"I've been through the forest~
On a horse with no name~
It felt good to be out in the rain~
In the forest, you can remember your name~
'Cause there ain't…" he fumbles this line a bit. "no one for you… for you to give you no pain~"
Water patters against the dense tree top, drooping down onto us in big, sparse droplets. Nicklas and I continue to march through this same never-ending forest.
"Where'd you learn that from?" I ask while Nicklas hums the melody of America's A Horse with No Name.
"Oh—" he appears to snap out of a daze as I look back at him for a moment. "It's an unknown song from the Democratic Age."
"I see."
Sometimes I forget that this is still the same world. It was only around a millennium ago that people were wanking on the internet, listening to all kinds of music, driving cars, and shooting guns all across North America.
There was a 'dark-age'-esque apocalyptic intermediary period. It's shrouded in mystery, with historical documentation sparse and unverifiable. During that time, the Corrupted arrived and took over the world.
It can be more or less be thought of as the time when Old Earth and the Novel Earth merged into one. Super simple, but missing insane amounts of context. But hey, I'm not the history buff; the little twerp behind me is.
"I'm not a Democrat," Nicklas adds. "I'm just… interested in that time period is all."
Reminds me of a certain genre of smelly, Hearts of Iron playing Nazi LARPers. No, I won't be explaining what that means.
Anyway, we're walking to find a good place to camp, both temporary and more permanent areas. It might feel natural to plop down a campfire right where we were dropped and just abandon it later, but I'm erring on the side of caution.
Based on the format, we are in for the long haul. Running around like a madman killing people—Valeria, for instance—won't get us anywhere. The island is big, students are fearful and cautious, and the capturing system all prolongs this Exam.
First, we meet our needs: food, water, shelter, and then weapons. Empowered will keep me deadly unarmed.
"My dad uncovered this black circular object called a vinyl record during his time in the Excursion Corps," Nicklas rambles on. "We created our own record player at home since the recovered ones are all egregiously priced museum pieces. It works by spinning a vinyl record while a needle sits in the grooves. As those grooves move under the needle, tiny vibrations are produced that travel through the tonearm to a cartridge that converts them into electrical signals that are then amplified and sent to speakers."
"Keep it down," I say, even though it's raining and his volume is quite minimal. I just want him to shut the fuck up. I know how a record player works. I don't care what passion projects you get up to with your father, who peaked at the rank of Corporal and is sitting on an expensive pension after getting a career-ending injury due to his ineptitude.
I currently have Nicklas holding a bunch of dry tinder under his shirt. He's at least useful as a pack donkey. Though donkeys don't talk this much. I would make a one-for-one trade, donkey for Nicklas, any day of the week.
Along our way, I pick up a sizeable, sword-length branch to experiment with.
Pushing Essence into Tremors, the stick begins to follow my hand's vibration. As soon as it hits around 30% of the total speed, the stick snaps.
As I thought. In order to fully use Tremors, at least at the First Stage, I'll need a weapon made of steel at the bare minimum. Soulsteel seems to be the best. I'm really missing my Shiv. My beautiful, glorious Shiv. Empowered will have to be my primary weapon after all.
I'm going to have to assume that there are buildings of interest on the island. A weapons cache, buildings with positional value, etc. Can't expect everyone to fight with fists and Magic.
I'm also assuming that since we were placed toward the edge of the island—though still within the forest—that everyone was placed on the island edges. I'm a genius with these predictions.
We were put on the eastern edge. I'm having us head west. If I were a dungeon master or game maker of some sort, I would put the buildings toward the center, having the island center as a place of convergence, ensuring teams meet to contend over resources despite the massive island size.
That's where the most danger would be, but also the greatest opportunity. So that's where we'll go, banking on the potential fact that the other teams aren't making the same, completely speculatory assumption that I am this early on.
More importantly, my watch 'pings' the relative direction of my teammates every few hours. Valeria is also heading directly inland—west—so it makes double sense to go.
"You don't think I'm a Democrat, do you?" Nicklas interrupts yet again.
"I. Don't. Care."
"Well, that's a relief. Wouldn't want you thinking I'm a weirdo. Cause I'm not."
Fucking die in a hole. I might push him in myself at this rate.
***
It's been 5 hours of inland walking. Appears I was at least somewhat right; we've spotted some incredibly sparse stone ruins. When I make a prediction, it should honestly be taken as gospel. The proof is in the pudding.
Regardless of my genius, this'll only serve as a pretty basic temporary shelter. Secluded, not too close or too far from a nearby river. Still in the forest, which is good for staying hidden.
We're in the perfect sweetspot of proximity. Not close enough to the center to where I need to be paranoid about other teams, but close enough to stay involved.
It's also good for food. On our way here, I spotted some deer. However, chasing one of them down would be a pain. Butchering with a piece of stone would be even worse.
I've settled for some squirrels.