Oasis. The First City.
It appears as a battlefield. Crushing down skyscrapers, broken asphalt, and a diseased purple sky which can lend no warmth.
Before our eyes the System panel flashes.
[Main mission: Find a Secured Zone by nightfall.] [Time to do it: 4 hours]. [Hazard: Night creatures are extremely aggressive.
The tutorial survivors are still recovering around me. Others are sniveling. Some are staring at their bloodstained garments with blank eyes.
I observe them. This is the weak point.
Everything is dynamic and adaptability implies that you do not allow your emotion regarding change to be the cause of emotional and performance booms. They are still frozen and shocked to this new reality, but I am already preparing my next step.
My new meat shield, Kang Min-ho, has his glasses on and is assisting the girl with the glasses to her feet.
Are you harmed, he asks her.
She does shake her head, and settles her broken frames. No... I... I... Yoo Jin-ah... thank you.
Replying, he swells his chest slightly and says, I am Kang Min-ho. He looks out at me. "And this is..."
I say, Seo, and smile a weak trembling smile. Just Seo. I am not a great fighter as you see.
Jin-ah gazes at me with eyes that are flicking over to the System interface that only she can see, and then back to me. Your rank... what were your contribution score?
F, I say and look down at my shame.
The correct first step in self-evaluation is the honest exploration and recognition of your emotions in terms of strengths and weaknesses. I am fully aware that my physical avatar is so feeble at the moment. It would only make me suspicious by hiding it. The admission making me a weak person will instantly place me at the bottom of the pecking order. Safe. Unthreatening.
Min-ho is patting my shoulder. No, don't worry, Mr. Seo. We got out of it together. We will be together.
I nod gratefully.
Already I can feel the organizational consciousness going about the square. Organization awareness is the understanding and realization of how organizational structures in which you and others work at can be used to affect emotions.
The survivors are intentionally isolating themselves. A bloody fire axe-wielding man of tall form--who distinctly made a large contribution rating--vould be hustling about, gathering up the men who could move about, noisily. He is insisting on dominance. The high-ranking ones are standing higher, which is driven by power. The low rank people are flocking together, in fear of being rejected and fear of being left alone to die.
"Hey, you three!"
The man with the axe points at us. He walks with two other men, who are holding pipes. He looks up and down at Min-ho.
You are good looking, you are supposed to be able to swing that pipe, I am Park Dong-soo, B-Rank contribution, we are creating a vanguard to clear out a building.
Min-ho looks relieved. That is a good idea. I should get my numbers together. Now these two are with me.
Park Dong-soo sneers at me and Jin-ah. The girl can go with her, she requires a high Intelligence stat. But the guy with the suit? We are not running a charity, he looks like dead weight.
Min-ho stiffens. I am not abandoning him, or he would have saved my life in the tutorial.
I see Dong-soo squeeze his axe. His authority is being challenged.
I will have to cool this. Should Min-ho confront him here my shield could suffer. Worse still, Min-ho could emerge victorious and lead such a big group, and this is too much attention.
I advance, with my head bent down.
It is good, Min-ho, it is good...., I say. Nah, he is right, I am an F-Rank, I will just keep you back.
I am applying empathy, which is not to be compassionate, but to learn what is driving Dong-soo to behave in the way he is doing. He desires unconditioned power. In yielding to him, I end up confirming his authority.
Min-ho narrows his eyes in indignation. No. We both survived. We abandon people and leave them to themselves simply because they are weak; then what are we doing as compared to the monsters?
Dong-soo spits on the floor. Suit yourself, kid, have fun dying. He walks off and takes his retinue.
Jin-ah goes and then sees Min-ho. That was not clever, we need numbers.
We need individuals whom we can rely on, Min-ho declares.
I smile inwardly. He is so foreseeable.
I have already managed to separate my instruments with the rest of the crowd, which is bigger and more unpredictable.
Moving, moving, Jin-ah says, as she draws up her holographic interface. My system provided me with a minimap since my ability to analyze levelled up during the tutorial. There is a commercial building that is two blocks away. It also has a reinforced basement.
"Good," Min-ho says. "Lead the way."
We go along the demolished streets. The silence is oppressive. All the shadows appear as wolves.
And we are walking, and I intentionally keep on staying a half-step behind Min-ho.
High self-confidence means that people are sure of their own worth and abilities and think that they are capable of running the course of their lives - and do it. I do not require a golden characteristic or an axe to consider. The gun I require is my framework.
We come to the business premises. The window glass is broken.
We see Min-ho enter, first, with pipe in air. "Clear."
We head towards the stairwell to the basement at the back.
There is a hissing noise, so low, on the ceiling.
An animal falls down, and covers the stair. It resembles some huge, eye-less, hairless animal with long nails.
[Blind Crawler (Lv. 3)]
Min-ho is holding his pipe, but his hands are trembling. The tutorial adrenaline has agitated. There is actual fear coming in.
Min-ho, I whisper behind him, and I am completely calm in my voice.
He turns around, his eyes open.
I require him to battle. I need to act as a Change Catalyst. A change catalyst appreciates that change is an aspect of life, and change always evokes fear among individuals, yet he lets him have the fear, but must never let the fear hold him back to do what is required of him.
It is blind, I say to myself. It screams after its prey. you are its better, it said, than the wolf.
I am reconnecting his self-talk. I am repositioning the scenario to help him not be paralyzed by his fear.
"If you not slay it, I say, and adding to my voice a tincture of artificial horrors, it will slay Jin-ah, and me".
Min-ho's eyes harden. His breathing steadies.
He does not know I am not urging him into it, I am programming him. People who possess the ability to develop other people know that it is a win situation when they assist other people in the achievement of their goals. I am building him into a merciless murderer who considers himself an innocent defender.
Min-ho yells to get the attraction of the creature, and swings his pipe.
The sound of heavy metal striking body reverberates into the empty lobby.
I stand by and leave my hands in pockets and watch my tool at work.