Bazel looked at the blue crystals in the box before him. Cassandra said they would grant him abilities, and he was curious what they would be. He picked up one of the crystals and felt its weight in his hand. It was lighter than it looked.

"How do I use this?"

"First, you need to summon your aether-net interface," she held up the black tablet in her hand and let go of it. It floated in the air before her, "Every employee gets one, it's your lifeline and sole source of information about the company. To summon it, say or think 'summon interface'."

"Summon interface." Bazel said.

A black tablet just like Cassandra's appeared in the air before him. Its appearance made him jump back just like the table had. He didn't think he was going to get used to things appearing out of nowhere anytime soon.

He noticed that the interface already had something on it – white letters that showed information about himself.

Swindler, Level 1

Rank E

Health: 60/60

Aether: 160/160

Credits: 200

Stats:

Strength - 5

Stamina - 7

Agility - 7

Sense - 15

Intelligence - 18

Spirit - 17 >

"Can you read?" Cassandra asked and Bazel nodded, "Good, that makes this easier. You'll see that your basic information is shown on the screen, we call this your status."

"Underneath your name is your class and level. It will also show your current rank, but you don't have to worry about those things right now. Your health is a measurement of your vitality, if that ever reaches zero, you will most likely die. Under that is the amount of aether you have to use, you'll need that for your skills."

"Are you following so far?" Cassandra asked.

"I think I get it."

"Good, let's continue." Cassandra folded her hands in her lap, "Next, you will see your credits, many employees jokingly refer to it as 'scrip'. The amount you see there was your sign-on bonus. Anything can be provided for you as long as you have the credits, you'll receive them upon completion of jobs."

"Finally, you have your stats. These are a measurement of your physical, mental and spiritual abilities. All new employees are ranked from one to twenty. Would you like an explanation of each stat?"

The first three seemed self explanatory. Strength was obviously how strong someone was, stamina was the ability to sustain that strength, and agility was speed and dexterity. Bazel wasn't surprised to find they were all low, as he was quite physically deficient.

"What is 'sense'?" Bazel asked.

"That refers to your senses. The higher that number, the better your sensory abilities are. All five senses are lumped together into that category, although you can get a more detailed breakdown if you buy a stat assessment add-on."

Bazel had no clue what the assessment thing she mentioned was, but decided to leave that for later. The next stat was intelligence, and it was his highest one.

"I assume 'Intelligence' refers to my overall ability to think?" Bazel guessed.

"You got it!" Cassandra nodded, "Once again, it's a combined score that includes things like lateral problem solving and information retention. A score of eighteen means you're in the top ninety percentile of unaltered intelligent beings. Congratulations!"

"Thanks?" Bazel shook his head and looked at the last stat, "What is spirit?"

"That refers to your overall spiritual ability. The higher that number is, the more aether you can control. It's also helpful when using symbiotics, but you won't have to worry about that for now."

"Okay," Bazel held up the crystal in his hand, "So how do I use this, then?"

"To activate a skill crystal, say or think 'activate' while holding it, then follow the prompts on your interface."

Bazel looked down at the crystal and activated it with a thought. The crystal burst into thousands of motes of light that swirled around and flew into his body. He panicked a little at first, but after realizing it wasn't hurting him he calmed down. He looked at his interface.

< You have acquired the skill [Drain Strength]!

[Drain Strength] - Take your opponent's strength for yourself. 25 Aether

Accept skill?

Yes / No >

Bazel reached out and tapped the screen over the "yes" option. The screen changed back to his main status screen, but now there was a "skills" category at the bottom that showed his newly acquired skill. He repeated the process with the other two crystals.

< You have acquired the skill [Entangle]!

[Entangle] - Slow your opponent's movement for a time. 15 Aether >

…

You have acquired the skill [Mesmerize]!

[Mesmerize] - Put your opponent in a hypnotic stupor. 15 Aether >

After using all three crystals, Cassandra tapped her interface, causing the table and box to disappear.

"To use a skill, you simply need to say or think the name of it." She said, "There is a safety and you won't be able to use them unless it's your intention to do so. That way, you don't have to worry about accidentally using them while chatting with someone. Also, you must have a valid target in mind, some of them can only be used on specific targets."

"Targets?" Bazel frowned, "Are you saying I will have to fight someone?"

"Well, you don't have to fight anything unless you accept a job that requires it. However, you may find it difficult to complete some jobs by being a pacifist."

Violence made Bazel uneasy, he had never been in a fight before. He didn't think he would enjoy hurting someone, a sentiment that must have shown on his face.

"I can tell you this, you probably won't have to fight other humans unless you want to."

"What will I have to fight then?"

"Monsters." She said simply, Bazel's eyes went wide at the word, "Technically, they are constructs made by ambient aether or beings mutated by aether. Most of them aren't intelligent and killing them is considered no different than killing a wild animal."

Bazel started to worry about what he had gotten himself into. Exploring the dungeon was one thing, but fighting monsters? He wasn't so sure he wanted to do this anymore.

"I can see you're nervous," Cassandra said, "try not to be. We provide you with all the tools you'll need to do your work and succeed. We don't want harm to come to you, after all, a dead employee is of no use."

Bazel sighed and tried to relax, "Fine. What's next?"

"Well, the best teacher is experience, so how about taking your first job?"

"Sure, I'm curious to see what exactly I'll be doing."

"I'm going to send you a job now," Cassandra tapped on her interface, "Look over the details, and follow the prompts."

Bazel heard a "ding-dong" sound like a bell, only a fake one. He belatedly realized the sound came from his own interface and looked at it.

< You have a job offer!

The catacombs below the dungeon are infested with rats. Oh no! Set up a "poisoned feeding station" to help exterminate the vermin!

(One "poisoned feeding station" will be added to your inventory upon acceptance of this job)

Task: set up the "poisoned feeding station" near the rat's nest.

Reward:

100 Credits,

500 Experience Points,

access to first level safe zone,

Item: "Exterminator's Vest"

Accept job?

Yes / No >

It didn't seem like a difficult job and Bazel hated rats, so the decision was easy to make. He tapped "yes". The screen changed.

< Please stand by, you will be teleported to the starting location in:

00:01:00 >

The timer started counting down the seconds until he would be "teleported", whatever that meant.

"What is teleported?" He asked Cassandra.

"Teleportation is instantaneous movement from one location to another." Cassandra grinned, "You might want to stand up for this, the chair won't go with you."

"Um, this is…" Bazel stood up, "Did you say instantaneous movement? Does it hurt?"

"No need to be afraid. It might be a little disorienting, but you'll be okay." Cassandra tapped her interface again, "I've added myself to your contacts list, if you ever have questions, feel free to talk to me."

"How do I do that!?"

"And one more thing, Bazel." She smiled like a wolf.

"What!?"

"Good luck!"

< 00:00:03

…

00:00:02

…

00:00:01

…

Teleportation commencing. Please stand still… >

One moment, Bazel was standing in the white room, the next moment he was plunged into darkness. He flailed his arms in a panic and screamed.

Bazel noticed he was standing on hard ground. Instead of the soft floor of the white room, it felt like rock and dirt beneath his feet. He also noticed there was light around him, it was just dim compared to the white room.

He took a deep breath and observed his surroundings. He stood in a tunnel that appeared to have been cut out of rock. Most of the walls and floors were smooth, with only a couple signs of tools being used to dig out the area. The light came from red stones set in the walls that glowed.

"Right. The job is in a catacomb, this must be it."

The interface was still floating in the air near Bazel. He didn't know if it could offer any help, but it was worth a try.

"Um, interface?" He spoke to the floating black tablet, "Can you tell me which way to go?"

The screen changed and showed a map. The white outlines clearly showed all the various tunnels in the catacombs. There was even a yellow arrow that showed Bazel's location. If he turned, the arrow turned to show which way he was facing. The only thing the map didn't show was where he was supposed to go.

"Thanks for nothing."

The interface did not answer.

Bazel sighed and started walking down the tunnel. All he had to do was find a rat's nest and set up the feeding station.

"Wait a moment!" Bazel stopped walking and looked at the interface, "Where is this feeding station I'm supposed to set up?"

The screen changed once more.

< Inventory:

"poisoned feeding station"

Slots used 1/10 >

"Okay, how do I take it out of inventory?"

A large yellow box appeared out of nowhere right next to Bazel with a popping sound. He jumped back and put his hands up to protect himself. After nothing happened, he put his hands down and looked at the box.

It was a perfect cube, just as tall as himself, and painted a garish yellow. The sides of the box had openings, and inside was a trough with small brown chunks that looked like burnt bread. Words were written above the openings in white lettering.

"Caution: Poison!"

"Oh." Bazel scratched his head, "there it is! Um, how do I put it back in my inventory?"

The interface changed back to the inventory screen, but nothing else happened. Bazel waited for a moment, still nothing. He placed his hand on the feeding station.

"Store this?"

The feeding station disappeared, and even though that's what he wanted, it still made him jump. The item showed up on his inventory screen once again.

Bazel shook his head, "Who would have thought I'd be performing feats of magic?"

Bazel started walking again, keeping his eyes and ears peeled for any rats. As a beggar who lived on the streets and in the gutters, he was well acquainted with the vermin. He also hated them with a passion since they would try to steal food from him. While he still found his circumstances strange and confusing, Bazel was all too happy to perform a task that would help eliminate his mortal enemy.

An intersection appeared and Bazel called up the map on his interface again. He found it was easy to control the interface with nothing more than a thought. It all came intuitively, and Bazel silently thanked whatever god invented such a thing.

After consulting the map, Bazel turned right and continued down the tunnel. The map showed a large chamber that way, and he hoped that would be where the rat's were. Once he got close to the chamber, the interface made its "ding-dong" noise, pulling his attention to it.

"Huh. That was easy."

The light in the chamber didn't illuminate as much as in the tunnels. Since the glowing stones were set in the walls, the center of the large chamber was shrouded in darkness. Along the walls, stone coffins sat in the red glow of the evenly spaced stones, giving the room a creepy vibe.

Bazel took a step into the chamber, then immediately stopped as he heard the soft padding of feet on the ground. He squinted and looked around for the source of the noise. Out of the shadows, a rat appeared.

Bazel broke out in a cold sweat.

He expected to find rats, it was in the job description after all. What he didn't expect was to find a rat that was taller than he was. It was a rat, just one that was bigger than a horse. The massive vermin waddled forward a few more paces and turned its head to look straight at Bazel.

It made a hissing sound that chilled him to the bone.

Bazel turned and started running back the way he came.

That's not a rat!

He remembered what Cassandra told him – that he would have to fight monsters. At the time, he didn't consider what that could mean. Now, he realized she meant exactly what she had said. Indeed, the thing chasing him was no ordinary rat.

It was a monster.