When Rumor woke up, he was back in his cell. The floor was stained with dried blood, as were his clothes, especially the area around the gash where Xue Luo had severed his femoral artery.
But his skin itself was untouched. Like it never happened.
If he were a little bit less insane, he might think that everything that happened, The Mind, the incursion, everything, was just a dream. But he knew his subconscious couldn't have come up with that in his wildest moments.
Rumor looked around. It was barely a cell. It didn't have a bed, a sink, a toilet, or anything else. It was just a cube of concrete with bars on one side.
Pushing himself up, he sat cross-legged against a wall. He had no doubt someone had been warned he was awake, and would come soon.
But while he waited, he closed his eyes and called for The Mind in his head.
Nothing happened. His character sheet didn't appear, his storage didn't open, his skills didn't activate.
"That won't work."
Rumor opened his eyes. There, in the other side of the bars, was Xue Luo, still wearing her biker jacket, although now over a pink tank top, and chewing gum.
The look she gave him was equal parts amusement, pity, and curiosity.
"What won't work?"
She rolled her eyes.
"The Mind, stupid. Your prestige is too low. You can't call it here in the real world until your next incursion."
Well, that put paid to the thought he might have hallucinated everything. Rumor pushed himself off the ground and walked to the bars, standing face-to-face with Xue Luo.
"And when's that?"
She popped a bubble.
"Anywhere from 1 to 3 months. 3 is the longest you can go without taking taking a gander at The Mind, 1 the shortest."
"Why did you kill me?"
Xue Luo burst out laughing at his non-sequitur.
"Oh, you are cute. Back up a bit."
Rumor did. Xue Luo pulled a key out of her pocket, and unlocked the door to the cell. Then she turned her body sideways and gestured with an arm.
"C'mon. Let's get you something to eat, and probably a drink too. You are gonna have lots of questions."
Rumor eyed the open door and the woman suspiciously.
"And you are just going to answer them?"
Xue Luo grinned.
"Maybe not all, but some. You've passed the first test."
Rumor raised an eyebrow, but stepped out. His muscles strained and joints popped as he stretched.
"What test?"
"You kept your cool. You would be surprised by how many fools come out of their first incursion thinking they are invincible. They always forget that, one, their skills and items can't be used outside, and two, I'm also a tester, and obviously with many more incursions than them under my belt."
Rumor couldn't say the idea of snapping Xue Luo's neck and escaping wasn't appealing. But he had also considered the two points she brought up.
"By the way, what should I can you? I know your name is Dolan, but some people prefer the name they take up in The Mind."
Rumor raised an eyebrow in suspicion while falling in lockstep with the woman.
"Dolan's fine."
"Heh. Smart boy. I can see how you made it through your first incursion."
Xue Luo was smiling, but Rumor didn't forget for one moment she was someone like him. A tester. A killer.
"You didn't answer my question."
They made their way past rows of cells just like his. They were empty, although many showed traces of blood. Xue Luo snorted.
"Hold a grudge, don't you? That's the way to enter The Mind. You have to bleed to death. No idea why, it just is."
"And what you did before? Touching my head?"
"That's to see if you were suitable. Not everyone can become a tester."
She didn't elaborate on how she determined he was 'suitable', and Rumor didn't ask. Some battles were worth fighting, others not so much.
"What happens to my body while I'm in The Mind?"
Xue Luo threw him an appreciative glance that told Rumor he had asked the right question.
"It's gone. What enters that place isn't just your conscience, it's all of you. And when you come back, you appear in the same spot. Alive and healed, if you survived. If you didn't..."
She gestured to the last cell in the corridor, and Rumor peeked inside. A man in his thirties was dead in the middle of it, a horrific hole in his chest, scraps of flesh and bone fragments pointing outwards like something had burst out from inside.
"He probably got the Alien universe as his first incursion. It's always a rough one."
Rumor's expression didn't change. Although a Chestbuster was a gruesome way to go, he had seen worse in his own incursion.
"How long has it been since I entered The Mind?"
"For you? I think... 4 days, or something like that. It varies from tester to tester. It doesn't really seem to have rhyme or reason to it. Some people are back in a couple ours despite spending a month inside, others are the exact opposite. Now, quiet."
Xue Luo knocked on the door leading out of the cell block, and a soldier opened it from outside. He glanced at Rumor suspiciously, but his gaze towards Xue Luo carried respect and fear.
It was a combination they saw often as they passed by more military personnel. Rumor wanted to ask, but he held back his tongue until they entered another section of the base, and Xue Luo smiled at him.
"Good instincts. You can't talk abou The Mind in front of people who aren't also testers. The first time you try, you get a warning. The second, a punishment. The third..."
"You are erased."
"Bingo. You can speak freely here, however. This part of the base is exclusive to testers."
Rumor looked around. It was much like the rest of the complex. Concrete walls, sometimes with arrows or signs painted on them. Nothing that screamed special.
They soon arrived at a large canteen, where a buffet was set up, along with freezers for beverages, and a couple long rectangular tables.
There were 3 other people in the room, 2 men and 1 woman, who all gave Xue Luo respectful nods. Unlike the soldiers outside, they weren't filled with fear of the bubblegum-chewing woman, but their gazes still held a certain wariness.
Rumor followed Xue Luo and filled a plate for himself at the buffet. Rice, beans, meat, vegetables. It was better than 90% of everything he had eaten in his life.
The woman also grabbed a couple beer bottles from the freezer and placed them down on the table, a ways away from the other occupants of the room. That way, they could talk without being eavesdropped on.
"Now, we have until another first-time tester comes back or I get called to do something else, so fire away."
Rumor didn't hesitate.
"Why are you being so cooperative?"
"Hahaha! Another good question. The short answer is: because you are valuable."
Rumor tilted his head while stuffing another forkfull down his gullet.
"Valuable?"
"Yeah. Do you know how many potential testers we abducted from The Quarter, Dolan? 48. Do you know how many came back alive? You are the 9th. 23 came back dead. We are waiting on the rest still."
In other words, a mortality rate of well over 50%. No wonder she said he was valuable. Everyone who survived their first incursion was.
"Why are you creating more testers?"
"'Cause it's my job. The real reason you would have to ask someone much higher up in the food chain than me."
So, Xue Luo was just another spoke in the wheel. Not surprising when he thought about it. This whole operation seemed far too big for someone like her.
"How high does this go?"
"No clue. I've never met the boss. What I know is that I have just short of 10 incursions under my belt, and there are people who kneel to the boss who could crush me with a finger. Make of that what you will."
For a moment, Rumor was stunned. Xue Luo was strong. He couldn't tell before, but after going through The Mind once, the overwhelming sense of pressure she was giving out had been clear to him from when she first appeared across the bars from his cell.
And yet, she said there were many others much stronger than her? What the hell had he been dragged into?
"Well, Dolan? What happened? Cat got your tongue?"
Xue Luo's teasing prod shook him out of his daze, and his gaze sharpened.
"This is recruitment."
Now he understood why Xue Luo was being so friendly. And the woman had the gall to clap when he glared at her.
"Well done! Indeed it is. More like forced conscription, but yes, it is a recruitment of sorts."
"To do what?"
He didn't ask if he could refuse, that would be an idiotic, and possibly fatal, question.
"For now, get stronger. You are a little ant at the moment. Not of use to anyone. Go through more incursions, survive, get stronger, and repeat. Do that enough times, and a real recruitment offer will eventually be extended."
He narrowed his eyes. He didn't really have an option, not with The Mind having already said he had a maximum of 3 months outside, but he still didn't like the feeling of being threatened.
What could he do about it, however? The answer was: nothing. Not right now, at least. Whatever organization Xue Luo was part of, they were a monster, with countless people stronger than him, control over the military, and who knew what else.
"Okay."
Xue Luo's easy grin widened by a few sharp teeth. Oh, she liked Rumor. He was good.
"You've asked a lot of questions, so now's my turn. What was your first incursion?"
"Star Wars."
"Ooh, that's a good one. Can be really easy or really hard depending on where you land and what time plot-wise. The main mission?"
"Escape from Tatooine to a Mid Rim planet."
Rumor didn't bother hiding those small details. This was just the aperitif. The real interrogation was coming up now.
"Eh, as far as main missions go, that's on the simple side of the spectrum. My first incursion was Game of Thrones. I had to crawl and kill my way through mud and guts to complete my main mission."
In the back of his head, Rumor felt somewhat offended. It wasn't like he had it easy either.
"Now, to the real question: what was your mission completion rating? That's what determines your future. The first incursion is always the easiest. People who get less than 50% on it rarely make past the second."
She was assuming he had done better than that. Clearly, his calm demeanor had created a certain picture of him in her mind.
"70%."
Xue Luo narrowed her eyes, and Rumor could tell she didn't believe him one bit.
"Don't lie to me, dear Dolan. That's not how you want this relationship to start."
Right. She had skills that let her assess his potential to be a tester, it stood to reason she could also tell if he was lying.
"Alright. 100%. I got to Coruscant."
Her eyes lit up, and he immediately knew that, easiest incursion or not, getting a perfect rating on a main mission wasn't common.
"Great, great! See, Dolan, you should be truthful. Hiding you power is good, but only if you are strong enough. Right now, all looking weak will do is make the organization put less resources and effort into you."
Internally, he instinctively wanted to contest that, or dismiss her words. No matter how friendly Xue Luo asked, he wasn't going to forget she had killed him anytime soon.
But logically, she was right. He wasn't getting away from these people anytime soon. And, belonging to a group wasn't necessarily a bad thing, although he would have liked to know who they were and what are their goals first.
Sighing, he leaned back on the bench and closed his eyes, rubbing his temples. Five minutes passed, during which Xue Luo just kept quietly eating without interrupting his pondering.
Finally, Rumor's eyes snapped open, and he stared at the woman across from him. He didn't trust her, not one bit. But really, what did he have to lose?
"Alright. My name is Rumor, not Dolan. I got a 100% on my main mission by joining the Naboo ship with the storyline characters and going to Coruscant with them. I also completed one side mission, although only with a 70% rating. A Reputable reputation with the Hutt Cartel, and my highest relationship is Liked with Padmé Amidala. 9 achievements, 3 traits, 1 Bronze Title."
That was the very short version of his accomplishments. He didn't mention the Fame, his skills, or items, not really because he was trying to hide it, but because he thought what he revealed was already more than enough.
And it seemed he was right. Xue Luo whistled, and he even thought he caught a glimmer of respect in her eyes.
"Not bad, really not bad. That probably puts you in the top 10% of first incursion testers. Better than I did, definitely."
"But there are others who were better?"
That wasn't his ego talking. He just wanted to know how big the distance between him and others was.
"Oh, there's always someone better. There are monsters out there who somehow manage to kill main storyline characters in their first incursion. Monsters."
She repeated the word , and Rumor understood her. He had already struggled with everything he had to kill Valemerin, who wasn't even a storyline character. Thinking that there were people who managed to take down Anakin or Qui-Gon Jinn in their first go was as chilling as it was humbling.
"Survive long enough, and you will hear about those guys. If you are unlucky, you might even meet them. I wouldn't wish for that if I were you. But you should still feel proud. Not many people manage to trigger a side mission in their first incursion, much less complete it with an exceptional rating."
Rumor had been proud before, but now he was feeling pretty humbled. He was about to answer when a green light flashed from overhead. Xue Luo stopped eating and got up.
"Sounds like someone else came back. We'll continue this talk later. For now, make yourself at home."