The once-pristine walkway leading up to the entrance was littered with debris—broken glass, sun-bleached bones, a rusted-out CitiBike overturned like a discarded toy, a yellow plastic Amazon crate. Yet even in ruin, the Guggenheim retained an eerie sort of beauty, its white fa?ade streaked with grime but still standing, defiant against the collapse.
Hiro slowed his pace as he stepped onto the cracked pavement outside the museum.
“I remember coming here on a field trip,” Bianca said as he peered ahead. “It was okay. The museum is weird inside and the art was, like, something my niece could do.”
Ben was already there, helmet on, the big man leaning against what used to be a help kiosk. His posture was casual, but Hiro could tell it was just for show. Even after all this time, Ben still didn’t trust easily.
Some of the tension left Ben’s shoulders as he gave Hiro a slow nod. “Glad to see you made it in one piece.”
Hiro shrugged. “Same to you.”
“How’d your Revenant go?”
Hiro lifted his Bear-Dragon Claw and showed Ben the way its snout had morphed into something slightly more reptilian. “It went. Now, I have this.”
Ben whistled low, stepping forward. He flexed his own Bear Claw and smirked. “Yours got lizardfied.”
“It did.”
“Does it blow fire or something cool?”
“It does.”
“Dang, I need to get me one of them.”
Hiro felt movement in his backpack as Mishka started to sob.
“Hold on a second,” Hiro said. “I should feed her.”
“Do what you gotta do, man,” Ben said, the big man not surprised at all when Hiro gently pulled the teddy bear out and handed it to Bianca, who cradled it in her pink tentacles.
“It’s like our baby,” she cooed as the bear stared up at her with its beady black eyes.
“Let’s not call it that.” Hiro paid the 500 Soul Cash fee to remove the poison from a Survivor Tender. He felt his stomach grumble despite having eaten fairly recently. “We’re waiting for one more Survivor,” he told Ben once Mishka seemed satiated.
Ben raised an eyebrow. “Yeah? Who?”
“Samuel. We worked together a bit in the First Interim.”
A sudden bzzzt! crackled through the air, followed by a triumphant whoop from Bianca as she obliterated a Barcode Baby with her price scanner while still holding Mishka. “Headshot!” she said. “What are we at, now? Twenty? Thirty? I love blasting these little fuckers.”
Hiro looked from Bianca to Hachi, who had wandered off to sniff through a pile of scattered garbage near an overturned trash can. What’s he getting into now? he thought as the dog’s body tensed.
The trash can lurched. Hachi jumped back with a startled bark just as the can unhinged itself, its warped metal bending in unnatural ways. Jagged teeth formed along the rim, the entire bin stretching like a yawning mouth.
“Ah, shit. A mimic—” Ben started, but by this point, Hiro was already on it. He reached into his front pocket of his backpack, pulled out a pill bottle, and tossed it at the monster.
The mimic’s grotesque tongue shot out and slurped the bottle into its mouth. It recoiled instantly. As Hachi continued to bark, a strangled, mechanical wheeze escaped from the mimic’s warped body—its own version of a death rattle—before it collapsed, spasming once, then still.
You have new followers!
You got cash!
Ben snorted. “OD’ing mimics?”
“Basically.”
“Man, that’s a new one for me. I usually just get the hell out of Dodge.”
“That works, too,” Hiro said as Samuel seemingly stepped out of thin air. Ben barely registered the blur of movement before Samuel appeared, his flowing cloak shifting unnaturally as if propelling him forward. Startled, Ben’s hand shot to his poison pen, ready to strike.
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
Samuel held up his hands. “Sorry about that, mate.” He glanced over at Hachi. “Another mimic, yeah?”
“Exactly,” Hiro said.
Samuel extended his arms, causing his cloak to slip away and reveal his bare chest. As always, he was dressed in nothing but a pair of boxers, Crocs, and a black bucket hat. “Bring it in, mate!”
“Uh, sure.” Hiro stepped into a tight hug.
“Good on ya,” Samuel said, patting Hiro’s back. “And what’s with your arm? That thing looks bloody wild.”
“Long story.”
“I reckon. Heh. Who’s ya mate here? Looks like he’s got a crook arm too, yeah?”
“Ben,” Hiro said as Ben stuck out his hand.
“Nah, you’re getting a hug too, mate. It’s that kind of shitshow,” Samuel declared, stepping forward.
Ben recoiled slightly at the nearly naked man but ultimately gave in.
“Mate, this Interim’s been a bloody weird one,” Samuel said once the greetings wrapped up. “Some folks, like Val, scored real lucky with their title.”
“Val?” Ben asked.
“She was another person I partnered with in the First Interim,” Hiro explained.
“What’s her title do?” Ben asked Samuel.
“It keeps compounding her Soul Cash. Her title is BBL Billionaire.”
“BBL?” Hiro frowned. “Isn’t that—”
“What? Really? Brazilian Butt Lift?” Bianca asked.
Hiro repeated her words to the others.
Ben shook his head. “What the hell?”
“It didn’t change the size of her rump, though,” Samuel said matter-of-factly. “Not that I saw, anyway. Strange shit, but all these titles are. And who knew they actually mattered? Mine has proven to be useful but also useless without people with me.”
“What’s yours?” Ben asked.
“My title? Yeah, no, it’s Ponzi Lord.” Samuel scratched the back of his head. “It would’ve been great if Val had a ton of followers, but she didn’t. She only had a lot of cash. And her Roulette Skill? Good for her, bad for everyone else. She gains a ton of Soul Cash for every person she kills. And sometimes, a random stat boost too.”
“Jesus,” Ben said.
“Troubling, for sure.”
“What does your title do?” he asked Samuel.
“When I visit a merchant, I can amplify my own cash and any Soul Cash the Survivors with me have. After the first multiplier, the one we all get, I’m talking 5X over here. I can also share that cash temporarily and divide it up however I like. As for my Roulette Skill, it lets me transport others with me, but only to a known location in the city.” He sighed. “Believe me, if I could teleport to Sydney, I would in a bloody heartbeat.”
Hiro’s eyes widened. “Actually—”
“But about my title,” Samuel continued, oblivious to the look Hiro was giving him, “it is bollock, too. As soon as I leave the merchant, the cash boost disappears. And I don’t have many followers to begin with. Haven’t made as many friends as I’d like, aside from Big Mike, but he was in debt.”
“Debt?” Ben asked. “That’s possible?”
“It is,” Hiro said. “The Doom System has an overdraft thing in place. But that’s beside the point.”
“What do you mean, mate?” Samuel asked him. “Why are you looking at me like that? Is this about your Roulette Skill?”
“No, and it won’t help us. It’s called {Terminal Lucidity}, and I absolutely hate it.” Hiro waved that off. “But this is about my title. Yours and mine could actually work together to benefit all of us.”
Samuel’s eyebrows lifted. “How so?”
“My title is Profit Prophet. I just figured out what it does, like… right before my last fight. Basically, we all have a multiplier at a merchant, right?”
“Yeah,” Ben and Samuel said as Hachi trotted up, sitting nearby and staring at them expectantly.
“Well, because of my title, I get to keep that amount after I’m done at the merchant.”
“Keep it?” Samuel asked. “As in, it multiplies and your Soul Cash doesn’t disappear?”
“Exactly. Based on my follower count, which is currently…” Hiro checked. “21,397.”
Samuel’s eyes bulged. “So we could visit a merchant; stack all of our follower multipliers; I could use my Ponzi Lord title to increase our combined Soul Cash and distribute it to you; you hold onto it, we hit another merchant, rinse and repeat…”
Hiro ran his hand along his chin. “That’s what I’m thinking.”
“That’s a bloody brilliant idea!”
“Now hold on a minute. Can we just visit the same merchant?” Ben asked. “Why do we gotta be hoppin’ around if we can just stick with one?”
Samuel rubbed his hands together. “Tried that already, mate. The multiplier only works once per vendor. But if we do this right—”
“There’s more,” Hiro told him.
“Yeah?”
“I also have a way to instantly attract more followers,” he said, thinking of Viral Mode, the one-time use subskill from the One Hit Wonder known as {A La Mode}. “But it’s dangerous.”
Samuel and Ben exchanged glances. Ben spoke first. “You know I’m down. Get a shit-ton of followers, hit the multiplier, hit the multiplier again, cash out. I should have probably asked how dangerous, but we’re beyond that point now.”
“Same, mate,” Samuel said. Then he turned to Ben. “What about you? What’s your title and Roulette Skill? Or did you say already?”
“I did not. My Roulette Skill lets me access certain information, but my eyes are really sensitive.” Ben tapped his visor. “Hence this.”
“Couldn’t find some of those granny glasses, I reckon.”
“Wish I could have,” Ben told Samuel. “As for my title, it’s The Golden Parachute. I know what that means, but I have no clue how it applies here. It hasn’t filled my pockets with Soul Cash or anything. It might be like the First Interim—just some dumbshit title.” He shrugged. “Either way, if y’all are looking to do some exploits, I’m game. Just tell me what I need to do. And if you’re going to lure everyone out here…”
“Yeah?” Hiro asked. “As long as I can transfer it back, to share it.”
“You can,” Samuel told him. “Try, mate.”
Hiro got out his phone and instructed his Companion to send Samuel five Soul Cash.
“Got it,” Samuel said before sending it back. “See? This is going to work.”
“Yup,” Ben said. “It sure is, especially with this one little skill I got called {Round Up}.”
Please take a moment to rate/review. You can read ahead .
You can pre-order Doom System on Amazon .