《Infigeas Online》


 Chapter 1: In which Kyle Wakes Up in a Dungeon

    Kyle woke up in a dungeon.


    There¡¯s a difference between a dungeon and a prison, as any RPG player could tell you. Prisons are well-kept places, meant to securely house reforming criminals. Dungeons are meant to house adventure, and so are usually dank and moldering; dark and neglected. This one was no exception. The room was illuminated by a single shaft of sunlight that lit the sparkling motes of dust in its wake. Moss grew on the floor, and Kyle could feel dampness seeping in through his clothes. There was a constant dripping sound coming from somewhere far-off, echoing from down the hallway. The place smelled of age and decay.


    As Kyle pulled himself to his feet, he conceded that this particular dungeon could bemistakenfor a prison. There were large iron bars separating the small cell he was in from a longer hallway. Some of these bars were set into a large doorframe, with a large lock sporting an iconic keyhole.


    Kyle felt cold, but neither tired nor stiff, which was surprising given that he had just regained consciousness after lying on a stone floor. He had no idea why he was in a dungeon. He remembered signing a contract in the Virtuaverse retail store a few minutes prior. He clearly remembered being led by an employee into some sterile looking gray room. Then¡­ he had woken up in a dungeon. It was disconcertingly sudden.


    He had only wanted to join that E-sports tournament Virtuaverse had been advertising. Given that he was in an obvious dungeon, part of him wondered if he somehow alreadywasin the tournament. The Virtuaverse employee at the building he went to said that the game would be played using some sort of ¡°never before seen¡± interface, and that part of the competition was to see who could adapt to using it the most quickly.


    He rubbed his arms to fight against the cold, and felt fabric far rougher than the nylon he thought he was wearing. He looked at his clothing, and found it was a creme-colored smock of some kind, with brown breeches as pants. Peasant clothing. Clean, aside from a few spots where it had gotten soiled from the slime on the floor. It seemed tougher and more durable than anything Kyle ever had a need to wear back in Cincinnati. Also stiffer than he¡¯d like.


    So. In a game, then. With starting equipment.


    Kyle walked over and touched the wall. It was cold, the sort of cold that makes you think it¡¯s damp until you take your hand away and find your fingers dry. He was obviously some in sort of virtual reality, but it had haptic and thermal feedback as well. Kyle had never trusted those ¡°cutting edge¡± spinal jacks enough to install one, so there should be no way for such realistic sensations to reach his brain. He pawed at his face for a moment, but felt no goggles or headset, either. What the hell did they do to him? Drug him, surgically install a spine jack, and dump him into a virtual world? There wasnothingin the contract that should have allowed them to do that. Kyle knew. He prided himself on reading contracts, if only to annoy the salespeople who handed them to him.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    There was an alternate possibility. The cell he was in could be real. Although how Virtuaverse could get such a realistic decrepit, mouldering dungeon, Kyle had no idea. Also disturbing was the idea that a Virtuaverse employee would drug him,remove all his clothing, replace it with thematically appropriate peasant garb, and then dump him in a cell. There was nothing in the contract that would have allowedthat, either.


    Kyle felt like he should be panicking, but the tightness in his chest was missing. Kyle supposed he should be grateful he could be calm in a situation like this. It was clear he was in a game of some sort, meaning he was in the competition whether he liked it or not. Panicking wouldn¡¯t help him win those five-million dollars. He walked to the gate-like barred-iron door separating his cell from the rest of the hallway, and gave it an experimental tug. It was indeed locked; that giant keyhole wasn¡¯t just for show. The keyhole was large enough that he could see through it, implying that perhaps he could reach the mechanism if he tried. He knelt to examine the lock as his mind continued to race.


    Kyle found it strange that his memory of his time at Virtuaverse ended so abruptly upon entering that gray room. The last thing he remembered was the employee asking ¡°Stand here for a moment,¡± and motioning to a pair of footprints labelled in yellow on the ground. Then, bam. Dungeon. It was unbelievably abrupt. Perhaps whatever drugs knocked him out also affected his memory? He vaguely recalled hearing about drugs that affected one¡¯s memory in Health class. That¡¯s why you don¡¯t take drinks from strangers, for instance. But he didn¡¯t think drugs like that could be this¡­ complete. Or abrupt. There should be some sort of foggy, hazy¡­something. Right? Kyle wasn¡¯t sure. He¡¯d never been drugged. To his knowledge.


    There was always the possibility that he did agree to¡­ whatever this was. At least, before his memories were (hypothetically) altered. Perhaps memory modification drugs were part of the game. Maybe waking up with no clue what was going on or memory of what you agreed to was important design-wise for some reason. But Kyle felt like he never would have agreed to such a thing.


    The lock was made of a separate front and back plate, spaced about an inch apart with the lock mechanism sandwiched between them. There were matching keyholes in the center of both plates, so that somebody with a key could unlock it from either side. The keyhole was large enough that Kyle could stick his fingers in, but it was too dark to see anything between the plates. He stuck his finger in and groped around behind the plates, but didn¡¯t feel the locking mechanism. He was getting frustrated.


    At that moment, Kyle heard footsteps down the hall to his right. His first instinct was to retreat from the lock and pretend he wasn¡¯t trying to escape. He decided against it. Trying to escape signaled his disapproval. Whoever was coming down the hallway could watch Kyle pick the lock, for all he cared.


    He glanced up to see a man in a dark robe with a hood that obscured his upper face, walking down the hall towards Kyle. The man¡¯s robe was so long it drug along the floor behind him, which made great thematic sense but seemed dumb in a dungeon with slimy floors. Kyle kept an eye on the man as he approached.


    ¡°Looking for this?¡± the man asked, producing a large metal key from his pocket.

 Chapter 2: In which Kyle Interrogates a Jailor

    ¡°Looking for this?¡± the man asked, producing a large metal key from his pocket.


    ¡°Oh hey, yeah.¡± Kyle said in a sarcastic deadpan. ¡°Can I see that?¡± Kyle suspected any further attempt to operate the lock without a key would prove fruitless, so he stood up and held out his hand.


    ¡°Of course. But first, we need to talk.¡± The man hid the key back in one of the pockets of his robe.


    ¡°Sure. I¡¯ll start. What thehellis going on here?¡± Kyle demanded.


    ¡°You are in ¡®Infigeas¡¯, the newest game by Virtuaverse. In this world, you-¡±


    ¡°How did I get here?¡± Kyle interrupted. The man paused for a moment.


    ¡°I cannot comment on how Virtuaverse technology works. Suffice it to say, this is simply an immersive virtual reality simulation in which-¡±


    ¡°Did you do surgery on me while I was unconscious?¡±


    Again, the man paused before responding. ¡°No. That was not needed given this interface.¡±


    ¡°So what happened while I was out, then?¡± Kyle demanded. He knew he was acting demanding and rude, but he didn¡¯t care. It¡¯s not like it was exactlypoliteto stick people in dungeons while they¡¯re knocked out.


    ¡°We brought you into this cell while awaiting the other contestants.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,how? This is virtual reality. I¡¯m a real person. How¡¯d you ¡®Bring me in¡¯?¡±


    ¡°I cannot comment on how Virtuaverse technology works. Suffice it to say, this is simply an immersive virtual reality situation in which-¡±


    ¡°For crying out loud!¡± Kyle shouted, throwing his hands in the air in frustration and turning away from the cell door. As he stood there, fuming, the man in the robe remained silent. Either he was unsure of what to say, or he was waiting for Kyle to calm down.


    Kyle knew, intellectually, that he was angry. But there was something missing. He had no sense of adrenaline. His fingers didn¡¯t feel twitchy. There was somethingwrongwith him, but not in a way he could put a finger on concretely enough to ask the man about. Instead, he opted for a different line of conversation. ¡°Who are you, anyway?¡± Kyle asked the man, turning back to face him.


    ¡°I am a wall-breaker, a special kind of NPC with authority to speak frankly with the player about such things as game mechanics, interface, and the outside world.¡±


    That would explain the pauses. It was probably some sort of AI that queried a neural net to select which pre-canned answer to reply with. ¡°You can talk about the outside world?¡± Kyle asked.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°How long was I unconscious for?¡±


    ¡°Sixteen days.¡±Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    ¡°Over two weeks?! Has nobody wondered where I am? My girlfriend? My parents?¡±


    ¡°They know where you are.¡±


    ¡°And they didn¡¯t try to save me?¡±


    ¡°You volunteered to be here. Your friends and family likely approve of your decision.¡±


    That was junk, and Kyle knew it. There wasnothingin the contract that suggested that he¡¯d volunteered to be here. And knowing Kyle¡¯s father, there was probably a giant legal battle going on in the outside world. Kyle was ticked, but the adrenaline still wasn¡¯t kicking in. What the hell was wrong with him?


    Well, arguing with a computer was probably pointless. Containing his weird, purely-mental quasi-rage, he tried to make the best of his situation. ¡°Fine. You¡¯re obviously here to give me a tutorial. Lay it on me.¡±


    Another pause. There was a reason most games still stuck to pre-planned dialogue trees; AIs capable of responding to any arbitrary input were often agonizingly slow. ¡°To maximize the immersiveness of this game, no interface elements appear unless you specifically request them from the system. You do that with your Action Crystal, located on the inner side of your wrists.¡±


    Kyle checked for such a crystal. He saw a small gray hexagonal crystal about the size of his thumbnail attached to the inside edge of his left wrist. ¡°If you press this crystal,¡± the man continued, ¡°you open up a user interface.¡± Kyle tapped the crystal, and a glowing, floating, translucent menu popped up about a foot in front of his left hand. There were six options; Status, Skills, Social, Inventory, Options, and Help. It was obviously a game interface. So much for the theory of being physically located in some dungeon somewhere. He was trapped in some virtual world for sure.


    Kyle¡¯s gamer instincts made him itch to poke around in the menus, but the man kept talking; ¡°I¡¯ll leave it to you to experiment, but please note the ¡®Help¡¯ menu. As you gain skills and abilities, you will find their technical descriptions in this menu. As you have no access to community-created wikis, this documentation will be all you have. Please check there frequently for additional tutorials and information¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m assuming I¡¯m trapped in here until somebody wins?¡±


    Again with that infernal AI pause. ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°What happens if I die?¡±


    ¡°You will be put in suspended animation for twenty-four hours, after which you will wake up. Your exact respawn location will depend on your-¡±


    ¡°A whole day!?¡± Kyle said, appalled. ¡°How long does this freakin¡¯ competition take?¡±


    The importance of the question made the pause unusually frustrating. Finally, the NPC said, ¡°the designers expect for this contest to take at least a year.¡±


    ¡°A year? Atleast? What about my college education! My girlfriend! My bills! Mylife! No. I refuse. Get me out of this game. Thisisn¡¯twhat I signed up for. It¡¯snotwhat I agreed to. It¡¯s not right, it¡¯s not fair, and it¡¯snotgonna happen.¡±


    Pause. ¡°Logging out is not an option at this point.¡±


    ¡°My father¡¯s gonna sue every cent off your sorry company, you know that, right?¡±


    Pause. Then, the hooded figure pulled out a key from his pocket and unlocked the door, which swung open with a dramatic creak. A small hatchet materialized in the figure¡¯s hand. Kyle immediately tensed, but the figure let the axe slide in his grip until he was holding near the axe head, and then handed the axe, handle first, to Kyle, who took it. ¡°This is your starting weapon. You may find it useful in other ways, as well.¡±


    Kyle considered attacking the hooded man out of spite, but decided against it. The man was just an NPC, not an actual person. Threatening or killing him would do nothing constructive. In fact, worst case scenario, the hooded man could end up being some incredibly powerful sorcerer or something and zap him to death and¡­ cost him 24 hours, Kyle supposed.


    ¡°What now?¡± Kyle asked.


    ¡°I will leave you to it.¡± The man walked down the hallway, fading to translucency before disappearing as he left.


    Kyle sighed. There was a dungeon in front of him he would need to conquer, but before that, there was something even more intimidating he had to face.


    He pressed the crystal on his wrist, then punched the ¡°Help¡± button with his left thumb when it appeared. As he feared, it was pretty much a giant wall of text split into hyperlinked topics. He picked a topic, sat down with a sigh, and started reading.

 Chapter 3: In which there is No Combat Tutorial

    The documentation was in some ways quite helpful, but in other ways, it was disheartening. It was woefully incomplete, for one. Mechanics he had not been exposed to (for example, the party system) were just not present in the help menu, probably to avoid overwhelming players with too much information.


    Given that he hadn¡¯t interacted much with the game, there wasn¡¯t much information available. He read what little there was. It was presented in a dry, bare-bones fashion. Kyle supposed there was no reason to impress readers when their whole lives for the coming year would revolve around each word.


    Mentally filing away what he read, he stood up. He braced himself for his legs to feel tingly and stiff after sitting on the stone floor for so long, but no such feeling occurred.


    He started by testing his command menu. He picked the axe up from the ground where he¡¯d laid it, and held it with his left hand. Doing so made the crystal on his wrist change color to green. He pressed it with his right hand. When the menu appeared, he tapped the ¡®Skills¡± button followed by the only option in that menu; the ¡°Examine¡± command. The menus disappeared as a chime of confirmation sounded in Kyle¡¯s ears.


    Following the directions he had read in the help menu, he stared at the axe. As he did, a donut-shaped progress bar appeared around the center of his vision, filling in clockwise. When it finished filling in, a small information panel popped up next to the axe with information about it.


    It¡¯s damage bonus was +5, an arbitrary number that held absolutely no meaning to Kyle. It¡¯s durability was infinite, which seemed polite given that it was starting equipment. It was crafted by ¡°The Ancients¡±, which probably implied the game had a crafting system that supported player-made items. It¡¯s quality was 50, which Kyle took to mean average, but he couldn¡¯t be sure. It was ¡°Soulbound,¡± whatever that meant. Maybe that it couldn¡¯t be traded to others? That seemed strange. What if he just handed it to a guy? How would that work?


    Kyle tapped the command crystal again. The moment he stopped looking at the axe¡¯s information, the info panel disappeared, for which Kyle was grateful. Augmented reality had never really been his thing; he preferred to see the world without informational overlays. He tapped the ¡°Inventory¡¯ command, followed by the only option in that menu, the ¡°deposit¡± command. The axe shimmered, then flashed out of existence. It was now in Kyle¡¯s inventory in some abstract game-like way, rather than being a physical interactable object.


    Kyle gave himself a moment to feel smug and cool before realizing that he was in a dungeon, and that leaving his only weapon sheathed in a convoluted, unfamiliar hammer-space was probably a bad idea. He got back into the inventory menu, and tapped the newly present picture of his axe. With a shimmer, it appeared in his right hand, conveniently positioned blade outward. It floated in the air weightlessly until Kyle¡¯s fingers wrapped around the haft, at which point Kyle felt the axe suddenly become hefty.


    As much as Kyle hated the whole ¡°trapped in a game¡± thing, the inventory system was pretty cool. Three out of five stars: ¡°Would have loved playing had I not been kidnapped and forced to do so.¡±This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Holding his axe, he walked forward down the hall. Time to see what else was in this virtual world.


    In less than a minute of walking, he came to a door. This presented more interface problems. Kyle got the feeling that he should check it for traps or listen for monsters on the other end or something, but he wasn¡¯t sure how such things worked. Did he just¡­ look? What would he even look for? Traps in RPGs had always been abstract concepts to him, found and disarmed either with skill checks or mini-games. Should he be looking for tripwires? Pressure plates?


    Kyle didn¡¯t see anything of the sort, so he tried his only other idea; he used the ¡°Examine¡± skill in his crystal¡¯s menu on the door. After a moment of waiting as the circular bar filled up, the resulting information panel announced that the door was destructible, had an unknown number of hit points, was crafted by ¡°The ancients¡±, and, most importantly, was unlocked.


    Kyle took a deep breath, turned the knob, and pushed open the door a crack.


    Nothing seemed to happen.


    Actually being in a dungeon was making Kyle second-guess himself. In retrospect, it made sense that the designers wouldn¡¯t put a hidden deathtrap on the very first door.


    He opened up the door the rest of the way and looked into the room beyond. As he did so, a small figure holding a torch turned to face him.


    It was a goblin, obviously. Most fantasy RPGs had such monsters, small humanoid creatures with limited intelligence and weak physiques. But the funny thing about goblins were their appearance: get a hundred such RPGs together, and you will have a hundred different forms of goblin, each with a unique look. This particular goblin had leathery brown skin, small beady eyes, and a ragged, unkempt mane of black hair. It stood about a yard high, and had a torch in one hand and was pulling a small rusted sword from a scabbard with the other.


    The goblin slowly approached, growling slightly. Kyle took a step forward, just to see if he could. Nothing stopped him. Given that they were moving at the same time, whatever combat system this game used must not be turn based. He tapped his crystal with the back of his axehead, and punched the ¡°Skills¡± button with his left hand. There was still nothing there but ¡°Examine.¡± Crap. He was hoping actually being in a combat would have unlocked more options or something. He punched examine anyway. Might as well. The progress bar appeared around the goblin and started to fill.


    ¡°Hey, um¡­ you wouldn¡¯t happen to know how I¡¯m supposed to kill you, do you?¡± Kyle asked the goblin. ¡°I¡¯m kind of new at this.¡±


    The goblin screamed at him in response; a high-pitched, hoarse, feral sound that deeply unnerved Kyle. Kyle realized that he should probably be worried. Obviously, he was supposed to beat this thing, but what if he got hit during the combat? Stuff in this game seemed to be unusually real. Would it hurt? He imagined the sword biting into his arm, and decided he did not want to find out. He took a step back and held the axe in front of him in his best approximation of a defensive stance.


    The progress bar finished. He got laughably little info. Name: Goblin. Race: Goblin. It¡¯s level and HP were represented by question marks. The window ended with a note that more info would be available if he increased his ¡°monster lore¡¯ skill. It was the first time Kyle had seen the term.


    ¡°Um¡­ wall-breaker? NPC guy?¡± Kyle glanced behind him to make sure he had a clear path of escape. When he looked back to the goblin, the info panel had shrunk until only the HP bar remained. ¡°Um¡­ Could I get a combat tutorial please? Do I¡­ do I just hit it, or what?¡±


    The goblin grinned and charged.

 Chapter 4: In which Someone is Stabbed

    Kyle hadn¡¯t been in anything resembling physical combat since elementary school, and the fights back then had never ended well for him. Options flew through his head. Hit the goblin with the axe before it swung its sword? Try to block the swing with the axe haft? Jump over the goblin? Dodge roll to the side like in an action game? With a myriad of possible options in front of him, Kyle took what was probably the least effective course of action; he stood there paralyzed with indecision as the goblin charged him. The closest thing to a response he mustered was to tense up as the sword sunk into his thigh.


    ¡°Aaurgh!!¡± Kyle cried out. The pain was real and biting. Instinct took over, and he kicked at the goblin with his unwounded leg. The blow connected in the goblins stomach and sent it tumbling backwards. As the goblin regained its footing, Kyle readied his axe to swing it at his foe.


    Kyle paused before delivering the blow, though. He had killed thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of enemies in various games. Many were goblins. Many were in the first person.


    But none of them were this real. Kyle realized there was a huge difference between clicking a mouse and chopping at the head of a living creature with an axe.


    As Kyle hesitated, the goblin struck again, stabbing its sword in the right side of Kyle¡¯s chest. Kyle shouted, half battle cry and half cry of pain. Then, fuelled by his pain, he brought his axe down towards the goblin¡¯s head. He missed, grazing the goblin across the chest. The HP bar above the goblin decreased a bit as the goblin grimaced and took a more defensive stance, dropping its torch on the ground to hold its sword in two hands. It continued to swing its sword, but Kyle had longer arms, and the goblin now seemed unwilling to commit enough to get within Kyle¡¯s reach.


    Now that Kyle was no longer acting on reflex, he took mental stock of himself. His leg and chest hurt like crap, but his leg was supporting weight and his chest wasn¡¯t dripping or anything. He took a step forward and shouted something indistinct at the goblin, hoping to maybe scare it off. It screamed back at him, that same unnerving, feral screech, and swung its sword, about a foot away from Kyle¡¯s stomach. Kyle slowly advanced on it, and it kept pace moving backwards, staying just outside of Kyle¡¯s reach.


    Finally, Kyle took a deep breath and bolted towards it, bringing his axe down in an overhead chop.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    The goblin stuck its sword above its head to try and parry the blow. The flat of the sword blade intercepted the haft of the axe, but Kyle had put more force into the blow than the goblin could withstand, and the axe head sunk into the goblin¡¯s skull as the sword was knocked low.


    The sudden feeling of resistance as the axe hit flesh was unnerving. Kyle had just killed a thing. He squeezed his eyes shut, let go of the axe, and turned away, hearing a thump as the goblin hit the floor.


    Kyle felt at his chest. It hurt, but he couldn¡¯t find a gash in his clothing. His pants were likewise unharmed. Still, the pain was tangible and real. He stuck his hand under his shirt to feel for the wound, but felt neither gore nor blood.


    He opened up his status screen, and glanced at his HP. He was at 58% of his max. The goblin went down fast, but had Kyle been a little less decisive, he could have been dead. Or¡­ whatever passed for dead in this game.


    Crap. If being at 58% hp hurt this bad, then what would dying feel like?


    Satisfied that he was not in immediate peril, Kyle looked towards the goblin.


    The axe was still stuck in the goblin¡¯s head where Kyle had left it. There was no blood, making the view seem strange and incongruous, but not grizzly. The goblin¡¯s eyes still stared blankly forward. The HP bar had disappeared.


    Kyle took a deep breath, planted a foot on the dead goblin¡¯s chest, and yanked at the axe. It pulled free, and left a perfectly intact goblin head, with only a thin pink line to show there had been a wound at all. Kyle also saw the start of a pink line near the goblin¡¯s neck that disappeared under the goblin¡¯s leather shirt. For something so authentically violent and unnerving, the lack of blood felt¡­ wrong. Censored. But censored poorly.


    No fanfare. No XP bar rising. No loot list.


    Which wasn¡¯t to say there wasn¡¯t loot, Kyle realized. He grabbed the goblin¡¯s sword and Examined it. Crafted by ¡°Goblins¡±, 39/40 durability, 15% quality, +4 damage. Seemed the axe was better. The sword was vendor trash then? Whatever. Holding the sword in his left hand, he punched the appropriate commands to drop it into his inventory. Loot. Yay. A familiar trope in an eerie world, Kyle thought grimly.


    He considered looking for other items on the dead goblin, but couldn¡¯t bring himself to. What was he supposed to do, strip the goblin nude? Whatever. It probably didn¡¯t matter. Goblins classically never carried much of value anyway.


    Leaving the corpse there, Kyle approached the door on the other side of the room. The lack of hinges on Kyle¡¯s side implied it opened into the room beyond.


    Kyle gripped his axe in both hands. Well, if this is how the game works, then so be it. Time to embrace his inner murder-hobo.


    He put on his best intimidating grimace and kicked the door open, shouting and brandishing his axe.

 Chapter 5: In which Kyle Parties

    ¡°See? Now this guy gets it.¡±


    The voice belonged to a tan skinned teenage girl with purple tipped black hair. She was casually holding a very familiar looking axe, and was talking sideways to an intimidatingly large and muscular caucasian man leaning against a stone wall. Both were wearing the same style of cloth clothing Kyle was. Kyle felt a little sheepish in his awkward combat stance.


    ¡°Get what? Who are you?¡± Kyle asked. He stepped into the room, a square stone chamber with a giant open-air skylight above them. There were three exits besides the one Kyle entered from; two were open, and the other was closed.


    ¡°I¡¯m Mia,¡± said the girl. ¡°And you get this whole ¡®dungeoneering¡¯ thing. Kick down the door. Kill the stuff on the other side. Take the loot. Level up. Repeat.¡±


    Kyle kept his axe at the ready, wondering what to make of the two people. The other man in the room slowly started to fall into a defensive stance.


    ¡°Relax,¡± said Mia. ¡°We¡¯re not monsters. We¡¯re players.¡±


    ¡°That means we¡¯re competing. Doesn¡¯t that make you more likely to want to kill me?¡±


    ¡°For now? I¡¯d actually rather team up and kill the devs.¡±


    ¡°Cool. Me too.¡± Kyle lowered his axe, then, on second thought, stowed it in his inventory. ¡°So what¡¯s the plan? Are we trying to figure out how to get through this door or what?¡±


    ¡°We think there¡¯s still one person waiting to come out,¡± the larger man said. ¡°That closed door? It¡¯s the same as the one you just came out of.¡±


    ¡°So they¡¯re putting us into a typical four person party, then?¡± Kyle said. ¡°Anybody want to call roles?¡±


    ¡°I call not healer,¡± Mia said. She tapped her crystal and started punching at buttons that were invisible to Kyle. Suddenly a window appeared near Kyle¡¯s left hand, ¡°Party invite: Mia, Lvl 0 un-classed human.¡±


    Kyle hit the accept button. ¡°How¡¯d you know to do that? There wasn¡¯t any info about party stuff in the help menu.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s your first problem then. Who reads manuals these days? Just mess with the menus.¡±


    Kyle rolled his eyes. He¡¯d do that later. ¡°So, say another guy comes out of this door. Then what? We¡¯re out of exits¡±


    ¡°We figure something will happen and let us out the ceiling,¡± the large man said, pointing to the open skylight. ¡°Either that or there¡¯s some sort of death battle and only one of us leaves.¡±


    Kyle hoped that wasn¡¯t the case.


    ¡°So what¡¯s your story, Kyle?¡± Mia asked. ¡°You some sort of athlete too?¡±


    ¡°How¡¯d you know my name?¡¯ Kyle asked.


    ¡°Party overlay. Under options. It shows your name. Also, that you¡¯re hurt. Seriously, have you not looked at your options?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve read everything in the help menu.¡±


    ¡°Ah, so that¡¯s why you were so slow getting out. And you still don¡¯t know the interface.¡±


    ¡°At least I was faster than that guy is,¡± Kyle said, motioning to the still-closed door. ¡°And I¡¯m not an athlete. Why do you ask?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m a linebacker for the Rams,¡± the unknown man said. ¡°And she¡¯s an aspiring E-sports player.¡± he said, motioning to Mia. ¡°We¡¯re wondering why you¡¯re here.¡± Kyle wished he knew the man¡¯s name. He itched to turn on the ¡°Party overlay,¡± whatever that was, but didn¡¯t want to give Mia the satisfaction of watching him root through menus like a noob.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    ¡°Dunno,¡± Kyle said. ¡°I was a walk-in. I went to the recruitment station, handed in my application, and they told me I was approved in like a half hour. I¡¯m a grad student, and figured even if all I got was the thousand dollar booby prize it¡¯d help with student loans.¡±


    ¡°You play games?¡± Mia asked.


    ¡°A bunch. More indie stuff than big MMOs or E-sports, though.¡±


    ¡°Still cool. We need more gamers.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m telling you, I¡¯ve got three capped characters in two different MMOs,¡± the linebacker said. ¡°Just because I¡¯m an athlete doesn¡¯t mean I don¡¯t game.¡±


    ¡°So what? Everyone games these days. We need serious gamers, not athletes. You look big, but your strength score is the same as mine.¡±


    ¡°Actually, his strength score¡¯s misleading,¡± Kyle said, ¡°Strength just acts as modifier to whatever actual strength the player comes into the system with.¡± Kyle looked nervously at the man. His arms were thicker than Kyle¡¯s neck. ¡°He¡¯s still buff, even here. I¡¯d probably need like eight or nine levels in strength before we¡¯re comparable.¡±


    ¡°Whaat?¡± Mia groaned. ¡°How is that fair?¡±


    ¡°How fair is it that you¡¯ve played games enough to become an E-sports athlete?¡± Kyle asked.


    ¡°Aspiring athlete,¡± the man corrected.


    ¡°Whatever,¡± Kyle said. ¡°At any rate, They¡¯re just trying to make it so people with different real-life backgrounds have different strengths. Reflexes work the same way. Like, if you rank your reflexes score, then while in combat, you get a bullet-time effect that slows down time. Again, it acts like a multiplier, but on your real-life reflexes.¡±


    ¡°How do you know this?¡± Mia asked. ¡°You¡¯re level ¡®zero¡¯, like us. It¡¯s not like you¡¯ve ranked reflexes yet.¡±


    ¡°I read the help menus.¡± Kyle grinned.


    ¡°Bookworm,¡± scoffed Mia. ¡°He must be the mage. Obviously.¡±


    ¡°Suits me fine,¡± Kyle said. The help files hinted at a magic system, and frankly, he¡¯d rather lob fireballs at foes than cleave their skulls with axes. He still felt unsettled from the goblin battle. ¡°So what¡¯s our plan, then? Like, long term? Are we sticking together?¡±


    ¡°Long term plan is to figure out how we¡¯re supposed to win this game,¡± Mia said. ¡°If we can be the first to figure out the goal of the game, we can get started on it before the other teams do. After we know what we¡¯re doing, we can decide whether to team up for reals.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re supposed to find the hundred transcendance crystals,¡± Kyle said. ¡°They look like giant floating octahedrons with beams shooting up into the sky, and they¡¯re dotted around the landscape above ground. First person to touch all hundred wins. And each time you touch one, you gain a level.¡±


    Mia looked at Kyle with an inscrutable expression. Disgust?


    ¡°You should read the help files,¡± Kyle smirked.


    ¡°Why should I do that when I¡¯ve got a guildy who does it for me?¡± Even as she said that, Kyle could see her navigating invisible menus with her left hand.


    Well, if she was going to mess with menus, Kyle was going to check out what he missed in the options screen. He started poking around. Turns out there was a whole section dedicated to various sorts of augmented reality overlays he could turn on. It was surprisingly fully-featured. He stuck his HP bar a few feet in front and above him at a 45 degree angle, so he could glance up at it at any time. He stuck the HP bars of his party-mates up there as well, and in so doing learned the quiet linebacker was named Mason, and he was hurt just slightly less than Kyle was.


    Kyle found he could put his equipment¡¯s durability up in his custom GUI too, but saw no need to given that his axe was indestructible. There was an option to either put up icons or tint his display if he was affected by adverse conditions like poison, sickness, and so forth. Some of the listed status effects were kind of esoteric.


    ¡°Any of you guys know what ¡®Doom¡¯ is? It¡¯s¡­ a possible status effect in the affliction GUI¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Not in the help file?¡± Mia said.


    ¡°No. Stuff gets added to the help file as I run across it in game. Like, the whole thing about the party system? It¡¯s in the help files now that I¡¯ve been in a party. There¡¯s way more on combat than there used to be, too. But yeah, I probably won¡¯t be able to read about doom until I¡¯m¡­ already doomed, I guess?¡±


    ¡°Oh, that makes sense. And here I thought you were just lying when you said you read the whole thing. Because party stuff is totally there in my help menu.¡±


    ¡°At the rate we¡¯re unlocking documentation, keeping up to date on it seems like a full-time job.¡±


    ¡°Who the has time for that sort of wall of text?¡±


    ¡°We do. This game¡¯s supposed to last about a year, remember?¡±


    ¡°A year? Ungh¡­¡± Mia began rubbing her face. ¡°Where¡¯d you see that?¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t. I asked the NPC who unlocked my cell.¡±


    ¡°Huh. I didn¡¯t think of asking him for information. I just sort of cussed him out ¡®till he gave me the axe and left.¡±


    Kyle kept going through the options menu, occasionally asking the others in the room if they understood various components. He decided Mia was a bit of a pain. She struck him as bossy, critical, and competitive. On the plus side, she wasn¡¯t competitive enough to try to axe them all (literally) so there was that at least. She obviously was trying to take charge of their ¡°party¡±, and Kyle figured it wasn¡¯t worth arguing about.


    As they examined their menus, the final door rumbled and opened. Kyle immediately switched to his inventory and pulled out his axe. Just in case. He tapped his command crystal to close the interface and looked at the newcomer.

 Chapter 6: In which there is Already Intra-Party Conflict

    He was a middle-aged hispanic man, slightly overweight but not portly. Red-pink streaks over his face and arms indicated he had not had an easy time with his goblin. He was puffing slightly, and held his hatchet unsteadily. He looked up at Kyle and the rest of the party, paused, then dropped his hatchet. ¡°I surrender.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± said Mia. ¡°Now we¡¯re assimilating you. Welcome to the group. Have a party invite.¡± She tapped a few invisible buttons, and the new man¡¯s eyes focused on a place in front of him. He hesitantly poked at the air, and suddenly a new HP bar appeared under the others: Jacob, level 0, un-classed, 8% HP. This guy had barely survived.


    ¡°I¡¯m surprised that worked,¡± Jacob said. ¡°I thought my crystal was broken.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± Kyle asked. ¡°Why would you think that?¡¯


    ¡°The buttons don¡¯t work when I press them.¡±


    ¡°Can I see?¡± asked Mia, walking over. Kyle wasn¡¯t sure how that would help. As far as he knew, everybody¡¯s menus were invisible to everybody else.


    ¡°Sure.¡± Jacob pressed the crystal with his right hand, then, leaving the crystal held down, he started rapidly poking a spot of air with his left hand.


    ¡°See, I see these buttons. and they chime when I press them. But I can¡¯t press them. I mean¡­ I guess I can, because sometimes I can barely see buttons from a different menu, but only for a brief-¡±


    ¡°Oh my god,¡± Mia said. ¡°You tap the crystal to open the menu. Don¡¯t hold it down.¡±


    ¡°Wait, really? Because the man in the robe said to press it.¡±


    ¡°Press means press and release.¡± Mia said, as though it were obvious. To Kyle, of course, it was, but that might just be his gaming literacy speaking.


    ¡°Oh.¡± Jacob tapped the crystal, then poked in the air. ¡®Oh, there we go. Man, I wish I had seen that earlier. I bet there¡¯s something in the help menu about how to kill goblins.


    ¡°Surprisingly little.¡± Kyle said.


    ¡°Well dang.¡± Jacob said, slowly exploring his menu.


    ¡°What¡¯s your deal? What¡¯re you doing here?¡± Mia asked accusingly.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. I¡¯m new.¡±


    ¡°We all are,¡± Mason interjected from the side.


    Mia rolled her eyes. ¡°I mean, why did you join this thing? What made you think you should even be in this competition?¡±


    Jacob ran his fingers through his hair, eyes still focused on his menus. ¡°I¡¯ve got a son. He¡¯s really into E-sports, you know? So when this competition came out, I figured he was going to want to watch it. So I looked into the tournament, and found that they were asking for a variety of skill levels. Like, you didn¡¯t have to be a teenage hotshot. You could join even if you were just a normal guy, you know?¡±


    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t win,¡± said Mia. Her expression was growing dark.


    ¡°Well yeah, but that wasn¡¯t the point,¡± Jacob said. ¡°I just wanted to be a hero for my son. If I lasted even five minutes in this competition, I¡¯d have been able to say, ¡®Look, son, there¡¯s your dad! He¡¯s playing too!¡¯ I just wanted to be a part of his world, you know? I wanted to show him that I cared enough about his interests to participate.¡±


    ¡°So you joined an international E-sports competition,¡± Mia said harshly. ¡°Just because you could.¡±Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    ¡°I tried,¡± Jacob said. ¡°I mean, I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d get in. But then¡­ they said I was approved. And they led me into a room. And then, I don¡¯t know what-¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re trapped here. For about a year.¡± Mia said. ¡°And I¡¯m ticked. You shouldn¡¯t be here.¡± Mia said, jabbing her finger towards Jacob.


    ¡°A year? But¡­ I have a family I need to-¡±


    ¡°Yeah, well we aren¡¯t thrilled about it either,¡± Mia said angrily. ¡°Have you even played games before?¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­ Some,¡± Jacob said. He looked completely overwhelmed by Mia¡¯s informational assault. ¡°I¡­ I grew up in high school with those old Playstation games. Think I even got the Playstation Three.¡±


    ¡°No, I mean real games,¡± Mia said. ¡°HTC Evolution? Gamejack? Ever heard of those?¡±


    ¡°Well yes, but I¡¯ve never used them. I have a VR console I use for virtual hangouts with family. But I work in retail to support my wife and kids. I don¡¯t have a lot of time to-¡±


    ¡°Could somebody tell me why would they accept this guy into the competition? Because I¡¯m pissed.¡± Mia started walking towards Jacob, who was slowly backing up. ¡°I thought this would be a legit pre-release tournament, not some variety show. I mean, what¡¯ve we got in this group? A book-worm, a jock, and some guy¡¯s dad, for crying out loud. Is this what they intended?¡± Mia was almost shouting now. ¡°Like, is each of these little pods supposed to be a group with three dumb-ass newbs and a one serious contender that has to shepherd them to victory? Am I the only one here with-¡±


    In one swift motion, Mason strode towards Mia and grabbed her axe hand, lifting her off the ground.


    Unable to use the axe to defend herself, Mia kicked her feet, but Mason¡¯s HP didn¡¯t decrease. The blows were just not powerful enough to register as an attack. Mia looked at Mason. Her eyes had some degree of fear, but also the intelligent look of somebody rapidly adjusting to a change of paradigm. Mason started walking towards one of the walls of the room, Mia still dangling.


    ¡°Yes, you¡¯re right,¡± Mason said. ¡°These are starting pods. Each pod has a single serious contender and three walk-ins.¡±


    Mia tapped her left wrist, still free, against her hip, activating the crystal, then quickly poked buttons. A goblin sword shimmered into existence by her free hand, and Mia grabbed it from the air. No sooner than she did, Mason grabbed Mia¡¯s left hand, fingers digging into the flesh of her forearm. He pinned the hand against a wall, and locked eyes with Mia.


    ¡°What you need to realize,¡± Mason said, ¡°Is that you are not the serious contender. You¡¯re one of the walk-ins. This isn¡¯t a normal game. Physical coordination, fitness, reflexes, and prior combat training are just as important as being genre-savvy.¡± Mia¡¯s eyes darted, looking for a way out. Her breathing sped up.


    ¡°There were fifty contenders chosen per region,¡± Mason continued. ¡°Ten professional E-sports gamers. Ten traditional athletes. Ten university professors, each from a different field. Ten streamers. Ten other celebrities designed to attract views and publicity. VirtuaVerse sought them all out and offered them contracts. Another hundred-fifty walk-ins per region were chosen. You were not one of the ten gamers. You might be good at games, but you were a walk-in.¡±


    Mia was still not beaten. She lifted both legs and planted her feet on Mason¡¯s stomach, then, with her back braced against the wall, started pushing Mason back with both legs. Mason adjusted his stance to avoid falling over backwards, but kept Mia¡¯s arms pinned.


    ¡°I am a professional linebacker. They asked me to be in this contest. I¡¯ve also had eight years martial arts training. Before that, I grew up in the city. I got in all kinds of fights. You can call us all idiots because we don¡¯t catch onto the interface as well as you do, but I could crush you just as easy as I crushed that goblin. Unarmed. You¡¯d wake up 24 hours later, alone in this dungeon, with no party.¡±


    He lowered Mia, who brought her feet under her again, then shoved Mia away to the side. She tried to retain her balance but failed and fell rear-first on the stone floor.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want that, though,¡± Mason continued as Mia scrambled to her feet. ¡°I think we each have something to add, here. You obviously catch on to systems fast. This guy has a thing for esoterica from help files, and that¡¯s gonna help. Even ¡®Dad¡¯ here probably has some sort of useful skill, or they wouldn¡¯t have let him in. You¡¯ve got to understand, this is not your show, Mia. If it¡¯s anybody¡¯s show, it¡¯s mine. But I don¡¯t think it needs to come to that. ¡±


    ¡°So let¡¯s try this again. Mia, you¡¯ve had experience with MMOs. You¡¯ve used consoles we haven¡¯t. I¡¯m just the dumb party fighter. What¡¯re we gonna do to win this thing so we can get back to our families?¡±


    Mia looked angry and confused. Kyle mentally cheered.


    Mia pulled herself to her feet. ¡°Well first,¡± she said, ¡°we need to stop fighting ourselves. If this sort of thing happened on the battlefield, we¡¯d have all died as some rando sniped us or whatever.¡± Her goblin sword dematerialized as she put it in her inventory.


    ¡°Great,¡± said Mason. ¡°I completely agree. Let¡¯s cut the bullying.¡±


    Mia rolled her eyes. ¡°Next, we should figure out how to get out of this hole.¡±

 Chapter 7: In which Mason is Uplifting

    ¡°The ceiling¡¯s only about 10 feet high, and we can see the sky from here,¡± Mason said. ¡°I¡¯ll lift somebody up, and they can grab the edge and pull themselves out.¡±


    Kyle jumped into the conversation. ¡°How¡¯ll you get out, then?¡±


    ¡°Dunno,¡± Mason said. ¡°Maybe there¡¯s a rope or a lever or something up there. Or a rock you can push down here so I can stand on it and jump high enough to reach the lip.¡±


    ¡°So who¡¯s going up first?¡± Mia asked.


    ¡°I vote he does,¡± Kyle said, pointing at Jacob.


    ¡°Why me?¡± Jacob said.


    ¡°This place has game-like qualities to it, but it¡¯s also real in a way I¡¯ve never seen before,¡± Kyle said. ¡°As the person with the least exposure to games so far, you ought to go up. You might see things in a way we don¡¯t.¡± That was a lie, of course. Kyle just wanted the poor guy to feel useful, especially after getting chewed out by Mia. When you were in a group, it helped to feel like you had a job.


    Kyle expected either Mason or Mia to object, but they both nodded. Mia was already back to tapping buttons in her menu.


    ¡°If¡­ if you really think so,¡± said Jacob. He went over to Mason, who crouched, grabbed Jacob at the knees, and with a grunt lifted him towards the ceiling.


    As this took place, an alert, much like the party invitation from earlier, appeared in front of Kyle. ¡°Mia: Good call,¡± it said, ¡°Let the dad be the scout. If he gets eaten, no loss.¡± Kyle glanced over at Mia, who was already looking at him. She smirked and looked away.


    Kyle noted a reply button and tapped it. A keypad similar to a cell-phone¡¯s popped up. Kyle tapped his crystal to close the display. The message wasn¡¯t worth responding to. But it was good to know they could communicate in semi-secrecy. He decided he¡¯d keep an eye on Mia¡¯s ¡°texting¡± hand, just in case.


    Although in retrospect, Mia had caught onto something that Kyle hadn¡¯t. Jacob¡¯s HP was low. He glanced back up at the HP bars he¡¯d set over his head. Kyle was at 59%. Mason at 65%. Mia took a bit of damage from Mason, which confirmed Kyle¡¯s suspicion that PvP was a thing in this game, but was still just fine at 96%. But Jacob¡¯s was at 9%.


    Kyle¡¯s thigh and the side of his chest still hurt. The pain wasn¡¯t as sharp now; it had instead sort of spread through his body as a dull ache. If he hurt this bad at 59% HP, what must Jacob feel like?


    If there was another goblin up there, Jacob was sunk.


    Jacob finished scrambling onto the upper level. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m up. Looks like we¡¯re in a clearing in the middle of a forest. There are some beams of light shooting up into the sky, like Minecraft beacons. I can¡¯t tell how far away they are.¡±


    ¡°Those show where the transcendance crystals are,¡± Kyle shouted to Jacob. ¡°Touch a hundred and we win the game.¡±


    ¡°A hundred? Man¡­¡± said Jacob.


    ¡°See anything that¡¯d let us climb up?¡± Mia asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t¡­ I don¡¯t think so. Hold on, I¡¯ll go look.¡±


    ¡°If you see anything dangerous, run and jump back down here,¡± Kyle called out. ¡°We¡¯ll try and save you.¡±


    ¡°Unless it¡¯s got a ranged attack,¡± Mia said. ¡°Then warn us and kite it away so it doesn¡¯t spawn-camp us.¡±


    ¡°Um¡­ okay,¡± Jacob called out uncertainly.


    ¡°Jargon overload, Mia,¡± Kyle warned. Mia just shrugged and kept tapping her menus.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Kyle started doing so as well. There was a whole party system he had ¡°unlocked¡± in his help menu that he could read up on. He tried to, but something was eating at him.


    ¡°Hey Mason?¡± He asked, looking up.


    ¡°Yeah?¡± Mason asked.


    ¡°You seemed to know a lot about the structure of the tournament. How¡¯d you know that?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not a walk-in. They had to sell me on the idea of the game before I signed up. I heard a little about it.¡±


    ¡°So did you know it¡¯d do this whole ¡®trap you in the world¡¯ thing?¡±


    ¡°Hell no.¡± He snorted. ¡°I was told it¡¯d take like two hours total. I knew it¡¯d be virtual, though. They said it was a full immersive, non-invasive VR that didn¡¯t require any special equipment. I told them I¡¯d charge them an hourly rate for my time comparable to my salary on the Rams. If this thing really lasts years, I¡¯m gonna make billions. I still think it¡¯s a bluff, though. Give us another five or six hours, tops. Then, we¡¯ll go home, pick up our paychecks, and compare our high-score to the other people who went through this dungeon.¡±


    Kyle hoped so, but had his doubts. Something weird was going on. Virtuaverse shouldn¡¯t just be able to kidnap celebrities and athletes, not even for a few hours more than they promised. Not to mention that strange period of unconsciousness. Come to think of it¡­


    ¡°Do you know what happened while we were unconscious?¡± Kyle asked.


    ¡°Nope. Gonna talk to my lawyers about that one. Maybe a doctor, too.¡±


    Kyle sighed. Even those ¡°clued in¡± didn¡¯t seem to know what was going on. He pondered for a moment. ¡°You knew this tournament was happening before it went on, right? Here¡¯s a question; what day did you go unconscious?¡±


    ¡°April 6th. They led me into this weird gray room. They said I wasn¡¯t going to play that day, and it was just a physical to make sure I was compatible with the system. Then I was here. Why d¡¯you ask?¡±


    ¡°I went under on April 15th.¡±


    Mason narrowed his eyes slightly and didn¡¯t respond. Kyle left it at that.


    A few minutes later, he heard Jacob calling down from the top. ¡®Hey! I think I got something to help you up!¡±


    ¡°What is it?¡± Kyle called back up.


    ¡°A giant rock. It¡¯s round enough I think I could roll it down to you.¡±


    ¡°How high?¡± Mason asked.


    ¡°About three feet.¡±


    ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound giant at all,¡± Mia said. ¡°Isn¡¯t there something bigger?¡±


    ¡°Not that I can roll.¡±


    ¡°This is only half-way a videogame,¡± Mason said to Mia. ¡°Do you have any idea how heavy rocks actually are?¡±


    Mia shrugged, and Mason rolled his eyes. ¡°Three feet will be fine,¡± Mason called back up to Jacob.


    ¡°Okay, heads up, guys,¡¯ Jacob shouted. Kyle backed up into the hallway he had come from. After a minute or so of heavy scraping noises, a yard-high, mostly round boulder came over the lip of the ceiling and fell to the floor. The reverberations from its landing shook the room. The stonework cracked under the now stationary boulder.


    It was reasonably round, but had enough ridges that it must have taken some real doing to get it to roll. Kyle heard Jacob panting above him.


    ¡°Is that gonna do it?¡±


    Mason stepped forward and rolled the rock onto the flattest side he could, then stood on it unsteadily. He stood straighter after a moment, apparently satisfied with its stability. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯ll do.¡± He reached up and could just barely grab the edge of the lip.


    ¡°Great. Mia? Kyle? Want a lift?¡±


    Kyle stepped forward. Mason, still standing on the rock, grabbed Kyle¡¯s waist and lifted. As he rose, Kyle¡¯s vantage suddenly changed from ¡°dungeon with skylight¡± to ¡°forest with hole in ground,¡± and he squinted as the light assailed his eyes.


    ¡°Can you get up from there?¡±


    Kyle grabbed a nearby root. His head was a good three feet or so over the edge, so he leaned forward, shifted his weight onto his belly and used it as traction, and scrabbled inelegantly onto the forest floor.


    ¡°Mia?¡± Kyle heard Mason ask.


    ¡°You can reach the top right?¡± Mia¡¯s voice asked from down below. ¡°Just grab the lip. I¡¯ll climb.¡±


    After a brief pause, Mason said, ¡°Suit yourself, princess.¡±


    A minute or so later, Mia came scrabbling over the edge. Shortly thereafter, with a grunt, Mason¡¯s head appeared over the edge. With the practice of an athlete, he lifted himself up, swung a leg over the edge, and rolled onto the grass.


    Kyle looked around him. The clearing he was in seemed sunny, but the forest got darker the further he looked into it. He saw beams of white-blue light rising into the sky from somewhere in the forest. Depressingly few, actually. There must have been about a dozen; some seemed pretty close, and others were so far away they were barely visible.


    ¡°Cool. What now?¡± Mason said.


    ¡°I guess we pick a beacon and head towards it. I vote the close one.¡± Kyle said.


    Mason nodded. Mia shrugged. Jacob just looked between the three others, waiting for a decision to be made. Kyle, sensing no better plan, started walking towards the forest.


    Mia immediately piped up. ¡°Axes out, guys; we don¡¯t know what¡¯s in there. Mason in front, ¡®cause he¡¯s tanky. I¡¯ll take rearguard because I¡¯ve got the most HP left. Dad, stick in the middle and keep your eyes peeled for monsters. If we end up pulling by accident, we don¡¯t want to be surprised. You too, bookworm, unless you think you can read while walking. Then do that, so you can tell us what the hell to expect when we get to that crystal.¡±


    Kyle felt his hackles rise unjustifiably. It was all sound advice. Just because it was coming from Mia didn¡¯t mean he should argue. As badly as he wanted to.

 Chapter 8: In which Jacob Kills a Tree

    The woods were trackless, and going was slow. Kyle and Jacob had to be careful not to get hit by the tree branches Mason was pushing aside, and they in turn had to be careful not to hit Mia, who was looking behind herself more often than not.


    They lost sight of the beacon as they went under the canopy, but they would occasionally encounter thinner spots or small clearings they used to re-orient themselves. After an hour or so, the width of the bright beam of light looked much wider. Kyle guessed they were about five hours away at their painfully slow travel rate.


    Kyle was no botanist, but he was pretty sure the trees and plants were not something from Earth. He didn¡¯t recognize any of them, at least. He recognized their general shape; this was a fern, that was a shrub, that other thing was a sapling. But they weren¡¯t any shrubs, ferns, or saplings that he recognized. The patterns on the flowers were unusual. The shapes of the leaves didn¡¯t feel right.


    The same applied to the creatures they found. They saw some bizarre species of squirrel that had blue-green fur and unusually large black eyes. They saw reptiles of three or four different colors climbing on trees which retreated into their turtle-like shells if the group got too close. Once, they saw a large red-brown deer with long stick-like legs and a single massive curved horn. As they approached, it paused slightly and flicked its ears before bounding silently into the forest, as though mocking them for lacking a ranged weapon. They even saw a large moose-like creature with a giant spiked ball on its tail. It didn¡¯t retreat as they approached, but even Mia admitted it looked a little outside their ability to take down.


    ¡°Weird mobs in this place. I guess I was kind of expecting more slimes and goblins,¡± Mia said.


    ¡°It¡¯s not night yet. That¡¯s when the monsters come out,¡± Jacob replied.


    ¡°Wha¡­? Why do you say that?¡±


    ¡°I guess¡­ I dunno. It just works like that in the games I¡¯ve played. By the way, how much longer have we got to go?¡±


    ¡°A few hours, at least.¡± Kyle said.


    ¡°Look at the sun, though,¡± said Jacob, ¡°It¡¯ll be night before then. Do we want to find a place to hide?¡±


    ¡°Even if monsters do come out, why hide? Why not get loot and XP?¡± Mia asked.


    ¡°First off, you level by touching crystals, remember? No XP.¡± Kyle said. ¡°Second off, we don¡¯t know what the gameplay is like. Jacob could be right. Like, all these lizard things might turn hostile when the sun goes down and swarm us.¡±


    ¡°You think the designers would do that?¡± Mia asked. ¡°That doesn¡¯t seem fair.¡±


    ¡°This place is supposed to be a competition. It might not be designed to be fair,¡± Kyle brought up. ¡°For all we know, vampires are gonna come out the moment the sun goes down and murder us all unless we find shelter. This thing¡¯s supposed to last a year; if that¡¯s the case, putting us out for 24 hours is like a slap on the wrist. ¡®Too bad guys, you should have found shelter. Try again tomorrow.¡¯¡±


    As they spoke, they pulled into a clearing. Kyle stopped moving forward and turned to face Mia, trying to hint he wasn¡¯t interested in continuing until this issue had been discussed. Mason folded his arms and stared off towards the beacon. Jacob nodded for some reason and started rooting through his menus.


    ¡°Look, I get what you¡¯re saying,¡± Mia said. ¡°But we don¡¯t know night is dangerous. We do know that people are heading to that crystal, and we want to get there first. I want that level-up. Heck, imagine if we were first to reach the crystal and all got to level two.¡±


    ¡°Level one,¡± Kyle corrected. ¡°We¡¯re level zero right now.¡±


    Mia rolled her eyes and huffed in frustration. ¡°Whatever. You know what I mean. But anyway, other parties would try to get to the crystal too, right? With a level advantage, we could ambush them, kill them, and take their stuff. It¡¯d be like a lightbulb attracting newbs like moths. After farming scrubs for a while, we could go for the other crystals with all the gear we could want. We¡¯d have such a leg up!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, maybe if this were a two-team game,¡± Mason said, ¡°But that¡¯s not how it works. What if a bunch of pods all group together? If we try to keep everyone else from getting to the crystal, we¡¯ll be one party against who knows how many others. And what defensive options do we really have? Are we going to need to keep watches?¡±


    ¡°Yep,¡± said Kyle. ¡°Fatigue is a thing in this game. After 16 hours awake, your fatigue bar¡¯s going to start draining, and you suffer stat penalties the lower you get.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, see?¡± Mason said, motioning at Kyle. ¡°I vote we get pretty close, then get a good night¡¯s rest. We scope the place out, and if there¡¯s some people guarding it, like Mia¡¯s planning to, then we wait for a third team to try and take it and then finish off the weakened victor.¡±This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    Suddenly, a loud ¡°thock¡± sound echoed through the clearing. Kyle jumped and looked towards the source, and saw Jacob holding the hatchet. The tree he was staring at had a large gash in it. He pulled the axe back again and struck the tree once more.


    ¡°Are you¡­ chopping trees?¡± Mia asked.


    ¡°I figured somebody would have to.¡± Jacob replied.


    ¡°Does that work?¡± Kyle asked.


    ¡°I used ¡®examine¡¯ on it, and its HP is going down, so yeah, I think.¡±


    ¡°What happens if you kill a tree?¡± Mia asked.


    ¡°You get wood?¡± Mason suggested.


    ¡°That¡¯s the hope,¡± Jacob said. He struck the tree again, and it started to tilt with an exaggerated creaking sound. Jacob screwed up his face. ¡°Huh. In real life that takes way more time.¡±


    The tree fell into the clearing, and Jacob put his left hand on the trunk. He shook his head, then started chopping at the log.


    ¡°Aaaanyway¡­¡± Mia drawled, ¡°about that crystal. I get where you¡¯re coming from Mason, but even then, I still think we should get to the crystal as soon as possible. What if we touch the crystal before anybody else gets there, then leave it for other randos to fight over while we grind forest mobs instead? Who knows what we¡¯d pick up?¡±


    ¡°Speaking of grinding, what I think would be useful,¡± Kyle said, ¡°is being the first to find a town. We¡¯ve got goblin swords to sell and maybe we could pick up quests that¡¯ll get us something other than a hand-axe. I¡¯m not sure whether levels or gear does more for your overall power under these mechanics, but maybe we¡¯d end up more powerful if we let them all fight over crystals while we buy better stuff.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Mia, in thought. ¡°We should sell the goblin¡¯s leather armor, too, and I bet we¡¯d find something good to spend our silver on. We¡¯ve got what, forty between us?¡±


    Kyle furrowed his brow. ¡°You stripped the goblin?¡±


    ¡°Well duh,¡± Mia said. ¡°Did you not?¡±


    ¡°You literally spent the time to take off a dead goblin¡¯s clothes?¡±


    ¡°No, you just grab a fold of cloth with your left hand, then the crystal turns green and you can put it in your inventory, like any other item you hold. Seriously. You think a game would force players to strip dead bodies? Think, Kyle!¡±


    ¡°And the silver?¡±


    ¡°It was in the pouch around his neck. Guess you missed that too? Mason? Did you think to¡­¡± she trailed off as Mason shook his head. ¡°¡­Bunch of newbs,¡± she finished under her breath, loud enough to be audible but quiet enough to be deniable.


    ¡°So yeah,¡± Kyle continued. ¡°Silver, I guess.¡± Kyle glanced over towards Jacob to see how things were going.


    Half the log was gone.


    ¡°Uh, Jacob?¡± Kyle asked, turning away from the conversation. ¡°Where¡¯d the log go?¡±


    ¡°I harvested it,¡± Jacob said, still hacking at the remains of the fallen log.


    ¡°How?¡±


    ¡°Chop it up into pieces that are small enough, and you can put it in your inventory.¡±


    ¡°So, is carrying logs any good?¡± Mia asked.


    ¡°Actually, it might be. Can you pass me a chunk of that wood?¡± Kyle asked.


    ¡°How much?¡± Jacob asked. ¡°I¡¯ve got a few thousand.¡±


    ¡°Huh?¡± Kyle asked. ¡°A few thousand what?¡±


    ¡°I dunno,¡± Jacob said. ¡°Blocks? Units? Decagrams? In my inventory it looks like a little cube.¡±


    ¡°Oh no,¡± whispered Mia.


    ¡°Just toss me one, then,¡± Kyle said. ¡°I want to see if it unlocks anything in my help menu.¡±


    Jacob nodded, then slowly punched buttons in his menu. A small, smooth wooden cube appeared in his hand, and he tossed it to Kyle.


    ¡°Oh god, no¡­¡± groaned Mia.


    Kyle put it in his inventory, and then opened his help menu. Sure enough, there was a new entry. Looks like he finally got to study up on the crafting system. He scrolled through it by flicking it with his finger. ¡°Yup. Crafting system here. Looks like with raw materials we can make our own equipment.¡± He started skimming over sub-menus. ¡°Structures, too, which give mechanical buffs of some kind to the owners. Like, if we built an arena, it¡¯d let us-¡±


    ¡°Of all the games I had to get trapped in, you¡¯re telling me I¡¯m stuck in ¡ª¡ª- Minecraft!¡± Mia shouted, ¡°What the ¡ª-! Are we gonna have to build walls to keep out ¡ª¡ª- creepers? Do we win by having the best house? Are we gonna have to mess around with autist ¡ª¡ª- redstone, for ¡ª-¡®s sake?¡±


    Kyle raised an eyebrow. He could tell what Mia meant, of course, but the word itself was concealed by a soft buzzing sound. ¡°Was that¡­¡±


    ¡°Hah,¡± Jacob said laughing. ¡°There¡¯s a chat filter! This game gets better and better!¡±


    ¡°¡ª- it all! Mia shouted, turning away and throwing up her hands.


    Jacob smiled, and turned to the others. ¡°I played a lot of Minecraft with my boys. I finally feel like I might know what¡¯s going on.¡±


    ¡°As I was saying,¡± Kyle said, hoping to cut Mia off, ¡°If we build different buildings, we can get different benefits. Like, an arena would let us practice fighting, but if you die in an arena you respawn in five minutes instead of twenty-four hours. We could use that to have Mason teach us martial arts or whatever, and we wouldn¡¯t actually be in any danger. This isn¡¯t Minecraft. It just has¡­ Minecraft like elements.¡± He glanced towards Mia, hoping she would be somewhat mollified.


    ¡°Good. Then let him do it,¡± Mia said, pointing violently at Jacob. ¡°Because crafting is for people who don¡¯t play real games.¡±


    ¡°A real game is one I can play with my son,¡± Jacob said, grinning. ¡°You can keep your goblins to yourself.¡± Jacob waved his finger through the air, scrolling across an interface invisible to Kyle. He pressed something, and a crudely carved wooden horse figurine appeared in his left hand. ¡°Look! Woodcarving!¡±


    Mia turned back to face Kyle and Mason. ¡°So about this crystal¡­¡±


    ¡°I want to stop for the night,¡± Kyle said. ¡°We¡¯ve got plenty to do without traipsing through the woods in the dark. Seriously, we won¡¯t make it by nightfall, and I bet this place gets too dark to walk right. We might not even be able to reach the crystal if we try.¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t we, like, craft torches or something?¡± Mia asked, glancing at Jason hopefully.


    ¡°That¡¯d just give our position away if we approach,¡± Mason said. ¡°Sorry, Mia. We¡¯re not going. Go yourself, if you want it that bad.¡±


    Mia huffed. ¡°Fine. We¡¯ll sit, I guess.¡±

 Chapter 9: In which Mia is Still Kicking Down Doors

    Mason and Kyle started chopping down some of the smaller trees in the clearings. After the clearing was pretty much bare, Kyle read all the help menu entries he could on crafting while Mason chopped some of the larger trees and brought the wood to Jacob. Jacob explored the crafting menu, and Kyle was content to let him do so. Even though Kyle was pretty sure that he could understand the help files more easily than Jacob, Jacob seemed to be getting a sense of purpose from knowing the crafting system, so Kyle let him discover it for himself, only answering Jacob¡¯s questions when asked and only with leading questions about the interface to help him figure it out on his own.


    ¡°Hey, Kyle, I tried to make a wall, but it¡¯s only two inches high and two inches long. I figure I¡¯ve got to place a bunch of these together like bricks to make a room, but it takes so long to get into the build menu. Is there a faster way of doing it?¡±


    ¡°Actually, Jacob, are there controls of some kind around the tiny wall?¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­ there¡¯s a little translucent orb floating above it¡­¡±


    ¡°Have you tried messing with that at all?¡±


    ¡°Oh hey! If I stick my finger in it, I can drag it around to resize the wall! Yeah, I can make it as tall as I want. I bet¡­ yeah, there¡¯s one on the side here that¡¯ll let me make it longer, too. Oh, wow. That costs a lot of wood. Huh. I guess now I have to figure out how to undo these twenty other tiny walls I made¡­¡±


    By the time night fell, they had a small two room cabin with a working door, glassless windows that opened and closed with giant wooden shutters, four beds (that all lacked mattresses), and large cabinets to store nothing in particular. The house was considered to be ¡°owned¡± by Jacob. While Mia was outside, he jokingly set the access rights to disallow her entry, just to show that he could. (Mia responded by less-than-jokingly kicking the door down and coming in anyway, again, just to show that she could.)


    The transition from ¡°unfatigued¡± to ¡°fatigued¡± hit Kyle harder than he expected. It was pretty abrupt; fifteen hours fifty-nine minutes after waking up, Kyle was physically fine. Two minutes later, his movements were sluggish and his muscles less responsive. His head felt fine. Or rather, it didn¡¯t also suddenly get worse. He did have a bit of a headache just from processing all that had happened during the day.


    Kyle went to bed on an uncomfortable wooden bedframe. He was in a room with both Mason and Jacob. (Jacob, obviously conservative and traditional, had left Mia with a room to herself.) The rough wooden walls made it feel like some kind of bizarre summer camp. Kyle felt like he should be chatting with his cabin-mates late into the night, but he hardly knew them. What would he talk about with a football player and a dad who ¡°worked in retail¡±?


    ¡°Hey Jacob?¡± Kyle started.


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°Thanks for setting up the house.¡± Kyle said.


    ¡°Oh, Yeah, of course. I¡¯m sure you could have done it a lot faster, but I¡¯m glad I could give you a chance to keep studying up on how to get us out of this world.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I appreciate it.¡± And then, silence. Nothing to talk about. Either that, or they were lost in their own thoughts.


    Whatever. Kyle had tried.


    Once he made the decision, falling asleep was unusually easy. The night was swift and dreamless.


    Kyle awoke in much the same state he was when waking up in the dungeon. His mind just sort of flipped from ¡°off¡± to ¡°on¡±, and his body felt ready for the day, with no stiffness or other indication that he has spent the last eight hours or so immobile.


    Kyle sat up. Mason was gone, but Jacob was still sleeping in the bedframe next to him. Kyle watched him as he breathed deeply, regularly, and peacefully. Then, suddenly, Jacob¡¯s breath caught, his eyes flipped open, and he swung his legs around out of the bed and looked around in thought.


    ¡°Man¡­ that¡¯s weird.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡± Kyle asked


    ¡°Yeah. Just¡­ suddenly awake.¡± Jacob said, looking around quizzically.


    ¡°It would have made getting to eight o¡¯clock class way easier freshman year, that¡¯s for sure.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I guess. But it¡¯s just¡­ unnatural.¡±


    ¡°I suppose.¡¯ Kyle looked around. ¡°I¡¯m kind of hungry. Has anybody figured out what we¡¯re supposed to do about food?¡±


    Kyle heard the door open with a thump, and turned to see Mason come in with one of those weird blue squirrel things. ¡°How¡¯d you get that?¡± Kyle asked


    ¡°I saw one of them eating some of those purple berries, so I got a handful of them, approached one of the squirrels, and held very, very still.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ positively Snow White,¡± Kyle commented.


    ¡°Then, when it got close enough, I grabbed it and snapped its neck.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± said Kyle, ¡°Never mind.¡±This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    ¡°You¡¯re the crafter now, right Jacob?¡± Mason tossed the dead squirrel to Jacob, who caught it and held it uncertainly. ¡°Can you do anything with this?¡± Mason asked.


    ¡°I, uh¡­. I don¡¯t know?¡± He held the squirrel with his left hand and started navigating menus with his right. ¡°Looks like I can turn it into ¡®Uncooked Kreyfa Fillets,¡¯ whatever those are. Let me just ¨C Whoops¡­¡± Jason cut himself off as the squirrel disintegrated into a half dozen small cuts of meat, which fell on the floor. ¡°I forgot to put it in my inventory first.¡±


    ¡°I won¡¯t tell Mia if you won¡¯t.¡± Kyle said, picking up one of the fillets and examining it.


    ¡°I can¡¯t do anything more with this. I guess we need a furnace or something.¡± Jacob said.


    ¡°Probably more like a campfire,¡± Mason said.


    ¡°We can eat it raw, right?¡± Kyle picked up his own small slab of meat and bit into it. It was cold, rubbery, and tasted horrible. He forced himself to choke down the bite, then shook his head. ¡°I guess not. I mean, maybe it¡¯s technically possible, but¡­¡± he trailed off, realizing that he¡¯d sound really dumb complaining about the food being unappetizing when they had few other options. ¡°Don¡¯t suppose you have any more of those berries?¡± Kyle asked instead.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Mason said, pushing some buttons. A dozen berries about a quarter inch wide appeared in his left hand. ¡°I was worried about them though. Berries can be poison, right?¡±


    ¡°They were good enough for the Kreyfas,¡± Jacob pointed out.


    ¡°It¡¯s not like there¡¯s a huge penalty for dying from poison berries,¡± said Kyle. ¡°Another 24 hour nap, right? I¡¯ll be the guinea pig.¡± Mason shrugged and handed him the berries. Kyle popped one in his mouth. It was mellow and sweet with a subdued tang, sort of like citrus but not as strong. ¡°Tastes better than raw meat. if I¡¯m poisoned, I can¡¯t tell. I¡¯ll let you know later if that changes.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll try and figure out how to get a fire going if you grab some more of those berries,¡± Jacob said to Mason.


    ¡°Sure. Kyle? Want to help?¡±


    ¡°Can¡¯t guarantee many berries will make it back, but yeah, I¡¯ll help.¡± Kyle followed Mason out the door.


    The clearing was still mostly dark because the sun was low enough in the sky that the trees blocked the sun¡¯s direct rays. The sky directly above them was gradually brightening, however. He looked towards the forest edge, and saw a few of the bushes full of purple berries. Not enough for a meal though. They¡¯d have to forage a little further. ¡°So, where¡¯s Mia, anyway?¡± Kyle asked, hoping to make conversation.


    ¡°She went out hunting too. She thought the best way to catch one of those squirrel things was to chase it, and ran off into the woods.¡¯ Mason shrugged.


    ¡°Should we be looking for her?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so. If she¡¯s as good at games as she claims, she can take care of herself. If she¡¯s not as good as she thinks she is, that¡¯d be good for her to figure out. I guess maybe she ditched us to try and get to the crystal by herself. In which case, good riddance.¡±


    Kyle glanced up at the bundle of health bars he put above his head the day before. Mia¡¯s was still there, meaning she was still in the party. Well, whatever.


    Kyle ate about twice as many berries as he stashed in his inventory. They weren¡¯t very filling, but they sure were tasty. Mason seemed to have better self control in that regard.


    A few minutes after they started gathering, Kyle heard Mia¡¯s voice call out from the woods. ¡°Hey? Mason? A little help here?¡±


    Kyle stuffed the berries in his mouth and took off at a run towards the sound of the voice. Mason hesitated a little, but when he decided to start moving, he quickly overtook Kyle. They bounded through the brush, eyes mostly closed and hands stretched out in front of them to try and deflect branches from their face.


    They found Mia a fair distance away, dragging one of those single-horned deer-like creatures behind her. It had Mia¡¯s axe through its skull. Kyle and Mason stopped and stared. ¡°Could I get a hand taking this thing back to the cabin? It¡¯s a little heavy for me.¡±


    ¡°Did one of those things let you walk up and kill it?¡± Kyle asked incredulously.


    ¡°No. You¡¯ve got to attack it from a distance. But you can throw axes, obviously.¡± She dropped the leg she was holding and leaned over, breathing heavily. ¡°I can¡¯t wait to get this thing cooked,¡± she said, straightening up. ¡°It¡¯s gonna be so much better than eating a stupid squirrel.¡±


    Mason smiled. ¡°You gonna tell her about our campfire situation, or am I?¡±


    * * *


    There seemed to be no good way to take down the cabin. Hitting it with their axes seemed to just damage it rather than convert it back into usable wood like the trees gave. At a loss, they left it there as they walked off towards the crystal.


    The group came to an unusually large clearing. At its center was the crystal; a ten foot tall octahedral blue gem, banded with gold and slowly rotating. From its uppermost tip, a giant beam of light shot into the sky. It was at the center of the clearing; from the edge of the woods, Kyle could see clearly about five-hundred feet around the crystal. It would be difficult to ambush anybody trying to go for the crystal with so little cover around.


    Although, come to think of it, anybody trying to defend the crystal would get five-hundred feet of warning if anybody approached. With a fort at the middle, this might be a pretty defensible spot.


    ¡°Do you see anybody there?¡± Kyle asked.


    ¡°No,¡± Mia said. ¡°Just a mob of some kind. See? There, by the small mound?¡±


    Kyle squinted. Yeah, there was a smaller humanoid figure crouching over a knee high pile of brush, just under the crystal. It was hard to make out details from this distance, but it was obviously moving. ¡°Whatever it is, is seems unarmed,¡± Kyle pointed out.


    ¡°That¡¯s actually pretty scary,¡± Mia said. ¡®If it¡¯s a caster of some kind, we¡¯ve got no clue what its capabilities are. We¡¯ve not run into magic yet.¡±


    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s friendly,¡± Jacob said.


    ¡°It¡¯s a guard,¡± Mia said. ¡°No way it¡¯s friendly.¡±


    ¡°I think it¡¯s cute,¡¯ Jacob said. ¡°Doesn¡¯t it look kind of fuzzy from here?¡±


    ¡®I guess?¡± Kyle said, still squinting to try and make out features. It did look sort of fuzzy. Kyle thought maybe he could see long ears on it too.


    ¡°You throw axes, right Mia?¡± asked Mason. ¡°Can you hit it from here?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re the football player,¡± Mia countered. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you be better at throwing things?¡±


    ¡°Linebackers don¡¯t throw passes. That¡¯s a quarterback you¡¯re thinking of.¡±


    Mia shrugged and rolled her eyes. ¡°Like I¡¯d know the football meta.¡±


    ¡°Look, guys,¡± Kyle said. ¡°We don¡¯t have enough information here. All we know is there¡¯s a three foot humanoid mob up there in front of a crystal and a pile of brush. Tell you what; I¡¯ll slowly get close, and if it tries to come after me, I¡¯ll kite it back towards you and you can pop out of the woods and axe it to death. Deal?¡±


    ¡°Let¡¯s send Jacob,¡± said Mia. ¡°He¡¯s a non-gamer, so he¡¯d be better, right?¡±


    Kyle spared a moment for a disgusted look at Mia. ¡°No,¡± Kyle said, ¡°I think we need somebody who knows convention enough to respond in an educated way if it starts shooting fireballs or grows wings or something.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d go,¡± said Jacob. ¡°Really. I still think it¡¯s too cute to be dangerous.¡¯


    Kyle thought so too, but in a new game, everything should be approached with caution. Generally designers decided to make cute things safe and scary things dangerous, but that wasn¡¯t always the case. ¡°It¡¯s fine. I¡¯ve got this.¡± Kyle stood up and walked into the clearing without further discussion.

 Chapter 10: In which Jacob Suddenly Finds himself on TV.

    Kyle had his axe out, but tried to hold it non-threateningly. As he approached, he saw the creature in greater detail. It seemed to be a three-foot high bipedal rabbit, with reverse joint legs and unkempt brown fur. Strangely enough, it was clothed in the same rough starting clothing as Kyle. It was muttering to itself as it pawed through a large pile of foliage.


    ¡°Um¡­ hello?¡± Kyle said.


    The rabbit-thing looked up, and a large smile broke out across its face. ¡°Hey, a guy! There¡¯s another guy here! I wonder if he has any flowers. Should I talk to him? I think I should talk to him. Y¡¯know, welcome him to the land of Crystopia.¡± The thing stood up and waved widely. ¡°Welcome, fellow traveller! Hail, and well met!¡±


    ¡°Um¡­ ¡° Kyle stammered, taken aback at the creature¡¯s gregariousness.


    ¡°He¡¯s at a loss for words. Obviously. Who wouldn¡¯t be, given the glory and splendor of our great crystal? But anyway, flowers! I¡¯ve got quite a collection here, as you can see,¡± the thing said, gesturing to the pile of foliage. Now that he mentioned it, some of them did seem vaguely flower-like. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you¡¯ve run into any rare flowers? I want to add to my collection!¡±


    Kyle regarded the rabbit with slack-jawed confusion for a moment. ¡°Are you trying to give me a quest? Because if so, this is really unclear signalling.¡±


    ¡°A quest?¡± The rabbit-thing stood up, put its hands on his hips, and puffed out its chest in a comic approximation of a heroic pose. ¡°Nay, my good friend. I seek not to give quests, but to fulfill them! For I, like you, am a player!¡±


    ¡°Excuse me as I refuse to believe you,¡± Kyle said. ¡°We all came into this game as we were in real life. Unless you¡¯re trying to convince me that you¡¯re a actually a three foot tall rabbit, I¡¯m not buying it. That, and what¡¯s with the weird preoccupation with flowers? That¡¯s more of an NPC thing.¡±


    ¡°The crystal! It teaches all! It transforms! Or¡­ if you want to break immersion, you could also say character creation happens when you touch your first crystal, and there¡¯s a race option there and the ability to learn herbalism. But it sounds so much cooler my way!¡±


    The cadence of this person¡¯s voice was highly abrasive to Kyle. ¡°Okay, sure. So, may I touch it?¡± Kyle asked.


    ¡°Only allies may touch this crystal,¡± the rabbit-thing said. It leaned towards Kyle to give him a hammy, squinty-eyed glare. ¡°Art thou friend? Or foe?¡±


    Kyle shook his head in exasperation and shrugged. ¡°Don¡¯t tell the rest of my party, but yeah. I¡¯m happy to let you win if it gets me back to the real world.¡±


    ¡°A party? Ahah! A noble group to adventure with! And where are your fine compatriots?¡±


    ¡°Back there,¡± Kyle said pointing. ¡°The plan was to lure you to the edge of the woods and chop you up in an ambush. We thought you were a monster of some kind.¡±


    ¡°Obviously it¡¯s because I¡¯m so fierce,¡± the thing said, wiggling its ears. It waved towards where Kyle pointed. Mia, Jacob, and Mason came out from their hiding spots and walked towards the crystal.


    ¡°What about you?¡± Kyle asked. ¡°Didn¡¯t you have a group?¡±Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    ¡°My group was severely lacking in the, uh, teamwork department,¡± the rabbit said. ¡°One guy got it in his head to kill all the others. I only opened the door a crack, you see, so I could look out, and I watched as this foul beast of a man slaughtered two hapless victims!¡± The rabbit-thing waved his hands wildly while narrating.


    ¡°Oh?¡± Kyle asked, acting disinterested.


    ¡°Yes. And then, when he was looting the second fallen friend, Bam! Axe-to-the-back-of-the-head. And thus, I triumphed over the villain.¡±


    ¡°And then became a bunny?¡± Kyle asked.


    ¡°What better way to remain underestimated?¡±


    Kyle rolled his eyes. ¡°How¡¯d you get out if all your team-mates were dead?¡±


    ¡°Um, giant rope falling from the ceiling? Did you miss that?¡±


    ¡°No rope fell from the sky for us. We climbed out on each other¡¯s shoulders.¡±


    ¡°Ohh! I bet it was meant to be an arena. Winner gets out, others get wrecked.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, be we solved it without any unnecessary murder.¡±


    ¡°How boring,¡± the rabbit thing said, shrugging.


    Jacob was near the center of the clearing now. ¡°Oh, cute!¡± He said. ¡°They did a really good job on this mob!¡±


    ¡°They think I¡¯m cute,¡± it said, without facing Kyle. ¡°But they also think I¡¯m a mob. Ew. I wonder how many times I¡¯ll have to explain this to people.¡±


    ¡°Who are you even talking to?¡± Kyle asked, getting frustrated.


    ¡°Why, my fans, or course! I wish this thing has some sort of chat overlay, so I could answer questions and take suggestions, but I¡¯m making do with what I¡¯ve got.¡±


    ¡°You mean¡­¡± Kyle started.


    ¡°Oh, a streamer,¡± Mia said, confirming Kyle¡¯s fear. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you human? Some sort of weird status effect?¡±


    ¡°No, you can pick a race when you tag the first crystal,¡± it said.


    ¡°Let me guess,¡± Kyle asked, ¡°you picked this thing because a murder bunny was most likely to get lots of views?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d have put it up for a vote,¡± the thing said, ¡°but I can¡¯t seem to communicate with my fans at the moment.¡±


    ¡°Start talking,¡± Mason said, arms crossed. ¡°What do you know about this? Are you streaming right now? Do you know how to get out?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not streaming, per se,¡± the thing said, ¡°I think this is more of a reality TV thing, you know? Like, in a virtual world, the cameras could be anywhere, completely invisible. Like there!¡± it said, pointing in a random direction. ¡°Or there!¡± it said, pointing in a different direction. ¡°My viewers are very loyal. I bet there are tens of thousands of people witnessing this glorious moment, the founding of the Grand Party of¡­ wait, what are we calling our party again?¡±


    ¡°This party was formed well before you got here,¡± Kyle curtly. ¡°And I don¡¯t think we need a name. Also, you know that this overblown acting makes you look ridiculous, right?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s a streamer,¡± Mia said. ¡°Cut him some slack. They¡¯re all like this.¡±


    ¡°Which streamer are you?¡± Jacob asked.


    ¡°I am known only as the great Doctor Dvorak!¡± The rabbit thing said, again puffing out his chest in an attempt to look heroic.


    ¡°Oh hey. I think my son watches your channel,¡± Jacob said.


    ¡°Well guess what, bud! Your son is probably watching you right now!¡± Dvorak said, grabbing Jacob¡¯s leg and pointing in an arbitrary direction.


    Jacob suddenly looked very uncomfortable. He glanced in the indicated direction, smiled cheesily, and waved. ¡°Hi, Thomas. I just wanted to let you know that papa is okay. He loves you very much, and he¡¯s coming home soon, because he¡¯s with some very smart people who are very good at games, and I¡¯m sure that-¡±


    ¡°Anyway,¡± Mia interrupted, ¡°you gonna try and keep us from touching this crystal?¡±


    ¡°No, go right ahead,¡± Dvorak said. ¡°Watch out, it traps you in menus for a bit. I¡¯m not sure if you can be killed while levelling up, but I¡¯ll keep watch while you¡¯re under.¡±


    Mia paused, looking uncertain. ¡°Okay, let me look over my stats first so I know what I¡¯m getting into.¡± She started tapping through her menus.


    Moments later, an alert appeared in front of Kyle. ¡°Mia: Do not trust. his gig: get ppl to touch crys, then kill and loot. 1 at a time?¡±


    Kyle saw Mason¡¯s eyes flash down and back up, and he gave a barely visible nod. Jacob was far less circumspect. ¡°Oh, huh. I got an alert. I think it¡¯s a message for Mia? It says ¡®Do not trust his gig?¡¯ And it¡¯s telling you to kill and loot people one at a time?¡± Jacob looked up at Mia with trepidation. Mia looked back with an appalled expression. ¡°But why did I get it?¡± asked Jacob. ¡°Is there something you¡¯re not telling us, Mia?¡±


    Kyle could hardly keep himself from laughing. ¡°Go ahead Mia. I¡¯ll keep an eye on things here.¡±

 Chapter 11: In which Kyle is Only Human

    When Mia touched the crystal, her eyes started leaking wisps of blue glowing smoke, and she floated about fifteen inches off the ground as swirling blue motes of light surrounded her. It was a neat effect, but somewhat overused in games. It was a testament to how jaded Kyle had become as a gamer when something that would be mindblowing in real life could come off as trite and cliche for no other reason than that he knew he was in a game, even if he was seeing it in person.


    Mia hung in the air for quite some time before Kyle got bored and started digging through help menus again. Being in close proximity to the crystal unlocked entries on race, class, and skills amongst other things. Kyle never really liked reading documentation; he mostly did at the start because he didn¡¯t trust the makers of the game to have a good tutorial, and then when he mentioned it to Mia, it just sort of became his role in the group. Kyle supposed it could be powerful; he just knew things that other people didn¡¯t. But on the other hand, it felt unfair that he was the one expected to do all the reading.


    Then again, right now, the alternatives weren¡¯t all that great. Jacob spoke with Dvorak about his past Youtube series and how much his boys adored him. Dvorak kept up that ridiculously overwrought streamer voice and basically acted like an idiot. Mason kept his eyes on the woods, looking somewhat impatient. Kyle wasn¡¯t missing anything, and at least the docs were helpful.


    About fifteen minutes after she touched the crystal, Mia stopped floating and fell to her knees. Kyle closed his menu and hopped to his feet to go make sure she was okay.


    ¡°How was it, Mia? Lots of text?¡±


    When Mia looked up, Kyle started. Her face was different. Her features were more angular, her form was thinner. And her ears were¡­ pointed.


    ¡°An elf? Really, Mia? I thought you¡¯d be sickened by the cheap oversexualization.¡±


    ¡°I figured if I were going to be in this game for a while, I might as well be comfortable.¡±


    ¡°You consider being some prepubescent teen¡¯s fantasy babe to be ¡®comfortable¡¯?¡±


    ¡°I consider being a healthy weight to be comfortable. You don¡¯t know how it is with girls and body image.¡± Mia waved her hand dismissively.


    ¡°But you were fine before! You didn¡¯t need this!¡±


    ¡°If that¡¯s your idea of a compliment, you¡¯ve got a long way to go.¡± Mia turned to the others, still waiting around near Dvorak. ¡°Who¡¯s up next?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll do it,¡± Kyle said. ¡°I¡¯ve got a pretty good idea what I¡¯m going to do.¡±


    Kyle approached and touched the crystal. As he did, he felt himself floating off the ground as gravity somehow lost hold on him and his vision faded to blue. When the surrounding landscape finally became a uniform azure haze, a menu appeared in front of him. Kyle looked at his arms. They were translucent and ghostlike, but he could move them fine. Probably his body was being held in place, inanimate, as he took on some sort of spirit form to interact with the character creation and level-up menu.


    Then, Kyle realized how weird it was that he considered the thing he left behind in the clearing to be ¡°his body¡±. He had to keep reminding himself this was a virtual reality, not some place he had been actually, physically transported to.


    He turned his attention towards the menus. He knew already what it was going to ask: It wanted him to pick an attribute to increase, a skill to learn, and a race to play as. It was also going to allow him the option to change his name, so when other players saw him in a party screen, he could represent himself as something different.


    The first screen seemed to be the racial selection screen. In front of him, on floating buttons, were names of races. Some were familiar fantasy tropes; Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs were all there. Others were more obscure. Kyle would have had no way of knowing the ¡°Jakarna¡± were a race of anthropomorphic tigers if he hadn¡¯t read his help files. The rabbit thing was a ¡°Lagotherre,¡± he now knew. He tapped the ¡°human¡± button as it floated in front of him.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    To his surprise, a floating, semi-translucent figure of himself appeared behind the buttons, as well as a confirmation dialogue box below the buttons. Out of curiosity, he tapped the dwarf button.


    The result was alarming. It was him, but different. The face was almost identical, but the cheekbones were lower and the chin was slightly too wide. The dwarf-kyle looked stockier, but not as stocky as he would have expected for a dwarf. Probably, it was factoring in how Kyle was gangly as a human and adapted the dwarf body to match. The dwarf was wearing Kyle¡¯s starting clothes, re-adjusted to match the new form.


    Kyle checked the other options. A dozen different variants of himself appeared as he pressed the variant buttons. A tall, knobby elven Kyle. A large, tusked, orcish Kyle. A Kyle he could somehow still recognize as himself buried beneath a tiger muzzle and striped fur.


    Part of him ached to try out one of the other races. How cool would it be to be a tiger for a while? But on the other hand, he didn¡¯t trust whatever interface he was using to represent the transformation correctly. It might not be like a real transformation; he might just be himself but graphically represented to others like a Jakarna.


    Besides that, Kyle had a statement he wanted to make. He suppressed his desire to try out one of the other options and picked Human, then pushed ¡°Confirm¡± before he could change his mind.


    The next screen had a list of the four most stereotypical classes in the world; Fighter, Acolyte, Adept, and Rogue. He picked Adept, the spellcasters of his new world. From what he had read of the class system, it seemed to fit him best. He wasn¡¯t keen on physical combat, so rogue and fighter were off the table, and he liked the arcane magic better than the acolyte¡¯s divine magic. The help text suggested he could subclass later to specialize.


    It gave him the option to increase one of his stats. Currently, they were all zero, having had no points placed in them. He picked ¡°Resilience,¡± and saw the number increase before the system transitioned into the next screen. After having dealt with a dull ache from the goblin wounds the whole previous day, he was looking forward to the pain resistance a heightened resilience score would give him. The extra health was just a bonus.


    It asked him what his name was. Kyle expected his name to be filled in by default, but it wasn¡¯t. Rolling his eyes, he stuck his finger through a little microphone icon and said his name, slowly and clearly. It flashed a warning, notifying him this would be his only chance to change his name, and asked if he was sure he wanted to use his real name. This just confirmed Kyle¡¯s suspicions. Kyle hit the button to accept, and mentally congratulated himself on picking Human as his race.


    Finally, it gave him his choice of a skill. There were only about ten he could pick from, though Kyle knew from reading the help files that there were at least four dozen. The one he wanted, ¡°Architecture,¡± wasn¡¯t on the list. It must not have been ¡°Magical¡± enough to be in the adept¡¯s starting skill selection. Annoyed, he picked ¡°Spellcraft¡± instead.


    His surroundings started to fade back in after that. Remembering Mia¡¯s unceremonious fall, he tried hard to pay attention to his balance and surroundings as gravity took hold of him once more. He managed to mostly keep his feet as he fell from floating, stumbling only a little.


    ¡°A human?¡± Dvorak asked. Kyle looked up and saw that the group had come much closer to the crystal while he was in menu-space.


    ¡°Why on earth would you choose the world¡¯s most boring race?¡± Mia asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s a message to the people running this place,¡± Kyle said. ¡°They¡¯re trying to disconnect us from who we are. They¡¯re sticking us in a new world, with new people around us. They force us to kill something in the first ten minutes. They try to force you to kill the next three people you meet. They¡¯re trying to give us new bodies. They warn you not to use your own name.¡±


    Kyle knew he was angry, but again, he just didn¡¯t feel it in his gut. He shook his head and kept up his tirade. ¡°Have you noticed they¡¯re even doing something weird with our emotions? I don¡¯t know what¡¯s up with that, either, but I suspect it¡¯s also for some sort of dehumanization. Well I¡¯m drawing the line. I am me, no-one else. Not a dwarf. Not a tiger. Just me, Kyle Steinson. My identity is the only thing they let me keep when they stuck me in this world. I¡¯m sure as hell not going to give it up just because they offer me some pointy ears.¡±


    There was a brief pause. Kyle found that understandable. He surprised himself with the ferocity of his rant.


    Then Dvorak started clapping. Mason nodded appreciatively. Jacob glanced around, trying to see how others were reacting. Mia just shrugged. ¡°Whatever. Suit yourself.¡±


    Mason stepped forward. ¡°Me next?¡±

 Chapter 12: In which is the New Meta

    While Mason was going through the menus in his floaty blue trance, Kyle went back to see if more stuff had unlocked in his help menus. As he did, Jacob came and sat down on the ground next to him.


    After a few awkward moments, he spoke up. ¡°You¡¯re always reading, huh? I can¡¯t see it, but I can tell from the way your eyes are moving. Always reading, all the time.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, seems that way,¡± Kyle said, looking over his help window to look at Jacob. ¡°You should try it too. I bet if you were to read, you could know more about this game than Mia.¡±


    ¡°I tried,¡± said Jacob, ¡°but it¡¯s like it¡¯s speaking a language I don¡¯t, you know? Terms and words that I just don¡¯t get.¡± He shook his head, and remained silent for so long Kyle nearly went back to reading. ¡°When I touch that crystal,¡± Jacob finally said, ¡°it¡¯s gonna ask me to make a lot of decisions, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Kyle said. ¡°Race, class, starting skill, that sort of thing.¡±


    ¡°What should I pick?¡±


    Kyle looked up in interest, then shut out of his menu by tapping his crystal. ¡°Why ask me?¡±


    ¡°I mean, I bet you know everything there is to know about this game,¡± Jacob said. ¡°And maybe Mia¡¯s good at games, but she¡¯s also, uh¡­¡±


    ¡°Scary?¡± Kyle asked.


    ¡°I was going to say stuck up, but yeah, that too. I think you know just as much as her. But I¡¯d rather ask you, you know?¡±


    ¡°So, I¡¯ve gotta admit, I¡¯m not interested in winning,¡± Kyle said, closing his menu for the moment. ¡°I just kinda want this game to be over. So I¡¯ve been trying to think of how best we could support each other. You know, cheat the system by pooling talents and working together to get to the crystals instead of fighting over them. If you ask me, I¡¯m not going to tell you how to be powerful. I¡¯m going to tell you how to be useful.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s fine with me.¡±


    Kyle sighed. ¡°Then you¡¯ll probably want to get the architecture skill. I think fighters can take it as a starting option. Maybe rogues.¡±


    ¡°So it¡¯ll say that in the menus? Just pick ¡®fighter¡¯ when I see it and ¡®architecture¡¯ when I see it?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Kyle said. ¡°And, uh¡­ strength, I guess. And human. But you already knew my opinion on that.¡±


    Jacob nodded. ¡°Fighter, architecture, strength, human. I can remember that. Thanks, Kyle.¡± He got up and walked back to wait near Mason¡¯s still-floating form. Mason came down a short time later, still human and still named Mason, thankfully. Jacob touched the crystal next.


    Kyle opened back up his help menu. He meant to do more study on the Spellcrafting system, but found himself thinking, instead. He had never been one to give advice in games. Mostly, if some newbie was asking randomly for help, he¡¯d send the guy a link to a wiki or youtube tutorial. He also wasn¡¯t one to pioneer new strategies, but rather to research what was already there.


    But he was starting to realize something. In a world in which everybody needed to be good at playing a game and was desperate for information, being ¡°the guy that knew everything¡± was a position of great power. In these first few formative days, he could inadvertently change the entire culture of the game.Stolen story; please report.


    ..or, perhaps intentionally change it.


    He sat, mulling it over, absent-mindedly jumping between hyperlinks in the help-text, when he heard something off to his left. Glancing in that direction, he saw a teenage boy coming out of the forest, still in his starting gear. He had a bow and arrow, which Kyle had never seen in the game, and a quiver slung over his back. The boy had an arrow nocked, but his bow was neither drawn nor pointed at Kyle¡¯s group.


    Kyle thought for just a brief moment, then made his decision.


    Dropping his axe on the ground next to him, he stood and walked towards the armed man, smiling. ¡°Hey, look! This guy figured out how to build a bow! That¡¯s gonna make hunting way easier!¡±


    The boy nocked and pointed his bow at Kyle and drew the arrow. ¡°It¡¯s my bow, not yours.¡±


    ¡°Well yeah, obviously,¡± Kyle said, slowing his approach. ¡°You¡¯re the one holding it. How¡¯d you make it, though? Our city¡¯s gonna need a stable food supply so our architect can focus on building stuff. Bows like that would be useful.¡±


    The boy lowered the bow, but kept it taut. ¡°You¡¯re not gonna try and kill me?¡±


    ¡°No, why would I do that?¡±


    ¡°To try and keep me from touching the crystal?¡±


    ¡°Nah, PvP¡¯s not the meta in this game,¡± Kyle said dismissively. ¡°We¡¯re supposed to band together and form large guilds to explore the world.¡±


    ¡°So you¡¯ll let me just walk up and touch it?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. We¡¯re working on getting an apothecary set up so our herbalist, Dvorak, can start making potions and stuff.¡± Kyle was stretching. He knew Jacob was planning on taking architecture, and he thought he heard Dvorak mention he had picked herbalism, but he wasn¡¯t sure of either.


    The point was that he was trying to make sure this new fellow felt like they were an experienced, pre-existing group. He thought back to how he felt when he played his favorite online games, where he was full of confidence and knew everything about everything, and tried to channel it, smiling broadly and keeping his posture straight.


    The boy kept the bow drawn for a disconcertingly long time before finally un-nocking the arrow and putting it in his quiver.


    ¡°Alright. Cool. You guys got any DPS yet? I kinda want to be a ranger. Does that exist in the game?¡±


    ¡°Guys! We¡¯ve got ranged DPS!¡± Kyle shouted back to the group. Mia didn¡¯t bother to look up, but Dvorak, true to form, started jumping and cheering, pumping his fists in the air. The boy smiled and strode forward.


    ¡°Welcome to the good city of Crystopia! Population: five. Six! Six, now.¡± Dvorak hopped forward on his strangely-jointed legs to shake the boy¡¯s hand. ¡°I¡¯m Dvorak, the mayor of our fine settlement.¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s kind of a figurehead.¡± Kyle said.


    ¡°The cutest damn figurehead you ever did see!¡± Dvorak said, pumping the boy¡¯s hand up and down vigorously.


    ¡°I¡¯m Maxillumen,¡± the boy said. ¡°And you¡¯re weird.¡±


    ¡°Thank you my friend, thank you.¡±


    ¡°Good to meet you, Max,¡± Kyle said.


    The boy cringed. ¡°If you¡¯re gonna shorten it, call me Lumen.¡±


    ¡°Indeed, well met, Lumen,¡± Dvorak said. ¡°May your weirdness never surpass mine. Seriously, I¡¯m trying to hold a monopoly on it.¡±


    ¡°NPC?¡± Lumen asked quietly, leaning towards Kyle. Dvorak groaned in response.


    ¡°To be fair, this is entirely your own fault for choosing to play as a bunny.¡± Kyle told him.


    ¡°The Lagotherres have a noble and proud place in the lore of this world, which I will happily tell you as soon as I¡¯m done making it up.¡±


    Lumen chuckled and rolled his eyes. ¡°So what¡¯s the plan here?¡± he asked Kyle.


    Kyle looked back at the others, and caught the barest glimpse of a cool stare from Mia before she was back in her menus.


    Behind her, Jacob floated to the ground and lost his glow. He stood up, but something was wrong. He didn¡¯t seem to reach his full height. Kyle came running over.


    ¡°Jacob?¡± he asked in alarm. Jacob turned to face him. He wasn¡¯t hunched over, he was just short.


    Jacob smiled broadly with his newly boyish face. ¡°Kyle, man! I¡¯m a halfling now! Until this is over, I get to be a kid again!¡±


    Kyle tried not to be disapproving. ¡°Jacob, you know that it isn¡¯t affecting your actual age. You¡¯re just a middle-age halfling now instead of a middle-age man. Being child-sized doesn¡¯t matter.¡±


    ¡°Sure it does. I¡¯m half the size but an eighth the weight! It feels like I¡¯m a little kid again!¡± And with that, he dashed off, leaving Kyle to stand annoyed.


    Lumen approached from behind. ¡°Well cool. We get a free race upgrade?¡±


    ¡°If you call it that,¡± Kyle said, motioning to Dvorak.

 Chapter 13: In which Crystopia Grows

    Kyle had been bluffing at first when he claimed the meta for the game was to form large guilds, but it didn¡¯t seem far from the truth. The system of constructing buildings seemed to incentivise gathering in communities. As they built, more people started to trickle into the budding village Dvorak insisted on calling ¡°Crystopia¡±, after the transcendance crystal floating in the center.


    Turns out Lumen was a professional E-sports gamer. He had escaped his pod by killing all of his podmates and climbing the rope that fell. He was lured by the fantasy the tiger-like Jakarna race represented, becoming a Jakarna Rogue. He changed his name to match the screen-name he had given Kyle. Because Kyle had never sent him a party invite, he never got to see Lumen¡¯s real name, which struck Kyle as sad.


    Also, Mia had apparently changed her name to ¡°Adrianne Darkblade¡± while in the crystal; Kyle hadn¡¯t noticed until later, when he saw that her name appeared different in the party menu. Kyle made an intentional effort to never call her that. ¡°Mia¡± was fine.


    Kyle tried hard to keep his eyes on the edge of the forest. He wanted to be the first to greet any newcomers, to try and make a good first impression, before Mia scared anyone away by being too competitive or aggressive or before Dvorak scared anybody away by being¡­ Dvorak.


    One of Lumen¡¯s podmates, a man named Braden, actually came to the crystal the following day. Lumen ran to the man and apologized, saying he wouldn¡¯t have killed his team-mates if he knew the meta. Lumen asked for forgiveness with plausible sincerity. The new man, Braden, seemed to take the apology pretty well, though Kyle did notice him keeping an eye on Lumen more often than not.


    This interaction made Kyle feel particularly hopeful; Lumen could have been a frightening rival had he not ¡°learned the meta¡± when he did. As it stood, he was instead trying to rally their ¡°team¡± to ¡°represent North America¡± in the competition, and encouraged everybody to ¡°give it their all¡± to win together. He wasn¡¯t above repetitive labor, either. In particular, he prided himself on being a dead-shot hunter always able to provide food for the town. He constantly tried to explain to others the idiosyncrasies of the bow he was using, though as the only rogue in the group, his explanations fell on mostly deaf ears.


    One of the fallen people from Dvorak¡¯s pod, a shy, slight, olive-skinned girl, came to the crystal the same day. Dvorak immediately declared that he would protect her from the ¡°brutish savagery of the brutish savage¡± that had killed her, and insisted she touch the crystal. She wordlessly complied, shaking somewhat, and came out as an elven acolyte. Dvorak announced he would build the girl a house, and the girl nodded sullenly, warily observing the people around her.


    For the first couple of days, they mostly chopped trees and built buildings. Depending on who was doing what, they¡¯d rearrange parties so people doing similar activities near each other could keep tabs on each other¡¯s health bars. Sadly, parties only went up to five people, so they couldn¡¯t all be in a party all the time.


    Mia grumbled a lot and was prone to taking naps, which annoyed Kyle. When she did collect wood, she would often chop alone, trying to figure out which trees produced the most wood for as little effort as possible and seeking out those trees specifically. Mia said she was ¡°speedrunning¡± her resource gathering. Kyle thought she was just lazy. To blow off steam, Mia would borrow one of the bows Lumen crafted and hunt for sport. Or ¡°practice¡±, as she called it.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Mia also had some definite opinions about the way the town should be organized, but Kyle managed to convince her and the rest of the group that Jacob should be the town planner, being the only one with architecture as his skill. To his credit, Jacob took full ownership of his new role. Without even being prompted by Kyle, he went in to the help files, found the requirements for all the buildings, and tried to create a town plan so that all the buildings that could possibly be built would fit in the clearing in a logical organized way, with thematically similar buildings near each other and buildings arranged as conveniently as possible for those who lived in the village. His plan even included room for thirty houses, which could be expanded with multiple stories and turned into apartments if needed. Jacob sketched the town plan out in the dirt in one corner of the clearing and pleaded with everybody not to step on it.


    This style of planning had the unintended side effect that all the ¡°low-tier¡¯ buildings they could build with the equipment they currently had were spaced out far enough apart to be aggravating.


    ¡°What¡¯s the hell is up with this?¡± Mia demanded, her elven frame towering over the four-foot halfling. ¡°To get to the tannery, do I really need to walk half-way across the clearing? Why can¡¯t it be, like, right here?¡±


    ¡°Because that¡¯s where the arena goes,¡± Jacob said. ¡°I figured you¡¯d like living next to the arena, being all interested in combat and stuff.¡±


    ¡°Okay fine. Then why isn¡¯t the tannery, say, here?¡±


    ¡°Because that¡¯s where the Apothecary is. It needs to go next to the arena so people can get healed up after they fight.¡±


    ¡°Correction,¡± interjected Dvorak. ¡°There is, in fact, not an apothecary there. An oversight which I find most troubling. You want healing potions, don¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°Yes, but Mia wanted leather armor, so I had to get this tannery set up first. And after that, I¡¯ve got to build a well or you¡¯ll have no water for brewing, and we really need to get a smeltery up and running eventually because we need metal for like everything. Or is it a bloomery we need? I forget which comes first¡­¡±


    ¡°A bloomery? Could we work on that? I could use more rare flowers.¡± Dvorak said.


    ¡°What? No, A bloomery is a place for making Bronze. Or Iron. Or copper. Or something. A metal that we¡¯re gonna need.¡±


    ¡°Guys, leave Jacob alone,¡± Kyle said, arriving at the point of altercation. ¡°He¡¯s got the help docs on advanced architecture, we don¡¯t. Let him plan stuff. When it¡¯s done, it¡¯ll be great, I promise.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s still stupid that every time I kill one of these pointy-legged pok¨¦-deer, I¡¯ve got to drag the meat all the way to my house over here but the hide all the way to the tannery over there,¡± Mia complained. ¡°They should be closer.¡±


    ¡°Well yeah, I thought of that. The smokehouse is going to be near the tannery, which¡¯ll be convenient, but I think we¡¯ve all decided that a smokehouse is a low priority right now, right? So¡­¡±


    Braden, a dwarf ever since touching the crystal, shook his head as he approached. ¡°Do you even know how a tannery works, girl? Trust me, you probably don¡¯t want to live next to one.¡± Braden tapped his crystal and started unloading wood from his inventory onto the ground in front of Jacob.


    ¡°What?¡± Asked Mia. ¡°Why not?¡±


    ¡°You tan leather by soaking it in urine,¡± Braden said, smiling. ¡°You want to make bets on how realistic leatherworking is in this game? Because I sure don¡¯t. We can smell in this game, you know?¡± He began walking back off towards the forest, chuckling.

 Chapter 14: In which Jacob Stays up Late

    One morning, a little over a week after arriving at the crystal, Kyle went outside to find Jacob standing awkwardly and excitedly in front of his door.


    ¡°What¡¯s up, Jacob?¡± Kyle asked, shutting his door behind him.


    ¡°I built you a thank you present,¡± Jacob said. ¡°For being such a help as I was finding my feet here.¡±


    ¡®You built me a¡­ um¡­ thank you, Jacob. I appreciate it. Where¡­ where is it?¡±


    Jacob led Kyle to a very large, mostly nondescript wooden building. Kyle opened the door as Jacob shifted his weight back and forth in excitement. Rosy early-morning light flood into the building, illuminating the single, massive room. Within, kyle saw dozens of empty shelves and stacks and stacks of¡­


    ¡°Books?¡± Kyle asked. ¡°You built me a library?¡±


    ¡°Yep!¡± Jacob said, beaming. ¡°I figured you¡¯re an adept, which is like a wizard, right? So you¡¯d need a library!¡±


    ¡°I thought the apothecary was next on the list. When did this happen?¡±


    ¡°Last night, after everybody else went to bed, I stayed up and worked on this while nobody else could complain at me for building things ¡®out of order¡¯.¡± He bounced a little as he talked. Kyle sometimes worried that being a halfling was having an effect on Jacob. Being in a different body must really mess with one¡¯s self-identity. ¡°And the fatigue thing¡¯s not that bad, if you just work through it,¡± Jacob continued. ¡°Yeah, you get sluggish and stuff, but you don¡¯t feel tired in the head. I had this place done in like five hours.¡±


    ¡°I¡­ thanks. That¡¯s really thoughtful of you.¡±


    ¡°Well I¡¯m hoping that our ¡®reader guy¡¯ might find something in these books that would help us. I figured if knowledge is power, the sooner I could get this place up and running, the sooner you can start becoming all-powerful and help us get out of this game.¡±


    ¡°Where¡¯d you get the books?¡±Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    ¡°They appeared on the ground as soon as I told the crystal this place was a library. I kinda expected them to appear on the shelves, but, ah¡­¡± Jacob shrugged. ¡°Hope that¡¯s not a problem.¡±


    ¡®No, it¡¯s fine. It¡¯s just that.. I don¡¯t know what I¡¯m supposed¡­¡± Kyle paused. Given that he was in a library, perhaps some help entries had unlocked to tell him how books worked? He flicked open his menus; a week of essentially constantly playing a game had left him pretty good at navigating them.


    He found some entries he didn¡¯t recognize in the section on spellcraft. Apparently books were part of the spell research system. Kyle smiled. ¡°Thank you, Jacob. I¡¯m not a hundred percent sure, but I get the feeling these will be very useful.¡±


    Jacob beamed. ¡°If you need more shelves, or anything, let me know. Now I¡¯ve gotta get on that apothecary for Dvorak before the little fluff-ball goes all Monty Python on me.¡±


    The exact meaning of the antiquated dad-reference was lost on Kyle, but he caught the general idea. As Jacob left, Kyle looked at the piles and piles of books sitting in a disordered heap on the floor. What on earth had he signed up for by claiming to be a spell-caster? He picked up a thick tome and thumbed through it.


    The book was full of symbols in a language Kyle didn¡¯t recognize. They were angular and stylized, sort of like a combination of old norse runic and japanese. Kyle doubted they were real. He started counting the unique characters, and quickly came up with more than 26, implying it probably wasn¡¯t a substitution cipher. Or if it was, it would be a nightmare to figure out. He kept leafing through it. About one page in 20 had a full page illustration of some kind, often of elaborate circular diagrams, but sometimes a depiction of a plant or animal.


    Kyle sighed. He was hoping the spell research system would be intuitive. He put the book down and resumed researching the way he knew best: in his help menu.


    * * *


    Kyle awoke to shouts.


    He felt groggy and sluggish for the first time since entering the game, in a half asleep state, only barely aware of the surroundings in his cabin. He tried to concentrate and pay attention to the shouts. They sounded panicked. Kyle reluctantly decided he ought to do something about that.


    No sooner than he made the decision to get up, Kyle felt awake and aware again. The gameplay mechanics behind ¡°choosing to be awoken from a sound¡± had fascinating implications, but he didn¡¯t have time to explore them just then. He tried to dash to the door, but his movements were sluggish and unresponsive. He must still be under the effects of fatigue. Not for the first time, he wished the developers had bothered to include an adrenaline system; he knew in real life, he¡¯d be moving faster than this!


    He threw open the door and looked out at the village. He felt the heat on his face before his brain could finish parsing the scene in front of him.


    The village was on fire.

 Chapter 15: In which Everything is on Fire

    The shouts were coming from that girl, the one from Dvorak¡¯s pod. Avina? Something like that? ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Kyle shouted.


    ¡°Fire!¡± She replied.


    ¡°Well yes, but how! Why? What¡­ What happened?¡±


    ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know!¡±


    Annoyed, Kyle stumbled to Mason¡¯s home and pounded on the door. While waiting for the man to respond, he looked back at the village, taking stock of the situation. The tannery, apothecary, and one of the houses were all on fire. Those buildings didn¡¯t even border each other. How did they all catch on fire at once? Was this some sort of event programmed by the devs ahead of time? Did the devs object to their decision to band together and hit a ¡°set fire¡± button to break them up? Did somebody else start the flames?


    Moments later, Mason opened the door. Kyle simply motioned behind him at the flames. ¡°Any ideas?¡±


    Mason stared at the conflagration thoughtfully for a moment, narrowing his eyes. ¡°Bucket brigade? We¡¯ve got a well now.¡±


    ¡°Thank goodness for that,¡± Kyle said. ¡°You grab Dvorak and Braden. I¡¯ll wake up Mia, Jacob and Lumen. Avina is¡­ aware of the situation already.¡±


    Mason nodded, and stumbled out the door, cursing.


    Lumen grinned when he opened the door and saw the flames. Kyle explained the plan. ¡°Can I be the guy on the end tossing the water?¡± Lumen asked. ¡°I¡¯ve got great aim.¡±


    Jacob, on the other hand, was quietly angry at the development, muttering about his hard work going to waste.


    ¡°Can we start with the apothecary first?¡± Jacob asked. ¡°Crafting all the furniture it took to make it count as an apothecary was a pain.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± Kyle said, ¡°But first can you craft some more buckets? We¡¯ll need at least one per person.


    ¡°Yeah, sure, I always leave wood in my inventory.¡± Jacob left his home and walked towards the well with measured, methodical steps, compensating for his slow movements better than anybody else. Must have been the practice he got working on the library at night. Kyle made a mental note to start acclimating himself to the effects of the fatigue.


    Mia, surprisingly, was nowhere to be found. Her cabin was locked, and no amount of banging would bring her to the door. Kyle tried to text her using the social menu in his crystal¡¯s display, but he¡¯d never texted anybody that wasn¡¯t in his party before. He sent a brief message and hoped it went through.


    At the well, Mason was already instructing people on how to fight the fire; they¡¯d form an ant line, and pass buckets from one person to the next. The buildings were far enough from the well that they¡¯d need to run (or more accurately, hobble) a little to get the bucket to the next person, but it still worked better than having everybody run all the way to the well and back every time they needed to fill their bucket.


    Despite their efforts, the fire on the apothecary didn¡¯t seem to be getting any less intense. Worse, the fire on the one cabin was starting to spread to the adjoining cabin. Kyle, second to the front behind Lumen, started having his doubts about the bucket plan. Others seemed to as well.


    ¡°I¡¯m gonna lose all those flowers!¡± Dvorak shouted. ¡°Some of those, I¡¯ve only ever found one of! Think of the potions! The potions!¡±


    ¡°Any ideas?¡± asked Jacob, glancing at the fire encroaching on the second cabin. ¡°If our cabins burn down, we¡¯ll lose the stuff in them, right?¡±


    ¡°I know, I¡¯m thinking, I¡¯m thinking!¡± Kyle understood why they would be counting on him to come up with a solution, but it wasn¡¯t fair. It¡¯s not like there was an article about how to fight fires in the help text. Kyle suddenly had an irrational urge to demand an answer from Mia, given that she acted like she knew everything about everything. It¡¯d serve her right. She wasn¡¯t even there, though.


    Kyle kept laboriously ferrying buckets back and forth on his sluggish limbs. If there were a help file on fighting fires, what would it even say?


    This was a game, right? Then he should act like it was a game.


    He dropped his empty bucket, making Jacob scowl and dart in to grab it to keep the line going. Kyle hit his crystal, went to skills, and selected Examine, staring at the flickering flames.


    The circle filled up agonizingly slowly, but when it finally did he got more than he expected.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    The flame had an HP bar.


    He watched Lumen throw a bucket of water on the fire. The fire¡¯s HP bar decreased slightly, but it seemed to be regenerating, gaining HP only slightly less quickly than Lumen was ¡°damaging¡± it.


    The fire also had a crafter, but the overlay informed him that he needed a higher tracking skill to find out who it was.


    He switched targets, hitting examine again, but this time looked at the apothecary¡¯s walls. Its HP bar appeared as well. It seemed to be falling at the same rate the fire¡¯s HP bar was rising.


    ¡°Guys! The fire¡¯s draining HP from the building!¡± Kyle shouted. ¡°the water counts as an attack, but we aren¡¯t dealing enough damage to to overcome its regeneration!¡± The others paused their bucket line. Kyle could almost see their minds switching over to a game paradigm. Some of them started navigating their menus. ¡°This is a game, guys. We need to think! What attacks would you use to deal HP damage to a giant fire!¡±


    ¡°Cold attacks!¡± shouted Dvorak.


    ¡°Uh¡­ smother it?¡± guessed Jacob.


    ¡°Think about the mechanics, guys,¡± Lumen shouted, lowering his bucket. ¡°It¡¯s regenerating, right? How about dispelling its regeneration buff? It¡¯s like free damage!¡±


    ¡°How on earth do we do that?¡± shouted Mason. ¡°Order the fire to stop spreading?¡±


    Lumen shrugged. ¡°Just saying. That¡¯s how I¡¯d think about it.¡±


    Lumen¡¯s thought gave Kyle an idea. ¡°Everybody, go home to your storage and get all the rocks you have.¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± Braden asked, confused.


    ¡°Wait, we have rocks?¡± asked Dvorak.


    ¡°We¡¯re gamers. We compulsively hoard things. Yes, we have rocks. Give them to Jacob.¡±


    People stumbled off to their houses as quickly as they were able. Dvorak stood there for a moment, before finally shrugging. ¡°Okay, fine. Guilty as charged.¡± He began hopping towards his building. Kyle rolled his eyes and went to get his.


    While Kyle was gone, the fire grew to an even larger size. The apothecary started showing signs of the damage it was taking; its walls were blackened and charred, and one corner suddenly caved inward, sending embers into the sky.


    Kyle and the others all unloaded their inventories full of rocks onto the ground in front of Jacob. Jacob looked at the pile of stones in confusion.


    ¡°Jacob,¡± Kyle said. ¡°I need you to upgrade the apothecary to a tier-two building.¡±


    Jacob looked at the stones. Then he smiled. ¡°You got it.¡±


    He started touching the stones, one by one, putting them in his inventory by tapping the crystal while pressing his hand against them. Once he had most of the pile, he stepped forward, placing his left hand on part of the wall that was free of flames. He tapped on his left crystal with his free hand, and navigated through his menus for a bit, before stepping back and smiling.


    After a moment, a spiral of blue light started circling the apothecary. A bright flash caused Kyle to avert his eyes. When he looked back, the apothecary stood firm, sporting new stone walls.


    It was still on fire though.


    Kyle scowled, and looked at the HP bars of both the building and the fire. The building¡¯s max HP was much higher; being made of stone must have given it a significant boost. The fire¡¯s HP bar was still increasing, but much slower than it was earlier. The stone wasn¡¯t feeding it like the wood was.


    ¡°Guys! Buckets, now!¡¯ Kyle shouted.


    They resumed the line. This time, though, the fire reduced in size with each bucket thrown, until eventually the fire and its HP bar disappeared, leaving the apothecary a smouldering, wet, smoking mess.


    But it was still intact.


    ¡°Booyah! the day is saved!¡± shouted Dvorak, jumping in the air.


    ¡°Not yet, two fires left to go,¡± Kyle said, looking at the tannery and two flaming houses.


    ¡°That¡¯s a problem,¡± Jacob said. ¡°I don¡¯t have enough rocks left to upgrade anything else.¡±


    Lumen¡¯s axe appeared in his hand. ¡°Think of it like a boss in an RPG, guys,¡± said Lumen, ¡°If the boss is out-sustaining you by draining health from its adds, you gotta kill the adds. I hate to do this, but¡­¡± He shot Jacob an apologetic look and shrugged, before hobbling on his digitigrade legs towards the more damaged of the two houses and hacking at it with his axe. Kyle Examined the house so he could see its HP bar drain. Lumen¡¯s thought made sense; every point of damage he dealt to the house was one fewer point of damage they¡¯d have to deal to the fire later.


    ¡°My house¡­¡± Avina said sullenly, watching Lumen chop at the wall.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± said Jacob, ¡°but we don¡¯t want the fire to spread to anywhere else. I think if we collapse the house, the fire will die out. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll build you another one tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s fine.¡± Avina said. ¡°All that was in there was junk anyway.¡± Her tone was more downcast than her words.


    ¡°Guys, the fire¡¯s not as big on the house next to it,¡± Kyle said, pointing. ¡°Maybe we can save that one if we hurry.¡± They reformed the line and went back to it.


    As it turned out, larger fires drained health from their buildings more quickly than smaller ones; their buckets were perfectly capable of dousing the smaller fire on the adjoining house. Avina¡¯s house completely collapsed under the damage from Lumen¡¯s axe and the fire itself in just a few minutes, becoming a cheery bonfire they put out next. The tannery was completely consumed in flame, but it was far enough away from everything else that it didn¡¯t do any more damage than that.


    After pouring the last bucket on the smouldering remains of Avina¡¯s house, Kyle sat down and sighed in relief. Lumen fell on the ground next to him, putting his hands behind his head and smiling. ¡°Pretty intense, huh?¡± Lumen asked, turning towards Kyle.


    Kyle still found Lumen¡¯s smile disconcerting. No carnivore showed that many teeth in real life unless it was about to attack. He fought it down and returned the smile. ¡°Yeah. Intense,¡± he said. ¡°But hey, at least we got a little more experience working under the effects of fatigue.


    ¡°Speaking of experience,¡± Lumen said, sitting up, ¡°how much XP do you think we¡¯d get from defeating three massive fires? Y¡¯know. If this were a normal game?¡±


    ¡°Four fires!¡± Dvorak called out. ¡°My house was on fire too, y¡¯know!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but that was just a little wussy fire!¡± Lumen shouted back, sitting up. ¡°It doesn¡¯t count!¡±


    Kyle chuckled. Being on the tail end of a harrowing situation was making him a little punchy.


    It was just then that Mia showed up, lugging a young man in his early twenties over her shoulders. She dumped him unceremoniously into the ashes where he lay, unconscious.


    ¡°Found our arsonist.¡±

 Chapter 16: In which the Villagers Argue over Walls

    ¡°What the crap, Mia?¡± asked Kyle in surprise, looking at the man in the ashes. He was wearing rough garb made from hide, quite unlike the skillfully crafted leather Braden had made for Mia and Lumen. Besides that, he seemed to wear nothing of value, though Kyle couldn¡¯t tell what was in his inventory.


    ¡°I mean, it¡¯s obvious, right?¡± Mia said. ¡°Some guy torched our houses so he and his buddies could touch the crystal while we were distracted. Saw all three of them. I only caught the one, though. Beat his face in ¡®cause he ranked strength like a newb instead of ranking reflexes.¡± She shrugged.


    ¡°Hey, I picked strength,¡± Jacob said.


    ¡°Why¡¯s he here?¡± asked Kyle. ¡°Are corpses persistent or something?¡±


    ¡°Not if you loot them,¡± Mia said. ¡°But he¡¯s not actually dead. If you punch somebody enough, they just go unconscious instead of dying.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯re the rules on that?¡± Lumen asked. ¡°Y¡¯think you could keep somebody from respawning in 24 hours by keeping them unconscious? Just beat them over the head every couple of hours?¡±


    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t they die of thirst or something first?¡± Jacob asked.


    ¡°Probably,¡± Mason said. ¡°Seems like the simplest way to avoid an exploit like that.¡±


    ¡°What about a prison?¡± asked Lumen. ¡°Can we lock the guy up?¡±


    ¡°You want a prison?¡± Jacob asked. ¡°When I¡¯ve already got two houses, an apothecary, and a tannery to repair?¡±


    ¡°Kinda, yeah,¡± said Lumen. He looked around. ¡°I mean, we don¡¯t want this guy running around trolling people, right? Lock the sucker up.¡±


    Kyle had his doubts. In his opinion, it would be a serious design oversight to make completely eliminating somebody from the game was as simple as capturing them and holding them in a cell. But there were enough nods of assent that he held his tongue. ¡°I guess we keep watches until we get the prison set up?¡± Kyle asked.


    ¡°Actually,¡± said Mia, sneering and narrowing her eyes, ¡°That brings up a good point. We need watches all the time, not just while we¡¯ve got our guest here. Our town burnt today because we¡¯ve been ignoring our basics, guys.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± asked Jacob.


    ¡°We¡¯re lazy. We¡¯re sitting here building our own little utopia here, but we¡¯ve got no guards, no walls, no defenses, and we had the idiotic audacity to build right around a giant beacon that says ¡®attack me please¡¯!¡± Mia started to pace as she ranted. ¡°Meanwhile, ¡®Kyle the Bland¡¯ here is preaching ¡®love peace and tolerance¡¯ but we have no plan for how to deal with people than think that playstyle is ¡ª-.¡± As Mia grew increasingly upset, she began triggering the profanity filter. ¡°Kyle¡¯s trying to convince us that this five-million dollar competition shouldn¡¯t be ¡ª¡ª- competitive!¡±


    ¡°I think we¡¯re doing fine,¡± said Jacob, crossing his arms.


    ¡°Yeah, well I got news for you, dad-kid. These people that attacked us were level three. Examine him for yourself, and see. We¡¯re level one.¡± She threw her hands up in frustration. ¡°We got roasted. Almost literally. For ¡ª-¡®s sake, as we sit here and build our little city, other players are getting more and more powerful. Soon we¡¯ll start being attacked be level tens. Or twenties! How the ¡ª- are we gonna fight that if we don¡¯t even have ¡ª¡ª- walls? And remember: all the players who actually want to win this game are going to have to come to our city eventually. Why the ¡ª- haven¡¯t we been built any defenses? Or at least built our ¡ª¡ª- Utopia somewhere more secluded?¡±


    ¡°That misses the point, though,¡± interjected Kyle as Mia took a breath. ¡°If other players come here, we can talk people into joining us. This isn¡¯t a town to defend the crystal, Mia. It¡¯s a gathering place to make sure everybody¡¯s on the same page. We¡¯re forming a community.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, so all the real competitors have a place to raid and get free stuff,¡± Mia said, putting her hands on her hips and striding towards Kyle. ¡°Did you think of that? These guys were dumb enough to set fire to our places, but what if they had just killed us and taken our stuff instead? We¡¯ve got more treasure here for adventurers to loot than all seven of us have found in the rest of the ¡ª-ing world put together!¡±


    ¡°If we put up a wall, though, then we look like we¡¯re guarding the crystal,¡± Kyle argued. ¡°People will start planning how to attack us before we even get to say hello!¡±


    ¡°People are already planning that! This was premeditated. The fires were a diversion to draw away our guards so they could get to the crystal. Well guess what? Joke¡¯s on them because we don¡¯t have any ¡ª¡ª- guards! They coulda just walked right in!¡±The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°That¡¯s kind of the point,¡± said Kyle. ¡°If they could just walk right in, why would they bother burning our houses?¡±


    ¡°Look, Kyle,¡± said Lumen, ¡°I think Mia¡¯s got a point here. We¡¯re gamers. PvP is in our blood. I get the whole ¡°band together¡± thing. I really do. But this world has no safe zones. There are gonna be trolls. There are gonna be griefers. Guys that don¡¯t realize we¡¯re actuallycompeting against the Korean and Chinese regions, and not other gamers from NA. If we build defenses, we¡¯ll outscale them late game. Let¡¯s see how well their raids go when we¡¯ve got plate mail and ballistae or whatever, huh? But if we don¡¯t build defenses, they outscale us. We get wiped weekly. Bam. Square one. Over and over. And they just get stronger.¡±


    ¡°I agree,¡± said Mason, ¡°But we could make compromises. Could we put up a big sign over the city walls that says, maybe, ¡®Welcome to Crystopia, adventurers welcome?¡±


    ¡°What, and let in all the randos?¡± Mia asked.


    ¡°Let in all the awesome teammates, like Lumen,¡± Kyle corrected. ¡°Lumen could have been a raider. He was thinking about it, I could tell. If we had walls, he¡¯d have seen it as a challenge to be overcome, and tried to sneak in and attack us.¡±


    ¡°Hell yes, I would¡¯ve,¡± said Lumen smiling.


    ¡°And what if there was a sign?¡± Mason asked.


    Lumen shrugged. ¡°I¡¯d have probably thought it was an NPC village. And when I came in and saw players built it, I¡¯d have thought it was pretty cool. I¡¯d have stayed a while. Equipped myself. Joked around with people. ¡®Researched¡¯ intoxication rules. That sort of thing.¡±


    Mason nodded and folded his arms, as though it was decided. Mia didn¡¯t seem convinced. ¡°I don¡¯t like the idea of letting random people into our town. I think we¡¯re mostly on the same page here, but who knows what other people will try to do when they come in.¡±


    ¡°Good thing we¡¯ve got such a capable captain of the guard, then,¡± said Mason, gesturing at Mia, who simply narrowed her eyes in disgust. ¡°What?¡± Mason asked, smirking. ¡°You¡¯re good at it, obviously.¡±


    Kyle looked down to the unconscious man in the ashes. Mason had a point. If the arsonist was level three, he would have had an advantage over Mia, but Mia took him down anyway. She was good.


    ¡°Hey, why does she get to be captain?¡± asked Lumen.


    ¡°She complains the most,¡± Jacob muttered quietly. Dvorak guffawed, and awkwardly tried to disguise it with a hacking cough.


    Braden shook his head. ¡°Yeah, if we stay open and friendly, I think we¡¯ll probably attract more friends than enemies. I¡¯m guessing there are lots of people who just want to hole up and wait until this thing is all over. Plus, if a level one could fight off a whole group of level threes, then levels must not count for much, right? Maybe good equipment¡¯s where the real power lies. We wouldn¡¯t need to go out and touch crystals to have enough power to defend ourselves.¡±


    ¡°How hard was it, Mia?¡± asked Mason. ¡°Did they seem powerful?¡±


    ¡°Dunno,¡± said Mia with a wry little smile. ¡°They ranked strength, and that only matters if you hit the person you¡¯re swinging at. And I didn¡¯t let them do that.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, see? Levels don¡¯t count for much,¡± Braden said. ¡°We can hole up here and it¡¯ll be fine.¡± Kyle wasn¡¯t convinced, but didn¡¯t say anything as Braden continued. ¡°I think we need walls at least, though. A single gate, so there¡¯s a choke point. That way a single guard can keep track of everybody coming and going. If we don¡¯t, then Lumen¡¯s right: we won¡¯t be able to last long enough to craft high-end gear.¡±


    Kyle sighed. It was a valid compromise. ¡°Alright, so new plan: The top priority after rebuilding Avina¡¯s house is a wall and gate, with a friendly sign of some sort. Then we can get back to teching up with a bloomery or whatever.¡±


    ¡°Oh, sure,¡± said Mia sarcastically. ¡°Loudly order us to do what we had already decided to do. Make it sound like it was your ¡ª¡ª- idea. I¡¯m sure that¡¯ll convince people you call the shots. Way to go.¡± She threw up her hands and stormed off towards her cabin. Surprisingly quickly, too, as though she wasn¡¯t fatigued. Maybe it had to do with all those naps.


    Kyle watched her go, fuming.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, man,¡± Jacob said. ¡°She wasn¡¯t there when your idea saved the apothecary. In my book, you totally call the shots.¡±


    ¡°For now,¡± added Lumen. ¡°You gotta admit, she¡¯s pretty bad-ass. I wanna ask her how she took down this punk here.¡± Lumen grinned and started off after Mia.


    Kyle rolled his eyes and shook his head. ¡°So Dvorak,¡± he started. ¡°Wanna guard the prisoner?¡±


    ¡°Let me ask my viewerbase if they¡¯d enjoy watching me watch a sleeping guy for hours. Hm! They say no!¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t have contact with your viewerbase, Dvorak,¡± Kyle said.


    ¡°I know, right? But the force of five-thousand minds, each recoiling at the thought of having to watch me on guard duty, can reach me even here. Amazing, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°Dvorak? It¡¯s like 3:00 AM in the morning,¡± Kyle said.


    ¡°Yeah, five-thousand is my Chinese viewing base. Now if you¡¯ll excuse me, I¡¯m going to get some sleep.¡±


    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t sleeping be just as boring for your viewers as guarding a prisoner, though?¡±


    ¡°No.¡± Dvorak suddenly wore the darkest expression Kyle had seen on him. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t understand.¡±


    Kyle paused, taken aback by the sudden departure from Dvorak¡¯s chipper persona. ¡°Whatever,¡± he said, backpedaling awkwardly. ¡°I¡¯ll guard him. Braden, help me carry him to the library, then get some sleep. I¡¯ll work on spell research while I¡¯m up. Could you come take over for me at about 7:00?¡± Braden nodded his assent.


    ¡°I could guard him,¡± offered Jacob. ¡°I¡¯m used to the fatigue thing, I don¡¯t mind.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re already busy. You need to rebuild Avina¡¯s house before she can sleep. Thanks for the offer though.¡±


    Kyle went into his inventory and crafted some rope out of cordweed fibers he had gathered earlier, using a crafting recipe simple enough even untrained people could do it. Then, he tied up the man and hefted him over to the library with Braden. Within a few minutes, it was just him, cataloging books by candle-light, and the man, asleep in the corner.

 Chapter 17: In which Minigames are Invariably Frustrating

    The captured man hadn¡¯t woken up by the time Braden came into the library.


    ¡°Kyle?¡± Braden called, stepping into the dark building.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m here.¡±


    ¡°You can go get some sleep now.¡±


    ¡°Hold on, Braden, I think I got something.¡±


    ¡°What? You¡¯re decoding it?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Kyle said. ¡°I¡¯m not even sure it actually says anything. It¡¯s more like a research minigame.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± Braden said, coming over to peer at the book Kyle was holding. His short dwarven frame was eye level with Kyle even though Kyle was in a chair. ¡°Can I help?¡± he asked.


    ¡°I guess. You have to find pages that match. Like, they have identical contents. It¡¯s easiest to find matching pictures or diagrams, but I assume matching pages of text work too.¡±


    ¡°Then what?¡±


    ¡°Then somebody with the spellcraft skill, like me, can use the examine ability twice in quick succession on both pages, and it gives you a research point you can use to create spells. I think it¡¯s supposed to represent making connections between disparate sources of knowledge, but it¡¯s tedious as hell.¡±


    ¡°At least you figured out how it works. That¡¯s something, lt least.¡± said Braden. ¡°I picked Adept as my class too. I was wondering how I was supposed to cast spells and stuff. Guess I shoulda picked spellcraft. You¡¯d think they¡¯d have told me.¡±


    ¡°Nah, I can write spells on scrolls so others can learn them,¡± Kyle said. ¡°Spellcraft¡¯s just for inventing spells; any adept can cast them.¡±


    ¡°Well then we¡¯ve got a deal. I¡¯ll work on trying to find matches here, and then when you come back, you can make some spells.¡± Braden went over to a nearby shelf and removed a book.


    ¡°Thanks. It¡¯s gonna be rough, though. I¡¯ve only found four matches so far. It¡¯s these stupid books. They¡¯re too long.¡± Kyle pointed at a diagram in an open book on the table beside him. ¡°Like, I feel like I¡¯ve seen that circle diagram before. I thought it was in this book, but maybe it was in one of those other five books on that shelf over there. I honestly can¡¯t remember which one, because they all blur together and -¡±


    Kyle was interrupted by a loud ripping sound. He looked up from his tome to see Braden tearing a large picture of a flower from one of the books.


    ¡°Braden, what¡¯re you doing?¡±


    ¡°Simple. Let¡¯s tear out the pages and sort them,¡± Braden said, motioning to the mostly empty shelves. ¡°Put all the plant pictures in a stack here, all the animal pictures on the shelf next to them, like that. Maybe the text pages we can sort by what symbol appears in the first word of the first line.¡±


    Kyle trudged over and took a page from Braden¡¯s hand. He tapped through his menus until he got to the Examine ability and used it on the page. Sure enough, it registered, and his interface asked him to Examine a second one.


    ¡°Wow. The page still works, even separated from the book.¡±


    Braden smiled. ¡°Great. Let¡¯s rip these books apart.¡±


    ¡°This cannot be intended player behavior,¡± Kyle said as Braden leafed to another page with a diagram and carefully tore it out.


    ¡°That¡¯s their fault. They should have thought of that before making such a dumb research system.¡±


    ¡°Or,¡± said a voice in the corner, ¡°You could go out and play the the real game, noob.¡±


    ¡°Or,¡± Kyle said, without missing a beat, ¡°If you¡¯re so interested in winning the game, you could come in and get some free armor and spells instead of setting our city on fire.¡± He turned and looked at the man, grateful he finally woke up. Kyle had been on his toes for hours now.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    ¡°Free stuff? Like you¡¯d really do that.¡± the man said, his expression contemptuous.


    ¡°Have you touched the crystal? If not, Braden and I will carry you straight to the crystal and you can level up.¡±


    ¡°Wait, we will?¡± Braden asked.


    ¡°Sure. We don¡¯t care about this game. If he¡¯s interested in beating this game so we can all get back to our families in the real world, we should be helping him out.¡±


    ¡°But what if he tries to torch our village again?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s smarter than that,¡± Kyle said. ¡°Somebody ¨C not gonna name names here ¨C but somebody set fire to our village recently and undid a couple days worth of work. Not only that, but now our village has voted to set up a wall to protect themselves. That¡¯s probably four or five days of work there, too. So now instead of getting our bloomery up and running today, this poor guy has to wait a whole week before he can come ask us for metal armor and weapons.¡±


    Kyle looked over at the bound man in the corner. His face, smouldering with anger, betrayed some amount of thought. Kyle continued, ¡°This guy seems like the kind of person who wants to get every competitive advantage possible. Why would he mess that up by setting fire to our infrastructure?¡±


    ¡°What do you get out of it?¡±


    ¡°Long term, you win the game and we all escape. Shorter term? We¡¯d like more info. You¡¯ve got two crystals more than we do, but we headed to the closest crystal we could find. What¡¯d we miss? What else is out there? What¡¯s your build like, and how¡¯s it working out for you?¡±


    The man thought for a while. ¡°You really don¡¯t care if I win?¡±


    ¡°Mia might,¡± Kyle admitted. ¡°She¡¯s the one that bagged you. She¡¯s kinda competitive.¡±


    ¡°No joke,¡± the guy said. He grew quiet, still thinking.


    ¡°Or we could just kill you and take your stuff.¡± Kyle shrugged. ¡°We could put it to good use. You¡¯d just respawn elsewhere. Just don¡¯t come back and make us kill you again.¡±


    ¡°So you¡¯re looking for more guildies?¡± the man asked, straightening and smiling.


    ¡°Maybe,¡± said Kyle.


    ¡°You¡¯re the leader of this place? If you said I was in, I¡¯d be in for good?¡±


    ¡°Our village¡¯s power structure is¡­ weird.¡± Kyle said. ¡°People might not be too happy their village was set on fire. You might have to do a little boring grunt work to help repair the damage you caused. You know, like chopping trees and stuff. Just enough for other people to trust you¡¯re legit. You¡¯d also have to get Mia¡¯s okay. She thinks I¡¯m a softie.¡±


    ¡°You are,¡± the guy says. ¡°You¡¯re gonna end up being murdered once you stop being useful. But somebody¡¯s gotta chop trees. If you want to be an NPC shopkeeper, who am I to stop you?¡±


    Kyle leaned over to untie the man, but Braden put a hand on his shoulder.


    ¡°Kyle,¡± he said, ¡°I really don¡¯t like this.¡±


    ¡°Why not?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s just not trustworthy. He practically admits as much. He¡¯ll probably just steal our stuff and leave.¡±


    ¡°He can¡¯t. We¡¯ve set all our houses to have access rights that keep others from entering. He can¡¯t get our stuff.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve got public property, though. The leather in the tannery. The herbs in the apothecary. Hell, he might just wait, insist on getting the first set of metal armor, then disappear in the night.¡±


    Kyle thought about it, and glanced at the bound man. The man shrugged, and his eager smile tightened to a smirk. ¡°No offence taken. I wouldn¡¯t trust me either. It¡¯s just that sort of game.¡±


    ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be,¡± Kyle said. ¡°This stupid bickering is costing us time. If everybody in the game took all their resources and used it to help one person tag all the crystals, then we¡¯d be out of here and back to our normal lives in a month.¡±


    ¡°And that one person would get five million. And everybody else would miss out on the coolest competition in their lifetime,¡± the man said. He leaned forward, arms still tightly bound behind him. ¡°Have you considered that? That maybe it¡¯s not about getting home for some of these people?¡±


    ¡°Are you one of those people?¡± Kyle asked.


    The man paused, his expression lost in thought. He looked over at Braden, and Kyle¡¯s eyes followed. Braden¡¯s arms were crossed, and his face was stone.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± the man finally said, leaning back calmly. ¡°I¡¯m in this to win. I¡¯m two levels up already, and this¡¯ll only be my first death. Minor setback. No big deal.¡±


    ¡°No. If you¡¯re going to be like that, we¡¯ll just leave you tied up. We¡¯ll build a prison next. Can¡¯t respawn if we don¡¯t kill you. You lose. Game¡¯s over for you.¡±


    The man laughed. ¡°Like that¡¯ll work. If you don¡¯t tap your crystal for 24 hours, it gives you a message asking if you are okay. If you don¡¯t tap ¡°yes¡± within a few minutes, it respawns you somewhere. You¡¯re a naive optimist even when it comes to handling prisoners.¡±


    ¡°How do you even know this?¡±


    ¡°It happened to the other people in my starting dungeon. I just kept them out by beating them in the head every few hours as I set up camp near the entrance. I found the info in the help menu after I saw someone disappear for the first time.¡±


    Kyle scowled. ¡°Fine. We¡¯ll kill you at midnight so your respawn timer starts then. The least we could do is cost you 48 hours instead of 24. Pleasant dreams.¡± And he punched the man hard in the face.


    The man¡¯s eyes snapped shut as he fell immediately into unconsciousness.


    The sudden violence unnerved Kyle. He was thinking of the game mechanics; return the man to unconsciousness to keep him from escaping. But in a flash, he realized punching a bound man¡¯s face was far more violent than anything he had ever done in real life. He suddenly felt irrationally frustrated at the man, as if the man had somehow forced Kyle to do that.


    Still under the ever-increasing effects of fatigue, Kyle laboriously stormed off.


    Braden didn¡¯t call after him.

 Chapter 18: In which Walls are Surprisingly Hard to Build

    Kyle woke up again at about noon. Outside, the village inhabitants had already gathered. They were standing in a loose circle, tossing rocks out of their inventory into a pile on the ground. Jacob was trying to add them to his as fast as possible.


    Kyle stepped out and went to go watch.


    ¡°How thick did you say you wanted this wall, guys?¡± Jacob asked, touching the rocks and adding them to his inventory. He was finally starting to navigate his inventory as well as one would expect from a gamer.


    ¡°Maybe two feet thick?¡± Mason asked.


    ¡°And at least twelve feet high,¡± Mia said. ¡°Fifteen if we can manage it.¡±


    Jacob, having finished collecting the rocks, started scribbling some numbers in the dirt.


    ¡°Okay, guys, looks like this is enough for a wall¡­ twelve feet high, two feet thick¡­ and a little less than four and a half feet long.


    ¡°What the crap,¡± Mia said in a falling tone. Dvorak shook his head and muttered.


    Lumen exhaled in frustration. ¡°We¡¯ve been collecting rocks from the woods for hours. This is nuts. Is stone supposed to be this hard to collect?¡± He grumbled in a way that sounded eerily like a tiger¡¯s low growl.


    ¡°No,¡± Jacob said, with a confused look on his face. ¡°In fact, it says we should be able to get more stone from a mine. But the thing is, the pickaxe I made won¡¯t dig any deeper than a few feet underground. After that, I hit bedrock. Or, well, rock that my pick won¡¯t break, at least. I dunno.¡±


    ¡°Wait,¡± said Lumen. ¡°Did it say you needed to mine it, or did you say you got it from a mine?¡±


    ¡°Is there a difference?¡± asked Braden. His eyes were focused on the air in front of him and he would occasionally push invisible buttons; probably searching the help text.


    ¡°Uh, I think the guide said I got it from a mine,¡± Jacob said, opening up his menus as well. ¡°Let me check.¡±


    ¡°I mean, I¡¯ve got this entry called ¡®mine¡¯ under the ¡®adventure sites¡¯ heading,¡± Lumen said, opening up his menus as well. ¡°I didn¡¯t look at it much. Seems like a mine is some sort of dungeon. Someplace with mobs and treasure and stuff.¡±The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°I don¡¯t have that topic,¡± Kyle interjected, walking up to the group at a pleasantly normal speed. ¡°I¡¯d know. I go through the docs pretty regularly.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m not seeing it,¡± said Braden.


    ¡°Me neither,¡± said Jacob.


    Mia finally opened up her menus too, and shook her head. ¡°Why do you have it?¡±


    ¡°Wait,¡± said Kyle. ¡°How long have you had that entry? Do you remember when you first saw it?¡±


    Lumen shrugged. ¡°A day or two ago.¡±


    ¡°Help text appears on some sort of triggering condition, right?¡± Kyle asked. ¡°So if Lumen has it, he¡¯s probably been near an entrance to a mine.¡±


    Jacob smiled. ¡°There¡¯s got to be one nearby then!¡±


    Kyle nodded. ¡°Where did you go hunting in the past few days, Lumen?¡±


    Lumen thought. ¡°Day before yesterday, I kinda followed that river to the southwest further than I usually do. We could check there, I guess?¡±


    ¡°Better yet,¡± Kyle said, ¡°If you bring others along, and they leave their help menus open, we can see when we get close because the mine will be added to their list of topics.¡±


    ¡°Working as intended,¡± Lumen said with a toothy grin.


    Braden rolled his eyes. ¡°This game. Seriously. How many exploits does it have?¡±


    ¡°Well, in theory, we¡¯re in a prerelease tournament. We¡¯re actually probably the beta testers,¡± Kyle said. ¡°Unless there¡¯s been some really twisted testing going on.¡±


    ¡°Probably not all that twisted. The testers probably had a logout button,¡± Mason said.


    ¡°Well, enough talking. I ought to go mine some stone.¡± Jacob said.


    ¡°Hold it, dad-kid,¡± Mia said, ¡°This isn¡¯t a quarry. This is a dungeon crawl. An ¡°Adventure Site¡¯. We want people good at games to go.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m so totally in.¡± Lumen said. His bow appeared in his hand and his quiver materialized on his back.


    ¡°Yeah, me too,¡± Mia said.


    ¡°A quest! At last, a noble crusade! To gather stone, for the defense of Crystopia!¡± Dvorak started excitedly hopping up and down. ¡°Guys, I¡¯m in this a hundred percent. Let¡¯s do this!¡±


    ¡°You sure the bunny should go?¡± asked Braden skeptically.


    ¡°Murder bunny, thankyouverymuch.¡± Dvorak said. ¡°And I wouldn¡¯t miss it for the world!¡±


    ¡°In theory, I signed up to be the fighter,¡± Mason said. ¡°Guess I¡¯m going.¡±


    ¡°Parties go up to five,¡± Lumen said, ¡°Anybody else want in?¡± He glanced expectantly at Kyle.


    ¡°I think we might need some skilled people here,¡± said Mia, not making eye contact with Kyle. ¡°In case raiders come back.¡±


    ¡°Oh come on, Adrianne,¡± Lumen said, using Mia¡¯s screen name. ¡°You were fine with only three people at the village when we were out looking for rocks.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, well¡­¡± Mia rolled her eyes towards Kyle.


    ¡°I want to come,¡± Kyle said firmly. ¡°If it opens up more topics in my help menu, I should be there too. My job is to know everything, right? Gotta get my bookworm on.¡±


    ¡°And that¡¯s five,¡± Lumen said. ¡°You guys can hold down the fort, right? For a few hours?¡±


    Jacob nodded. ¡°I gotta fix the tannery anyway.¡± Braden hesitated, but nodded. Avina didn¡¯t respond, eyes cast towards the woods.


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s head,¡± said Lumen.


    ¡°First, our spellcrafter should hit the library,¡± Braden said. ¡°Give us five minutes. It¡¯ll be worth it. Trust me.¡±


    Kyle smiled.

 Chapter 19: In which Cabers are Tossed

    Kyle found it interesting how different the journey to Lumen¡¯s mine was from the initial journey to Crystopia. They had been in the game for a little over a week, but already the flora and fauna along the riverside felt familiar and less alien. It made the forest feel less dangerous. Of course, that also may have had something to do with their recently crafted leather armor.


    It was also much noisier than their last trek through the forest. Dvorak filled the air with useless prattle any time nobody else was talking. Kyle told him that was a bad idea because it could give away their position. Dvorak switched to prattling in a whisper, which was marginally less annoying.


    Lumen took the opportunity to hunt, or perhaps more accurately, to show off. When Dvorak pointed out a blue squirrel-like kreyfa climbing a tree, Lumen pulled his bow out of his inventory at lightning speed and fired. The kreyfa, hearing the twang of the bow, tried to dodge but somehow managed to run into the arrow. The arrow pinned the kreyfa to the tree, where it twitched momentarily before stilling.


    ¡°See, lots of people think that being an E-sports athlete is all about reflexes or precision,¡± Lumen said, walking over to collect his kill. ¡°But it¡¯s not just that. A real pro also has a deep knowledge of systems. And they pick stuff up quickly. Like this kreyfa? They startle. When scared, they start running forward, and then change direction to turn away from the source of the sound.¡± As he spoke, he tugged on the arrow to loose the Kreyfa from the tree. ¡°So you don¡¯t aim at them, you just aim slightly in front of them, because you know where they¡¯re going to dodge to.¡± Grinning, he looked towards Mia, who was pointedly ignoring him.


    Mason, on the other hand, nodded appreciatively. ¡°See, that¡¯s the difference between an E-sports player and a guy who plays games a lot. You¡¯re used to analysing things in a way we aren¡¯t. How long did it take you to figure that out?¡±


    ¡°About an evening¡¯s hunting. You get used to unearthing and exploiting AI patterns when you eat and breathe high-level play.¡±


    ¡°You getting this, Mia?¡± asked Mason.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m so glad I know how to protect myself from innocuous forest critters now.¡±


    ¡°What, think you can do better?¡± Lumen said, smirking. ¡°Want to have a competition? Want to bet on who can tag the most kreyfas on the way to the mines?¡±


    ¡°No. That¡¯s pointless. No-one gives a crap how good you are at killing squirrels. You might as well take the title. All hail Lumen the Squirrel-Killer.¡±


    Lumen looked disappointed.


    It only took about two hours for them to get near the mine. Kyle, who had his help menu open nearly the whole time, saw a flash in the corner of his eye as the ¡°adventure site¡± help topics rearranged themselves. ¡°Hold up guys,¡± he said, halting abruptly. ¡°We¡¯re close.¡±


    ¡°How close?¡± Mia asked.


    ¡°No idea,¡± Kyle said. Mia smirked.


    Lumen pointed off the left side of the trail. ¡°It¡¯s probably set into that cliff there,¡± he said, pointing to a natural rocky hillside. ¡°It probably has an entrance and stairs leading down or whatever. It¡¯d be weird if it was just a hole in the ground.¡±


    They paced up and down the length of the cliff face for nearly an hour, but could find no entrances. Annoyed, Kyle sat down on a stump. Lumen crafted a waterskin from the Kreyfa hide he got earlier and ran down to the river to get some water for the group. Dvorak busied himself collecting more plants, quietly talking to himself the whole time.


    ¡°Got any ideas?¡± Mason asked.


    ¡°None,¡± Kyle said. ¡°I wish I knew how close we were. You¡¯d think it¡¯d be more obvious if it were an important part of this game¡¯s tech progression.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Mason said thoughtfully. ¡°What good is help text popping up in your menus if you don¡¯t even know how you triggered it?¡±


    ¡°Yep. We¡¯re probably missing something. It¡¯s not like they¡¯re trying to hide it.¡±Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    Suddenly, Mia pulled her axe and goblin sword from her inventory and stood. ¡°Guys, I just realized. We¡¯re not alone.¡±


    Kyle tensed and opened his menu. ¡°Why? What¡¯s up?¡±


    ¡°Look at what you¡¯re sitting on.¡±


    Kyle stood up and looked. ¡°A tree stump¡­?¡±


    ¡°A cut tree stump,¡± Mia corrected. ¡°Someone¡¯s been here.¡±


    Kyle looked around. He could see five or six other such stumps in the area. ¡°Yeah, this is too many stumps to be some random guy collecting wood on his way from one place to another. Somebody¡¯s building something.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t see anything, though,¡± said Mason.


    ¡°I¡¯ll climb a tree and check the area!¡± Dvorak said enthusiastically. He bounded to the nearest tree and tried to climb it, but he had a hard time getting his newly reverse-jointed legs to co-operate. ¡°Actually, maybe I won¡¯t do that,¡± he conceded.


    Kyle looked around the area, seeking any signs of construction.


    He then noticed one section of the cliff face that seemed strange and out of place. It seemed like it had a slightly different color than the rest of the stone, and also seemed rougher. In fact, it also seemed unusually flat.


    On a hunch, he Examined it. Sure enough, that section of cliff-face had an HP bar and an owner. Sort of. The owner was listed as ¡°Unmet player¡±.


    ¡°Guys!¡± Kyle called. ¡°Guys, I found the mine. Somebody hid the entrance with a stone wall!¡±


    Mia followed Kyle¡¯s gaze, and Examined it for herself. ¡°That little punk. That¡¯s clever. When we leave, we ought to do the same thing.¡±


    Kyle disagreed, but it wasn¡¯t worth arguing about at the moment. ¡°So how do we get in?¡±


    ¡°Hit it a lot?¡± suggested Mia. She pulled out her axe and approached the wall. She swung the axe into the stone in an overhead chop, where it bounced off in a shower of sparks. She took dozen swings or so, but the wall¡¯s HP only barely decreased.


    ¡°Stupid OP wall,¡± Mia said. ¡°This could take hours!¡±


    ¡°Nice to know the city wall will be nice and solid when we¡¯re done,¡± Kyle said.


    Mason looked thoughtfully towards the woods. ¡°Think we could use a log as a battering ram?¡±


    ¡°Probably not,¡± said Mia. ¡°Unless there¡¯s a crafting option to actually make it into a battering ram.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m not so sure,¡± said Kyle. ¡°Lots of games have physics systems, right? This game¡¯s got to have some way to translate momentum into damage. I mean, what if a boulder fell on you? You¡¯d have to take some damage, right?¡±


    Mia shrugged. ¡°Worth a shot, I guess.¡±


    Mason nodded and began chopping a tree. The transition from a ¡°tree¡± to a ¡°log¡± stripped the trunk of its branches, which was convenient. They maneuvered it into position. Without any handholds, the amount of force they could put behind it was limited; Dvorak could hardly even reach. Still, they rammed it into the wall as best they could. The wall¡¯s HP didn¡¯t drop appreciably.


    ¡°So much for that idea,¡± Mason said, breathing heavily.


    ¡°Not so fast,¡± Mia said. ¡°Let¡¯s try letting go right before the log hits.¡±


    ¡°Say what?¡± Kyle said, trying to follow her logic.


    ¡°You were right, Kyle, lots of games have physics systems that let objects damage other objects when they hit each other.¡± Mia pounded her fist into her palm for emphasis. ¡°But ramming this log into the wall is just an attack, right? Like a sword, but bigger? This can¡¯t count as a player attack if we want the physics system to apply. It¡¯d have to just be two things crashing into each other. So we¡¯ve gotta let go of the log.¡±


    ¡°Question?¡± Dvorak said, raising his hand. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that simply count as a ranged attack?¡±


    ¡°If you were making it with a ranged weapon, maybe,¡± Mason said thoughtfully. ¡°But they can¡¯t make stats for everything you might want to throw at somebody, right? At some point they¡¯d have to punt to the physics system and let it handle things. It¡¯s a dumb idea, but it¡¯s an idea at least.¡±


    Kyle shrugged. ¡°Might as well try.¡±


    They hefted the log again, pulled back to about ten feet from the wall, and then ran at full force towards the wall.


    ¡°DROP!¡± Mia shouted.


    Kyle let go of the log and watched as it flew the last few feet into the wall. With a reverberating thud, the log bounced off and fell to the ground.


    Kyle quickly Examined the wall. It¡¯s HP had dropped perceptibly.


    Mason shook his head. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m annoyed. On one hand, they go out of their way to try and make things real. And on the other hand, letting go of a log right before it hits a wall makes it deal twenty times as much damage. Seriously?¡±


    Mia shrugged. ¡°I mean, it makes sense, right? Hitting walls with a normal weapon doesn¡¯t work. Hitting it with a siege weapon does. Soo¡­ we¡¯re like a human-powered ballista!¡±


    Mason¡¯s hand went for his forehead. ¡°I think that makes no sense at all outside of a game. So are they even going for realism? Why leave this exploit?¡±


    ¡°I cannot comment on how virtuaverse technology works,¡± Kyle said, smirking. ¡°Only that it is an immersive reality simulation in which¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh God, did the NPC keep saying that to you, too?¡± Mia said, laughing and rolling her eyes.


    At that moment, Lumen came into the clearing, running and puffing. ¡°Are you okay? I heard crashes. What¡¯s going on up here?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re throwing trees at walls. Want to help?¡± Mason asked. ¡°I hear you¡¯ve got great aim.¡±


    As they continued throwing the log at the wall, it started to show dents and cracks. Sometimes, the log would shatter into splinters after a throw, and they¡¯d have to get a new one to replace it. Eventually, the wall developed a small hole. A few throws later, the wall crumbled completely, coming apart into rubble.


    Kyle approached the newly uncovered entrance and looked down into the mine. It sloped gently downwards, extending only a few dozen feet into the cliff face before darkness overtook it.

 Chapter 20: In which the Dungeon Designers did it Poorly

    ¡°Do we craft a torch to light our way or something?¡± Mason asked.


    ¡°No need,¡± said Kyle. In his skills menu, he selected the new ¡°flame¡± entry, a skill he added that morning by spending the research points Braden helped him accumulate. With a flash, a gout of flame appeared around Kyle¡¯s right hand, with something hard and solid inside it. Kyle recoiled in surprise and dropped it, and the flame fell to the ground.


    ¡°Wait, crap¡­¡± Kyle bent down to try to pick it up, but withdrew his hands quickly. Now that it was out of his hands, the fire felt hot as one would expect.


    ¡°Hey,¡± said Lumen excitedly. ¡°Our mage is finally maging!¡±


    Mia snickered. ¡°Kinda,¡± she said, watching as the flames on the ground sputtered out.


    Kyle tried it again. This time, after selecting ¡°Flame¡± from his menu, he shut his eyes. He grabbed onto whatever it was that appeared in his hand; It felt like a small, smooth orb, about the size and weight of a golf ball. It was warm to the touch, but not uncomfortable. With his eyes still closed, Kyle passed it from one hand to the other, then tossed it in the air a few inches and caught it. It seemed to follow all the expected laws of physics.


    Clutching the sphere, Kyle opened his eyes. For all the world, it looked like his hand was on fire, an orb of flames dancing around his fist. Kyle hurled the ball down the entrance to the mine. The projectile trailed smoke as it flew through the air, then bounced along the floor, leaving a trail of small embers in its wake, before burning out after a few seconds. Dvorak cheered.


    ¡°Awesome,¡± said Lumen in excitement. ¡°This is gonna be great. Mia and Mason, front! Kyle and I are ranged; we¡¯ll take the back. Dvorak¡­. Dvorak, what the actual hell do you even do?¡±


    ¡°All sorts of things,¡± Dvorak said. ¡°For instance, I¡¯m quite good at making sarcastic comments!¡±


    ¡°No, I mean, Kyle can throw fire, but what do you do in a fight?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t need magic to power my sick burns!¡±


    ¡°Forget it, Lumen,¡± Mia said. ¡°He¡¯s basically worthless, he just wanted to make sure he¡¯s around whenever anything exciting happens so his audience doesn¡¯t miss it.¡±


    ¡°Fine. Whatever. Stay in the back then. Maybe there¡¯ll be a Bard subclass or whatever that¡¯ll let you insult things to death later.¡±


    ¡°Hah! An excellent idea! I ought to practice my bardic skills then. Here, allow me to compose a ballad of our travels thus far¡­¡±


    Kyle shot Lumen a dirty look as Dvorak started trying to extemporaneously sing a song about throwing logs. Kyle conjured another ball of flame and held it over his head to light the way as they descended the passage. As they descended, the darkness retreated from them; Kyle¡¯s flame lit the passageway fairly well. Even then his party display and his ally¡¯s HP bars, dim as they were, distracted him in the darkness. He considered asking the group to pause for a minute so he could mess around with his overlay to make it less distracting, but he just grumbled and turned it off instead.


    Kyle had to be careful to hold the flame as high as possible; it was clear from the way his companions shied away from it that they could feel its heat. So Kyle found himself looking upwards a lot. The ceiling was mostly smooth stone, carved out of the rock face by some ancient race. Or the maybe the developers. In fact, definitely the developers. But game developers told stories about their worlds through the artistic assets they used to build a game, and Kyle could see the love that went into this corridor. Kyle could see chisel marks in the ceiling, suggesting some ancient, perfectionistic tunnelers had laboriously worked to make their mineshaft square. He passed underneath a more primitive, wooden, bulgy section of the ceiling and wondered what story the designer had meant to tell there. Perhaps the makers of this tunnel had to shore up a cave-in? Past that, there was a thick rope, stuck to the ceiling with some sort of sticky goo. It threaded back up the passageway, and was tied to one of the beams of the wooden bulge, as though¡­


    ¡°¡­Hey guys?¡± Kyle said, pointing up. ¡°Does anybody know what that rope¡¯s doing? Why¡¯s it stuck to the ceiling here?¡±


    The others looked up. ¡°I dunno,¡± said Mason. ¡°It looks like it¡¯s connected to that wood section of the ceiling there.¡± He pointed behind them to the wooden bulge they had just passed. ¡°You think that maybe¡­¡±Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    With a snapping sound, the rope came separated from the ceiling and pulled taut, yanked by some unseen force in the darkness down the hallway. With a grinding sound, the beam that the rope was tied to slid slightly, causing the whole wooden structure to fall apart. As it did, a boulder the side of a dishwasher fell from a hole in the ceiling, and started slowly rolling down the hall towards them.


    Very slowly.


    ¡°This is a really crappy trap.¡± Mia said, standing to one side as the boulder rolled by at the speed of a slow walk. The others likewise stayed out of the rock¡¯s way as it lumbered down the hall.


    ¡°I dunno, it¡¯s picking up speed,¡± Kyle said, watching the boulder disappear down the hall. A few moments later, he heard a crash as the boulder impacted something down the hallway. ¡°That could have been really dangerous if it caught us by surprise. I think we just triggered it early.¡±


    ¡°How would we have done that?¡± Lumen asked.


    ¡°We talked about it, obviously,¡± said Dvorak.


    ¡°What does that mean?¡± asked Lumen. ¡°Like, it¡¯s voice activated somehow?¡±


    ¡°No! I mean there must have been somebody pulling the rope. The devious trickster knew his jig was up when we started talking about his rope, so he panicked and pulled the trigger early. Better to have a crappy trap than to have no trap at all, as I always say.¡±


    ¡°Think somebody built this trap, then?¡± Kyle asked. He Examined the rope, where it lay on the ground, and saw that it, too, was crafted by ¡°Unmet Player¡±. He shrugged. ¡°I guess so.¡±


    ¡°If Dvorak¡¯s right, then the guy¡¯s still here,¡± Mia said. ¡°They didn¡¯t, like, booby-trap the mine and leave. They¡¯re probably down the hall in the darkness waiting for us.¡±


    ¡°And pulling ropes,¡± Dvorak said. ¡°Don¡¯t forget about the ¡®pulling ropes¡¯ part.¡±


    Kyle didn¡¯t like that thought. With as little warning as possible, he flung his ball of fire as far down the hall as he could. The ball of flame landed in middle of the mostly straight hall, about fifty feet down. The additional light didn¡¯t reveal anything besides an empty stretch of hall.


    ¡°Damn,¡± Kyle said. ¡°I was hoping I¡¯d catch a glimpse of somebody.¡±


    ¡°I guess we just keep going?¡± he heard Mason say from the darkness to his left. Without Kyle¡¯s fire, the group was mostly in darkness.


    ¡°Uh¡­.Kyle?¡± asked Lumen. ¡°Down the hall there? Did you mean to do that? Or is that¡­ something else?¡±


    Kyle looked back down where he had thrown his ball of flame. Instead of burning out like it had previously, it had grown in size. As he watched, the fire filled the corridor with thigh-high tongues of flame.


    ¡°Not me,¡± said Kyle.


    The flame spanned the width of the hall and started spreading down its length. Kyle stepped back reflexively, but it stopped growing towards them after a few feet. By the time it had finished spreading, a good ten to fifteen feet of the hallway was in flame.


    Mason¡¯s bulky silhouette shadowed Kyle¡¯s view of the flames as Mason walked down the hallway to inspect the conflagration. Kyle saw Mason crouch, then look near the base of the left wall and point.


    ¡°There,¡± he said. ¡°Some sort of device hooked to a tripwire.¡± Kyle could barely make it out from this distance. It looked like a little wooden box stuck to the wall.


    Dvorak bounced past Kyle up to the flames to look where Mason was pointing. ¡°What d¡¯you think it is? It won¡¯t tell me when I inspect it.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re probably missing a skill,¡± Mia said, opting to stay back in the shadows. That might be a good call, Kyle thought. It would be harder to aim weapons at them if they stayed in the darkness.


    ¡°Can I pull the tripwire?¡± asked Dvorak. ¡°I want to pull the tripwire!¡±


    ¡°You want to trigger the trap?¡± asked Mason.


    ¡°Oh, admit it,¡± said Dvorak. ¡°You want to know what it does too!¡±


    Mason shrugged and stepped back. Dvorak grabbed the tripwire with both hands and yanked hard.


    With a grating screech like nails on chalkboard, a shower of sparks flew from the wooden box, spraying onto the flames. Dvorak lost his balance and fell to the ground rear first.


    ¡°Huh,¡± Mia said. ¡°That must¡¯ve been meant to light the ground on fire, but Kyle¡¯s fire thing did it first. I guess there was oil on the ground or something.¡±


    ¡°You guess?¡± said Mason, looking back towards Kyle and the others. ¡°Aren¡¯t you a rogue? Isn¡¯t this supposed to be your thing? Disarming traps and stuff? What am I doing up here?¡±


    ¡°I mean, what games even have traps these days?¡± Mia said. ¡°They aren¡¯t fun. It¡¯s like a big middle finger to the player. What designer¡¯s gonna add them?¡±


    ¡°You could just say ¡®I didn¡¯t take any trap detection skills.¡¯¡± Mason said in a deadpan.


    ¡°Look, there are too many skills for any of us to take all of them,¡± Kyle said. ¡°Let¡¯s just note it for later and move on. We seem to be doing just fine.¡± Kyle pointed down the hall at the now-dying flames, before realizing people probably couldn¡¯t see him. He lit another flame in his hand and pointed again. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s go.¡±


    The group reformed and Kyle trudged down the hallway with the others. As the tunnel curved to the left, Kyle saw the boulder that had rolled down the hall, smashed and broken against the wall.


    As they continued walking, Kyle started to wonder if perhaps they were missing the point of the mine. He had been treating it as a set-piece dungeon. But what was he expecting to find? A big chest full of rocks at the end of the tunnel? Perhaps he should be thinking of it as more of an open world sandbox game? He idly considered taking his axe out of his pack and whacking the walls a few times, just to see if it gave him any stone.


    ¡°FORWARD!¡± A female voice shouted, startling Kyle from his thoughts.


    From the darkness, a group of spear-wielding players rushed forward, filling the breadth of the corridor.

 Chapter 21: In Which Metas Clash

    Each wore their starting clothing, but held a stone-tipped spear. Most were dwarves, but there were a few human, elves, and Jakarna as well.


    Kyle lifted his flame to get a better view of the players. They looked practiced, but not disciplined. Their spears formed a barricade of a dozen wavering stone tips. Fear mixed with determination on their faces.


    ¡°Turn around and go back,¡± said a middle-aged dwarf woman at the center. ¡°This is our tunnel. There¡¯s nothing for you here.¡±


    ¡°Ooh, this¡¯ll be fun,¡± Mia said. She dropped into a fighting stance, her axe in one hand and her goblin sword in the other. ¡°Why spears, huh? Easy to craft, maybe?¡± She began to approach the group. ¡°Too bad you¡¯ve got no room to maneuver. Your poles are gonna get all tangled up.¡±


    Her advance was stopped by a line of spearheads. She paused, unable to get past them, and unable to strike because of their long range. She took a step back.


    ¡°Spears because they¡¯re easy to use,¡± the dwarf woman said. ¡°And they¡¯re effective in groups. And they work excellently in tunnels. Turn around. You can¡¯t get past us. We¡¯ve got nothing you want, anyway. We¡¯re only trying to defend ourselves until this all blows over. MARCH!¡± she shouted, and the group began to walk down the hallway in a ragged line, forcing Mia back.


    ¡°Nothing we want? You¡¯re sitting on the only stone deposit we¡¯ve ever found,¡± Mia snapped. ¡°We need this stone more than you do. And we¡¯re going to take it.¡±


    ¡°How?¡± The dwarf asked, smiling as the line advanced.


    ¡°We¡¯ve got a bow,¡± said Lumen, casually nocking an arrow and drawing. ¡°Not to mention a guy who can throw fire around.¡±


    Kyle played along, holding his fire up so it could be seen over Mason and pointing to it with his free hand.


    The faces of the group changed. Some looked panicked. Some stopped marching, putting the line in disarray. As the line fell apart, a few others turned and ran.


    Mia smiled. ¡°Good try, but nope. We¡¯re going to kill you and take your stone. And I¡¯m going to enjoy it. There¡¯s not enough PvP in this game. I¡¯ve been itching for this.¡±


    Her threat made even more of the players turn and dart into the darkness. The dwarf woman held her ground, spear raised, face twisted in disgust, flanked by only two other players, a human and a Jakarna. ¡°You enjoy killing people,¡± she said. ¡°What a sick and sadistic hellhole we¡¯re trapped in. Do you have any morals? Any at all?¡±


    ¡°You signed up for this,¡± Mia said. ¡°What the hell did you expect?¡± Mia abruptly dashed forward, ducking to the side of the woman¡¯s poorly aimed spear-thrust and knocking the spear aside before whirling around and tripping the large Jakarna.


    ¡°Mia! Knock it off!¡± Kyle said.


    ¡°We¡¯ve already won this fight,¡± Mason said.


    ¡°Don¡¯t kill her!¡± Dvorak said, sounding panicked.


    Mia turned back, sheer rage on her face. ¡°Why the ¡ª- not? This is a game. People die. They respawn. You¡¯re taking this way too seriously! Especially you, dwarf lady!¡± she said, pointing at the woman with her axe. ¡°Trying to make me out to be a murderer when I just want to play the ¡ª¡ª- game!¡±Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    ¡°For some of us, this isn¡¯t a game,¡± the woman said as the Jakarna next to her got to his feet. ¡°Do you know how it feels to take an axe to the chest? Have you died yet?¡±


    ¡°Hundreds of times,¡± growled Mia, not lowering her weapons. Her reply confused Kyle.


    ¡°Mia, back off!¡± Kyle shouted at Mia. ¡°Look, I¡¯m sorry, ma¡¯am. Mia¡¯s kind of¡­ confrontational. But we¡¯re not here to hurt you. We¡¯re just trying to get some stone to build our town. In fact¡­ Come join us!¡± Kyle said. In retrospect, it was probably not the best time to extend such an invitation. He was sort of panicking, trying to show goodwill before things devolved further. ¡°It looks like you¡¯re building a community too. We should join up.¡±


    ¡°At sword point?¡± The woman asked, eyes still fixed on Mia.


    ¡°For crying out loud, Mia, put that away!¡± Kyle said. With a growl of frustration, Mia punched her crystal with her thumb and stowed her weapons before heading to the back of the group, arms crossed.


    The woman looked warily at Kyle and the rest of the group. Kyle sighed and stepped forward with his hand out. ¡°Hi, I¡¯m Kyle. Sorry about this,¡± he said. ¡°Normally we¡¯re much more friendly when we introduce ourselves to people.¡±


    ¡°To be fair, normally we aren¡¯t ambushed by spearmen,¡± Dvorak pointed out sardonically. ¡°And spearwomen. I guess.¡±


    ¡°I get what you¡¯re doing,¡± Kyle said. ¡°This game is a scary place.¡± Lumen guffawed, and Kyle ignored him. ¡°But if you want to get out of it as fast as possible, there¡¯s a better way to do that than hiding in a cave.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡± the woman asked.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Kyle said. ¡°Instead of fighting against the skilled players-¡±


    ¡°-and losing,¡± Mia said. Kyle ignored her, too.


    ¡°We can support them. The faster somebody, anybody, wins this competition, the faster we can all get home. Trying to keep them from a stone deposit is just going to make things take longer,¡±


    ¡°So what? You¡¯re slave labor for the meritocracy?¡±


    ¡°No. I¡¯m kinda organizing this push, actually.¡±


    ¡°And I¡¯m the mayor!¡± said Dvorak. The woman looked back and forth between them in confusion.


    ¡°We¡¯re setting a city up as a waystation. A place for people like Mia here to get equipment, information, that sort of thing,¡± Kyle said, motioning to Mia. ¡°They don¡¯t need to boss us around. They just need to stop by, get equipped, then go off and win the game.¡± Mia stared at Kyle, a thoughtful expression on her face, before nodding and turning away.


    ¡°A city, huh?¡± The woman looked thoughtful. ¡°Aren¡¯t you worried about being so exposed? Having a high level player just run through and kill everybody?¡±


    ¡°Early in the game, I figure a whole town of people can stand against a couple of renegades,¡± Kyle said. ¡°And by the time players start getting powerful enough to take on an entire town, hopefully we¡¯ll have proved its usefulness. I mean, what keeps people in real life from running around killing entire towns? It¡¯s mostly a social agreement, right?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d say it¡¯s mostly the presence of law enforcement that¡¯s better trained and better armed than the average citizen,¡± said the woman, still obviously considering Kyle¡¯s arguments. ¡°And a fear of imprisonment. Neither of which exist here.¡±


    ¡°I guess. But I¡¯d still think I¡¯d be less likely to kill people in a town than if I randomly ran into them in a cave.¡±


    ¡°¡­especially if they point spears at you,¡± said Dvorak. ¡°Just sayin¡¯ is all.¡±


    ¡°And if I say no?¡± the woman asked.


    ¡°Well,¡± Kyle started, ¡°I mean, we wouldn¡¯t force you to come. But we¡¯d need the stone from your mine so we can build walls for our city. So¡­ We¡¯d negotiate, I guess?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re in a really good negotiating position, though,¡± said Lumen. ¡°I¡¯m kinda on board with Adrianne on this one. It shouldn¡¯t be a big deal for us to come in, grab some stone, and leave. If these guys really want to get in our way, then I mean¡­ that¡¯s their choice, right? Dying¡¯s part of the game. We¡¯re being pretty reasonable here, I think.¡±


    ¡°So, still bullies.¡± The dwarf woman sniffed. ¡°At least you¡¯re honest. And you¡¯re trying to not kill me, which is more than I can say for most.¡± She went quiet for a moment, looking at the faces of each in the group in turn. ¡°Okay. If I can talk the others into giving this a shot, we¡¯ll come with you. You¡¯d better pray you haven¡¯t spooked them too badly.¡±


    ¡°Great.¡± Kyle reached out his hand. ¡°Welcome to the team, Ms¡­?¡±


    ¡°Doctor Aubrey Taylor. From Stanford,¡± she said, reaching out and shaking Kyle¡¯s hand.

 Chapter 22: In which the Dwarves Live in a Fortress

    ¡°Hey,¡± Lumen asked Aubrey. ¡°You¡¯re a dwarf, so you must have touched a crystal, right? Where¡¯s that?¡±


    ¡°Two actually,¡± Aubrey said. ¡°There¡¯s one deeper in the mines, past a large group of goblins that doesn¡¯t know what to do against a good porcupine formation. There¡¯s another one to the north-west. Some brigands are guarding it, but they go to sleep at night, so you can walk in and touch it while they sleep if you¡¯re brave enough.¡±


    ¡°Brigands, huh? And they don¡¯t post guards, huh? Hah!¡± Mia chortled, rolling her eyes at Kyle.


    Kyle didn¡¯t respond. ¡°Can we grab that crystal while we¡¯re here?¡±


    Aubrey sighed. ¡°Sure. Might as well. I guess we¡¯re allies now, after all.¡±


    ¡°Wait wait wait¡­¡± Mia said. ¡°Did it ever occur to you that hiding in a cave with a crystal in it would be a really bad idea if you¡¯re trying to avoid getting attacked?¡±


    ¡°The beam marking the crystal¡¯s location doesn¡¯t go through the ceiling,¡± Aubrey said ¡°We honestly thought we¡¯d be safe here.¡±


    ¡°Sadly, it would only have been a matter of time before you¡¯d have been found,¡± Kyle said. ¡°Eventually, for this thing to be over, somebody¡¯s going to have to touch all hundred.¡±


    ¡°That makes no sense. This one¡¯s really well hidden,¡± Aubrey said. ¡°Without the beam marking its location, how was it supposed to be found? We figured this one was secret. It wouldn¡¯t count as one of the hundred.¡±


    Kyle shrugged. ¡°Maybe there¡¯s a spell that detects them, or some event that happens partway through the game that reveals them. I honestly don¡¯t know. But finding them¡¯s the design intent. I think.¡±


    ¡°Well,¡± Aubrey said, ¡°Let¡¯s get you to it. Follow me.¡± Aubrey started walking down the hallway, The two other players who didn¡¯t run fell into line beside her. Kyle and his group followed. ¡°I¡¯ll try and round up the others,¡± Aubrey continued. ¡°There aren¡¯t many places they could have run off and hid in; if you go too much deeper, you run into the goblins, and they respawn pretty frequently. I don¡¯t think any of us would have gone in there without the whole squad backing them up.¡±If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    ¡°What¡¯re you a professor of?¡± asked Mia. ¡°Military history or something?¡±


    ¡°I just like the Romans,¡± Aubrey said. ¡°I¡¯m actually in computer science. Neural networks and deep learning, specifically.¡± As they continued down the hall, Kyle saw branching paths, the first splits he¡¯d seen yet. ¡°I was told this game would contain some sort of highly advanced AI, and they used that to lure me in. They told me I could study it. Hey Wyatt!¡± she shouted down a side passage. ¡°Come on back! They¡¯re friendly! We¡¯re doing another crystal escort!¡±


    Without pausing, Aubrey continued down the hall, still talking. ¡°So far, I¡¯m not impressed. The goblin¡¯s AI isn¡¯t good at all. It¡¯s pretty obvious to me it¡¯s pre-programmed. They don¡¯t adapt, they don¡¯t learn, and they aren¡¯t even all that smart. Typical videogamey junk, giving the field of AI a bad name. Hold on a moment,¡± she said, then ducked down another side passage just barely tall enough for her stubby dwarven frame to fit in. Moments later, she came back out with another three nervous looking people who eyed Kyle¡¯s group suspiciously. Aubrey resumed walking down the tunnels.


    ¡°So far as I can tell, they were just luring me in under false pretenses. They got me in that gray room, and then I¡¯m here in a game. Somehow.¡± She shook her head, then kicked a smooth section of wall several times. A moment later, it collapsed apart, revealing a couple players, a human and a dwarf, crouching in a small alcove.


    ¡°How did you do that?¡± Kyle started.


    The human dusted himself off and glanced at Aubrey. When she nodded, he said, ¡°People with architecture can ¡®scavenge¡¯ the buildings they build to get part of the materials back, It makes hiding really easy in these caves.¡±


    Aubrey stopped at the mouth of a large chamber, and waited for a minute or two as players filtered in. Some of them regarded Kyle warily. All of them shied away from Mia.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ve reached an agreement. They¡¯re on our side now. Thank God. Okay, now form up!¡± Aubrey shouted. ¡°Let¡¯s take these guys to the crystal.¡± The players fell into line, forming a circle around Kyle¡¯s group. Spears appeared in their hands as they pulled them from their inventories. Aubrey stood at the perimeter of the circle as well, facing into the cavern ahead. ¡°No torch-bearer this time,¡± Aubrey said. ¡°The mage is providing light for us.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t parties only go up to five people?¡± Lumen asked.


    ¡°Yes, but you don¡¯t need to be in a party to work together, do you?¡± she said, glancing back with a smug smile. ¡°Mage, stay in the middle and hold that fire high. Careful not to let the people in the back bump into you. They¡¯ll hold the line as long as you don¡¯t mess them up.¡± She turned to face forward again. ¡°Spears down! March!¡±

 Chapter 23: In which things are Cheesed

    Aubrey slowly walked forwards, and the rest of the people kept pace, some walking sideways or backwards. Their spears poked outwards, forming a circular wall protecting Kyle and his group. The entire circle of spears drifted into the cavern at the pace of a leisurely walk.


    Glowing red eyes appeared in the darkness, and a familiar low growl filled the chamber. Kyle¡¯s light illuminated humanoid forms that cast long shadows on the far walls of the cavern. From the darkness, a half dozen goblins emerged. Some held swords, like the first goblin Kyle fought. Others had axes, curved blades, or large clubs. Each face was unique; gnarled noses adorned bulbous faces covered in lumps and boils. Beady eyes full of hate watched the group traverse the cavern.


    Kyle looked at them nervously. ¡°They don¡¯t attack?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± said Aubrey, not looking back. ¡°They¡¯re ¡®too smart¡¯ to charge spears head on. They try to circle around to flank a spear-holder instead, but they can¡¯t do that, either.¡± As Kyle walked, the goblins prowled around the circle. Occasionally, one would scream and dart forward, but one of the players would angle a spear towards the goblin, and its charge would abruptly stop.


    ¡°This is such a cheese tactic,¡± Mia said, watching the goblins trying and failing to find a gap.


    ¡°I know, right?¡± Aubrey said. ¡°You just need to figure out what heuristics the AI is operating under and then exploit them.¡± As they continued through the cavern, more goblins came from the dark. Their group was soon outnumbered. Still, no goblin dared to come in range of the spears.


    Mason smirked. ¡°Guess she could be an E-sports athlete, huh Lumen?¡±


    Lumen chuckled. ¡°If she had skills like Adrianne, maybe. It¡¯s not all about systems knowledge, after all.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m just grateful to have an escort as befitting my exalted station of Mayor of Crystopia,¡± said Dvorak, straightening his tunic and strutting.


    ¡°This is some real organization,¡± Kyle said appreciatively. ¡°How did you find this many people willing to band together like this?¡±


    ¡°Mostly, we pulled them from the starting cells,¡± Aubrey said, her head scanning the crowd of circling goblins. ¡°Maybe you got out of your cells by killing everyone else, so you wouldn¡¯t know, but they only let one person out every day. First they pit four people against each other in a fight. Then three. After that, you¡¯ve got two people who are supposed to duel one-on-one to escape. And sometimes, those last two people don¡¯t want to fight.¡± She shook her head. ¡°Imagine that. Two people, both of whom have gotten murdered twice, deciding they don¡¯t want to kill each other.¡±The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    A goblin charged from the front. Aubrey reangled her spear slightly to point directly at it, and it stumbled back. ¡°But the starting dungeons are all equidistant from that crystal the brigands are guarding, so if you¡¯re clever, you can find them,¡± Aubrey said. ¡°I¡¯ve been visiting them one at a time. Sometimes they¡¯re empty, but usually you can find two or three people hunkering somewhere in the starting dungeon, trying to figure out how to survive without fighting, getting hungrier and hungrier.¡± She pressed with her shoulder against the hip of the human player to her right, and the whole group adjusted course slightly. ¡°I¡¯ve been rescuing them. We¡¯ve still got four more dungeons to check, but they¡¯re hard to get to, because they¡¯re on the opposite side of the crystal from here.¡±


    By this point they had attracted enough goblins that they were outnumbered two to one. Even though they seemed incapable of attacking effectively, they were making Kyle nervous. ¡°We¡¯re the, uh¡­ we¡¯re the ¡®brigands¡¯ around the crystal,¡± admitted Kyle. ¡°So we¡¯ll be able to help with the rescue operations if you want.¡±


    ¡°Really?¡± Aubrey said, half glancing back before setting her eyes forward again. ¡°Interesting. I thought that was an NPC bandit camp. Sometimes you can even see¡­ oh huh. That Jakarna in leather prowling around the nearby woods must have been you, right?¡±


    ¡°Probably,¡± said Lumen. ¡°I¡¯m surprised I didn¡¯t see you.¡±


    ¡°You never looked up,¡± Aubrey said.


    Kyle elbowed Lumen, and Lumen looked back and chuckled sheepishly. ¡°I mean, Kreyfas never go higher than about eight feet. And it¡¯s not like you¡¯ll find Sansi up there.¡±


    ¡°Anyway,¡± continued Aubrey, ¡°I¡¯ve been visiting one dungeon at a time, pulling people out and bringing them here. Helping them get their first crystal so they can get a skill. Trying to bring some modicum of civilization to this nightmare world.¡±


    Kyle was struck by how fortunate they were that they managed to escape their starting dungeon without anybody dying. As he glanced around at the multitude of red-eyed goblins, he realized that while he had been messing around building and crafting, these people were stuck in a cave, trapped between a mass of goblins and the world of people they thought would kill them. Failure meant the pain of death. This woman was brave. He wondered if she was so determined because she had died. And if so, how many times?


    ¡°The crystal¡¯s up ahead,¡± she said, motioning with her spear-point to one of the several exits from the large cavern. ¡°There¡¯s a big goblin in that room. A boss, I think. But he acts like the others, so our spears will keep us safe. We¡¯ve done this run a half dozen times now. We¡¯ll be fine.¡±


    ¡°This feels like cheating,¡± Mia said. ¡°Don¡¯t they have any ranged attacks?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Aubrey said. ¡°Why do you think we were so overconfident when we faced you down in the tunnel back there? I¡¯d never even seen a ranged weapon. None of us have even have the option to craft them.¡±


    ¡°The option shows up if you have some tendon, which you get from a Sansi. That¡¯s those deer things. Besides that, it¡¯s just wood,¡± Lumen said, nocking an arrow. ¡°And speaking of ranged weapons, this circle tactic could be abused to get decent loot, don¡¯t you think?¡± Lumen drew his bow, aimed briefly, then released his arrow.


    As always, he hit his mark; the arrow hit a goblin square in the forehead, burying itself halfway up the shaft. The goblin was thrown back by the force of the blow, landing on the floor dead.


    The rest of the goblins paused for a moment.


    Then, simultaneously, they all shrieked and charged.

 Chapter 24: In which the Goblins Shriek and Charge

    ¡°Hard left! Hit the wall! Hurry!¡± Aubrey shouted as a goblin ran into her spear. The circle staggered unevenly towards the nearest wall as goblins started heedlessly throwing themselves at their formation. The weight of an impaled goblin drug Aubrey¡¯s spear to the ground. She released it, and tapped her crystal to pull out a new one just in time to catch another.


    The formation finally collided with a wall, and the group reformed into a semi-circle of denser spears. The goblins, now inexplicably reckless, tried to pull down, jump over, or charge through the group¡¯s spears. The line became chaos as goblins started to find their way through the spear wall, hacking at the sides of the players. One player fell, then another.


    Mia darted in and out, chopping or slicing any goblin that got past the spear wall, plugging breaches, kicking the bodies of her fallen allies out into the goblins so the other players could fill in the gaps. Kyle watched as Mason grabbed a goblin that had made it through and broke its back over his knee. Lumen fired arrow after arrow; Kyle noticed Lumen was aiming for ones with armor or weapons that stood out from the rest. Even Dvorak had inserted himself into a gap where a spearman had fallen, his axe in both hands, duelling a goblin more-or-less successfully while blubbering incoherently.


    Kyle decided he should participate too, and threw his ball of fire into the face of a goblin that was climbing over one player¡¯s spear. The goblin screeched, clutching its face.


    Then the fire went out, plunging them all into darkness.


    ¡°TORCHES!¡± Aubrey screamed. He could hear panic in her voice.


    ¡°Sorry! I¡¯m sorry!¡± Kyle opened his menu to cast another flame spell, his menus appearing as a dim glow visible only to him. When the fire appeared in his hands, he saw the line in disarray, goblins coming in from all sides. Still holding his first flame, he went into his skill menus again, hoping maybe he could put a flame in both hands. Luckily, it worked, and he threw it left-handed into the mass of goblins more or less aimlessly, counting on hitting something based on density alone.


    Mia dropped her axe and grabbed another blade from a fallen goblin, dodging and whirling with twin blades. As another goblin fell to a player¡¯s spear, she darted through the gap he left.


    ¡°Hey uglies! Come and get me!¡±


    Many of the goblins turned and watched Mia. Then, they started pulling away from the group to chase her.


    ¡°Easy prey. She¡¯s got no spears to protect her¡± Aubrey said, shaking her head. ¡°That girl¡¯s dead meat without allies. But I think we can handle the ones that didn¡¯t chase her.¡±The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    It was probably true, Kyle thought, pulling out another ball of flame. There were only about a dozen goblins left. Even then, the line was all but gone, and the fight had devolved into a melee. Mason seemed to forgo all weapons in favor of hand-to-hand combat, catching goblins¡¯ arms as they swung weapons towards him and throwing them to the ground before stomping on their necks. Aubrey¡¯s makeshift militia were faring less well; their spears, when out of formation, were awkward and ill suited to fighting multiple opponents. Kyle threw another ball of fire at a goblin that was charging a spearman from behind, and it fell back, trying to put out the flames on its chest. Kyle glanced at Lumen, who had stood up on a rock to get a better vantage. He was firing his arrows far off into the distance, grinning.


    Kyle felt a sharp pain in his side, and cried out. He pulled away and turned, seeing a goblin that had approached him in the chaos. It swung again as Kyle pulled away. Kyle wanted to open his menu to pull out more fire, but didn¡¯t; his survival instincts wouldn¡¯t let him navigate an interface when something was actively attacking him.


    At that moment, Dvorak leapt onto the goblin, bringing his axe into the goblin¡¯s head, felling it. He looked at Kyle and gave him a panicked grin. Pink lines were visible under his thin fur.


    ¡°Murder bunny, right? Heh heh¡­¡± Dvorak chuckled humorlessly, then turned back to the larger fight. ¡°Can¡¯t talk, gotta go. For¡­ for Crystopia!¡± he shouting, throwing himself at another goblin.


    Kyle turned back to watch the fight as well, wishing he could be more useful. He briefly wondered if he should also pull out an axe, but was nervous about fighting in melee. If he accidentally dropped the fire again, the group was sunk. He conjured another ball of flame, unsure where to place it. He saw a goblin moving around to flank Aubrey, and drew back his hand to throw the fire, but the goblin was thrown back by the impact of one of Lumen¡¯s arrows. Aubrey rammed her spear into the gut of the other goblin and turned to look back at Lumen.


    ¡°Aubrey? Tank please? I¡¯m busy here.¡± Lumen said while looking into the distance. He fired another arrow off into the darkness.


    Aubrey shot Lumen a scowl, then rushed to the aid of another spearman.


    Soon, the remaining players outnumbered the remaining goblins, and eventually the final goblin was surrounded and slain. Lumen advanced towards the darkness, still occasionally firing his arrows at shadowy shapes on the other side of the cavern. Kyle started to follow him. ¡°No, no, stay behind me,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯s easier for me to see when the light¡¯s behind me instead of being in my face.¡±


    ¡°Okay, fine,¡± Kyle said more petulantly than he meant to. ¡°Tell me if you need anything.¡± Kyle held his light high and turned to face the wounded survivors instead. Mason was huffing, hands on his knees. Pink lines covered his arms.


    Kyle realized he had fought the whole battle with his party overlay off. How much health did Mason have left? He tapped his crystal and opened his options menu again to turn on the overlay.


    Mia was still over half health. Lumen¡¯s HP was full; despite his complaining, the group had indeed managed to cover for him. Mason was below a third health; he was probably in a lot of pain. Kyle wasn¡¯t surprised to see his own health above three-fourths; he had only gotten hit once and had ranked resilience. And Dvorak¡­


    ¡­Dvorak¡¯s bar was missing.

 Chapter 25: In which there are Two Kinds of People

    ¡°Hey guys? Mason? Lumen? Anybody seen Dvorak?¡±


    ¡°The bunny?¡± Aubrey shook her head. ¡°He didn¡¯t make it.¡± She motioned with her spear towards a pile of bodies. Kyle ran over and pushed some goblin corpses out of the way. Underneath, Dvorak lay on the stone floor, eyes open and unblinking.


    Kyle expected to feel a flash of panic, but no such feeling came. He was concerned for Dvorak and fearful of the pain he must have felt, but he was sad in an analytical way, not a frightened way. It was wrong.


    He looked at the other corpses littering the floor. Bodies with pink lines or dots on their chests or faces. A bloodless massacre. It was wrong.


    He looked at the surviving players. One spearholder was huddled in the corner, crying. Aubrey had her hand on his shoulder, comforting him. Others were staring into the cavern, spear-hafts on the ground, rubbing their pink-line wounds with haunted expressions. It was wrong.


    He heard laughing, and turned to see Mia and Lumen emerging from the darkness, talking excitedly. Mia said something Kyle couldn¡¯t make out, and Lumen guffawed loudly, slapping his knees.


    And suddenly, that seemed the most wrong of all.


    ¡°Excuse me!?¡± Kyle said, motioning to the wounded men and women. ¡°Could you be sensitive here? We¡¯ve got people here who were fighting for their lives moments ago, and you¡¯re acting like this is some sort of party!¡±


    Mia stiffened. ¡°You¡¯re falling into that trap too?¡± she said. ¡°Kyle, this is not life and death! Those people will respawn. There¡¯s nothing wrong with what just happened. Except that these people are newbs that don¡¯t know how to handle themselves!¡±


    Aubrey stood to her full four-and-a-half foot dwarvish height and walked towards Mia. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s worse than life and death. At least in real life, you only have to die once. Here, we can die over and over. Maybe even once a day.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, so? What¡¯s the problem?¡±


    ¡°It hurts!¡± Aubrey shouted. ¡°We¡¯re suffering the pain of death over and over. We are might not die, but we are getting killed.¡±


    ¡°Pain?¡± Mia asked. ¡°You¡¯re just complaining about a little pain? Look, pain is your body¡¯s way of saying something¡¯s wrong. In real life, it¡¯s scary and uncomfortable because it could be permanent. Break a leg, and you¡¯re in a cast for months. Chest pains might mean you¡¯ve got a heart attack or whatever. Here? Here, it¡¯s all fake.¡±


    ¡°Doesn¡¯t feel fake,¡± Mason muttered.


    ¡°It is, though,¡± Lumen said, with an understanding grimace. ¡°Pain¡¯s just another signalling mechanism. Feel a stab from the side, it means there¡¯s an enemy there. Dull ache all over means you¡¯re low on HP. It¡¯s just part of the interface. In the game I play professionally, I don¡¯t even need to look at my HP bar anymore; I just feel how hurt I am. I mean, you don¡¯t complain about it when your screen flashes red, do you? It¡¯s uncomfortable for a while, but you get used to it.¡±


    ¡°You get used to it?¡± Aubrey said flatly. ¡°To dying?¡±


    ¡°Well yeah, of course,¡± said Lumen. ¡°Have you ever played a spinejack game?¡±


    Mason shook his head.


    Lumen suddenly looked concerned. ¡°Have¡­ have any of you¡­¡±Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    Lumen looked around at the faces of all the players, seeing looks of incredulity, outrage, or pain. He finally made eye contact with Kyle, who shook his head solemnly.


    ¡°Wow,¡± said Lumen, rubbing the back of his neck. ¡°This must be a real shock to you all. I mean, I¡¯m used to it. These days, I sometimes have to remind myself in real life that pain is actually bad. But¡­ wow. For you guys¡­¡±


    ¡°Bunch of newbs,¡± Mia said, crossing her arms.


    ¡°Spinejack games are only, like, six years old though,¡± said Mason. ¡°And the jack itself is super expensive. They¡¯ve made, what, a couple hundred thousand total? And it comes with a disclaimer a mile long. I can¡¯t even use one. It¡¯s in my contract with the Rams. They don¡¯t want to risk losing a linebacker to a botched operation. I couldn¡¯t play if I wanted to.¡±


    ¡°But that¡¯s the way E-sports are going,¡± said Mia. ¡°So you¡¯d think if you joined an E-sports tournament, you¡¯d be ready.¡± She shook her head. ¡°You¡¯re green. Newbs. Never even died yet. Completely unfit to be here.¡±


    ¡°Then get us out,¡± said Aubrey, fire in her eyes. ¡°We don¡¯t want to be a part of your world. None of us knew what we were agreeing to. We¡¯re here against our will. Get us out.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, sure,¡± Mia said dismissively. ¡°As soon as possible. But that involves touching the crystals. So, once the pain dissipates, if we could maybe pull ourselves together and keep going¡­?¡± Lumen reached out his hand and touched her arm. Mia pulled away and looked at Lumen, who shook his head.


    ¡°Without the spear wall, you guys probably aren¡¯t safe,¡± Lumen said, turning back to Aubrey. ¡°Just go. Our party can handle this cave. Adrianne is awesome.¡± He grinned. ¡°She pulled aggro like a champ. Kited like two dozen gobs as I picked them off. If any wised up and came for me, she¡¯d shank them in the back. Just beautiful.¡±


    ¡°You ¡®picking them off¡¯ is what got us in this mess in the first place,¡± Aubrey said bitterly, pulling one wounded but live player to his feet. ¡°I bet these goblins have a two-part AI pattern; stay alive, and deal as much damage as possible. You proved to them that avoiding the spears wouldn¡¯t keep them alive. So once they knew they were going to die, they flipped bits and tried to deal as much damage. If you had left well enough alone¡­¡±


    ¡°I mean, we won, right?¡± Lumen asked, then grimaced and looked at the the struggling players getting to their feet. ¡°I mean¡­ I guess¡­¡±


    Kyle had had enough. ¡°Look,¡± he began, looking at Dvorak¡¯s body. ¡°It¡¯s pretty clear we¡¯re entirely separate people here. Lumen and Mia are just different from us,¡± he said bitterly. ¡°They¡¯re going to evaluate risks differently. They¡¯ll expect different things from us. They won¡¯t value life, or pain. In fact, this explains a lot. Mia¡¯s not unfeeling. She¡¯s just¡­ culturally insensitive. And impatient.¡±


    ¡°I guess,¡± Mia said, thinking. ¡°I mean, come to think of it, if I imagine that you¡¯re an NPC, things make a lot more sense.¡±


    ¡°So you¡¯re coming to terms with your cultural differences by dehumanizing us?¡± Aubrey said sourly. Mia shrugged.


    ¡°I mean, I think that¡¯s going a little far,¡± Lumen said, glancing back and forth between Aubrey and Mia. ¡°NPCs don¡¯t think or feel. Kyle does. Obviously. They¡¯re¡­ they¡¯re real people that act like NPCs. Sometimes.¡± He looked towards Kyle, almost apologetically.


    ¡°I want to go to that crystal anyway,¡± Kyle said. ¡°Another level in spellcraft¡¯s going to be useful, both to build the town and to make spells for people like Mia who are on their way to ending this whole thing.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s going to be hard,¡± Aubrey said. ¡°There¡¯s still that goblin king up ahead, and we don¡¯t have enough people left to make a spear wall.¡±


    ¡°As if I¡¯d ever do another escort run ever again,¡± one human spearwielder said bitterly. He threw his spear to the side. It¡¯s clattering echoed down the hall as he walked back up towards the cavern entrance.


    ¡°We might not need a wall,¡± Mason said. ¡°Mia and Lumen can probably take care of things by themselves. I¡¯m competent enough not to get in the way, at least, and Kyle can just throw fire from the back. Aubrey could¡­ actually, Aubrey doesn¡¯t need to touch the crystal, does she?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, we can make it through without her,¡± Kyle said, nodding. Aubrey didn¡¯t object, her face flint.


    ¡°God, I hate escort quests,¡± Mia said, rolling her eyes.


    ¡°Look,¡± Lumen said, ¡°Could you just maybe stay back here for a bit? Adrianne and I will just handle stuff up there and come back and get you after we clear a path to the crystal.¡±


    Kyle, still bristling at being called an NPC, nearly objected on principle. But Mia and Lumen killed two dozen goblins between the two of them, and Kyle could hardly aim his thrown fire straight. ¡°Fine,¡± he said.¡±Thanks for the carry.¡±


    ¡°No prob,¡± Lumen said grinning. ¡°And thanks for all you do! Like, we¡¯ve got a city now! That¡¯s not¡­ that¡¯s not something I¡¯d have done!¡±


    Lumen¡¯s compliment felt forced and hollow to Kyle. He didn¡¯t respond. Mia left, and Lumen turned to follow, shrugging apologetically.

 Chapter 26: In which the Dead are Buried in the Walls

    Aubrey sighed. ¡°Show¡¯s over,¡± she said to the wounded players. ¡°Go lie down. You¡¯ve earned it. Sorry I got you into this mess.¡±


    Muttering and complaining, most of the players started slowly leaving the cavern through the cave entrance. Only a Jakarna and another dwarf remained near Aubrey, eying Kyle and Mason suspiciously.


    ¡°So now what?¡± asked Kyle.


    ¡°I guess we wait,¡± said Mason. He looked towards the two other exits from the room. ¡°Any goblins in those other passages?¡±


    ¡°I think,¡± Aubrey said. ¡°We don¡¯t go those directions much. No need.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll keep watch at those two tunnels,¡± Mason said, and headed into the dark.


    Kyle¡¯s pain had spread through his whole body by this point, dulling to a generalized ache that made him uncomfortable and irritable. At least it wasn¡¯t as bad as last time he got stabbed by a goblin. He opened his status menu and saw his HP bar. He watched it to see if it moved, finally opening his options menu and changing the digits of precision. As his health inched from 81.1% to 81.3% he realized it could take hours for the pain to go away. Wanting to distract himself, he looked around for something to do.


    ¡°What do we do with the¡­ with the corpses?¡± Kyle said, walking over to Dvorak¡¯s eerily still form. Dvorak, as annoying as he was, was full of life and energy. Seeing him still on the ground was unnerving and sobering.


    ¡°It¡¯s sounds awful, but we¡¯ve just been leaving them out,¡± Aubrey said, glancing at the mess of bodies. Fallen players and goblins alike were strewn indiscriminately on the cavern floor. ¡°We tried burying them for a while, but it was so much effort, and at the beginning, we¡¯d have people dying pretty often.¡±


    ¡°What happens to their stuff?¡± Kyle said.


    Aubrey looked back at Kyle. ¡°Wow. Must have been nice hanging out with two¡­ two gamejackers.¡± Kyle hadn¡¯t heard the term, and wasn¡¯t sure if Aubrey had just made it up, but it was a useful shorthand for people like Mia and Lumen. ¡°You¡¯ve never died, have you?¡± Aubrey asked accusatorially. ¡°Has anybody in your group died?¡±


    ¡°Not this group.¡± Kyle stopped to think. ¡°Back in the town? I know Braden has. Lumen killed him. Lumen¡¯s reformed now, by the way, don¡¯t worry. Oh, and that one girl¡­ Avina? She¡¯s died once. In fact¡­¡± Kyle trailed off. Suddenly, Avina¡¯s mousey demeanor made more sense to Kyle.


    Aubrey rolled her eyes. ¡°If people take stuff from your corpse, you don¡¯t respawn with it. Otherwise, you keep your inventory aside from some randomly determined items that stay on the ground where your corpse despawns. I don¡¯t know what the algorithm is for that. Soulbound items disappear when you die and reappear when you respawn; they can¡¯t be looted from your body.¡±


    ¡°Speaking of respawning, where do you respawn? Obviously not where your body is, if you¡¯ve been burying them¡­¡±


    ¡°You get your choice. You¡¯ve got your starting pod, any other starting pod you¡¯ve found, and a few natural landmarks. At least, according to the help files. I¡¯ve not found one of those myself.¡±


    Kyle nodded. He supposed he should be thankful he didn¡¯t have any info on dying in his help files. He could guess what the prerequisite was.


    ¡°Also, higher level architects can build their own respawn points. I hear it¡¯s pretty expensive, though,¡± Aubrey added.


    Kyle sighed. ¡°I guess we won¡¯t know exactly where Dvorak will come back, then. Think I should take his stuff or leave it on his body?¡±


    ¡°We could just hide the corpse,¡± Aubrey said. ¡°Stick him in a corner and build a wall around him. He might want to respawn with as much of his stuff as possible if he needs to make a trek back to your city. Anything that drops, we can come back for later.¡±If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Kyle nodded. He went over to Dvorak¡¯s body, but he couldn¡¯t lift it one-handed. ¡°Hold this?¡± Kyle said, holding his flame out to Aubrey. She looked at him skeptically. ¡°Actually, nevermind. Do you have a torch or something?¡± Aubrey nodded and pulled a torch from her inventory, already lit. Kyle didn¡¯t know how to dismiss his flame, so he tossed it on the ground, where it sputtered and died.


    Kyle hefted Dvorak¡¯s body over his shoulder. It was limp, cool, and unnerving.


    ¡°Why are you with that Elf and Jakarna, anyway?¡± Aubrey asked as Kyle heaved the corpse towards the nearest corner. ¡°Are you using them as bodyguards? Are you hoping travelling with them will net you some useful equipment?¡±


    Kyle thought about that. ¡°I guess¡­ well, Mia started off in our pod, so when we escaped together, we just sorta fell into a party together. Then Lumen came to the town, and we just¡­ pulled him in. We just sort of¡­ we¡¯re trying to work together, you know?¡±


    ¡°If that works out for you, I guess I wouldn¡¯t complain,¡± Aubrey said, shrugging. ¡°But I wouldn¡¯t trust them. They¡¯re too different.¡±


    Kyle dropped the body in the corner. Aubrey nodded solemnly. ¡°I¡¯ll ask Skyfire to build a wall around him before we leave.¡±


    ¡°Skyfire?¡± asked Kyle.


    ¡°One of our Architects. A good kid. An Elf now. I don¡¯t know his real name off the top of my head. He was accepted to Penn State¡¯s microbiology program before getting sucked in here. He¡¯s nervous the game will go on for so long that he¡¯ll end up being a no-show and lose his acceptance.¡± She looked suddenly fatigued and rubbed her forehead. ¡°Even ignoring the death and pain, this game is disrupting a lot of lives.¡±


    Kyle realized he hadn¡¯t thought about his upcoming oral exams in several days. He tried not to worry about it. There was nothing he could do. He just hoped his professors could understand. He stood again and surveyed the room. ¡°There are a lot of dead goblins here. Think we should loot the bodies or something?¡±


    Aubrey didn¡¯t react for a moment. ¡°Sure. I guess.¡± She walked towards the nearest goblin and planted a hand on its chest, then tapped her crystal. After tapping a few buttons invisible to Kyle, the body dissolved into motes of light that winked out after a moment.


    Kyle didn¡¯t realize you could loot corpses like that. But then, he hadn¡¯t been the one to go on the hunting trips. That was always¡­ Well, it was Lumen and Mia. He suddenly realized just how disconnected he had been from the death and combat in this world.


    But he had felt it, once or twice. The feeling as the axe cleft the goblins skull in the first dungeon. The way the arsonist¡¯s head bounced off his fist as he punched his face. Those feelings disturbed him now, just thinking about them. He knew what this place was. Was he trying to fool himself? Pretending that if he built a town around himself, it would somehow shelter him from the violence in the world?


    Kyle leaned down, touched the bodies, and saw a menu pop up with all the stuff the goblin was carrying. Small hide armor, a goblin sword slightly worse than the one he already had, some silver. Nothing remarkable. Kyle hit a button marked ¡°loot all¡±. Might as well. His possessions were far below what the game would let him carry. Maybe they¡¯d be able to cut the armor into leather strips and use them for farm equipment, or melt down the weapons and reforge them into something useful. He moved on to another goblin corpse and found similar junk.


    ¡°Hey, do you guys know what silver¡¯s for?¡± asked Aubrey suddenly.


    ¡°No idea,¡± Kyle said. ¡°We thought there would be NPC shopkeepers or something, but we¡¯ve not seen any. Maybe it¡¯s supposed to be part of a player driven economy of some kind?¡± Kyle headed back to Dvorak¡¯s body. Just to check to see if he had anything that looks like he couldn¡¯t afford to lose.


    ¡°Can¡¯t be a player driven economy,¡± Aubrey said, shaking her head. ¡°If you can ¡®print your own money¡¯ by farming respawning goblins, you¡¯d end up with really bad inflation. You can¡¯t base an economy off that. There¡¯s got to be some way to take money out of the system for it to balance itself. Are you guys using it for currency?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re all on the same team, basically. We¡¯ve been sharing all our possessions. Giving them to whoever can make use of them most. Lumen and Mia get the good weapons and armor, I get the books, Dvorak gets the herbs¡­¡±


    ¡°Wow. You really do have a little Utopia going, don¡¯t you?¡±


    Kyle didn¡¯t know how to respond. Didn¡¯t it just make sense to do it like that?


    Kyle checked Dvorak¡¯s inventory by planting a hand on his chest and navigating his menus. Kyle quickly realized he had no way to tell what was valuable and what wasn¡¯t. The list was mostly just a mess of herbs and ¡°unidentified¡± potions in varying shades of brown. Kyle considered taking those for the party to use, but decided against it; there was no way of telling if any of them were ¡°mistakes¡± that would poison him or whatever. Kyle closed out of Dvorak¡¯s inventory, leaving everything there.


    With the battle site cleaned up, Kyle and Aubrey walked towards the center of the room, where Lumen and Mia had run off to fight. They didn¡¯t find any bodies. Lumen and Mia had probably already looted them.


    Kyle heard voices from up the hall and turned to see Lumen and Mia coming down the hallway from the crystal. Half of Lumen¡¯s face was speckled with the pale pink color Kyle had learned to associate with wounds. Lumen had a strange expression; Kyle couldn¡¯t tell if he was smiling or wincing.

 Chapter 27: In which Mason remains Stoically in Pain

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Kyle asked.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Lumen said. ¡°Just not used to getting hit in the face. The spinejack doesn¡¯t reach there, so I¡¯ve not felt a lot of pain there. It hurts more than I expected it to.¡± He shook his head. ¡°But it¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll get used to it. Hey Dr. Aubrey!¡± Lumen said, turning to her with a pained smile. ¡°You didn¡¯t mention the goblin king was a mage.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t know he was,¡± Aubrey said, scrunching her face in confusion.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Lumen said. ¡°At about half HP, he jumped back and started throwing ice orbs of some kind. One of them caught me in the face before I realized what was going on. He was pretty predictable after that, though.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what happens when you get complacent,¡± Mia said, smiling slyly.


    ¡°Oh, shut it,¡± Lumen said. Kyle could tell from his expression he was enjoying the ribbing. ¡°You¡¯d have gotten hit in the face too if you had aggro, like a good front line¡¯s supposed to.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m an assassin, not a tank. Not like it¡¯s my job to cover for an archer who¡¯s too lazy to dodge.¡± Mia was complaining as usual, but there was something different about her demeanor. She was smiling.


    She respected Lumen, Kyle thought. Like a peer. He wasn¡¯t somebody that needed to be shepherded along.


    ¡°Okay, Okay, fine. We¡¯ll find you a tank, ¡®kay? Somebody that¡¯ll¡­¡± Lumen trailed off as Mason approached from the far end of the room. ¡°I mean¡­¡±, Lumen stammered. He started awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.


    ¡°How¡¯s the crystal?¡± Mason asked.


    ¡°Unguarded,¡± Mia said, smirking.


    ¡°We¡¯ve not touched it yet,¡± said Lumen. ¡°It made sense to have other people around as we level up.¡±


    Mason nodded, and walked past them up the tunnel without another word.


    ¡°What¡¯s with him? He¡¯s acting cranky,¡± asked Mia.


    ¡°I¡¯d be too if I were at a third HP,¡± Kyle said.


    Mia¡¯s good humor evaporated, and her familiar eye-roll returned. ¡°Hey dwarf lady. Got any healers in your group?¡±


    ¡°I wish,¡± Aubrey said. ¡°A couple of us are acolytes, myself included, but our help menus say we need to find ¡®holy sites¡¯ to learn spells. We¡¯ve got no clue how to do that.¡±This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    ¡°Well, can¡¯t be helped.¡± Mia shrugged, then turned to follow Mason. The rest of the group started walking as well.


    They arrived at the crystal, floating at the center of a rough-hewn circular room. The chamber was bathed with a soft blue glow from the crystal. Crudely constructed wicker and wood furniture lined the sides of the rooms, hinting at the goblin¡¯s prior occupation. No goblin bodies remained; Lumen and Mia must have already taken their stuff. Two chests, somewhat out of place and obviously meant to be noticed, sat open and empty in the back of the room.


    ¡°What was in those?¡± Aubrey asked. ¡°We never dared open them; we were nervous it would change the way the goblins acted.¡±


    ¡°Not much,¡± Mia said. ¡°Silver. A couple of steel weapons. A scroll, I guess? Can¡¯t read it. Some pots.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s pottery used for in this game?¡± Aubrey asked.


    ¡°She mean potions,¡± Kyle said.


    Mia sighed.


    ¡°Healing potions, you mean? Give one to Mason,¡± Aubrey said. ¡°He¡¯s in the most pain right now.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Mia said fiercely. ¡°This is the only time we¡¯ve found restoratives. These are for combat healing only. We¡¯re not going to waste these just because Mason¡¯s acting like a baby.¡±


    ¡°It makes perfect sense,¡± Mason said, cutting off an objection from Aubrey. ¡°Keep them. I¡¯ll live.¡± His eyes stayed narrowed, though.


    ¡°Can I touch the crystal first?¡± Lumen asked, eying the crystal excitedly. ¡°We fought the goblins, after all.¡±


    * * *


    At last, it was Kyle¡¯s turn, and he entered the blue glowing spirit-form menu. He was first given a choice of stat to level up. Kyle realized he might be acting like a bit of a pansy, but he took resilience again and breathed a sigh of relief as the pain immediately subsided.


    Next, he was given the option to either pick a new skill or upgrade one of his existing skills. That gave him pause for thought.


    There were plenty of skills the town was missing. He knew of at least a half-dozen skills they already lamented lacking. But on the other hand, they were building a city, and cities were formed around the concept of division of labor. It made sense to specialize, right? So maybe he should just keep upgrading spellcraft?


    But then, if Aubrey¡¯s group was any indication, the people arriving at the city might already have a level or two under their belts when they arrive. That was a problem. Kyle assumed there must be a way to unlearn skills and reallocate their levels, but he certainly didn¡¯t know what it was. And until they discovered such a way (assuming it existed) new arrivals would be locked into whatever they thought was a useful skill at the time. They might not be able to have a specialist in every role.


    So Kyle looked at the list again, this time trying to think of what might be useful, but would be overlooked by an eager new player. If he had to prioritize, what would be his fourth choice be? His fifth? What would he be willing to put skill points in ¡°when he got around to it,¡± but not before?


    He found a likely candidate and picked it.


    * * *


    Kyle lost his footing again as he landed, falling to his knees and grinning.


    ¡°So what¡¯d you take?¡± asked Lumen, helping him to his feet.


    ¡°Cartography,¡± Kyle said, beaming mischievously.


    ¡°Map making?¡± Mia said, narrowing her eyes. ¡°Of all the useless¡­¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t laugh, Mia,¡± Kyle said. ¡°I¡¯ve got a minimap now.¡± He pointed to his upper-right, where a small overhead silhouette map of the cave now floated in his interface.


    Mia¡¯s eyes went wide. ¡°No ¡ª-, really!?¡±

 Chapter 28: In which is Metal

    It was dark by the time they were ready to leave, so Kyle and his group spent the night in the tunnels. The accommodations were spartan; besides some stone furniture, there wasn¡¯t a lot of comfort to be had. It was clear Aubrey¡¯s group didn¡¯t want to be outside foraging for wood and fiber any longer than they had to. Kyle supposed he could understand that; after all, Aubrey¡¯s position was given away by a stray stump Mia noticed. Every time they went out to collect food or water, they risked discovery.


    In the morning, Aubrey¡¯s group packed as much of their stuff as would fit in their inventories and they abandoned the mine. All told, there were fifteen people in the cavern, all of whom were now coming to join the city. Including Kyle¡¯s group (but without Dvorak) a gaggle of nineteen people now trekked towards Crystopia through the woods. Once they got to Crystopia, its population would nearly triple. Most of the people in Aubrey¡¯s group filled any remaining room in their inventories with stone; the stone pickaxe Kyle''s group brought broke after a few dozen swings, so he was grateful Aubrey''s group had a metal pick they had scavenged from some goblin chest in the mines.


    It was strange seeing the group, about half dwarves, regarding the forest around them with nervousness. They walked closer to each other than Kyle found comfortable, and their spears tended to face outward even when held casually. It was clear they weren¡¯t used to being outside, and they acted as though there might be a murderer around any given bend in the path.


    The fauna was obviously unfamiliar to them as well. Several people dropped into combat stances with their spears out the first time they ran into a Sansi. Kyle had to explain it was a placid deer-like source of food and leather, and nothing to be afraid of.


    Kyle spent most of the journey enthralled by his new minimap. He was surprised the help files didn¡¯t mention it in their brief description of cartography. He could reach up and grab the map to move or resize it, and he could zoom in and out by pressing buttons at the bottom. When he zoomed out far enough, he could see black smoke indicating the edge of what was considered ¡°explored¡±, and he saw that as he moved, the dark mist was pushed back, revealing terrain underneath.


    Interestingly, the ¡°explored¡± area was further than he, personally, could see. A couple of times, he darted off the trail through the woods to check on a neat lake or a set of trees with a slightly different canopy color, just to see if it represented anything interesting. Eventually, he let Mason talk some sense into him; they were on their way back to Crystopia with what basically amounted to a group of refugees, and even if Kyle found anything, it wouldn¡¯t make sense to get sucked into a side quest. Still, Kyle resolved to go hunting with Lumen these next few days to fill in his map and make note of anything interesting in the forest.


    They arrived back at Crystopia later that evening without incident. It was still there, and not even on fire, which was a plus. The others were understandably surprised to see nearly a score of beleaguered people arriving instead of the small band they sent out. Jacob immediately grumbled that he still hadn¡¯t gotten the bloomery working and now needed to build more houses, mostly by himself. When he found out that two of the incoming people also picked architecture as their skill, he reversed position immediately and started becoming very protective of his town plan and the creative control Kyle supposed it represented.


    Dvorak came back the evening of the following day. When asked about his death, he would alternate between saying it was the most painful thing that had ever happened to him and that it ¡°Wasn¡¯t as bad as he expected.¡± Kyle wasn¡¯t sure which was true. Maybe he was playing up the horror for his audience. Maybe he was projecting bravado for the other players. Either way, Dvorak was¡­ different. Crankier. More pessimistic. His jokes started taking on a more cynical, bitter tone instead of just being goofy.


    Braden admitted later to Kyle over dinner that he had killed the bound man in the library, as Kyle had planned to.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    ¡°I just¡­ took an axe to his neck,¡± Braden said. ¡°Chopped it. I didn¡¯t put enough force into it, so it didn¡¯t kill him. Just took a chunk out of his HP. I had to do it again to actually kill him.¡± Braden shuddered a little. ¡°It felt really¡­ cold. Ruthless. Wrong.¡± Kyle simply stared into his meat stew. ¡°It was the right thing, right, Kyle? I mean¡­ he¡¯s not really dead, and it keeps other people safe from him for another full day. So¡­ It wasn¡¯t wrong?¡±


    Kyle had no words to say. He mumbled some half hearted comfort, picked up his bowl, and went to his cabin to finish it off. As he sipped his stew in candlelight, he reflected on the sorts of things he was requiring of his new friends. The rift between the gamejackers and the rest of the group made Kyle feel out of place. He found he really didn¡¯t have the answers he pretended he did.


    With the new builders, the town grew rapidly. Within a couple of days, The city sported new stone walls (two feet thick, fifteen feet high, just as Mia requested) a nice gate with a wooden portcullis, and a drawbridge that didn¡¯t actually bridge over anything. (Jacob crafted and installed it before realizing it was basically pointless without a moat.)


    The other builders mostly stuck to Jacob¡¯s town plan. Mostly.


    ¡°Hey, why is there a building here?¡± Jacob demanded of Skyfire as Kyle approached him with another load of stone. ¡°What¡¯s¡­ what¡¯s this?¡± Jacob asked, motioning towards the building. ¡±What¡¯s this supposed to be?¡±


    ¡°Uh, a warehouse?¡± Skyfire said nervously. ¡°We needed one, right? I mean, we didn¡¯t have anywhere to store community resources.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve got places to store our stuff!¡± Jacob said. ¡°Things go into the buildings they¡¯re used in. Ore by the bloomery. Hides in the tannery. Herbs in the apothecary. If we have a warehouse, it¡¯ll just become a dumping grounds. Junk on shelves everywhere. Nobody would bother to sort anything. A complete disaster.¡±


    ¡°But¡­ but it won¡¯t matter eventually. When the warehouse hits tier four, it gets those auto-sorting chests that-¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re nowhere near tier four! And when we do, the warehouse goes over there. I need you to take it down.¡±


    Skyfire shook his head in disbelief.


    ¡°Kyle, man. Tell him to take this building down.¡±


    ¡°What,¡± said Kyle sourly. ¡°I¡¯m the leader now?¡±


    ¡°What, are you saying you weren¡¯t? Because you could have fooled me.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not like we had a vote or anything, Jacob.¡±


    ¡°Well I vote for you. And I don¡¯t hear anybody voting against you. So there. You¡¯re the leader.¡± Jacob folded his arms as though that solved everything.


    Skyfire raised his hands slightly in frustration, but didn¡¯t say anything.


    Kyle shook his head at the feuding architects. ¡°Don¡¯t tick off the halfling, kid. I¡¯m sorry. He¡¯s got seniority. But thanks for your initiative. Maybe¡­ maybe be creative outside the city walls? I dunno.¡± Kyle dropped his stone on the ground. ¡°There. I did the leader thing.¡± He turned and left wearily.


    The chain of authority was messed up, though. There were so many people in charge of different aspects of the town that Kyle didn¡¯t even know who was leading what anymore. Lumen and Mia jockeyed for position anytime anybody was outside the city gates. Aubrey acted in charge of her group of tight-knit refugees, which led to personality conflicts when Lumen or Mia joined them on trips to the mine to collect stone. Aubrey wasn¡¯t giving orders to anybody outside her group, though. Not even to mousey little Avina, who Kyle thought would take orders from a Kreyfa if it was pushy enough. Hell, maybe, Jacob was calling the shots, since he was requesting resources and directing the building efforts.


    But there was a leadership vacuum, for certain. Dvorak, for instance, was acting out regularly. He was sleeping in until almost noon, and when he was awake, he¡¯d make fun of the new townsfolk and pick arguments with them seemingly just to argue. Nobody was keeping him in check. Mason would often step in to break things up. If Kyle was nearby, he¡¯d shoot him a dirty glare. As if Kyle was supposed to fix everything.


    Kyle felt uncomfortable with Lumen and Mia now that he realized just how different they were from everybody else. They¡¯d often go on lengthy hunting expeditions. One day, they came back dragging one of those huge armored moose things.


    ¡°It¡¯s a chokka beast,¡± Lumen said triumphantly, as the town looked on in astonishment. ¡°And it¡¯s got a weak spot on its belly.¡±


    ¡°How do you get to its belly?¡± Mason asked, obviously impressed.


    ¡°Leverage,¡± Mia said smirking. She offered no further information.


    But as scattered and fractured as their town now seemed, it was still making clear progress. Finally, five days after the trip to the mines, Kyle¡¯s heart leapt when he saw Aubrey and four of her refugees leaving the blacksmith with iron-tipped spears; the first metal items their group had produced.


    Metal.


    It was working. This whole crazy town idea was finally paying dividends.

 Chapter 29: In which Everyone Touches their Toes

    Kyle sat on the low stone wall, watching Mason leading a group of about eight people through a set of warm-up exercises in the center of the newly built arena. Kyle, still in a cynical mood, wasn¡¯t sure he wanted to participate. He was a mage, right? Shouldn¡¯t that absolve him from having to take part in a martial arts lesson? Maybe he should just go back to the library with Braden and keep ripping up books.


    ¡°Hey,¡° asked one human woman. ¡°Why are we even warming up? This isn¡¯t real. It¡¯s not like we¡¯ll pull a muscle or anything, right?¡± Kyle didn¡¯t know the woman very well. She must be from one of the last couple of starting pods Aubrey had checked out.


    ¡°Honestly, I¡¯m not sure,¡± said Mason. ¡°We don¡¯t know what the designers have programmed into this game. Maybe we can pull muscles. Can¡¯t be too safe.¡± He sat down on the ground, spread his legs, and leaned forward, pulling on his toes. The rest of the group followed. ¡°Besides, this is a way of clearing your mind. Signalling to yourself that you¡¯re about to start exerting yourself and learning. Aubrey, help me out here. What¡¯s that called? Conditioning? Priming?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Aubrey said, pulling on her toes too. ¡°I¡¯m not a psychologist. I work in AI.¡±


    ¡°Hey, um¡­¡± stammered another student. That Jakarna that was near Aubrey so often. Tobungus? Some weird screen name. ¡°How am I¡­ how am I supposed to¡­?¡± The Jakarna motioned to his reverse joint legs, which didn¡¯t sit flat on the ground right. They were long enough he couldn¡¯t reach his toes, even with his legs facing completely forward. Kyle heard snickering to his left, and looked over to see that Mia had come to watch as well. Kyle hadn¡¯t heard her approach.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure how that works,¡± Mason said to the Jakarna, shrugging and getting to his feet. ¡°It¡¯s not like there were any Jakarna in my Dojo. I¡¯m not sure martial arts for tigers even exist. Just¡­ do the best you can.¡± The poor Jakarna shook his head and started reaching awkwardly at his heels.


    Seemingly satisfied with stretches, Mason started explaining the basics of Karate. He told them all that the stance was one of the most important fundamentals in combat. He pulled a member of the class forward, helped set him into a deep, low stance, and demonstrated how hard it was to push over somebody who was standing correctly. He had everybody in the class fall into stances as well, and he went down the lines, repositioning feet and helping them set their balance.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Mia rolled her eyes and chuckled. ¡°This is garbage,¡± she said to Kyle. ¡°You can¡¯t fight like that.¡±


    Mason looked at Mia. Kyle was surprised he had heard from that distance. ¡°Oh?¡± said Mason, arms crossed. ¡°What does your stance look like, Mia? Come on. Let¡¯s see it.¡±


    Mia sighed, and hopped down. She walked up to Mason and dropped into her own fighting stance. In contrast to the deep, wide stance Mason was teaching his students, Mia had a shorter stance, with most of her weight on her back foot, legs bent. ¡°Y¡¯see, this is how you stand. A wide stance like that is totally unrealistic. Sure, if somebody rushes you, and you stand there like an idiot and take it, you¡¯ll stay up. But with this stance-¡±


    Mia was cut off as Mason swung his hand to the side to push her over. Mia hopped deftly out of the way. ¡°Rude! I was saying something.¡± Mason swung again, a fast, open handed swing, arm crooked to pull her over. Mia took a quick step back, and Mason missed again. ¡°See, this is what you lack, Mason. With weight equally distributed between your feet, you don¡¯t have any mobility. Like this, y¡¯see, I can push off with this foot, or shift my weight to this foot, and quickly change my center of balance.¡±


    Mason scowled. ¡°That doesn¡¯t give you any stability. I could knock you right over, if you¡¯d hold still and let me demonstrate.¡±


    Mia chortled derisively. ¡°As is that¡¯d work in a real fight. ¡®Hold on, good sir goblin. I would like to pull you over.¡¯¡±


    Mason lunged and reached for her again, and Mia ducked to the side and came up behind him. ¡°Mobility is more important than stability. Why are you counting on being hit? That¡¯s dumb. Stay light. Dodge.¡±


    ¡°This coming from a girl who lost her first PvP fight in the starting pod. Remember Mia? I had you by the throat. Pinned to a wall.¡± Kyle saw blinks of surprise from some of the students, who probably thought Crystopia had a long history of pacifism and love. The students abandoned their stances and approached to watch the exchange.


    ¡°Yeah. You got me because I didn¡¯t expect to be attacked by a party member. Great object lesson. Surprise can make up for a skill disparity. Remember that, kids.¡± A middle-aged dwarven man in the crowd narrowed his eyes.


    Mason grit his teeth. ¡°So is that how it¡¯s going to be? Are you gonna keep this up until I beat you in a real fight?¡±


    Mia sighed demonstratively, but she was still smiling. ¡°Yeah. Sure let¡¯s do this.¡± She raised her hands into a loose guard. Kyle leaned forward. Things were about to get interesting.


    ¡°No weapons?¡± Mason said, dropping into a stance. ¡°Hand to hand. ¡®Till you¡¯re at half HP.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± Mia said. ¡°Handicap is all yours. I mean, you¡¯ve had more training in fighting without a weapon. ¡®Cause you know. That¡¯s how most combats go.¡±


    ¡°Ready?¡± Mason said. Mia nodded, and Mason shot forward, hands in front of his face.

 Chapter 30: In which is Intra-Party Conflict, Round Two!

    Mia waited until Mason was nearly on her, before darting out of his way just as Mason reached to grab her. She hit Mason in the side with an open-handed punch, striking with the ball of her hand.


    As Mason fell back and the the two combatants started circling each other, Kyle Examined Mason, so he could see his health bar. Mia¡¯s strike had done pitifully little damage, taking out only a sliver of Mason¡¯s HP. Kyle Examined Mia, just so he could watch her HP as well.


    Mason darted in again, and Mia struck him in the side, dodging under his grasp. Mason whirled immediately to grab her and Mia withdrew, knocking Mason¡¯s arm away with an open-handed chop. Another few chips off Mason¡¯s HP bar.


    ¡°You know if I catch you, you¡¯re dead,¡± Mason growled, lunging again and getting hit with another strike. ¡°There¡¯s no dancing away if you¡¯re on the ground in a grapple.¡±


    ¡°If you catch me. Which isn¡¯t happening,¡± Mia said. ¡°I¡¯ve had my share of one-hit KOs. Raid bosses that kill you instantly if you¡¯re slow. Winning is easy. Just don¡¯t get caught.¡± She moved to avoid another lunge. Mason was fast; Kyle was sure he¡¯d have been caught by any number of these grabs. But Mia was just faster.


    ¡°It¡¯s all in the shoulders,¡± Mia said. ¡°You¡¯re telegraphing your attacks. You might as well be broadcasting a glowing red rectangle on the ground. ¡®Don¡¯t stand here. You¡¯ll get one-shot.¡¯¡±


    Mason fell back into a stance that was surprisingly similar to the one Mia demonstrated. Kyle realized that in a live combat situation, Mason had abandoned the deep stances he had shown his students. ¡°You¡¯re cheating,¡± Mason said. ¡°You¡¯re using your ranks in reflexes. It¡¯s slows down time for you, right? Turn it off. This is supposed to be a fair fight.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, well, you ranked strength. Can you turn that off? I don¡¯t think so. That isn¡¯t fair, now is it?¡±


    ¡°In real life, I¡¯d have caught you.¡±


    ¡°In real life, I wouldn¡¯t be fighting you. This isn¡¯t real life. This is a game. And you¡¯re an ogre. A big dumb ogre with a huge hitbox and slow, predictable attacks.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re trying to tilt me,¡± Mason said. ¡°You¡¯re trying to goad me into attacking you so you can counter. It won¡¯t work. Your turn now. You come at me. See how well that works.¡±


    ¡°Oooh, you saw through that, did you?¡± Mia smiled menacingly. ¡°But in a dungeon, if you refuse to come at me, I¡¯d pull out a bow. You¡¯ve got to either attack me or get pegged from a distance. You lose.¡± Mia lowered her hands and spread them to the sides. ¡°But seeing as though I don¡¯t have a bow in this mock fight, we¡¯re at an impasse, I guess. Let¡¯s run down the clock, shall we? Winner¡¯s the guy with the most HP left. Oh wait¡­¡± Mia said, trailing off and shaking her head.


    Mason ran at her again with his forearms covering his face, and Mia¡¯s arms shot back up into a guard. Instead of going for a grapple, Mason threw quick jabs at Mia, who pushed them away with deft sweeps of her arms. ¡°Better, better!¡± she said. ¡°Less signalling. Harder to respond to.¡± She huffed slightly, exerting herself more. ¡°This is high gold level stuff now. Maybe low plat. But I¡¯m diamond, buddy.¡± Mia started returning the blows, hitting Mason in the chest whenever she saw an opening, slowly whittling down Mason¡¯s HP.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    Suddenly Mason¡¯s punch connected with Mia¡¯s jaw, taking a full third of her HP bar in a single blow. Mia screamed and fell back on the ground. Mason dove for her and nearly landed on her, but Mia rolled away. As she stood, she immediately claimed another sliver of Mason¡¯s HP with a punch to the side. She pulled away to collect herself.


    ¡°In the face? Really, Mason?¡±


    ¡°Spinejack doesn¡¯t reach there,¡± Mason said, eyes locked on Mia¡¯s hands. ¡°You¡¯re not used to feeling that sort of pain.¡±


    ¡°Thanks for the practice, then,¡± Mia said, and dashed towards Mason, her guard held a little higher this time.


    Mason blocked her attack with his forearms and started jabbing ineffectively as Mia resumed darting around him. His bar was dipping perilously close to half health. But then again, one more solid punch would bring Mia into the yellow, too.


    Mason risked another grab, sweeping an arm towards Mia to try and catch her. Mia, surprisingly, didn¡¯t seem to bother dodging. Instead, she lowered her guard and grinned. Mason threw her to the ground, planted a knee on her chest, and pressed his forearm against her throat. ¡°I¡¯ve got you now, you little-¡±


    Mia grabbed Mason¡¯s forearm with both hands and pulled it up towards her face, turning her head to the side so it would slide over her chin. She opened her mouth and latched onto Mason¡¯s forearm with a feral bite. Mason grunted in pain, but stayed where he was, reaching his fist back under his armpit to punch Mia in the face.


    But Kyle could see what Mason did not; the bite made Mason¡¯s HP bar dip into the yellow section.


    Mia opened her mouth to let go of Mason¡¯s forearm and went back to her infuriating grin. ¡°Half health, Mason. You lose.¡±


    ¡°I have you!¡± Mason shouted at Mia, still kneeling on her chest. ¡°You can¡¯t get out of this! It¡¯s over for you!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, ¡®cause you¡¯re out of HP. Now get off me. You¡¯ve lost.¡±


    Mason didn¡¯t move, still looking at Mia with rage in his eyes. Kyle wasn¡¯t sure if he was resisting standing, or resisting socking Mia in her smug face.


    Kyle wasn¡¯t sure which he was hoping to see from him.


    Mia tapped her left hand against her hip and pushed some buttons without looking at them. A bright metal smallsword appeared in her hand; the first time Kyle had seen it. She poked Mason¡¯s chest with the tip. ¡°Fight¡¯s over. Please get off before things get nasty.¡±


    Mason bellowed and stood, turning away and storming off to the side of the arena.


    ¡°Your Sensei¡¯s not bad,¡± Mia said, saluting with her sword. ¡°But watch how he fights. Not the crap he tries to teach you. Combat¡¯s messy.¡± Mia stowed her sword and sauntered through the archway out of the arena.


    Kyle hopped off his wall and jogged over to Mason, who had walked past his students to lean on the wall at the other side of the arena. ¡°You okay, big guy?¡± Mason¡¯s forearm was against the wall, sporting pink dots in the shape of Mia¡¯s teeth. Kyle peeked around Mason¡¯s side to look at his face.


    Mason¡¯ face was full of restrained anger, eyes narrowed, teeth clenched, brow full of lines. He made brief eye contact with Kyle and squeezed his eyes shut. After several deep breaths, he stood and faced his concerned students, seemingly in control once again.


    ¡°What you saw won¡¯t work.¡± Mason said, projecting his voice again like an instructor. ¡°It works for Mia because she¡¯s good. But none of you know how to dodge around blows like that. If you get hit, and fall to the ground, you¡¯re done. For you, stability is more important than mobility.¡± He dropped into his stance again. ¡°I will teach you how to block blows. It¡¯s more reliable than getting out of the way. I¡¯ll teach you how to put the full force of your weight behind your blows, instead of slapping people like Mia does. What she can do works for gamejackers. What I teach will work for you.¡±


    He sighed a heavy sigh. ¡°And never rank your strength higher than your reflexes. That crap¡¯s OP. Now in your stances. Now!¡±


    The student dropped into their stances again, and Mason resumed the corrections, though he was considerably more terse and surly than before. After a few minutes, he had them pair off, and try to push each other over, offering tips.


    Kyle had seen enough, and left the arena. Combat was a part of this world. Mason had the right idea; to survive against another raid, everybody would need to learn a way of fighting that worked for them.


    Thing is, Kyle didn¡¯t think Mason¡¯s style would work for him.


    He''d have to find another way to be useful in a fight.

 Chapter 31: In which they Dont Fit

    Kyle sat in the library, surrounded by torn papers. He wasn¡¯t paying them any attention, though. His eyes were fixed on the interface in front of him.


    Spellcrafting was hard. There were a bunch of ¡°runes¡± of various shapes and sizes that represented different spell components. He needed to arrange them in a window, and then draw lines connecting them. Spells were created by linking these nodes together in a way that described your desired behavior. A ¡°creation¡± node linked to a ¡°fire¡± node linked to a ¡°thrown¡± node, with a node representing the caster¡¯s hand placed near all three, formed the fire spell Kyle had made. Thing was, that fire spell was literally just the sample spell that came in the help menu under the spellcrafting description. Spellcrafting was quite complicated, and because crafting a spell required him to spend his research points, he was loathe to experiment. Matching pages was just so boring.


    But deep inside, Kyle knew it wasn¡¯t just that. Kyle had done boring stuff in his life before. No, the big problem was any time he let his mind wander, he¡¯d just start thinking about this world, and his place in it.


    Back home, he felt like he had control of his life. Sure, professors expected things of him, and he had bills to pay, and his girlfriend demanded more attention than he sometimes thought she really needed. But he knew those challenges, and had equipped himself to deal with them. He knew which professors would demand his work be on time and which he could put off a little and still get most of the credit. He knew when his girlfriend could be safely ignored so he could finish his homework and when his girlfriend needed attention right away. He knew how to apply for grants, how to stretch out his food budget, and even a local lawyer who would pay him under-the-table to help sort through legal briefs. He owned the law-school thing.


    But here? Here, he wasn¡¯t so sure.


    Kyle dragged some of the runes around with his finger, hoping to find a better way to organize them. If he could get them to fit in a smaller space, the spell would cost less mana. And if the spell¡¯s nodes took up too much room, then he might not be able to craft the resulting spell at all until he gained another rank in spellcraft. Fitting them together to leave as little empty space between them as possible was kind of a puzzle.


    Kyle could probably learn how to own this world too. But that would require things of him he wasn¡¯t sure he wanted to do. Say people attacked the town again. Could he kill them?


    The man in the library had made it easy by being so obviously unrepentant. He seemed completely okay getting killed. And come to think of it, Kyle wasn¡¯t even the person who had done the killing.


    But what if the man had apologized? Begged for forgiveness? Given Kyle a sob story? Pleaded with Kyle to let him go?


    ¡­and then stabbed Kyle in the back once his guard was down?


    Kyle sighed, pulled out the ¡°Sleep¡± rune, and replaced it with a ¡°Poison¡± rune. It fit better against the ¡°Mist¡± delivery rune. Would a poison mist be as useful as a cloud of sleep gas? Would poison be as humane as putting foes to sleep? What did it feel like to be poisoned in this world? Would your HP bar just drop without you realizing it? Or would you feel constant, wracking pain until the status effect wore off?


    Maybe he shouldn¡¯t care. He bet he could manage that. He¡¯d learned about Nazi Germany in School. The Stanford prison experiments. He had a pretty good idea how it worked. He could just start dehumanizing anybody that wasn¡¯t in the city. Intentionally view them all as animalistic. Like the goblins. Killable. Unworthy of remorse. But then what would happen when he got home? Could he flip back to the way things were? Could he walk down the streets of Cincinnati again and pass by the people there and still view them as though they were as much of a person as he was? What would it cost him, long term, to own this new world he was in?


    He swapped back to the sleep rune and rotated it, then sighed and swapped the mist rune back out for the flash rune. He still wasn¡¯t sure what the different between Blast, Spread, Flash, and Area were. At least with Mist he had some clue; it implied a persistent area of affect. But he was mostly using the others interchangeably; he¡¯d just stick in whichever delivery rune fit best out around the other pieces. Sleep and flash did fit together nicely. Maybe he could even enlarge the power rune by a few ticks. The bigger he scaled the power rune, the more damage a spell would deal. But sleep wouldn¡¯t deal damage. So what would a bigger power rune do? Make it harder to resist? Kyle didn¡¯t know. He swapped back to mist and tried rotating the sleep rune again.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    He didn¡¯t want to hit the ¡°Invent Spell¡± button and spend the research points because he didn¡¯t want to match more pages. When his mind wasn¡¯t actively involved in something, he¡¯d start thinking, and thinking just stressed him and made him depressed. But then, he¡¯d been twiddling with the runes so much during the past few days that he¡¯d gotten bored and been thinking anyway. And as usual, he wasn¡¯t coming up with answers. Maybe he ought to just spend 72 matched pages on this sleep mist spell and head out to the forest to force naps upon some unsuspecting Sansi.


    As Kyle looked at the ¡°Invent Spell¡± button and the possible distraction it offered, there was a knock on the library door, which was odd. It¡¯s wasn¡¯t like it was his library. All the Adepts in the city knew that.


    ¡°Come in?¡± Kyle asked as much as stated.


    Mia came in, followed by Lumen. She looked around. Kyle hasn¡¯t seen her in the library before.


    ¡°Wow. Nice place you¡¯ve got here. Very¡­ very you.¡±


    ¡°Thanks,¡± Kyle said, not sure how to take that remark. He closed his spell creation window without saving. ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±


    ¡°So, Adrianne and I have been talking about it,¡± Lumen said, looking distinctly uncomfortable, ¡°And we¡¯re kind of thinking that¡­ I mean, it¡¯s not that there¡¯s anything wrong here, it¡¯s just that we feel like maybe, I dunno¡­¡± he rolled his eyes and put a hand to his head. ¡°God, this is awkward. How do I even-¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re leaving,¡± Mia said. ¡°This has been great and all, but the whole point of this town is to equip people to go off into the world and hunt for those crystals. And now that we¡¯re finally making metal, it seems like it¡¯s a good time to split.¡±


    Kyle felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. He should have expected this. He really should have expected this. Of course they¡¯d leave. Players don¡¯t spend forever in a town full of NPCs. Mia and Lumen had done all they needed to. Crystopia had a wall. It had bloomeries and tanneries. It even had a guard force made of other NPCs like Kyle. The players had completed their quest here. Time to pick up their rewards and move on.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Kyle said numbly. ¡°Yeah, okay.¡±


    ¡°Which brings me to our other point,¡± Lumen said. ¡°I¡¯ve notice that we¡¯ve got a lot of ore here, right? I mean, Aubrey¡¯s been doing a good job pulling it up from that mine we found. And given that you¡¯ve got so much of it, I was thinking that maybe-¡±


    ¡°We need metal armor,¡± Mia said, ¡°as light as you can make it. What¡¯s that like in this game? Chain shirts? Breastplates? Mageplate? I dunno.¡±


    ¡°I mean, I get that you could probably use a lot of metal here,¡± Lumen said quickly. ¡°And I don¡¯t mean to be pushy-¡±


    ¡°I do,¡± said Mia. ¡°We¡¯ve put as much work into this city as anybody else. When we leave, I think it¡¯s only fair that we can claim some of its resources as ours, even if we didn¡¯t pull it out of the ground ourselves.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I get it,¡± said Kyle. ¡°And I mean, even if you just walked in today, we¡¯re trying to equip people to win the game, right? So why hoard equipment?¡± Kyle forced a smile. ¡°Go win the game, ¡®kay Mia? We¡¯re counting on you.¡±


    Mia smiled. Not a sarcastic smile, or a cocky smile, or even a patronizing smile. Not quite warm, either, but pretty close to it. ¡°Thanks Kyle. You¡¯re¡­ well¡­¡± She sighed. ¡°I know I can be kind of¡­ how do you put it¡­?¡±


    ¡°Bitchy?¡± Lumen said, smirking.


    ¡°Shut up, kitty,¡± Mia said, rolling her eyes and smiling. ¡°Bitching is complaining for no reason. I might complain, but there¡¯s always a good reason. No, I¡¯m talking about¡­ well¡­¡± Mia looked off to the side, not making eye contact with Kyle. ¡°I can be a jerk sometimes. I don¡¯t get along with people. I get that. So¡­ you¡¯re a better guy than I¡¯ve been treating you. You don¡¯t deserve half the crap I¡¯ve been putting you through. You¡¯re¡­ you¡¯re okay.¡±


    ¡°Pretty fantastic, even,¡± Lumen said, with his enthusiastic toothy tiger grin.


    ¡°Yeah, Mia said. ¡°Thanks for¡­ thanks for everything. We¡¯ll be back. To sell things and get equipped and stuff.¡±


    ¡°And tell stories,¡± Lumen said. ¡°And there¡¯d better be a brewery here so we can get drunk too!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll tell Jacob,¡± Kyle said, smiling sadly. ¡°He¡¯d love to hear we¡¯ve got to build a brewery when he¡¯s already saving up resources for a respawn point and a mana tower.¡± Kyle paused as Lumen chuckled. ¡°I don¡¯t know that I have the authority to say it, but if it helps, tell Braden I¡¯m happy with you using our ores so he can make you some metal armor.¡±


    ¡°Oh, quit the whole false modesty act,¡± Mia said, her sarcasm returning. ¡°You know you¡¯ve got this town wrapped around your pinky finger,¡± Mia said.


    ¡°Not you I didn¡¯t,¡± Kyle said, still smiling.


    Mia thought for a moment before responding. ¡°Yeah, well, maybe I wasn¡¯t really part of the town. I never did fit in. I knew people didn¡¯t like me.¡± She shrugged. ¡°I dunno. Maybe when I¡¯m out of your hair, you can go back to being the awesome bookworm leader-man you¡¯ve been trying to be. You might snap out of your funk.¡±


    Kyle figured other people had noticed his recent moodiness, but it still stung a little to be called out on it. ¡°Maybe,¡± he said.


    ¡°Anyway, see you around,¡± Lumen said. ¡°We¡¯ll head out as soon as that armor is done.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Thanks for¡­ thanks for stopping in to say goodbye.¡± Kyle nodded at Lumen and Mia, who backed up awkwardly and shut the door behind them.


    Kyle put his head in his hands.


    He wished his body would feel as despondent as his mind knew he was.

 Chapter 32: In which is a Mad Bunny

    Kyle looked out over the rows of Blackwheat outside the city wall. The tall stalks held ebony nodules, which gently swayed in the wind. They looked a little bigger than yesterday. Did that mean they were still growing?


    Nobody had much information on farming in their help menus. Probably because nobody had taken farming as a skill. Because, of course, why would you?


    But suddenly, farming was important. Kyle hadn¡¯t realized how valuable Lumen and Mia¡¯s hunting was. Without them, the smokehouse ran empty in a matter of days. A few other people in the town offered to step up and be hunters, Kyle included, but it was surprisingly hard to use a bow when you had to do more than move a mouse and click. Kyle¡¯s flame spheres were more reliable at short range, but they tended to just bounce off a target and send them running with a burn on their side. With food suddenly scarce and meals rationed, the town had turned to farming.


    And it quickly became clear that building a farm was probably one of the first things they were supposed to do.


    Kyle saw Dvorak leaving the gate and approaching an unworked part of the field with a hoe over his shoulder. Dvorak was hunched over, plodding along with an awkward Lagotherre gait instead of hopping like he usually did. Kyle waved as Dvorak approached.


    ¡°Well howdy, Kyle-the-Bland,¡± Dvorak said acridly. ¡°What a lovely time to be alive in the great city of Crystopia. Beautiful day, isn¡¯t it? Just like all the other beautiful days in this hellish place. Except for the ones that are rainy. Which are identical to all the other rainy days.¡±


    ¡°Dvorak? What¡¯s gotten into you?¡± Asked Kyle. Dvorak had been grumpy lately, but now he seemed positively irate. Kyle turned away from the wheat and moved to intercept Dvorak. Dvorak stopped, thrust the end of his hoe into the ground, and leaned on it with both hands.


    ¡°What¡¯s gotten into me? Hah! He asks what¡¯s gotten into me! Because of course, life is always fair in the prison city of Crystopia! Of course there should be no reason to be upset. Happiness is mandatory! Our supreme leader requires it!¡±


    ¡°Look, Dvorak. We¡¯re trapped too. This is just how it works, at least until Mia or Lumen or somebody wins this game.¡± Dvorak rolled his eyes, but seemed to be listening. ¡°There¡¯s nothing we can do. We just need to¡­ accept it. Just¡­ think of it like a forced vacation.¡± Kyle turned to look again at the wheat. There was a certain sense of peace in his powerlessness. Once he realized nothing he could do would get him back to his world any faster, life in the town was actually pretty relaxing. He watched as a gust of wind made ripples and waves in the Blackwheat, and turned to face Dvorak.


    He looked furious. Kyle wondered what he had said.


    ¡°A vacation? A VACATION? Tell me, Kyle-the-stupid, how would you define a vacation?¡±


    ¡°I, uh-¡±


    ¡°Would it involve rest? A break?¡±


    ¡°I mean, yeah, but-¡±


    ¡°Perhaps less work than normal? A chance to be ¡®off duty¡¯ for a while?¡±


    ¡°I mean, you don¡¯t have to hoe the fields, Dvorak. We could-¡±


    ¡°How about sixteen hour workdays? Sound like vacation to you?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but¡­ I mean no, it wouldn¡¯t, but-¡±


    ¡°Because I¡¯m pretty sure if you had to work for a full sixteen hours a day for a month, much less a year, you¡¯d have to have a vacation from your vacation!¡± Dvorak shouted, face twisted with rage.


    ¡°Dvorak,¡± Kyle said, taking a step back, ¡°You¡¯re not working sixteen hours a day. We wouldn¡¯t ask you to-¡±


    ¡°Kyle!¡± Dvorak snapped. ¡°Kyle, what the ¡ª- do I do for a living?¡±


    Kyle paused and thought for a moment. And it hit him.


    Dvorak streamed.


    Kyle felt his face soften into a look of concern, and Dvorak turned away.


    ¡°Sorry, kids,¡± Dvorak said to the empty air. ¡°You might want to switch channels for a moment if your parents are in the room, because I¡¯m no longer liable for what¡¯s coming out of my mouth. Oh wait! LAWL! There¡¯s a profanity filter. Nevermind, watch the bunny break down! It¡¯ll be a ¡ª¡ª- riot!¡±


    ¡°Dvorak, you don¡¯t know that people are watching you. We haven¡¯t had any contact with the outside world for-¡±


    ¡°Kyle, they brought me in because I was a streamer. Of course they¡¯re recording me. Why the ¡ª- else would they have me here? Everything¡¯s streamed.¡± He laughed bitterly. ¡°I can just see it now. This clip, right here, re-uploaded to Youtube. ¡®Dvorak finally snaps!¡¯ My face, surrounded by crying face emoji.¡± He sniffed and looked up at an angle. ¡°Hope you¡¯re enjoying the show! Remember to like, comment, and subscribe! Support me on Fundy for more exclusive content!¡± Dvorak flung his hoe to the side and started storming back to the town gate.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    ¡°Wait! Wait, Dvorak, where are you going?¡±


    ¡°I lost it,¡± Dvorak said. ¡°Just now. I lost it on camera. Once a goofy little bunny. Sometimes sarcastic. Always enthusiastic. Now I¡¯m mad. A mad little bunny. Went full-on rage-mode, live! Can¡¯t go back to the old role. Time for a major rebranding. Gotta get a new schtick. Maybe I can punch Jacob in his little Mexican face. That¡¯d be laugh, wouldn¡¯t it? Ooh! Ooh! I could set the city on fire! Bet that would get me a few subscribers!¡±


    ¡°Dvorak!¡± Kyle said, trying to get around in front of him and look him in the face. ¡°You¡¯re¡­ you¡¯re not serious, are you?¡±


    ¡°Why shouldn¡¯t I be? Here I am, stuck in a ¡ª-ing rabbit¡¯s body. Useless! I have no clue how this game works, because I can¡¯t stop to read the help menus. Can¡¯t even survive a combat with a few ¡ª¡ª- goblins! Comic relief! Always overshadowed by the other party members. Tagging along so that if they do anything cool, I get the views. I might as well be a camera. And now, Mia and Lumen are gone. Because of course they are. So my viewers are stuck watching paint dry ¨C excuse me, I mean wheat grow ¨C while I hoe a ¡ª¡ª- field.¡±


    Kyle got right in Dvorak¡¯s way. Dvorak put his arm on Kyle¡¯s leg to push him aside, but Dvorak was a rabbit and Kyle didn¡¯t want to be moved. ¡°Dvorak, not every moment has to be a winner. You¡¯ve done plenty of exciting things. The fire? Triggering that trap? Dying? Trekking back alone to Crystopia?¡±


    Dvorak looked up at Kyle with a despondent face. ¡°Yes, Kyle. They all have to be winners. Streamers make content. All the time. Content, content, content. And here, the only time I¡¯m not making content is when I¡¯m asleep. Every second recorded is a second that¡¯ll be watched. And you¡¯re not judged by your best content. You¡¯re judged by your worst content. People watch until they get bored. Then they watch somebody else. If you were good enough, maybe they¡¯ll look back later. But if you¡¯re too boring too often, they¡¯re gone. You lose them.¡±


    Kyle reached to put a hand on Dvorak¡¯s shoulder, and he swatted it away.


    ¡°Viewers are merciless, Kyle. Not you. I¡¯m not talking about you. I¡¯m talking about all the other viewers. I mean, you have subscribed, right? Hah, I¡¯m just kidding. But seriously, do subscribe so I can keep making this¡­ this awesome content for you all.¡±


    ¡°Dvorak. You need a break.¡±


    ¡°I need job security, Kyle. If this huge awesome E-sports tournament is the most boring thing I¡¯ve ever done, who¡¯ll watch me when I go back to playing random indie games?¡±


    ¡°Dvorak, knock it off. You¡¯re killing yourself here.¡± Kyle opened up his menu and opened to the ¡®skills¡¯ page.


    ¡°Well what am I supposed to do, Kyle? No. No breaks! What¡¯s it they say? ¡®A change is as good as a vacation?¡¯ I just need something else. Something drastic. Something-¡±


    Kyle abruptly reached out and grabbed Dvorak¡¯s shoulder, quicker than Dvorak could react. Dvorak started to try to pull away from Kyle, but his knees buckled and he fell to the ground, supporting himself with his arms.


    ¡°Kyle, what did you¡­ what did you do?¡±


    ¡°Sorry, folks,¡± Kyle said. ¡°Dvorak¡¯s going to be offline for a while. Come back later for more of your favorite fluffball.¡±


    Dvorak¡¯s elbows gave out, and he fell face-first into the dirt, fast asleep.


    Kyle picked up Dvorak, threw him over his shoulder, and started walking towards the town gate.


    As it turned out, the ¡°touch¡± delivery rune fit together quite well with the ¡°sleep¡± effect rune. So much so that you could scale the ¡°power¡± rune to nearly max size.


    * * *


    Kyle sat on Dvorak¡¯s doorstep, looking over the available runes in his spell menu.


    He could unlock new runes by spending research points on them. He could see the way they looked in the ¡®learn a rune¡¯ menu, but didn¡¯t know what they would do until he spent the research points. He and the other adept were splitting them up. Today Kyle bought some rune that looked like an S and an L smashed together for a sum of 150 RP. It turned out to be some vector math operation he had no idea how to use. The other guy bought a greek Psi with a little hat on it. It turned out to be water breathing. Some guys got all the luck.


    He heard a bang on the door behind him. ¡°Kyle! Kyle, I know you¡¯re out there! What did you do to me and what the hell is wrong with my door!¡±


    ¡°Simple sleep spell,¡± said Kyle, closing his menus. ¡°I¡¯m surprised it was so effective. You¡¯ve been out for like three hours. Looks like sleep¡¯s OP. And Jacob put a wall in front of your door. You¡¯re not coming out until tomorrow mid-morning.¡±


    ¡°Kyle! You let me out this instant!¡±


    ¡°Nope. Sorry.¡± Kyle said. ¡°You¡¯re on a schedule now. You stream eight hours a day. No more.¡±


    ¡°Kyle, weren¡¯t you listening? I¡¯m streaming right now. I¡¯m always streaming. And if I¡¯m trapped in a room, It¡¯ll be boring. I¡¯m sick of monologuing to myself. Please, Kyle! Have a heart!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re not streaming. Look to your right.¡± Kyle hopped up off the doorstep and ran around to the side of the house to peek through the newly-barred window. He wanted to see Dvorak¡¯s reaction.


    Inside, Dvorak was silently regarding a large sign that said:


    <table style="background-color: #885533" width="400">


    <tbody>


    <tr bgcolor="#FFCCAA">


    <td style="text-align: center; color: #000000">Dvorak is offline, and will return tomorrow at 10:00.


    He will be doing nothing interesting until then.


    While you wait, consider supporting him on that one


    crowdfunding platform he uses, to get more exclusive content!</td>


    </tr>


    </tbody>


    </table>


    After a long while, Dvorak asked ¡°Kyle, what is this? What is this, bud?¡± There was sort of a subdued mirth to his voice. ¡°What¡¯re you doing to me here?¡±


    ¡°House arrest,¡± Kyle said. Dvorak turned to look at him through the window. ¡°You can¡¯t do anything interesting right now. Don¡¯t even try. Fall asleep. Think your own thoughts. Read help menus. Relax. If your audience knows you¡¯re not making content, they won¡¯t watch. You¡¯re off the clock.¡±


    ¡°Just for one day, though, right? Please? And I can go back to streaming tomorrow?¡± Dvorak asked. His pleas sounded hollow and insincere.


    ¡°No. All the days. I talked with Mason. 6:00, every day, we¡¯re going to track you down and take you back here, kicking and screaming if need be.¡±


    ¡°But how can I help the city if I¡¯m locked up in here?¡±


    One by one, Kyle fed nearly a dozen books through the window bars and let them fall unceremoniously to the ground.


    ¡°Make some matches if you feel like helping. It¡¯s about the most boring thing I can think of. Do it silently. Nobody¡¯ll watch that crap.¡±


    Dvorak chuckled and shook his head.


    ¡°I gotta go, Dvorak. I can¡¯t talk to you for too long. Can¡¯t have you accidentally making content, after all. Have a good afternoon. Your dinner¡¯s in the chest next to your Alembic table.¡±


    ¡°Thanks Kyle,¡± Dvorak said.


    Kyle turned to leave.


    ¡°Oh, and Kyle?¡± Dvorak said. Kyle paused, but didn¡¯t turn to face him. ¡°The crowdfunding site? It¡¯s called ¡®Fundy¡¯.¡±


    ¡°I literally could not care less,¡± Kyle said.


    ¡°I¡¯m glad,¡± Dvorak replied.


    Kyle walked off towards the town gate to go do Dvorak¡¯s hoeing for him.

 Chapter 33: In which they Seek Holy Places

    Kyle looked over the list of items one final time before stowing it in his inventory.


    It¡¯s amazing how much Kyle missed the little things when trapped in a virtual world. Like paper and pencil.


    As Kyle discovered the world, he had taken notes by drafting private messages to people and intentionally never sending them; just updating the drafts as he took more notes. Each recipient represented a different category of notes.


    But now that they had a paper mill, they had the luxury of actually writing things in physical space. The packing list Kyle had written was the first thing he made with actual paper and a long stick of charcoal. He embellished it with little swoops and elaborate bullets, just to prove he was free of the old restrictions of his in-game keyboard.


    And making lists wasn¡¯t the only use for paper. They originally built the paper mill so Kyle could write spell scrolls to teach his spells to other adepts. But there were other uses nobody had expected¡­


    ¡°Before we go,¡± Kyle asked the group, ¡°Does anybody have any questions about their maps?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± asked Aubrey. ¡°When I switch it to ¡®interior view¡¯ mode, how come the minimap shows the inside of your house, but not mine?¡±


    ¡°The map you¡¯ve got is a copy of my mini-map, in the state it was when I made the map item,¡± Kyle said. ¡°I¡¯ve never been in your house, so its interior won¡¯t display.¡±


    ¡°I was in my house this morning,¡± said Tobungus, Aubrey¡¯s self-proclaimed bodyguard. ¡°And it¡¯s still not showing up,¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m afraid nobody can add to their minimap unless they have the cartography skill,¡± Kyle said. Looking at the Jakarna made Kyle sort of wistful. He missed Lumen. He¡¯d be useful in an expedition like this. He wished he could give Mia and Lumen minimaps too.


    Then again, they might not need them. They might be half a continent away. What use would Kyle¡¯s maps be then?


    ¡°Can we update them?¡± asked Dvorak. ¡°Like, if we hand them to you?¡±


    ¡°Nope. Sorry,¡± Kyle said. ¡°Anything currently in view would get added, but to fully copy my map, I¡¯d need to make a new one. I brought a lot of paper with me, so I could do it in a dungeon or something if we need to.¡± Dvorak was back to his chipper self. Having ¡°off time¡± seemed to do him a world of good. Kyle wished he could talk to Dvorak as a person instead of as a streamer. It wasn¡¯t fair that he was under constant scrutiny.


    At least, they all assumed he was under scrutiny. They still didn¡¯t have any evidence of that besides Dvorak¡¯s suspicions. Maybe nobody was watching Dvorak.


    Or maybe thousands of people were watching Kyle, as well.


    ¡°So why did we need the paper mill for this?¡± Tobungus asked. ¡°Didn¡¯t we already have paper? In the Library?¡±


    ¡°The books came with the library for some reason; we didn¡¯t craft those,¡± Kyle said. ¡°I guess the designers didn¡¯t want to gate spell creation behind a paper mill. Is that it? Any other questions?¡± Nobody else piped up, so Kyle assumed the other four people were fine. Then again, if poor little Avina had a question, she might not have the courage to ask it.


    ¡°Okay. I¡¯ve got about eight spots we can check. Hopefully one of the places will have a ¡®holy site¡¯ in it. Let¡¯s get you guys some spells, okay?¡±


    The acolytes in the group all nodded, some more enthusiastically than others. Kyle had determined that if they were to be an NPC town, they¡¯d need healers to take care of any people who came into town wounded or with some negative status condition. That meant getting their acolytes some spells. Kyle had rounded up all the Acolytes in town to lead an expedition to find one of those sites Aubrey had mentioned. Besides Aubrey¡¯s Jakarna bodyguard, Kyle was the only non-acolyte in the group.


    Dvorak started an audience-facing monologue questioning what god he wanted to be an acolyte of. (Spaghetti Monster? RNJesus? The designers?) Kyle still had a hard time believing that Dvorak was an acolyte. Dvorak refused to tell anybody his class right up until Kyle started gathering the group. Dvorak claimed he intended to pick adept but ¡°his finger slipped¡±. Kyle suspected Dvorak did it intentionally because he wanted to heal himself when wounded. It¡¯d be hard to keep up a bouncy, chipper face given how pain worked in this game.


    Either that or Dvorak was lying about being an acolyte so he¡¯d have an excuse to go on this expedition.


    Kyle was tempted to check his list one last time, but resisted pulling it back out again. Everything was in order. He had a whole week of food. (Meat stew, amusingly. It wouldn¡¯t spill in his digital inventory, and even stayed warm) He had a bunch of wood to build emergency walls. His axe, a metal pick, and a metal-tipped spear. His leather armor and iron-banded buckler, all at max durability. A few coils of cordweed rope. A wooden bucket. (Jacob insisted. Kyle relented.) A small pile of blank paper. Several full waterskins. A couple torches, already lit. Everything he could think of. He suspected the others were similarly equipped. And he wasn¡¯t even close to his encumbrance limit.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    Kyle nodded. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s head out. The first stop is going to be the white blob you see to the south-east. It can¡¯t be natural. I think it might be a building; I¡¯m not sure, I¡¯ve never been close enough to see it. Lumen took me hunting near there once, but he didn¡¯t have a minimap, so I don¡¯t think he realized it was there.¡±


    ¡°Onward!¡± Dvorak shouted, spinning and hopping. ¡°We¡¯ve got a whole party of clerics! Nothing can possibly kill us!¡±


    ¡°We can¡¯t heal yet, Dvorak,¡± Aubrey said.


    ¡°Well obviously. But that¡¯s got to be the first spell they give us. Right? It¡¯s got to be, right?¡± Dvorak¡¯s face suddenly lit up. ¡°Oh! Oh, a group of priests going to a ¡®holy site!¡¯ We¡¯re on a pilgrimage! That makes us pilgrims, right? Do I get one of those hats with the buckles on it? I wonder if it would fit over my ears?¡±


    Kyle smiled. A week or two ago, Dvorak¡¯s prattle would have been annoying. But now, Kyle felt much kinder towards the little Lagotherre. By this point, Dvorak probably hated his prattle as much as Kyle did. ¡°You¡¯re not the one who needs something over your ears, Dvorak. We¡¯re the ones who have to listen to you.¡± Kyle grinned.


    ¡°Of course! My apologies! Kyle-the-bland prefers stoic silence. Tell you what; you stand at the front, and I¡¯ll stand at the back. Far enough away you can¡¯t hear me. Unless I scream; I¡¯ll stay close enough to scream at you. But only if a monster attacks, I promise.¡±


    ¡°Its okay, Dvorak. I¡¯m just giving you a hard time.¡±


    ¡°What? Kyle teasing? Guys, on guard! This doppelganger¡¯s about to lead us into a trap!¡±


    Kyle rolled his eyes. ¡°We go straight out the gate, past the fields and towards the south. After about three hours on the trail, we take a hard right and cross the river.¡±


    ¡°I know,¡± said Tobungus, smiling. ¡°I¡¯ve got a map.¡±


    * * *


    The journey was uneventful. Dvorak and Aubrey passed the time with a Kreyfa shooting competition. Most people in the town were practicing archery, and this seemed as good a time as any. Neither were nearly as good as Lumen, but they were getting better.


    ¡°Hey,¡± said Aubrey, after Dvorak scored an impressive hit, ¡°Why did that one run straight into your arrow? It could have dodged the other way.¡±


    ¡°Kreyfas are dumb that way,¡± Dvorak said. ¡°A little bird once told me that. Only he was actually a tiger.¡±


    Kyle led the people off the trail and across the river at a part that seemed thinner. He led them in a windy, indirect path; using his minimap so consistently taught him to interpret the shading on the map. Kyle led them through thinner patches of woods and around steep hills to make the travel as easy as possible.


    As they approached the white blob on the minimap, the people in Kyle¡¯s group stopped suddenly.


    ¡°I guess that¡¯s where we¡¯re headed,¡± said Aubrey, pointing to the sky.


    ¡°Wait, where?¡± said Kyle, looking in the direction Aubrey pointed. ¡°What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°That pillar of white light?¡± Aubrey said, pointing a little more emphatically.


    ¡°It¡¯s kind of hard to miss,¡± said Dvorak. Avina nodded in agreement, looking in the same direction.


    Tobungus shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t see anything. I guess it appears for some people and not others?¡±


    ¡°Must be an Acolyte thing,¡± Kyle said.


    ¡°That means it¡¯s probably a holy site!¡± said Dvorak excitedly. ¡°Whoo! Finally, we get spells! Watch out Kyle-the-caster, you¡¯re about to get some competition!¡±


    Kyle looked in the same direction the acolytes were, regarding the empty sky thoughtfully. ¡°I guess that¡¯s how you¡¯re supposed to find it. The pillar must appear to Acolytes if they get close. You could find them by wandering around, if you wander often enough.¡±


    ¡°Hah!¡± guffawed Dvorak. ¡°I have a special sixth sense, shared only by a quarter of the population. And they said Acolyte was a bad choice!¡±


    ¡°Who said?¡± asked Aubrey.


    ¡°Well, I mean¡­¡± Dvorak scratched the back of his head. ¡°I¡¯m just assuming the viewers are biased against healery types¡­¡±


    ¡°Come on,¡± said Kyle, looking at his map. ¡°It¡¯s not far now.¡±


    * * *


    ¡°There!¡± explained Aubrey. ¡°I see it!¡± She pointed through the trees.


    Kyle rushed forward a bit to get a clearer view. Just in sight, mostly obscured by the thick woods, was a tall spire made of white marbled stone in a clearing. As they got closer, Kyle could make out another two of the spires. As they broke through the edge of the trees, Kyle could see the structure fully.


    The three spires were arranged as corners of a triangle. The space between them was floored with the same marbled stone, forming a platform nearly forty feet to a side, raised a foot or so out of the ground. At the center of the platform stood a small dias with an orb on top.


    ¡°That¡¯s the thing the pillar of light¡¯s centered on,¡± said Aubrey, pointing to the orb. ¡°That¡¯s got to be it. We¡¯ve found a holy site.¡±


    ¡°Honestly, it looks like a trap,¡± said Kyle. ¡°My gamer instincts are screaming ¡®boss battle¡¯. This place looks like an arena.¡±


    ¡°Maybe,¡± said Tobungus. ¡°But we¡¯re in a huge group here. We should be fine, right?¡±


    ¡°Ooh! Ooh! And I have potions!¡± Dvorak shouted, opening his inventory. He removed a bunch of clay flasks from his inventory.


    ¡°What do they do?¡± asked Tobungus, taking one.


    ¡°It¡¯s a regeneration potion. Kind of. It heals five percent of your HP per minute. For¡­ forty seconds.¡±


    ¡°Wait, what?¡± said Tobungus, looking skeptically at the flask.


    ¡°Look, it¡¯s the best I can do, okay? I¡¯m working with limited resources here.¡±


    ¡°Form parties,¡± Kyle said. ¡°I know parties only go up to five people, but It¡¯ll be useful to have three or four people who can see your health bar.¡±


    They all started navigating menus. Kyle ended up with Avina, Dvorak, and a man who had selected the name ¡°Raphael Brightmace.¡± He was one of the people Aubrey rescued from the pods on the far side of Crystopia. When he got to the crystal, he became a heavy roleplayer. It struck Kyle as unhealthy, but maybe forming a new identity was Raphael¡¯s way of coping with the trauma of being killed twice. If so, who was Kyle to judge?


    ¡°Who¡¯s going first?¡± asked Tobungus warily.


    After a brief pause, Dvorak raised his hand, jumping up and down. ¡°I¡¯ll go! I¡¯ll go! Pick me!¡±


    Kyle looked at the rest of the group, and saw a few nods. Kyle nodded as well, and Dvorak whooped and hopped onto the platform.


    ¡°Here we go!¡± he babbled. ¡°We¡¯re going to get a spell! Look at the orb. So shiny! I wonder if I just touch it. Or do I get to take it with me? Maybe the dias just makes orbs, so everybody can have one¡­¡±


    As Dvorak approached, the orb started glowing with a light green light. It lifted up from the dias, and rose slowly into the air. Dvorak stopped suddenly. ¡°That¡¯s strange. Is that a bad sign? I think that¡¯s a bad sign.¡± He started taking a few steps back as the light grew in intensity. ¡°Maybe¡­ Maybe this wasn¡¯t such a good idea. I¡¯ve already done the ¡®dying¡¯ thing. No need to do it again. I could have-¡±


    There was a bright flash of light, and Kyle shaded his eyes. When he lowered his hand, the orb was gone, and in its place, an angel floated majestically in the air.

 Chapter 34: In which the Difficulty Scales

    There was no other good word for the being; it was obviously meant to be an angel. Bright white robes buckled with golden straps covered most of its sky-blue skin. A pair of wings, fully unfurled, hung motionlessly as the angel slowly bobbed in place. It¡¯s eyes were golden, pupilless orbs. In its hands, it held a large sword, tip pointed straight downward.


    Dvorak was on the ground with his hand raised wardingly in front of him. Kyle took an unconscious step back. The angel¡¯s sword held a clear message: they were going to have to fight this thing.


    ¡°Dvorak!¡± the angel bellowed, pronouncing it the Czechoslovakian way instead of the butchered anglicised way that Dvorak did. ¡°For what purpose hast thou come seeking my power?¡±


    ¡°Oh, well, uh¡­¡± Dvorak stammered, getting to his feet. ¡°I was just¡­ was just curious, see? No harm meant. I¡¯ll just, uh¡­¡± he trailed off and began creeping away.


    ¡°Avina! Step forward!¡± the angel roared, causing Dvorak to freeze up. Avina, shaking visibly, stepped onto the triangular platform. ¡°For what purpose hast thou come seeking my power?¡±


    Avina trembled, but held her position. ¡°I¡­ I was hoping that having spells would keep me safe. Is that¡­ okay?¡±


    ¡°Raphael!¡± the angel said. ¡°Step forward!¡±


    Eyes high, chest out, and breastplate gleaming, Raphael strode onto the white platform. ¡°Yes, holy one?¡±


    ¡°For what purpose hast thou come seeking my power?¡±


    ¡°To right that which is wrong!¡± Raphael declared. ¡°To shine light to darkness! To bring truth to lies. That is why I have come seeking thy power!¡±


    Tobugus hollered and clapped. Dvorak shook his head. ¡°Damn,¡± he said. ¡°Good showmanship. Wish I¡®d have thought of something like that.¡±


    ¡°Kyle!¡± the angel shouted. ¡°Dost thou stand with these acolytes?¡±


    Kyle had started readying a response to the ¡°power¡± question, and was taken by surprise. He realized there was an unspoken subtext to the question. ¡°This is not your fight. You don¡¯t need to do this. The acolytes are fighting for their spells; you can stay out of it.¡±


    Kyle looked at Dvorak¡¯s pleading face. He looked at Avina¡¯s trembling frame. He looked at Raphael, who was smiling at him, eyes daring him to make the right decision. The pompous bastard.


    Kyle sighed. ¡°Yes,¡± he said. ¡°Whatever they have to fight, I¡¯ll fight too.¡±


    ¡°Then step forward with your companions!¡± The angel boomed. Kyle eyed the sword, and wondered if he should have thought a little more before reflexively doing the ¡°right thing¡±. He stepped onto the platform anyway.


    ¡°Very well,¡± the angel said. ¡°Ye who seek curiosity, safety, and heroism. I require of thee a test. Wilt thou prove thy bravery by combat?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s always combat, though. Aren¡¯t there other options?¡± Dvorak asked, ¡°Because I think a short interview might suffice. Or even a long interview. I¡¯m down with whatever, actually.¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± said Raphael, dropping into a combat stance. ¡°We will! Come at me, and taste my heart and my steel!¡±


    The angel flapped its wings once, lifting it several feet higher into the air, then swooped towards the group. A spear formed in Raphael¡¯s hand as he charged to meet it. The angel veered to avoid impaling itself on the polearm, but the spear ripped through its wings, and the angel fell and rolled on the floor.


    Kyle wondered how much damage that dealt. He mentally kicked himself for not having the foresight to Examine the angel before combat began. He pulled up his menu and pressed the appropriate buttons. The bar started filling up as the angel rose to its feet. Kyle opened the menu again, hovered his finger over a spell, and readied himself to fire it off.


    Kyle heard Dvorak wail off to his left, and glanced over. Dvorak was pawing at a shimmering yellow barrier that materialized in front of him at the edge of the marble platform. Though Kyle couldn¡¯t see it, he was sure the barrier encompassed the whole platform; it would probably become visible only if somebody neared it.


    Kyle glanced back at the angel, and cursed. The bar had disappeared because he had averted his gaze while it was filling. He hit examine again as he watched Raphael fight the angel.


    The angel was nearly nine feet tall, so his massive sword had a roughly even reach with Raphael¡¯s long spear. The two combatants circled each other; the angel wouldn¡¯t charge a foe holding a spear, and Raphael didn¡¯t seem to be willing to make the first move. Finally, the angel swung his sword at the spear itself, knocking it aside. Raphael barely held onto it, gripping it in one hand. The angel stepped forward to press the attack. Raphael blocked the angel¡¯s sword swings with a small shield strapped to his left arm, but with his arm and concentration devoted to blocking the attacks, Raphael couldn¡¯t ready his spear again.


    Raphael might be brave, but he was no gamejacker.


    The bar in Kyle¡¯s vision finished filling up. The angel¡¯s information popped up, along with its health bar, which was still nearly full. Kyle hardly glanced at the information and instead turned his attention to his skills menu. He summoned a ball of flame and then opened his skills menu again, leaving a finger hovered over one of the buttons.


    ¡°Hey ugly!¡± Kyle shouted to the statuesque being, ¡°Over here!¡± He threw the ball of fire, which bounced off the angel¡¯s back, dealing pitifully little damage.


    It got the angel¡¯s attention, though. It turned around and ran at Kyle. Just as the angel closed with Kyle and began swinging its sword, Kyle tapped the button in his skills menu to cast his newest spell.


    With a roar, a gout of flames appeared around Kyle, filling a roughly circular area that stretched out several yards. Kyle stood unharmed, immune to his own fire. The angel, on the other hand, halted its swing and growled in pain. When the fire vanished, a thick cloud of cinders remained, hissing slightly. Kyle was pleased; the ¡°mist¡± delivery rune interacted with the ¡°fire¡± rune as he suspected it would.


    The angel flapped its damaged wings, propelling itself backwards and blowing some of the cinders away from itself.


    Then, it turned towards Avina.


    ¡°No! No, you stupid mob!¡± Kyle said as the angel charged towards the girl. ¡°Stay here in the AoE like you¡¯re supposed to!¡± Kyle ran forwards a few steps, but the cloud of cinders didn¡¯t follow him. Kyle stood at the edge of the cloud, trying to decide if he should move further. He glanced up at the mana bar he put up there earlier. That flame spell took nearly half of his mana. The initial blast took a respectable chunk of HP from the angel, but nowhere near enough to be worth nearly depleting his mana entirely. While Kyle could fuel the spell using HP instead of mana, that seemed¡­ unwise. And painful. The flame mist seemed to be meant for area denial, not offense.Stolen novel; please report.


    Avina evidently thought the same thing. After narrowly dodging the angel¡¯s swing, she started running towards Kyle¡¯s fire cloud.


    ¡°No!¡± Kyle shouted. ¡°It¡¯ll burn you! Only I¡¯m immune to it!¡±


    Avina¡¯s eyes went wide, and she nodded, changing direction to veer around the cloud, angel closely in pursuit.


    Kyle heard a clicking sound near his feet and looked down. A small rock rolled to a stop next to his foot. He turned to look behind him.


    Aubrey was near the side of the platform, grinning. ¡°Looks like the barrier only goes in one direction,¡± she said, tapping buttons in her menu. A bow appeared in her hands, and a quiver on her back. ¡°Let¡¯s cheese it,¡± she said, nocking an arrow.


    As Avina ran, Raphael barrelled in from the side, crashing into the angel with his shoulder, knocking it over. The angel climbed back onto his feet, and was hit by an arrow in the side from Aubrey.


    Then the angel¡¯s sword lit on fire.


    ¡°Um, Aubrey?¡± Kyle said and the angel squared off with Raphael again. ¡°Aubrey, is this¡­¡±


    Aubrey fired another arrow, and Kyle cringed as it hit the angel in the shoulder. Luckily, nothing more seemed to happen. But then an arrow from Tobungus ricocheted off the angel¡¯s breastplate. A helm grew to cover the angel¡¯s head and face, and a pair of thick armored bracers unfolded to cover its arms.


    Kyle looked back to see the other acolytes drawing their bows. ¡°Guys, stop! Stop! Its difficulty is scaling to the number of players! Don¡¯t shoot!¡±


    They paused, processing Kyle¡¯s warning. Then, Tobungus shook his head in frustration. ¡°Fine. Looks like we¡¯re in on this too, then.¡± He stowed his bow, pulled out his axe, and leapt into the arena on his powerful Jakarna legs.


    The angel, now faster than before, laid into Raphael with swift, powerful strikes. Raphael backed up under the assault, his spear knocked aside once more, his shield taking blows hard enough to knock him off balance. The flaming sword scored a shallow cut on Raphael¡¯s shield arm, and he cried out, dropped his spear, and fled to the far corner of the arena. Guess role-playing could only get him so far, Kyle thought grimly. The angel let Raphael flee, looking around warily.


    Tobunbus and Dvorak slowly circled the angel, neither willing to commit to an attack. Avina cowered in a corner. Aubrey, still outside the arena, fired another arrow at the angel, which struck its helmet and bounced off, taking a negligible amount of the angel¡¯s HP.


    The angel turned to Aubrey and raised an arm. Thin green lines started spiraling around it. Though you couldn¡¯t see air itself, Kyle recognized that effect as the bog-standard RPG signal for wind magic.


    And with a whoosh, Aurey was thrown by unseen forces into the arena. She landed on her hands and knees, the yellow barrier shimmering behind her.


    ¡°Figures,¡± Aubrey said as she looked up at the angel charging her.


    ¡°No!¡± Tobunbus cried, following the angel¡¯s charge. His long Jakarna legs let him catch up to the angel ¨C barely ¨C and he swung his axe at the angel¡¯s back in an overhand chop. The angel¡¯s charge didn¡¯t stop, but the blow threw off the angel¡¯s aim enough for Aubrey to roll out of the way and climb to her feet. The angel whirled around, flaming sword out, and hit Tobungus square in the chest. Tobungus¡¯ metal chestplate bent under the force of the blow, and he was thrown several feet back. The angel followed up, and Tobungus, on the ground, frantically hit invisible buttons, pulling out a window-sized wooden tower shield just in time to stop another blow. Flames danced on the shield where the sword struck, and the wood blackened.


    They needed something. Something to give them an edge. They weren¡¯t gamejackers. They couldn¡¯t fight this thing though sheer skill. Kyle, in a panic, thought hard about what they could do. What tools did they have? Shields? Spears? Spells?


    Invisible barriers?


    ¡°Toby!¡± Kyle shouted. ¡°Kite him to the far corner!¡± Shield still out, Tobungus scrambled to his feet. ¡°Bows guys! Take out bows!¡± Without checking to see if anybody followed his instructions, Kyle dashed towards the angel, following it and Tobungus as they moved towards the corner.


    ¡°What¡¯s your plan? Because it sounds like you¡¯ve got a plan,¡± Tobungus said.


    Kyle didn¡¯t distract himself by responding. He opened his skills menu. ¡°All the way against the corner!¡± he shouted, still running towards them. ¡°Put your back against the barrier!¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t like this plan! This sounds like a really bad plan!¡± Tobungus said. Kyle was relieved to see he did it anyway. The yellow barriers sprung into visibility, and Tobungus crouched in the corner with his shield at an upward angle. Being crammed in the corner of the triangular arena meant he could completely cover himself with the shield. But it also meant the angel had him trapped. It threw blow after blow against the shield. The wood started started to crack, and its metal framing bent.


    Kyle stopped. He carefully moved forward another three steps, reconsidered, then took one step back. He took a deep breath.


    Praying he¡¯d estimated the distance correctly, he activated his flame mist spell.


    Once again, a torrent of flames filled the air. The fires spilled out of the arena on both sides of the corner, unaffected by the barriers, blackening the grass on either side. They spread out to encompass the angel. Tobungus¡¯ shield caught fire and he dropped it, standing and pushing himself as far into the corner as he could. The flames were inches from his face.


    But they didn¡¯t quite reach him.


    The angel tried to press itself into the corner too, but there was simply no room left.


    As the flames abated and thick, scorching cinders took their place, Kyle barked out a short laugh. ¡°We can¡¯t leave the arena,¡± he gloated at the NPC. ¡°Can you?¡±


    It seemed the angel couldn¡¯t. Its HP bar was rapidly depleting as it stood in the fiery mist, frantically looking around. It squinted against the pain.


    Kyle flinched as an arrow whizzed by his head, narrowly missing the angel as well. He went to one knee to get out of the way, and turned to see Dvorak, Aubrey, Raphael, and even little Avina all firing their bows with varying degrees of competency. Kyle looked back at the angel. Each arrow that managed to hit claimed another little sliver of HP. The angel¡¯s bar turned red; it was down to less than a quarter HP.


    Unable to back away from Kyle, the angel did what, in retrospect, was the only logical thing to do.


    It charged towards Kyle.


    ¡°Aw, crap,¡± Kyle said as the angel launched itself at him.


    Without time to pull out a shield, and lacking faith in his own ability to dodge, he threw his hands over his head, crouched, and cowered. The angel¡¯s blow hit him where his arms covered the side of his head, and the impact slammed Kyle¡¯s face into the ground. Kyle felt searing pain across his arms and face. He waited for the next blow. He was going to die. He just knew it.


    The blow never came.


    Kyle looked up and behind him. The angel had left the fiery cloud to assault the archers instead. The orderly line of archers had scattered, leaving bows and spears on the ground where they once stood. The angel threatened multiple people at once with wide, sweeping strikes. Aubrey got caught by a sword swing, and fell to the ground still. The poor woman.


    Trying to ignore the pain, Kyle pulled a bow from his inventory even though he knew his aim was terrible. Dvorak and Raphael rushed the angel simultaneously. The angel only had time to respond to one of them, and swatted Dvorak away. As Dvorak bounced off the invisible arena wall, Raphael¡¯s spear grazed the angel¡¯s side. The angel¡¯s HP bar was now down to a sliver. Had that blow been more solid, they might have won.


    Instead, the angel knocked Raphael¡¯s spear aside a third time, then stepped towards Raphael, inside the spear¡¯s reach.


    Kyle was panicked. They needed just a little more damage! Kyle fired an arrow, but it went wide. Dvorak was groaning on the ground helplessly. Raphael was awkwardly trying to fight with the butt of his spear. Kyle¡¯s spell was still active, trapping Tobungus in the corner. Avina was near the fiery cloud, trying not to be noticed, her bow and spear somewhere in the middle of the arena. Kyle was out of mana. Their group was scattered. Each was out of the fight. There was no damage to be had.


    Or was there?


    ¡°Guys!¡± he shouted to the remaining acolytes outside the arena. ¡°Shoot him! Shoot him!¡±


    The acolytes raised their bows and fired at the angel. One arrow struck the angel in the leg, and another hit the side of the angel¡¯s face.


    The angel grew another pair of wings. A flaming halo appeared over its head.


    And then, health depleted, the angel exploded into hundreds of motes of soft, yellow light.


    Avina stood. Raphael set his spear again and looked around warily.


    ¡°Did¡­ did we win?¡± Dvorak asked, getting to his feet.


    ¡°Well done,¡± the angel¡¯s voice echoed through the clearing. ¡°Your bravery has truly made you worthy of my power.¡±


    The motes of glowing light drifted towards Dvorak, Avina, and Raphael. The acolytes seemed to absorb the light, and started glowing slightly. As the glow faded, they started excitedly looking through their menus.


    ¡°Yes!¡± Dvorak cried. ¡°Spells! Finally!¡±


    Kyle fell to his knees, panting, surrounded by his circle of embers.

 Chapter 35: In which Kyle finds Even More Fire

    ¡°Wait-what? What is this?¡± Dvorak demanded. ¡°I got ¡®Identify¡¯ and ¡®Truth¡¯? Is that it? Is that all?¡±


    ¡°No.¡± Raphael shook his head. ¡°I got ¡®Heroism¡¯ and ¡®Smite¡¯.¡±


    Avina shook her head. ¡°¡®Shield of Faith¡¯ and ¡®Holy Armor¡¯¡±


    ¡°Oh. Oh, I get it. Very funny.¡± Dvorak threw up his hands. ¡°Avina said she wanted protection, so she gets defensive buffs. Raphael here acted like the consummate paladin, so he gets spells of holy smackdown. And me? I said I was curious. Serves me right.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ that¡¯s rough luck, Dvorak,¡± said Kyle. What a let-down after such a climactic encounter.


    ¡°Well no. It¡¯s a great learning experience,¡± grumbled Dvorak. ¡°Next time an angel gives me one wish, I¡¯m gonna say ¡®I want to win the game.¡¯ I¡¯ll get the ¡®beat the game¡¯ spell, right? Bam. All our problems solved.¡±


    ¡°Did any of you guys get spells?¡± Kyle asked. The other acolytes in the group shook their heads. ¡°Huh. Too bad. It must have only given spells to the original party that triggered the orb.¡±


    ¡°Think we could get spells too while we¡¯re here?¡± asked one, drawing another arrow. ¡°The orb¡¯s still there on the dias.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± said Kyle, a little too forcefully. ¡°It¡¯s not worth it. My mana¡¯s gone, we¡¯re down a member, and most of us are hurt. We¡¯ll find some way to cheese the fight later. Maybe get an acolyte to be in a two-man party with our best fighter. Maybe have Avina and Raphael dump their buffs on whoever goes in. Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll do this first thing tomorrow.¡±


    Grumbling, the man relented.


    They carried Aubrey¡¯s corpse about five minutes into the woods in a direction that didn¡¯t have anything interesting, then hid the corpse under a pile of brush. Kyle put a marker in his minimap in case they needed to come back later to retrieve any items that didn¡¯t respawn with her.


    On the way back, Kyle drank a few of Dvorak¡¯s crappy healing potions. They took the edge off the pain, but he could only drink three before getting a ¡°stage one potion poisoning¡± status effect. Unsure of what that effect did, Kyle decided he¡¯d better stop.


    The trip back was uneventful, though the first half was slower than normal because the Acolytes with new spells kept trying to read while walking.


    ¡°This ¡®identify¡¯ thing might not be half bad,¡± Dvorak said. ¡°Seems like while it¡¯s active, it can stand in for any skill that gives information. Like, it can act as Monster Lore, Trapsmithing, Enchanting-¡±


    ¡°Wait, what?¡± Tobungus asked. ¡°It lets you enchant items?¡±


    ¡°No, no, it just gives me the same information I¡¯d get if I were a high level enchanter Examining the item. All it does is let me see things.¡± Dvorak smiled. ¡°Take that, Kyle! Now I¡¯ll be the master of useless trivia.¡± Dvorak tapped his menus, pulled out a wilted flower, and stared at it intently for a moment. ¡°This flower,¡± he began, ¡°is known as the Grange Daisy, and is uncommonly found on forests in the eastern continent. It¡¯s four days away from expiring, has 37 quality, and¡­¡± he stopped walking abruptly. ¡°¡­ and it¡¯s used in potions of fortitude.¡±


    ¡°Huh. Interesting,¡± Kyle said despite his lack of interest.


    ¡°Guys!¡± Dvorak said, more animated than normal. ¡°Guys, this changes everything. This spell gives me the identification skills of a grandmaster herbalist! I can make potions now! Useful ones! Not the crap I¡¯ve been making!¡±


    Over the course of the next mile, Dvorak drained his meager mana casting identify on every flower and herb he happened to be carrying.


    * * *


    As they approached the city, Kyle saw smoke on the horizon.


    ¡°Oh, crap,¡± he said, dread mounting. ¡°Not again¡­¡±


    He jogged the last quarter mile. When he broke the treeline, he saw the smoking, smouldering remains of what used to be a field of blackwheat.


    ¡°Saboteurs!¡± Dvorak said. He retrieved his axe and shield. ¡°I¡¯mma identify them so hard!¡±


    ¡°Worse,¡± said Kyle. He pointed at the town. ¡°Smoke¡¯s coming from inside the walls. Somebody¡¯s set fire to the town again.¡±


    ¡°Again?¡± asked Tobungus. ¡°This doesn¡¯t happen too often, does it?¡±


    ¡°Once is ¡®too often¡¯, let alone twice.¡± Kyle pulled out his axe. ¡°God, I wish I had some mana.¡±


    ¡°Here,¡± Dvorak said, pushing a clay flask into Kyle¡¯s hand. ¡°A crappy mana potion. 1% per minute for twenty minutes. Take care, those are expensive.¡±


    Kyle took the potion and drank it immediately. Might as well, given how slowly it worked. It tasted like weak unsweetened tea. He eyed his status, and saw his ¡°potion poisoning¡± remain at stage 1. Whatever that meant.


    ¡°What happened to our militia?¡± asked Raphael. ¡°Mason should have been in charge of them while Aubrey was out.¡±


    ¡°I hope he¡¯s okay,¡± said Tobungus.


    He wasn¡¯t. Kyle found him lying dead on the road just inside the gate, with a dozen other corpses. It seemed like they took a stand at the gate, and were slain.


    Behind them, the town burnt. Nearly all the wooden tier one buildings were on fire, as well as the wooden components of some of the stone tier two buildings. The apothecary in particular looked surprisingly bad. The library was untouched. It was ironic. That was the only building Kyle held a grudge against.


    ¡°Nobody looted their bodies,¡± Tobungus said, rolling Mason¡¯s corpse to be face up. ¡°A mob did this, I guess?¡±


    ¡°Maybe. Look at that wall,¡± Kyle said, pointing to the stone wall of the tier two bloomery. ¡°There¡¯s a huge black scorch mark on the outside wall. That¡¯s too big to be a torch. It looks like it was hit with a fire attack of some kind.¡±


    ¡°So¡­ what? A dragon then?¡± Tobungus opened his menus and pulled out his axe. Others followed suit. ¡°Crap,¡± he said. ¡°I forgot my shield¡¯s gone.¡±


    ¡°Poor Jacob,¡± said Avina, surveying the line of bodies. ¡°Look at his face.¡±


    Kyle looked. Instead of pink dots or lines, an entire side of his face was wounded-pink. ¡°Yeah,¡± Kyle said. ¡°Some sort of fiery area of effect.¡±


    ¡°We know how to fight fires though, right?¡± Dvorak asked. ¡°Bucket brigade? Selectively break houses? Upgrade stuff?¡±


    ¡°It might be too late for that,¡± Kyle said, jogging to the well anyway. Tobungus, Avina, and Raphael followed. The others split up, going in different directions to check on other buildings.


    Kyle pulled the bucket from his inventory. Jacob was right; it was going to come in handy. ¡°Let¡¯s see what we can salvage. Maybe -¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Kyle, on reflex, threw himself to the side as a roar and a blast of heat came from his right.


    Kyle looked up from the ground where he¡¯d flung himself. Stepping out of the library was a familiar man.


    The man smiled. He was wearing the same rough hide armor Kyle had seen him in when Mia had dumped him in a pile of ash. Only now, the man was also wearing an open-faced golden helm, a tasset made from some dull blue metal, and held a red rod with a serpent¡¯s head in his left hand.


    ¡°You!¡± Kyle shouted. ¡°Wasn¡¯t burning our town once enough for you?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯m always in the mood to put arrogant bastards in their place.¡±


    ¡°I agree!¡± shouted Raphael. He charged the man.


    The man held his rod in front of him, pointing the serpent¡¯s head at Raphael. A huge torrent of flame spilled from the serpent¡¯s gaping mouth. Raphael screamed and fell to the ground, on fire and twitching. Moments later, he stilled.


    ¡°Huh. Normally it takes more than one blast.¡± The man turned back to Kyle. ¡°Wounded, are we? Did a Sansi get aggressive or something?¡± The man smiled sadistically.


    There was nothing for it. They were outmatched. ¡°Run!¡± shouted Kyle, and he scrabbled to his feet to flee.


    Kyle had intended to scatter, but he found Avina happened to run the same direction as he had. Kyle found himself slowing down slightly to keep pace with the shorter girl; it somehow didn¡¯t seem right to run faster than her, and put her behind.


    They ran directly away from the man, but Kyle quickly realized that they¡¯d run into a wall if they kept fleeing in that direction. ¡°We¡¯ve got to double back around,¡± Kyle said. ¡°Our only chance is to get back out the gate,¡±


    Avina nodded. She was obviously panicked, but she understood. They crept back through the maze of flaming buildings towards the front gate. As they did, they heard another blast of flame, followed shortly by a scream. Dvorak. He was down too.


    When they reached the front gate, it was closed. The gate was down, the useless drawbridge up. The man was standing directly in front of the closed entrance, looking around casually and smiling, rod still in hand.


    ¡°Not this way. Come on. We¡¯ve got to find a way to scale the wall.¡±


    ¡°Kyle! Kyle, I don¡¯t want to die. I don¡¯t want to die¡­¡±


    Avina was barely coherent. Kyle had never died in this game, but everybody who had agreed it wasn¡¯t a pleasant experience. Kyle didn¡¯t fault the girl for her extreme anxiety. Not one bit.


    ¡°We¡¯ll find a way out. We¡¯ll get through this.¡± Kyle tried to remember if there was any way to climb up the walls. There was no wall-walk. Just a tower next to the gate. But the man would see them if they went that way, right?


    ¡°Still not playing the game, I see.¡± Kyle heard the man¡¯s shouted gloat over the flames, coming from the direction of the gate. ¡°We should be fighting. PvP exists for a reason. You¡¯ve gotta stop pretending to be a shopkeeper.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ve got to hide,¡± Kyle said quietly, stowing his axe. ¡°He¡¯ll get bored and start looking for us. Then we can sneak around behind him and escape by climbing the tower and jumping off.¡± Avina nodded and started looking around.


    ¡°But then, I can understand,¡± the man monologued. ¡°Why play a game you know you¡¯ll lose? I¡¯ve experienced that first-hand. That elf girl. Adrianne? I met her again at the crystal near Thunder Pass.¡±


    Kyle found two barrels in the tannery that weren¡¯t on fire. After spilling their odiferous contents, he pulled them far enough away from the building they wouldn¡¯t catch fire, and climbed in one as Avina climbed in the other.


    ¡°The bitch beat me. Again. Killed me. Took everything except the items I soulbound with the scrolls from Wight¡¯s Hold. And then I realized; I can¡¯t play that game. I can¡¯t win this competition.¡±


    Kyle heard a war-cry, followed by a gout of flame and a scream. Tobungus. He probably tried to ambush the man while he was monologuing.


    ¡°But knew I wasn¡¯t bad at this game,¡± the man continued, as though nothing had happened. ¡°Certainly, I¡¯m better than most. I just wasn¡¯t the best. So I started thinking. What could I do?¡±


    The man¡¯s voice started to get closer. Kyle realized, in retrospect, that he may have made too much noise dragging the barrels away from the tannery. In fact, spilling the barrels would have left large puddles on the ground as well. Suddenly he felt very exposed despite being hidden in a barrel. Kyle opened his skills menu.


    ¡°I needed to find a different game to play. Something else to do with the stuff I¡¯ve been dredging from dungeons. Something else to pass the time. And I realized; if I can¡¯t be the hero, maybe I could be the villain. And I knew a little village that just lost its bodyguard.¡±


    The man¡¯s voice was closer now. They¡¯d been found out.


    ¡°Tell me; how did you feel when you saw your friend¡¯s corpses, Kyle?¡± The man¡¯s face popped over the barrel, grinning sadistically and meeting Kyles gaze.


    The mana regeneration from Dvorak¡¯s potion was painfully slow, but Kyle had enough for a single ball of fire. He pressed the button and shoved the flame right into the man¡¯s face.


    The man screamed and clutched his face with his free hand, and Kyle bucked hard, knocking his barrel over. He scrambled out, then tipped and kicked Avina¡¯s barrel, setting it in motion. He heard a muffled cry as she rolled away.


    The man grimaced in anger and pain. His face was splotched with pink burns. He glanced towards the departing barrel.


    ¡°Fine. You want to fight? Let¡¯s do this,¡± Kyle said, drawing attention towards himself. He pulled out his axe as the man turned to face him, ignoring the barrel. ¡°How good can you be if you lost to Mia? Twice?¡±


    ¡°Better than you,¡± the man said, and pointed his rod at Kyle


    Kyle dodged as best he could, but still felt scorching heat as his side was caught in the blast. Even through two levels of resilience, the pain was nearly unbearable. He ran at the man to hack at him with his axe, but the man caught the blade just under the axehead with the rod, and used his left hand to stab Kyle in the gut with a knife Kyle was sure wasn¡¯t there moments before. Kyle doubled over and fell to the ground.


    The fight was over before it began. Kyle clutched his pierced stomach with his left hand. He looked up to see the man stow his knife with alarming speed.


    ¡°You¡¯re afraid of death. Weak. That means I can control you, Kyle.¡± The man grinned. ¡°There are two buildings I left intact in your little town. The prison and your precious library. I¡¯m a warlock, but I¡¯m in need of spells, you see? They¡¯re rare drops. And the charges in this rod won¡¯t last forever.¡±


    Kyle could see where this was going. And he thought he could see a way out of it.


    ¡°Here¡¯s how this will work,¡± the man continued. ¡°I¡¯ll keep you in the prison. Sometimes, I¡¯ll let you out to work in the library. You¡¯ll make me spells. Whatever I ask. You¡¯re my little NPC now, you understand?¡±


    Kyle nodded obediently. ¡°What¡­ what do you want first? I¡¯ve got research points. I¡¯ve got paper on me.¡± He punched some buttons and withdrew a sheet of pencil and a stick of charcoal. ¡°I know when I¡¯m beat. Just don¡¯t flame me.¡± He prayed the man was falling for it.


    The man¡¯s eyes lit with barely controlled excitement. ¡°Can you¡­ can you do a life drain? I don¡¯t have spellcraft. I don¡¯t know what this magic system is capable of.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s complicated. And it¡¯d cost a lot of mana. The drain rune¡¯s big. It¡¯s a funky shape too. It¡¯d be rough to-¡±


    ¡°Just do it.¡±


    Kyle complied, opening up his spell creation interface. He put together a spell as quickly as he could, trying to maximise its effectiveness in as little time as possible. All the while, the man kept the rod trained on him.


    Kyle¡¯s interface was invisible to the man, so he typed a quick private message to Avina now that he had the chance: ¡°man busy so run to tower now.¡± Hopefully that would get Avina out. There was no way to climb down the tower, but Avina could survive a 15 foot fall, right?


    The man¡¯s smile began slowly turning into a scowl. As Kyle felt his time running out, he struggled to decide how much power to put into the spell. He finally settled on a mana cost about three-fourth¡¯s his max. He assumed that the man had ranked attunement as his stat and had a higher maximum mana than Kyle. He opened the keypad and changed the name of the spell from its default to ¡°Life Drain.¡± He hit the ¡°invent spell¡± button and watched his precious research points drop. Next, he started crafting a spell scroll with a sheet of paper; with it, any adept could learn the spell.


    He hesitated before drawing the final line. Taking a deep breath, he squeezed his eyes shut and swiped the charcoal across the page.


    Crafting spell scrolls took mana, and Kyle was nearly out. What he was missing was pulled from his HP, and he bit back a shout as the pain washed over him in a wave. When it dulled slightly, he opened his status to see his HP. Only about a fifth left.


    ¡°Here. Life drain,¡± Kyle said, handing the man the scroll, trying to keep his voice from trembling. ¡°It can¡¯t drop the subject below one HP, though. It¡¯s just a limitation of the system. With another rank or two of spellcraft, I might be able to get around it.¡±


    ¡°One HP, huh? You don¡¯t say¡­¡± The man tapped some buttons, and the scroll crumbled in the man¡¯s grasp. His face contorted into a sadistic smirk. ¡°I guess it¡¯s safe to test it out, then. I owe you for that fireball¡­¡±


    The man punched some buttons and raised his hand, pointing it at Kyle. Light purple smoke leaked from his fingertips.


    Kyle put on his best ¡°scared¡± face.


    Then the man¡¯s eyes drooped, and he fell to his knees, panting heavily.


    The ¡°Sleep¡± effect rune and the ¡°Self-target¡± delivery rune don¡¯t fit together very well, but when you could pump that much mana into it, it hardly mattered.


    ¡°You bastard,¡± the man said, stifling a yawn as he sank lower to the ground. Kyle started to stand, exultant. He had done it. He had won.


    Then a blast of fire shot out of the man¡¯s rod, catching Kyle by surprise.


    Kyle heard himself scream as his entire world became nothing but searing, red-hot pain.


    Then everything went black.

 Chapter 36: In which Kyle Wakes Up in a Dungeon. Again.

    A dim screen appeared in the darkness, asking Kyle where he wanted to respawn. There was only one button. He pressed it.


    Kyle woke up in a dungeon.


    Again.


    His equipment was mostly gone. He had his axe. He lacked his armor, but retained his clothes.


    Kyle sighed, part in resignation, and part in relief. People talked up how bad dying was, and sure, it was incredibly painful. But being dead wasn¡¯t bad. He has worried for a moment that he¡¯d be trapped in darkness in constant pain for a full day, or something heavy-handed and punitive like that.


    It sucked to lose his armor and weapons. And he could only imagine what state the town must be in. The whole thing was probably ransacked, being empty for 24 hours and all. Everybody probably lost their equipment.


    Kyle realized the man probably didn¡¯t need all that stuff. How many sets of leather armor could a person wear, after all? One. That¡¯s it. If everybody lost their equipment, it would only be because the guy was a jerk and wanted to grief people who weren¡¯t even competing with him.


    Kyle walked over to the wall and felt its cold against his hand. They were back to square one.


    He might even need to fight the goblin again.


    Kyle walked to the open prison gate, and looked down the hall. The not-trapped door was still open where he left it. Beyond, Kyle saw the goblin, sitting on the ground holding a torch. Kyle idly wondered if it needed to eat or anything, or if it just sat there, waiting to ambush people who respawned. Beyond that, he could see sunlight through the still-open door.


    Kyle walked down the hall, retrieving his axe from its inventory. It was second nature to him now, like using a keyboard was in his old life.


    His real life.


    Memories flooded back to him. His girlfriend. That one professor who disliked him for no good reason. The odd recipe he used on the chicken breasts he bought from that one wholesale place. He ate that meal at least once a week.


    Being in this dungeon rekindled some of that indignant outrage he had when he first appeared. He was in a death game. This wasn¡¯t his life. The designers took his real life away from him. He needed to remember that. No amount of idyllic virtual fields should have been able to change that.


    As he approached the goblin, it stood, turned, took out its sword, and growled. Kyle checked his skill menu.


    Seems like he wasn¡¯t quite back to square one.


    The goblin grinned and charged. As it approached, he activated his fire mist, heedless of the mana cost. He just wanted to see the stupid thing burn.


    It was that sort of game, right?


    The goblin screeched and withdrew. Kyle didn¡¯t bother examining it. He pulled out a ball of flame and threw it. The goblin dodged, and Kyle rolled his eyes, annoyed by his terrible aim. As he considered what to do next, the goblin slowly backed away from the cloud of embers.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    Then Mason ran through the open door, grabbed the goblin, ripped its sword out of its hand, and threw the goblin against the wall. The goblin slumped to the ground, obviously dead.


    Kyle looked at Mason. His face was blank. Emotionless.


    Defeated.


    Kyle nodded. He silently looted the goblin. Then left the room.


    Beyond, there was a ladder leading out of the room, through the skylight. Kyle wondered when it had appeared there.


    Kyle didn¡¯t feel like talking. But he had a question. He took a deep breath and asked ¡°Do we need to wait for Jacob?¡± He couldn¡¯t bring himself to make eye contact with Mason.


    Mason shook his head. ¡°He left earlier. Said he needed to see what happened to the town after that maniac killed us.¡±


    ¡°And you stayed here?¡±


    Mason shrugged. ¡°The man bragged. Said he intended to kill you too. I waited for you. It just felt right.¡±


    ¡°You had that much faith in me, eh?¡±


    Mason¡¯s face didn¡¯t change. ¡°He killed us all. If he set a trap for you, I figured you didn¡¯t stand a chance.¡±


    That was a reasonable point. It only stung Kyle a little.


    Kyle started climbing the ladder. Mason followed.


    They walked in silence towards the crystal. Kyle didn¡¯t know where else to go. Maybe they could try and rebuild someplace more secluded. If so, they would at least need to pick up whatever was left in town.


    As they walked, Kyle saw a brown speck on his minimap. He adjusted course to pass by it, and found the cabin Jacob built. Kyle looked at the structure, remembering how excited Jacob was when he felt like he could contribute. Even Kyle thought the system was pretty cool at the time.


    Holy crap, were they naive.


    The door was missing. Kyle looked inside. It seemed somebody lived there now. The pointless shelves Jacob made held a collection of odds and ends. Bowls. Kreyfa pelts. Cordweed. Berries. Wooden spears and a shield. Some rocks. Junk.


    ¡°There¡¯s some food here. We don¡¯t have any. Maybe we should take it,¡± Kyle said. Mason stared back at him impassively.


    What, Kyle thought. It was just that sort of game, right? That¡¯s what the man had said when he was tied up in the library. And he was right. In one random attack, that man had wiped out Kyle¡¯s saccharine attempt at changing the game for the better.


    Kyle sighed, opened his inventory, and left the goblin¡¯s three silver on the bed. A subtle hint to the occupant that he really should fix the door. And he left. Mason followed.


    As they continued the trek towards Crystopia, Mason finally broke the silence. ¡°So how¡¯d he get you?¡±


    ¡°I distracted him while Avina ran. Got a blast of fire in the face.¡±


    ¡°We should have run,¡± Mason said. ¡°The moment we saw that fire attack. No amount of karate training could prepare you for that.¡±


    ¡°Think he was a gamejacker?¡±


    ¡°Obviously,¡± Mason said. ¡°Somebody stabbed him in the gut. He hardly flinched. Just blasted the poor guy with fire and pulled the spear out again.¡±


    ¡°You can fight after taking a spear to the gut?¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Mason said, shrugging. ¡°It¡¯s just HP damage.¡±


    Kyle remembered the way the man reacted when he was hit in the face with Kyle¡¯s fire. Strange how vulnerable gamejackers were there.


    They arrived at Crystopia. He could still see smoke coming from the city. Not nearly as much as before. The ruins of their city must still be smouldering.


    He walked through the gate and surveyed the destruction. The library was a scorched ruin. The man must have woken up later and burnt it out of spite. The cabins were heaps of charred timbers. The bloomery was a pile of rubble. The stone apothecary a blackened ruin. The only thing intact were the walls. It was quite literally a hollow shell of a town.


    Kyle ambled to the town square, where the crystal was. Bathed in its blue glow, he sat on the ground. Mason sat on a nearby foundation that had been scoured of its wooden building.


    As Kyle sat, other people started arriving, one at a time, over the course of several minutes. Little Jacob, face despondent. Aubrey, her smouldering rage carved into her face. Avina. Depressed. Tear streaks down her face. Dvorak. Ears drooping. Kyle didn¡¯t even know they could do that. One by one, they took places around the crystal.


    Jacob sighed. ¡°So¡­ what do we do now, man?¡±

 Chapter 37: In which Somebody Decides its an Appropriately Climactic Moment.

    Jacob sighed. ¡°So¡­ what do we do now, man?¡±


    Kyle looked up to see who Jacob was talking to.


    And met Jacob¡¯s gaze.


    ¡°Why the ¡ª- are you asking me!?¡± Kyle shouted, standing and storming over to him. ¡°What good am I? My ideas? What¡¯s it gotten us, huh? The bloomery¡¯s gone. The apothecary¡¯s gone. We¡¯ve got nothing. Nothing! I don¡¯t know why you think I¡¯m in charge here. That it¡¯s my responsibility to somehow fix everything. That it¡¯s my responsibility to take care of everyone!


    ¡°This world is a wreck,¡± Kyle ranted. ¡°It¡¯s full of death, pain, and murder. And I¡¯ve been lying to you to this whole time. Making you believe we had another option. Well tough. No amount of naive optimism can change that.¡±


    Kyle scowled at Jacob, who stood and backed away, frightened. Lip curled, Kyle turned and looked at Aubrey, and saw her dark expression.


    ¡°What?¡± Kyle demanded. ¡°You should know. You nearly got wiped. A jacker decided she wanted your stone, so she was ready to kill every last of of you. I stopped it. But then the jackers realized I was being an idiot. Now they¡¯re gone, probably off slaughtering innocents for their useless silver or whatever.¡±


    ¡°So what do we do now?¡± Kyle asked, turning to Dvorak. ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll tell you. It¡¯s every man for himself. Get out of here. Find dungeons, kill guys, and get loot. Obviously it¡¯s better than anything we can make. If you can¡¯t do that, just build a lean-to in the middle of nowhere and pray nobody finds you. It¡¯s over. Crystopia¡¯s just a corpse now. A shattered remnant of a stupid dream.¡±


    He looked towards Avina, who had a look of shock and¡­ concern? He turned away, suppressing his annoyance. What? Did she thinkpitywould help him? He sat down on a sooty chunk of scorched wood in what used to be the library.


    ¡°Just leave. I don¡¯t have anything for you. Following a deluded idealist just got you killed. So why bother?¡±


    There was silence. But nobody left. Kyle sat there, sulking and hating them all.


    ¡°I follow you,¡± said Dvorak suddenly, ¡°Because you care about me.¡±


    Kyle had never heard Dvorak¡¯s voice sound like that before. It was a normal volume, without a trace of showmanship. It sounded almost natural. Kyle looked up and saw Dvorak¡¯s face, sober and serious.


    ¡°You gave me a job,¡± Jacob said from the side. ¡°I didn¡¯t fit in. I had nothing to offer. You kept me from giving up.¡± Jacob paused, then added, ¡°I don¡¯t want to go back to being out of place. I need this city.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t understand,¡± said Aubrey. Kyle turned to see her pointing towards Jacob with her eyes. ¡°The people look up to you. In a way they didn¡¯t look up to me. I represented survival for them. A way to stay hidden. Safe. But you? You represent stability. Security. Hope. Why do you think I¡¯ve let you take leadership over my group?¡±


    ¡°What leadership?¡± Kyle asked. ¡°I never asked for this. People just do what I say. And if I don¡¯t say it, nobody seems to do it. I¡¯m not trying to be the leader here. It just sort of happened.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s crap,¡± Mason said. ¡°You¡¯ve been leading ever since you intercepted Lumen and told him what the ¡®meta¡¯ was. Don¡¯t pretend you haven¡¯t been.¡±


    ¡°You said it yourself in the mines,¡± Aubrey said. ¡°¡®I¡¯m kind of leading this whole thing.¡¯ Your quote.¡±


    ¡°Kind of,¡± Kyle said. ¡°Dvorak¡¯s the mayor, right?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m just a figurehead,¡± Dvorak said in that same eerie, subdued voice.


    Kyle shook his head. ¡°Forget it. It doesn¡¯t matter who leads this. The game¡¯s designed to pit us against each other. Cooperating is pointless.¡±


    ¡°Do you really believe that?¡± Jacob asked. ¡°The game¡¯s got community respawn points, man. Practice arenas. Hospitals even. I don¡¯t buy it. This game isn¡¯t meant to be done alone.¡±


    Aubrey nodded. ¡°Do you actually think this is a solo game?¡± she said darkly. ¡°Or are you just afraid to step up?¡±


    Kyle had no answer to that. They sat in silence a while longer. Kyle hung his head, pointedly avoiding eye contact.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°Why me, though?¡± Kyle said. ¡°What makes you think I¡¯m the right person?¡±


    ¡°You saved my life,¡± Avina said. Kyle looked up, and saw her face, a tenuous mix of fear and hope.


    ¡°You fought the angel with us,¡± Dvorak said quietly. ¡°You didn¡¯t need to do that. You just did.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m still not the guy for this,¡± Kyle said.


    ¡°Three silver says you¡¯re wrong,¡± Mason said.


    Kyle didn¡¯t respond. He was lost in thought.


    Then Kyle heard brisk, heavy footsteps from behind him. He turned just in time to see Mason grab his collar.


    ¡°Look, Kyle,¡± he said. ¡°You¡¯re done wallowing around in depression. We don¡¯t have the benefit of self-pity here. You need to do something.¡± Kyle blinked, surprised by Mason¡¯s sudden forcefulness. ¡°You¡¯ve gotten all our hopes up. You were a great leader. For a while. Then you started suddenly trying to throw it all aside. Pretend like you never meant it. I kept waiting for you to step up, and you never did.


    ¡°Now you¡¯ve got two options,¡± Mason continued. ¡°Man up and get back in the game, or get the hell out of our city. If it¡¯s really every man for himself, you¡¯re gonna be the first to walk. Think fast.¡±


    Mason let go and backed up, arms folded, and Kyle slumped back on the ash covered rock, and shut his eyes.


    He couldn¡¯t lead these people. He just couldn¡¯t.


    Not in the way they wanted. They wanted somebody to give them stability. Safety. Somebody to protect them from people like that asshole with the fire rod. Well, Kyle couldn¡¯t do that.


    Was it even possible?


    Then again, did it even matter? Or was hoping for that stability enough for them?


    He opened his eyes, and looked at the faces of the group. He thought of the others, who weren¡¯t there. Skyfire the architect. Braden. Raphael. They needed something.


    Hope.


    Maybe stability and safety were impossible dreams. Maybe not. But if people gave up on that dream, it would be all too easy to fall into despair. Hopelessness.


    These people needed some way to fight against the world they were trapped in. They needed something to keep them from hiding like animals and living in fear for over a year. They needed something to help them keep living their lives as best they could.


    They needed hope.


    Kyle could do that much, at least.


    Kyle sighed. Wiping his brow, he heaved himself off the rock and stood from the ashes of the building.


    ¡°Okay. Fine. Let¡¯s do this. Jacob? You can deconstruct your own buildings to reclaim some of the resources, right? See if you can do anything with these ruins. They didn¡¯t despawn entirely, so the designers must intend them to be used for something. Aubrey? Take whoever¡¯s best with archery and start hunting. Get the rest of your people to start farming. We need wheat in the ground, like, yesterday. Avina and Dvorak, I need you to go to the south. I¡¯ll give you directions. There¡¯s a guy in a cabin in the woods that seems he¡¯s doing pretty well for himself. See if you can get him to come join us; we need a good hunter.¡±


    ¡°Why us?¡± asked Avina.


    ¡°We need to approach him diplomatically. And I can think of literally nobody less threatening than you and a bunny. But you¡¯ve got buff spells and Dvorak¡¯s a murder bunny, so you¡¯ll actually be fine. And Mason?¡± Mason smiled smugly. ¡°You and I need to start figuring out what¡¯s in those dungeons. We¡¯ve not been to any ¡®adventure sites¡¯ except for Aubrey¡¯s mine. We need to get all the sites within a few hours travel identified, mapped, and checked for crystals.¡±


    Dvorak jumped and cheered ¡°This is it, folks! Crystopia is back in action. Ooh! Ooh! Or is it New Crystopia now?¡±


    Aubrey groaned. ¡°I¡¯ll have you know, I wasn¡¯t here for the discussion when this city was first named. And I have definite opinions on the matter.¡± Jacob laughed, and the gloom over the group started to lift.


    Suddenly, a large notification appeared in front of Kyle, just a few feet in front of him:


    <blockquote>


    Based on your outstanding involvement and leadership, you have been awarded the title of ¡°King¡±. Thank you for all you have done to make the community of Infigeas a better place! Please see your help menu and ¡°Social¡± menu for information and options regarding your new role. Congratulations, Kyle!


    </blockquote>


    In disbelief, Kyle pressed an X in the corner of the notification to close it. He saw the others looking in front of themselves, eyes wide.


    ¡°I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m part of a kingdom now?¡± Avina asked.


    ¡°What the hell does this even mean?¡± Aubrey asked, closing her notification and tapping through other menus.


    ¡°It means,¡± Kyle said, with narrowed eyes, ¡°That somebody¡¯s watching us. No way that a computer would think to give me this rank right now, right after an appropriately emotional and climactic speech. A computer would have given me this rank long ago, when I was actually acting like a leader. Somebody is watching and has a flair for the dramatic.¡± Kyle balled his hands into fists. ¡°Well I¡¯m going to ruin it.¡±


    Kyle looked up to the sky. ¡°¡ª- you, you assholes at virtuaverse!¡± he shouted, ¡±A title¡¯s not going to change how we feel about this game! You kidnapped us and made our lives hell! We don¡¯t want to be here!¡±


    Kyle walked over to Dvorak. He didn¡¯t know where the cameras were, but ¡°near Dvorak¡± was a good guess. He stood next to Dvorak, pointed in a random direction and said ¡°And you, viewers at home. Why the hell are you still watching innocents get tortured! Call Virtuaverse. Call your congressmen. Start a class-action suit. Stop watching and boycott this stream. Boycott all the streams from Virtuaverse. All their games, too. We can¡¯t let them get away with this. Please,¡± Kyle noticed his voice was cracking. Figures he couldn¡¯t do this without getting emotional. ¡°Please help us.¡±


    He sighed, and walked back to the crystal. ¡°That¡¯s it, I think. Mason, help Jacob instead. We won¡¯t be leaving to go scouting for a while. I need to¡­ I need to read. I guess I¡¯m King now. I wonder what that¡¯s unlocked¡­ in my help menus. Okay, break,¡± Kyle said, clapping his hands.


    People wandered off, leaving Kyle alone in the blue light of the crystal.


    Winded, Kyle sat down and started to read.


    He supposed he needed to figure out what being a king meant.

 Chapter 38: In which the Goblins do the Same Thing

    With one fluid motion, Kyle bumped his crystal against his hip while thrusting his hand forward, hitting two buttons nearly as soon as they appeared. A candle-sized wisp of flame appeared in his right hand, its glow completely subsumed by the half-dozen torches lighting the cavern. He dropped it on the ground, where it winked out. Kyle performed the motion again, summoning another tiny flame which he dropped immediately. He did it again¡­


    ¡­and found himself holding a bowl of warm soup.


    ¡°Hey, what¡¯cha doing there?¡± Jacob asked. The cavern became lighter as Jacob pulled away from the rest of the group to approach Kyle with his torch.


    ¡°Practicing,¡± Kyle said, glancing at Jacob. ¡°The guy who burnt our town drew a dagger so fast I didn¡¯t even realize he was doing it. And I think I figured out how.¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡± Jacob said.


    ¡°Like this,¡± Kyle said, holding up his hand with his index finger and his thumb extended, but all other fingers curled. ¡°See, if I just jab my hand forward, my finger hits my menu before my thumb, so I can press two buttons with a single move. And if I bump my crystal against my hip at the same time, I can open the menu, hit skills, and hit a spell, all at once.¡±


    Jacob tried performing the motion as well, much slower. He shook his head. ¡°Seems hard, man. If you mess up even a little, you go into your inventory instead.¡±


    ¡°Yup,¡± said Kyle, holding up his stew. ¡°But if you could get the hang of it, you can pull off a spell really fast. I¡¯m trying to get it into muscle memory so I could do it in combat. I even made a powered-down version of the flame spell so I could practice without wasting mana.¡± Kyle put his stew away and went back to bump-jabbing his hand.


    ¡°Seems like a lot of work to get that good,¡± Jacob said.


    ¡°I guess,¡± said Kyle, dropping another candle flame. ¡°But I guess that¡¯s the world we live in for now, right? It makes sense to practice so we can keep our city safe from trolls.¡±


    Jacob shrugged and turned away as Kyle continued making and dropping the tiny fireballs. After a moment he turned back. ¡°So what do we need all that wood for, anyway?¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t,¡± said Kyle, still focused on his practice.


    ¡°Wait, what?!¡± Jacob said. ¡°We chopped wood for nearly two hours before coming into the cave!¡±


    ¡°Yep,¡± Kyle said in a deadpan.


    ¡°If we didn¡¯t need the wood, what was the point?¡±


    ¡°The point was to chop the wood. To get used to the feeling,¡± Kyle heard heavy footfalls, and held up a hand to quiet Jacob¡¯s complaint.


    From the darkness, Mason emerged, dashing quickly. He was being followed by a dozen goblins, who were slowly gaining on him. Kyle spared a glance back and saw the dozen or so people he¡¯d brought to the cavern standing and drawing weapons. Kyle could hardly suppress a grin, and calmly continued practicing his hand motions.


    With a leap, Mason dove over a chalk line on the floor. The goblins skidded to a halt right in front of the chalk line, then shrugged, and sauntered away, completely ignoring the rest of the nervous players.


    ¡°They only pursue for about a hundred yards,¡± Kyle said to the bewildered players. ¡°Don¡¯t sweat it; we measured before we brought you here.¡± He ignored the murmurs from the players and turned to Mason, who was covered in pink dots and lines. ¡°You got the torches set up?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Mason said between heavy, even breaths. ¡°It¡¯d better be worth it,¡± he muttered. Aubrey strode to Mason on her thick dwarven legs and placed her glowing green hand on Mason¡¯s thigh. The dots and lines on Mason¡¯s arms started to fade, and Mason breathed a sigh of relief. ¡°Thanks.¡± Aubrey nodded and withdrew.


    When asked by the angel why she sought power, she said ¡°I originally came expecting to get healing spells,¡± which was technically true.


    ¡°What was that all about, man?¡± Jacob asked, looking back and forth between Kyle, Aubrey, and Mason. ¡°Am I missing something?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m about to explain,¡± Kyle said, and he stood and faced the group behind him. ¡°Okay guys. Follow me down the hallway.¡±


    After a short walk, they arrived at the mouth of the cavern, the same one that Kyle¡¯s group had fought in before. He found himself looking at the corner he had ¡°buried¡± Dvorak in. It seemed like such a long time ago, though it had only been a few weeks.


    Unlike last time, the cavern was brightly lit. Torches had been strewn every ten feet or so, and the goblins didn¡¯t seem to mind them. They¡¯d only stay lit for a few hours, but that was plenty of time for what Kyle had in mind.


    ¡°Thanks again,¡± Kyle said to Mason, who only nodded in response.


    Kyle turned back to the group and looked at the faces of the crowd. A good mix of races. Mostly middle-age. Scared. Out of their element.


    ¡°Sit down, guys,¡± Kyle said. ¡°We¡¯ll be here a while. Don¡¯t cross this chalk line; that represents how close you need to be for them to notice and chase you.¡±


    ¡°What are we doing? Are we going to fight them?¡± asked a middle-age dwarf. Tim. Kyle was making an effort to learn the names of everybody in the town; not just his friends.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    ¡°Not yet,¡± Kyle said, addressing the crowd as much as Tim. ¡°We¡¯re just going to sit and watch for a while.¡± Kyle sat down, and the others started to do so as well. ¡°Pay close attention.¡±


    Kyle looked out at the cavern of goblins. Three near the back of the cavern were playing cards. One stood and started shrieking at another in a way that vaguely sounded like it might be a language. The other stood up, and the two goblins start pushing each other. Kyle smiled as a third stepped in to break them up. This was good. This exercise wouldn¡¯t take as long as Kyle was afraid it might. He leaned back and started the wait.


    The minutes ticked by as the group watched the goblins milling about, oblivious to the players. They seemed pretty realistic; they communicated in hoarse grunts, sharpened weapons, milled about, ate food they pulled from hammerspace, threw rocks against the walls, and otherwise acted like bored and undisciplined sentries.


    The players Kyle had brought started out attentive. As time passed, some quickly lost interest; others lasted longer. Before long most players (including Jacob) were watching the goblins with obvious boredom. Some players were chatting with each other, not paying attention in the slightest. Tim had blessedly gotten paper out and was taking notes.


    Slightly before fifteen minutes had passed, Kyle stood and pulled his own notes from his pocket. ¡°Guys? Guys, pay attention again.¡± As the group looked up at Kyle, he motioned towards the goblins. He glanced at them, looking for signs and counting seconds. ¡°See if you recognize¡­ that.¡±


    Just as Kyle finished his sentence, the two goblins playing cards stood up and started screeching at each other. ¡°Then that one gets up and stops the fight,¡± Kyle said, pointing at a goblin right before it moved in to stop the altercation. ¡°That one cheers and goads them, that one laughs, and that one gets annoyed.¡± Kyle looked at his sheet of notes for reference. ¡°In about a minute, that one objects to the quality of his stew-¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s because that one over there drops the meat in the embers before putting it in the soup. He¡¯s hoping nobody notices,¡± Tim said, looking at his own sheet. ¡°Look, there he goes. Boop.¡±


    Kyle hadn¡¯t noticed that detail. He nodded appreciatively as the goblin receiving the soup took a bite and started shouting. ¡°Then that guy starts sharpening his sword,¡± he said, pointing to another.


    ¡°Is he going to offer to sharpen the other guy¡¯s sword?¡± Jacob asked, pointing out another goblin. ¡°Because he did last time.¡±


    Kyle nodded. ¡°Who here thought that these goblins were awfully realistic? Show of hands.¡± Nearly every hand went up. Kyle smiled. ¡°I did too. They did a really good job giving these goblins a great idle animation. Fifteen minutes long! And they all interact with each other! I¡¯d hate to be in the animation department for this game.¡±


    ¡°They probably didn¡¯t animate this,¡± Aubrey said. ¡°They probably just motion captured a group of people doing improv, ran it through a deep learning network to teach a computer how to generate ¡®bored guard¡¯ routines, then baked out the results.¡±


    Kyle nodded sagely as though he understood more than half the words. ¡°Yeah. But they aren¡¯t real.¡± He looked down at his sheet. ¡°That goblin¡¯s going to throw a rock at the wall. It¡¯ll bounce off and hit his head. Just like it does every fifteen minutes.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s a wonder he hasn¡¯t run out of HP by this point,¡± someone said from the back. Some people glared at him, and some people chuckled. Kyle wanted to encourage this line of thought.


    ¡°Yeah, I know, right?¡± Kyle motioned back to the goblins. ¡°Those swords are sharpened every fifteen minutes. It¡¯s a wonder there¡¯s anything left of them.¡± After waiting for the chuckles to die down, Kyle resumed being serious. ¡°These aren¡¯t real. It¡¯s a sham. A show. There¡¯s nothing here. Code. Animation loops. Actors. Baking. Whatever that is. The point is, these things don¡¯t think. We¡¯ve all played games at some point, right? Most of us? These are no more real than any other goblin in any other game.


    ¡°But the people you were talking to, when you were bored and distracted? They¡¯re real. Hopes and dreams and all that. There¡¯s the paradox. This game¡¯s trying to make the NPCs look real. And it tries to make the players look like monsters. Killable. Fake.¡± Kyle rolled his eyes. ¡°No matter how long we stay in this world, we¡¯ve got to remember this. We¡¯re real. It¡¯s fake.¡±


    Kyle saw nods of assent. This was the easy part. Most people here knew this intellectually.


    But did they know it viscerally?


    ¡°Axes out, guys.¡± People started withdrawing their axes. Kyle did the same. This training exercise was for him, too.


    ¡°Remember how you chopped down those trees? Good, solid hits. Holding nothing back. Half-hearted strikes just slow down the process.¡± He patted the back of the Axe-head into his palm. ¡°Well those goblins and those trees are the same thing. It¡¯s just code. We just spent an hour cutting wood. Well now we¡¯re cutting goblins. And it¡¯s the same thing. No spells, guys. I want you to see the fake look in their fake faces when you hit them with your fake weapons.¡±


    Most in the group wore grim expressions. Jacob gulped. Kyle understood the feeling.


    ¡°Why?¡± Asked Tim, face disgusted. ¡°Why do we need to do this? Don¡¯t think you¡¯ve pulled anything over on us, young man. You gathered the townsfolk least suited for combat to go on this little expedition.¡±


    ¡°Except Avina,¡± Mason muttered.


    ¡°And I think she was the smart one,¡± Tim continued. ¡°None of us want this. None of us care. Why are you trying to make us into murderers?¡±


    ¡°First off, not murderers. Unless you¡¯re already a murderer for chopping those digital trees.¡± Kyle expected a laugh, but got none, so he continued. ¡°Second off, the more people that run dungeons, the better off we¡¯ll all be. We¡¯ll have higher-level players. More skills for our town. More ranks in our stats. And more stuff. Aubrey?¡±


    Aubrey nodded and pushed towards the front of the group, before turning and facing the crowd. ¡°There are chests in dungeons. From what data we¡¯ve gathered, there are two kinds of loot in this game. We call them ¡®diminishing loot¡¯ and ¡®personal loot¡¯. You¡¯ve heard chests respawn, right? Every time they do, they¡¯ve got less stuff in them. Inverse tangent or something. But,¡± Aubrey continued, holding up a finger, ¡°when a player opens any given chest for the first time, it¡¯s got some extra, randomized loot in it. Just for them. We call that ¡®personal loot¡¯, and it makes it so no matter how many times a jacker¡¯s run a dungeon, there¡¯s always something there for people who run it for the first time.¡±


    ¡°And that¡¯s one of our many advantages against the game-jackers,¡± Kyle said, nodding towards Aubrey. ¡°With thirty people in our town, we can get thirty copies of the personal loot. If we pool those resources and divvy them up according to what we specialize in, we can end up with way more stuff than game-jackers who are at the mercy of the random drop table. But we all need to run dungeons to get that advantage. And that means you need practice.¡±


    Jacob nodded, fingering his axe nervously. Tim looked skeptical, but proffered no further resistance. Others in the group were variously fearful, resigned, or occasionally excited.


    ¡°Okay folks,¡± Kyle said, turning away from him into the cavern. ¡°Line up at the chalk line. Pick a near goblin. On my signal, charge it. Then, just¡­ chop down a tree. If you get hit, shout for Aubrey; she¡¯ll patch you up.¡± He heard players shuffling into position behind him. ¡°Oh. And one more thing. This is a game, right?¡± Kyle grinned with an impishness he did not feel. ¡°Have fun! I¡¯m being serious. It¡¯ll help. ¡®Kay, ready? Three. Two. One¡­.¡±


    Kyle took a deep breath. He had to show by example how completely meaningless this ¡°violence¡± was.


    ¡°Go!¡±


    Time to slaughter some hapless goblins.

 Chapter 39: In which they only Sort of Slaughter Things

    Kyle dashed headlong towards a nearby goblin, before noting that Jacob seems to be aiming for the same one. He veered, picking a new target closer to the back of the milling group.


    The goblins turned comically slowly. The designers must have intended goblins to be easy to surprise.


    With a scream, more to psych himself up than to intimidate the others, Kyle lept into the air and brought the axe down with all his might. The goblin had only just barely started lifting his sword by the time Kyle buried his axe in its shoulder. The goblin immediately went limp, and Kyle struggled to hold his axe as the weight of the goblin threatened to pull it from his grasp. Gripping it with both hands, he planted a foot on the goblin¡¯s face and kicked. The goblin¡¯s body came free of the axe blade and rolled into his fellows.


    Kyle was right. If you approached the combat in this game, with the right attitude, it was fun.


    He immediately felt sickened he could find such violence fun.


    He immediately repressed that sickened feeling. He cut a tree. A fun tree. It was okay. It was going to be okay.


    Kyle spared a glance behind him. He was interested to see that almost half the players, Jacob included, were standing over goblin corpses, looks of disbelief on their face. The others were less successful; Kyle wasn¡¯t sure if they had missed, hesitated, or what, but they were now duelling with an aware and defensive goblin. Mason hung back, scanning the crowd, watching to intervene if anybody started losing to their goblin.


    Kyle looked back towards the remainder of the goblins in the cavern, who were staring slackjawed at the sudden carnage. Kyle roared, channelling his inner RPG player, owning his role. He was a barbarian. A hero. A god.


    The goblins stared at him with wide eyes.


    Then, eyes full of panic and desperation, they turned to run.


    ¡°What! No! No, you stupid¡­¡± This would ruin everything. Kyle wanted these players to fight for their lives and have a success experience besting a bloodthirsty foe, not chase down and slaughter goblins who were trying to flee. Attacking them should make them fight back! That¡¯s what happened with Lumen, right?


    Kyle turned to see the players surround and slay the goblins they engaged with their initial charge. Besides the ones inexorably locked in combat, the other goblins were fleeing too. The looks on the player¡¯s faces were not what Kyle had hoped. Confusion. Insecurity.


    There was no honor is killing helpless victims.


    He looked back towards the goblins as they retreated. He needed to salvage this! He must have tripped some switch in their AI somehow¡­


    ¡°Kyle! Ranged attacks!¡± Aubrey shouted. ¡°They think they¡¯re safe running without getting shot in the back! They¡¯re not desperate enough to fight!¡±


    The goblins had nearly left the cavern. Kyle had only a moment to respond.


    Kyle dropped his axe, and in one swift motion, he tapped his wrist-crystal against his hip and jammed his two fingers near simultaneously into his menu.


    And ended up with a bowl of soup in his right hand.


    And threw it without missing a beat.


    It impacted the head of the closest goblin hard enough to whip his head forward. Eyes still full of fear, he turned, shrieked, and charged. The others skidded to a halt and turned to charge the group as well.


    Kyle only had time for a backwards glance; the players had mopped up the first crop of goblins and were collecting themselves once more. He faced the oncoming foes.


    ¡°Countercharge!¡± Kyle shouted, scooping his axe from the ground. ¡°Go! Go! Go!¡± He ran towards the ragged line of advancing goblins. Kyle was far ahead of the group. He was going to get surrounded. And for the moment, he didn¡¯t care. He¡¯d ranked resilience twice, and Aubrey was in the cavern playing support. He¡¯d live.


    Kyle swung his axe in a wide arc, scoring a shallow cut along the chests of the three goblins directly in front of them. Those goblins fell back, holding their swords defensively. The line of charging goblins folded around Kyle, surrounding him. Kyle swung his axe at one that seemed closer than the others, and that goblin withdrew as well.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Kyle heard the crash of metal on metal as the other players collided with the remainder of the goblins. As Kyle expected, he was far behind the enemy line, surrounded by six goblins. He turned his head, but couldn¡¯t keep more than two or three in his field of vision at once.


    He heard a feral cry from behind him, and turned, swinging his axe in the direction of the sound. A goblin changing him stopped abruptly, Kyle¡¯s axe inches from its neck. The goblin fell back into a defensive stance once more.


    From behind, he heard another goblin shriek. Again, Kyle flailed his axe in that direction, and again, that goblin stopped just short of being hit.


    They were fighting defensively. None wanted to charge Kyle head on.


    He heard another goblin¡¯s shout and stopped its charge with another axe swing. It was polite of the goblins to signal when they were about to attack. But Kyle would tire himself out constantly trying to defend himself against attacks from his rear.


    Oh, what he¡¯d give for a wall to put his back to! But he was surrounded. There was no way to get to one of the cavern walls without going through a goblin.


    But then¡­ he could go through a goblin, couldn¡¯t he?


    With a shout (it seemed to scare them last time) he charged the nearest goblin, axe held at his side in both hands, ready to swing. The goblin, eyes wide, pulled away to avoid the sudden attack. From behind, Kyle heard multiple shrieks as the goblins tried to take advantage of Kyle¡¯s recklessness. Heart pounding, Kyle didn¡¯t stop his charge. He dashed for the nearest wall, not looking back. He didn¡¯t trust himself to maintain the speed while turning his head; he could only hope that he was keeping ahead of the goblins and would reach the wall before they reached him.


    After a harrowing few moments, he reached the wall, and skidded to a stop, turning towards the goblins and swinging his axe. The goblins were only a few yards from him, and stopped abruptly, swords held guardingly in front of them.


    ¡°What''cha gonna do now,¡± Kyle said, fierce determination on his face. ¡°Can¡¯t flank me now, huh?¡±


    The six goblins fanned out as much as they could around the wall, but Kyle could keep track of them all just by shifting his gaze.


    Finally, they seemed to overcome their hesitancy to attack. All six cried out and charged simultaneously, presumably relying on sheer numbers to best Kyle.


    He knew if he was hit by all six at once, he couldn¡¯t block them all, so he ran to the side to intentionally engage one of them first. He swung his axe sideways, hitting the goblin in the gut and knocking it against the wall, then swung it the other direction, catching another goblin in the side.


    But there were just too many. A goblin struck him in the thigh as he pulled his axe back; he felt another bite through his armor in the back of the shoulder, another in the side just above his hip. The pain wasn¡¯t nearly as bad as in the starting dungeon, both because of the armor and the ranks in resilience, but it still hurt like crap. He swung his axe wildly, more to try and get them to back off than to damage them.


    His carelessness showed. The goblins didn¡¯t back off; instead, Kyle impacted one goblin with the flat of the axehead, doing nothing more than putting him off balance as the other three continued hacking at Kyle. He felt more sword blows. He couldn¡¯t tell where, exactly; the pain from all the wounds was starting to blur together. Panicked, he thought to flee, but now he was surrounded with a wall behind him. Maybe the wall wasn¡¯t the best of ideas. He heard someone shout his name in alarm.


    Desperate to escape, with his axe twisted awkwardly in his hand, Kyle threw himself to the side, knocking into a goblin with his shoulder. It grabbed on, weighing Kyle down and ruining his balance. He fell down on top of the goblin, narrowly avoiding impaling himself on its sword.


    Kyle grabbed the goblins arm with his left hand and rolled over so his back was to the ground. He kicked at a goblin trying to stab him, knocking it back as another two replaced it.


    This would be a really good time to know how to use his fire mist spell with a single flick of his hand.


    Jacob suddenly leapt into Kyle¡¯s field of view, felling a goblin that was apparently too focused on Kyle to notice his arrival. The other goblins fell back, turning away from Kyle to face the newcomer.


    The goblin Kyle was lying on took advantage of Kyle¡¯s position and put Kyle in a chokehold from behind. Kyle¡¯s vision started to swim. He laboriously stood, encumbered by the goblin. As things started to fade to black, he rammed his back as hard as he could into the cavern wall, slamming the goblins head between the wall and Kyle¡¯s own skull. He heard a crack, and the back of his head hurt like hell, but the goblin fell off him. Kyle¡¯s vision started to return to normal, and he saw Jacob and another player surrounding and finishing off the final three. Kyle surveyed the rest of the cavern. All the goblins had been killed.


    They had done it. And even better, not a single player had fallen, though most bore thick pink lines. Aubrey ran between them all, hands glowing, treating them as fast as she could and warning people not to loot the bodies before she could record their contents ¡°for statistical purposes¡±.


    ¡°Six goblins?¡± Jacob shouted, pulling his axe out of the goblin¡¯s chest. ¡°Six goblins, man? Kyle, you think you¡¯re a gamejacker or something? Come on!¡±


    Kyle looked at the crowd. Raising his voice to address them all, he replied ¡°We¡¯re all gamejackers now. In fact; we¡¯re more. Not even a gamejack offers this degree of realism. We¡¯re beyond gamejacks. We¡¯re just not very good at it yet.¡±


    Kyle straightened and strode forward, ignoring the pain diffusing through his body. ¡°But that¡¯s going to change!¡± he shouted. He held his axe up high. ¡°To your first victory! And may there be many more to come!¡±


    Jacob shouted and clapped, bless his soul.


    And slowly, all the other players joined him.

 Chapter 40: In which Anyone can Edit

    Kyle sat in the library, typing on a keyboard only he could see, racking his brain, trying to transcribe every little detail of the spellcrafting system he could think of.


    There were a lot of valuable benefits to being a ¡°kingdom¡± instead of a loose collection of players. But topping the list had to be the wiki.


    It didn¡¯t take long for them to discover it; it was added to the top of the list in their help files. It was surprisingly sophisticated, with version histories, comment pages, templates, and redirects. It even had a button that let you take a screenshot of your current field of view, then crop it into a graphic to add to a page.


    No sooner was it discovered then It immediately exploded into an eclectic assortment of disparate articles. Kyle put Dr. Aubrey in charge of trying to organize the chaotic barrage knowledge. It was amazing how people rallied behind the structure Aubrey set up. Misplaced and misformatted articles were the result of mistakes; nobody trolled or vandalized. The wiki was too sacred.


    Everybody had some knowledge of the mechanics of Infigeas that wasn¡¯t covered by the help files. Dvorak started making a page for each herb he had found so hunters encountering an interesting plant knew whether to bother collecting it or not. Kyle and Insagrim, the other adept with spellcrafting, started putting up descriptions of the runes they had purchased. Aubrey said she and a few of her assistants were making progress on discovering the damage calculation formula; their section of the wiki was full of cryptic math notation more arcane than anything Kyle had seen in his section on magic.


    The sketchy nature of the help files at last made sense to Kyle. Presumably, there were other kingdoms being formed elsewhere with their own wikis. Deep knowledge about game mechanics could represent a competitive advantage they could use against other kingdoms. Kyle was more interested in trading knowledge with them.


    Kyle heard the door squeak open, and he looked up to see Aubrey enter the library. He saved the page he was working on as a draft and quit out of his wiki. ¡°What¡¯s up, Aubrey?¡±


    Aubrey walked up to the table and wordlessly placed three sticks on the table in front of Kyle, smiling smugly.


    ¡°Um¡­¡± Kyle said, unsure of what to make of it. ¡°Is there anything special about these sticks, Aubrey?¡±


    ¡°You tell me,¡± she said.


    Kyle sighed. Aubrey had a flair for the dramatic whenever she found something interesting. ¡°I mean, not really. This one¡¯s got a little hook shape near the end of it, I guess. This one¡¯s straighter than the others. But not that straight. And this one splits part-way up it.¡±


    ¡°Good enough,¡± Aubrey said. ¡°Put them in your inventory.¡±


    Kyle did so.


    ¡°See them there?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Kyle said. In his inventory tab, somewhere around his other junk, he saw an icon with a stylized stick and the numeral ¡°3¡± under it.


    ¡°Now say you pull one out. Which stick will you get?¡±


    ¡°Does it matter?¡±


    ¡°Pretend it does,¡± Aubrey said. ¡°You¡¯re in a jail cell. The keys are just out of reach. You need that one stick with the hook in order to scoop up the keys and unlock your cell.¡±


    Kyle thought about it. ¡°I guess probably you¡¯d get the stick you stowed most recently. Or maybe the one that¡¯s been in your inventory the longest.¡± Kyle shrugged. ¡°Or maybe it¡¯s random, like it should be if you¡¯re pulling a stick out of a bag blindly.


    Aubrey smiled. ¡°Stack, queue, random draw. Good thoughts. Now try it.¡±


    Kyle tapped the stick icon and then confirmed he wanted one stick instead of more. A stick materialized in his hands.


    It was thick, with a twig sticking out about a third of the way up.


    ¡°Hang on,¡± Kyle said.


    Aubrey¡¯s grin spread. ¡°None of the above. You get a new stick, randomly generated fresh from whatever algorithm makes sticks.¡±


    Kyle struggled and failed to see the implications. ¡°I guess¡­ I guess if you needed a stick in a certain shape, you could just put it in your inventory and take it out again over and over until you get the kind you want?¡±


    ¡°Sure, sure,¡± Aubrey said dismissively. ¡°But more importantly, it gives us insight into how the programmers made the game. They don¡¯t want to waste memory and drive space storing the exact structure of every stick. They took shortcuts.¡±


    Kyle, intrigued, took out a piece of charcoal as Aubrey continued speaking.


    ¡°So why just your inventory?¡± Aubrey asked. ¡°What about the ones out in the world? Is their state saved? It didn¡¯t make sense. Why take shortcuts with your inventory when there¡¯s a zillion sticks on the forest floor? They¡¯d occupy way more memory, right? More testing was in order. So once, when we went to get stones at the mine, I arranged sticks in patterns on the ground, just to see what would happen.¡±


    ¡°And when you came back, they weren¡¯t there?¡± asked Kyle, trying to stay one step ahead of Aubrey¡¯s logic. He started marking one of his sticks with concentric rings.


    ¡°No! They they were still there, but they were different sticks.¡±Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    ¡°So¡­what?¡± Kyle wasn¡¯t sure if there was a point to Aubrey¡¯s line of thought. What good is the ability to change sticks an hour¡¯s travel away? He took the other two sticks out of his inventory, and put back the stick he marked with charcoal.


    ¡°It means the whole world isn¡¯t loaded into memory at once. When you aren¡¯t looking, it changes. That¡¯s when monsters respawn. When trees grow back. When chalk markings fade.¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Kyle, following so far. He pulled the stick back out of his inventory. It still had the charcoal marks. In fact, it actually seemed to be the same stick. Kyle raised his eyebrows and wagged the stick, smiling.


    Aubrey smirked back, and handed Kyle another stick. Kyle took it and started marking that one as well. ¡°We can¡¯t be sure exactly when those things happen, because we aren¡¯t there,¡± Aubrey continued. ¡°But the sticks are. So get this; we took a cartload of sticks and made notches on them with a knife, marking them like you¡¯re doing. Then, we lined them up, end to end, going as straight east-to-west as we could.¡±


    Kyle finished his marks on the second stick, then put both into his inventory.


    ¡°We went until we ran out of sticks, then marked our position on our minimap with a waypoint, and started walking back, following the trail of marked sticks. And you know what?¡±


    Kyle pulled out both sticks from his inventory. Both were unfamiliar and unmarked. Kyle conceded with a shrug.


    Aubrey¡¯s grin widened. ¡°511 meters away from our waypoint, the sticks were marked. 512 meters away, they were unmarked, brand new. It¡¯s our smoking gun; the system only loads a half kilometer around each player.¡±


    Kyle got the three sticks out of the way by putting them all in his inventory. ¡°So, like, if we clear all the Sansi out of one section of the forest, we can walk a few hundred meters away and then come back? And there¡¯ll be more?¡±


    ¡°Kyle, Kyle. You¡¯re thinking too small. How about if our hunters planted marked sticks in the ground every 200 meters or so. Every day when they check their traps, they check the sticks too. If they¡¯re blank, they re-mark them. If they¡¯ve kept their markings-¡±


    ¡°It means somebody¡¯s in the area, keeping the sticks marked,¡± Kyle finished. ¡°Aubrey, that¡¯s genius. You¡¯re planning on using the respawn mechanics to root out hidden players?¡±


    ¡°Hey, I don¡¯t make up the rules. I just abuse them.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s fair. And helpful. We can try and recruit anybody living alone in the woods.¡± Kyle paused for a moment, then took out some paper. ¡°But speaking of rules, here¡¯s a question: why does paper keep its markings?¡± Kyle picked up the charcoal with his right hand, then with his left, he tapped his menu to open up his spell creation tab. He went to his list of previously ¡°invented¡± spells, and selected his flame mist spell. He started moving the charcoal more or less at random over the page. The system ignored what he was doing and instead slowly started drawing the collection of runes. ¡°So, I understand why a spell scroll like this would keep its markings when I¡¯m done. It counts as a different item, right? So what about paper? Paper with charcoal markings on it is still just paper.¡±


    ¡°Seems like there are some things that keep their markings. Paper¡¯s one of them. Armor and shields are another.¡± Aubrey shrugged. ¡°I guess we¡¯re supposed to be able to paint them or make crests or whatever. But most things don¡¯t keep their markings. If it¡¯ll stack into a group in your inventory, it loses all other information.¡±


    ¡°And that¡¯s why the stick only keeps its markings if it¡¯s the only one in my inventory. It hasn¡¯t stacked with anything yet.¡± Kyle stopped drawing the spell diagram, leaving it half complete. He stuck it in his inventory to see if a half-complete spell scroll would stack with the rest of his paper. It didn¡¯t. It appeared with its own icon. He pulled it out, and it came out, markings intact. Curiosity appeased, Kyle picked up the charcoal again and kept ¡°drawing¡± the diagram. Might as well finish off the scroll.


    ¡°What¡¯cha got there?¡± Aubrey asked, leaning over to see Kyle¡¯s drawing.


    ¡°A spell scroll,¡± Kyle said, finishing it off. He glanced up to see his mana bar drain to near-empty. ¡°Now that I¡¯ve crafted it, I can give it to another adept and they can learn it too. I think Braden still hasn¡¯t learned this spell yet; I¡¯ll give it to him.


    ¡°Looks like a celtic knot exploded all over the page.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I guess. This rune here, the mist rune? It fits decently well with the fire rune, but the connectors are in all the wrong places. I needed to sorta thread this line between these two other runes to avoid wasting mana on a crossover-rune.¡±


    ¡°Runes?¡± Aubrey asked. ¡°All I see are squiggly lines.¡±


    ¡°No, see, the rune¡¯s here, and the end of it swoops around here to connect to¡­¡± Kyle paused. It did look a lot like squiggly lines when it was on paper. ¡°You know, it¡¯s a lot easier to see when it¡¯s in color.¡±


    ¡°Color? It looks different to you?¡±


    ¡°In my spell creation tab, yeah. All runes are white. But they¡¯ve got colored dots on the ends, and you can draw a line between any two dots with the same color, and they¡¯ll connect. The colors mean something. Like, a blue dot means a thing. And a yellow dot means ¡®yes¡¯ or ¡®no¡¯. So you can¡¯t connect a ¡®thing¡¯ dot to a ¡®yes or no¡¯ dot, because that doesn¡¯t make sense. And the colors keep it from being a jumbled-¡±


    ¡°Wait wait wait,¡± interrupted Aubrey. ¡°A typing system? You¡¯re telling me yours spells are typed?¡±


    ¡°I mean, I guess we¡¯ve got fire spells and ice-¡±


    ¡°No, no. Shut up. Does this thing have conditionals? Like an ¡®if¡¯ rune or a ¡®while¡¯ rune?¡±


    ¡°Uh¡­¡± Kyle paused and thought. ¡°Insagrim said he found a ¡®decide¡¯ rune last week¡­¡±


    ¡°Okay, sure. ¡®Decide¡¯. Cute. Can it store values? Like, numbers or¡­ or ¡®things¡¯?¡±


    ¡°Store them? Like¡­¡±


    ¡°Like put them away and pull them out again later. From a different rune.¡±


    ¡°No. Not that I know of.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± Aubrey slumped back in her chair and looked disappointed. Then she sat bolt upright. ¡°What about detecting objects? Like, in your inventory?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Kyle said. ¡°The ¡®detect¡¯ rune has a green dot, which stands for a ¡®place¡¯. And that ¡®place¡¯ can be your inventory.¡±


    Aubrey put her hands on the table and leaned across it. ¡°And can you create things? Put them into your inventory?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Only little things, though. It takes too much mana to make anything larger than-¡±


    ¡°My God,¡± said Aubrey, sinking back with an overwhelmed expression on her face. ¡°It¡¯s turing complete. And here I am stuck as an acolyte.¡±


    ¡°I¡­ what?¡±


    But Aubrey wasn¡¯t paying attention anymore. She stood and ambled out of the room, shaking her head.


    * * *


    The next day, when Kyle went to the library, he found Aubrey and three of her assistants tearing papers out of books and putting them on shelves. Kyle¡¯s organizational system had been upended; all the piles of pages were in unfamiliar places. Kyle felt a flash of indignation.


    When Aubrey saw Kyle, she handed him two stacks of papers. Kyle took them and looked at them. The top pages of each stack were duplicates of each other. Kyle put them on the table and pulled the top paper off each stack. The ones underneath were identical too.


    They were all pre-matched for him.


    ¡°Uh, thanks Aubrey. This is going to make getting RP a lot easier than-¡±


    ¡°Kyle,¡± Aubrey said fiercely. ¡°You are going to learn all the runes. And then you will put every scrap of information you have on into the wiki. Everything.¡±


    Kyle nodded meekly.


    ¡°And I will give you spells to rule the heavens and shake the earth.¡±


    Aubrey turned aside and continued ripping pages out of books and handing them to her assistants.


    Kyle wondered how he was going to break it to Aubrey that a spellcrafter could only learn a certain number of runes at once.

 Chapter 41: In which Kyle Steals Aubreys Research

    ¡°Kyle? Are we leaving, or what?¡±


    Kyle looked up and saw Mason at the door to his cabin.


    ¡°Yeah, sure,¡± Kyle said, peering out from behind his spell creation screen. ¡°I¡¯ll just finish this spell real quick.¡± Out of time, he gave up on finding a better spot and put the fire rune back where it was. He probably wouldn¡¯t be able to squeeze any more power out of it anyway. He typed in a new name, ¡°Kylefire Ray,¡± and hit invent spell.


    ¡°Hurry up,¡± Mason said. ¡°We¡¯re waiting.¡± And then Mason disappeared behind the door frame, waiting outside once more.


    ¡°Okay, yeah,¡± Kyle said, swapping out the fire rune for a ¡°resist pain¡± rune. A buff effect on a ray would give it a much longer range; the extra flexibility would be worth the MP cost. He hit ¡°invent spell¡± as he stood, then hastily closed out of the spell window, leapt from his seat, and jogged outside.


    Mason, Braden, and Dvorak were standing outside waiting. Avina too, for some reason. ¡°Sorry for the delay,¡± Kyle said. ¡°I really should have done that sooner.¡±


    ¡°So what spell do you have now? Anything useful?¡±


    ¡°A fire ray. No more having my flame spheres bounce off things! And a ranged spell that helps people resist pain. It seemed¡­ useful, given that Aubrey¡¯s busy and we won¡¯t have a healer.¡±


    ¡°Bet it¡¯s nice having a whole research team matching pages for you,¡± Braden said, rolling his eyes.


    ¡°Actually, ah¡­¡± Kyle felt sheepish. But it was eating away at him. He had to tell someone. ¡°I¡¯ve been stealing RP. Kinda.¡±


    ¡°How do you do that?¡± Asked Dvorak. ¡°RP seems more like a concept than something you can stick in your pocket and sneak away with.¡±


    ¡°The RP Aubrey gives me is supposed to be for her own research. I don¡¯t even know what half the spells she makes do; they just move some rocks around and Aubrey¡¯s team gets all excited and scribble down notes. But¡­ I mean, I need some RP to spend on my own spells, right? So¡­ whenever Aubrey gives me a spell diagram to learn and asks how much RP it¡¯ll cost, I sort of¡­ inflate the cost by five points. So I can keep the extra.¡±


    ¡°Wait, you¡¯re lying to Aubrey?¡± Avina asked in disbelief.


    Mason chuckled. ¡°She¡¯s gonna be so pissed when she finds out. And she will find out. She¡¯s hell-bent on learning the formulas for everything.¡±A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    ¡°Yeah, I, uh¡­ found that out,¡± Kyle said, rubbing his neck. ¡°I thought at first she was just acting like a control freak and trying to track my RP expenditures. But then she comes up one day and tells me that she¡¯s found the formula to calculate how much RP a spell would cost.¡±


    ¡°Oh god,¡± Mason said, chuckling.


    ¡°I know, right?¡± Kyle said. ¡°She says it¡¯s some bizarre formula based on the number of runes, the highest tier rune, the total area of all runes, the path length of the connections between runes, and get this: some constant based on the inventor.¡±


    ¡°Some¡­ constant?¡± Avina said, holding a fist in front of a smile.


    ¡°Yeah. For Insagrim, it¡¯s 10. For me, it¡¯s 15. Imagine that.¡± Kyle laughed nervously. ¡°She said it threw them for a while. They think it¡¯s because I ranked resilience instead of attunement.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re toast,¡± Mason said. ¡°Not even the King can stay the wrath of the court programmer.¡±


    ¡°No, it¡¯s cool. I just need to make sure that I always add five to my research cost, and they won¡¯t find out. As long as none of you tell them.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Dvorak said. ¡°Your secret is safe with us. And my tens of thousands of viewers. I promise none of them would betray your confidence.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re lucky you¡¯re the one feeding me spells,¡± Braden said, rolling his eyes with a smirk. ¡°If I turn you in, who would I get my scrolls from?¡±


    ¡°But you wouldn¡¯t, right?¡± Kyle said, smiling.


    ¡°Who knows?¡± Braden said. ¡°Maybe when she¡¯s done with all her ¡®research¡¯, she¡¯d give me some of those earth-shattering spells she¡¯s been promising.


    ¡°If she ever comes through,¡± Kyle said, chuckling. ¡°Right now being in her good graces would just get you a bunch of spells to move and recolor pebbles.¡±


    ¡°Anyway,¡± Mason said, ¡°Were we going to Wight¡¯s Hold? Or to that place to the northwest?¡±


    ¡°Wight¡¯s Hold,¡± Kyle clarified. ¡°It¡¯ll take a few hours on foot. We¡¯ve got to figure out how to tame Chokka beasts one of these days so we can travel faster.¡±


    ¡°Still, it shouldn¡¯t be a problem,¡± said Mason. ¡°I bet we¡¯ll be back Dvorak¡¯s curfew.¡±


    ¡°See you later, Avina,¡± Kyle said. He started to turn, but Avina shook her head.


    ¡°She wants to come with us,¡± said Dvorak.


    ¡°Wait, what?¡± Kyle said. ¡°We¡¯re going to a dungeon, Avina. It¡¯s not safe. You¡¯re not seriously thinking of¡­¡± He trailed off when she shook her head again.


    ¡°You¡¯ve only got four people going, so there¡¯s room in your party,¡± Avina said. ¡°And I¡¯m not needed here. There¡¯s no use for farmers right now; all the crops are in the ground and we only need a few people to weed them.¡±


    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t even come to the training exercise at the mines,¡± Kyle said. ¡°You really want to go in the dungeon, Avina?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Avina blurted, then looked down nervously. ¡°I mean¡­ not in the dungeon. Shield of Faith and Holy Armor last for up to ten minutes, and I¡¯ve got enough mana to cast them a few times each. I could just¡­ stand at the entrance. And help.¡±


    ¡°I think we should take her with us,¡± said Dvorak. ¡°My mana potions regenerate mana really slowly, but if she drinks one every time we come out to get our buffs renewed, she¡¯d last for a few hours, I think.¡±


    Kyle hesitated, but realized it might actually be good for the girl. It made sense to try and let people be as involved in adventuring as possible. And if there was a crystal in Wight¡¯s Hold, she could even level up after they cleared it out. ¡°Yeah, okay. Come on, let¡¯s do this.¡±


    Avina smiled and nodded slightly, and they started off.

 Chapter 42: In which Things are Atmospherically Dead

    The going was slow, but not unpleasant. It made sense to take Braden with them, because he was one of the higher-powered people in the city. (All Adepts were; the research exploit Braden discovered let the mages get powerful quickly.) But the other reason Kyle invited Braden was because Kyle hadn¡¯t had much opportunity to get to know Braden. For somebody that had been in the city nearly since it had begun, Kyle knew surprisingly little about him.


    ¡°So, why a dwarf?¡± Kyle asked as they forded a small stream. ¡°If you were going to be an adept, wouldn¡¯t it make more sense to be an elf or something?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Braden said, trying to find a spot to cross that wouldn¡¯t leave him waist-deep. ¡°I had a character in some ancient MMO back in college that was a Dwarven Runesmith. I had no idea what character I¡¯d play here, so I thought I¡¯d give that a shot.¡± Braden sighed, and just walked into the stream, turning to face upstream as the current started pushing against him. ¡°I¡¯ve tried to do that. Even took ¡®Enchanting¡¯ as my skill at the second crystal. Too bad that was a trap choice. Seems like enchanting needs all sorts of materials we haven¡¯t found yet.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll be useful eventually,¡± Kyle said, turning back to offer a hand to Braden to help him cross. ¡°Jacob¡¯s nearly got that mana tower up, so we¡¯ll be able to start growing mana crystals. Hopefully soon we can get you doing some enchanting.¡±


    ¡°So why adept for you, Kyle? Was it your first MMO character or something?¡± Braden took Kyle¡¯s hand and started climbing up the ledge on the other side of the stream.


    ¡°No,¡± Kyle grunted, heaving the dwarf up the ridge. When Braden was up, Kyle let go, and paused to breathe. ¡°Actually, I, uh¡­ I played a rogue. In a tabletop group. He wasn¡¯t a friendly sort of guy.¡± Kyle shook his head. ¡°I couldn¡¯t be him. I could play him, but I couldn¡¯t be him.¡±


    ¡°I get what you mean,¡± Braden said, shaking his head. ¡°I¡¯m still me. Just as a dwarf. You can¡¯t escape who you are.¡±


    ¡°Unless you¡¯re Raphael,¡± Dvorak said, climbing from the stream. ¡°Just sayin.¡± Dvorak looked comically dishevelled while completely soaked.


    ¡°It can¡¯t be healthy to have such a personality break like that,¡± said Mason from the other bank.


    ¡°At least for him, when this is all over, it can be somebody else that killed dozens of players and hundreds of monsters,¡± Kyle said. ¡°He can throw it all away when he gets home and go back to being¡­ whoever he actually is.¡±


    ¡°Would that be a good thing?¡± Avina said, climbing the rock face and slipping slightly. It was rare that she spoke up. ¡°Raphael seems¡­ brave. Dedicated. I bet he wasn¡¯t like that before. And we¡­ we¡¯re all growing, aren¡¯t we?¡±


    Kyle walked over to offer a hand to Avina as well. With a nod, she took Kyle¡¯s hand and he lifted her up. She was much lighter than Braden was. He looked away. ¡°I guess,¡± Kyle said. ¡°But how would somebody like Raphael work out in the real world? ¡®What ho, good sir! Dost thou desire fried potatoes with thy beef sandwich? Or a dry beverage, praytell?¡¯¡±


    Kyle expected a laugh, and got a chuckle from Braden and Mason. But Avina looked concerned.


    ¡°What about you, Kyle?¡± she asked. ¡°Do you want to just¡­ go back to who you were? Throw away the things you¡¯re learning here?¡±


    Kyle paused, thinking fast.


    ¡°Avina!¡± Dvorak shouted. ¡°How the hell are you still dry!¡±


    Bless that Lagotherre.


    Avina went back to looking mousey. ¡°Holy Armor¡¯s waterproof, so I just cast it at minimum duration before stepping in.¡±


    ¡°Why waste the mana?¡± Braden asked. ¡°You might need it when we get there.¡±


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t much. I thought it¡¯d be fun,¡± Avina said.


    Kyle glanced at Avina¡¯s mana in his party display. ¡°Relax,¡± he said. ¡°She¡¯ll be back up to full before we get to Wight¡¯s hold. She¡¯s not like us; she can adjust the duration or power of her spells when she casts them, so she¡¯s being responsible.¡± Kyle saw Avina nod slightly in thanks, and he turned to look at his minimap. ¡°This way.¡±This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    A few minutes before Kyle expected to arrive at the tower, Kyle noticed that the sky was starting to grow grayer. He looked up and shaded his eyes against the sun. ¡°Weird,¡± he said. ¡°Why¡¯s the sky doing that while the sun¡¯s still up?¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re getting close,¡± Mason said. ¡°I bet it¡¯s atmospheric.¡±


    ¡°The trees have fewer leaves,¡± Braden said, pulling down a branch. He looked in the direction they were travelling, then back from where they came. ¡°Yeah, the foliage is thicker back there, and thinner towards Wight¡¯s Hold.¡±


    ¡°So obviously this is the most friendly of places,¡± Dvorak said. ¡°We should expect a warm reception and perhaps a welcome platter.¡±


    The sky only grew darker as they continued, soon becoming overcast with a gray haze that blotted out the sun. The trees were became nothing more than gnarled, dead trunks with skeletal branches. Like most other things in the game, it effectively communicated the mood while still somehow being overdone and trite.


    ¡°Don¡¯t suppose you can turn undead, Avina?¡± asked Kyle. She shook her head.


    ¡°Hey!¡± barked Dvorak. ¡°I¡¯m an Acolyte too!¡±


    ¡°Dvorak, can you turn undead?¡± asked Kyle.


    ¡°Actually¡­ actually no, I can¡¯t either.¡±


    Finally, Kyle saw their destination through the ragged treeline; a tall circular tower made of crumbling, ragged stone bricks. It was crowned with a rusty metal spire that left corrosion-colored streaks on the bricks below it. Around its base was a decaying wrought-iron fence, creating a courtyard about a quarter the size of Kyle¡¯s entire city. Behind the fence they saw row and rows of ¨C


    ¡°Tombstones,¡± Mason said as they approached the gate. ¡°Yep. Called it.¡±


    ¡°Think each one will spawn a zombie?¡± Braden said. ¡°Because you know there are going to be zombies.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but there are lots of kinds of zombies,¡± Dvorak said. ¡°Think these will be the tanky, shambling, kitable kind? Or the screeching spidery kind that move inhumanly fast?¡±


    ¡°They¡¯ll all burn the same,¡± Braden said, opening his menu.


    ¡°Wait,¡± Kyle said, putting up a hand. ¡°That tower¡¯s tall. I¡¯m counting¡­ eight stories. Even if there¡¯s only one combat per floor, we¡¯ll run out of mana potions if we use burn through our whole bar every fight. Let¡¯s use weapons until things get hairy.¡±


    ¡°Speak for yourself,¡± Braden said. ¡°I took attunement as my second level.¡±


    ¡°And that¡¯s what, a 20% increase in mana?¡±


    ¡°Fair,¡± Braden said. His axe materialized in his hand. ¡°Still 20% more than you.¡±


    ¡°Unless I burn HP as mana, in which case we¡¯re pretty much even, but I also have pain resistance. Don¡¯t think I hadn¡¯t thought of this.¡±


    ¡°Well still, I have mana regen and you don¡¯t,¡± Braden said, shrugging.


    ¡°At the rate of what, ten percent per hour?¡±


    ¡°Better than nothing,¡± Braden said.


    ¡°If you two could shut up, please?¡± Mason said. ¡°We¡¯ve got zombies to kill.¡± Mason grabbed his fist with one hand as though cracking his knuckles, then shook his hands when nothing happened. ¡°Still bugs me that that doesn¡¯t work here.¡±


    ¡°Avina, are you planning on¡­¡± Kyle started to ask, but stopped when he saw her, eyes wide, clutching her spear and staring at the graveyard. ¡°¡­ooo-kay, nevermind. Tell you what; you can dump the buffs on us here, and we¡¯ll shut the gate to keep the stuff in with us when we fight whatever comes out.¡±


    Avina nodded. She opened her interface and touched some buttons, and her spear started glowing white. In turn, she touched the butt of the spear to each person in their party.


    Kyle opened his status window, and saw her buffs listed under his statistics, with a timer ticking down from ten minutes. He still wasn¡¯t sure exactly what Holy Armor or Shield of Faith did, besides apparently make one waterproof, but he was grateful all the same. He looked up at Avina¡¯s mana bar and saw it was still about half full.


    Dvorak handed Avina a potion. ¡°Drink this; it won¡¯t quite bring you back to full by the time the ten minutes are up, but it¡¯ll be close.¡± Avina nodded, took the potion, and backed off.


    ¡°Okay, on the clock now guys,¡± Mason said. ¡°Let¡¯s move. Break!¡± He kicked the gate, which flew opened with a tinny rattle, and rushed in. Kyle and the others moved in behind him.


    They were on guard, but nothing seemed to happen.


    ¡°This is thoroughly anticlimactic,¡± Dvorak said. ¡°Think maybe it¡¯s just for atmosphere?¡±


    ¡°No way,¡± said Kyle. ¡°It¡¯s called ¡®Wight¡¯s Hold¡¯. It¡¯s there must be undead. They¡¯re probably just waiting for some sort of trigger. Keep an eye on those graves.¡± Kyle approached the door to the tower and knelt to examine the knob. ¡°Looks locked. I guess we should have had a rogue?¡±


    ¡°No need,¡± said Mason, stepping forward. Kyle startled as Mason kicked the door hard. It popped open, wobbling slightly. Thousands of dusty motes glowed on the other side, lit by the the shafts of sunlight from the door.


    ¡°That¡­ that works.¡±


    ¡°Guys?¡± Dvorak said warningly. ¡°Guys, you triggered them. They¡¯re triggered now. Here they come.¡±


    Kyle looked back towards the graves. In front of nearly a dozen tombstones, emaciated figures pulled themselves from the soil. Clods of dirt fell from their shoulders and heads as they stood, hissing. Kyle had seen that sort of animation on other zombies in the past, but it wasn¡¯t until he saw it in person that he realized how illogical it was. He felt as though if he were trapped under that much dirt, he wouldn¡¯t be able to get out that quickly.


    ¡°Kyle?¡± Mason said from the doorway. Kyle looked back through the door, and saw another half dozen animate skeletons rising from stone sarcophagi, bearing shields and scimitars.


    ¡°Crap,¡± Kyle said. ¡°We pulled two groups at once.¡±

 Chapter 43: In which Mason is Raid Leader

    ¡°No spells, huh?¡± Braden asked, opening his menus.


    ¡°Nope,¡± Mason said. ¡°Pull out to the courtyard, Ironclad formation.¡± Kyle fell in line, opening his menu and pulling out a large tower shield. By prior agreement, Mason was shotcaller for combats in this dungeon.


    ¡°Ironclad? What¡¯s that?¡± asked Braden.


    ¡°It¡¯s why you should be coming to our training drills,¡± said Mason. ¡°Pull out a shield. Guard our back.¡±


    They pulled out to the courtyard. Kyle held his shield out, protecting Mason¡¯s left side. Dvorak, conveniently left handed as it turns out, had a shield on his right arm protecting Mason¡¯s left flank. The skeletons came out the door, jaws clacking, swinging their weapons threateningly. The zombies, luckily, turned out to be the slow kind; they had some breathing room before the zombies joined the fight.


    Mason, with a few quick taps, pulled out a giant metal sledgehammer. Kyle probably couldn¡¯t lift it; and even Mason probably wouldn¡¯t have been able to either without his ranks in strength. The skeletons surrounded the group, but it was so tightly clustered that they had all sides warded with either weapons or shields.


    ¡°Hammer, huh?¡± asked Braden. ¡°For breaking bones?¡±


    Mason swung his hammer down on the head of a skeleton, whose parry was totally ineffective at stopping the giant weapon. It clattered into a pile of loose bones, skull shattered.


    ¡°Yep,¡± Mason grunted.


    Mason pointed. Kyle took a step back and Dvorak took a step forward to re-orient the formation. As skeletal scimitars bounced off their thick shields, Mason smashed another skeleton in the shoulder, knocking it down. Its joints contorted and bent in unnatural angles, but they held together. It started slowly pulling itself up.


    Kyle noticed the skull was intact, two pinpricks of light visible deep in its sockets. ¡°Mason, I think-¡±


    Mason stomped on the skull, and the bones scattered. ¡°Yep," he said. "Got it.¡±


    Kyle smiled. Mason knew what he was doing.


    ¡°Zombies?¡± Braden said. ¡°They¡¯re getting pretty close.¡±


    Mason nodded. ¡°Braden; run into the tower. Check it for hostiles. Shout back if it¡¯s clear.¡±


    Braden darted out towards the tower, giving a couple nearby zombies a wide berth. Kyle and Dvorak fell in to try and cover as much of Mason¡¯s rear as they could. Kyle tried to strike at a skeleton with his axe, but it blocked the blow with the scimitar. Forgoing that approach, he instead thrust his axe through the skeleton¡¯s ribs, hooked its curved head around the skeleton¡¯s spine, then pulled it forward while bashing it with his shield. With a snap, the vertebrae came apart, and Kyle stomped on the skull.


    ¡°Seems clear!¡± Braden shouted. ¡°We kited all the skeletons out.¡±


    ¡°Pull back to the tower,¡± Mason said. ¡°Use the door as a choke point, like we should have done to start with.¡±


    Kyle turned and stepped backwards with the others, bringing the formation towards the door. Without any way of breaking the shield barrier, the skeletons moved out of the way and let them pass.


    The zombies were less amicable. As the group passed, A zombie reached out and grabbed Kyle¡¯s shield. Kyle hacked at it, but it seemed impervious to pain and had no sense of self-preservation; it would not let go. To avoid disrupting the formation, Kyle had to let the shield drop and pull out a replacement.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    They reached the door and stood in it. Mason and Kyle stood at the entrance, shoulder to shoulder; Dvorak wouldn¡¯t fit, and filled in behind them. Kyle hadn¡¯t gotten a good look at the room. He didn¡¯t like not knowing what was behind them, but trusted Dvorak and Braden to keep their rear safe.


    The skeletons held back, letting the zombies past. Mason, still with his hammer out, swung sideways at the head of a slowly shambling zombie, grunting with effort. The blow connected, knocking the zombie¡¯s head clean off.


    The headless zombie then grabbed the hammer.


    Mason pulled the hammer, which sent the zombie toward him. He kicked at the zombies shins, but the zombie didn¡¯t react. Hand over hand, the headless zombie started pulling itself up the hammer, even closer to Mason. With a filtered curse, Mason planted the head of the hammer into the zombie¡¯s chest and shoved, knocking the zombie away but losing the hammer in the process.


    He pulled out a tower shield and his axe. ¡°We need lighter weapons. Anything slow enough, they¡¯ll catch.¡±


    The dozen or so zombies were starting to reach the door all at once. They pressed together, arms outstretched, heads lolling. Kyle swung at one, and it grabbed at the weapon, but was too slow to catch it. Another grabbed his shield and started pulling it away. Kyle hacked at one if its arms, but another was pressing in reaching past his shield, ignoring Mason¡¯s axe chops.


    ¡°Shields together!¡± Mason said. They pulled back, and barred the door by putting their shields next to each other. Kyle planted his feet and resisted the tugs from the other side.


    ¡°This was a bad idea,¡± Mason admitted. ¡°The skeletons were meant to be fought at a chokepoint. The zombies were meant to be fought in the open, where we could kite them. We¡¯ve reversed it by activating both at once. In a corner, we¡¯ll be overwhelmed.¡±


    Kyle knew in real life, he¡¯d be scared spitless and his pulse would be racing. A month ago, he¡¯d still be afraid, if only because he felt like he should. But now, he saw the lack of adrenaline as a blessing that helped him keep his head. ¡°So now what? Let them in and try to kite them around in circles?¡±


    ¡°The tower¡¯s not that big,¡± Braden said.


    ¡°Braden, take Kyle¡¯s shield,¡± Mason said. Braden nodded, ran forward, braced his legs, and took the shield, grunting as he resisted the zombie¡¯s pulls.


    ¡°Kyle, break a window and hop out. They¡¯re all clumped on the other side. Use fire mist to burn them all.¡±


    Kyle nodded. Scanning the room, he quickly found a window. It shattered with a well placed swing form his axe. He looked skeptically at the remnants of glass left in the panes, sticking like daggers from the wood. It looked dangerous to climb through. Then, with a flash of clarity, he realized the window had a latch, and he undid it and swung it outwards.


    He hopped out, as quietly as he could. He lacked stealth, which would have made his movement unnaturally quiet, but he didn¡¯t seem to need it; the undead were oblivious to his presence. The zombies tugged at the shields and at each other, struggling to get past Mason¡¯s barrier, and the skeletons clacked their teeth and beat their scimitars against their shields.


    Walking as quietly as he could, Kyle crept around behind them, trusting his prior practice to know exactly where to stand to include the zombies, but not Mason, in the area of effect. He opened his skill menu and lightly tapped the button.


    Flames gushed from him, filling the spell¡¯s circular area and leaving cinders in their wake. The skeletons turned, jaws slack in shock, before fleeing the circle of flame. The zombies, however, did not.


    ¡°Huh,¡± Kyle said, intrigued. He quickly Examined one. The zombies kept clawing at the barrier, paying the cloud of embers no heed, their HP bars rapidly decreasing. Eventually, HP exhausted, the zombies sank to the ground, now nothing more than smoldering corpses.


    Kyle felt something solid impact his shoulder.


    He turned just in time to see a fist sized rock fly towards his face.


    He flinched, too slow to dodge. A burst of white light flashed in front of his eyes, and the rock bounced off of something right before hitting his face. He noted that the skeletons had sheathed their scimitars and were now throwing rocks at him.


    Thank God for Avina and her shield.


    ¡°Come on! Really?¡± Kyle said indignantly. ¡°A rock throwing AI? You¡¯re skeletons! You¡¯re supposed to be dumb!¡± He tried to dodge a third rock and didn¡¯t quite get out of the way in time, and a flash of light deflected it from his shoulder. Hands over his head, Kyle jogged into the tower again. Dvorak and Mason parted shields to let him through.


    ¡°No more zombies?¡± asked Dvorak.


    Kyle shook his head. ¡°I got them all. Unless there are more hiding underground.


    ¡°You know, Mason,¡± said Braden sourly. ¡°I know the flame mist spell too.¡±


    Mason looked over at Braden. ¡°Yeah? So?¡±


    ¡°I could have done that.¡±


    ¡°I guess,¡± said Mason. ¡°So what does it matter?¡±


    ¡°I have more mana than Kyle.¡±


    ¡°Guess so,¡± said Mason shrugging. ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯ll end up mattering, though, so whatever.¡±


    Braden didn¡¯t answer for a moment. ¡°Yeah, whatever. So we go upstairs now?¡± Braden said, pointing at a nearby staircase.

 Chapter 44: In which "Nerdpole" is an Outdated but Applicable Idiom

    Braden didn¡¯t answer for a moment. ¡°Yeah, whatever. So we go upstairs now?¡± Braden said, pointing at a nearby staircase.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think so, actually,¡± said Kyle. ¡°We tried to get through that battle without using spells, and it didn¡¯t work. And this was the first battle. Either we¡¯re underleveled, under equipped, or just bad. Either way, we aren¡¯t going to be able to make this climb. There¡¯s like eightstories here.¡±


    ¡°So we just give up?¡± Dvorak said. ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound much like you.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± said Kyle. ¡°We just act smarter. Why bother going through ten trapped floors full of monsters and death when we can just skip it all?¡±


    ¡°How?¡± asked Mason.


    Kyle pointed to the window. ¡°We sneak in the back way,¡± he said. ¡°Chop wood. Build some wooden walls and floors and stairs and stuff to act as scaffolding. Enter directly into the top floor.¡±


    ¡°What, and miss out on the loot we¡¯d get on the way up?¡± asked Braden.


    ¡°We can come back for that later,¡± Kyle said.


    Mason nodded. ¡°The best stuff is going to be at the top anyway. Maybe even something good enough to make the rest of the floors easier.¡±


    ¡°Kyle,¡± Dvorak said, ¡°You¡¯re killing me. Or more specifically my viewers. Here¡¯s this perfectly good tower here and you¡¯re going to skip it all? By chopping wood?¡±


    ¡°Yep¡±, said Kyle.


    ¡°Good plan! It involves me not dying. Go get a sandwich, guys. The moderators of my stream chat will send out an all ping when we¡¯re ready to sequence-break right to the boss room.¡±


    ¡°Skeletons, though,¡± said Braden.


    Mason nodded. ¡°Form up!¡±


    It only took another minute or two before the cloud of embers dissipated, and the remaining skeletons were no match for Mason¡¯s hammer. Within a few minutes, they were chopping wood. Avina helped too, grateful to be able to participate.


    ¡°Sure we can¡¯t just take it one floor at a time?¡± asked Braden, huffing with exertion. ¡°If we, like camp out and drink potions, we could do it. It¡¯d just be slow.¡±


    ¡°Slower than chopping wood, definitely,¡± Dvorak said. ¡°Unless we have some very entertaining arguments between battles, I vote we front-load the boring bits.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not about taking more time,¡± Braden said. ¡°It¡¯s about how much I hate chopping wood. Just because Avina has woodcutting as a skill doesn¡¯t mean we all enjoy it.¡±


    Avina shook her head.


    ¡°Avina didn¡¯t take woodcutting,¡± Kyle said on her behalf. ¡°That¡¯s the other elf girl you¡¯re thinking of. Kyrie.¡± Kyle was getting better with names. ¡°Avina took¡­¡± Kyle tried to think of what skills Avina had, but he wasn¡¯t sure. ¡°Avina, what did you take?¡±


    ¡°Prayermaster and¡­ and cooking,¡± she said sheepishly.


    ¡°Cooking? A cleric girl in an MMO that takes cooking?¡± Braden said, lowering his axe. ¡°That¡¯s so¡­ domestic. Shouldn¡¯t you be fighting that stereotype?¡±The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°Hey,¡± Avina said indignantly, chopping at a tree. ¡°Women should be able to do what they like, and I like to cook. I nearly went to culinary school, but then I started a nutrition science bachelor¡¯s program instead.¡±


    ¡°Cut the teasing, Braden,¡± Kyle said, dividing a fallen tree into chunks he could put in his inventory. ¡°Somebody had to take cooking so we had all our skills covered, and it might as well be somebody who enjoys it. Cooking might come in handy. What does it do, Avina?¡±


    ¡°I can make food in the crafting menu. I mean¡­ better tasting food,¡± Avina clarified. With one more axe blow, her tree started falling. ¡°And I can make food that gives stat buffs too. They last a long time. It¡¯s great because I can affect lots of people at once by just doubling or tripling the recipe. but it makes me play a minigame to do it, and it¡¯s¡­ kind of annoying.¡± As the tree hit the ground, she started chopping one of the sections off.


    ¡°Can¡¯t be worse than the ¡®research¡¯ minigame,¡± Kyle said. ¡°But we cheesed the research minigame. Maybe there¡¯s a way to cheese cooking, too.¡±


    ¡°¡®Cheese cooking?¡¯ I see what you did there,¡± Dvorak said. Kyle rolled his eyes.


    ¡°I could.. show you, if you want,¡± Avina said, picking up an armful of wood and bringing it to Kyle. ¡°Maybe we could find a way to make it easier.¡±


    ¡°Sure. It¡¯d be nice to have on-demand buffs like that,¡± Kyle said. ¡°We¡¯ll look into it when we get back. Maybe we can pull Aubrey in, if she¡¯d stop making spell diagrams long enough. She¡¯s great at finding exploits.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Maybe,¡± Avina said. She dropped her wood in front of Kyle and turned away to start on another tree.


    Even without architecture, any player could make wooden walls and some other wooden items. Better yet, a wall could be made to be two inches tall and two inches thick. Even better, walls could intersect each other and any angle the builder wished.


    So, using their wood, Kyle built a ¡°building¡± made up of dozens of one foot wide, one yard long rectangular rooms all lined up in a row. It had two-inch high walls and no roof or floor.


    Then, the group picked up one end and pushed it until it was tipped vertical, then let it fall against the wall of the tower.


    Which functionally made it a ladder.


    A really high ladder.


    ¡°So¡­¡± Kyle said as Avina recast her spells on the group. ¡°Who¡¯s going first?¡± Kyle looked at the others, who pointedly avoided eye contact with him. ¡°Figures,¡± Kyle said, and started climbing the frighteningly tall ladder himself.


    Kyle didn¡¯t trust himself to look down without getting vertigo, so he just trusted that the grunts and creaks below him indicated that the others were following him. He suddenly worried that perhaps the wood would break, but he hadn¡¯t seen any construction break that hadn¡¯t taken HP damage first, so he tried to talk himself into believing he was perfectly safe.


    Just in case, he Examined the ladder and kept an eye on its HP bar.


    When he reached the top, he was a few inches away from a window on the top floor. It seemed to have the same sort of construction as the ones on the first floor, meaning it was latched from the inside.


    ¡°Guys? The windows locked.¡±


    ¡°Smash the glass and unlock it then,¡± shouted Mason.


    ¡°Oh. Yeah.¡± Kyle started to pull out his axe, navigating his windows with one hand while gripping tightly to the ladder with his other. Then he thought better of it. Instead, he leaned as far towards the window as he dared, and looked though to see if there was anything on the other side that breaking the window would announce his presence to.


    Inside, in a dark room lit by the blue light of a transcendence crystal, he saw a skeletal figure in metal armor seated on a throne. The room was lit by flickering torches holding blue flames. A thick purple rug led from the throne to the far side of the room, where Kyle could barely see a staircase leading down. It¡¯d be a fitting final room; walking up those stairs and being greeted by the armored figure would have been quite an experience.


    He¡¯d have almost felt bad about ruining it, had he not been in a death game.


    ¡°Some sort of armored skeleton on a throne in there. Smashing the window¡¯s going to let him know we¡¯re here,¡± Kyle said.


    ¡°I guess we¡¯ll have to climb through the window fast, before he camps the entrance and we get stuck on the ladder,¡± Kyle heard Mason say.


    ¡°I think I¡¯ll actually try and kite him away from the window so you all can sneak through,¡± Kyle said. ¡°Hold up a sec.¡± Kyle pulled out his axe with his left hand, took a deep breath, and smashed the glass.


    The skeleton¡¯s gaze snapped to look at the window, and Kyle tossed his axe through the hole in the window rather than spend the time to stow it. He fumbled briefly with the latch before it came free, and he pulled open the window as the skeleton stood and walked towards him.

 Chapter 45: In which they Confront the Wightlord

    ¡°So, you insist on rampaging through my tower, despite my warnings,¡± the skeleton said in a deep, synthetically echoed voice. Kyle pulled himself through the window as it continued, ¡°You have bested my guards, dodged my traps, and even outwitted my riddles. But now you must contend with the Wightlord himself. I ask of you; are you prepared?¡±


    ¡°No, actually,¡± Kyle said, edging around the perimeter of the room towards the stairs. ¡°I¡¯d like to stand on the other side of the room first. If you don¡¯t mind waiting, I¡¯ll just walk over to-¡±


    ¡°Too bad!¡± the Wightlord shouted. A glowing blue blade appeared in its hands, and it ran headlong towards Kyle.


    Kyle yelped and ran towards the stairs, trying to kite him away from the window. A brief glance behind him showed he was far slower than the undead king. Kyle spun to face it right as it swung its sword to hit Kyle.


    Kyle, weaponless, put to use Mason¡¯s karate training and stepped forward, inside the reach of the skeleton¡¯s swing. He grabbed the skeleton¡¯s arm, robbing the swing of its momentum and stopping the blade.


    And immediately regretted doing so.


    Icy cold bit Kyle¡¯s hand where he touched the skeleton¡¯s arm-bone, quickly spiking down his arm and spreading into his shoulder. Kyle shouted in alarm and pushed the Wightlord away before withdrawing. The skeleton regained its balance and swung again. Kyle backed off, the sword narrowly missing his chest.


    An arrow impacted the back of the skeleton¡¯s helmet, and he turned. Dvorak, behind the throne, had his bow out. ¡°Hey!¡± he shouted. ¡°I¡¯ve a got bow! Big threat over here! Better deal with me first!¡±


    The skeleton, with its simplistic AI, changed targets and ran towards Dvorak, who dropped his bow in favor of his axe and shield. Kyle glanced at the window and saw Mason climbing through.


    With a little time to breathe, Kyle took stock of himself. He tried to open up the status menu, but his arms felt heavy and unresponsive. Struggling to keep his hands up to press the buttons, he paged through his status info.


    And saw his strength score was at -3.


    ¡°Guys! Watch out! It¡¯s got a strength draining attack! Don¡¯t let it touch you.¡±


    Dvorak nodded, dodging around the throne to keep it between him and the Wightlord. Mason was moving in to flank, holding the hammer he reclaimed from the zombies. Braden had finally heaved himself in through the window.


    Dvorak scored a hit on the armored skeleton with his axe. Kyle laboriously hit ¡°examine¡± and waited for the bar to fill. He saw the skeleton¡¯s HP had barely decreased. Even the next blow , a powerful strike from Mason¡¯s hammer, didn¡¯t make the bar move much. The thing had to have a ton of health.


    Which made sense, given it was a final boss.


    The Wightlord whirled around, striking Mason across the chest. A shimmering barrier flashed at the impact site and the blade was turned aside, but Kyle could see spidery cracks of frost form on Mason¡¯s breastplate, and saw Mason¡¯s HP drop by a surprisingly large amount given that the blade didn¡¯t even penetrate the armor. Mason staggered back, hammer drooping.


    This wasn¡¯t going to end well.


    Unless they did something clever.


    ¡°Mason!¡± Kyle shouted. ¡°Window!¡±


    The confused look on Mason¡¯s face lasted only a moment before he nodded. ¡°Dvorak!¡± he said, sidestepping a vertical swing from the Wightlord, ¡°Take aggro. Clockwise, pull to window!¡±The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Dvorak swung his axe hard at the Wightlord¡¯s back, the metal clanging against its metal cuirass ineffectively. Mason dropped the hammer and pulled out a shield, and the Wightlord once again ignored the weaponless player to focus on the the armed player. Dvorak circled the Wightlord so his back was towards the window, and backed up as quickly as he could while still facing his foe, blocking its blows with his shield. Mason moved to follow, putting the Wightlord between him and the window.


    From the other side of the room, a bolt of green light struck the skeleton¡¯s back, leaving a sizzling glop of goo where it hit.


    Kyle looked back, and saw Braden with his arm outstretched.


    ¡°What the hell are you doing!¡± Mason shouted as the skeleton withdrew from Dvorak and ran after Braden.


    ¡°Aggro swapping,¡± Braden said, pulling out a large shield. ¡°Kite it back and forth between us and pepper it with ranged attacks ¡®till it dies!¡± Braden hunkered behind his shield and blocked the Wightlord¡¯s blow.


    ¡°No! No! Kyle, fog! Dvorak, bow! Now!¡±


    Kyle ran towards Braden, stopping a few yards away. He opened his spell menu and punched the buttons for his fire mist spell. The mist flared into being, the edge just a few feet away from Braden and the Wightlord.


    ¡°Braden,¡± called Kyle. ¡°Into the mist!¡±


    ¡°But only you¡¯re immune to it!¡± A blow cracked Braden¡¯s shield. He opened his inventory, blocked another blow that splintered the shield, and quickly retrieved a replacement.


    ¡°Braden!¡± Mason roared. ¡°Into the mist! Now!¡± One of Dvorak¡¯s arrows hit the Wightlord in the back, but it didn¡¯t change targets. Even though Braden wasn¡¯t holding a weapon, it must have considered him to be ¡°armed¡± because it saw him cast a spell. Swapping aggro would require drastic action.


    With a cry of annoyance, Braden ran into the fire mist, gritting his teeth against the pain. The Wightlord regarded Braden for a moment as another arrow whizzed by him. Then, finally, he switched targets and ran back towards Dvorak.


    Dvorak, who had moved back to the throne to reclaim his bow, dropped it once more and dashed back towards the window. Mason maneuvered into position. Now that the Wightlord had changed targets, Kyle weakly pushed Braden back out of the mist. It had probably been a painful few moments given that Braden hadn¡¯t ranked resilience, but he was only down about a quarter of his HP. He¡¯d live.


    Dvorak¡¯s shield was back out again, and the Wightlord had him cornered against the window. Mason took a deep breath, and ran fult-tilt towards the skeleton. The skeleton, hyperfixated on Dvorak, didn¡¯t see the threat until it was too late.


    Mason crashed into the skeleton with his shoulder as Dvorak ducked out of the way. The Wightlord tumbled over Dvorak and out the window.


    Mason suddenly lurched towards the window as well. His HP began plummeting.


    Kyle dashed forward out of his fire cloud to see what was wrong. As he neared, he saw that the Wightlord had grabbed onto Mason¡¯s arm as it fell through the window, and was hanging on.


    Bellowing in pain, Mason retrieved his axe left-handed and swung it at the skeleton¡¯s hand, severing it at the wrist. Free of the weight, Mason stood upright, dropped the axe, and pried the bony fingers of the Wightlord¡¯s hand from his arm, letting it drop to the ground.


    Panting, and at low HP, Mason sunk to the ground and kneeled. His arm was white and purple from the cold.


    ¡°Stupid strength drain,¡± Mason said. He tried to pick up his axe, but only managed to get it a few inches off the ground before it fell again. ¡°Stupid ¡ª¡ª- strength drain,¡± He reiterated, and placed a hand on the axe to put it directly in his inventory.


    Kyle looked out the window. Falling eight stories dealt fatal damage to the boss, who was now a scattered collection of bones on the ground.


    ¡°I guess we can loot it later,¡± Kyle said, shrugging.


    Braden approached Mason, smiling. ¡°That was a neat trick,¡± he said. ¡°Who¡¯d have thought that-¡±


    ¡°Why the hell did you do that!¡± Mason shouted, and Braden stopped in surprise. ¡°I¡¯m the combat leader. We don¡¯t have two. You nearly ruined the plan!¡±


    Braden narrowed his eyes. ¡°Only one leader in combat, huh?¡±


    ¡°Yes! Don¡¯t pull unless I say to pull, or you can throw the whole raid off!¡± Mason struggled to get to his feet for a moment before falling back to his knees.


    ¡°So if there¡¯s only one leader,¡± Braden said, ¡°Then why did you listen to Kyle when he shouted ¡®window¡¯?¡±


    Mason paused for a beat.


    ¡°Because he didn¡¯t just go off and do his own thing! He made a suggestion! Like you should have. You could have shouted ¡®I¡¯ll aggro!¡¯ and I would have said ¡®No, don¡¯t!¡¯ There. Problem solved!¡±


    ¡°Uh-huh,¡± Braden said, folding his arms. ¡°Of course. Well you know what I think? I think that-¡±


    Braden was interrupted by a bolt of lightning from the side that struck Mason in the shoulder, knocking him off his knees and onto the ground, dead. His bar disappeared from Kyle¡¯s GUI.

 Chapter 46: In which Dvorak Agrees to Change Race

    Kyle turned and saw a gaunt man in black robes, holding a staff, a tongue of smoke curling from his outstretched finger.


    The man strode forward into the room, and Kyle skittered back into his cloud of fire. Braden fell back as well, his back to the window.


    The man approached Dvorak. ¡°You know,¡± he said, ¡°That servant took a very long time to make.¡±


    Dvorak ran at the man with his axe, but caught a lightning bolt in the chest. His HP decreased by a large chunk as he fell to the ground, and a purple sphere appeared briefly around him before shattering, signalling that Avina¡¯s Shield of Faith spell had broken in a single hit.


    ¡°Did you truly think that a being such as the Wightlord could have existed by itself?¡± the man asked. ¡°No. Somebody had to create him.¡±


    ¡°Nova!¡± Kyle said, and opened up his spell list. He selected Kylefire ray, pointed, and launched the spell.


    A bright pink ray shot from his finger and hit the man straight in the back. Kyle was pleased to see he was far better at aiming his finger than he was at throwing things.


    But it didn¡¯t seem to do any damage.


    The man looked back at Kyle, smiled, and nodded. Almost appreciatively.


    With a sinking feeling, Kyle opened back up to his skills page.


    There were two spells named ¡°Kylefire Ray¡±.


    He had forgotten to change the name of his pain resistance spell before hitting the button to invent it.


    ¡°Guys,¡± Kyle said. ¡°Guys, I buffed him. I think I made him immune to pain,¡±


    ¡°Wait, what?¡± Dvorak shouted as the man closed on him.


    ¡°Now, you have met the creator,¡± the man said, continuing to walk slowly towards Dvorak. ¡°I think¡­ I think I need a replacement Wight. Maybe five. And your group will do!¡±


    Kyle looked at his skills page, trying to remember which of the two Kylefire rays he had picked last time. He chose one and fired it. He was wrong. Another pink ray shot from his finger into the man¡¯s back, dealing no damage whatsoever.


    ¡°Nova!¡± Kyle said. ¡°Shoot all the spells!¡± Why wasn¡¯t Braden attacking?


    He spared a glance to the side and saw Braden, who was approaching the man slowly.


    ¡°You know¡­ Yes! Yes, I totally want to be your wight!¡± Dvorak said to the enemy caster. ¡°Please, let me get acclimated to the idea first though. Does the position come with any benefits?¡±


    The man paused. ¡°A wight is immune to the forces of lightning. Its touch chills the soul, and saps strength from those so afflicted. It sees in darkness, and never tires,¡± the man said. ¡°So you truly wish to become my Wight?¡± Kyle was surprised there was a dialogue option for this. He supposed perhaps there was an option to switch races if you surrendered to the guy.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    But why was Dvorak asking?


    ¡°No, no,¡± Dvorak continued. ¡°I was asking about job benefits! You know, medical, dental. I haven¡¯t had a dentist appointment since I was born. Reborn, rather.¡±


    The man stopped, his neural network struggling to parse Dvorak¡¯s anachronistic reply.


    ¡°Dvorak! Braden! What the hell are you doing? Throw another acid ray! Pick up your Axe! For God¡¯s sake, don¡¯t be a wight!¡±


    ¡°A wight hungers only for living flesh, but you¡¯ll easily be able to provide that for yourself,¡± the man said. ¡°After all, you will be elevated among your.. former peers.¡± The man chuckled.


    Kyle watched as Braden approached the man carefully, slowly navigating his inventory. A knife appeared in his hand. But why? Braden was crap at physical combat.


    ¡°Oh, interesting,¡± Dvorak said. ¡°Far more interesting than anything my teammates might be saying, who really should shut up. But tell me about medical benefits. Is there insurance? And does it cover murder from ¡®former¡¯ peers?¡±


    Again, a pause before responding. ¡°Wights heal only in the moonlight, but do so far faster than mere mortals. Their mana replenishes twice as fast under the same conditions. You¡¯ll be a perfect stalker, able to harry your quarry by night without giving them a chance for reprieve.¡±


    Braden was directly behind the man now.


    ¡°Braden, you won¡¯t be able to kill him with¡­¡± Kyle stopped himself right before he said ¡°a single backstab.¡± He tried again. ¡°I don¡¯t think Melee¡¯s a great idea. You¡¯re a mage!¡±


    ¡°How about mental health benefits,¡± Dvorak continued. ¡°Do we get free counselling? Because I think I¡¯m hallucinating an ally continuing to talk when I clearly told him to shut up.¡±


    Kyle stammered, at a loss for words.


    ¡°You would keep your full mental faculties. Mostly,¡± the man said as Braden lifted the knife, bringing it to the left side of the man¡¯s back. ¡°You¡¯d have to follow my orders, of course. I would be your creator. But I think our goals may align. You see, I too have need of the transcendance crystals¡­¡±


    Braden carefully pushed the knife into the man¡¯s back. Kyle cringed, awaiting the man¡¯s reaction.


    There was none.


    The man was immune to pain.


    Kyle examined the man, and found his HP had dropped by almost a quarter. Braden carefully removed the knife, then reinserted it in a slow-motion backstab, taking another large chunk from the man¡¯s HP.


    ¡°So,¡± the man said. ¡°Your time runs short. Will you willingly join my cause? Or will I be forced to dispatch you and attempt the ritual on your corpse?¡±


    Kyle could help. If the man was immune to pain, Kyle could throw rays at him, right? He opened his menu.


    ¡°Sorry, still thinking. I got distracted,¡± Dvorak yammered. ¡°But not really distracted. Not like being on fire or anything. Because boy howdy, would that be distracting!¡±


    Kyle closed his skills menu. Maybe he could¡­ no, an arrow would probably cause enough of an impact that the man would turn around. How else could he help?


    ¡°Yes, wights are¡­ somewhat more susceptible to fire. But that is a minor matter. Now, do we have a deal?¡±


    Braden removed the knife and re-inserted it. The man was at about a third HP now.


    ¡°Um¡­ I am thinking¡­ that the answer¡­ Is¡­ yes!¡± Dvorak said, drawing out each word. ¡°But first, tell me how it will happen. Will it take long? Does it hurt? WIll I get to keep my ears? I¡¯m kind of attached to them, you see.¡±


    Braden¡¯s knife went in again. Just a sliver left.


    ¡°I can do it now. And it won¡¯t hurt. Much.¡± The man smiled, and raised his staff. Thick dark energy twined between the gem at its top and the man¡¯s left hand.


    Braden, done with stealth, ripped the knife free and jabbed it in one final time.


    With a scream that suggested pain that he couldn¡¯t have felt, the man arched his back before lighting on fire. As thick purple flames engulfed his face and arms, he fell to the ground, twisting and writhing. Within moments, all that remained was the man¡¯s staff and his robes, lying in a pile of black dust.


    Kyle heaved a sigh of relief, and walked out of his cloud of embers.

 Chapter 47: In which the Merits of Capitalism are Weighed

    ¡°That was brilliant, Braden.¡±


    ¡°See?¡± he replied. ¡°I do have ideas worth hearing.¡±


    ¡°I never said you didn¡¯t.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, you didn¡¯t. You just act like it sometimes.¡± Braden rolled his eyes and turned away. After a tense moment, he sighed and turned back. ¡°Whatever. We¡¯ve got loot! Two bosses worth! He picked up the staff and started hitting buttons to examine it.


    Kyle approached the pile of robes and picked it up, causing a small pendant to fall out of some folds and bounce across the floor. Dvorak came and picked it up, examining it.


    Kyle examined the robes in his hands. ¡°Fine Silk Robes¡±. Quality 89/100. Durability 29/30. Protective value of 2. No way. It had to be better than that.


    Dvorak seemed to think so too. He hit some buttons in his menu and stared again at the amulet. ¡°There we go. Can¡¯t keep secrets from the curious bunny.¡± He grinned. ¡°Wightwright amulet. Wearer is entirely ignored by reanimates unless he attacks or comes within five feet of them. So, like a ninja. But only around zombies. We could probably use this to help other people make this run and get their own loot.¡±


    ¡°Hey Dvorak,¡± Braden said. ¡°Can you do mine?¡±


    ¡°Sure!¡± Dvorak hopped over to Braden and hit more buttons.


    Then paused.


    ¡°Wow,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯s got yellow text. Never seen that. ¡®Rare drop,¡¯ it says. ¡®Staff of the journeyman.¡¯ Requires bonding, whatever that means,¡±


    ¡°It means you only get the benefit if you hold it or have it in your inventory for five days straight. It¡¯s something enchanters can do to lower the enchantment cost of some items. I guess it comes on loot too sometimes.¡±


    ¡°And no wonder. Get this: ¡®Upon bonding, user may choose one basic-level skill. This skill is upgraded to ¡®advanced¡¯ level as long as the staff is held.¡±


    ¡°Holy crap,¡± said Kyle. ¡°That¡¯s two levels! That¡¯s as much as most of our town even has!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but it¡¯s only for basic level skills. If you¡¯ve sunk two levels into a skill already, you can¡¯t bring it up another two and make it expert-level,¡± Dvorak said.


    ¡°Still,¡± Kyle said. He looked at Braden, who was looking at the staff almost reverently. ¡°We can use this. Like, give it to you so you could make advanced-level potions. Then pass it off to me so I can make advanced level spells. Then pass it to Skyfire so he could make advanced buildings.¡±


    ¡°Jacob¡¯s gonna be so jealous. Who¡¯d have thought taking a second level in architecture would put him behind Skyfire.¡± Dvorak shook his head. ¡°But it won¡¯t work. You¡¯ve got to hold the staff for five whole days.¡±


    ¡°Not a big problem. We just line everything up so that when the fifth day hits, that person can spend all day using their skill before passing it off to the next person. You know, collect enough resources for you to brew advanced potions for a whole say straight. And Aubrey could line up enough pages for me to-¡±


    ¡°No,¡± said Braden.


    ¡°Why not?¡± said Kyle, not understanding the flaw in his thinking.


    ¡°Because it¡¯s mine.¡±


    Kyle was speechless.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    ¡°What? Why? Why would you-¡±


    ¡°It was my plan that killed the necromancer,¡± said Braden. ¡°I dealt the killing blow. I dealt the most damage to it. No matter what metric you use, I¡¯m the one that should get first dibs on the loot. Three items, one for each of us. And this one¡¯s mine.¡±


    Kyle had a hard time responding. ¡°But Braden, this loot shouldn¡¯t be anybody¡¯s,¡± Kyle said. ¡°That amulet isn¡¯t mine. We¡¯ll be letting whoever¡¯s going to run this tower borrow it so they can-¡±


    ¡°Dvorak¡¯s holding it,¡± Braden said. ¡°Isn¡¯t it funny that you¡¯re already talking about it like it¡¯s yours? Yours to loan people?¡±


    Dvorak looked at the amulet. Then he tossed it to Kyle. ¡°Now it¡¯s in his hands. And it¡¯s still mine. And it¡¯s also his. And it¡¯s also yours. I mean, what good would hoarding this be? It makes more sense for everybody to take turns using it.¡±


    ¡°Not this, it doesn¡¯t,¡± Braden said, setting the end of the staff into the ground as though it were a walking stick. ¡°Bonding takes five days. If I let anybody borrow this, then they¡¯d have to have it for five days. And then I¡¯d have to have it for another five days before it¡¯d give me any benefit again. I¡¯ll just take this as my share of the loot, and you can do whatever with the rest.¡±


    Kyle was surprised at Braden¡¯s avarice. And yet, he was also surprised by his own surprise. This is the way the majority of the world worked, right? Personal ownership of property was one of the fundamentals of the free world.


    So what could Kyle do? He briefly considered offering to buy the staff from Braden, like a good capitalist would. But that wouldn¡¯t work. Right now, in theory, Braden could take any equipment he wanted from any place in the town he wanted. The armor he wore was made by the town. The shields and weapons. The food he ate. Kyle had nothing that Braden wasn¡¯t already entitled to¡­ at least in theory.


    ¡°Look,¡± said Dvorak. ¡°Kyle¡¯s king. Don¡¯t mess with him. He can make you persona non grata. Kick you out of town. Flag you as a criminal so you show up red if someone Examines you. Don¡¯t do this,¡±


    ¡°Hold on, Dvorak,¡± Kyle said, putting up a hand. It was a sticky situation. If Kyle extorted from Braden something he wasn¡¯t winning to give, he¡¯d be a dictator. Crystopia would revolve from being a utopia to a dystopia in the span of less than an hour. The voluntary sense of community was the fabric of Crystopia.


    But on the other hand, what Braden was doing would ruin Crystopia too. Personal property ownership would make everybody greedy. Right now, everybody could have anything they wanted. There was no need to assert ownership over anything. But if people started thinking that they could buy and sell stuff¡­


    Hunters would hold onto their meat, and refuse to part with it unless compensated. People would refuse to share spells unless paid. People would start arguing over who owned the blackwheat outside. Who knows what the architects would do. Charge people service fees for their buildings?


    It would be chaos. It would ruin everything. Maybe even worse than being a dictator would.


    Kyle thought fast. If he gave Braden an ultimatum, and demanded he turn over the staff or be banished forever, would he be in the right? Would his people think he was in the right?


    Would Kyle himself feel like he was in the right?


    He took a deep breath. ¡°Braden,¡± he said. ¡°You don¡¯t know what you¡¯re doing here. The whole city of Crystopia is founded upon the ideas of cooperation and-¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t give me that bull¡ª-¡± Braden said fiercely. ¡°It¡¯s about cooperation as long as you and your friends stay at the top. Your little party. Mason, Jacob, Dvorak, Aubrey hell, even Avina. I¡¯ve seen how you look at her.¡± Kyle started to object but was cut off. ¡°Everybody else is second class citizens. Even though I¡¯ve been here for longer! Hell, if that Jakarna and his elf girlfriend came back to town, you¡¯d probably give them half our stuff before they waltzed out again.¡± Braden shook his head. ¡°No, King Kyle. I know what I¡¯m doing. I¡¯m breaking the class system you¡¯ve set up. This is a step to a more free Crystopia, regardless of how you try and spin it.¡±


    Kyle fumed.


    ¡°Fine,¡± he said. ¡°You can keep the staff. But only if you don¡¯t act like it¡¯s yours. The moment you try to start a ¡®revolution¡¯, you¡¯re getting thrown out. You¡¯re the only person who seems to have a problem with the way we¡¯ve got things set up, so you can keep damn well to yourself. I¡¯ll tell people you¡¯re taking care of it ¡®for now¡¯, and we¡¯ll just never bring it up again.¡±


    Braden¡¯s eyes stayed narrowed, but he didn¡¯t object.


    ¡°So, uh¡­¡± Dvorak said awkwardly. ¡°Yeah, so how ¡®bout them zombies, eh? I guess we¡¯ve got another seven floors or so we could do. Probably some nice chests there, right?¡±


    Braden broke eye contact with Kyle and nodded. ¡°Probably some decent loot in them.¡±


    ¡°Do it yourself,¡± Kyle snapped. ¡°I¡¯m done here. Unless you agree to really be part of the team, you work alone from now on. Come on, Dvorak; let¡¯s touch the crystal and get out of here.¡±


    Kyle walked over to the crystal, jammed his hand against it, and went into the blue trance where he could shout in frustration without anybody hearing him.

 Chapter 48: In which Scarcity is Called "Yellow Loot"

    Kyle took a deep breath. Crystopia would manage. Somehow.


    It might start getting really rocky, though.


    He turned his attention back to the stat selection screen. He had an attribute and a skill he needed to pick.


    Well¡­ an attribute, at least. His skill was already spoken for.


    He was torn between continuing to rank resilience and instead ranking attunement. As much as Braden wanted to brag, Kyle thought resilience was still the more mechanically sound choice. Because Kyle could use HP to power spells, having more HP was basically having more mana. And having more HP increased the HP per minute he recovered as well, so it didn¡¯t even make sense to take attunement for the mana regeneration. Plus, resilience gave him pain resistance. Kyle liked pain resistance.


    But upon further reflection, if avoiding pain was his goal, then did it really make sense to use his HP as a mana battery? Braden could cast more spells before using magic physically hurt him. That might end up making or breaking a life-or-death situation. If Kyle hesitated to cast a spell because he was afraid of the pain, it could get him killed. Maybe the right call was to balance resilience and attunement? On the other hand, maybe if he just kept putting points into resilience, it would one day stop hurting to burn HP as mana.


    Hoping that one day they¡¯d find a way to reset attributes so Kyle could do some more testing, Kyle ranked attunement so he¡¯d have a larger mana buffer before needing to tap his HP.


    For his skill, Kyle picked ¡°Circle casting¡±, a hidden skill unlocked as an option by having both Spellcraft and an ¡°Artistic¡± skill; apparently cartography counted. When Aubrey heard the brief description of circle-casting, she insisted.


    As the trance ended, Kyle fell to his feet, managing to retain his balance. He nodded to Braden, who approached to level up next.


    Dvorak looked put out. Kyle understood.


    ¡°He¡¯s a greedy scumbag, you know,¡± Dvorak said after a few moments of silence. ¡°Not a political dissident.¡±


    ¡°Say what?¡± Kyle asked.


    ¡°Braden. This whole ¡®I¡¯m in it for the people¡¯ thing didn¡¯t start until suddenly it meant he got the best loot anybody¡¯s ever seen. Don¡¯t let it get to you. Can I see the robes?¡±


    Kyle handed over the robes for Dvorak to identify, and sighed. ¡°I hope so. But maybe he¡¯s got a point. Do you think I¡¯m playing favorites?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Dvorak said. ¡°I think the people who do stuff should have the stuff they need to do the stuff they do. And yeah, that means some people get more stuff. But it¡¯s all in the name of getting even more stuff so more people can have more stuff. And Braden can stuff it.¡±


    Kyle smiled and rolled his eyes. ¡°Thanks.¡±


    Dvorak tossed the robes back. ¡°Acid resistance. Slightly higher quality. Nothing too special.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll probably stick with the leather for now,¡± Kyle said, stowing the robes. They were virtually weightless, so he might as well hold on to them.


    After levelling, they needed to figure out what to do about Mason. Kyle was almost positive that the designers wouldn¡¯t change his race without his permission. The Wightwright mentioned he¡¯d ¡°attempt¡± the ritual on the corpse, which seemed like an easy out for letting the player respawn as normal. Even then, leaving Mason¡¯s corpse in a room where the Wightlord and Wightwright would likely respawn seemed unwise. But they couldn¡¯t exactly take Mason down the ladder with them, so¡­Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    With a highly discomfiting sound, Mason¡¯s body hit the ground eight stories below.


    ¡°Glad he couldn¡¯t feel that,¡± Dvorak commented as Kyle caught his breath. Heaving Mason¡¯s massive corpse through the window frame had been far harder than he¡¯d expected.


    Avina was waiting for them in the graveyard when they reached the bottom of the ladder.


    ¡°I¡¯m so glad to you¡¯re safe!¡± Kyle heard Avina say behind him as he climbed down the ladder. ¡°I saw Mason had died, and some of my buffs had gone inactive, and¡­ and then Mason fell out a window and¡­ and you¡¯re still okay! Thank goodness.¡±


    ¡°Well, okay is a bit of of an overstatement,¡± Kyle said, climbing off the ladder. He turned, met Avina¡¯s worried gaze, then looked towards Mason and motioned. ¡°I mean, Mason¡¯s dead, Braden¡¯s hurt, and Dvorak nearly got turned into a wight.¡±


    ¡°But at least¡­ wait, what?¡±


    ¡°Not even close,¡± Dvorak said. ¡°The last boss wasn¡¯t a very convincing salesman.¡± Dvorak hopped off the ladder several feet early and absorbed the landing shock with his digitrade Lagotherre legs. ¡°He wouldn¡¯t even mention retirement matching or a 401k.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll explain later,¡± Kyle said. ¡°Was everything calm down here?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Avina said. ¡°Nothing more rose while you were up there,¡± she said, glancing around the graveyard nervously.


    ¡°Did you get the stuff the skeleton dropped when he fell out the window?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Avina said. ¡°Some silver and some armor. A neat looking sword, I guess. Some scrolls. It says they¡¯re scrolls of soulbinding. I¡¯ve got five.¡±


    ¡°One each?¡± suggested Kyle.


    ¡°Oh, what, you¡¯re splitting loot now?¡± asked Braden.


    ¡°Sure. I mean, if one of us has an item that¡¯s really important, I¡¯m sure Dvorak or Avina would be willing to get it soulbound to somebody,¡± said Kyle.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Avina. ¡°Did anybody find something that would be useful for the town?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Kyle said, glaring at Braden. ¡°Nothing the town can really use. Come on. Let¡¯s get home before Dvorak turns into a pumpkin.¡±


    * * *


    In the coming weeks, it became very clear that yellow items were the greatest threat to Crystopia¡¯s order they¡¯d yet faced. Braden¡¯s staff was mostly dealt with; Braden didn¡¯t divulge how amazing it was, probably because he was afraid other people would want it. And Kyle certainly wouldn¡¯t tell anybody. He and Dvorak were the only people who knew the squandered potential of the staff.


    No drops except the yellow ones were rare enough to cause much of a stir; even ¡°normal¡± enchanted items were common enough that eventually people would get what they wanted if they waited their turn and traded amongst themselves, under Kyle or Aubrey¡¯s organizational guidance.


    But other yellow items began appearing in chests and on defeated enemies, ones that were either unique or just incredibly rare. It was too infrequent to even estimate the drop rates, but the two they found were both close calls.


    One time as a group of villagers was running through the goblin mines, one of the goblins was carrying a rune-carved mythril axe. Dvorak cast identify on it, and the holder, a young elf, looked at the axe in shock. It seemed identifying an object in a player¡¯s hand gave the holder the item¡¯s info as well.


    The axe ignored half the target¡¯s armor when it struck, increased the wielder¡¯s strength by a level, was indestructible, and had high base damage to boot.


    Thankfully, the elf had a crush on Kyrie, the elven girl who took woodcutting as her skill, and asked if he could give her the axe. With the axe dividing the tree¡¯s ¡°armor¡± score in half, Kyrie could fell a hardwood in three strokes. Word got around that it was a legendary ¡°woodcutting¡± axe, and Kyle was content to leave it at that.


    The other gold item was found by Raphael, dropped by the Wightlord in Wight¡¯s Hold. He was thrilled to find it, and proffered it to Kyle on one knee. Kyle accepted it, roleplaying a magnanimous air, and thanked Raphael for his ¡°loyal and dedicated service to the crown¡±. That seemed to make Raphael¡¯s whole week.


    Dvorak identified it as the Sword of St. Draecis, and it permanently increased the wielder¡¯s strength by one rank each time the wielder killed a dragon, with a limit of once per dragon species. It was highly powerful, but also highly situational. It had decent base stats, so Kyle let Raphael hold onto it, and Raphael wore it with great pride. Kyle was grateful for Raphael¡¯s roleplaying; he would tell anybody who asked that Kyle ¡°Entrusted him with the sword¡¯s stewardship.¡± It subtly re-enforced the economic paradigm Kyle was hoping for.


    Still, it was only a matter of time before a piece of yellow loot rolled by the wrong person threw Crystopia into chaos, and Kyle had no clue how he was going to approach it. It was just a time bomb, waiting to go off.

 Chapter 49: In which Cooked Kreyfa rains from the Trees

    ¡°Kyle!¡± Aubrey shouted through the door to Kyle¡¯s office, ¡°I¡¯ve got another spell for you to make!¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s this one do, Aubrey?¡± he said. He put the loot reports he was reviewing into his desk drawer and stood.


    ¡°It¡¯s an upgraded fire mist spell for you!¡±


    That was a not the answer Kyle was expecting. All of Aubrey¡¯s spells until now were academic in nature. This would be the first useful thing she produced.


    ¡°Great! Can¡¯t wait to see it!¡± He hopped up and walked towards Aubrey, who opened up her inventory¡­


    ¡­and handed him a flag.


    ¡°Um¡­¡± Kyle said, looking at it skeptically.


    ¡°It wouldn¡¯t fit on a paper,¡± Aubrey said. ¡°You can make lines much thinner in your interface than we could manage with a stick of charcoal, so we had to blow it up and draw it on a flag instead.¡±


    ¡°Okay¡­¡± Kyle said warily. ¡°How bad is it? Is it¡­¡± Kyle unfurled the flag.


    It was a disaster. There were a couple of large runes, which Kyle recognized as ¡°fire¡± and ¡°create¡±, but there were dozens of smaller runes, some scaled as far down as they could go. Lines spidered out from the tiny runes, wrapping around each other with connection lines that met at harsh angles. The runes were packed in densely, with some of the tiny runes fitting inside gaps in the ¡°fire¡± and ¡°create¡± runes. The intricate detail spread out to the very corners of the flag; not a square centimeter was blank. The thing looked like a circuit-board.


    Which shouldn¡¯t have surprised Kyle.


    ¡°Aubrey, do you have any idea how costly it¡¯ll be to make something like-¡±


    Aubrey handed Kyle two stacks of pages, each nearly a foot high. ¡°This¡¯ll cover it. Probably. Might take another dozen pages or so if you don¡¯t draw the lines exactly straight.¡±


    ¡°What about the mana cost?¡± Kyle asked.


    Aubrey¡¯s grin spread. ¡°That¡¯s the thing;¡± she said. ¡°Mana cost for a spell is based on the surface area covered by the bounding boxes of each rune, so the path length of the connections doesn¡¯t matter. That¡¯s why we¡¯ve wrapped the lines so tight. We¡¯re trading RP costs up front for greater functionality and power.¡±


    ¡°How the hell did you-¡±


    ¡°That spell we had you cast last week? The one with the circle?¡± Aubrey said. ¡°It was an optimization approximation function. A genetic algorithm to find the best places to fit the runes to guarantee a pareto-optimal spot on the power-to-mana-cost curve. Let it chug for a day or two, and bam. It drew this on the flag.¡±


    ¡°The spell did?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. Just a low-power fire effect to burn lines onto the flag. No big deal there.¡± Any feigned nonchalance was completely drowned by Aubrey¡¯s excited tone. ¡°All we had to do is set up what runes we wanted where and how they should connect. And it looked a hell of a lot cleaner in our diagrams.¡±


    Kyle wasn¡¯t excited to scribe this thing. Mason carved the spell circle for Aubrey¡¯s last spell, and it took him almost a whole day. This thing would take at least several hours. ¡°What did you say this would do, again? Because-¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s an upgraded fire mist.¡±


    Kyle was getting sick of being cut off. ¡°As I was saying, is this really a fire mist? Because there¡¯s no ¡®mist¡¯ delivery rune. In fact¡­¡± He looked around ¡°Where is the delivery rune?¡±


    ¡°No need. We just conjure the fire directly where we need it with the create rune.¡±


    ¡°How do you know where?¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    ¡°Vector math and trig. You wouldn¡¯t care. See you in an hour or two?¡± She said, putting the piles of torn library pages on Kyle¡¯s desk.


    ¡°After dinner,¡± Kyle said. ¡°It¡¯ll take at least that long. And you¡¯re going to help with these loot reports,¡± he said, opening his desk drawer and handing a sheaf of paper to Aubrey.


    ¡°You¡¯d have found a reason to delegate them to me anyway,¡± Aubrey said. ¡°And this¡¯ll be the last time. After this, you¡¯ll be so stoked, you¡¯ll want me inventing spells the whole time. Which is sad. I like deriving loot tables.¡± She held up the papers over her head as though tipping her hat, and left the office.


    Kyle sighed. That woman was exasperating. In part because she was so helpful she couldn¡¯t be ignored.


    Kyle started examining pairs of pages. When he got bored, he figured he could swap to drawing the spell diagram.


    And vice versa.


    * * *


    ¡°Okay, back up, back up!¡± Aubrey shouted to the eager onlookers. The line of spectators withdrew slightly. ¡°Further!¡± Aubrey said.


    Kyle had wondered why Aubrey chose the edge of the forest for this demonstration. But if the fire mist was that big, then Kyle supposed it made sense the spell should be tested away from the town. ¡°How big is this thing?¡± Kyle said. He had to project his voice. Aubrey was nearly fifteen feet away.


    ¡°You have six pebbles in your inventory, right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    ¡°Back up!¡± Aubrey shouted again. ¡°To here! Behind me!¡±


    Kyle sighed. ¡°Okay, ready?¡±


    ¡°Yep!¡± Aubrey said, finally satisfied.


    Kyle opened his spell tab and cast the spell. He felt a slight twinge; the spell cost just slightly more mana than his max, and took a sliver off his health bar.


    But nothing happened.


    ¡°Aubrey? What¡­ did anything happen?¡±


    ¡°Yep!¡± she said, beaming. ¡°Neat huh!¡±


    ¡°Like¡­ is it invisible?¡±


    ¡°Yes! Obviously! Now walk towards the woods!¡±


    ¡°So, I guess it follows me?¡± Kyle asked.


    ¡°Yes! Now just go!¡±


    ¡°Won¡¯t that set the forest on fire?¡±


    ¡°No! Just go!¡±


    Kyle sighed, and walked towards the forest, wondering what on earth the mad dwarven programmer was getting him into.


    A high pitched squeal echoed from the forest, and Kyle saw a kreyfa on a branch near the edge of the forest drop from the tree, smoking.


    Kyle paused in alarm and looked back at Aubrey. She motioned him forward.


    Kyle kept walking. As he did, he saw flashes of light from deeper in the forest, and heard animal screams and muffled thumps. He walked into the woods a yard or two to approach the location that one of the flashes had appeared. When he got there, he found a Tekka, one of those hard-shelled lizards, roasted and dead.


    He turned back and looked at the others through the yard or two of trees. Aubrey looked ecstatic, and her assistants were giving themselves high fives. Everybody else looked confused.


    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ surreal,¡± Kyle called out. He flinched as he heard another kreyfra screech. ¡°Cooked game is raining from the treetops.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s perfect!¡± Aubrey said, jogging towards him. ¡°No, don¡¯t!¡± she shouted behind her, turning and holding up her hands as the other started to follow. ¡°It¡¯ll burn you unless you¡¯re in his party. Stay back!¡± Aubrey turned her attention back to Kyle. ¡°Sorry. But yes! Perfect! It¡¯s invisible until it affects a target. It follows you around. It ignores your party members. And it can last for up to an hour!¡±


    ¡°An hour?¡± Kyle was flabbergasted.


    ¡°Yes!¡± Aubrey said. ¡°You give it an internal battery of mana when you cast it, and it drains the mana slowly when not in use. It can only be on for a minute or two, because when it¡¯s actively burning something it depletes its mana stores fast, but still! That¡¯s a full minute of AOE damage!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ that¡¯s really cool,¡± Kyle said. He was impressed. He was already starting to think of the possibilities. ¡°Does this thing go through walls?¡±


    ¡°Yep! Kinda. It can go through nearly a yard of wood or a foot of stone like it wasn¡¯t there. But no more. And it won¡¯t go through lead at all. But otherwise, yes! Can¡¯t be stopped by shields. I think it bypasses armor. Don¡¯t quote me on that. And it can be modified on the fly! Remember those gray pebbles?¡±


    ¡°Yeah? Kyle said.


    ¡°The spell affects an area two yards square per gray pebble you have, centered on you. Max of eight.¡±


    ¡°Square? Not a circle?¡± Kyle teased, opening his inventory.


    ¡°The looping hacks we needed to use are poorly optimized for polar coordinates. Deal with it.¡±


    Kyle looked in his inventory, and found that there were four or five different colors of pebbles. The exact number of each color was¡­ impossible to determine. The number below their icon was changing so rapidly it was basically a blur. All aside from the gray pebbles and the blue ones.


    ¡°What are these fifty-seven blue pebbles?¡±


    ¡°Mana bar,¡± Aubrey said. ¡°Spell¡¯s over when you reach zero. Cragus insisted I put that in. It removed some of the power, but I guess given that the spell¡¯s invisible, it would be useful to know how long it had left and whether it was still on.¡±


    ¡°Okay. Okay, I can get a lot of use out of this,¡± Kyle said. ¡°This is a big upgrade.¡±


    Aubrey beamed. ¡°And this is just the start.¡±


    ¡°We need to get this to every adept in the village. This could¡­ oh, crap,¡± Kyle finished.


    ¡°Yeah?¡± Aubrey said with a glint in her eye.


    ¡°I¡¯m the one who¡¯s going to have to scribe these spell scrolls for the others, aren¡¯t I?


    ¡°¡®Fraid so,¡± Aubrey said. ¡°And then you can go play in another dungeon somewhere.¡±


    Kyle sighed.


    It¡¯d be worth it.

 Note: Infigeas on Hiatus until Dec. 3rd

    Sorry for the hiatus, but I''ve just joined a Game Jam. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, a Game Jam is a competition in which teams of people try to make the best game possible under a very tight deadline.


    Specifically, I''m entering Degica''s IGMC game jam, located at https://itch.io/jam/igmc2018</a> . Last time my team entered we got in third place and won a couple thousand dollars. This year, we''re hoping to place higher because they''re allowing more engines to be used. This is cool because the stakes are higher; a shot at a publishing contract with Degica.


    If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Competing in this jam is going to take all my free time, pretty much. (Last year I worked about 8 hours a day on it... after getting home from my full time employment!) I look forward to serving up more Infigeas when I get back, but a guy can only have so many hobbies.


    See you Dec. 3rd, and Happy Thanksgiving!

 Chapter 50: In which its Not Such a Small World After All. (End of Hiatus)

    ¡°So then I thought ¡®what would my character do?¡¯ and I realized that Conrad wouldn¡¯t back down,¡± Tobungus enthused. ¡°So I told the GM I was going to attack anyway and started thinking about what my next character would be like. So then I rolled the dice, and wouldn¡¯t you believe it, it was a crit!¡±


    ¡°Nice,¡± Kyle said, with a tone of voice that intentionally straddled the line between politeness and extreme disinterest. He examined the rock face studiously, even though he had already decided how he was going to try and scale it. He wasn¡¯t sure how else to subtly signal that he wasn¡¯t interested in Tobungus role-playing war stories.


    But Tobungus wasn¡¯t getting the hint. ¡°I know, right? So I¡¯m blown away, and I start to roll for damage, but then the GM remembers the Black Knight was wearing some sort of armor that had a chance of negating crits¡­¡±


    Kyle sighed quietly and stuck his hands in his armpits to ward against the cold. He had brought Tobungus as his partner in this scouting expedition for the same reason he brought Braden to Wight¡¯s Hold; he wanted to learn more about him. Tobungus was always quietly hanging around Aubrey, and Kyle was hoping that getting him on his own would make him a little more talkative.


    At first, it didn¡¯t work. Tobungus was just not interested in talking. He wasn¡¯t rude or shy, he just answered questions politely, didn¡¯t elaborate, and didn¡¯t initiate conversation on his own.


    ¡­until he learned Kyle had done tabletop roleplaying.


    ¡°¡­so it didn¡¯t crit, but I figured I might as well roll for damage, right? And remember that class feature that let tens explode? Well I got four tens on three dice! So it was like I had crit anyway¡­¡±


    ¡°Uh-huh?¡± Kyle grunted, Ignoring Tobungus. Hands warmed as much as possible, Kyle started climbing up the rock face. Even with two ranks in resilience, the cold was bitter, and Kyle¡¯s fingers hurt where his hands touched the freezing rock face. He wished he had brought gloves. Or hell, even a jacket. But most video games just ignored the effects of cold in their mountain zones, so he didn¡¯t even stop to think about it before leaving.


    ¡°¡­so the Black Knight was hurt but still up; the GM told me he had like five health left. So it was close. But anyway, he starts charging some sort of super attack¡­¡±


    Kyle spared a look down to see if Tobungus was managing the climb with his digitigrade legs. It looked like he was doing fine. He didn¡¯t even seem cold. Must be the Jakarna fur. Kyle spitefully hoped that one day they¡¯d go to a desert themed location. Kyle kept climbing.


    ¡°¡­but then Jane interrupted and mentioned that her bard song was still going. So we start counting off squares¡­¡±


    Luckily, the cliff face wasn¡¯t exactly vertical; it was slanted slightly in their favor. This made it easier to climb because Kyle could put his center of mass past the footholds. Despite Kyle¡¯s inexperience at rock climbing, they made rapid progress.


    Kyle¡¯s head poked over the edge of the cliff wall, and he could see the transcendence crystal, covered in snow, beam poking through its tip and disappearing into the clouds. It took them far longer than they had planned to get here, because Kyle hadn¡¯t counted on the snow getting so deep as they climbed the mountain. At least it wasn¡¯t actively snowing, or climbing the cliff would have been treacherous indeed.


    Kyle wasn¡¯t planning on touching it. He was nervous that even approaching the crystal might trigger something. They were just here to look around and go back with a plan of action. Kyle had already decided any such plan would involve warmer clothing. Kyle finished clamoring over the edge and rose to his feet. The wind was faster here. It was biting cold.


    ¡°¡­and it turns out that I was still within her area of effect! So that meant that each of my dice would have had a plus one, and I rolled at least one nine¡­¡±The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Kyle took stock of the area. There was certainly enough room here for a combat of some kind. Maybe a yeti or something. They might be able to cheese the fight by throwing two dozen people at once at it, but it would take some time to get them all up the cliff face. Kyle wasn¡¯t sure how well dwarves would do scaling cliffs, either. At least there was no snow here; the wind must be strong enough to blow it all off.


    ¡°¡­so anyway it¡¯s well over five damage, so the black knight should be dead, right?¡± Tobungus nattered as he pulled himself over the ledge. ¡°But the GM gets all flustered and starts saying some nonsense about some precast contingent spell and it¡¯s obvious this was supposed to be a recurring villain¡­¡±


    Kyle was having a hard time thinking his own thoughts over Tobungus¡¯ banal narrative. He tried to focus. There were two smaller plateaus overlooking the crystal, each about ten feet high. There was plenty of room at the bottom for tanks to kite monsters around. Kyle figured maybe they could put archers or casters up on the plateaus to deal damage safely. Actually; not archers. Unpredictable winds like this could blow arrows off course. Kyle circled the crystal, trying to get to the other side of it without activating whatever was guarding it.


    ¡­and saw a set of handholds going down the other side.


    ¡°¡­and I¡¯m typically fine letting a story be a story, but Jane started putting the thumbscrews on the GM, because it was really unlikely the Black Knight had access to contingent spells at our level¡­¡±


    Kyle walked over to the far ledge. The set of handholds was carved into the rock face directly opposite the one they came up from. It lead down to a trail that wound down the mountain on the other side.


    Kyle was flabbergasted. It had taken them nearly ten hours to get here. He was sure this mountain chain represented the boundary of the world. That¡¯s how you limit the map size in an RPG. An ocean on one side, an impassable mountain range on the other, and the game world was in between. And now, inexplicably, there was more world on the other side!


    Worse, Kyle saw pillars of light in the distance. More transcendence crystals. The game world was huge.


    ¡°So I¡¯m trying to smooth things over between Jane and the GM, right? I mean, I don¡¯t want the campaign to stop just because I rolled some lucky-¡±


    ¡°Would you just shut up?¡± Kyle shouted, whirling around to face Tobungus.


    ¡°I, uh¡­ what?¡±


    Kyle couldn¡¯t express it clearly. He was frustrated. And it wasn¡¯t Tobungus fault. But Kyle just couldn¡¯t handle it right now. The world was nearly twice as large as Kyle thought it was. At least. There were mountains south of Crystopia too, well past Wight¡¯s hold. What if they had a whole other wilderness past them? Kyle was sure they were going to find the other transcendence crystals if they went through the forests with a fine-toothed comb looking for dungeons. But if the world was really this big¡­


    This game going to take a long time.


    ¡°I just¡­ Sorry. I was just overwhelmed when I saw¡­ well¡­¡± Kyle swept his hand over the far side of the mountain.


    Tobungus stepped forward to take a closer look. ¡°Oh hey! More crystal beacons! That¡¯s great! I was wondering, because we¡¯ve scouted most of the map already and haven¡¯t found many dungeons.¡±


    Kyle sighed.


    ¡°So, we¡¯re not going there, right?¡± Tobungus asked. ¡°At least, not today?¡±


    ¡°Not now, no. We¡¯re here to scout the crystal. And I¡¯m glad we did. I¡¯ve got a pretty good idea what sort of plan we can use to beat whatever¡¯s guarding it. But we¡¯re done here. Let¡¯s go home.¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± Tobungus looked at the crystal with a longing expression. ¡°It¡¯s sad to come all this way and leave it here. But I get it. If we go and touch it, we might trigger a whole bunch of ice scorpions unburrowing from the ground to attack us or whatever.


    Ice scorpions? ¡°Yeah,¡± Kyle said, nodding in agreement. He walked back towards the cliff face they climbed up from.


    ¡°Not going to touch it, eh?¡± A voice shouted over the wind. Kyle turned his head towards the sound, and saw a group of four people standing up on one of the plateaus overlooking the crystal. They must have been lying down so as not to be seen from below. An ambush. Kyle looked to his right, at the other plateau. He saw another four people getting to their feet. A decent mix of races. All eight wore clothing much more suited to the cold environment. Kyle was jealous. The thick furs and fabrics made it impossible to tell how the attackers were armored.


    ¡°That¡¯s too bad, mate¡± the man continued. ¡°I¡¯ve heard it doesn¡¯t hurt if you die while leveling up,¡± The man had a British accent, which struck Kyle as out of place.


    ¡°We¡¯ve got no issue with you,¡± Kyle said, turning to try and keep both plateaus in his view at once. ¡°Whatever you want, we don¡¯t have it.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯ll be the judge of that!¡± He raised his hand and signaled, and a Lagotherre next to him fired a lighting bolt at Kyle.

 Chapter 51: In which Kyle Pretends to be an OP Mage

    Lightning bolts were impossible to dodge. Kyle learned that from fighting the Wightwright another half-dozen times with other parties. All you could do was juke around and try to be somewhere other than where the caster pointed. And because Kyle had no warning, there was no way for that to happen. Kyle took the full brunt of the spell. His muscles seized and he just barely remained standing. His HP was down by a third. A lightning bolt from the other plateau hit Tobungus¡¯ shoulder.


    ¡°Potions!¡± As fast as possible, Kyle opened his inventory and pulled out a potion. He chugged, finishing it right as another lightning bolt hit him.


    This bolt did absolutely nothing.


    ¡°Gonna have to do better than that,¡± Kyle shouted. ¡°We came prepared with potions of lightning immunity!¡± That was only half true. Dvorak¡¯s elemental resistance potions could only absorb a certain amount of damage before the ¡°immunity¡± disappeared, and that one bolt nearly depleted it. But Kyle was hoping the ambushers didn¡¯t know much about the herbalism skill.


    They seemed to fall for it. ¡°Bows out!¡± the man shouted, and all eight people drew bows and nocked arrows. ¡°You¡¯re dead. We¡¯ve already won. But if you drop your stuff on the ground, we¡¯ll let you leave without turning you into a pincushion and sending you back to spawn.¡±


    ¡°Hah!¡± Kyle shouted. ¡°We must be winning! They¡¯re already resorting to ridiculous bluffs!¡±


    ¡°Wait what?¡± Tobungus whispered nervously.


    ¡°What bluffs?¡± the leader shouted. ¡°We outnumber you four to one! We¡¯re level six and you¡¯re only level three! It¡¯s over!¡±


    ¡°Yes, but bows? If you could actually shoot us through this wind, you¡¯d have done that first instead of spending mana on lightning bolts! Or maybe you¡¯d even be shooting right now instead of offering to let us go!¡±


    Kyle waited for a moment as the leader spoke to the others on his plateau. Eventually, Kyle tapped Tobungus on the shoulder, then pointed towards the way down. Tobungus nodded, and they started walking.


    With war cries, the people on one plateau leapt from the top and landed at the base of the plateau, about twenty feet from Kyle. The people on the other followed shortly after. They held weapons: an assortment of axes, swords, and spears. Even the Lagotherre caster held a halberd.


    ¡°We were going to let you go, mate,¡± the leader said as they spread to surround Kyle and Tobungus. ¡°No reason to risk melee if we didn¡¯t have to. But we¡¯re not letting you leave with your equipment, one way or another!¡±


    Tobungus started to open his menu to draw a weapon, and Kyle put up a hand to stop him. ¡°Melee, huh? I¡¯d advise against it.¡± Kyle pulled two pebbles from his inventory and dropped them on the ground, then hit a few more buttons. ¡°Just a warning is all.¡± Casting complete, he put his arms behind his head in what he hoped looked like a relaxed way.


    With the ambushers surrounding him, Kyle could do nothing but wait. He tried to look unconcerned. But Tobungus looked as on edge as Kyle felt.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    The men regarded him suspiciously. Their leader held up a hand.


    He hesitated.


    Then he thrust it forward.


    With shouts and cries, the ten men rushed at Kyle. Only a few feet into their charge, conflagrations appeared around each one; dozens of puffs of flame appearing more or less at random over their bodies. Some fell back immediately. Others put up their hands to futilely shield themselves from the flames. One, with a huge axe, kept charging. Kyle stood still for a moment, and then stepped forward as he axe came down, dodging inside the reach of the weapon and thrusting a hand into the man¡¯s face. With a bump-thrust of his hand, he cast a sleep spell, cringing as he burned HP for mana. The man kept his balance, mostly. The person must have ranked resilience to withstand both the fire and the sleep spell.


    Tobungus, seizing the opportunity, crashed into the man, knocking him out of the area of Kyle¡¯s spell. The man got back on his feet and yawned, watching Kyle warily.


    ¡°See?¡± Kyle said, as the group of attackers collected themselves. ¡°Bad idea. Now, can we talk like reasonable people? I¡¯m not interested in killing you all. I mean, killing people is rude.¡±


    ¡°What the ¡ª- was that?¡± the man said, tapping his menus. He pulled out a potion and downed it.


    Kyle opened his skill menus to examine the man. ¡°It¡¯s this amulet,¡± he said as the bar began filling. Kyle pulled Dvorak¡¯s Wightwright amulet from under his shirt and displayed it. ¡°It burns enemies that come within nine feet of me. I just equipped it real fast before you charged.¡± The bar finished filling, and Kyle saw that the man was at about two-thirds HP. Also that he was level six, as he had claimed. Kyle opened his inventory, nervous. There were thirty-seven blue beads left. Another coordinated rush would deplete his spell entirely.


    ¡°You¡¯re bluffing,¡± the man said. ¡°An amulet like that would be OP. You cast some sort of AOE fire spell when we charged.¡±


    ¡°No, that just happens anytime anybody hostile gets within nine feet.¡± The man looked skeptical. ¡°Don¡¯t believe me? Anybody want to try me? Look, my hands are behind my head again. Like they were last time.¡±


    Predictably, nobody moved. The men started navigating their interfaces. Some pulled out potions. Kyle prayed none were potions of fire resistance.


    The Lagotherre that lightning bolted Kyle thrust the butt of his halberd into the ground. With a swirl of blue particles, a small wolf appeared from thin air where the halberd struck.


    Neat trick.


    The wolf looked back at the caster. The Lagotherre motioned forward, and the wolf, tail between his legs, loped towards Kyle. A few feet later, the wolf yipped as flames enveloped its face, and skittered back to the caster. The lagotherre sighed and tapped the wolf with his spear, and it dissolved into motes of blue light.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what it is,¡± he said. ¡°Could be a spell. Could be the amulet. Could be an invisible friend casting spells, for all I know.¡± Kyle couldn¡¯t place his accent. German? Norwegian?


    ¡°Adepts don¡¯t get invisibility art,¡± the leader said. ¡°Much less at grandmaster level.¡±


    ¡°Maybe invisibility spells exist,¡± the caster said, shrugging.


    ¡°They do,¡± Kyle said. ¡°I just haven¡¯t bothered inventing one yet. I¡¯ve got too many other spells to spend my RP on.¡±


    The brigands all stared at Kyle, variously in confusion, wonder, or anger. Kyle suddenly felt very awkward. He wasn¡¯t used to being the most powerful person in the room. And technically, these people were twice his level.


    ¡°Well¡­ I¡¯m still interested in talking. But if you¡¯re not, I guess we¡¯re done here. Heads up, I¡¯m going to walk slowly in that direction,¡± he said, pointing to the way down. ¡°Please stay nine feet out of my way; I don¡¯t want to hurt any of you if I can help it.¡± Kyle took a slow step forward.


    ¡°Wait!¡± said the Lagotherre, holding out a hand.


    Kyle turned to look.


    ¡°You have spellcraft? You invent your own spells?¡±


    Kyle nodded.


    ¡°May I¡­ May I buy some?¡±