BXBX NOVEL Chapter 51: sounds lame as fuck.
That means at the minimum, I needed to grind souls for at least one mag of blessed rounds. I had 1200 rounds of ammunition on me. How long would it take to bless them all?
"I wonder if there was a wholesale discount or something, like bless 10 rounds get 1 round free!"
Just then my reaper phone again vibrated numerous times. Granted that Bella, Jas and Jo reached out to me could the messages from the other girls?
When I checked, it seemed my assumption was correct.
[Sender: Rhiannon]
[G'day mate! Bella sent your info, so I wanted to check in. My transfer is getting delayed as It's chockers in here! I mean it's not like I got in touch just to whinge but fuck me dead there are just so many reapers moving battlefronts!
[Also, I heard in some parts, people are looking for John Smith the Formless of July. Good on ya! Your fucking famous now! Still the ones looking for you are of a bad sort. Anyway, just stop trying to crack on every woman you see and keep your wits about you. Wait till I arrive and let's stuff them dead!
-R Lithgow]
Right, there was only one person who spoke English, but I still could never understand. Using the net, I found that chockers meant full of people, whinge was to complain and for Australia to crack on was to kiss or flirt.
"Oh right! What does wombat in Australian mean. Let's see here… To Australians being called a wombat is a derogatory term used by women on men. It means overweight, fat and lazy and only interested in sex.
"In this context wombats are known to only eat, root (slang for sex), shoot (slang for ejaculation), and leave. When used by a male to describe another it is a term of admiration instead… What the fuck Robyn?!"
I again remembered the face of the combat joey who I fought side by side with. Her facial expression varied wildly, but her petite frame as she buried knives into zombies left an impression. She looked around 17-18 and was flat as a runway.
"Let's forget about the wombat thing, she took time to warn me at least."
With Bella, Jasmine and Robyn telling me the same thing that meant reapers from at least three continents were looking for me. I hoped the smokescreen of John Smiths around the world would protect me. But for safety's sake I needed to make myself scarce.
Moving would be the absolute minimum, changing numbers and using only cash would remove my money trail. Credit cards, debit cards and digital payments would be a no. I also had to get off Google, YouTube and everyone else who tracked my data.
'Damn? wasn't this going to be harder than running away from the government?' I complained.
I scrolled through and found two more messages from my girls.
[Sender: Freyja]
[To good harvest and peace! How are you, John? I'm sorry it took so long, I only learned of how to use these recently. My clan was pleased with my results, and they were curious about you. But I of course didn't share your {fate} or your other abilities, only death would pry my lips. Unfortunately, a need to see a friend in another battle front.
I will go directly to you afterwards. This I swear, until we meet again. - Liv]
"Hmm, Liv seemed different from how she usually was. I wonder if it was because Northerners didn't use smart phones."
Still Liv shared Lilly's penchant for dramatic phrases though. I wondered if it was a reaper thing. After I sent her a generic reply I moved on to the next message.
[Sender: Inari]
[Greetings Smith-san. Taurus-san sent me your details, so I am reaching out. I will board a plane to Phoenix, Arizona on Monday night. I should arrive there Tuesday morning. I have an urgent matter I need to tell you face to face. Can please give me your address so we can meet up?
- Miroku Aki]
From the looks of things Aki would be the first to arrive. I wondered if a person's physical location was tied to the battlefront they reported to. I remembered hearing that Amari and Jasmine were both from the African battlefront. Was it based on a person's ancestry or something?
"Good thing she asked before I moved. But I wonder what is so urgent?"
Aki was the most nondescript of the girls she just kind of blended into the background. But I would counter that as a shinobi that was what she was expected to do. Her skills with a blade and her throwing knives were amazing though.
I sent her a reply with my address and began to notice the names the girls used. I soon found out that the girls' usernames were all based after goddesses!
Freyja, Ishtar, Rhiannon, Vela, Minerva, Satis, and Inari. I searched the net and found that all seven were legendry deities from seven different mythologies.
"Limitless sounds lame as fuck. I should have named myself after Tony Stark or Optimus Prime. Maybe even John McClain," I complained in anger.
In a foul mood I began browsing the Graveyard. I already dived in the forums a bit and didn't understand most of the verbiage used by the posts. The same went for the headlines and recruitment.
It was just like when you began a new game, if you wanted to join the community, you needed to learn how they think, act and communicate. So I tried to learn using the FAQ app, there I found a video named "Know your role".
"Good. This seemed like a good place to start."
The video opened with a cartoon grim reaper and a flaming scythe with red eyes. These two must be the hosts for the video or something.
[Hi everyone, I am Grim and the red eyed bastard over there is Scy. We are the guides for today's video named "Know your role!" Are you excited? Let's get right into it.]
Grim the cartoon reaper began making exaggerated expressions as it spoke Scy on the other hand just glared at the audience. Were the people in charge really so childish I wondered.
[So, you just became a reaper but do not know anything don't worry we got you! Every reaper starts out as a Wraith. Wraiths are the most abundant and weakest type of reapers, but they are the ones tasked with simplest jobs. A wraith has two primary roles. One is to participate in defense and the other is to join a profession.]
Cartoon images and caricatures followed the words of Grim. The video didn't bore me, but it looked annoying as hell.
[Defense battles are time-sensitive engagements with the undead. A zone will be assaulted by zombies and Wraiths are the ones who participate into exterminating the invaders. If a zone defense falls, that lot of land will be under zombie rule.
[Of course, the more land the zombies have the more undead they raise. So, Wraiths must constantly battle to prevent that from happening. A profession on the other hand is a support function a Wraith can do while he is not participating in defense. These include the Fortifications, Adventurers, Mercenaries, Production and Academics.]
Oh? So, you didn't need to fight forever but only need to survive a timed engagement. That meant they expected you to use the rest of your time in your profession.
'I should research this later.'
[After countless battles Wraiths will grow and eventually become Phantoms. This happens automatically after leveling their {fates} for the third time. Once a reaper become a Phantom, they will be assigned a soul crystal which has the power to purify the corruption of a zone in hell. The Phantom must now choose a zone to purify and take command of that zone's defense.
[The Undead cannot reproduce in the presence of a soul crystal. Thus, hell regularly sends invasions to zones behind the front line to bring down crystals. The Phantom may use any and all methods to protect his or her crystal. The professions were formed exactly to aid the zone defense of a Phantom.]
'Hmm, so Wraiths were soldiers while Phantoms were like commanders. Interesting. The reapers constantly tried to expand the purified lands while the undead seek to corrupt it. Like a never-ending dance,' I surmised.
[A Phantom bound to a crystal will die if it is broken thus the responsibility fall entirely on his shoulders. Consequently, the rewards and spoils of each defense would also belong to him.
[In the event a Phantom fails his defense a Dirge Siren would resound to all nearby zones. The Dirge Siren signifies that the zone is in danger of falling. The Phantom in charge is presumed to be dead, missing, or is unable to fight any longer.
[Responding to Dirge Sirens is not mandatory but are given rewards based on the number of reapers saved and undead terminated. If the Dirge Siren is ignored that zone will be treated as a lost zone. Left unattended It would serve as a beachhead for the undead thus it must be reclaimed as soon as possible.]
So, a lost zone was like a staging ground for an invasion. Shit, so reapers constantly needed to guard their back while pressing forward. This was like a hardcore RTS game on steroids. The video continued to play as it described the next roles.
[Once a Phantom grows and evolves his {fate} for the sixth time, he becomes a Specter. Specters are expected to have formed some alliances or gathered subordinates. Defense of the zones are left the Specter's people. A Specter's only task is to form or join an Assault team. The Assault teams are elite groups of reapers who dive into the front-line undead zones and liberate them.]
"That made sense, so Specters are tasked with assaulting the front line while defending would be left to the Phantoms and Wraiths," I commented in understanding.
[Liberating zones is a most difficult task with the highest casualty counts. Specter assault teams have little to no information and must find and kill the zone's boss,] Grim continued to explain.