To say Vernisha was baffled would be an understatement. Her? An adventurer?

  Before, she had wanted to be one. But after seeing them in action—Jim, Lu'jol, and… Jer-kal-thul. The full name was hard to remember—she hadn’t been exactly fond of the occupation.

  Who could blame her?

  She didn’t think she had much of an ego. However, she absolutely hated the idea of people treating her like shit, trying to command her around like some… some damn cattle.

  “Do this, adventurer!”

  “You’re paid with our money, our tax dollars!”

  All that kind of nonsense—she didn’t need it. Not now, at least.

  When her vlandos features became obvious and she didn’t have a choice, she would accept such a fate. If she was normal, that is.

  Her seal and black energy were an issue. She had found ways to hide them, but fighting around other people all the time would spell disaster for her.

  Unless there was a way to change the color of her seal’s energy ejection. There probably was.

  After all, Terrafall was very capitalistic. And that beautiful concept knew how to make money out of everything.

  If people dyed their hair all kinds of colors for no good reason, then surely there had to be ways to change the color of her seal ejection for cosmetic reasons.

  But that would be something she would need to save money for—after she started earning money.

  Anyway, she had to give an answer.

  She shook her head, looking into the eyes of Abella Starlight. “Sorry, but I have no interest in that.”

  Another reason was that she could only fight effectively with her healing powers. She wouldn’t be allowed to do that in a team.

  She had to fight by herself.

  Her eyes fell on the green spheres on her plate, and she frowned before asking Ferzan, “Is this actually breakfast? Seems like dessert.”

  He pulled his head back and looked at her with half a smirk. “It is dessert—after lunch.”

  She was shocked, but she shouldn’t have been. Of course she had woken up late.

  Abella cut in, appearing confused. “Explain yourself. Please?”

  Vernisha turned her attention back to her. “It just seems like a… lot of work. Dealing with people. Being sent on missions, like soldiers. I don’t want to be a soldier.”

  She wasn’t being completely dishonest. She was just holding back the most important reasons.

  Abella slowly nodded. Her hands ran down the table’s runner before drumming on it, slowly and rhythmically. “Opposite of my boy, huh?”

  Vernisha raised an eyebrow and looked at Ferzan. “Really?”

  Ferzan half-rolled his eyes. “I don’t fully mind it… If they’re normal with me and stuff. I would be able to help a ton of people, you know? Sounds cool.”

  Vernisha didn’t understand what was with him and wanting to be a good person. She appreciated it and liked that factor about him, but it still seemed so… odd. Not in a bad way—just in the way that made someone raise an eyebrow.

  Abella then directed her next words at Vernisha. “But unlike you, he was born with the right to do as he pleases. Almost as he pleases, anyway.” She took a deep inhale and smacked her lips before continuing in a somewhat gentle tone. “Why is being commanded an issue for you? I had to be commanded by Balash itself when I was a mere teen. I did so with pride and joy.”

  “It just isn’t something I want.”

  There was a murmuring voice, and then from the door opposite the one she had entered through, Katie walked in with a single big plate in her hand.

  Vernisha noticed that Katie’s blue shirt had a small red spot on its collar. The red spot, which looked like dye, was on the right eye of the singing, walking cat design.

  Katie spotted her and half-smiled. “I thought you were going to sleep till night.”

  Then she took a seat near Abella.

  Abella eyed the plate in front of Katie, probably judging the amount of red rice on it.

  Then she looked back at Vernisha. “What do you want? What are your goals?”

  That was a hard question to answer. Probably easy for other people. Never for her—not in this world or on Earth. She had always given a bullshit answer before—accountant, economist.

  But in Terrafall… what did she want to be?

  She knew she wanted to survive because she wanted to live.

  Vernisha didn’t even really want to know about the mysterious brown-haired lady, the way a more noble person might have.

  What did she want…

  “I don’t know yet,” she told Abella. “I mean, I want to live and all that. Get a job, make a living… But I can’t be an adventurer.”

  “I don’t get it. You have potential, Vernisha.” Abella seemed genuinely confused, far more than before. “You’re level 20 already. At your little age… And you don’t want to be an adventurer.”

  She lightly shook her head.

  Referring to Vernisha’s level, she added, “It’s something you expect from a high noble, from a corporator’s family. From the elite class of society… You could make a massive name for yourself.”

  Corporators were owners, board members—Governing Trustees—or major shareholders of influential corporations. It was almost as good as high nobility, which could only be inherited, just with benefits skewed for business.

  If anyone ever wondered why slavery and child marriage were legal in Terrafall, there was a good chance corporators were behind it—because they believed money should buy anything they wanted, and there was money to be made from it. Or nobles, because they believed they should have access to anything. Or perhaps both. It could also have been because some poor families viewed their children as resources.

  To climb the social ladder. To survive this year’s winter.

  And who was to say they weren’t socially conditioned to think so?

  Katie pulled apart a huge chunk of dark brown meat with her perfect white teeth, careful not to let the gravy stain her shirt. Then she said with a chuckle, “Be a mighty Knight.”

  Abella’s face contorted in disgust. “Don’t make such jokes. Not now. This is serious.”

  Even they didn’t like Knights. That made Vernisha curious, but she felt it was a bad time to ask why.

  Katie nodded. “Sorry.”

  Ferzan chimed in, “Why not make her a Freebird? If she’s living here… maybe she should get some privileges like us?”

  Abella’s eyebrow furrowed at the suggestion. “Vernisha, what do you like so much about killing monsters?”

  Ferzan hmph’d under his breath, clearly feeling ignored.

  “The getting stronger part, I guess?” Vernisha thought about it for a moment—the level-ups. Then she questioned herself. Did she actually like that part? “No. It’s the new powers. Adding more monsters to my collection… though that’s kind of hard without a monster farm. But the coolest thing? Life buffs. I love that part of leveling—getting closer to new abilities. And of course, the modification points. They’re amazing, and I haven’t even used them in the exciting way I plan to.”

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  Obtaining new skills from monsters was cool too, but nothing compared to life buffs and modification points.

  To her surprise, she was smiling. That seemed to catch everyone’s attention at the table.

  Abella withdrew the slender food needle from her plate. Only four green spheres remained, spaced far apart.

  She casually pointed the needle at Vernisha like it was her finger. “No.”

  Vernisha blinked. “No?”

  “No to the Freebird idea. You love it—the System. You love it too much. The thrill of power… That kind of love?” She waved the food needle, still pointed at her. There was no hostility in her voice. “That’s dangerous—even for a God.”

  She dropped the needle back onto her plate. “When I notice a real change in you—when you want something more than cheap dopamine rushes—I’ll reconsider. But until then, you’re not going into any zones.”

  Vernisha was stunned. Beyond stunned. How could she just say that? Who did she think she—

  She was the one housing her.

  Bloody hell. Vernisha was under her rules.

  “That’s not the main reason,” Vernisha said. “I need to be strong. To protect myself. Fighting… leveling… it distracts my mind, too. I need it.”

  “Strong for what?” Abella asked.

  “To be safe.”

  “From?” She leaned in, eyes boring into Vernisha’s, as if she could see past her skull.

  Vernisha’s hands tensed in frustration. “Any person.”

  “Uh-huh…” Abella muttered. Then she said, “I respect your decision not to be an adventurer, even if I think it’s a waste of your potential. I’ll assign you a trainer. But that’s it. No zones.”

  Vernisha clenched her jaw, suppressing her irritation. Still, she had to admit—getting a trainer had its perks. She could learn a lot.

  But training was work. And judging by how beat-up Ferzan had looked last night, she didn’t want to go through that just for training.

  And it wouldn’t stop the thoughts that hunted her at night—thoughts she hadn’t encountered yet, but knew would come.

  If she fought far past the time she should be awake, then the moment she touched a bed, sleep would embrace her in an instant and refuse to let go until the Silo was shining on this side of the planet.

  But what could she do? Nothing.

  So she swallowed her frustrations and slowly bowed her head.

  “Thank you…”

  Unfortunately, she couldn’t fake the gratitude the way she usually could.

  Abella pushed her chair back and stood, dressed in completely white sleepwear: a long shirt that flared at the waist, and slightly baggy pants covered in swirling cloud designs. “Call a food servant to bring you something to eat. The green balls probably aren’t great for your first meal.”

  Green balls? Vernisha couldn’t help wondering who the wise guy was that came up with that name.

  Abella made her way to the exit. Despite her massive stature, she barely made a sound as she walked. Vernisha doubted the white, fluffy slip-on sandals had anything to do with that.

  They reminded her of rabbit fur.

  She turned to Katie. “So… you got more meat back there?”

  Katie nodded enthusiastically, dabbing her mouth with a handkerchief. “Yeah. There’s no servant in the kitchen at the moment and I ain’t going to call one. Want me to grab some for you?”

  “I’ll come with you, if that’s okay.”

  “Let’s go.” Katie stood and strolled toward the kitchen door.

  Vernisha followed, glancing at her mostly empty plate—just big bones sitting in dark brown gravy. They were as wide as half a man’s palm, and as long as a palm.

  She paused and turned to Ferzan. “You’re just staying here?”

  He lazily twirled a food needle, looking bored. “I’ve got warfare classes in half an hour.”

  She was confused. Did he plan to sit there until it was time?

  “That’s a lot of time. Unless… it’s some sort of ritual or something.”

  Katie slipped into the kitchen, leaving the door open for her.

  Ferzan barely chuckled, placing down the food needle. “Nah. Sometimes I just like to sit and think. This is one of those times.”

  Her father used to do the same after dinner. He would go onto the porch, put his foot up on the red-painted railings—the railings inside had been wooden—and look at the stars twinkling in the sky.

  He would be visibly annoyed if disturbed. She had never really understood it, but she suspected he saw it as his peace time—where he separated himself from the world and his worries.

  She gave Ferzan a nod. “Gotcha. Enjoy then.”

  He jokingly saluted her with two fingers.

  Then she stepped into the kitchen. The first thing she noticed was how white everything was—white walls, white tiled floors with specks of gray on the edges, and lots of stone counters made of smooth white stone.

  On either side of the room were a couple of white wooden tables surrounded by chairs. With slightly blurred vision, the white table runners could easily be mistaken as part of the tables.

  Vernisha assumed they were for the chefs to take breaks.

  Behind the counters stood a row of what she assumed were stoves, mostly because of the heat radiating from rows of vertical iron cylinders mounted on four sturdy legs like tables.

  Stuck to the front of the “stoves” was a clean black square, about two palms wide.

  “You’re finally up?”

  She recognized the voice and turned.

  Her eyes landed on a black-haired girl seated in front of a massive blue metal cabinet with four doors and a thick handle on each one.

  Vernisha smiled at her. “I didn’t even think about you until now.”

  Tarnisha slowly nodded, scooping green ice cream from a soft, cardboard-like bowl resting on her lap. The forearm-long bowl was half full.

  The surface was soft and melting—Vernisha’s favorite part of ice cream.

  Even though she had never tasted this flavor before, the smell reminded her of raisin alcohol mixed with a very green, grassy aroma.

  Katie stood in front of a similar cabinet, though hers had a red tint.

  How she wasn’t running away from the steam pouring out of that thing was beyond Vernisha. “Come choose!”

  Vernisha walked over and was immediately overwhelmed by the sight: food packed in glass containers—meats of all shapes and colors, even purple and blue. Some were oily, some dry.

  There were pastas, rice-like dishes, and many other meals. One of them was a yellow soft food similar to mashed potatoes, except very greasy and draped in a thick red sauce.

  She didn’t want to be greedy… but she was really hungry. One would think that kids living in such an estate, belonging to such a notorious family, would be more mannerly.

  But it seemed they just did as they pleased, at least in private.

  So, with Katie’s help, Vernisha ended up with a plate piled high with different kinds of meat.

  Some were flat, round pieces with a bit of grease, yellow in color, with a darker shade toward the center. They smelled like fried meat mixed with stewed rabbit.

  Then there were fried drumsticks from “king fowls.” Katie explained they were chickens genetically modified to be as big as toddlers, all for food.

  And there was pasta—flat, brown circles that tasted like a mix of cheese and bread.

  After she finished eating, her stomach was completely full.

  She sat on the tile near Katie, then noticed Tarnisha had almost eaten the entire bowl of ice cream.

  It looked like she was forcing herself to continue. It was hard not to think that, considering she kept belching as if trying to make space for more, all while swaying slightly like a sleepy child. Then she would bring another spoonful of ice cream to her mouth, looking miserable.

  “You don’t seem to like it,” Vernisha said.

  Tarnisha glanced at her. “Yeah, well. I’m not sharing.”

  “Damn. Not even a little?”

  Tarnisha didn’t respond.

  Katie explained, “She’s like this with anything she traded with her.”

  Vernisha raised an eyebrow at Katie and smiled in amusement. “She’s afraid someone will eat it?”

  Tarnisha’s arms wrapped around the bowl protectively—it was her precious baby.

  Katie smiled deeply. “Yeah. Like me.”

  “What did you get for it? Food? Oh, I heard you like science. Some science stuff?”

  “Nah. I traded it for her Singing Cya puzzle. So she got some of my ice cream stash.”

  Vernisha assumed that was some kind of entertainer.

  “Are ice creams rare or something?” she asked.

  Ice cream was something only those in towns and cities got to enjoy, so she wasn’t very familiar with it in this world.

  Tarnisha responded, “No. My stash was imported from Kmew-hul. Green Spire flavor.” She raised her hands in wonder. “Tastes ridiculously good.”

  Vernisha would later learn that Green Spire was a type of purple grass that curled in on itself. It was often used to stop migraines caused by dehydration, and it only naturally grew in Kmew-hul due to the specific minerals and high pH level in the soil there, and because of the meddling of Kmew-hul’s plant geneticists so they could sell it and its products for even more in international trade.

  Tarnisha then pulled a pocket watch with Roman numerals from her skirt pocket and stood up to leave, bowl still in hand. “Bye, guys.”

  She stretched her feet to the floor slowly and then nearly fell on her face.

  She dusted off her black skirt, pushing the thick second layer of fabric on the sides back, only for it to swing forward again. She marched toward the door, looking like she might vomit at any moment.

  Katie added, “She’s going to meet my mom.”

  “Is she close with her? What do they do?” Vernisha asked.

  “Just boring stuff. Philosophy, politics, and so on,” Katie replied, sounding uninterested.

  Vernisha nodded slowly. “I heard her mother was killed. Your mother found her, or was it Ferzan?”

  “My mom found her in a small monster zone near Shinetown five months ago.” Katie exhaled before continuing. “It was a pain to talk to her—hell, even to get close. She just had that crazed look.”

  Ah.

  She had been in a monster zone. That explained why she hated monsters. If she wasn’t interested in collecting them, Vernisha assumed she had either been forced into the zone or had accidentally stumbled into it and gotten lost.

  She must have gone through hell surviving. Vernisha had healing powers, and even she still found monsters scary.

  Vernisha rested her hands on her knees, feeling the pants shift slightly. She thought about what Tarnisha had told her back in the bedroom—about wanting revenge on those who killed her mother. It made Vernisha wonder if those same people had forced her into that zone.

  That was a scary thought.

  But people were evil, so it was possible. And if that was the case…

  Vernisha wasn’t close with Tarnisha. She was cool, a nice person, and helpful. Very helpful. But if Tarnisha ever wanted help getting payback, Vernisha would be more than willing to help.

  Katie stood up, dusting off her yellow skirt, which had two thick black belts crisscrossing each other with buttons spaced between. “Have you ever been to a horror-themed park?”

  Vernisha raised an eyebrow, confused by the sudden shift in topic. “Uh… nope.”

  At least not in this world. When she was fifteen, during the summer, her mother had forced her to study constantly, and she had hated it. So her father had taken her to a horror-themed park.

  Katie pulled her to her feet. “Let’s go then. I always go to the city, so I know all the cool spots and whatnot.”

  It did sound fun. And oddly, it made Vernisha think about her father and how cool he had once seemed.

  He had thought her mother’s obsession with studying was lame and often took Vernisha out for fun, which had, of course, upset her mother.

  Her mother would complain that he was making her a failure, and that Tasha, May, Mark, Jack, Grent, and Bary. Her friends’ and coworkers’ children—would do better than her in school.