Solomon's Crucible 73. Extracurricular Activities (3) (Patreon)

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Tiffany glared at him. A head shorter than him and on the scrawny side of skinny, she made her glares work mostly out of force of personality.

"You think I haven't been ready to leave since they put us here?" she said. "It's not that easy."

Solomon nodded. He knew she couldn't just walk out. He still felt she was underestimating him a bit. She wasn't the only one who had gone through a hard time since the system showed up.

"I've picked up a few tricks since the system showed up, you know," Solomon said. "Who are we going to have to kill on our way out?"

Instead of answering, she turned and led the way off the field. Solomon followed her up the stairway, keeping pace as they climbed past the really exclusive seats. They weren't the only people using the bleachers for a private conversation. The number of people around was well below the stadium's capacity, so it wasn't too hard to find a spot that was well clear of any eavesdroppers.

"To leave, you have to talk to a counselor," she said. "You have to sign up. You have to put on an armband."

Solomon raised an eyebrow. "That's it?"

He'd been picturing something more like a gang initiation ritual. Gaining freedom in exchange for signing on the dotted line seemed a little too easy.

"When you sign up, it changes something in the system," she said. "It adds you to their faction."

That sounded a little more like what he'd expected. Roping new recruits into some kind of system-enforced bargain would make the aliens' lives a lot easier. He couldn't help but wonder if the relatively lenient treatment of the people in the stadium was part of what made it work. The system had a funny sense of fairness, but he figured it was less likely to enforce any kind of deal if there were hints of coercion to the process.

"We can probably get you out of that," Solomon said, "but yeah, I don't want you on Team Invader either."

He'd had a look at the kind of terms the system was willing to enforce when he was hashing things out with Kanmi. He was pretty sure that Tiffany wouldn't be able to agree to anything truly irreversible, but something like a penalty for harming other members of her faction would be possible.

"Which brings me back to the question," Solomon continued, "how many people do we have to kill to get you out of here?"

Tiffany scowled at him. "Well, they've got four guys with red armbands guarding the exit."

Solomon nodded. "Okay."

"Okay?" she asked. "They've all been put through practice with the invaders and have abilities normal people can't match."

"Yeah, okay," Solomon said. Leaning forward, he started pulling swords out of his inventory and set them down to lean against the seats in front of them. The spears seemed a little too conspicuous, so he left them in storage for now.

"Whatever they've been through, I've been through worse," he continued. "As long as there aren't any of the invaders around, four guards won't be a problem."

Tiffany just stared at the swords. After a moment she leaned forward and reached for one, then stopped. "Is it all right if I-"

"Take whatever you want," Solomon said. "I don't want to do all the work on the way out."

She picked up a sword and weighed it in her hand for a moment. She was careful to keep it below the back of the seat in front of him. As casual as the guards might be about keeping order inside of the stadium, they probably frowned on the open display of weapons. Once she was satisfied, she made a quick gesture and the sword disappeared.

"You've done the tutorial?" Solomon asked. She hadn't mentioned doing any fighting herself when she'd described what happened on campus.

"There were some bug monsters in the dorm," she said, "I picked up a few skill points."

Her tone was casual. Solomon didn't think the system was in the business of handing out skill points for easy fights, but he let it go. He wanted her to be in a positive frame of mind for what was coming.

"Who else will want to come with us?" Solomon asked.

"There's a few people," she said, then paused for a moment in thought. "Some of them are just staying in here because they want to hide out somewhere safe. But there are some who would fight if they thought they had a chance."

Solomon grimaced. "They don't. They can't fight the invaders head on. We can escape together, though."

"Where will we go?"

"Mom and dad's, at first," Solomon said. "Then... I've got my own territory, out in the woods."

"Your own territory?" she asked. Tiffany had a better idea than his parents did just what that entailed. She was looking at him with a bit more respect, now.

"It's a bit of a trip," Solomon said, "but it'll get us clear of this mess."

Once he got Tiffany and her friends free, Solomon would have to figure out some way to rescue Kanmi as well. He would have liked to do both at once, but pulling a bunch of newbies still working their way through the tutorial into a fight with the invaders' heavy hitters would be a disaster.

He had to take things one step at a time. If he caused the aliens trouble in enough different places, maybe it would even distract them from keeping watch over Kanmi. Either way, he had to at least try to save him. Having an advisor who knew the system would be invaluable as he tried to build up his settlement. Besides, Kanmi had done his part to watch Solomon's back in the short time they'd been working together. It didn't sit right with Solomon to just walk away and leave him in enemy hands.

First things first. Solomon tucked the remaining weaponry away in his inventory and followed Tiffany down to the field. He'd expected his sister would refuse to knuckle under and sign up with the aliens. He was curious to meet the other students who she thought would be willing to put their lives on the line.

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