Of Dei and Aloran, neither could sleep, and it seemed like the others weren’t bothered by their conversation, so long as it stayed reasonably quiet. Because they were both awake, Dei finally took the chance to ask something he’d wondered for a while: what were other Slaughterers like?

  Aloran was happy to satiate his curiosity. “I suppose I should tell you what Slaughterers are like and what role they play in society before getting anything specific. Slaughterers, as a people, are a bit… disconnected. There is not much commonality between them, and each Slaughterer is wildly unique in their own way. Of course, everyone is unique, but Slaughterers are the difference between colors rather than shades. The only two traits between all of them are that: each of them have a weakness which they intentionally created to gain more strength in their niche, and each of them were socially isolated before the age of eight in lethally dangerous situations.”

  “Situation? Not environment?” Dei asked. That sounded like a drastic differentiation, as a situation could be very small, while an environment provided some wiggle room.

  “Yes, though you’re jumping ahead a bit. We’ll get there when I bring up some examples of Slaughterers. Now, not all Slaughterers are very powerful or dangerous at all, but they are all good at what they do. They have their niche. For this reason, when they make it back to society, it is procedure to placate them. The demon-kin are an incredibly versatile horde, as the demon is able to create a kin for every situation, a specialized tool for everything. This was a completely unstoppable tactic, before Slaughterers came into play. They specialize even more than even the demon-kin can, beating them on their own ground. It would be better to say that demon-kin are a shallow facsimile of Slaughterers. So when a new Slaughterer is found, a new specialty, it is priority number one to get them on the side of Sapients, as they will doubtlessly be able to foil the demon's plans, if placed in the correct situation.

  “To get their participation in the war, whichever society the Slaughterer finds themselves in again will cater towards their needs. Most of the time though, the Slaughterers will join the war willingly. Many of them have known nothing but combat and, even when they are safe, they have a sort of craving for danger. For this reason, they are granted advisors. It is the duty of a Slaughterer’s advisor to help them integrate back into society, negotiate their desires, and direct them to places their niche is needed.

  “If the Slaughterer only wants blood, the Advisor's job is actually rather easy. Just point the Slaughterer at problems until they’re gone. If the Slaughterer legitimately wants to integrate back into society, it is the Advisor that teaches them. But if the Slaughterer wants payment for its participation in the war, the Advisor usually has its work cut out for them, because Slaughterers never want ‘money’ as payment. It’s always something crazy or weird, something relevant to the experiences that turned them into Slaughterers.

  “To give an example of this, I’ll talk about one of the three Slaughterers I’ve met, and a rather fringe case of everything I’ve said so far. Every Slaughterer is designated with a number to indicate how many Slaughterers existed before them, then a title given to them that summarizes who they are. What I tell you now is the story of Slaughterer one hundred and twenty six, Empty Past.

  “Empty Past starts his story at the age of three, when his town was burned down by raiding demon-kin. One such demon used a spatial ability to sort of… knock people out of reality, killing them. When it went to kill Empty Past, supposedly the boy dodged mostly out of the way, but was still clipped. Without a resistance to magic, he was partially dislodged from reality and stuck in place. In the real world, he was gone, but to Empty Past, he watched everything around him shift slowly over time. He couldn’t move, but he watched as the demon-kin finished killing everyone, then left. He spoke of seeing everything pass him by, investigators, mourners, and animals alike came to visit the abandoned town, and none saw him.

  He said that he had a revelation in this time, seeing the world he was once a part of slowly change. After a month of watching, he finally decided to take a Profession called [Watcher], which did exactly as the name implied. He sat there, unmoving, for three straight years. Doing nothing but watching. In this time, he gained a strong connection to the Passing and Farsight affinity. Passing, because his time spent trapped seemed to teach him what it means to understand that “everything passes eventually,” and Farsight because he wanted nothing more than to see more of the world while he was trapped, and his field of view slowly grew as his power did. When his Profession hit level one hundred in this time, he chose to specialize away from combat completely- giving up his Class in order to make his next Profession stronger.

  “After the three years were up, he decided it was time to move. He said that he felt the urge to escape not because he hated his existence there, but because he was the only thing stagnant in the entire world. Channeling his Passing affinity, he commanded his situation to pass. He would either die, or he would escape. Either way was fine with him.

  “Instead of falling back into normal reality though, Empty Past spoke of falling somewhere else, into an echo of reality that was fragmented beyond anything he’d heard of before. He made his way through such a place, eventually returning back to the world- but not the one he’d been in before.”

  Confused, Dei asked “Wait, he was part of a parallel universe? I thought you said those don’t exist? Or was he just from another universe entirely… but no, there was a demon in Empty Past’s home world. What happened?”

  Aloran let out a humorless chuckle. “You’re correct, there are no parallel universes, but there are echoes of our own, as Clever has said before. He can take advantage of these ‘fake’ realities, commanding them to his will. Empty Past was from an echo created by a powerful Time mage, one who was trying to simulate different timelines as part of an unrelated experiment. Empty Past, despite being fake, managed to make himself real, entering the real world as a Slaughterer. They even checked and, the moment he entered the physical realm, he was given a soul. It was absurd, but he came out as a genuinely incredible Slaughterer. He was able to fade out of reality and watch everything, making things pass at different rates. While he wasn’t interested in fighting in the demonic war, he did still participate for a price. In exchange for transportation to very high or scenic areas he could fade out and watch for long periods of time, Empty Past would make powerful demon-kin ‘pass.’ While it was, like many Slaughterer abilities, very niche, it would cause old demon-kin who’d stagnated to use up all their saved up ‘progression’ so to speak. If they had Skills to make them immortal, Empty Past would make them age to where they were supposed to be. If the demon-kin existed in an area for a long time, Empty Past could cause natural disasters to make them go away. If they had been stagnant in all their abilities for a long time, Empty Past could just outright kill them.

  “The best of it is that the demon-kin simply could not find him when he dropped out of reality. At one point, the demon sent several assassins to find him, so he dropped out of reality and- surprise surprise- he waited them out. When they’d sat still too long, he made them pass.

  “Before I’d become stuck here, Empty Past was actually still an active Slaughterer, as he had not died yet. I sometimes wonder if he’s still around and how he’s doing.”

  “So… Wait, he became a Slaughterer through Profession? I thought you had to be like… a killer or something. The Slaughterer Achievement only grants an upgrade to Class, so I assumed it was a combat-based thing. I was even only able to get my first Slaughterer Achievement because I killed enemies far above my level.”

  “Ah, not so. Each Slaughterer Achievement is tailor-made to the person in order to give them bonuses that they would need, and earn them in a way that person can achieve. When one first joins the path of a Slaughterer, the only requirement is that they begin the process of carving out pieces of themselves for the purpose of survival. True, most do this by killing, but there are some cases like Empty Past. For you, if you’d wanted to become a Slaughterer without combat, you likely would’ve had to never leave my Garden… Ever. Just sat in here doing nothing. If you’d done that and perhaps started cutting away all possible ways to look outside, such as getting rid of your [Tremor Sense] or [Darkvision] Racial abilities at the time, the System would’ve made you a Slaughterer. Maybe you would’ve even gained an ability to help you avoid starving so you didn’t have to leave to get food.”

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  Dei shivered at the thought, that would’ve absolutely been more difficult than killing. Sure, he had moral issues with killing the helpless Lorpee’s, but he still felt human afterwards. Merely flawed. If he had never left his little bubble, cutting away all parts of him that existed outside of it, would there be anything of him left?

  “The System can just do that? Change the requirements and rewards for Achievements? Why wouldn’t it simply make a new Achievement if it did?”

  “The System can do whatever it wants, but it is likely because Slaughterers are more of an idea than an actual people. It’s the idea of triumphing alone in the wild over impossible odds making sacrifices in the name of survival, and coming back stronger for it. Really, that’s it. There are many cases of Achievements custom-fitting to the user, it’s actually a common trope in organizational Achievements.”

  “Organizational Achievements?”

  “Yea like, consistently repeatable Achievements. There’s a measure of luck or opportunity in most Achievements that demand you take advantage of whatever situation you find yourself in. Organizational Achievements don’t really do that, but they’re always harder, and higher quality. You know of one such repeatable Achievement: Shamans. Shamans go through a period of brutal training, which has a genuinely high mortality rate. Something like twenty percent of those who fail Shaman training, die. The success rate is one in five thousand as well. A lot of people die in the Shaman training, but that’s expected for such a powerful Achievement. With the high mortality rate and heavy responsibilities on each Shaman, the Shaman Achievement provides just as much power as the Slaughterer Achievement. Though… the Slaughterer Achievement is probably very strong despite having less expectations because the mortality rate for such situations is estimated to sit at ninety nine point nine percent. I digress, either way, the Shaman Achievement is known to not only adapt to the Shaman themselves- but even their particular staff, increasing the users affinity growth for that staff. Adaptable, changing Achievements are almost unheard of, which is what makes Shamans so impressive. Their versatility.”

  ‘Dayum… I get bonuses to all affinities, but based on how Aloran is saying it, Shamans get MASSIVE bonuses to the affinities of their particular staff. I get around double, would a Shaman get five times bonus to certain affinities? More? If I ever challenge one, I’ll need to play into MY niche. Also, I have to find my niche.’

  “You said that adaptable Achievements were almost unheard of, how many are there?”

  Aloran chuckled. “Five. There are Five known Achievements that change situationally, though all but two types are basically extinct. Shamans are still around, and Elites are the other, which is coincidentally very relevant to you.”

  “How so? Are Elites related to Slaughterers?”

  “Yep, just so. Elites are like the social mirror to Slaughterers. They are people who have reached the top rung of whichever society they are in, either in academies or armies or whatever they find themselves in. They shine brightly when facing other sapients, but struggle horribly against monsters- the opposite of Slaughterers. Elites are just a catch-all term for those who were raised specifically to be the best, through incredibly brutal training. They’re relevant to Slaughterers because they are what keep Slaughterers in check. The Achievement for Elites grant them insight into the enemies weakness, and Skills to take advantage of such things, but it only works against people. When a Slaughterer goes rogue and starts killing people, Elites are dispatched to put them down, and they do so with ease against Slaughterers because Slaughterers base their entire powerset around a weakness. I won’t say they win every time, but the odds between an Elite and a Slaughterer are clearly weighed in the Elites favor, and they almost always come in groups.”

  ‘A mirror to Slaughterers. Dei thought while looking at the ceiling thoughtfully. ‘It makes sense for such a person to be needed. As society progresses, it’s supposed to leave behind fighting against wild predators. On Earth, how many people fought tigers in their day to day? Practically none outside of isolated communities. How many fought people? A lot more. This world is still skewed towards brutal, animalistic fighting because of its age, but I don’t doubt that over time the challenges would become more about other people.’

  “Ah wait, but why are Shamans an independent Achievement to the Elite, if they seem so much similar to one another?” Dei wondered.

  “Because the Shaman have far different purposes. Elite are not legally tied to any one organization and can move around or be hired as mercenaries, though they usually do tend to be biased towards whichever organization trained them. Shaman are required to stay in the Gem Dweller system and serve honorably and legally, bound tighter by their own laws than the common person. It’s a system that only works because Gem Dwellers are very cold, calculating, and honest people. Though honest does not mean good, as I’m sure you’ve seen. Most Gem Dwellers simply see leaving to explore the world as… unnecessary. They would rather have a stable life at home, where they grew up and know all the rules of.”

  Dei couldn’t agree with that. It was likely his past experience of being a different variant human, but he still wanted to go out and explore. He’d seen way too much to think his narrow view was enough. If he was going to see a variety of the world though, he would need to play into his strengths, avoiding places that took advantage of mana sight or required outside manipulation to get through.

  This brought his mind back to the question of what his niche was. All he’d done was give up his outside magical sense for more strength, but strength wasn’t a niche. He was tempted to ask Aloran, but felt like that would be giving something private away. His weakness could easily be taken advantage of, and he was still cautious of everything. Even if Aloran meant him well right now, Dei was worried about if they ever had a falling out. He didn’t know what would cause such a thing, but it wasn’t impossible.

  When he remembered the existence of Elite though, he sighed. ‘I suppose it doesn’t really matter, does it? When I get back to society, there will be an entire mercenary group of people dedicated to killing me if I go nuts. And if others know while I don’t, wouldn’t that be even worse? Because I can’t account for my own weakness?’

  “Aloran, would you mind helping me figure out what my weakness and niche is as a Slaughterer?” he asked, the entire train of thought taking only a second.

  Aloran made a shrugging noise. “Sure, I’m surprised you don’t know yourself. Would you mind sharing your Slaughterer Class with me, the Skills you got, and the benefits of your Slaughterer Achievement? Those should summarize what your strength is.”

  Dei brought up his [Watchful Slaughterer] Achievement, which spoke of protecting those under him, and the descriptions of the Skills it gave: [Empowered Rage], [Join Arms], [Dispersed Burden]. Though he didn’t have them anymore, the Skills were still part of the Class.

  “Hm? I think it’s actually a little obvious what your build is based around, though you’ve only just started taking advantage of it. Your niche is taking advantage of other monsters by engaging in symbiotic relationships with them. Empowered Rage improves your body as a natural treasure using certain mana types to make you more appealing so you can give away tiny pieces of yourself, Join Arms helps you draw strength from your relationship with these monsters in the form of micro-improvements that build up the more you have, and Dispersed Burden encourages you to get a variety in your entourage, so you can harmlessly disperse damage types to those under your protection. When you got the Slaughterer Achievement, didn’t it give you upgraded Beastial communication? That will help you on your path greatly.”

  Dei was stunned. He hadn’t been doing… any of that. Well, sort of, but not intentionally. Aloran seemed to understand his confusion, and continued.

  “You have to remember Dei, you JUST became a Slaughterer. Your path was just solidified. You began taking advantage of this before you were officially a Slaughterer, but you only now have the correct skillset to really take advantage of this path. I’m sure that, when you’re out in the world again, you’ll find it much easier to use your abilities to their fullest.”

  Still, he would need to change his style a bit. Not much, as Dei would likely continue to be the bulwark for whatever symbiotic relationships he found along the way, but he’d need to start putting some active effort into finding smaller creatures or monsters that could attach to him and provide some benefits.

  Looking back over his journey so far, he started to wonder if there were any of the creatures he’d seen that he might’ve been able to negotiate with for certain benefits.