Chapter 14: Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius

September 24, 2652 – 368 Days Before Judgment Day

The following morning, the trio woke up early in order to board a train headed towards Lake Ellis with the intention of getting there before the spawns activated and thus, make the absolute most out of the hunting hours of the day. Waking up early sucks and even more so after a long night but there was no room for negotiations when it came to departure schedules.

Time, tide, and trains waits for no man.

Lake Ellis was a pristine, crystal-clear lake situated in the caldera of what should be an inactive supervolcano. The caldera itself was overgrown by tall trees and lush vegetation while the lake’s shore was mostly comprised of sand, pebbles, and other weathered rocks. In terms of size, Lake Ellis was monstrously massive – if it were real, it would be roughly the same size as Lake Ontario during its heyday in the 21st century. Of course, Lake Ellis wasn’t real; it was a facsimile created by people who had only seen a lake based off of video records and as a result, made it smell way better than it ever should. It was also mostly an amalgamation of reused assets but it was still quite impressive nonetheless.

After walking 10 minutes or so from the Lake Ellis Train Station, the trio arrived at the closest beach shore of Lake Ellis, which also happened to be the main tourist trap for the nearby cottage hamlet of Moosehead. Moosehead had a census population of just over 100 and was mostly inhabited by silver foxes and their gumiho wives. Numerous waterfront properties and piers were erected all along this tract of the shoreline with watercraft moored nearby. While it probably would’ve been fun to throw raging keggers and go water-skiing here, it also meant that this part of the lake was devoid of monster spawns because Moosehead was zoned for human habitation. To get to the Bunker Turtles, they’d have range further.

Aaron pulled up the mini-map on his HUD and compared where he currently was and the location where he wanted to go. Based on the landmarks, he deduced that they were about 15 kilometers away. After he got his bearings, Aaron collapsed his HUD and said, “Okay, let’s go.”

“How far?” Riley asked.

“Not far,” Aaron replied. “Summon your horse – let’s ride.”

The place that had been marked on Aaron’s map was an unnamed inlet that Beatrice had recommended because it was an active spawning point which spawned both a large number of Bunker Turtles and also respawned them frequently in a small area. Faster respawns meant higher EXP yields but more importantly, this spot was also pretty far away and secluded from human eyes. That made this place ideal for their purposes.

When they arrived at the inlet, the Bunker Turtles had not yet spawned. The trio still had a few minutes left before the hunting window opened and so, Lucius took the rest of the time to cast their buffs.

The Bunker Turtles were as the name suggested, giant turtles which resembled bunkers due to their large size and thick shells. Each one occupied about the same volume as a 2-story house and the ground shook whenever they took a step. At precisely 09:00, a bale of about 10 or so Bunker Turtles suddenly spawned at the mouth of the inlet, the appearance of which officially heralded the start of their day.

“Okay. You guys ready?” Aaron asked as he turned to face his friends.

“Uh-huh,” Riley confirmed before downing her AMP drink. “Woo! Kicks like a mule!”

“Buffs are already up,” Lucius reported with a nod. “We’re good to go.”

“Well all right then. Let’s do this!” Aaron shouted before he turned around and charged in to engage these incredibly slow turtles while Riley simply opened fire.

Aaron had barely made it to the first Bunker Turtle when it promptly disintegrated into digital dust.

“HOLY SHIT!” Riley expressed with surprise and glee before she re-positioned her P-90 and started mowing down another Bunker Turtle.

“GRAWR!” cried her victim, shortly before dying.

It was absurd how effective this was, like smallpox against the Native Americans.

“Okay, well, there’s no point in us being here,” Lucius deadpanned.

“YEAH, I KNOW! JUST HOLD MY PURSE!” Riley shouted over the raging gunfire she continued to unleash.

“DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA!” the P-90 roared, over and over as it unloaded bullet after bullet of Teflon-coated steel-core rage.

Riley was having the time of her life blowing those turtles to smithereens by the shore while Aaron and Lucius sat down on a fallen log and watched her do it from wayyy further back.

“Man, I wish I could do that,” Aaron said wistfully.

“You’ll get tired of it. I bet she will too,” Lucius predicted.

“Probably. But doesn’t that look fun?” Aaron asked.

“Can’t deny that,” Lucius replied.

“GUYS! I’M ALREADY LEVEL 270!” Riley yelled from the distance.

“GOOD JOB! KEEP IT UP!” Aaron yelled back supportively.

“So what should we do now?” Lucius asked.

“I don’t know. I thought I’d actually have a job to do. I didn’t think it’d be this easy,” Aaron replied.

“Yeah, me neither. At this rate, we might not even need to stay the night to grind tomorrow,” said Lucius.

“That’s almost a shame,” said Aaron. “To be honest, I was looking forward to camping out tonight.”

“Oh we are absolutely still doing that,” said Lucius. “Why wouldn’t we? We paid good money to get here. We can hop on an early train back tomorrow but we are NOT leaving before we get the chance to count the stars.”

Aaron furrowed his brow in disapproval.

“Dude, you KNOW it’s more advantageous to go back,” Aaron argued. “Our home base is in New Haven and we can’t access services like the Auction House or the library archives from here. But if we go back, we might be able to find something useful.”

Lucius heavily sighed and stared out into the distance.

“Aaron, I didn’t want to say this because it’s not fair to you but you need to understand that you’re not the one who’s facing death; we are,” said Lucius. “I know you want to do everything you can to help because you’re you, and also because you probably feel guilty that Riley and I might die even though that’s stupid and you shouldn’t. And I know that you believe that going back could improve our chances but the truth is, it probably won’t. We already got lucky when Bee came through for us and I don’t think we’re going to get lucky again. Life is a really shitty game and it’s not the slightest bit fair. It’s painful, fleeting, random, and cruel. That’s not within our control. We didn’t choose to be born but we can choose our company. And we can choose to stay here and camp out tonight, sing karaoke, and have a good time roasting hot dogs and eating smores – we can choose that; that is within our power. Regardless of how this shakes out, I’d rather have the memory of tonight and then face the end than trade that for the whisper of a promise. If I die, I don’t want to die with any regrets. I’m not giving up the fight but I’m not stupid enough to throw away happiness when it’s sitting right there either.”

Aaron scoffed and wistfully smirked. “Well I guess that settles that.”

“How’s that for a Talk-no-jutsu? Not bad, right?” Lucius asked smugly. “Besides, can you imagine trying to convince Riley to go back when she hasn’t even gone swimming, eaten grilled corn, or set the forest on fire yet?”

“HEY GUYS! IF WE HAVE TIME, CAN WE GO PARASAILING AFTER!?” Riley shouted.

And so, it was decided that the three friends were going to stay the night, have a good time, and not feel guilty about it either. Life is short and unpredictable and hard work often goes unrewarded anyway so why be stingy? Why deny yourself a moment of happiness when it’s right there for the taking? Should a farmer turn down a sip of water so that he may till the field a minute sooner? When a fire later burns down his field, would that sip have even mattered? Or was he a fool for having sown it in the first place? The future is full of uncertainty but one that that is certain is that the quality of one’s life is vastly more important than the number of days lived. So live life as it is meant to be lived: proudly, virtuously, and without regrets in the pursuit of happiness.