~~First Person POV~~

-Some time ago-

You know, traveling is good and all but being surrounded by guys at least twice your level isn’t too fun. It would’ve been different if they were women, but even then I would’ve been intimidated. I guess that’s what happens when you just suddenly walk up to the train with no identification. Ah, good times, good times…

Anyway, it had been several hours since I woke up to find those items on the table. I’m glad that asshole left something for me but it would’ve been soooo much better if he left actual equipment. I mean, a few pills is good and all but an actual weapon or armor is a lot better than pills. I do appreciate the several healing pills though. I’m not complaining. Maybe.

So, after that I made my way to the East station place. I met some people along the way that said they came from the fifth Branch. I wondered if everyone was as ‘friendly’ as that asshole was so I told them about what I’ve been doing. I didn’t tell them my power or anything, only what’s happened during the past few days.

In the end, I was captured. I’m so stupid sometimes. If I was in their position I would’ve done the same thing, though. I don’t blame ‘em. Fortunately they didn’t tie me up or knock me out. I just got free of my headache so having another one would’ve made me go insane. I also wasn’t able to gain any experience since I was surrounded the whole time. I even tried pleading with them to let me kill a few but they stubbornly refused. I say that but they were actually quite polite. I think I started to trust them more than that asshole.

Maybe it’s just because similar people come together? Like, these people are all alive so they want other people who are alive to come with them...or something like that. I didn’t have objections about that so I let them take care of me. Even if I didn’t really need anything because of my Gamer ability, I still appreciated it. I’m still a human. I think.

Anyway, I boarded the train they were on. I asked them about Branch 4 and, for the most part, I got angry gazes. I guess not everyone gets along in paradise, right? Well, this is the opposite of a paradise….I just wanted to use that phrase at least once in my life.

Right, so they told me that the fourth Branch’s Head was a woman named Akina. No last name for some reason but I’m getting used to that. I asked for these people’s names as well and they didn’t give me last names most of the time. Oh well.

Anyway, apparently the fourth Branch has some history among the other branches. It mainly pertains to Akina and the previous Head of the fourth Branch. The previous Head was a really popular guy that helped everyone that needed it. During a raid or whatever, he ended up dying trying to save Akina. He was a Gold A ranker, whatever that means, and then an S ranker, whatever that means, appeared and killed him. Akina managed to get away, yadda yadda people blame her.

It kinda went like that. At least, that’s what I got when I listened to them explain. Apparently it was quite well known that this happened so they didn’t mind telling me about it. Honestly, I don’t understand this thinking. It’s not like it’s Akina’s fault, right? It’s that old dude’s fault that he died. Sounded like he had no other choice and it also doesn’t seem like his death really caused anything substantial. Woah, big words, big words...Anyway, I probably would’ve done the same. I dunno, kinda depends.

So that’s what happened during the train ride. Nothing much happened other than a small-scale attack from robots. Honestly, I don’t even know what to think anymore. First everyone turned into zombie monsters and now robots? I wouldn’t even be surprised if there was a giant dragon at the bottom of lake somewhere.

The train ride itself took about three days. Yea, three days. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough time for my debuff to go away. I still have to suffer this horrible debuff; it’s quite sad really. I was doing so well and then right when I meet that asshole everything goes to shit. He even hovered there and just watched me while I was surrounded! Who does that?

I really want to fly after watching him, though. Sounds like fun. Considering I can see these people’s levels even when they’re about level 80 means that that asshole’s level is a lot higher. If I had to guess I would probably say about 150. I’m assuming I can’t see levels that are three times my own, which is some-what evident by the people around me. I haven’t seen someone higher than level 90 so far but these guys keep saying there’s an S ranker escorting them. I finally put the pieces together and realized that those are apparent power levels. These guys are A rankers, so maybe an S ranker starts at level 90 or 100? I’ll have to see for myself.

Also, the names of the robots that I saw were “Guardian: A rank” and “Guardian: S rank”. The A ranks were all around levels 50-80 but I couldn’t see the S ranks’ levels. Seems about right. My own level is only 36 at the moment so I guess I’m either a strong B ranker or a really weak A rank. I’ll go with B rank, because those A rank robots are at the lowest level 50.

The S rank dude on our side was capable of handling those robots, fortunately. His name was John...tail? Tale? I dunno how it’s spelled but that’s what I heard. Apparently he was the strongest in this Sector. They called him a peak S ranker...I wonder what blocks people from gaining strength? Hm. I don’t really have that problem because of the Gamer ability. If I keep farming monsters for XP, I can continue to grow stronger indefinitely. Maybe. Of course, after a while a monster’s XP would become insufficient so I would be forced to move on to a stronger one.

That reminds me. That new skill I acquired, ‘Primeval Energy’. I tested it out a few times and unfortunately I got head-splitting pains in my head. I did gain about 30% XP in it so at least there’s progress. All I can remember from the first time I used it was my vision going black and loud laughter all around me. It was quite traumatic and I’m not sure why I heard laughter…

Anyway, I made progress on that. I also continued to train my crafting skill by taking items out of my inventory and just taping things together. I was kinda bullshitting the skill at the time but I still got XP from it so...yay! I planned to seriously craft when I obtained the correct materials to do so. My crafting skill was level three even when I was completely bullshitting it.

After the train finally stopped, everyone inside was ordered to get off. Of course, I did so as well and I was quite excited about a change of scenery after several days of just the inside of a train. When I stepped off onto solid ground, I looked around and took in my surroundings. Everything was so huge and clean!

The buildings were at least three stories high and were shiny clean. They had signs on the front of them showing what kind of building they were as well. All of them were called vendors for some reason, but hey, at least they don’t have separate names for every single building. Anyway, there were weapon vendors, armor vendors, stone vendors, and...potion vendors? I guessed alchemy wasn’t just fantasy anymore. Nothing’s really a fantasy anymore.

I looked around at all the people and discovered that almost all of them were higher than level 50. There were several people with question marks so I don’t know the range of their levels. There was one person among the crowd that had a slightly suffocating aura around them. I didn’t really prefer being near that person so I stayed real close to the group I was with. When I noticed them starting to move, I followed them and asked:

"Hey guys, where should I go?"

"Just follow us for now. We're going to a sign-in station near here."

The leader, from what I've seen, of the group replied to my question. I bet you if it was that asshole it would've been a completely different response...

Anyway, we didn't travel very far until we reached the station. It had a sign above the door with the words "sign-in" so it was kinda hard to miss unless you're naturally stupid. Trust me, I've met people like that before...Ah, the hardships of working in fast food. Stupid people...stupid people everywhere!

Ahem, right, so after we entered the building we immediately went to the, what I'm assuming, front desk. They asked what branch and sector, my group replied. However, the leader told the dude at the desk that I was an apparent stray that randomly popped up. The receptionist kinda looked at me weirdly before motioning me forward.

"What's your name?" The dude asked.

"Mark."

"Just Mark? Nothing else?"

"Uhm, Mark...Apis. Mark Apis, yea."

"Mark Apis Yea..."

"No, no no! Just Mark Apis."

"Right."

"Now, since Branch 5 of Sector 31 discovered you, you will be under their jurisdiction for one week before you have to join a Branch on your own. You may choose to stay with Branch 5 or join a different Branch. It's up to you."

"Alright, thanks. Nice hair, dude."

"..."

So, with that I waited along Branch 5. I honestly didn't know whether or not I wanted to stay with the fifth branch or go join the fourth one. On one side, Branch 5 doesn't have assholes, but the asshole from Branch 4 is pretty strong. Man, such a difficult decision. I wonder if I could just create my own Branch? That's pretty unrealistic of me.

Yea, I should probably just stay in Branch 5. I don't like having unnecessary difficulties and that guy really is an asshole. Like, come on man, give me something more than just some pills I'll use up in a week. Oh shit. Oh, woah woah woah wait.

I have the Absorption ability! I can just eat the pills, gain the ability to use the same exact effect the pills have, and use it indefinitely! Woohoo! Go me! That's pretty far-fetched since I expect the cooldown on the ability to be a long time. Also, the energy needed to use the ability will probably be quite high too. I wonder if my Intellect stat is even high enough to give me sufficient energy. Energy, mana, qi, chi, whatever you wanna call it. It's all energy so energy just sounds better in my opinion.

I can do the same for the other pills too! I can also eat that stupid ring! I need Primeval Energy to use it anyway so it's better to just get the ability personally. It's going to take a long time before I become efficient with using Primeval Energy, though. Oh well. Everything's going A-O.K.! Now I just need a way to level up again! Where in the Hell will I do that.

Bah, it doesn't necessarily matter right now. What I really need to do is train my skills and abilities. Yes, there is a difference between the two! I get abilities from the Absorption Ability! Skills are from discovering different ways to do things, like crafting. I plan on, hopefully, learning some alchemy so I can create my own potions. Maybe even some pills, too? I should ask that asshole if he knows how.

I wonder, where is that asshole right now anyway?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

So yea. In order to show what's been happening to the gang and this guy (Mark) I need to switch over to him. Also, I enjoy writing him in 1st person POV. There's quite a bit that needs to be shown and explained so I don't have to write several info-dumps on you guys. I know how much people hate info-dumps (like me), but trust me! There is something I'm planning with Mark that is quite cool. I'm not sure how long the POV change will last but it probably won't last more than several chapters. I think. Kyte won't be gone long!

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. This is also a small way for me to relieve my steam from writing in 3rd person omnipotent (or is it...?). Writing about Mark is fun to me so I hope reading it is fun. Gets me in the mood to not want to do shit. Oh wait, that's me all the time.