Chapter 13: Nexawork - Online-Based Guild Network

Outside of the hotel, Alina breathed out the fresh air out of Rivercircle. She waited in the street right next to the hotel, waiting for Ilya to pick up her car from the parking lot. She said she would introduce her to some of the works about being an adventurer/mercenary. As she waited, Alina browsed the internet with her new phone.

Weirdly enough, Google still exited. She logged into her old account, and oh boy, the notification immediately flooded into her inbox. Most, if not all, asked where she was going. Checking the inbox on her messaging app, people were also asking where she was, including the termination of her work contract in the hospital where she worked. The last message was in... 2048.

Truth be told, as much as she wanted to cry or protest at the change of event, she better focused on the current situation; one which might involve her being an adventurer for a while until she adapted to this new world.

Whatever, it doesn't look like that hospital still exists anyway. Still, who the fuck is Ingrid?

Alina searched the internet for 'Ingrid,' but as expected, there were lots of Ingrid, and none of them seemed to be that Ingrid. She then searched for Ingrid and the keyword 'Vampire,' yet, nothing significant showed up. She then looked for multiple keywords; vampire, cult, Ingrid, church of vampires, vampire cult, etc.

Maybe, the books I brought from that cultist temple will give me more insight into my condition, but still, why does it look as if this group never existed? This world is filled with surprises, isn't it?

Alina then pulled out a book out of her inventory.

House of Ingrid Dogmas. Maybe I can start here, as far as I'm concerned, this dogma might hold all of the answers I need to find her, or at least, a trace of her. Still, better hide it for now.

Alina then put the book back on her inventory, putting a reminder on her mind to read it later. She then looked at the notification bar on her vision, she got something. Opening up the menu, she leveled up again.

[Alina Lisbell - Lesser Sanguine Wacleric of Ingrid] [BP: 18,600] [5 Skill Points Available]

Class: Warcleric - Lvl. 7

Strength: 110

Agility: 25

Perception: 30

Vitality: 90

Aptitude: 70

General Skills: [Blood Inventory] [Bloody Swing II] [Magnifier] [Diagnose] [Blitz V] [Hostia Reconstructio I] [Regeneration]

General Perks: [Illussion of Weight] [Sanguine Warhealer] [Vampiric Charm]

Knowing the importance of having more Aether, Alina decided to dump all of the points into aptitude. Maybe a real magical weapon would require a lot of Aether to use. For now, though, she could rely on Ilya, but she knew she couldn't rely on her forever.

After minutes of waiting, she stopped her truck in front of her and Alina jumped straight in. After that, Ilya continued driving the car out of Rivercircle. Looking inside the truck, she saw many different things, appliances, rifles, first-aid kit, and so on. There were also more bottles filled with colorful water and whatnot.

On the back of the car, there were also several plastic military containers, probably containing weapons or whatnot, or even camping supplies. Needless to say, if this was how an adventurer looked like, she wouldn't be surprised.

"Welcome to my humble workspace," Ilya greeted.

"It feels homey," Alina answered, though, in actuality, she was unsure of what to say. She saw several work trucks back in the state, but none of them carried potion and first-aid kit in the same vehicle.

Her laptop was located between the driver and passenger seat. The laptop was the rugged kind that the police or military often used, and the laptop displayed some kind of website called Nexawork.

Reading further, Alina noticed that Nexawork was a job-offer site, but the jobs offered were no different than what she would expect from an RPG game; monster elimination, package delivery, missing-person retrieval, etc.

The user logged in was Ilya, and she was associated with her organization; Aegis Mercenary Corps. There was her picture and her level on the top right of the site itself. There was also an unpaid balance on the side of it, at around 2,000 Leas.

"Knowing your background and all, including your understanding of how this world works, I think it's a good idea for you to make an account on Nexawork, but for now, you can use my account temporarily," Ilya explained.

"Ok?" Alina said, sounding more confused than ever.

"Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it," Ilya just gave a smile.

Alina leaned closer, her eyes scanning the listed jobs with a mix of curiosity and trepidation. "So, it's like... an adventurer's social network?" she ventured, trying to draw parallels to concepts more familiar to her.

"Yup, yup, you got that right." Ilya then scrolled the quest list and clicked one of them, applying for it. Then, the system proceeded with their request and it entered Ilya's active job list.

The job was a simple extermination mission. Eliminate one hundred Stalkers in Sundown Forest for 10,000 Leas. Thinking about it, the job reward was rather high, but again, it might be just an easy mission and the cost of the logistics might be worth more than that. With magic though, everything seemed easy.

"10,000 Leas should be enough to buy you something, don't you think? I'll take 25% as my cut, however, the loot from those undead zombies will be yours."

Undeads. Zombies, the same creatures that Alina encountered when she woke up. She faced a horde of them with ease, and with the help of what only could be described as an OP mage accompanying her, she might be unstoppable.

The last time she encountered them, they were pretty much worthless, so Alina was unsure what she could loot from those zombies, but well, a request was a request, and if one Lea was around 1$, then the payment was worth it.

"This should be easy," Alina added.

"Easy my ass, well, for me, it's easy, for you... eh, it's something else," Ilya added.

"They're zombies, aren't they?" Alina asked for confirmation.

"Well, technically, yes," Ilya answered, but her answer wasn't satisfactory. "I mean, there's a reason why it's called Stalkers instead of zombies. They're a magical bio-weapon remnant from the previous great war, so..."

"On 1-10, how dangerous are they?" Alina asked.

"For me, it's a straight 2, for you, maybe 8?" Ilya added. Ilya glanced at Alina, gauging her reaction. "The thing with Stalkers is, they're not your run-of-the-mill zombies. They're faster, smarter, and they are soldiers from Terra and Earth kept alive by corrupted Aether."

"So..."

Ilya then grinned, "You'll see."

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