Levi paused as he exited the tree line, surveying the scenery and taking in the sights. It was the second day since he left the dungeon, and he had finally made it out of the forest. Now that he was out, the whole dungeon experience seemed like a bad dream. He hadn’t realized just how much he had missed the sun, and now, looking out towards a river in the distance and fields of gently swaying grass, he was starting to remember why he loved nature.

It also helped that Survival worked much better outdoors, and one of the first things Levi had done upon exiting the dungeon was to gather some food, a mix of plants, berries, and fish from the stream. He had also used the rags of his clothes combined with some grass he collected to fashion a makeshift skirt. There wasn’t anyone around to care if he was wearing anything or not, but he just couldn’t adjust to not being covered, having grown up in a society that valued modesty.

And now, as he walked out of forest, he could feel the sun freely beating down on him. If he wasn’t surrounded by the constant threat of death Levi would have sat down and just enjoyed the view. He had never seen real plains before, and it was a sight for sore eyes. But the monsters that had attacked him after exiting the dungeon worried him. They were almost level twenty, growing at an astronomical rate compared to before he entered the dungeon. Or maybe that was a normal growth rate, which would be a big cause for concern. Who could say with the System.

He was currently still following Susan’s plan of following the river to try and find civilization. It felt like every other thought he had was questioning his desire to actually find people, but Levi tried to steel his emotions and press through with his previous decision. People might be pretty shitty, but so was being alone, especially when it wasn’t by choice. And questioning things had never gotten him anywhere in life; it was always action driving him forwards.

Levi whistled a popular tune as he made his way down the stream he had been following to where it joined the river. His negative thoughts couldn’t keep him down for long. Being out of the dungeon and back in nature was too calming. He no longer had to worry about things like food or surprise traps. There were still monsters to fight, but so far he hadn’t seen anything he felt could truly threaten him. Of course, now that he thought that Murphy dictated that a dragon would swoop down from the sky and eat him. He glanced up, staring suspiciously at the sky. The sky stared back, seeming to comfort him, pressing down on him like a blanket of Aecylic Energy.

The sky really was beautiful, and Levi had an urge to let it all go, just fly away, soaring blissfully into the clear blue. He could feel the energy inside him singing, pulling him upwards, thrumming with a power as primal as the dawn, blanketing the world in rays of light. He spread his wings, his muscles contracting, pulsing with pent up energy, working overtime, the strength contained within telling sagas of his soon to be heroic feats, soon he would…

What the fuck was he thinking? Blinking, Levi started down at the sky-blue aura surrounding his hands. The same color as the kilometers of clear sky above his head. What had he been thinking? He remembered looking upwards, entranced as if from some half-forgotten memory.

It probably wasn’t important. He had other things to worry about.

As he continued walking, Levi soon forgot his recent strange experience, content to stroll along the picturesque river. As he walked along he noticed a hill a little ways off from the river and he changed course slightly, angling himself towards it. He wanted to see if he could get a better look at the plains he was walking into. There could be a pride of bloodthirsty lions asleep just meters from him and he might not know until he stumbled into their midst.

Soon he crested the hill, using his hand to shade his eyes from the sun’s rays as he looked around. The plains were expansive; they were the only thing he could see except for the forest behind him and a small smudge of brown farther down the river. Straining his eyes, he squinted. That… almost looked like a town. Scratch that, it did look like a town. Seconds after his brain made sense of what he was seeing Levi was off running.

He didn’t realize how much he missed people until he had the real possibility of seeing them. Normally he dreaded heading into work and putting on a fake smile. People could be such a damn pain in the ass. But he needed to know he wasn’t alone. It had been a long time since he lost Susan. Each day alone in the dungeon had constricted his mind, conjuring imaginary phantoms to plague him, whispering “you are alone, you will always be alone, they will always leave you.”

He flared Aecylic Empowerment, each step hurtling him closer towards the brown blob in the distance slowly resolving itself into the wooden walls of what was clearly a man-made settlement. The wind whistled past him, creating melodies previously unknown, sweeping his hair back from his forehead and wicking away the sweat from his bare chest.

Levi ran like his life depended on it, illusions of his fears chasing him every step of the way. He didn’t want to get his hopes up, but he couldn’t quash that small bud springing forth in his chest. People. Real people. After running for a while he could see them, standing above the gate on the towns walls.

He slowed down, eventually coming to a stop over a hundred meters away, reason winning over. He had remembered what he must look like, some wild man covered in scars wearing only boots and a grass skirt sprinting full tilt towards their town. If he were in their situation his first response certainly wouldn’t be to open the gate, welcoming in some random person who may or may not be a psychotic murderer. He was probably lucky they didn’t try and shoot at him. He could see a few of them holding bows.

He just stood there, not knowing what to do, before one of them jumped down from the wall and started walking towards him. As the man walked over Levi focused on his breathing, trying to calm himself. He needed to make a good first impression. Just because they didn’t attack him didn’t mean they would automatically let him into their settlement. Soon the man neared and opened his mouth to speak.

“Hail, stranger. What brings you to our humble settlement? We don’t want any trouble. I’ll have you know I used to be an adventurer like yourself before I took an arrow to the knee.”

Levi stared at the man, mouth agape.

“Kidding. My name’s Alex. It’s true that we don’t want any trouble though.”

Alex reached out his hand for a handshake which Levi took, shaking his hand mechanically while trying to drag his jaw back off the floor. Alex’s face hadn’t changed once, still keeping his deadpan expression. Levi had almost believed he was an NPC there for a second.

“Uh, Levi. Nice to meet you.” He couldn’t manage much more than that, his thoughts struggling to organize themselves after Alex’s surprise opener.

“Nice to meet you, Levi. As long as you don’t have any bad intentions I would like to formally invite you into our outpost. It looks like you’ve had a rough time of things.”

“Yeah. And I don’t. Have any bad intentions I mean. Sorry, it’s been… a long time since I talked to someone.”

“It sounds like you have quite a story. Follow me and we can get you set up with some refreshments while you talk to David. That’s our leader. I’m sure he’ll be able to sort you out. Despite his gruff exterior he’s very dependable.”

Levi tried to calm his racing thoughts as he followed Alex to the outpost. Talking to people was different than he remembered. But then again, the world was different. It would be stranger if things stayed the same.

As they neared, some of the people from the wall descended and opened the gate, welcoming them in.

“Welcome. My name is David, and I’m what passes for the leader of our humble outpost.”

“My name’s Levi. Nice to meet you.”

“And you as well. Come, we would be horrible hosts if we left you standing out here. Follow me and we can find somewhere to sit down and have a chat. I’m sure you must have a lot of questions.”

After shaking hands, Levi followed David through the town, taking in the clean and orderly streets filled with rows of log cabins. It felt more like the outpost had been here for years, not the month or two it must have been built in. It was impressive, showing a clear work ethic among the populace. They clearly had some idea about what they were doing, and Levi felt like he stuck out like a sore thumb in his rough grass skirt compared to the nicely sewn leather clothing everyone else was wearing. Hopefully he could get some of his own. And a shave. It would be nice to get a nice set of clothing and get rid of his scraggly beard and feel like a civilized person again.

The outpost was rather small, and they quickly arrived in the center, presumably walking towards the large three-story building across the hard packed dirt square. Levi’s guess was spot on, and they entered the building, by far the largest he had seen, through a pair of double doors.

“Come, there is a space we can talk in the back room,” David said. “Alex, if you would join us please. Roger, if you could bring us some tea and jerky you and Carla can go back to whatever you were doing before.”

David, Alex, and Levi crossed what appeared to be a common space towards a door at the back of the room. Levi could feel the curious stares of the rooms few other occupants, mostly children, with a few adults. They probably didn’t get visitors often, the presence of an outsider a rare occasion.

They soon moved into a small back room, empty save for a table and four chairs.

“Please, take a seat,” David said, gesturing to one of the chairs. “Roger should be back momentarily with some refreshments.”

Almost as soon as he finished speaking Roger came back in, carrying a tray with three cups, a pitcher, and a plate of jerky. He set it down before leaving once more, leaving the three of them alone.

“Let me pour you some tea,” David said. “You must have had a rough time after the implementation of the System.”

Levi nodded while inspecting the tea with Survival. He didn’t think they would poison him, but better safe than sorry. He couldn’t find any trace of anything harmful, so he took a cautious first sip, followed by what must have been an ungainly swallow, chugging the rest of the tea in his cup.

“The tea is made by someone with a brewing skill,” David said, a half smile gracing his face at Levi’s reaction. “Despite losing most of the creature comforts of Earth not everything is for the worst. Take your time. We have plenty of time to talk.”

Levi could feel David’s stare boring into him as he refilled his cup. He suspected David was using a skill, his stare going right through him, making him feel naked under the powerful gaze. Although, to be fair, he actually was mostly naked, which didn’t really help.

After Levi finished another two cups he finally sat back, feeling more human than he had felt in weeks. David was right. He did have a lot of questions. Questions like what was this outpost doing here, and why was it called an outpost? An outpost for what? He also wanted to ask them about dungeons among a million other things.

Sitting up straight, Levi activated Concentrated Will. It was time for a different type of battle. He was ill suited for a battle of social intrigue, likely going up against someone skilled in exactly that, but he had grown a lot. He wouldn’t back down. With Aecylic Energy singing in his veins Levi opened his mouth. It was time to fight.