Kudan

Dome Cities. The magnificent invention created by humanity to survive in a new world cultivated to destroy it. These monstrous behemothian cities, the last bastions of humankind were protected by massive walls which could climb as high as six hundred meters tall, and were at least two hundred meters long.

Kudan's walls circled at about one hundred kilometers long, encompassing over seven hundred square kilometers of humanities finest within its firm embrace. In order to perform its job, the wall was lined with the latest in security technology, with everything from laser cannons to security personnel who took their job very seriously. Despite the seemingly monotonous nature of their job, the severity could not be understated.

All it took was one individual with a bad disease or illegal substance to bring down the integrity of the entire city.

On this day, forty-three years old Immigrations & Customs Enforcement (I.C.E) officer, Abdu Salim took a sip from his cup, eyes glowing with delight as the brown liquid trickled down his throat, slightly burning his throat on the way down. "Mm, indeed, nobody makes a cup of coffee like Bertha does," he praised as he set the cup on the table, flashing a smile at the middle aged Caucasian woman at the entrance straddling a high-powered rifle.

This heavily guarded location was one of the eight entrance points which all travelers entering Kudan were forced to pass through. Salim turned from the Caucasian woman to the Radi Augur waiting patiently by his desk to be checked through. As Salim waited for the system to confirm the lad's identity, he gave the young Radi a once over.

Dressed in a long overcoat and breeches reminiscent of antique movies, the green haired Radi winked at him, lips spread in a hearty grin. Curiously, this Radi had come in without a suit, yet had passed the Radiation screening which meant he could somehow survive in the Radiated zones without protection. He cast a glance at the screen, brows slightly raised at the information that came up.

Name: Dayle Butcher

Age: 23

Commissioned: July 23rd

Last Save: July 23rd at Augur Research & Development Institute (Main Plaza)

Last Recorded Level: 1

Last Recorded Faction: FireRain

Affiliates: Nina Raines, Arthur Yount

Salim checked again just to be sure, brows furrowed in thought, then looked at the date on his watch: July 27th it said. So, the kid had been gone for at most four days yet he could already survive in Radiation without a suit? There was definitely a story here. But, it was not his place to question how and where Augurs got their enhancements. As long as they did not endanger the city, Augurs were generally given a free pass.

"Your identity checks out," Salim said as he picked up a device resembling a barcode scanner. "I'm guessing it's your first time returning from a hunt, so I'll lay out some ground rules. Gauntlet."

Dayle complied, holding out his arm.

Salim grabbed the arm with his left, then squeezed the scanner's trigger with his right. As he examined the list of items on the holo-screen, he muttered, "First things you should note. Please visit our site for contrabands not permitted into the city at any costs. Cores obtained while in the field should not be brought out in public. Exposure of radiated cores to the public will result in massive fines or jail time. In that same vein, cores should only be sold to certified vendors. Any illegal transaction involving cores will result in jail time."

Salim frowned as he came across an unregistered firearm in the young Radi's inventory. "Unregistered firearms are also frowned upon within the city. If you are found purchasing or selling unregistered firearms, you will be punished with jail-time. However, that said, we are laxer with firearms found in the field. If you do not wish to use these firearms, feel free to turn them in to the relevant authorities for a reward."

Salim concluded his inspection, releasing the Radi's arm as he returned the scanner to its place below the desk. "One final thing. Before you reach the exit, you will come across a Revive Station. For security purposes, all Augurs are required to register at these stations before entering." The way RV's worked, once a person registered at one, any previous save would be instantly deleted. This prevented Augurs from carrying fearless acts of terrorism in cities while thinking that upon death, they would be transported to an RV outside the city.

Salim continued his lecture as he updated the lad's info on the security page. "There are several RVs in guarded locations within the city. You are allowed to register at any of your choosing for a price. Those located here are free though."

Dayle blinked. "A price? We get charged?"

"Of course you get charged!" Salim scoffed, giving the Radi a look that judged his sanity. "The biomaterials required to construct your bodies, materials for your weapons and clothes... These all cost credits to produce. You do not think those things were made from scratch do you?"

"Uh..." Dayle muttered scratching his chin.

"Creating something out of nothing's the realm of gods kid," Salim admonished with a slight chuckle.

"My bad," Dayle acknowledged with an awkward scratch of his hair.

"Don't sweat it kid," Salim said as he gestured down the line. "Most people make the same mistake the first time around." Finally finished with all the paperwork, he clicked enter then smiled at the young Radi. "You're good to go kid. Have a nice time at Kudan, and try to stay out of trouble."

"No promises," Dayle replied with a chuckle as he made his way to the exit.

"Kids these days," Salim muttered with a shake of his head. Taking another sip of Bertha's delicious coffee, he turned to the next person on the line. "Next..."

***

Dayle reunited with Arthur and Raines at the other side of the wall. Though all three made it through security without any issues, they all received lectures of varying degrees on illegal firearms which made them sweat. Yeesh, imagine if they came with the arsenal that was in their inventory. Dayle made a mental note to buy Eli a beer sometime in the future.

Before heading out, Dayle spent four thousand of the thirty thousand credits given as starter cash on a low-level sprite at one of the stores set up outside the wall and another thousand on sets of casual clothing. These stores, ranging from core vendors to weapons dealers lay in wait for adventurers both returning from and leaving to the wastelands, eager to stock up, or repair damaged items.

With his new sprite, the trio sped down the beautiful roads, frowning when just like a flip of a coin, the beautiful scenery instantly switched to the nasty, smelling debilitated favelas of the outer city.

Riding sprites was impossible in the heart of this mess so the trio was forced to dismount and go the rest of the way on foot. Dayle jealously eyed the youths zipping overhead or through the crowd on hover boards, mentally making a decision to get himself one. Surprisingly, the trio oddly kept silent as they made their way through the city as if afraid sewage would enter their mouths if they dared open them.

Eventually, they reached their corner of town, massive mountains of discarded metal a landmark they could spot several blocks away. Dayle's team greeted the ever-sleeping old man who guarded the junkyard as they entered, then made their way to Ventura.

Upon reaching the rundown Firefly, Dayle stopped, mouth agape at the sight before him. Rubbing his eyes, he muttered, "Am I dreaming?"

Next to him, Arthur's eyes looked like they were about to jump out of their sockets. "She... She's clean," Arthur murmured. "She's beautiful."

Indeed, Ventura's chrome exterior sparkled beautifully in the afternoon sun. Its exterior boasted of a recent hard wash, wiping away all signs of rust and dust that had accumulated over the years. The waxy finish gave it a respectable shine that should only belong to the finest of air crafts. If Arthur did not know the true state of the interior, he would have thought the entire thing finished and ready to go judging by its exterior alone.

Footsteps drew their attention to the rear hatch from whence a certain girl appeared, ash-colored hair swaying lightly in the breeze. A wrench spinning in her right hand, Dacey Darius stared at the trio with slight shock in her eyes. The shock was quickly replaced by a lax indifference. "You guys actually came back. Was certain you'd run for the hills first chance you got."

"Hey, hey, no need to act shy Dacey," Dayle teased, arms wide as he approached Dee. "You even prepared our home for us." Click! Dayle froze, the corner of his lips twitching awkwardly as he stared down the business end of a shotgun.

"Don't come any closer creep," Dee warned. "I'll gladly blow your brains out."

"Haa," Dayle let out a defeated sigh as he stepped back. "Still in denial. We'll have to work through that together."

Gaze incredulous, Dee turned to Raines. "Does he ever stop?"

Raines sighed, shaking her head with a look of resignation. "Unfortunately no. Feel free to shoot him whenever you want."

"Uhh, how about after we remove our spoils from his inventory," Arthur suggested, ever the voice of reason. "It would be a shame to lose so much because of him."

"Mmm," Dee nodded, setting down the weapon. "That does make sense. Come in, let's hear how much progress you guys have made."

Dayle almost shed a tear as the trio went up the ramp. "What beautiful teammates I have..."

Dayle eventually followed, eyes widening with shock as he walked through the ship. Apparently, the makeover was not only on the exterior. Even the interior of the ship had gone through intensive cleaning and arrangement. The Cargo bay was near spotless, looking a thousand times more inviting than it did when they first arrived. Dayle's surprise only intensified as he walked past the cargo bay to the workstation.

Recalling the ordered chaos state this room had initially been in, Dayle could not help but blink twice as he stared at the neatly ordered work tables, computers and test equipment, with racks on the walls separating weapons and experimental items by type and class. Sofas and chairs most likely brought in from the junkyard took up space at a small section to the right. Evidently, this was to serve as a small recreational area for Dacey when she got tired of working, or for people to comfortably wait for her.

Dayle, magnificently impressed, could not imagine how she managed to do all this in only three days. So, he turned to her and asked, "How did you manage to do all this in only three days, and why?"

Dee, who had been discussing the past few days with Raines and Arthur, casually stated, "My father used to say, "If you want to enter a lasting partnership, ensure you show your sincerity from the start."" Dee met Dayle's gaze, eyes narrowed as she said, "I could not, in good conscience, let you guys stay in a nasty environment knowing you can afford much better. Considering what you're getting yourself into, I figured the least I could do was clean this place up."

Arthur's eyes widened. "You did this all yourself?"

"Hm? Of course not," Dee chuckled with a shake of her head. "I help a lot of the folk in town for free, so when I said I needed help cleaning, mothers were all too quick to send their kids scurrying over to help."

Dayle chuckled at the thought. "Nothing like free child labor."

Dee rolled her eyes. "A lot of those 'kids' were grown ass thirty year old men."

Arthur suppressed a laugh as Dayle swallowed his tongue. "Whatever the case, you have done a splendid job, Dee. I almost did not recognize Ventura."

"Thanks," Dee beamed. "Now, about your progress. What level are you guys now?"

"Hmm?" Raines murmured as she realized she actually hadn't checked her level since the incident. She tapped on her gauntlet, then checked her character profile. "Oh?" her lips formed an 'o' as she saw the number displayed on the screen. "Level 10 apparently."

No one noticed Dee's panicked expression as Dayle and Arthur murmured, "Me too."

"L-Level 10!?" Dee snapped upon hearing Dayle and Arthur's confirmations. "That's impossible! There's no way you can be Level 10. Check again! No, in fact, lemme see!" Much to her shock, however, the digital displays clearly indicated Level 10 for all to see. She covered her mouth with her hands, staring at the three Augurs with no small amount of shock and fear. "Wh-what the hell did you guys do!?"

Dayle, not understanding the cause of her anxiety, disclosed what happened in Hasuni from beginning to climactic end.

Dee leaned on a table, wiping sweat which had pooled on her brow from the absurd tale. "Th-that makes sense. The massive damage. Thousands of RADs would have died, the experience points shared only among the four of you. Th-that indeed does make sense."

"What's the matter?" Raines asked. "You make it sound like reaching level 10 is such a big deal. It's only ten levels?"

"You don't understand," Dee refuted. "No one has ever reached level ten in such a short amount of time. If people found out, they would think you found a way to hack the leveling system." She imagined the scale of damage Hasuni currently suffered. "In fact, if it were not for the checkpoint, your levels would probably have gone even higher than that."

Raines' brow rose. "Checkpoint?"

"Yeah," Dee nodded. "At level 10, all leveling is blocked until you go to ARDI for a check-up on—"

"Sorry to interrupt," Arthur said. "What's ARDI?"

"Augur Research and Development Institute," Dee patiently explained. "Where you first awakened."

"Oh, thank you."

"No problem," Dee said. "Like I was saying, at level 10 you need to visit ARDI for a check-up. At level 10, after upgrading your body with the augmentation points, they will unlock the sections of your body that can manipulate Radiation."

This time, it was Dayle's turn to perk up. "Manipulate Radiation?"

"Ever seen sci-fi movies? Mutants and the like?" Dee asked. "Exactly like that. When you reach level 10, you are allowed to purchase a base mutant build depending on how much credits you have. Only after you have purchased this build and registered it would you be allowed to advance in levels." She turned to Dayle. "This does not apply to Radi however, as you can naturally gain a mutant build by consuming multiple cores of a single type. Once you have your build, register it, and you'll be allowed to access higher levels."

Raines folded her arms, deep in thought. "What are the builds available for us?"

"There are a thousand different combinations possible to make up your build," Dee explained, "but there are four standard builds for those who are too lazy to think up customizations for themselves." Holding up her fingers, she listed, "Trooper, Sentinel, Inhuman and Engineer." Dee walked over to a side drawer, and after rummaging through for a moment, pulled out a rolled up chart. Spreading it out on the table, she explained the basic skills they would gain from each class.

Raines and Arthur stared at the chart, mouth agape. Forget the myriad of options, or the nearly endless possible combinations. Only one thought came to their minds as they stared at the chart. Christ, leveling is hella expensive! How the hell were they supposed to gather all that money?

Dee, noticing their distress, hurriedly consoled them, "For what it's worth, these insane prices are only to buy the skills. You only need skill points to level them beyond that. You are allocated five stat points and five skill points every time you level up. You can also buy skill points at ARDI for fifty thousand credits each. Ah, but some skills require more skill points than others to level so keep that in mind." Her eyes held pity in them as she said, "If it makes you feel any better, once I get my station up and running, I'll be able to augment you guys' suits at much lower costs."

Raines paled even further. Ah, that's right. She almost forgot! These skills were only applicable to the person. The costs for suit enhancement were not added. Gritting her teeth, she asked, "How much would it cost to augment a suit to have a tactical cloak."

Dee, understanding what she wanted, said, "Tactical cloaks can go anywhere from ten thousand to hundred thousand credits on low-level suits depending on the duration and efficiency. You can find them even cheaper at the black market. I can introduce you if you're interested."

Raines released a huge sigh of relief. Of all the augmentations, that was the one she wanted the most, but it was at an impossible half a million credits! Tch. She would just have to save towards it then.

Arthur, on the other hand, leaned heavily towards the Inhuman build. Just imagining arcs of electricity and flames pumping out of his hands really got him excited. Besides, with Dayle's close combat style, and Raines' sniper style, the team needed a crowd controller. Of all the builds, the Inhuman seemed to do this the best. Of course, he would not follow it to the letter, but he did want most of the skills introduced. Lift, Pull and Throw were a given, but he also had an eye on Barrier and Singularity. He would save towards those five before considering anything else.

Dee noticed that apart from a cursory glance, Dayle was largely disinterested in the chart. Thinking he had misunderstood, she said, "Even though Radi do not go through Augmentation this way, they still need to know the possible skills they can gain so they can seek out cores pertinent to the skills they want to acquire."

"Ah, that's not it," Dayle said with a shake of his head. "I already have a class. And it comes with only two skills: One active, one passive."

Dee frowned, clearly disbelieving his claim. "That's impossible. That would mean you can already manipulate Radia—" Crunch! The young lady froze, eyes wide as she stared at the edge of the table which now had fingerprints deeply embedded within. It had to be known, in order to withstand the work carried out in the lab, these tables were beyond sturdy, all created from very strong metal. Yet this guy just left his fingerprint in one like it was a piece of tofu. She stared at Dayle like she was looking at a monster. "What the hell did you do?"

"Ate a Queen Wasp's core." Dayle laughed. Rubbing his chin he said, "Think it was mutated or something. After it nearly killed me, I got a notification that I had unlocked a new class with only two skills. The first, the passive one, lets me eat any cores I come across to increase my stats regardless of type. Of course, there's a restriction. For now, I can only eat cores up to level fifteen. As I level, the cores I can eat increase. The active skill lets me combust Radiation stored in my body to increase the toughness of my skin—kinda like hardening. It also increases my speed, agility, strength... basically all physical traits. Downside though is, I can't gain any other abilities. I'm a purely physical type now." Recalling something important, he snapped his fingers. "Oh, and I can now survive under certain levels of radiation. My body naturally absorbs radiation from the outside to replenish itself as well as store reserves for combustion."

Dee stared at the young man, lips pressed together compounding the conflicted look in her eyes. On the one hand, she felt his skill had some good points. Being able to eat any type of core without paying for treatment was a huge bonus, and so was the physical trait improvement. But on the other hand, losing any and all chances to use the massive range of skills was just too limiting. She could not see how Dayle would make it to the top with such a limiting status effect. Well, since he looked so confident, she could only pray for his success and hope he knew what the hell he was doing. "Th-that's great... I guess?"

"Wow, easy on the confidence boost," Dayle teased. "Don't worry, you'll eventually see how great I am." He turned to Arthur and Raines who were finally done scrutinizing the chart. "Well, if you money sinks have come to a decision, I think it's time we go see a certain gang leader."

Arthur's eyes widened. "Ah, that's right. Forgot all about him with all the excitement."

"Just gonna go get changed," Raines said, quickly disappearing into the cargo bay. Seconds later, she returned dressed in a sleeveless gray vest and jeans. A small, black jacket completed the look. "All set."

"All hail the Gauntlet," Dayle mock-bowed. "Cutting short men's wait time thousands fold." Turning to Arthur, he joked, "How much do you bet the Gauntlet's creator did it so he could catch a movie on time."

"You're right you know," Raines said before Arthur could respond. "The Gauntlet's creator is a genius. Now I can change to mourning clothes—" she snapped her fingers, "—like that! Definitely won't be late for your funeral."

Dayle's laughter died in his throat as he stared down a barrel for the second time that day. Only, this time, it was the long, thin barrel of a sniper rifle.

From the side, Arthur, without hesitation, threw his best friend under the bus. "I cannot believe how sexist you are sometimes." He turned to Raines, shaking his head as he said, "You can kill him after we see Vega. He still has some use right now."

Dayle nearly wept as with a whip of Raines' hand, the rifle disappeared from view. Shaking his head in defeat, he turned to Dee who was struggling not to laugh at him. "Please lead the way. I'm no longer feeling the love..."

With a huge roll of her eyes, Dee replied, "Follow me..."

*************

A/N: Hugely Important Chapter finished. Phew! Wanted to lay out the structure on how most of the world works, especially the leveling aspect. It's a little bit on the complicated side, so if you have any questions, feel free to ask me for clarifications.

Picture of the Day:

Was originally going to put sorts of mystic elements into the world of U.F, with cults following certain gods and all that. However, I felt I had already touched that aspect in the main Parallel series, so they then devolved into factions, each with their own ideals. There might still be some elements of fanatic cultism later (What post-apocalyptic story doesn't have something like that) but I will refrain from the mystic.

Also, here's the video I've been head banging to since yesterday. Finally got me off my ass to complete this chapter. Another GMV by .JackersEdit.

https://youtu.be/4OR7B6F6v-o