When Carla mentioned that, Olek couldn't help but furrow his brow. "Yeah but don't you think it's abnormal how easily we're adapting? I just killed someone, and barely anyone screamed, cried or panicked."
Marcus shrugged, wiping his sleeves down. "Desperate times call for desperate measures. Anyone who blames you is either an idiot or hot-headed, in this situation nobody's foolish enough not to expect death."
Carla glanced over at a small group, passing a water bottle around a near burnt out torch. "I don't think that's what Olek means, Marcus."
"Right." Olek nodded following Carla's gaze, the group were light-hearted - jovial, almost. "It's too calm. I'm too calm. Everyone here is accepting reality a bit too easily for my tastes."
"A random entity called the Mana Accord has suddenly abducted the entire sentient population of Earth and forced us into this game-like reality with levels, magic, skills - and we're just here accepting that? That doesn't sound like humanity to me."
Carla frowned pulling her gaze to other groups, "Do you think this 'System' has something to do with it? Like suppressing our fears or inhibitions?"
Marcus thought in silence a moment before responding. "I wouldn't be surprised, I imagine the System wants us fearful, but not in hysteria, the name Tutorial suggests that this is an introduction to something. It probably doesn't want us all dead."
Olek's eyes squinted at him, "All of us, sure. But I'll put my money on the System not giving a flying fuck whether we do or don't."
"What makes you say that, Olek?" Marcus gave him a sidelong look.
He scoffed, "The System rewarded me for killing another human being."
Marcus frowned deeply, "What?"
Nobody knows what appears once you kill something, with Olek being the first to see those screens.
"It was when I killed him. Instead of being penalized like I would've been back in the old world, I was rewarded with a level and an 'achievement' that increased all of my stats." Olek explained.
"All that appeared in front of me was a notification telling me I'd killed this Level 0 Human, and then it rewarded me as if it was something great I had done, granting me the First Blood achievement."
Marcus mulled over his words for a second, "This is new to me..."
Olek chuckled, "This is new to everyone, Marcus."
He let out a single laugh, "Yeah, true that. Listen we'll discuss that more with the others."
They kept walking and soon they were approaching the central tent, it wouldn't really be right to call it a tent. It was more like a large canopy someone would set up in a beer garden for when the sun was too hot.
Looking inside he saw four figures standing around, there were a dozen or so satchels piled up on the side. For a central tent it was really just an empty space under the canopy.
"Usually there's more people, but they're off getting other groups ready." Marcus mentioned.
At the center of the canopy, a woman with long deep ginger hair was sat, her back was straight and her green eyes reflected the fire light in front of her.
She was holding an exact copy of Olek's staff, but it wasn't just that which told him she was a magician. In front of her were scraps of cloth that were wrapped around cut pieces of hard, dried out leather from the satchels. Her staff's tip poked into the cloth as she closed her eyes, a second later, spark and smoke encompassed the shabby torch, lighting it up.
Olek questioned the practicality of chucking two random objects together and expecting a reliable torch, but he had seen dozens of them out in the crowd and they all seemed fine, he wondered if she had something to do with why they were so efficient despite being so... crude.
She looked up at the approaching party, Olek noticed how contented she was, there was no fear in her face, she seemed happy to sit there and spend the day lighting fire.
"Marcus!" She greeted, her voice lilted and melodic but held a light Irish flair. "You took your sweet time. Thought you'd gone and got yourself killed with that speech you were planning. But thankfully..." She looked Olek up and down. "That didn't happen thanks to someone."
Marcus laughed, "Aye, almost. Our friend here Olek," -he nodded toward him- "Made sure that didn't happen."
Her gaze flicked to Olek as she assessed him with a smile. "Ah, you're the boy who I sensed casting. I'm impressed, none of us can even cast Mana Bolt yet." She got up and offered a hand. "I'm Eilidh."
Olek was surprised to hear that, "Really? No-one?" He shakes her hand. "As Marcus mentioned, I'm Olek, a pleasure."
She shook her head, "Nope, not even me. I seem to be able to use my affinity magic perfectly fine, but handling raw mana seems so... unnatural, is all I can say."
His brow creased, "That's interesting. My experience is the same for affinity and raw mana, feels very natural, like something I could already do but just needed to remember."
"That is interesting. We should chat later, I would love to see you cast Mana Bolt maybe it'll give me a little insight." Her eyes gleamed at the prospect of learning more about magic.
Olek thought about it for a second, he considered saying no, as he's not one to do something for free, but getting a better understanding about magic from other people's perspective is a boon in itself.
"Sure, we'll see if we can find some time." He nodded after some deliberation. "Oh, and this is Carla, my friend." He motioned for Carla.
"Hi! I'm Carla, a ranger, it's nice to meet you Eilidh." She said with vigor, shaking her hand.
Eilidh giggled, "It's lovely to meet you too Carla."
Marcus chuckled, "You guys are off to a good start at least." He gestured toward another man idling his time sat on the sand a bit away from the others, eyeing Olek from a distance. "Over here, this is Leif, a ranger like Carla here."
Leif looks at Olek and Carla with indifference, simply grunting and closing his eyes.
"He's... Quiet. Don't take offense." Marcus smiled awkwardly.
"None taken." Olek brushed it off.
'Guess I'm not going to have someone to learn with like Olek...' Carla was a bit more disappointed than Olek.
Some people reacted differently to difficult times to others. Some, try to cooperate and rely on others as much as they can, others, take a step back and isolate themselves until they got it figured out, before connecting with others. Leif may not be like that, but Olek had a feeling over time he'd be more open.
A tall, slim build man with brushed over blonde hair and piercing blue eyes approached them after. His attire was very neat, with a buttoned up shirt, stylish trousers and some formal shoes. Olek bet they weren't comfortable to walk around in the sand with.
"I'll introduce myself next." He had a bright smile and spoke with a German accent. "I'm Isaac Müller, a cleric, I was just about to graduate med school before the System ruined everything."
Olek half smiled, "My sympathies, couldn't have been easy to work that hard just for it all to be stripped away." He looked down at his shoes, "Also, I bet you are seriously regretting wearing those leather shoes."
Isaac looked pained at him for a moment, before smiling wryly, "Yeah... Not the best I can tell you that much." He sighed.
Carla walks forward and pats his shoulder, "My condolences to your feet, Isaac. It's nice to meet a cleric."
Isaac shrugged, "Seemed like the most suited class for me, as an aspiring doctor and all. You guys aren't suffering from burns are you?"
The two both looked at each other before shaking their heads, "No, we were quite quick in setting up our own canopy." said Olek
He couldn't honestly estimate how many northerners were suffering from awful burns. Their pasty white skin was not going to fair well with the brutal sun.
Isaac sighed in relief, "Good... good."
As he said that, Olek felt something off, he couldn't see the fourth person here, until he looked right down beside him where there was a short girl.
She was small, like 4 foot 8 inches small. She had raven black hair, grey shallow eyes, a cute face and was dressed entirely in black.
Olek jumped out of his skin and yelped, "Ah!" causing her to flinch and back away, looking to the side and pulling her black hoodie over her mouth.
"I'm- I'm... sorry." She said quietly, her eyes looking downtrodden.