light. And since then, darkness."

"And there's nothing they can do?" Eli asked.

Amy shook her head. "They're not really even sure why my vision wasn't restored when the swelling went down. According to the doctor, they'd never seen anything like it. Not a fun day for a 14-year-old girl."

"I'm sorry," Eli said softly.

"Like I told you, it was a long time ago," Amy replied. "I've learned to live with it. There's much joy to be had in life even without your vision."

"You happy you've ended up here," Dana said.

"Sure, aren't you?" Amy asked.

"I mean, no," Dana said.

"I'm happy to be strong," Charlotte added, but in her own voice this time, not her usual roaring Barbarian tone, which sounded small to Eli's ears.

"I don't know," Zack shrugged. "Either way, it's all the same."

"What about you, Eli?"

"I'm not too thrilled about the danger," Eli began, searching for the words. "But I didn’t lose much in coming here. My old life never seemed to start, and I did nothing to change that myself. I am worried about my sister, though. Would like to know what happened to everyone else, too. Did they all go through, or just us? Or did the black hole kill everyone else?"

Dana suddenly equipped a bow and nocked an arrow, whispering, "We’re real close now, so we better keep our eyes open."

Eli thought he could see something gray between the tree trunks. "That’s the cave?" he whispered.

Dana nodded in confirmation.

"If it’s an animal, let me handle it," Amy offered. "If not, we kill it."

"We're not taming shit. That thing is going down, no matter what it is!" Dana hissed.