Enigmatic Crusade

“Everyone ready?” High Priest Julian asked from the front of the crowd. Valen looked around, along with him, four other healing trainees were picked for the expedition to the new dungeon.  Valen knew the other four people’s names. One was a druid, the other was the cleric, and the rest were Priest’s like him.

“Looks like it,” a bored woman said to the side. She was standing near the edge of the large group of healers. In total there were ten full-fledged healers and the five recruits. The probationary members appeared to be the only ones that took this briefing seriously, of the healers anyway. All around them armored men and women ran this way and that as they got ready for the expedition. 

“Fine then,” High Priest Julian said. Clapping his hands he started pointing at people down the line. “You three, in the front Behemoth. You three in the next…” He partnered them up, two full healers and a recruit in each vehicle. “Last, is us three,” he said, pointing at Valen, himself and a female healer. “We will be in the last car. Anything else?” 

He looked to the crowd of healers, expectantly. Valen hesitated but the Cleric recruit raised her hand. “Uh…what exactly is going on?” A collective annoyed sigh escaped a few of the experienced healers, but Julian just smiled widely. 

“I’m glad you asked, idiot,” he said. The collected recruits had been promoted from bitches and bastards to idiots as of late. Julian had even called a few of them by name now and then, so Valen felt like it was progress. “Most of these recruits are too scared to ask. I’m glad the girl has balls.” 

With a sigh he stepped away to stand in front of them again. “Behind you is a Behemoth-class vehicle.” He pointed to the steel coated tank behind them. It was the same model as those Valen had seen Monster Bash drive a few weeks back. The heavily armored vehicle stood loudly over them, humming lightly as more warriors ran to throw in this or that in the back. 

“Back in the day, we all used to have to run everywhere to get to a dungeon. Thanks to technological advancements we have been able to make Essence powered vehicles. Cutting the time to get to dungeons down immensely. But just because we have these nice tanks, does not mean we are safe. There are still plenty of monsters between us and our target. Which means fighting. Which means people will get hurt.” 

Valen knew stepping out of the city was a risk. He had heard that the majority of roads were safe, but the further away you went, the more dangerous it got. There had been more than a few rumors of trolls, goblins, and other monsters attacking people on the road. Making most every town isolated, except to those adventurers that could handle themselves. 

“Each vehicle will have ten to fifteen fighters. Your job is to keep them safe if someone does attack,” Julian added. Valen perked up. 

“Does that mean…” Valen trailed off.

“Yes, outside of town, orders are rescinded. If you run into anyone that needs healing, you have my permission to do so,” Julian said with a cracked smile. The recruits straightened where they stood, all excited to finally have a chance to use their skill. 

One of the first rules when they were assigned to the Healing House was they were not allowed to heal people. At first Valen had thought that it was because they were inexperienced, and they could hurt someone. Eventually he learned it was because he would level up if he used his Skills. They wanted to save that experience for the full-fledged members. 

Excited at the prospect of finally leveling up after weeks of struggle he grew even more excited by the prospect of a dungeon. Besides going on a real adventure to somewhere new, Valen was leaving the town he had never set foot outside of. Though he hadn’t seen Peter or Claire since he joined, he hoped they were given the opportunity as well. 

It wasn’t long until the healers were split up and Valen was given his own spot in the rear Behemoth. Practically squished in the corner, Julian and the other Priest acted like it was any other day. Valen couldn’t help but freak out a little. Not only because of the tight quarters, but who was in the Behemoth with them. 

At first Valen didn’t recognize them, but as he studied those around him he knew a few of them based on stories he had heard. First was Hank the Tank. At least 6 foot 9 inches tall, he was more massive in his thick black steel armor. A humongous war axe strapped to his back, Valen had heard he was so tough he was known for fighting bosses without a healer. One rumor said that his warrior class evolution allowed him to reflect back a lot of damage, making healing almost unneeded. 

Next to him was a gorgeous blonde haired woman. Half her head shaved and wearing bright pink and purple robes Valen knew she was Helen of Destroy. Some kind of fire mage anything in front of her was blown to smithereens. Near her was Houdini, who was a rogue known for being able to disappear and reappear without a sound, Benz the Z, another mage he wasn’t sure what his specialty was but supposedly he defeated a boss monster on his own. Everyone in the last Behemoth vehicle was famous. Each had half a dozen stories about them floating around the city. 

He couldn’t help but watch wide-eyed as they joked around with one another. 

“Benz, wake your ass up,” Hank barked to the male mage who just smacked his lips and continued to keep his eyes closed. “If I gotta wake up for this shit, so do you.” 

“Leave him alone,” Helen said, there were four flames dancing around her fingertips. Adaptly jumping from one fingertip to the other. The flames danced without her having to look at them, proving that she was skilled with her magic. “How long is the trip going to take again?”

“Longer than Highlands. Think it’s past that,” Hank said, his voice a deep echoing rumble from inside his full face helmet. “We have a few places to clear out so hordes don’t show up too. So a week?”

“So might as well sleep while we can,” Helen said. Suddenly the vehicle lurched and began to move forward. There was a small doorway to the front compartment where the driver was, but no one bothered to give any warning. Valen felt immediately like he was going to puke. His breakfast lurching up in his stomach he frowned trying not to draw attention to himself. 

“Hey Julian,” Houdini said as he twirled a blade around his fingers, mirroring Helen’s flame. “Been a while since you left for a dungeon.” 

“This one is special,” Julian said, bored as he closed his eyes and leaned against the padded wall. “Supposedly it’s a breakoff from the Oppulence.”

“The cult?” Hank asked. 

“No, that’s the Opulent. Damn System lovers,” Helen cursed. 

“Oppulence is the god,” Julian said. “My god and their god are at war. So I got a quest to defile their shrine or whatever.” Valen had no idea at all what they were talking about. He had thought Julian didn’t have a god he worshiped based on their past conversations. 

“What kind of god are they?” A dark man in the corner asked. 

“Spider one,” Julian said with a chuckle.

“Ugh, I heard rumors there were spiders in this one,” Helen said.

“Oh, poor Helen. Doesn’t want to squash a bug?” Hank asked. 

“I’ll squash you,” she spat. “But you’re probably into that.”

“You’re not wrong,” Hank said, but he turned back to Julian. “What kind of spiders are we talking about?”

“Eight legged I assume,” Julian said.

“Hardy har har,” Hank sarcastically laughed. “I’m talking humans or bugs.”

“Humanoid or insectoid,” Helen translated.  

“No idea,” Julian said. “I know the Oppulence is a dark god. Could be shadow or death. Just know they beef with my god, may they choke on each other’s cocks.”

“Amen,” two others in the car said and the vehicle quieted. 

Valen tried to process everything he had heard, but he knew questions wouldn’t be received well. In the Healer House it was best to be seen and not heard or he was sent off to clean diapers. He knew of the existence of supposed gods. They mostly had their own faculty that they were focused on, whether it was Holy like his own or something like Fire. Along with those gods were also gods of everyday things. He had heard of the god of Justice, one for Heroism, Villainy, even the god of Orphans.

Supposedly there were as many gods as there were people or words in the English language. That wasn’t something that was taught at the orphanage though. He was sure that some rich kids had an education on religions, lists of what bonuses they would get with certain gods or beefs they might have to help wage. Either way it was far above his pay grade. For now he was simply happy to see all the adventurers around him. 

His first real interaction with a strong person in such close quarters was when he was interrogated by the Raging member after Faust’s attack. Back then the pressure from their strength had been immense. So many weeks around such strong people had given Valen a good resistance to whatever these people exuded that made his stomach churn. Though there were fourteen high leveled people in the vehicle he didn’t feel affected by their presence as they drove away.

A thought striking him, he wondered if they had left the city yet. Small slits near the top of the vehicle were too high for him to see outside. He guessed it really didn’t matter when they left the city. With so many high leveled people around there was no real danger to him, at least as long as he didn’t piss anyone off that was. 

Relaxing slightly he sat back in the padded seat. There was a belt attached to the seat near his waist. As he tried to decipher what it was for he let it go. His first time in a vehicle he was still struggling to keep down his lunch as the vehicle lurched again. 

Unaccustomed to it, Valen hadn’t held himself tight and accidentally pressed himself against Julian as the vehicle righted itself. “Woah there, kid. I like you, but not that much,” Julian said.

“Be nice,” Helen said, her hard eyes focused on him. “Ever been in a car before, kid?” Valen gulped. It was the first time one of them had looked his way. Slowly he shook his head. 

“Ha! Julian, why did you bring a bumpkin with you on the trip?” 

“The kid needs experience,” Julian said, unbothered by the focus. “Ever left the city before?”

“N-no,” Valen answered.

“Oh, the virgin speaks,” Houdini said. “Jeez, level 1. I thought the cut-off for the dungeon was 20.”

“Nope, no cutoff,” Julian said. “Unlike you lot, I like to get my people experienced on what to expect before their probation is done.”

“More like do your bitch work,” Hank said.

“That too,” Julian said with a wide smile as he patted Valen’s head. “This little shit is my favorite of the lot so far though.” That was news to Valen. The High Priest had always acted like each of them was a burden on the Healing House.

“Is he keeping you warm at night?” Helen asked with a smile and wink at Valen, making his throat constrict in fear. 

“You know I only go for the strong bitches like yourself, Helen,” Julian shot back. “No, this one bitches less than most. And he’s a blank slate. That way I don’t have to make him forget everything his parents taught him.”

“Blank slate?” Helen perked up. “How blank?” 

“She’s got a new boy to deflower,” Houdini whispered. 

“As blank as they come,” Julian said. “Idiot, why don’t you tell these people what you know about Essence.”

Valen ignored his growing rage. He wanted everything these people had, including their knowledge. To get that he would put up with anything. “It’s uh the power of the…world?”

“Ha!” Houdini said.

“He’s not wrong,” Helen said.

“But he’s also not right,” Hank grumbled. He leaned back, closing his eyes like Benz.

“We have plenty of time here. How about we start a real lesson then,” Julian said. “Essence is life itself.” Valen had heard that before of course, but he sat quietly, hopeful that he would continue on. After a moment he frowned then began again. “Have you ever played a video game?” Valen shook his head slowly. 

“Woah, I would hate to be part of his generation. God, I miss games,” Houdini said.

“Irregardless, back on old Earth, they had a thing called video games. In many of these games they quantified your strength into levels. You were so and so strong based on that level.”

“Like our own?” Valen ventured, his eyes looking to the screen where his level 1s were displayed. 

“Yes, pretty much exactly like we humans are today. But in most of these games you would raise your level by killing monsters and you would get experience points. After enough experience points you would level up, get stronger, so on and so forth.”

“Your explanation sucks,” Helen groaned.

“Shut it,” he said, then turned back to Valen. “Now this new world of ours is much the same, but instead of experience points there is a thing called Essence. It’s in every monster, human, and in most all animals. If you have Essence you have levels. Now when we kill monsters, our body naturally absorbs this Essence. Each level has a set amount of Essence required to move on to the next. Think of it like a glass. You kill a monster, you gain essence. Once you gain enough, that glass fills all the way and you level up. That power from the essence allows you to direct where your growth goes. Whether it’s intelligence or strength. You decide, the essence then changes you based on that direction.” 

Valen had a vague idea of this from what others said. But the slow explanation was helping him gain a better understanding of the way of the world. Killing monsters was the only way to level up. A part of him had always thought of it as magic. Just naturally your body became stronger when you killed enough monsters. There seemed to be actual rules about leveling up in the real world though. 

“But that’s only half of it,” Helen said, causing him to break away from his thoughts. He looked around confused to the talkative woman, then to Julian. 

“It is,” Julian said. “Don’t forget you have two levels. What do you think happens when you kill a monster?” 

Valen hesitated as if it was a trick question. He ventured slowly, “You gather essence?” 

“Right, but let’s say that you killed a monster with your mace,” Julian said. He eyed the small hammer-sized mace at Valen’s side. “You would only get Essence for your body. Leveling that up. Now how do you gain levels for your class?”

“Through my skill?” He said slowly. 

“Very good,” Julian said. “You have Heal though. You can’t kill a monster with heal. We have already established that you gain levels through gathering essence. Where do you get the essence when casting a heal?”

“From…my target?” He asked. 

“Exactly. Since we frown upon healing monsters, that essence has to come from somewhere. Thus you get essence from people you heal. You heal enough, your glass fills again and you level up.”

Valen nodded slowly. Understanding a little better why they were restricted from healing people. It would have been robbing actual members of the guild of essence. “So you steal essence?” He asked. 

“Damn right,” Houdini said.

“No,” Julian said. “At least I don’t think so. If you were to heal someone that newly gained a level, and took their essence, they don’t drop in level. Instead there are two types of essence in people. Active and passive,” he said, sticking up two fingers. “Active is the essence most use to power their skills. Passive is the essence you already gathered to level up. So when we heal someone we often absorb some of their active essence, our own body or the System converting it to our own passive essence. Allowing us to level up.” 

“So…” Valen said slowly as he etched the words into his mind. He was lost for a moment as his understanding of the world shifted a little bit to now account for his new enlightenment. In his mind was a raging torrent of information as everything he knew slowly clicked into place. For so long he had heard people talk about essence, but it wasn’t until the need for essence was explained to him that he began to understand. “So if you level only through fighting, using your skills on others, and…that’s it, why bother practicing skills…?” He had been wondering this since so many people used the Training Yard for so long. If there was no real chance to gain levels, then why bother. 

“Finally, a real question,” someone mumbled. 

“This one catches on quick. I want him,” Helen said, making him blush and avert his eyes from her. 

“Very good question,” Julian said with an approving smile. “Why indeed?” He left it at that. The question ended the conversation and Valen could tell that he wouldn’t be able to get an answer. New conversations started up with other members and Valen started to slink back into his seat more, happy to let them forget him as he thought about the new information.

Even getting this tidbit was a huge boon for him. No one had stepped in to correct Julian, so Valen accepted the explanation. All seemed to be common facts of the new world that everyone experienced knew about. Aunt Fiona surely hadn’t known this information, but now Valen did. He wasn’t sure exactly how it could help him. But he knew it would be important for his foundation later.