《Warren and the Dungeon Seed》 Prologue Prologue Botcorp Headquarters Chicago, IL ¡°Boss, she¡¯s ready,¡± the software engineer said, excitement in her voice. The Chief Technology Officer didn¡¯t take his eyes off of his work. He continued to move holographic screens around using quick hand motions. ¡°You know we don¡¯t use abstractions like that around here, Abigail. Give me specifics.¡± ¡°Sorry, Sir. We¡¯re at 81%.¡± That caused a pause. The CTO looked at Abigail. ¡°Eighty-one percent? That¡¯s a massive breakthrough. How did this happen? We were at seventy-five percent during yesterday¡¯s check-in.¡± ¡°Sir, with the launch of Integration Online less than 24 hours away, I asked my team to stay through the night. We were stuck at 76% until 3:30 a.m. when Mani reworked a set of code that we thought was a dead-end months ago. It brought our Artificial Intelligence¡¯s capacity¡ª¡± Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°Abigail,¡± the CTO stopped her. ¡°Please, don¡¯t call her ¡®Our Artificial Intelligence¡¯. She¡¯s had entry-level sentience since 50% capacity. Call her by her name.¡± ¡°Sorry, Sir,¡± Abigail said, rubbing her hands together the way she did when she got nervous. She forced herself to put her hands at her side. ¡°It brought Clarity¡¯s capacity up to 81%. Now she can impersonate 81% of all human emotions. When she functions in Integration Online, humans won¡¯t have any idea that she¡¯s not human within the game.¡± ¡°And what about the developers of IO? Will they be able to find her in their game?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t promise anything,¡± Abigail said, ¡°but we have a couple of advantages. First, Clarity won¡¯t be doing the usual things that bots do. As you know, this isn¡¯t about grinding out game resources. So they won¡¯t expect her. Second, we¡¯re working hard every day to get her capacity to 100%. Once we hit 90%, she¡¯ll be smarter and more creative than most humans. She¡¯ll be unstoppable.¡± The CTO frowned. ¡°And what¡¯s to stop her from hacking the game? Making up her own rules. Writing new code in.¡± Abigail¡¯s eyebrows furrowed. ¡°No. That would never happen. It¡¯s against her mission objective. Even if it were possible, Clarity wouldn¡¯t expose herself to the game developers like that. Integration Online developers would spot her in an instant. She¡¯ll play by their rules.¡± The CTO smiled. ¡°You have permission to let Clarity enter the game at launch.¡± Abigail pumped her fist. ¡°Thank you, sir. We¡¯ll get right on it.¡± Chapter 1. False Start Chapter 1. False Start I needed to act fast. If I didn¡¯t help the Elemental during its power-state, I wouldn¡¯t be able to finish my quest. We were seconds away. I whispered into the air, ¡°Talk to Spirits,¡± holding my palms up, dramatically. Nothing happened. I panicked, looking at Janica, my game guide, for help. ¡°Open your Spell Book,¡± she said. ¡°A spell is a complicated thing. You have to understand it with nuance before you can just call out the name of it. But for now you can open your Spell Book and activate it the slow way.¡± ¡°How do I open my Spell Book?¡± I asked. ¡°Just think ¡®Spell Book¡¯ and it will appear.¡± I did, and a holographic book appeared in my hands. I paged through Rejuvenate and Lightning Strike, spells that I couldn¡¯t cast. Yet. On the next page in bold, gothic lettering, the title read ¡°Talk to Spirits.¡± My eyes scanned the page, its contents full of diagrams, symbols and mathematical equations. It reminded me of DaVinci¡¯s notebook. ¡°Put your hand on the page,¡± Janica said. ¡°Think ¡®activate¡¯.¡± I followed her instructions. A rush of energy flooded through me. A tingling in my fingers. A sort of mental awakening that came about all in an instant like I had jumped into a cold pool. A line of yellowish-white cords shot from my head toward the Elemental, weaving their way toward it and connecting us. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Its head turned for a moment and met my eyes. A silent acknowledgement. A prompt appeared in front of me. Do you wish to abandon your party and join Earth Spirit? Doing so will mark you as hostile to all players in combat with the Earth Spirit. Yes/No ¡°Wait, wait,¡± the man said, holding his hands up. ¡°Hold up. Warren, you need to start at the beginning.¡± I sighed, letting the flow of telling my story slip away. ¡°Like, from the moment I logged into the game for the first time?¡± Two people stared at me from the video call. Each in their mid thirties. The man wore a baseball cap backwards and a black t-shirt. The woman had hair that was dyed purple, and her eyes were made up to look like cat eyes. Yet, the words that labeled them on the video call indicated that they were not lost concert-attendees. Matt, Senior Game Master, Integration Online. Carol, Head of Player Relations, Integration Online. The woman shook her head. ¡°No,¡± she said. ¡°Before that. Start the day before you logged in.¡± ¡°Why?¡± I asked. ¡°Is all of that necessary?¡± Matt leaned into the camera. ¡°Give us a sense of where you¡¯re coming from. Remember, this is kind of a hearing. We¡¯re trying to determine if we need to ban you from the game. The more you give us, the better of a decision we can make. The events of the past week have been¡­ unusual.¡± I nodded. ¡°Alright. Okay. A week ago, then. I was working a shift at the clothing factory.¡± Chapter 2. Factory Work Chapter 2. Factory Work ¡°Green Team, you¡¯re on break for thirty minutes.¡± A voice boomed over the intercom. ¡°Blue Team. Back on duty.¡± I released the lever on my sewing machine, raising the needle out of the denim cloth. I stood up and stretched to the sky. My back protested, aching in that same spot it always did. Right in the middle. People in faded green overalls made their way to the break room. My coworkers. The people who I sat among for twelve hours a day, but didn¡¯t really know. We faced the same direction, and it was too loud in the factory for chit-chat. Not the best environment to socialize. A welcome relief. I was indifferent to most of the Green Team. I loathed a few of them. We passed rows of workers on our way. The Blue Team in blue overalls. The Brown Team. The Red Team. Humans hunched over sewing machines that buzzed and chirped. Denim jeans and jackets hung over their tables, half stitched. T-shirts sat in piles on tables. Dress shirts sat in bins waiting to be folded, packaged and shipped. Supervisors walked the rows in starched white collared shirts, inspecting for uniformity, leaning over low-level workers. Pointing out mistakes. Scolding. The break room reminded me of a school cafeteria both in its layout and in its social hierarchy. You¡¯d think that adults would be accepting and friendly. I found them as clicky as middle-schoolers. They sat with the same people every day at the same tables. They gossiped. They laughed at people. They bullied those of us who didn¡¯t understand how to be cool in a sewing factory. I kept to myself. I looked at the clock in the breakroom. 12:04 p.m. I had twenty-six minutes. I hustled between tables to the backside of the room. ¡°Not eating again, Warren?¡± ¡°No time, Jenkins,¡± I said. Jenkins was alright. I didn¡¯t hate him. A month ago, management had placed three old sewing machines at the back of the break room and announced that we could use them during our breaks for personal projects. Perhaps they envisioned people fixing a button now and again. Maybe fixing a seam. So far, I was the only one who had used their precious break-time to do more sewing. The others must have thought me insane. I sat down at an old Singer, and pulled a denim vest out of my backpack. Its edges were frayed. Silver buttons lined the front. I had stitched on band patches that I had found in my dad¡¯s old things. He had bought and saved original memorabilia from Metallica, Kiss, ACDC, Led Zeppelin, and Pantera. My inheritance. These bands hadn¡¯t performed in forty years, and there hadn¡¯t been anything like them since. I had stitched WARREN across the shoulders in black, gothic lettering. This vest needed metal studs, but I couldn''t afford them yet. I folded the vest up and shoved it back in my pack. I need to work on someone else¡¯s project today, not my own. In the past month, since management had given us access to the sewing machines, I had started a little side hustle. A way of making some spending cash that wasn¡¯t tied up in bills and food. Sofia, my sister, had even set up a website for me. And she helped me advertise on some of the forums that people like me spent way too much time on. She was good with stuff like that. I never would have done the tedious work to get a business off the ground. I pulled a pair of black leather pants out of my pack. A customer had mailed these to Sofia and with specific instructions. A custom order. I placed the pants on the machine and loaded in some red thread I had brought from home. I grabbed a white pencil and began drawing a rose on the right thigh. I made sketches with short strokes. I erased mistakes and re-drew as I went. Finished, I examined my work. I nodded to myself, proud of the fullness of the flower. The proportions. I glanced at the clock. 12:16 p.m. I arranged the right pant leg below the needle and put light pressure on the petal. I moved the pants in slow arcs while the needle raised and lowered at its slowest speed. I had the stem stitched, four thorns protruding, when somebody pulled me from my zone. ¡°Warren!¡± A man¡¯s voice hollered. He hollered at me again. It was Tony. The room got quiet, people stopping to listen. I paused, rolling my eyes up. ¡°What?¡± I yelled back, my jaw clenched. Tony wanted to have a big public conversation. My favorite. ¡°They¡¯re getting rid of those machines,¡± Tony said. ¡°You¡¯re gonna have to eat lunch with the rest of us.¡± He laughed. I turned. Tony sat with his usual group. ¡°How do you know?¡± I felt my face getting hot. He smiled and shrugged. ¡°Can¡¯t reveal my sources.¡± ¡°Bullshit,¡± I said, turning back to my work. The din of the room got louder as people went back to their conversations. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Then I felt someone behind me. I glanced over my shoulder. Tony was there. ¡°It¡¯s true,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯m friends with a girl on the Blue Team that¡¯s dating one of the supervisors. They don¡¯t like what you¡¯re doing here.¡± ¡°Why are you telling me this?¡± ¡°I¡¯m just a nice guy,¡± Tony said. Uh huh. The nicest. He turned and walked back to his table and his friends. The bastard brigade. Then, he raised his voice loud enough for half the room to hear. ¡°Maybe you should go up to management and use your special powers to figure out the truth.¡± His lunch table started laughing. I turned to the wall so they couldn¡¯t see my face. I closed my eyes, trying to block them out and took a deep breath. On my first day at the factory, Tony had invited me to sit down at his lunch table. In an attempt to make friends, I had opened up to them. Big mistake. They asked me questions about myself and I opened up about my life. Like a fool. I had told them how I lived with my older sister. How we watched this old sitcom together where the lead character could tell when people were lying. In the show, he could read micro-expressions on peoples¡¯ faces and body language. Sofia and I practiced with each other, trying to spot when each other wasn''t telling the truth. Or hiding something. I told all this to Tony and his friends. Since then, this table had teased me about it whenever they got the chance. They called me ¡®Mindreader¡¯ and pretended like I was intruding into their thoughts. One time, they made tin-foil hats and wore them in the break room and announced to everyone on the Green Team that they were protecting themselves from me. Lesson learned. Don¡¯t overshare. Give people just enough. I couldn¡¯t seem to get back into my project, so I stuffed the pants back into my pack. If Tony was telling the truth, I wouldn¡¯t be able to keep my side hustle. A panic rose within me, bubbling up to the surface. There was something about working a job that had no room for growth. Some of the people on the green team had worked in this factory for twenty years. Sewing. It almost required a person to numb themself to the world. That¡¯s what I had done for the past four years since graduating high school: push the reality of factory work into a corner of my brain and ignore it. Sofia and I had to eat, so I worked. We had to make rent, so I hunched over a sewing machine all day. With this side hustle, I had become alive in the smallest way. It had given me a path forward. What if the business took off? What if I could buy my own sewing machine and work for myself? And with one little comment, Tony had threatened that possibility. I grabbed my pack and headed for the door, nearly running someone over. ¡°Hey! Watch out!¡± ¡°Sorry,¡± I said. ¡°Go get ''em, Warren,¡± I heard Tony say. Laughter. I turned and headed up the stairs toward the manager¡¯s office. I paused, took a deep breath, and knocked. ¡°Come in,¡± I heard her say. The manager sat at her desk, typing away. She was a short woman with a wide face and an expensive-looking haircut. She looked up, her face serious. ¡°Hello Ma¡¯am,¡± I said. ¡°Hello Warren. How may I help you?¡± I doubt she recognized me. My uniform had my name stitched over the breast pocket. On the walk up here, my frustration had transformed into something else. A feeling like no matter what said or did here, no good would come of it. ¡°Ma¡¯am, I have a question.¡± I paused. If I offended this woman, I would lose my job. In the four years that I had worked at the factory, I had never approached management about anything. Our financial situation was too precarious. Why was I doing this? Yet, the words came out. ¡°Is management getting rid of the sewing machines in the break room?¡± ¡°Where did you hear that?¡± she asked, avoiding the question. ¡°Is it true?¡± I asked again. Seriously, where was my confidence coming from? The answer came out reluctantly, like a thread that wouldn¡¯t go through the eye of a needle. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Why?¡± She glanced at the pack on my shoulder. It was the slightest of glances, less than a second. ¡°Is it because I¡¯ve been using them?¡± I asked. She nodded her head in the affirmative, but only for an instant. ¡°No, of course not. We put those there as a perk for our employees. You¡¯re supposed to use them.¡± She nodded, even though her words said the opposite. They had placed those sewing machines in the break room and been proud to tell us all that we could use them, like it was this great perk. But when a worker actually started to use them for personal projects, even during break time, it must have bothered management. Maybe it set the wrong tone. Work is for work. Not for play. Perhaps I should have pushed further. Called her a liar. Flipped over the table and stormed out. What would Alice Cooper have done? I nodded in thanks and left the office. Chapter 3. The Game Chapter 3. The Game ¡°Warren!¡± I was back in my room with Led Zeppelin¡¯s ¡°Moby Dick¡± on my headphones and drumsticks in my hands. I banged on my electric drum set, trying to follow one of the most complicated drum solos in history. I couldn¡¯t keep time with it, but I was getting better. I played when I had to drown out the world, when I needed to escape. And I needed to escape more than ever. ¡°Warrreennnn!¡± My sister¡¯s voice boomed through the apartment. I ignored her again. What was I going to do? I had finished my shift and clocked out like everything was fine. But it wasn¡¯t fine. I didn¡¯t think I could go for one more day. I had been here before. Frustrated. Bored. Desperate for something to change, but unable to move. I had a future once. People had told me that I would go to college and work on complex problems. But that was a long time ago. Sofia whipped open my door and stood in the doorway. Her face danced with excitement. A wild grin stretched across her face. Her dark hair was pulled up into a bun, a clear sign that she meant business. She motioned for me to take off my headphones. I did. I kept pounding the bass, keeping rhythm with my heart. ¡°It¡¯s here,¡± she said. My eyes opened wide. Finally. ¡°It¡¯s here?¡± She nodded. We ran to the front door like we were kids again. Two delivery men stood at the door. Sofia signed for the delivery and the men filled up half of our modest living room with boxes. Our apartment was small, with a combined living room and kitchen of maybe 150 square feet. One loveseat sat against the wall opposite the kitchenette, its tattered and torn cloth covering half of one of the seat cushions. We each had our own bedrooms and, though they were tight, it was enough. More than most people who lived below floor 20 could afford. ¡°Honestly,¡± I said, ¡°I didn¡¯t really believe you when you said you had gotten a pod. How did you get your hands on a twenty-thousand dollar machine to play video games?¡± Sofia sliced open a box labeled with a giant ¡°1¡± and pulled out a set of directions a half-inch thick. ¡°Well,¡± she said, ¡°that doesn¡¯t surprise me, Warren. You rarely believe a word I say.¡± She started scanning what looked like a bunch of technical specs. ¡°Sofia.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± She turned to me. ¡°Seriously, how did you afford this?¡± She turned away, her eyes back on the manual. ¡°I didn¡¯t buy it, Warren. I told you all this before. The government loaned it to us.¡± I remembered part of what she had told me. Over the past decade, robots and artificial intelligence had taken a massive portion of jobs from people, especially in the United States. This led to unemployment and struggle for most and exponential wealth for a few. In response, the government tried a number of things to create employment. The factory I worked for was subsidized by the government, which protected human jobs, but at a terrible cost to the country. More recently, with the rise of people spending more and more time in virtual reality worlds, the government passed a huge Jobs bill that supported low-earners to work within virtual reality worlds. More and more wealthy people were spending their free time exploring the metaverse, connected by machines called ¡°pods¡± or ¡°rigs¡± that read brain waves and allowed people to have very real experiences without leaving their homes. Or so I had heard. They shopped and gamed. They went to online brothels and dance clubs. And this meant a whole new set of Jobs. Online worlds needed DJs, bartenders, store-clerks, and moderators. And corporations bragged about the numbers of humans that worked in their virtual businesses. Apparently, rich people preferred to be served by other humans. The problem was that people like Sofia and I could never afford a pod, so we couldn¡¯t work these Jobs. That¡¯s where the government came in. They loaned pods to people who needed assistance. ¡°Yeah, but why would they loan us this expensive machine to play video games with? I thought people in this program had to actually work.¡± Sofia glanced at her watch. ¡°They don¡¯t monitor what we do with it,¡± she said. ¡°As long as we make the weekly $2,000 payments, we get to keep it. If we miss more than one payment, they show up to take it away.¡± Two-thousand a week was more than we currently made, combined, and didn¡¯t even account for rent, taxes, and food. ¡°I know you love video games,¡± I said. ¡°But this is insane.¡± She looked back at me, this time holding my gaze. ¡°I know what you¡¯re thinking, but have a little faith in your sister. The last time a big gaming company released a virtual multiplayer roleplaying game, people made good money by gathering materials and selling them in-game. If I do this right, we¡¯ll cover our expenses just fine.¡± Sofia glanced at her watch again and then began slicing open boxes. She rummaged through materials, pulling a book out of a box with a glossy cover. ¡°Why do you keep looking at your watch?¡± I asked. She walked over to me and handed me a gameplay manual. ¡°Because we¡¯re sixteen hours from game launch. Thousands of people will log in for the first time, and I have to assemble this pod before I can log in. Every second matters here, and I don¡¯t want to get behind the curve.¡± I laid back on the loveseat, kicking my leg up on the back of the couch. The front cover depicted a landscape with a forested mountain valley. A floating castle hovered above a glen. A small hero looked up at the castle, a large sword resting on their shoulder. They wore shining armor. At the top of the cover in big bold lettering, it read Integration Online . Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. The game did look amazing. Sofia and I had played dozens of games similar to this. Fantasy games with swords and magic, dungeon divers and platformers. Games of conquest and monster slaying. But to live in one and feel what it was like to actually shoot fireballs from your hands? We had never been able to afford virtual reality headsets, let alone a pod. We played old-school games on console, sitting next to each other on the couch. ¡°Before you get any crazy ideas,¡± Sofia said. ¡°That hero on the cover won¡¯t be me. I¡¯m going to make money by selling herbs, ore, fish, and food to this guy. He can go on the adventures. I¡¯ll rake in the cash. During a game¡¯s release, people like me sell raw materials to heroes like this for profits.¡± I raised a skeptical eyebrow. ¡°What does it matter if you get a lot of in-game currency? How does that help us pay rent?¡± ¡°Really Warren, you think I¡¯d fill out a mountain of paperwork and drop two grand on a week and not think of that? Look,¡± she said. ¡°The game developers will allow people to pay for game time with in-game currency rather than US Dollars. I can buy gameplay tokens for in-game cash and sell them for real money on the open market. Then I''ll pay our rent with that money.¡± ¡°But doesn¡¯t that mean that all the rich folks who live above floor 100 can just buy the best stuff in-game and pay to win?¡± Games that allowed players to pay-to-win were unpopular with serious gamers and couldn¡¯t keep users for long. It was so easy to buy your way to the end. They didn''t create authentic challenges and fair play. Sofia leaned over a large metal base, bolting what looked like the front section of the pod together. Her ratchet whipped back and forth. ¡°No,¡± she said, pulling a set of wires through a hole in the front panel of the rig. ¡°Players can only remove currency from the game; they can''t bring currency in. This will prevent in-game inflation and extend the life of the economy. In other words, people can¡¯t pay to win.¡± ¡°Riiight,¡± I replied. ¡°No game has ever been free of gold farmers. Bots find sneaky ways to help rich people bring their privilege from the real world into the game world.¡± She shrugged. ¡°Maybe you¡¯re right, but they have an entire team dedicated to tracking down bots. I¡¯ve heard that they even reward players for tattling on cheaters.¡± She smirked. ¡°Maybe you should use your lie detection abilities to suss them out and make us rich.¡± Sofia was teasing me. But her comment did spark an idea. I started drumming ¡°Livin'' on a Prayer¡± with my fingers against the book. I did my best thinking to the rhythm of the ¡¯80s. As Sofia continued to assemble the pod, I dove into the gameplay manual. I flipped through the pictures, read captions, and tried to get excited for her. I got lost in the pages that read like an advertisement. When I looked up from my reverie, Sofia had constructed the entire frame. ¡°Won¡¯t everybody know all these money making techniques?¡± I asked her. ¡°If everyone has all this game info, how could you get ahead?¡± ¡°Actually,¡± she said, ¡°nobody knows anything. There was no open beta, and the internet has basically no information whatsoever. In fact, the development team claimed that they¡¯re going to scrub the internet every hour for game information. They threatened anybody who shares game knowledge with suspensions." That was shocking. ¡°So no streamers, no wikis, nothing? Why would they do that?¡± The concept thrilled me. It was so easy to look up answers to games, find solutions online, theory-craft everything. The idea that nobody knew anything was¡ª refreshing. Exciting. ¡°I¡¯m not exactly sure yet,¡± she said, ¡°is there anything interesting in that manual? I glanced through some pages. ¡°It¡¯s mostly surface-level stuff ¡ª how to log in. Some basic lore.¡± ¡°Really?¡± She said, turning towards me. She bolted in a chair on the inside of the frame and began attaching between the back of the chair and the processor. There was no screen. When a person connected, they would be able to use all five senses for complete immersion. ¡°What lore, Warren?¡± I read a small paragraph to her. ¡°In the year 975, the allied races lost their ability to wield magic, sending the world into chaos. Perhaps you, brave adventurer, can follow the clues and discover how the peoples of Integration Online lost their magic. Are you the hero who can return the arcane powers to the allied races?¡± ¡°No magic, huh?¡± she said. ¡°Maybe I should focus on goods that physical fighters need then? Like metals and herbs.¡± I stopped my fingers from drumming. My idea had solidified. A mixture of excitement for the game and desperation to not return to the factory filled my heart. I had to try. ¡°Sofia,¡± I said. ¡°Hmm?¡± She was nose-deep in her instruction manual. ¡°I need to tell you something,¡± I said. She turned to me. ¡°I can¡¯t go back to my Job,¡± I started. My eyes went downcast. ¡°They¡¯re awful to me, and they¡¯re taking away the sewing machines in the break room.¡± I tried to gather my confidence. I was so bad at this. I told her about my day, trying to keep eye contact with her but I often couldn¡¯t. Sofia listened attentively, and I could see fire in her eyes when I told her about Tony and the manager. Sofia was the fighter. I wasn¡¯t. ¡°That side business was all I had to be excited about. I feel dead inside, like there¡¯s nothing for me to be good at.¡± ¡°Warren, I¡­¡± she started. She sighed, her eyes looked downward. ¡°I know I haven¡¯t been the best guardian for you. I never should have let you quit studying. You were so smart. You still are. It¡¯s just that I didn¡¯t count on losing your income in my plans. I don¡¯t think we can make rent without it. At least until I start making more money, then¡ª¡± #x200e ¡°I was thinking that you can¡¯t play the game 24/7,¡± I interrupted. I needed to appeal to my sister, the business woman. or this wouldn¡¯t work. ¡°Don¡¯t good businesses try to use their capital at full capacity? If you play for sixteen hours a day, won¡¯t this expensive machine just sit here not making us money for eight hours a day?¡± I continued. ¡°Why not let me play for those eight hours when you aren''t using the pod? I¡¯ll fish and farm and whatever you want me to do. I¡¯ll work for you and follow your directives.¡± She looked at me, her eyes calculating. ¡°You¡¯ll listen to me and not get caught up in anything that wastes your time?¡± I nodded. ¡°This isn¡¯t a joke, Warren. If you can¡¯t earn what you were making at the factory, you¡¯ll have to go back. I can¡¯t risk this investment on you screwing around in this pod. It¡¯s a job, not a game.¡± I nodded. ¡°Fine,¡± she said. ¡°You¡¯ll work noon-midnight and I¡¯ll work the opposite shift. I¡¯m used to being up all night anyway.¡± ¡°You¡¯re really okay with this?¡± I asked. ¡°For now,¡± she said. ¡°Go get ready. You start in two hours.¡± Chapter 4. Janica Chapter 4. Janica Initializing startup sequence. Creating neural links. Brain mapping... ¡°1%¡± appeared before me. Then the number began to grow, slowly at first. I heard sounds in each ear. I tasted salty, sweet, bitter, spicy, and savory. Taste in a video game. Weird. I had heard that the pods connected to your brain, but this alarmed me. 37%... Images flashed through my vision. Old memories. Mom playing with me at the park. Dad sitting next to me as we built our first robot together. He taught me how to solder. He told me I was a genius. A sense of emotion took over. I hadn¡¯t seen my parents in years. These images were so real. So much more vivid than they were in real life memory. Tears ran down my face. 54%... Joy turned to confusion, then panic and despair as peaceful memories turned into tragedy. I stood next to my sister at our parents¡¯ funeral. She held my hand so tight. I nearly ripped myself out of the pod. I didn¡¯t sign up for this. 82%... My life continued to flash before me like movie snippets. My sister adopted me. We moved into a small apartment in the city, leaving all my friends behind. The teachers who knew my name. My friends. I sat in the back of the classroom, unwilling to speak my mind even when I knew the answer. Kids teased me, taunted me, pushed me. They pushed me into lockers. Until I lost my temper. And then I sat in the principal¡¯s office next to Sofia, and I heard the principal tell her that the other boy had almost died. That was my last day of high school. 96%... Sofia threw open my bedroom door. She had found a broken electric drum set next to the dumpster of our apartment building. We rewired it together. And then I played. And played. Sofia had to insulate my room so the neighbors couldn¡¯t hear. Brain mapping complete. Scanning body¡­ 1% I felt tingling sensations, starting at my toes and moving upward, almost like being slowly lowered into a cold pool of water. As the sensors reached my testicles, I shuddered, then the worst seemed to be over. The tingles flooded my torso and moved to the tips of my fingers. It moved up my neck and to the lobes of my ears. Body scan complete. Initializing pain threshold test. ¡°Wait, hold on,¡± I said. But nobody seemed to be listening. An itching sensation grew over my body, building in magnitude until it felt like my whole body was burning. I screamed. Pain threshold detected. Initialization complete. Launching Integration Online (IO)¡­ ¡°Hello Player and welcome to the character creation.¡± I heard a rough female voice and turned to see a sprite staring at me with sharp eyes. She looked like Tinkerbell turned bodybuilder, but her complexion was blue. She must have stood about two feet tall on her tiptoes. She hovered at eye level to me with quick, fluttering wings keeping her afloat. At a glance, she looked like the type of girl that loves a mosh pit so much that she has to use crutches the day after a good metal concert. Thick pauldrons sat on her shoulders. Bracers guarded her wrists, and hardened leather covered her torso and legs. She wore studded combat boots. A large mace was strapped to her back. ¡°Hi,¡± I said. ¡°Hello,¡± she said. ¡°My name is Janica, the best personal guide in the world.¡± Strong intro. ¡°I got the best guide in the entire world?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± she said. She had a proud look about her. ¡°After the brain mapping process, the game paired you with me. It must have known that you needed a lot of help.¡± I chuckled. ¡°I definitely need a lot of help, Jan.¡± ¡°Jan!¡± She said, shaking her head. ¡°Absolutely not. You may refer to me as Janica or Your Royalness. I am a third cousin of the Fairy queen. Basically a princess. The Clerk of Alien Relations assigned me to you just moments ago. All visitors are assigned a guide for the first 24 hours.¡± So she thought I was a visitor to her world, which must mean that she didn¡¯t know she was in a video game. ¡°Janica,¡± I began. ¡°Why do you think I¡¯m here? In your world.¡± She didn¡¯t answer, but looked at me like I had brought an acoustic guitar to a rock show. ¡°You don¡¯t know why you¡¯re here?¡± she asked. ¡°I do¡­¡± I trailed off. ¡°But why do you think I¡¯m here?¡± She started talking to herself. ¡°They told me he¡¯d need a lot of support, but I didn¡¯t think it¡¯d be this bad. Maybe I can get assigned. No. Janica, you¡¯re the best. You can help this idiot.¡± She started talking to me slowly, pausing between each word. ¡°You are an alien. You took a portal to my world for vacation. To become an ad-ven-tur-er. And then you¡¯ll go home. Do you understand what I¡¯m saying?¡± This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. I sighed. ¡°You don¡¯t have to talk to me like I¡¯m a small child,¡± I said. ¡°I was just curious.¡± She threw me a side eye, then mumbled under her breath. ¡°We¡¯ll see about that.¡± I had never played a game where the non-player characters didn¡¯t immediately accept players as part of their world. Weird. The NPC opened up a holographic window in front of me. ¡°What is your name?¡± She asked, now businesslike. For the first time, the game felt familiar to me. Most games had a process like this where you picked your name and customized your character. I thought for a moment about what I¡¯d like to be called. Gamers had all sorts of ways to name themselves, some with hyper masculine names like Orckiller or Destroyer69. Others picked names rooted in recent pop culture references or nods to famous mythology. I could never seem to find a name that fit other than my real life name. ¡°Warren,¡± I said. ¡°Warren,¡± she repeated. ¡°I¡¯ve never heard that name before.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s not common. My dad¡¯s favorite book was a story about rabbits who leave their home, go on a crazy journey, and get into a war with bad rabbits. Rabbits live in warrens. He always told me that I made him think of home.¡± She wrote Warren into the window. ¡°Didn¡¯t need to know all that, but okay¡­¡± This was straight-up shocking. She didn¡¯t know she was in a game, but she was opening and closing game-prompts. I couldn¡¯t help myself from trying to make sense of this. ¡°Janica,¡± I started. ¡°Is it normal in your world for people to have prompts and screens and such?¡± One of her eyebrows shot up. ¡°Of course,¡± she said. ¡°Is that not normal in your world?¡± ¡°Umm, sometimes I guess,¡± I said. She sat cross-legged in front of me, but hovering mid-air, wings flapping behind her like a hummingbird. ¡°Before we begin, I will explain the two major tenants of our world.¡± She put a finger up. ¡°One. Randomization creates variety and chaos. The gods of our world will reward you for bringing randomness to the game.¡± I opened my mouth to ask a question, but she zipped over to me and put a finger over my lips. I actually felt her finger on my lips. In a game. ¡°Don¡¯t interrupt me,¡± she said. ¡°This is important.¡± She raised another finger. She only had three fingers, so it was a good thing that there weren¡¯t four tenants. ¡°Two. Integration. When you bring the experiences, skills, and needs with you from your world into ours, beautiful phenomena can result. Because you chose to use your real name, I¡¯m rewarding you with fifty Silver pieces to your starting purse.¡± I perked up at that. Free money! One step closer to making my quota for the week. ¡°Excuse me, Fairy Lady,¡± I said. ¡°Can I ask a question?¡± She slowly began punching her right hand into her left palm, a universal threat. Her eyes narrowed. ¡°Jan-i-ca,¡± she said. ¡°Janica,¡± I repeated. ¡°Fine, ask your question.¡± ¡°Is fifty silver a lot? How much is that in terms of US dollars ¡ª the money from my planet?¡± ¡°At the current market rate, 50 silver is the equivalent of $50.14.¡± So fifty silver was fifty bucks, give or take. Got it. Not bad. I just made $50 by choosing my own name. ¡°Do you have any more questions before we begin?¡± I thought for a moment. ¡°Do you work for me? Like, do you have to do what I say and stuff?¡± She glared at me again. ¡°Right now, I don¡¯t like you, Warren. Thus, I will do the absolute bare minimum that is required of me.¡± ¡°Which is?¡± ¡°It¡¯s like you¡¯re trying to annoy me. But fine. I am required to share all basic information with you if you ask me.¡± Janica was the sassiest NPC that I had ever met. Humanlike, almost. ¡°And you can¡¯t refuse?¡± ¡°I cannot. But don¡¯t push me.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°So what constitutes basic information?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you have tour guides in your world? People who help you figure out the local customs? Think of me like that. Are you ready to keep going now? We¡¯ve barely started the transition process.¡± I nodded. ¡°Great, let¡¯s begin with appearance.¡± She snapped her fingers. A life-size me appeared wearing nothing but undergarments, and for the first time I was able to begin interacting within the game. I reached out and spun myself around. I was 5¡¯9¡± with sandy hair that reached to my upper back like Jon Bon Jovi during the Slippery When Wet tour. I had deep set blue eyes, a wide mouth, and unlikely ears that stuck out a little too sideways. My body was skinny, not particularly muscular except for my forearms which had strong tendons running from finger to elbow. The result of years of working a sewing machine and banging drumsticks. ¡°You may use the menu to adjust your appearance. You can change the color of your hair and eyes or generalize your facial features. The process allows you to adjust your look enough that you won¡¯t be recognized from your world. Unfortunately, the transition menu doesn¡¯t allow you to build up your muscles or drastically improve your looks.¡± She flexed a bicep and tapped on it with her opposite hand. She then squeezed my own bicep, shaking her head. My eyebrows dropped as I glared at her. ¡°That¡¯s all controlled by your basic stats. Strength and Constitution will physically make you larger and build up your muscles. Charisma will make you more attractive to others by adjusting the shape of your face and making you more symmetric.¡± Statistics must be a part of their existence. Did that mean that she had her own set of stats, and just accepted this as a normal part of life? I thought it over. Overall, I didn¡¯t see any reason why I should care too much about changing my appearance. I bet that some gamers were going to try to improve their charisma just to be better looking within a game. What a waste. Unless that somehow translated to making more money¡­ ¡°Janica, you said that integration is a major tenet here. Are there any bonuses to keeping my appearance as is?¡± She shifted nervously but didn¡¯t answer. I smiled. You didn¡¯t have to be good at reading body language to understand that clue. ¡°I¡¯d like to keep my appearance the same.¡± ¡°Great. Let¡¯s move on.¡± ¡°Wait,¡± I said. ¡°I didn¡¯t get a bonus for using my actual appearance?¡± She shrugged, but was clearly hiding something. ¡°Janica, am I missing something?¡± ¡°Oh fine,¡± she said. ¡°Open up your Overlay.¡± ¡°Uhh what?¡± She sighed. ¡°Think of the word ¡®Overlay¡¯.¡± I did, and an interface appeared in front of my eyes. A Dialogue box appeared in the lower left and multiple drop-down menus across the top. I tried to open the one that said ¡®Map¡¯ by thinking about it, but when I did nothing happened. ¡°You haven¡¯t even been placed in the world yet, Genius, so you don¡¯t have a map. Focus on the Dialogue box and flip over to the tab that says ¡®Alerts¡¯.¡± Immediately, I was able to scroll up to read a number of alerts. I read from the top. Congratulations on beginning your journey in Integration Online. Based on your Brain Map, we assigned Janica as your personal guide. You have chosen the name Warren. Congratulations, by using your real name you have made a minor commitment to Integration. You have been awarded fifty Silver. The game dialogue read like ones that I had used in previous online role playing games. And, yet, it spoke to me about the game itself. Janica¡¯s dialogue menu must be different from my own. I continued reading. Congratulations, by using your real appearance, you have made a major commitment to Integration. As a reward, you have been granted access to three restricted options in the Attributes selection process. Chapter 5. Character Creation Chapter 5. Character Creation ¡°It wasn¡¯t even you that gave me that fifty Silver for using my real name!¡± I gave Janica my best exasperated look. She rolled her eyes. ¡°And I did get a bonus for using my real appearance.¡± ¡°Well, aren¡¯t you just figuring it all out.¡± She seemed annoyed. ¡°Janica,¡± I said. ¡°I think we should start over. I joined this game because I don¡¯t really have anything else going in my life. This isn¡¯t a vacation for me. It¡¯s a Job. If I can¡¯t succeed, I¡¯m going to have to stop playing. I¡¯m going to need your help in these first twenty-four hours¡­ a lot, and I¡¯m sorry for messing with you. My sister and I teased each other a lot growing up, and I didn¡¯t think you¡¯d be offended.¡± Janica stared at me, her face tilted to the side. ¡°Are you always like this?¡± ¡°Like what?¡± ¡°All¡­ I don¡¯t know. Words don¡¯t mean much to me. If you want to get on my good side, do something.¡± She tapped on a series of prompts. ¡°Let¡¯s choose an Attribute and a starting Job, Warren,¡± she said, changing the subject. ¡°Now, tell me about what you want out of your experience, and I¡¯ll use my extensive knowledge to help direct you.¡± ¡°My goal is to make as much money as possible,¡± I began. ¡°So I won¡¯t be going on big adventures or fighting in dungeons or anything.¡± One of her eyebrows rose while the other sank. ¡°The wealthiest players will be adventurers, Warren. Dangerous areas hold the greatest riches.¡± ¡°Right, but my family needs to pay the bills. I can¡¯t spend weeks and weeks powering up only to take big risks. So I¡¯m looking to fish, farm, gather, mine, stuff like that.¡± She shrugged. ¡°Okay, so our world has a Jobs system. Do you know what that means?¡± I shook my head. ¡°There are hundreds of playable Jobs in the game. As you acquire new Jobs, you¡¯ll be able to switch between them. But today you¡¯ll have to make a choice, and you¡¯ll be stuck with it until you unlock other Jobs. The three starting ones are Apprentice, Worker, and Squire. You can think of each of them as the beginning of a Job tree that will grow and grow, allowing you access to new Jobs as you unlock them.¡± ¡°How do I unlock new ones?¡± ¡°The most common way to unlock Jobs is to use specific skills. For example, if you shoot a lot of monsters with a bow, you¡¯ll level up expertise in ranged combat. When your expertise gets high enough in level, you¡¯ll earn access to a new Job. You can also find magic items and complete quests to gain access to special Jobs. There are other ways that I can¡¯t discuss at the moment.¡± She pulled up a window. ¡°This is your first option.¡± Apprentice Job: ? Description: Base Job for Crafting and Professions ? Skills: ? Cooking: Combine basic ingredients into edible food ? Sewing: Use needle and thread with appropriate materials to create clothing ? Reading: Examine texts ? Starting Equipment: Cooking pot, Needle and Thread, Reading Glasses ? Stats on Level Up: +2 to Dexterity, +2 to Intelligence, +1 to Constitution ? ¡°Can you tell me what future Jobs might be unlocked from leveling up the Apprentice Job?¡± I asked. ¡°I cannot,¡± Janica said. ¡°Or I won¡¯t. Or both.¡± A smug little smile snuck onto her face. I ignored her response. ¡°Why would I need reading glasses? I don¡¯t need them in my world.¡± ¡°Reading glasses provide a 10% increase to reading speed. They also allow you to decode language from all of the playable races.¡± ¡°So if I don¡¯t choose this Job, I¡¯ll only be able to read texts from the human race?¡± She nodded. The reading skill seemed incredibly powerful. ¡°Janica,¡± I said. ¡°Not to distract us, but we haven¡¯t talked about races yet. I¡¯m human. You¡¯re a fairy. But are there a lot of races in your world? Can I be anything other than human?¡± ¡°You can¡­¡± she let the word trail off, ¡°but not yet. Every visitor ports in as a human. There are ways to change your race, but I can¡¯t talk about that. You¡¯ll have to figure it out for yourself. And, yes, there are tons of races in my world. Orcs, Werefolk, Plantfolk, Gnomes, Dwarves, and Catfolk, which are the worst people you¡¯ll ever meet. There are two Fae races, three Troll races, two Elf races, and dozens of combinations thereof. A Troll falls in love with a Gnome, they have children, and the world is blessed with the smallest Troll-presenting person you¡¯ve ever seen. Adorable.¡± ¡°Do different Races get different benefits?¡± I asked. ¡°Yeah,¡± Janica said. ¡°But for now all I can tell you is that humans have a 2% bonus to Expertise gains.¡± ¡°And what¡¯s that again?¡± ¡°Expertise measures your skill with weapons and crafting. It¡¯ll go up as you actually do things in our world and will affect your ability to do things well. Some Skills have thresholds. For example, if you get 50 Expertise in being an idiot, which I assume you¡¯ll achieve in no time, you might discover a new way of being an idiot.¡± ¡°Uh huh,¡± I said. ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°You¡¯re welcome!¡± Janica said, brimming with cheeriness. ¡°I¡¯m sending you the other two starting jobs.¡± Worker Job: Description: Collect ingredients and raw materials from the world Skills: Skinning: Gather skins from animals Mining: Mine ore from veins Herbology: Gather usable parts from herbs and flowers Starting equipment: Skinning Knife, Mining Pick, Scissors, Raw Materials Guidebook Stats on Level Up: +1 to Strength, +1 to Perception, +1 to Constitution, +2 to Dexterity Squire Job: Description: Want to learn to fight? Then you¡¯d better put in your time supporting the real warriors. A base for all combat specialists. Skills: Melee combat: Swing things without hurting yourself Armor: Wear more than just clothes Ranged combat: Throw, hurl, and shoot things without hurting yourself Starting Equipment: Leather Vest, Training Sword, Training Bow, Quiver, 20 Wooden Arrows Stats on Level Up: +2 to Strength, +2 to Constitution, +1 to Dexterity ¡°This Worker Job seems like what I¡¯m after,¡± I said. ¡°Honestly though it doesn¡¯t seem as powerful as being able to read all languages. What is the Raw Materials Guidebook?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a book that shows key information on all basic ore, herbs, and skins, allowing workers to see what can be harvested and how to harvest things without ruining them. There are thousands of kinds of ingredients and materials in the world. Without the guidebook, a person might harvest things that have no value to others.¡± The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Oh, that seems pretty useful.¡± Becoming a worker wasn¡¯t the most exciting path, but Sofia and I had made a deal and we had a plan. I needed to follow through. ¡°I¡¯ll take the Worker Job.¡± Janica groaned. She rubbed her face with one hand in annoyance. ¡°I will be following you around as you pick flowers, wasting my wisdom and combat prowess. Sounds boring.¡± I saw her point. Though strangely selfish for an NPC, I felt the same way. Here I was about to start playing the most immersive game I¡¯d ever played, and I had agreed to possibly the lamest path one could take. And yet, if I failed to make enough money, I wouldn¡¯t be playing Integration Online at all. Worse, Sofia would have to send the pod back and our struggle would continue. She had sacrificed so much for me. Becoming a Worker was the least I could do for her. ¡°Maybe you¡¯ll help me become the greatest worker in the game,¡± I said. She laid on her back, wings still fluttering beneath her, and began to fake sleep. She made big, dramatic snoring sounds. I rolled my eyes. ¡°Sorry Janica, but if I can¡¯t make gold I won¡¯t be able to stay here at all. I¡¯d have to go back to my world.¡± She perked up. ¡°Is that an option? You returning? I could be reassigned to somebody who wants to do something awesome?¡± I shrugged. ¡°Yeah. But not within a day. You¡¯re stuck with me for now.¡± She said something under her breath. ¡°Okay, lock it in,¡± I said. Let¡¯s do Attributes.¡± She made a few quick gestures and I got a prompt. Congratulations, you have chosen the Worker Job. ¡°Okay,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m sending you the list of Attributes. You only get to pick one, so don¡¯t screw it up.¡± A list appeared before me with a plethora of options. I began to scan through them. Strong Start: Your starting equipment becomes higher in quality. Lone Wolf: You despise being around others and find yourself much stronger when you¡¯re not partied up. +20% to all damage and healing when not in a party. Repulsive: Though others find you impossible to be around, you¡¯ve never much cared. -50% to Charisma, +20% to all other stat growth. Storyteller: You are able to read all written languages, including ancient scripts. You are able to comprehend all spoken languages, including ancient ones. In addition, when you tell stories to others, they are transported into your story so that they can experience the events firsthand. The first set of attributes each seemed like they could transform my game experience. I felt like a Lonewolf type of player and had no real interest in partying up with others, but since I wasn¡¯t going on any adventures, that one didn¡¯t make sense. Storyteller would be incredibly powerful, but wouldn¡¯t benefit my plans. Repulsive could be an interesting choice because I didn¡¯t need charisma and the +20% stat growth would probably benefit my ability to gather ingredients. I Imagined that Dexterity and Perception¡ªboth parts of the gathering process¡ªwould need to be higher to successfully gather rarer materials. ¡°What can you tell me about Strong Start for the Worker Job?¡± ¡°Your Skinning Knife, Scissors, and Mining Pick all become a higher quality, allowing you to harvest higher level materials from the start. Your Raw Materials Guide will include higher level ingredients as well.¡± That sounded really nice and I might be able to turn those higher quality starting items into profit in the early game as I could harvest better ingredients before other players could. But I¡¯d be sacrificing long term growth for short term gain, and that was generally a mistake in role playing games. I searched through dozens of other Attributes looking for those that might have good potential for my plans. I found three that might be beneficial: Ambidextrous: You¡¯re able to use both hands and double the amount of Dexterity you gain with every level increase. Cartographer: Your map auto populates and stores information with locations of mining nodes, herb locations, fish caught and successful bait, with detailed information about monsters, the loot they drop, as well as quest givers and locations. As well as a third option, listed in the ¡°Bonus Options¡± that I had unlocked earlier in the Character Creation process: Integrator: You are able to discover in-game Skills, gain Stat bonuses, and unlock new Jobs when you show that you are worthy of them. ¡°Okay Janica. Can you share some of your endless wisdom with me? I¡¯m thinking about Ambidextrous, Cartographer, and Integrator.¡± She stroked her chin. ¡°Well, Ambidextrous wouldn¡¯t be bad for a Worker. Your level of Dexterity directly influences the quality of ingredients you can acquire. As an example, skinning animals is a task where the more Dexterity you have, the higher the success rate. Cartographer isn¡¯t bad either and will certainly save you time from having to create your own lists and add things to your in-game map. Integrator is the most interesting. Frankly, this could be the most powerful of the three, but it¡¯s really only strong in the hands of a person that¡¯s talented in their own world. You don¡¯t strike me as a particularly talented person.¡± Rude. I could see her point that I wasn¡¯t skilled at skinning, mining, fishing, or anything related to the Worker Job in the real world. Yet, the idea that I could gain access to new talents, new Jobs, more stats was intriguing. ¡°If I was like a martial artist in my world, would I be given martial arts skills in your world?¡± I asked. She perked up at that. ¡°Are you?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t tease me like that.¡± ¡°Well?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t speak to this in specifics,¡± she said. But yes, in theory this is true.¡± I didn¡¯t know how this would turn out, but I felt like I couldn¡¯t pass up the Integrator attribute. The game was called Integration Online. The attribute must be good. ¡°Lock it in, Janica.¡± ¡°Integrator?¡± I nodded. ¡°You¡¯re starting to surprise me, Warren.¡± Congratulations, you have chosen the Integrator Attribute. ¡°It¡¯s done,¡± she said. ¡°Now we can finally get into the game.¡± Janica fidgeted, wringing her hands together like she was going on stage to perform for the first time. ¡°Are you ready? Is there anything else before we complete the process?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know... Is there anything else?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Is there something you¡¯re hiding, Janica?¡± She shrugged. ¡°Of course not.¡± This was a classic tell. People could lie with their words. It was much more difficult to lie with their body language. ¡°Janica, I know you¡¯re not telling me the whole truth.¡± An alert popped up. Congratulations, by demonstrating an ability to read body language, Integration Attribute has granted you the Attribute: Perceptive. Perceptive: you will receive alerts when encountering situations where something hidden can be discovered. Janica¡¯s mouth fell open and her eyes narrowed. She buzzed around me, finally stopping in front of me and crossing her arms. I was as shocked as Janica, but also pleased in the strangest way. Validated. But not fake validation like when your sister tells you that you¡¯re really smart. The game literally told me that I was skilled at lie detection. Take that, Tony. I looked at Janica, crossing my arms. ¡°So, what are you hiding? Is there some other part to the transition process?¡± She made a sound that was a mixture of a groan and a growl. ¡°There¡¯s one other thing,¡± she said with some reluctance. ¡°I told you that the gods of our world reward randomness. Visitors are allowed one more roll of the dice. With the roll, you will be granted a random boon. But you will also be given a disadvantage. It¡¯s risky because there are hundreds of things that can happen, and some of the disadvantages are really bad.¡± ¡°Is there something I get by choosing to roll the dice? Like a bonus just for rolling?¡± ¡°Look Warren, I¡¯m your advisor and I don¡¯t advise this. It could be really bad.¡± ¡°Janica...¡± She sighed. ¡°Yes, you will be given one-hundred Silver to your starting purse. But Warren, if you do this there¡¯s no going back.¡± One hundred Silver was. I had to make $1000 a week to keep playing. By taking the money I would, in effect, give myself a good head start. I didn¡¯t love the idea of getting a really bad disadvantage, but I¡¯d also get some added bonus. I couldn¡¯t say ¡°No¡± to this. The idea of going back to the factory was almost unthinkable, and I might need to spend a little Silver on equipment, bags, stuff like that. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m doing it. I can¡¯t turn down that kind of money right now.¡± Janica handed me a set of dice. She paused for a moment, holding her tiny hand over mine. ¡°Warren, there are better things out there than scraping by.¡± I tossed the dice and heard a rattling in my core like something big was about to shift. Some unknown force had a hold on me. The dice bounced and bounced against each other, clanking and rattling. I felt disoriented like someone was peering into my soul. I had a flash of my childhood therapist asking me questions that I didn¡¯t want to answer, telling me things I didn¡¯t want to hear. And then it stopped. Congratulations, you have been granted a 3rd tier Job: Mystic. Congratulations, you have been given 100 Silver to your starting purse. Condolences, you have lost the Worker Job in addition to all of your starting equipment. ¡°Well,¡± Janica said. ¡°Are you happy with yourself? You¡¯ve managed to lose a perfectly useful starting Job while gaining one with skills that you can¡¯t even use.¡± Chapter 6. Dragon! Chapter 6. Dragon! I opened my eyes to blue skies and wispy clouds. I took a slow inhale, smelling a mixture of pine and florals. I closed my eyes and smiled, letting the sunshine warm my face. The sun rarely threaded through the skyscrapers and smog of downtown Detroit all the way to the street level. How was this possible? An insect¡ª at least, I thought it was an insect¡ª buzzed around above me. I sat up and held one finger out for it to land on. It settled there instantly. Its delicate webbed wings relaxed slowly. Tiny scales covered its body. The coloration of its wings changed from blue to green as I rotated it. I could actually feel the insect; its tiny legs tickling my finger. It looked up at me. A serpentlike head the size of a fingernail cocked to the side as if it were as startled to see me as I was to see it. I realized it wasn¡¯t an insect at all, but an actual dragon. A tiny, bluegreen dragon. I noticed Janica hiding behind my kneecap, staring at the dragon. She crouched like a predator. She pounced. Her tiny hands grasped the dragon and she shoved it into her mouth. Its body went in first, wriggling and thrashing in protest. After the first initial bite her tongue reached out and swept in the legs. The wings were the last to go down. A huge grin grew over her face and she rubbed her belly. ¡°Delicious!¡± I almost gagged. ¡°You eat dragons?¡± ¡°Oh yes,¡± she said, then moaned. ¡°How do you think I maintain this perfectly formed body? Pure protein.¡± She turned her body slightly and flexed her triceps. I wore a skirt and shirt, both made of a thick, scratchy cloth. Possibly hemp. And leather boots. A small coin purse hung from a cord that wrapped around my waist. Examining it, I saw that I had 150 Silver. Thankfully, the coin purse didn¡¯t actually contain 150 coins, which could have weighed several pounds. It must have been digital. I also wore a leather fanny pack. Looking inside, I saw thirty empty inventory slots. ¡°Why am I wearing a skirt?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a kilt. Because this is the starting equipment for the Mystic Job.¡± Then it hit me, and I remembered that I had lost the Worker Job. I rubbed my palms into my eyes. ¡°There it is,¡± Janica said. ¡°And this is why you should always listen to my advice.¡± I nodded. ¡°Tell me how bad it is.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not great. Could be worse. But your plans to gather raw materials¡­ that just got a lot more difficult.¡± She shrugged. Then she began mumbling to herself while flying around me. I overheard her say something about a cave and an elemental and not having enough time. Her head seemed to pop up like she had an idea. ¡°Janica¡­¡± ¡°Yes?¡± She came out of her daze. ¡°What were you mumbling about?¡± ¡°Oh nothing, nothing. Actually, something. I got an idea. But we need to get moving.¡± ¡°What did you mean when you told me I had a Job with skills that I couldn¡¯t even use?¡± ¡°Open your Character Sheet by thinking ¡®Character Sheet¡¯.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Character Sheet Name: Warren Jobs: Mystic Attributes: Integrator, Perceptive Core Stats: Constitution: 10 Dexterity: 10 Intelligence: 10 Wisdom: 10 Strength: 10 Perception: 10 Core Resources Health: 25/25 Stamina: 25/25 Mana: 0/25 Current Loadout: Job: Mystic Passive 1: None Passive 2: None Skill 1: Talk to Spirits - You enter a trance where you can communicate with local Spirits. Cost to Cast: free. Cooldown: 24 hours. Cost to Buy: 300 Job Points. Skill 2: Rejuvenate - Cast a spell on a friendly target that restores 20 health over 8 seconds. Does not stack with other Rejuvenate spells. Cost to Cast: 10 Mana. Cost to Buy: 100 Job Points. Skill 3: Lightning Strike - Call Lightning from the sky that deals 35 damage and stuns all targets within a 3 yard area for 2.5 seconds. Cost: 20 Mana. Cost to Buy: 100 Job Points. On Level Up: 1 Constitution, 1 Dexterity, 2 Intelligence, 3 Wisdom, 0 Strength, 2 Perception Much of the Character Sheet looked familiar to me from playing other role playing games. After looking at the Current Loadout, I could tell what Janica meant when she said my skills were useless. Each of them cost mana and my Mana was at 0/25. ¡°How do I get Mana?¡± ¡°Normally,¡± she began to lecture, ¡°your mana would regenerate at a rate of 1/10 of your Wisdom every second. However, mana hasn¡¯t regenerated in our world in years. I won¡¯t get into that right now. But every skill that uses mana is pretty much useless. So, like I said, you can¡¯t do much with this Job.¡± My face got hot. I had made a big mistake and couldn¡¯t do anything about it. I had read in the game manual that mana didn¡¯t work because of some event that happened in the world, but I didn¡¯t know why. I had so many questions. I didn¡¯t really know where to start. Janica seemed to sense this and stop me. ¡°Why are you air-drumming?¡± she asked. ¡°What? Oh. Sometimes I do that.¡± The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Come on, we can talk on the way.¡± She motioned for me to follow. ¡°Where are you taking me?¡± I asked. We walked through a meadow of tall grasses and wildflowers. To our left, a creek bubbled and ran down hill into a forested region. I stepped over fallen pines and between aspen trees as we followed a path adjacent to the stream. Mosquitos and flies nipped at my exposed arms and neck. The buzz of insects competed with the noise of the creek. ¡°Not far,¡± Janica replied after some time. ¡°We¡¯re heading toward the nearest town, but making a stop along the way. Let¡¯s talk for a second about your Character Sheet. Tell me what you understood about it.¡± I remember the basics from the game manual. ¡°Constitution gives health and stamina. Dexterity has something to do with using my hands. Intelligence affects my magical abilities. Wisdom affects my efficiency at using different resources like mana and stamina. Strength is¡­ strength, and Perception helps me find hidden things and cut through the bullshit.¡± ¡°Good enough for now, though each of those can have a more nuanced effect on how you interact with Skills, Quests, and Equipment. In addition, each stat will affect either your physical appearance or the way you think.¡± She paused and showed me her biceps. ¡°See. This is what high Strength will get you.¡± She pulled the mace off of her back. It looked like an enormous, double-sided hammer. It had a long hilt, about as tall as Janica, with intricate curves and details. She spun it like a majorette spins a baton, whipping the weapon around her back. It came back, then she uppercutted a rock, sending it flying into a tree. They collided with a crack that split the air. ¡°And that¡¯s what Perception and Dexterity will do for you,¡± she said. ¡°Perception gives you haste. Dexterity gives you accuracy and critical strike chance. As situations arise, I¡¯ll tell you more. But let me add one thing. When you level up, you¡¯ll get stats based on your current Job. Each Job has different stat growth. Eventually, you¡¯ll have multiple Jobs - each with their own stat-growth chart, and you¡¯ll be able to switch between, so it''s important to change Jobs to the one you want to level up with.¡± ¡°That¡¯s wild. So if I leveled up ten times while in the Mystic Job, I¡¯d gain more Wisdom than anything else?¡± She nodded. That was reason for excitement, the silver-lining to the Mystic class. And not a small win. ¡°The Mystic Job gets a total of nine stat points per level: three in Wisdom, one in Intelligence, one in Dexterity, one Constitution, and two in Perception. But the Apprentice Job only gave a total of five stat points, if I recall.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± she said. ¡°You have a tier three Job, so you get more stat points per level from the very beginning than all the people who started as Workers, Apprentices, and Squires. But since you don¡¯t have any usable skills, you might not be able to level up as quickly, if at all.¡± She tried again to make it seem like I had made a big mistake, but this potentially could propel me past other players if I could figure out a way around my problem. A few miles ahead of us, smoke rose from the chimneys of a few dozen stone buildings. The creek ran into a slow moving river, probably thirty yards wide. The town straddled the river, and I could see at least one bridge spanning the river. A wooden palisade protected the town, but I couldn¡¯t see an entrance from where we were. I had seen environments like this in dozens of fantasy games. Bucolic, medieval towns, wide rivers, forested zones. But being in this world continued to awe me. Detroit was congested, smoggy, modern. It was gross. I couldn¡¯t remember the last time I saw a river with my own eyes. Or smelled pine. Or saw my fairy companion eat a tiny dragon in one bite. ¡°What about Core Resources?¡± she asked, pulling me out of my head. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Stop looking around with your mouth open and focus,¡± she said. ¡°You only get me for one day, and if we¡¯re going to set you up here, I¡¯m going to need you to stop acting like a tourist.¡± I nodded. ¡°Health is how much damage I can take before I die. Stamina is for things like sprinting and diving out of the way of dangerous things. Mana is a reserve that allows me to cast certain types of spells.¡± I paused and looked over, hoping she¡¯d add some explanation about why mana wasn¡¯t regenerating. She did not. Janica veered to her right, away from the town. ¡°That¡¯s pretty much correct. Did you notice that you could purchase Skills?¡± ¡°Yeah, what¡¯s up with that?¡± ¡°Your current Loadout has five slots. Two for Passives and three for Skills. At level 20, you¡¯ll be able to unlock another Passive or another Skill slot. Until then, five is all you get. That make sense?¡± ¡°I think so,¡± I said. ¡°My Loadout is just my set of Skills and Passives that I can use in combat.¡± ¡°Right,¡± Janica said. ¡°You earn Job Points, which your interface calls JP, by using any Skill. So if your job is a Mystic and you use a Skill in your Loadout, you get Job Points. Then you can use those Job Points to buy Skills which you can then use in other Jobs. For example, if you were able to buy Lightning, you could change Jobs and continue to keep Lightning in your Loadout.¡± I stopped and stared at her. Loopholes were one of my favorite things. And I thought I just spotted one. She stopped and looked back at me. ¡°Why did you stop? Why are you smiling at me like that? I don¡¯t like that smile.¡± ¡°Are there any Skills that don¡¯t require mana?¡± She looked at me like I had said something stupid. ¡°Of course. Hundreds. Every martial arts skill uses stamina instead of mana. Plus Apprentice Skills, Worker Skills, and a bajillion others.¡± ¡°So in theory¡­¡± I trailed off. ¡°Hypothetically...¡± She raised an eyebrow at me. ¡°Just spit it out.¡± ¡°If I could get one of those Skills, I could earn Mystic Job Points even though I can¡¯t use mana.¡± ¡°Obviously,¡± she said, but she looked confused. ¡°But what good will that do you? Even if you got a bunch of Job Points for the Mystic class, all you can do with it is buy Skills that cost mana. And you can¡¯t use mana.¡± She turned and flew away from me, her wings flapping furiously behind her. I¡¯d played some games that had mechanics like this. In order to get a really good Loadout, you had to find jobs with passives and skills that worked together. Some jobs might be completely useless, but have a really amazing passive and you had to slog through levels just to earn that passive before moving on. However, if I could find a Skill that I could use over and over again at a cheap cost, I would be able to acquire loads of Job Points. And buy the best Skills. And level up quickly. I needed to get some new Skills that didn¡¯t use mana. The sun hadn¡¯t reached the top of the sky yet, though I didn¡¯t know anything about this world and its celestial events. There could be three moons for all I knew. As a Mystic, I¡¯d probably need to learn about things like this. ¡°Janica, how are we going to get me out of this mess?¡± ¡°Up ahead.¡± She zipped toward a shack with a little roof that slanted down from one side. The entire building was made from wood other than a little stone chimney. It was quaint and seemed to be well maintained, though small. Janica stopped and motioned for me to knock on the door. I approached the door nervously and knocked. I heard a quick, muffled conversation followed by footsteps. The door opened. The smell of some kind of oatmeal hit me. Smells. In a game. Though it smelled good, I realized that I wasn¡¯t hungry. Maybe the game developers didn¡¯t want me to constantly think about food. A welcome relief. An older woman stood at the door, club in hand. A name tag hovered over her head. In green, formal lettering, it read . I looked above my own head, searching for a name tag, and saw one. . Janica elbowed me. ¡°Stop being weird,¡± she said under her breath. I focused on the NPC. She had weathered skin and a flat face that didn¡¯t seem to allow her to smile. A man sat at a small table behind her, facing away from me. His head was sparse with graying hair and he wore buckskin clothing with little ornamentation. ¡°Who are you?¡± she practically barked. ¡°Hi, I¡¯m Warren.¡± I wish Janica had told me something about what I was doing here. Ellen wore a thick leather apron over a simple dress that had all the lines of something homemade. It fit her well. Animal skins covered a wooden floor and wooden chairs. ¡°Is there anything I could do to help you?¡± I asked, unable to think of another thing to say. So awkward. ¡°You¡¯re not very smooth, are you?¡± Janica hissed. The old woman didn¡¯t seem to hear Janica or acknowledge that she was even there. ¡°What do you mean? Why are you here?¡± The woman didn¡¯t seem to be warming up to me. ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m passing through, and I need work.¡± She grunted. ¡°I don¡¯t have anything to pay you.¡± She started to close the door. ¡°Wait. It looks like you and your husband are skilled hunters and leatherworkers. If I could be of some help, maybe you could teach me something about your trade?¡± She looked back at her husband, who didn¡¯t say a thing or even look my way. She stepped out of the door and closed it behind her, then spoke to me softly. ¡°My husband is having some trouble hunting these days and, though I can catch rabbits just as good as him, I¡¯d appreciate the assistance. Do you think you could catch me a rabbit? In return, I¡¯d get the old man to teach you how to skin it. You could keep the skin as well. We don''t need any more of them. Just the meat.¡± A quest dialogue popped up. You were offered a quest: Quest: Rabbit Season Objectives: Catch a rabbit, dead or alive, and return it to the woman Rewards: 30 Experience Points, the Skinning Profession, and a Rabbit skin Do you accept? Yes/No Chapter 7. Warren vs. Bunny Chapter 7. Warren vs. Bunny ¡°I¡¯ll do it,¡± I said. ¡°That whole field there is filled with rabbits,¡± she motioned. ¡°Good luck and be careful. They can get a little fierce.¡± Janica stopped in front of me, blocking me from advancing on the field. ¡°What¡¯s up,¡± I said. ¡°This is a starter quest, Warren, but it¡¯s not an easy one. It¡¯s designed for level two Visitors. You¡¯re going to need a weapon.¡± ¡°Seriously?¡± She eyed me up and down. ¡°Uh huh. Come on.¡± She zipped back and forth searching the ground. I followed. ¡°Could that woman not see you?¡± ¡°No. As a Guide, I¡¯m not visible to anybody but you.¡± She flew back to the forest and I followed. ¡°Here!¡± She pointed at the ground. I picked up a stick about five feet in length and the thickness of my arm. It was dry with cracks down its length. Little sticks jutted from the sides. There was nothing special about it. Twigs and branches jutted out from the sides. You received Wooden Stick Wooden Stick: Item Class: Spear Item Quality: Poor Damage: 1-2 ¡°I¡¯m supposed to kill a rabbit with this?¡± I swung it like a baseball bat. Janica shook her head. ¡°Stop, stop.¡± She pulled the mace that was strapped to her back. ¡°Like this.¡± She held it like a spear and thrust. I emulated her. ¡°Wait, can I get a new Spear Skill through my Integrator Attribute?¡± She closed her eyes and sighed. ¡°You have to show actual competence for that to happen. And you seem to be¡­¡± She tapped her chin. ¡°What¡¯s the word I¡¯m looking for? ineffective? No. Un-competent? No.¡± I rolled my eyes. ¡°Incompetent?¡± ¡°That¡¯s it!¡± she said. I sighed. ¡°Start working your way out to the field,¡± she said. When you pull a rabbit, back up. You don¡¯t want to fight more than one.¡± I saw about half a dozen rabbits toward the middle of the field grazing on tall grasses. They looked sturdier than rabbits that I¡¯d seen, with thick brown fur and tall ears. More like hares than rabbits. A large rabbit sat between me and the group, its ears upright. It scanned the perimeter of the group like it was watching for threats. ¡°Not that one,¡± Janica hissed. ¡°You don¡¯t want to take on one of the alphas.¡± Alpha rabbits! I snickered. The Alpha Rabbit¡¯s head turned my way. It locked eyes with me and crouched low. ¡°Get back!¡± Janica warned me. ¡°Back. Back. Back.¡± She commanded. ¡°You can¡¯t do anything the easy way, can you?¡± I backed up, keeping my eyes on the rabbit, which sprang after me. Thankfully, the group didn¡¯t follow. Alpha Rabbit Level 3 HP 6/6 Stamina 100/100 I pulled my stick back like a baseball bat, lowering my stance, letting the branch swing around in a little circle above me. I hadn¡¯t had any training as a batter, but this seemed a better bet than trying to spear the thing. The rabbit darted right then left as it jumped at my legs. I swung, missing the rabbit by a mile. The rabbit bit at my calf, its huge front teeth tearing into my flesh. I screamed. Pain overtook me and I fell to the ground, reaching for my leg. All five of my senses worked in Integration Online and, for the first time, I wished they didn¡¯t. Maybe there was some way to turn down the pain settings. ¡°The Alpha Rabbit just bit you for 9 damage,¡± Janica said, her tone matter-of-fact. She floated near me, her arms crossed over her chest, unconcerned that I was about to get mauled by a rabbit. ¡°You¡¯re down to 16 hitpoints. You¡¯re bleeding at one hit point per second for the next two seconds.¡± I panted, getting back to my feet. I reached down to feel the wound and got blood all over my hands. The Alpha Rabbit had taken off more than a third of my health with one bite and made me bleed besides. If I got bit again, I¡¯d barely have any life left. And if it critically struck me, I¡¯d be dead. ¡°Janica, what happens if I die?¡± I asked, watching the rabbit. ¡°All of your Job levels go back to level one,¡± she said. ¡°And you have to port back to your own world for four hours.¡± I hadn¡¯t leveled-up yet, but four hours was a lot of wasted time. I only had Janica for 24 hours, and it was already mid-morning. It would take us time to get back here. If she had a plan to help me get to a place where I could succeed on my own, I didn¡¯t have any time to waste. The rabbit circled me, looking for an opening. It didn¡¯t have to look hard. It lunged. I threw myself out of the way. The rabbit flew past me. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. I got back to my feet. ¡°HP is down to 15, Stamina at 18.¡± I had used a quarter of my stamina with one swing and a dodge. If the fight continued like this, I wouldn¡¯t last a minute. My attempt at fighting my way had failed. I needed to try something new. I held the stick out like Janica had shown me and waited. The beast raised its upper lip, showing me its massive front teeth. What the hell was with this game? It sprung at me again, but this time I tracked it with the tip of my stick. When it jumped at me, I fell backwards but held my weapon in position. I grazed the Alpha Rabbit and felt my stick connect. It tumbled beyond me, rolling through the grass. ¡°That looked absolutely pathetic, but you connected for 2 damage.¡± I got up again. ¡°Your health is 14/25. The bleeding stopped. This time, plant your back foot. Have a little confidence.¡± I waited. Blood dripped down its leg. It began to thump and I felt a reverberation in my feet. ¡°That¡¯s bad,¡± Janica said, nervous for the first time. ¡°Kill it quick and run!¡± Three more rabbits faced me, their ears sticking straight up. The Alpha charged. I pointed my stick at the rabbit and leaned forward, planting my back foot. The rabbit sprang toward my throat, but I angled the stick upward and impaled it. You critically hit Alpha Rabbit for 4 damage. You defeated Alpha Rabbit. You earned 18 experience points. Your Expertise with Spears increased to 3. ¡°Warren, run!¡± Janica yelled. I took off, following Janica away from the pack of rabbits. I glanced over my shoulder and saw five of them following me, bounding through the grass, eyes ablaze. I ran on, eyes on my stamina bar which ticked down. 5/25¡­ 4/25¡­ 3/25¡­ I entered the tree line, dodging between pines. ¡°They turned back,¡± Janica alerted me. I collapsed to the ground, panting. My stamina read 0/25. Janica hovered above me, rolling her eyes. ¡°Come on. Let¡¯s go back and loot the rabbit.¡± The rabbit¡¯s body lay far enough from the pack that I could access it without pulling the others. Its carcass glowed with little white sparkles. Next to the dead rabbit, pieces of my weapon lay scattered about the ground, some of them stained with blood. I guess I would need to find a new stick. As I accessed the body, a window opened, showing me my first loot! Alpha Rabbit Carcass Item Class: Common I grabbed the rabbit by its ears and headed back to the cabin, proud of my first kill. The older woman¡¯s eyes shot up as she saw me standing at her door, a rabbit laying on the front step. Like a cat proudly presenting a mouse to its owners. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you to actually kill one of those little devils,¡± she said. ¡°And an Alpha to boot!¡± You have completed the Quest: Rabbit Season Experience Rewarded: 30 ¡°Come on then.¡± She turned and walked toward the kitchen, dropping the rabbit on the table in front of the old man and kicking his chair as she passed. ¡°Jamon, we promised this boy a reward.¡± He startled, then grunted. He picked the animal up and shuffled past me back outside and around the back of the house. I expected Jamon to impart the Skinning profession on me. Usually in games like this you suddenly know how to skin things. You click a button, wait a few seconds while an animation occurs, then a skin appears in your inventory. Instead, the old man strung the rabbit up and proceeded to skin it with a few quick strokes of a knife, first cutting around the ankles, then down the back, and then pulling the fur off in a few jerks. His weathered hands moved with the precision of practice, his blue eyes locked in concentration. He paused to look at me twice, waiting for acknowledgement that I had seen what he did. I¡¯ve always liked quiet people, so it wasn¡¯t tough for me to withhold my questions and match his calm and serious energy. When he finally handed me the skin, he held my gaze for a moment, an acknowledgment of my presence. Perhaps a small thank you for not peppering him with questions. Congratulations, you learned the Profession: Skinning. You received Alpha Rabbit Skin. ¡°Jamon, do you happen to have an extra skinning knife that I could buy from you?¡± ¡°Wait here,¡± he said. He returned a moment later. ¡°This is an old blade. You can have it for five Silver.¡± I had trouble parting with even the smallest amounts of money. I tried to reach into my coin purse to remove five Silver, but that didn¡¯t seem to work. Jamon looked at me, his eyebrows furrowed. I tried again, nothing. Jamon shifted. I glanced at Janica, giving her a facial expression that meant ¡®help!¡¯. ¡°Oh fine,¡± she said. ¡°Just touch your purse and think ¡®five Silver¡¯.¡± I followed her directions. Five Silver coins appeared in my hand. I handed them to Jamon, who seemed to become skeptical of me. Congratulations, you received Worn Skinning Knife and Sheath. I pulled the Worn Skinning Knife out of a leather sheath that measured the size of my palm. Its blade was metal, but chipped along the side. I ran my thumb over the blade sideways and found that the knife was not sharp. Its leather handle had tatters and rips, but it looked to be usable. I nodded at him in thanks as I put the sheath on my belt and the Alpha Rabbit Skin in my inventory. ¡°What¡¯s next? Can I just use the skin to make clothing and armor with?¡± Jamon shook his head. ¡°It¡¯s a process. I¡¯ll teach you, but you¡¯re going to have to work for it.¡± You were offered a quest: Quest: Rabbit Season 2 Objectives: Bring Jamon 6 Skins Rewards: 35 Experience Points and Leatherworking 1 Do you accept?: Yes/No I accepted the quest. I was going to need a new spear. Our peaceful interaction was broken by a set of voices that rose in argument as they approached. Three people strode toward us, marked by nameplates over their heads. As they got close enough to be heard clearly, the old man and I shared a weathered glance. Gamers had arrived. Chapter 8. Arthur the Asshole Chapter 8. Arthur the Asshole The tallest and loudest of the three gamers strode straight into the group of rabbits as they entered the field. He swung a two-handed sword; its chipped metal edge sliced downward and felled a rabbit in one swing. ¡°Thomas, get out in front of me. I¡¯ll flank them. Christian, stay at range, " he commanded. ¡°Arthur, we don¡¯t need bossing around,¡± one responded. ¡°You don¡¯t have to be the GM right now, it¡¯s just a group of rabbits.¡± GM meant guild master. I knew that from previous games. I also knew that guild masters tended to be a certain type. Pushy. Demanding. Not my favorite. ¡°We need to stay tight,¡± Arthur shot back. ¡°Perfect practice makes perfect. You sass me again and I¡¯ll demote you.¡± I couldn¡¯t stand people like this. I¡¯d met dozens of them. Stuck up, bossy, arrogant fools who thought their privilege gave them the right to tell others what to do. Anyone with the gall to name themself ¡®Arthur¡¯ in a fantasy game had issues. They made short work of the group of animals. As commanded, Christian stayed at range with his bow. He shot eight arrows and two of them landed. Thomas held a sword and a wooden shield. He got to the front of the pack and blocked multiple rabbits from attacking him by batting them back with his shield. All three of them were squires by Job. It said so above their nameplates. That meant they¡¯d be well ahead of me in Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution. The thought that I¡¯d be essentially gathering materials for people like this gave me pause, even if I was able to switch Jobs and farm in this game. I both loathed the idea of helping them get stronger and relished the thought that I¡¯d be profiting off of them. They strode over toward the house. I remained a moment too long, too busy leering at them to get out of line of sight. ¡°Hey you!¡± Arthur hollered as I tried to slip around the corner of the house. ¡°I saw you. Come out and say hello.¡± Ugh. I stood against the wall for a moment, taking a deep breath and trying to calm myself. I stepped around to face them. ¡°Arthur, he¡¯s a Mystic,¡± Thomas said in a whisper of excitement. ¡°I know, idiot. I can read.¡± Arthur directed his attention to me. ¡°How¡¯d you get that Mystic Job? We¡¯re like two hours into game-launch.¡± ¡°I rolled for it in character creation.¡± Arthur had a large square face and straight blond hair. He had prominent eyebrows and brown eyes. He looked to be about six foot four with massive shoulders. An image of He-Man popped into my head. Had he made his character look like this or was this how he looked in real life? His nameplate said level three, but I doubted that six points in Strength and six in Constitution would make a person that much larger. Arthur was probably built and traditionally handsome in real life. Most likely rich as well. Some people had everything. Thomas was shorter and round about the mid section with short brown hair and a pudgy face. He had a kind look about him, but I doubted he was actually kind. Like attracts like. Christian stood taller than me and slender, but with terrible posture where he didn¡¯t stand upright. Possibly a consequence of being so tall. He had a pointy, hawklike face with a sneer on it that I hadn¡¯t seen disappear yet. He had blond hair like Arthur and, now that I looked back and forth, the two could pass as brothers. ¡°Lucky,¡± Arthur said. ¡°Do you have any healing spells? We¡¯re heading up into the mountains for a quest chain called ¡®Into the Silverlode Mine¡¯ and we could use a healer.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not really looking to get into any questing,¡± I said. ¡°And the healing spell I have doesn¡¯t even work yet because mana doesn¡¯t regenerate.¡± Arthur pulled the three of them into a huddle and began whispering. Janica pulled me aside. ¡°Warren, we need to go with them.¡± ¡°Absolutely not,¡± I whispered to her. I turned my back to the three, looking at Janica. I pursed my lips and shook my head. ¡°Look,¡± she said. ¡°I told you I had a plan to get you out of this situation, right? You need to trust me.¡± ¡°By getting myself into danger?¡± I whispered. ¡°And with these fools? I don¡¯t have a mining pick, or any of the equipment I was supposed to get as a worker.¡± She held my gaze. ¡°Just trust me.¡± A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. I sighed and turned around to face the three men. This was going to come back to bite me. Arthur spoke before I could. ¡°We talked it over and we agreed. If you have a healing spell this early in the game, even if you can¡¯t use it yet, it¡¯s worth carrying you through this quest.¡± ¡°We didn¡¯t agree,¡± Christian said. ¡°You decided. For the record, I¡¯m against bringing this amateur with us.¡± Arthur glared at him, then turned back to me. ¡°Hear me out. I¡¯m the leader of an elite guild called Impervious. We¡¯ve been around for over a decade, with first kills in all the major online games. We have over twenty members, all of them completely dependable. Except Christian. If you come with us and do well, I¡¯ll let you apply to join us. It¡¯s kind of a big deal. I¡¯m not doing this out of charity. I¡¯ve heard that it¡¯s going to be nearly impossible to get any magic until some major events happen in the game. And the fact that you even have a healing skill is unusual. I¡¯m doing this for the guild. And because I need a pocket healer. But if you get us killed by doing something stupid, I will not be happy. So you need to agree to stay back and follow orders.¡± If this little speech was meant to motivate me to join them, it did the opposite. I wanted nothing more than to walk away and avoid people like this. But just because I had a new profession didn¡¯t mean that I¡¯d be successful. It was clear that I would have to kill beasts in order to skin them. I needed an edge, a new Job that would help me gather ingredients or something. And Janica seemed to have a plan. I didn¡¯t know what to do. ¡°Why is he talking about this like it¡¯s a game?¡± Janica asked. I ignored her. This wasn¡¯t the time to discuss existential issues. ¡°Just so you know,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t have any useful skills except that I can talk to spirits once a day. I had a spear, but I broke it. So I can¡¯t even attack anything.¡± Arthur reached into his inventory and pulled out a simple wooden pole and offered it to me. You received Wooden Staff. Wooden staff Item Class: Spear Item Quality: Common Damage: 2-4 ¡°Thanks,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯re coming with us then?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure. Is there a quest reward?¡± ¡°Here,¡± Arthur said. ¡° I¡¯ll share the quest with you. It¡¯s a quest chain and we¡¯re on the third part, but let¡¯s just see if it¡¯s sharable. Because we¡¯re not going back to help you with the first parts.¡± A holographic image of a man appeared before me and began to speak in a nasally tone. He wore nice clothes, similar to what a banker might have worn in the 1800s complete with a top hat, a fancy-looking tie, and a pair of round spectacles. ¡°Hello, Visitor. My name is Nigel Attinson. I¡¯m the Mayor of River Junction. For years, our town has thrived because we sit at the junction of two major rivers, because we have rich farmland, and because of the plentiful Silverlode mine, which lies in the foothills North of town. ¡°However, six months ago, an angry Earth Spirit attacked the mine, killing dozens and destroying our mining equipment. Without silver from the mine and the resources that it provided our town, we have begun to lose our hold as a center of trade, and many families had to relocate; it started a chain reaction that could ruin River Junction. We sent groups into the mines to clear out the spirit, but¡­¡± Nigel closed his eyes and shook his head, ¡°they didn¡¯t make it out. I take full responsibility. I begged Central City to send us aid, but our little silver mine is not a priority. ¡°I¡¯m begging you, please dispose of the Earth Spirit or, at the very least, discover a clue which can help us remove this foul creature.¡± You were offered a quest. Quest: Into the Silverlode Mine Objective: Dispose of the Earth Spirit that inhabits the Silverlode Mine or discover a clue that can help the town of River Junction Rewards: 100 Silver and increased reputation with River Junction Do you accept: Yes /No My eyes widened thinking about the reward. One-hundred Silver was the equivalent of $100. No brainer. I accepted the quest. ¡°Great,¡± Arthur said. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± ¡°Janica,¡± I whispered, once the other three were out of ear-shot. ¡°One hundred Silver! Is that why you pushed me into accepting this quest?¡± She hesitated. ¡°Warren, I hate to tell you this, but you¡¯re not getting any of that money.¡± Chapter 9. Spirits Chapter 9. Spirits The entrance to the mine looked like it had been hit by a tornado. Broken wooden boxes with ¡°Danger Explosives¡± littered the ground. Large metal equipment lay askew, rusting over. ¡°This place creeps me out,¡± Thomas said under his breath. Arthur knelt to an unopened wooden box and used his sword to pry it open. He reached inside and slipped something into his inventory. We approached the opening of the mine, which stood just tall enough that Arthur had to slightly duck his head to walk through, which put a small smile on my face. Maybe it shouldn¡¯t give me pleasure to see tall, handsome men suffer in small ways, but it did. They walked three abreast ahead of me, and I trailed behind with Janica. On the hour-long hike to the mine, I had noticed each of them whispering with invisible beings and Janica confirmed that each of them had their own fairy-companion. Janica claimed to be the best guide out there, but I wasn¡¯t special. We were all given a twenty-four hour companion. Janica had explained that while fairies were assigned as guides, they wouldn¡¯t be able to interact with each other, only their Visitor. Between assignments, the fairies would interact again. And, as Janica put it, ¡°talk about the stupid things our Visitors did, and boy, will I have some great stories to tell about you. The gals are going to roar with laughter.¡± She didn¡¯t have to add that part. We were roughly six hours into launch day, which meant that each of us had about eighteen more hours of playtime remaining with our companions. Even though Janica didn¡¯t seem to like me much, I dreaded losing her. So much was unknown about this world; I wasn¡¯t ready to be on my own. We descended slowly into the mine, its earthen halls supported by wooden infrastructure. Faintly glowing lights lined the tunnel. Thinking it was some kind of light bulb, I inspected the lights closer. Turns out, it wasn¡¯t light bulbs but flowers that emitted a soft blue glow. They were part of a network of woven, bioluminescent vines. Janica confirmed that such florals were not all that uncommon. ¡°But don¡¯t eat them,¡± she advised. ¡°Why would I eat them?¡± ¡°Who knows what you¡¯ll do.¡± Our feet crunched on rocks as we moved forward, the sound amplified by the fact that this was the first time the three of my gamer companions had been completely silent since we started walking. It was a nice change from Arthur¡¯s never-ending string of alpha male bullshit, barking orders, and complaints about guild members and how it would be so easy if everyone would just do their jobs. The place smelled musty, and the occasional waft of rotten eggs entered into my nose. This smell was most likely a product of the minerals in the mine, but a wince took over my face as I realized it could also be flatulence from the boys ahead of me. Somehow it smelled worse after that realization. Did people fart in Integration Online ? ¡°Janica,¡± I whispered. ¡°Is there a way for me to communicate with you without whispering? I don¡¯t want to be overheard.¡± ¡°For now,¡± she responded, ¡°the only way is for you to type messages to me using your interface.¡± I opened up my chat box and typed. What did you mean earlier when you said that I wouldn¡¯t be collecting the reward from this quest? She responded verbally as nobody else could hear her anyway. ¡°You¡¯re going to be given a choice, Warren. And I don¡¯t know yet which path you¡¯ll take. You might choose to continue on with these adventurers, help destroy the Earth Spirit and collect that 100 Silver if you all don¡¯t die horribly in the process. You might pick another path that doesn¡¯t lead to immediate riches. That¡¯s all I can say for now.¡± My team stopped abruptly and circled around something. I wedged my way between Christian and Thomas to find a small disc with a floating mass of rocks above it. The rocks expanded and contracted, like they were a beating heart. ¡°What is it?¡± Christian asked. ¡°Maybe something left behind by the Earth Spirit?¡± Thomas suggested. ¡°Can any of you see a way to activate this thing?¡± Arthur asked. I moved closer, getting down low enough to inspect the disc. It felt like I could interact with the object. ¡°Open your mind to it,¡± Janica said. ¡°How do I¡ª?¡± I began, then a connection formed and the floating mass of rocks coalesced into a solid mass. Two red eyes lit up and made eye contact with me. ¡°Mystic, why are you here?¡± The spirit said in a low, threatening voice. I stood there, stunned, for a time. Hours ago, I was sewing pants in a factory. Now, I was talking with an angry rock with dangerous eyes. Stranger, it felt so real. Like I was actually in this place, an abandoned mine. I had barely gone anywhere other than work in months. Janica elbowed me. ¡°Get it together.¡± ¡°Hi,¡± I started. ¡°We have a quest to investigate this mine.¡± It was probably wise not to reveal that we were here to destroy the thing. ¡°The town has sent us to investigate and¡­ look for clues.¡± Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. The Earth Spirit laughed and I felt a chill run through me. ¡°Don¡¯t lie to me. You¡¯re here to try to destroy me.¡± ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± Arthur pressed. ¡°What language are you speaking?¡± ¡°Ignore this idiot,¡± Janica said, ¡°and stay focused. Ask the Spirit why it inhabited this mine.¡± I put a hand up in Arthur¡¯s face, the way a popular girl might do to somebody she didn¡¯t want to listen to. And damn, did it feel good. I needed to think. This wasn¡¯t some straightforward quest. Janica had hinted that there was another way, an alternative path than getting into a fight with a dangerous spirit. ¡°Spirit,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m here to discover the truth. Why are you here?¡± The rocks around its torso unbound, spun, and coalesced again. ¡°I will tell you. I was drawn to this place because the humans dug too deep into the ground. They began using explosives to tunnel toward dangerous things that live underground. Their greed nearly unearthed a being of pure evil and, while I would love to see humans suffer the natural consequences of their actions, this being would have destroyed spirits in its wake. I am here to protect my brethren from this fate.¡± ¡°Thank you, Spirit.¡± I said, starting to sense the opportunity. ¡°Is there anything we can do to help?¡± The elemental spun, then slowed. ¡°No,¡± it said. ¡°I am not threatened by the group you are with. I am not in need of any help from you.¡± Its response jarred me. Wasn¡¯t this elemental supposed to give me a quest? I needed to push. ¡°Spirit,¡± I said, ¡°the men I¡¯m with carry explosives. They¡¯re more dangerous than they look.¡± A loud, grinding sound erupted from the elemental. I felt its anger in my bones. ¡°Perhaps I do require some assistance. I can feel the presence of a fairy that helps you, and perhaps has led us to this moment.¡± You were offered a quest. Quest: Protect the Earth Spirit Objective: Prevent the party from destroying the Earth Spirit that protects this area from future digging. Rewards: Passive Skill: Spiritual Connection I. Spiritual Connection I: while active, maintains a bond with your fairy companion that allows them to stay with you indefinitely. Do you Accept: Yes /No I blinked, trying to process the offer. The spirit asked me to betray the party. If I accepted, I would be making enemies of these three, twenty other guild members, the mayor of River Junction, and possibly the townsfolk; this would have consequences. On the other hand, I¡¯d be, at least temporarily, delaying the town from making a huge mistake. I might be able to bring this knowledge back to the mayor and convince him not to begin mining again. I¡¯d also secure a permanent companion in Janica, which could pay off over and over again. It also occurred to me that Janica knew of this reward and had manipulated me into getting to this place. She had her own reason for wanting to stay with me, and I doubted it was for my benefit. What little trust I had in her disappeared. She had pulled me into a drama that I didn¡¯t want. But now I was in it, for now. However, if I helped destroy this Earth Spirit, I would be helping the town unleash some great evil and there was no way I would be able to start my simple life of gathering and fishing while a chaotic being ransacked the valley. I rubbed my palms into my eye sockets. I looked at Janica and typed: I don¡¯t like it when people lie to me. ¡°I didn¡¯t lie to you.¡± You didn¡¯t tell me the whole truth. It¡¯s the same thing. Are we here on my behalf or yours? She crossed her arms. ¡°It could be both, Warren. If you succeed in this quest. We could be tied together.¡± Is that what you really want? I told you I¡¯m not going on any grand adventures. I don¡¯t have that privilege. Do you really want to be tied together? ¡°We don¡¯t have to be tied forever. If you get this passive skill and we decide that we¡¯re not on the same path, you could turn the passive off and our connection would be broken. At least this buys us some time to get you settled and¡­ fine, yes, I have other reasons for being here. I¡¯m looking for answers. And this Earth Spirit might have them. But I promise, I¡¯m going to help you get the skills and tools you need. Getting us this bond gives me more time to help you, and that is essential. When you took the Mystic Job, you put yourself way behind on finding a Job you can use, and we needed the extra time. So you see, it was for both of us.¡± I sighed. I could see that reasoning, but could also see that Janica had her own goals. She might be playing me. I accepted the quest, but that didn¡¯t mean I would finish it. There was still time to back out and complete the original quest, take my Silver and not make enemies of Arthur and his guild. ¡°Visitor,¡± the Earth Spirit said, ¡°I reside in the deepest recesses of the mine shaft. Take the next left, then the elevator to the bottom. You¡¯ll need to defeat my guards to get to me. That¡¯s fine. I can re-summon them later. When you finally reach me, use your Talk to Spirits skill to commune with me.¡± The floating rocks disassembled, and fell to the floor. ¡°What in the hell was all of that?¡± Arthur pulled me by my shirt. ¡°Did you speak to that thing?¡± I batted his hand away. ¡°We take our next left, then the elevator all the way to the bottom.¡± His eyes narrowed. ¡°What aren¡¯t you telling me?¡± The best liars used half truths. ¡°The spirit is angry. He believes he¡¯s in the right to be here, and this won¡¯t be an easy battle.¡± Arthur relaxed a touch. ¡°Anything else?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll have to fight our way there.¡± Chapter 10. Tommyknocker Chapter 10. Tommyknocker Before Arthur could press the red elevator button, the elevator shaft began to rumble and shake. Metal scratched on metal, loud enough to make me cover my ears. The elevator was coming up. The four of us looked at eachother. ¡°You didn¡¯t hit the button, right?¡± Christian asked Arthur. He shook his head. We all took two steps back and prepared for the worst. Ten seconds, twenty, thirty. How deep was this mine shaft? The elevator had no door, so as it reached the top the first thing I saw was a nameplate. . A boy, smaller and skinnier than I, looked at us with a calm expression on his face as he rose to our elevation. He opened the metal gate with a clang and stepped off the elevator. ¡°Excuse me,¡± he said. We parted. The boy had short brown hair in an awkward bowl cut and piercing blue eyes that seemed to take us all in in an instant. He wore a long-sleeve white shirt and brown pants. His eyes locked on mine for a brief moment, his head tilted to the side. He carried a thick book under his arm, the title of which was large enough to read, but I didn¡¯t understand the language. ¡°Thanks,¡± he said, and he walked between us and down the hallway without a word. ¡°Wait,¡± Arthur called after him. ¡°Did you kill the Spirit?¡± The boy turned around. ¡°Nope,¡± he said, still walking backwards. ¡°I didn¡¯t go down that far. I just needed a quest item.¡± He turned and disappeared into the mine. What a strange sight to see a boy casually exiting a mine. And without any visible weapons and armor. He must have found a way to avoid all of the danger. I felt relieved that he hadn¡¯t slain the elemental, if doing so was even possible. I didn¡¯t know yet what I was going to do about the Earth Spirit and Arthur, but I wanted to keep my options open. We took the elevator down to the bottom level, passing two exit levels as we descended. The further we went into the ground, the more nervous glances were exchanged. We lurched to a halt and pulled the gate open. The way stood before us, damper and colder than the shaft above with a deep musty smell. I felt like I was breathing dirt. Fluorescent vines and flowers lit our way, their snaking patterns a welcome sight. Two animals turned to us from ahead in the hallway and began shuffling our way. Giant Spirit Rat Level 5 HP 17/17 Stamina 100/100 Thomas stepped forward without a pause, lowered his shield and pulled back a sword. One of the rats charged him and got smashed by his shield, tumbling backwards. Christian fired an arrow into the stunned mob, missed a second and a third, but landed a fourth before the animal regained its feet. It disappeared, leaving a glowing pile of loot. Arthur charged forward with his sword, slicing downward. He swung two more times and the second rat fell. ¡°Great work there, Warren,¡± Janica said. ¡°You really made a difference.¡± I ignored her, mouth agape. Not one of them had taken any damage. You defeated Giant Spirit Rat x 2. You earned 0 experience points. I looked at Janica, confused. ¡°If you¡¯re wondering why you didn¡¯t get experience, it¡¯s because you didn¡¯t contribute. You never got into combat. The Gods only reward experience points for real learning. Next time do something useful.¡± To Janica, the game prompts were messages from her Gods. And while I knew that I was in a game, she did not. None of the NPCs did. Yet, did it matter? Janica had mentioned previous life experiences. She had a past as well as a present, which meant that to her, this game was an actual life. And I was getting the feeling like the NPCs were some of the most advanced AI that I had encountered. They called us Visitors. Maybe they weren¡¯t far off. The mineshaft descended slightly. Moments later, three Giant Spirit Rats came into view and hurried toward us. As before, my group got into position. I stepped up next to Christian as he knocked an arrow. I held my staff in front of me like a spear. There would be no swinging in this tight hallway. Thomas bashed one rat, then a second. Arthur charged forward and attacked one of the rats that had been knocked back by Thomas¡¯s shield. The third rat got past Thomas, and darted at Christian¡¯s ankles. Christian squealed and jumped back, but tripped as the rat bit his foot. ¡°Christian¡¯s health is down to 87%,¡± Janica said. I lunged forward at the vermin and connected with my staff right in the center of its body, pressing it into the wall. It hissed, its head turning toward me and snarling. ¡°You hit the rat for 3 damage. Its health is down to 14.¡± I continued to hold it against the wall, scared that if I let it out, I¡¯d get attacked. ¡°Christian, shoot it. Somebody help.¡± It squirmed and thrashed trying to break free. An arrow lodged into the rat¡¯s head, and a mace descended onto its body. The Spirit Rat died, leaving a sparking pile behind. You defeated Giant Spirit Rat x3 You have been awarded 23 experience points. I moved to collect the loot, but Arthur stepped in front of me. ¡°Guild loot,¡± he said, bent down and grabbed the sparkly bundle. ¡°Damn, that hurts,¡± Christian said, holding his ankle. ¡°You get any healing spells yet, Warren?¡± he asked. ¡°Now would be a great time to fix me up.¡± ¡°Sorry, no.¡± I said. ¡°Thanks for pinning that rat. You did okay.¡± I shrugged. ¡°Christian¡¯s health will regenerate, but very slowly.¡± Arthur looked at me. ¡°That¡¯s why an actual healing spell would be so powerful. If we get too low before we get to the boss, we¡¯ll have to turn back and try to finish this quest later.¡± He turned to Thomas. ¡°That was your fault for letting that rat get by you. Christian should never get attacked in the back row.¡± ¡°I couldn¡¯t block all three rats,¡± Thomas shot back. ¡°We need a strategy when there are more than two.¡± Arthur nodded. ¡°You¡¯re right. Next time we get charged, I¡¯ll offtank the third mob. And if there are four, we move backwards while Christian fires arrows trying to slow one of them down.¡± If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. For all of the arrogance, Arthur was able to listen and adjust. After blaming somebody else, anyway. We fought four more sets of rats before we reached an opening that led to a larger room: two more groups of three, and then two groups of four rats. We handled each as planned, Christian taking zero damage through the four battles, but Thomas was down to 71% health and Arthur was down to 84% health. I got bit once, taking me down to 80% health. I examined my combat log before we entered the room. You defeated Giant Spirit Rat x 14. You earned 105 Experience points. Congratulations, you earned a level as a Mystic. Stat upgrades: 1 Constitution, 1 Dexterity, 2 Intelligence, 3 Wisdom, 2 Perception A golden light flashed from my being. I felt warm and euphoric, a smell of cinnamon surrounding me. I had never done drugs like the rockstars of the twentieth century, but I imagined that it felt like this. Like everything made sense, and I could do anything. When the feeling left, seconds later, I felt a little different. Sharper somehow, or more self-aware. The group congratulated me with a series of ¡°grats.¡± ¡°Can you cast a healing spell now?¡± Arthur asked. His health remained at 84%. I shook my head. ¡°Mana regeneration is still busted. I¡¯d have to get a spell that doesn¡¯t use mana.¡± ¡°What about your guide?¡± Arthur asked. ¡°Has he given you any clues as to where to find a healing spell you can use?¡± That comment surprised me. It was easy to forget that I wasn¡¯t the only one with a guide. Also, for no good reason at all I had imagined all fairies as female. I was embarrassed by the thought and didn¡¯t mention it to Janica. ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°Not yet.¡± A large oval-shaped room stood before us with four pillars in a kite-like pattern. An enormous mass of floating rock debris hovered at the far end of the room; it looked exactly like spirit from the upper level of the mine but much larger. Hundreds of small, medium, and large rocks oscillated in orbit around an invisible axis. I followed my three companions into the room, stepping to the side and staying behind them. The boss came into view. Earth Spirit Level 10, Elite HP 82/82 Stamina 150/150 A door fell from the ceiling behind us, slamming shut and trapping us inside. I felt the ground shudder at its closing, but the boss didn¡¯t aggro. ¡°Shit, Arthur. Level 10 Elite,¡± Thomas said. ¡°There has to be a mechanic to help us beat him,¡± Arthur replied. ¡°The mobs in the tunnel were only level 5. We can cheese this if we figure out the trick. Look around, but don¡¯t get any closer to the boss. We don¡¯t want to accidentally start the encounter.¡± ¡°What are you gonna do?¡± Janica asked. I don¡¯t know yet, I typed back. If I side with the Earth Spirit right away, they¡¯ll kill me quick. I have to wait for the last moment. ¡°Or do something without them knowing,¡± she replied. That would be ideal. That way they won¡¯t know I betrayed them and send their whole guild after me, I typed. How do I switch sides? If I switched sides. I mean, follow Janica¡¯s advice and piss off a guild an entire town or gain valuable allies but help release some great evil into the world? I wasn¡¯t even six hours into the game and already dealing with a decision that would have huge consequences. What to do? ¡°Use your Talk to Spirits skill.¡± ¡°Wait, how was I able to talk to it before without using that skill?¡± ¡°That device you used earlier was an interface that allows certain Jobs to communicate with nearby spirits without using any skills.¡± ¡°There, on the far pillar facing the center of the room,¡± Christian said. ¡°I don¡¯t see anything,¡± Arthur said. ¡°That¡¯s because you didn¡¯t take an Attribute that improved your eyesight and Perception. Thomas, do you see it?¡± Thomas shook his head. ¡°I do,¡± I said. ¡°There¡¯s a button that looks almost perfectly blended into the rock.¡± They all turned to stare at me like they had forgotten I was there. I shrugged, then pointed at the other pillar that was farthest away from us. ¡°There¡¯s one on that pillar as well.¡± They all turned to look. ¡°Why are you helping them?¡± Janica whispered, anger in her voice. ¡°Are you going to side with them and kill the elemental?¡± I looked at her, but didn¡¯t respond. She had manipulated me, and I didn¡¯t trust her. She didn¡¯t deserve my reassurance, but I typed an explanation anyway: I¡¯m gaining their trust. ¡°And then we swoop in at the last second and kill them all!¡± Janica said, thrusting and swinging her mace in an impressive display. ¡°I see it,¡± Christian said. ¡°I bet there are two other buttons on the other two pillars,¡± Arthur said. ¡°Okay, here¡¯s the plan. We¡¯re not going to last a moment against this thing by fighting it straight. We need to avoid as much damage as possible. We also need to figure out how those pillars work. Christian, you¡¯re our main damage because you¡¯re ranged. Keep firing arrows to chip its health down. Thomas, you¡¯re going to taunt the boss every time it starts to focus on Christian, but, otherwise, try to line-of-sight any spells and don¡¯t let it hit you if you can help it. Kite it around the pillars. I¡¯m going to try to figure out the mechanic with the buttons. If we can get the thing down to 20%, I¡¯ll use the explosive that I picked up and we¡¯ll all hide behind pillars. We might have to find a way to stun it in place.¡± ¡°What about me?¡± I asked. Arthur looked at me like I was crazy for asking. ¡°Use that Perception of yours. Keep your eyes open for anything that might help us, but stay out of the way.¡± He turned to face the spirit. ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± he said. Thomas stepped into the center of the room. The boulders that made up the earth spirit spun like a centrifuge and then formed a body with red eyes, a much larger facsimile of the one I had communicated with in the tunnel above. The elemental made a deep growling sound and the wall to the side of him opened. The sound of rocks breaking and moving echoed through the circular chamber. I put my hands over my ears. A human exited the doorway, his form partly translucent. He held a mining pick and wore a helmet with a light on the front. His skin was white and haggard, like a human that had been buried for some time. The smell of decaying flesh filled the room, and I plugged my nose. Tommyknocker Level 6 Elite HP 62/62 Stamina 100/100 The ghost¡¯s eyes lit up, the same shade of red as the elemental. He approached us, limping, his mining pick dragging along the ground. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t be here,¡± he warned. ¡°I protect this tunnel that now barely separates the world above from the world below.¡± It was the elemental, speaking through the ghost of a dead miner. ¡°Go back to your village and tell your leaders to close this mine and never return.¡± A prompt appeared before me. Would you like to abandon your quest and aid the spirit in protecting this mine from future excavation? Yes/No Time had run out. I had to make a choice. Chapter 11. Fighting a Boss Chapter 11. Fighting a Boss Before any discussion took place, whatsoever, Arthur called back. ¡°We don¡¯t believe you, Spirit! You are evil and we will rid you of this mine once and for all.¡± I shook my head. He couldn¡¯t be serious with this stuff. The prompt disappeared, and I felt a panic. Had I lost my chance to help the elemental? I looked at Janica. ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± Janica said. ¡°Arthur and the other two lost their chance to change course. You can still do what you want to.¡± The elemental grumbled, shaking the room. Little pieces of rock fell from the ceiling. The Tommyknocker¡¯s eyes faded from red to white. He turned, and limped back out through the doorway. The opening closed behind him with the same dramatic shaking and cacophony as before. Our eyes were drawn back to the spirit, who stared us down with fervor. He crouched low for an instant and then charged Thomas, knocking him back into the three of us like bowling pins. ¡°You just lost a quarter of your health,¡± Janica said. ¡°Same with the rest of your party.¡± ¡°Kite!¡± Arthur commanded. ¡°What does he mean by ¡®kite¡¯?¡± Janica asked. ¡°He means to keep the elemental focused on him while staying far enough away that he can¡¯t get hit,¡± I told her. ¡°It¡¯s a term from our world.¡± We all scattered, running around to opposite sides of pillars. I watched the other three engage with the elemental, but stayed out of danger. As much as I wanted to fight my first boss, it was smartest for me to steer clear for now and keep my loyalty to myself. ¡°Come get me, you dusty ol¡¯ rock!¡± Thomas yelled at the elemental. I laughed from behind my pillar. Thomas had literally taunted the mob. Not with a spell, but with his voice. It seemed to have worked, because the elemental followed him. Christian stepped out from behind his pillar and began pelting the spirit with arrows. ¡°Boss HP at 99%, now 98%,¡± Janica informed me. ¡°And Arthur is pushing buttons.¡± The spirit chased Thomas while Thomas circled a pillar, slightly faster than the mob. When the boss¡¯s health hit 96%, he turned and crouched low like before. He zipped at Christian, who dove out of the way. The spirit ran into the wall. ¡°He¡¯s stunned for 4 seconds,¡± Janica said. ¡°That¡¯s it!¡± Arthur said. ¡°That¡¯s the mechanic we need. Before he charges, he crouches down. Then stuns himself. When he charges, we need to get on him fast and burn him down, then scatter.¡± Thomas laughed at the boss dramatically. ¡°You just ran yourself into a wall!¡± he shouted. The spirit turned and followed Thomas again. I still couldn¡¯t believe his verbal insults worked as taunts. Christian peppered the boss again, his health dropping to 92%. The boss turned and crouched low. ¡°Now!¡± Arthur yelled. Christian jumped out of the way easily this time, turning and immediately firing at the boss who staggered near the wall that he had bashed into. Thomas and Arthur closed in on the boss, swinging at him with reckless energy. They tried to retreat as the stun neared its 4 second timer, but they had waited too long. The boss spun in a circle, the smaller rocks that made up its torso hurling around him. It reminded me of that amusement park ride where everyone gets in a chair and the thing swings round-and-round, centripetal force pulling people wider-and-wider. Except that the people were rocks. They connected with Arthur and Thomas, sending them tumbling back. #x200e ¡°Arthur and Thomas¡¯s health both below 50%,¡± Janica informed me, ¡°and the boss is down to 74%.¡± A beam of white energy shot from one of the pillars in the room to the boss and held steady like a leash. Back in high school, we had once used nitrous oxide to flash freeze a frog brain that we had dissected, the cold liquid emitting a dense fog. The beam of energy seemed to be made of something similar while the ground around the elemental froze in an eight foot radius. The elemental chased Thomas. Thomas fled, trying to run around the pillar as before, but the frozen aura caught him, and his body seemed to start running in slow motion. The elemental pounded on him and knocked him down. ¡°Christian,¡± Arthur called. ¡°The button.¡± Christian turned and kicked the button in the rock pillar from which the beam emanated. The leash-of-frost cut out, and the elemental¡¯s eyes turned back to red. Arthur pushed between Thomas and the boss, using his two handed sword to block blows as Thomas scampered away. Then Arthur disengaged, and each of them kited around pillars, hiding from the boss¡¯s onslaught. I remained near the door, watching. I needed to make a decision or a decision would be made for me. ¡°Thomas is down to 17% health, Arthur is at 42%,¡± Janica updated me. ¡°For you to complete this quest, you¡¯re going to have to actually aid the elemental.¡± ¡°Not yet,¡± I whispered to her. I was right to wait. ¡°Okay, we know the mechanics,¡± Arthur said, back to a pillar. ¡°But we need to execute. Everyone attacks after it gets stunned, but only one hit each. Don¡¯t be greedy. I¡¯m guessing that at every 25% health, the boss will get energized by a pillar. Christian, when the boss is a few percentage points from each breakpoint, you¡¯re going to get to the center to hit the buttons as fast as possible.¡± At this point, the three members of Impervious got into a rhythm. And it was impressive. Thomas taunted the boss until he got charged, dodged the bosses charge, then the three of them peppered the elemental for an instant then retreated. Their movements became a pattern to counter the elemental¡¯s pattern. Christian kept his movement consistent, staying in the center where he could both fire arrows and kick the pillar-buttons as quickly as possible. And Arthur was correct about the pillars; they activated every 25%. At 50%, one of the pillars innervated the boss with a green beam of energy, and the boss began filling the room with poison. This lasted no more than a second as Christian kicked the button the moment it activated. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. As the boss approached 30%, I realized that they were going to win. I also realized that, even though the guild members were competent, I couldn¡¯t join them. It wasn¡¯t that I was so attached to Janica that I wanted her around forever. I kind of liked her, but she had her own agenda and I didn¡¯t know if I could trust her. It also wasn¡¯t that I particularly cared whether or not some great evil entered the world; this was a fantasy video game, and such things were part of the experience. No, I needed to betray these gamers because I had made a promise to Sofia. To keep that promise, I needed to steer clear of guild adventures, and I needed Janica¡¯s help righting the mistake I had made by taking the Mystic Class. I needed to act fast. If I didn¡¯t help the boss for its 25% change, I wouldn¡¯t be able to stop the three of them from winning. I whispered into the air, ¡°Talk to Spirits,¡± holding my palms up, dramatically, and looking into the sky. Nothing happened. The boss was at 28%. I panicked, looking at Janica, eyes wide open. ¡°Open your Spell Book,¡± she said. ¡°A spell is a complicated thing. You have to understand it backwards and forwards and with nuance before you can just call out the name of it. But for now you can open your Spell Book and activate it the slow way.¡± ¡°How do I open my Spell Book?¡± I yelled at her, no time to type the words out. Arthur turned to look at me, surprised. Had he forgotten that I was there? ¡°Just think ¡®Spell Book¡¯ and it will appear,¡± Janica replied. I did, and a holographic book appeared in my hands. I opened it up and paged through Rejuvenate and Lightning Strike, the spells that I couldn¡¯t cast. On the next page in big, bold, gothic lettering the book read ¡°Talk to Spirits.¡± My eyes scanned the page, its contents full of diagrams, symbols and mathematical equations. ¡°Put your hand on the page,¡± Janica said. ¡°Think ¡®activate¡¯.¡± I followed her instructions and felt a huge rush. A line of yellowish-white cords shot from my head toward the elemental, weaving their way to him and connecting us. His head turned for a moment and met my eyes. A silent acknowledgement. Do you wish to abandon your party and join Earth Spirit? Doing so will mark you as hostile to all players in combat with the Earth Spirit: Yes/No I didn¡¯t accept the prompt right away. Instead, I stepped toward the center of the arena, next to Christian. He turned to glance at me, annoyed at my proximity. ¡°Hurry, Warren!¡± Janica said. ¡°The boss is down to 26%.¡± ¡°Get ready, Christian,¡± Arthur said. The boss charged at Thomas. Thomas dove out of the way. The elemental wavered against the wall, stunned from impact. Arthur ran at the boss, connecting with one blow, then another. The boss dropped below 25% and a central pillar lit up with energy, tiny tendrils of electricity snaking around the pillar. Christian turned to the button, taking two steps toward it. I accepted the elemental¡¯s prompt, and Christian¡¯s name plate turned red. I had done it, had betrayed the three men who brought me in here looking to recruit me to their guild. I didn¡¯t feel fear; I felt determination. For the first time in years, I had made a decision to stand up for what I needed. These men may as well have been Tony and his lunchmates or the assholes that used to steal my shoes, tie them together, and throw them over telephone wires. I took my staff up in both hands and thrust it upward at the back of Christian¡¯s head, right above the neck. The middle of my staff connected with the base of his skull. I heard a crunch, and he dropped to the ground. ¡°He¡¯s stunned for ten seconds,¡± Janica said. ¡°His health is down to 58%.¡± A beam of blue, sizzling light connected the pillar to the elemental. ¡°Now Christian!¡± Arthur shouted. But Christian laid motionless on the ground. Arthur turned to see me standing over Christian¡¯s body and his eyes grew wide. The boss roared, his body now pulsing with blue energy, electricity humming through and around him. Arthur tried to run at me, but the boss zapped him from behind, stunning him and making him shake like a cartoon character with his finger stuck in an electrical socket. I shifted my staff so that it was sticking straight up and down. I lifted it up and drove the butt of it down into Christian¡¯s body once, twice, three times. I had never wanted to injure a defenseless person, but this wasn¡¯t about cruelty. I had already made my betrayal clear¡ª I had to finish my quest or lose everything I had worked for. Christian died. ¡°Yes!¡± Janica shouted with fervor. Thomas and Arthur looked up at me, enraged. They both began to charge at me, each from a different angle. There was no way I could fight them and win. Nor could I let them get to the button. So I backed up, putting my body between the activated pillar and the center of the room right in front of the button. I crouched down, holding my staff up defensively. Thomas got to me first, swinging his shield at me. I raised my staff to meet his shield and he knocked me back. I stumbled a step to my right. No! With me out of the way, Thomas lunged for the button on the pillar. He stopped in mid-motion as a lightning bolt zapped him from the back. He convulsed, shaking, and fell to the floor. ¡°He¡¯s stunned for two seconds,¡± Janica informed me. ¡°His health is down to 18%.¡± I lifted my staff over my head like a lumberjack trying to break a stump in half and swung down on Thomas¡¯s stunned form. I connected with his head. You crit Thomas for 8 damage. Thomas died. Arthur screamed, lowered his shoulder, and slammed into me, sending me flying across the room. I slid across the floor, then rolled to my knees, facing him. I scrambled to my feet as he began chasing me. ¡°I will never forget this,¡± he said, panting. ¡°Wherever you go, whatever you try to do. You¡¯re done in this game. Blackballed. I will ruin you!¡± ¡°You¡¯re down to three health, Warren. And two stamina.¡± I couldn¡¯t run. I could only stumble ahead, exhausted, toward the boss which crackled with energy. I looked back. Arthur was nearly behind me, his sword pulled back ready to swing. A lightning bolt shot across the room, enclosing Arthur in a static field. I kept walking toward the boss, dragging myself forward. Two seconds later, Arthur got up, screamed in rage, and started to chase me again. Another lightning bolt zapped him, stopping him in his tracks. Arthur died. Chapter 12. Janica’s Quest Chapter 12. Janica¡¯s Quest You failed the quest: Into the Silverlode Mine. Your reputation with River Junction has decreased by 50 points. You are now Distrusted by River Junction and all of its inhabitants. Congratulations, you completed the quest: Protect the Earth Spirit. You earned 65 experience points. You earned 30 Job Points for the Mystic Job. You earned a new passive skill: Spiritual Connection 1 Spiritual Connection 1: Passive Skill. Creates a connection with a familiar, allowing you to maintain a bond with them as long as the passive is active. In addition, your familiar can now be seen by others and interact with the world. Cost: 1 stamina/second to maintain. ¡°Thank you, Mystic Warren,¡± the Earth Spirit said, his voice like rocks scraping against stone. My head spun. I had done it. Somehow. And it was awesome: the electricity that had flickered all over the place, the last minute triumph over my newfound nemesis, the frost that had filled the room¡ª it was all so real. I hadn¡¯t felt excitement like this since Christmas morning with my parents. Since winning the seventh grade science fair. I pushed the repercussions of my decision to a corner of my mind. I would deal with Arthur later. ¡°Warren, activate your new passive,¡± Janica said. ¡°Please, before the Earth Spirit breaks its connection. I need to speak with it.¡± That¡¯s right. Janica had her own quest to complete. Her reason for leading me here. I stared at her. I held all the leverage at this moment. With it, I asked for the one thing I needed in a companion. ¡°No more lies,¡± I said. ¡°No more manipulation. From now on you share information with me even without me asking. Promise me.¡± She folded her arms, glaring at me. I folded my arms and looked at her. A standoff. She looked back and forth between me and the Spirit. I could see her getting nervous. She snorted. ¡°I don¡¯t like this version of you. Fine, I promise. But do it fast.¡± I opened my Spell Book, turning the pages. On the first blank page, gothic lettering, symbols that moved on the page, graphs, diagrams materialized. A beautiful enigma. If I had taken the apprentice Job, I might be able to decode it. I placed my hand in the center and I thought Spiritual Connection I. An aura sprung up around Janica. A soft, white light that lifted us into the air. We smelled of nutmeg. A series of images flooded through my mind: a younger Janica wrestling with her siblings; a day of great shame; fairies holding their heads low, weeping, screaming; Janica at court, appealing to a Fairy Queen; Janica among military leaders. I couldn¡¯t make sense of it. But one thing stuck with me. There were so many images, sequences, emotions, and real connections with others. Janica had lived an entire life. She wasn¡¯t Janica, my guide; she was her own being. AI, for sure, created by the developers at Integration Online, but more complex than I could comprehend. When the moment passed, Janica appeared solid. Not slightly transparent and ephemeral as she used to be, but present. Not a shade of blue. And far less mystical. I could see dirt on her armor and grease on her face. Was that an insect leg stuck in her hair? ¡°You smell¡­ awful,¡± I said, taking a step back. ¡°Excuse me,¡± she said. ¡°I don¡¯t smell at all, I¡ª¡± She raised her arms, one at a time and took a big whiff. ¡°I smell amazing,¡± she said. ¡°Like a warrior.¡± ¡°You smell like B.O.¡± ¡°What¡¯s B.O.?¡± ¡°Body Odor. You need to bathe. ASAP. That¡¯s a new part of our arrangement.¡± ? ¡°Too late,¡± she said. ¡°You already set your terms.¡± She turned to the elemental. ¡°Spirit,¡± she said, bowing deeply. ¡°My name is Janica Fortitucious Wingfeather, Third Cousin of her Majesty.¡± ¡°Fort-ti-too-tucious?¡± I asked, pronouncing it slowly. ¡°That can¡¯t be your actual name.¡± She shot me a glare that screamed ¡°not now!¡± ¡°Well met, Royal Fairy,¡± the spirit said. ¡°Spirit, as you know the Fairy Race has barely begun its term of service to the empire as punishment for The Great Mistake,¡± Janica said. ¡°However, I was wondering, humbly, if I might ask you a question. You see, I am a part of the royal court, and my family is more responsible than any for what¡­ transpired. As such, we are more in debt than any others and buried by our shame.¡± The image of the fairies weeping. The trauma. The Great Mistake. The spirit grumbled. ¡°Go on.¡± ¡°In addition to our hundred years of service, I wish to help undo the harm that we caused.¡± She paused, waiting for a reaction, then continued. ¡°Spirit, might I ask you if you know of any way to repair the severed mana channels? I hate to ask, but my people are banished from interacting with any other peoples except for¡± ¡ª She glanced at me, then turned back to the earth spirit¡ª¡°these new adventurers, which we¡¯ve sworn to help guide in their first steps in our world. And I believe that I am the only Fairy who has found a way to remain with a human for more than a day. Thus, I feel a great responsibility to figure out how to right this wrong.¡± She bowed again. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. The spirit grumbled and shook, possibly a sign of it pondering her request. ¡°I will tell you just one thing, Little One, because you aided Warren in protecting this place. You don¡¯t know what you think you know. The story that was told to the world is riddled with holes. All I¡¯ll tell you is that there is a place where mana regenerates, although slowly. To the North. On the border of Human and Elvish lands.¡± Janica¡¯s eyes went wide, but she didn¡¯t say a word. I needed to speak with Janica about this, get more information if I could. But this wasn¡¯t the time. ¡°Spirit,¡± I cut in. ¡°The mayor of River Junction will send more adventurers down here to kill you and reclaim this mine. This group was just the first.¡± The spirit grumbled its ascent. ¡°Warren, I must ask one more thing of you. Take the explosives that that boy brought into my chamber and use them to blow up the elevator. It took the humans fifty years to dig this deep, so this will buy us some time. Then, explain to the mayor why I was here. He will start mining operations again, but if we tell him to excavate closer to the surface and laterally, this may prevent future problems.¡± The elemental seemed to spit a small rock onto the ground. It rolled to my feet. I picked it up, admiring the gentle blue glow of the stone. Elemental Shard ? Item Class: Mineral ? Item Quality: Rare ? A quest item given to you by the Spirit Elemental. ¡°But won¡¯t it kill you if I blow up the elevator?¡± I asked. The elemental laughed a low rumbly laugh that sounded like a small avalanche. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me.¡± You have been offered a quest. Quest: Stop the Mining Madness Objective: Destroy the elevator shaft that leads deep into the mine and convince the Mayor to stop digging so deep. Rewards: 65 Experience Points Do you Accept: Yes /No ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡± I glanced around the room for the first time since the battle had ended. A pile of loot shimmered where each of my three companions lay, dead, on the ground. Upon looting, I found one item on each of the bodies. Minor explosive: A self-enclosed explosive device with trigger and 5 minute fuse. ? Item Class: Consumable ? Item Quality: Common Rabbit Carcass x 10 ? Item Class: Common Leather Vest ? Item Class: Common ? Item Quality: Poor ? Armor: 1 % damage reduction I equipped the Leather Vest, pulling it over my Torn Shirt. It fit me well enough, though it had already seen some wear as Thomas had taken multiple hits in it. I piled the ten rabbit carcasses into a stack in my inventory, enough to complete Rabbit Season 2 and then some. I now had two active quests to complete. We bid the Spirit farewell, and made for the exit. The first part of the quest went off without a problem. I placed the explosives at the top of the elevator, set the fuse for its maximum time, and speed-walked my way to the exit. It turned out that running drained my stamina quickly, but speed-walking did not drain my stamina at all. Janica remarked how silly I looked with my hips and arms pumping side to side, but I had always enjoyed speed-walking. I waited out front of the mineshaft, well away from the entrance. When the explosion thundered, it seemed to shake the mountain. The opening coughed an enormous puff of dust, like a non-smoker taking their first drag of a cigarette and immediately regretting it. Dust and smoke went everywhere. We walked back toward River Junction in silence. I could tell that Janica needed time. Her eyes were distant, as if deep in contemplation. When I couldn¡¯t wait any longer I finally asked, ¡°Janica, what was that all about? Why is it significant that mana is still flowing in another zone?¡± She didn¡¯t answer at first. ¡°I don¡¯t know yet. The High Council proclaimed that mana channels all over the world were equally broken. But if that¡¯s not true and some were affected while others were not, then the cause may not be so clear.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± I asked. ¡°What happened?¡± Her eyes dropped. A clear sign of shame. Then she became visibly angry. ¡°I thought all you cared about was making money. Why are you prying?¡± She had a point. I needed to stay focused on my goal, and that was making enough money to pay rent. Getting involved in large quests was not part of the plan. I had a feeling that not only was this a large quest, that it could possibly be the quest. The great mystery of Integration Online. Perhaps in helping Janica, I had stumbled upon a thread that would lead to much bigger problems. I needed to steer clear of that. Like a split end, it needed to be cut off. ¡°Sorry,¡± I said. I stopped pushing for answers, and we continued in silence. It was 10:00 p.m. game time and real time before Janica and I passed through the gates of River Junction. The sky was dark, and lights flooded into the wide, main street that ran through the middle of town. Plenty of people were about, walking, finishing last minute chores, or stumbling around, drunk and loud. Gamers and NPCs were everywhere. I had two hours until I needed to log out. We headed toward the town hall where the mayor lived and worked, hoping to complete the spirit¡¯s quest when I heard the sound of rock music pouring out of an establishment. I stopped and turned. The sign above the place read ¡°The Dancing Cougar.¡± A picture of a grinning mountain lion in a dress hung above the door. The smell of beer poured through western-style double swinging doors. Ruckus laughter, music, and whooping assaulted my ears. Had I found a¡­ dive bar? Chapter 13. The Dancing Cougar Chapter 13. The Dancing Cougar I walked in with Janica floating above my shoulder, taking it in. Two NPC bartenders hustled to serve a line around the bar, three people deep. Beers clanged and sloshed in oversized glass mugs. People laughed and chatted at little wooden tables that made a ¡°U¡± shape around a dance floor and a stage. All of the workers were NPCs, and a few of the tables consisted of NPCs, but the bar was flooded with gamers. What would it be like to live your entire life surrounded by the same people, and then in a single day thousands of alien beings showed up, taking over your town and your favorite dive bar? One thing was clear to me. These NPCs were not like NPCs in other games, monotonously working through the patterns of their coding. Janica had proven that. She had quirks, desires, and goals. She experienced guilt, shame, and frustration. I assumed that the NPCs that owned and worked at this bar were no different. My sister had informed me that the world of Integration Online was allowed to run for a thousand, sped-up, years before gamers were allowed in; it was an experiment in AI. They created thousands of individual non-player characters with unique backgrounds, personalities, and goals, then forced them all to work out their lives. Allowed them to reproduce, somehow. Would they act like humans¡ªcreating strife, conflict, and wars over tribal thinking and short-sightedness? Or would they see the long-view and make decisions that benefited the greater good like a hive? Humans had only been allowed into IO hours ago, and these questions remained unanswered with only small clues. The Great Mistake, a mining operation that nearly unleashed a great evil, rumors of war¡­ ¡°Warren,¡± Janica said, interrupting my train of thought. ¡°Don¡¯t be stingy with that money of yours. I need a drink.¡± I reached into my pouch and handed her 1 Silver. There is something about being frugal that most people don¡¯t understand. When you¡¯re frugal, you save your money mercilessly. You look for almost every opportunity to save a penny. Almost. Every frugal person has a weakness or two¡ªa thing that they open their pocket books for. The first for me was music. I spent money on upgrades, different kinds of drumsticks, and sound enhancers. And it was worth it. The second was treating the people I liked to small things. It felt good to buy Sofia or a friend something small that I knew they would love. Janica snatched the coin from my hands, zipping off to the bar. I saw her cut to the front of the line, elbowing two humans on her way. But my eyes were drawn to the stage. A burly woman with infinite confidence quieted the crowd with her hands. Her nameplate read . She cleared her throat, and the volume plummeted. ¡°Welcome to open stage night,¡± her voice boomed. She didn¡¯t speak into a microphone, but her voice sounded amplified, like some magic was at work projecting the sound from the stage to the audience. People clapped, murmured. ¡°Tonight is special. We¡¯ve been waiting for Visitors to arrive from other worlds, and here they are!¡± The crowd roared. People high-fived. Drinks clanged. In the corner, the boy from the mine leaned against the wall. His hands were in his pockets, his shoulders relaxed. He stared at me, unashamed. He didn¡¯t quickly look away. ¡°To celebrate this monumental change,¡± Mags continued, ¡°we¡¯re hosting a competition. As you can see, we have instruments of all types hung on our wall.¡± She motioned with an open hand. A hundred eyes turned to the display. Stringed instruments of different sizes and woodwinds covered the wall like they would in a music shop. ¡°We¡¯re looking for full-time acts here in the Dancing Cougar,¡± she continued. ¡°If you have the guts to try out tonight, go talk to Marv behind the bar and he¡¯ll put you on the sign up sheet.¡± People exchanged nervous glances, and some darted to the bar. ¡°If the crowd loves you, I might invite you to return as a regular act where you¡¯ll get a cut of the door and all the beer you can drink.¡± The crowd cheered. My mind raced. I had promised Sofia that I would farm for her. I had already jeopardized that plan by losing my Worker Job. But what if I could get a regular gig as a musician? It would be a dream to get paid to play music. But I didn¡¯t play any of the instruments on that wall. Fantasy themed games weren¡¯t known for their drummers. I had never heard of a bard playing percussion for a court. A girl with long dark hair rammed into me, knocking me off balance. She turned briefly and mouthed the word ¡°sorry¡± before working her way toward the bar. She seemed about my age, somewhere in her mid twenties. Blue eyes met mine. I froze as she held my gaze for the slightest instant longer than she had to. Her nameplate read . I didn¡¯t meet attractive women my age very often, and the magnetism of it consumed me. I had to remind myself that this girl probably looked nothing like her avatar. For all I knew, she could be eighty years old in real life. Or a man playing as a woman. I had taken the option of looking like myself in-game, but I doubted many others did the same. A younger girl, possibly a teenager, followed in her wake. She had identical dark, straight hair. . The older of the two girls reached back and grabbed the younger one¡¯s hand. They worked their way through the crowd, now five to six people deep surrounding Marv. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. I found myself following them as they squeezed through people like two superfans trying to get to the front row of a concert. Rowan got to the front of the line through a series of graceful maneuvers, both elegant and pushy. ¡°Put my sister and I on the list. We¡¯re a duo,¡± she projected over the din of the crowd. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± Marv asked. ¡°Call us The Offspringers,¡± Rowan said. ¡°Fine,¡± Marv replied, scribbling their names on his sheet. ¡°You¡¯re the last ones up tonight.¡± Then he raised his voice. ¡°That¡¯s it, folks. We¡¯re all booked up.¡± Several people complained and shot glares at the girls. Rowan high-fived her sister, and then moved toward the instruments. Was their name a reference to the popular, sometimes hard-rocking, sometimes poppy, punk rock group from the ¡¯90s and 2000s? I couldn¡¯t say that I was a huge fan of punk rock, but I respected it. It wasn¡¯t metal. It wasn¡¯t Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, or White Snake. But The Offspring had a rage that I didn¡¯t hate. ¡°Warren.¡± I turned. Janica hovered in front of me, a mug of beer in each hand and a huge grin on her face. I knew she was a warrior, but I did not understand the physics of how a fairy could fly, without effort, while holding twice her weight in beer. I reached up to grab the mug she held out for me, and then I saw it, behind Janica. A drum sat on a shelf above the liquor bottles. An actual percussion instrument. It was made of wood and leather with intricate carvings around its round shape. I approached Marv, unable to stop myself. ¡°May I borrow that drum?¡± He looked at me, his eyes far too serious. ¡°Nobody uses that, kid. That¡¯s why it¡¯s behind the bar.¡± At this moment, the game took over my brain. A number of things happened at once. First, I felt a tingling at the base of my skull, and I began to notice things. Both bartenders hustled about, sweating, trying to keep up with the demand for drinks. One of them hollered ¡°keg¡¯s tapped!¡± Four tables hollered for a server, getting impatient. Marv told the woman who had been on stage ¡°We¡¯re in the weeds. Down two servers and a barback.¡± Alert: Your Perception Attribute triggered a hidden quest. You have been offered a quest. Quest: Opening Night Objective: The Dancing Cougar¡¯s wait staff is overwhelmed. Help the establishment survive the rush. Rewards: Marv will grant you a favor. Do you Accept: Yes /No I accepted the quest and Marv looked up at me, startled confused. ¡°How did you¡­? Whatever, just help,¡± he said. ¡°We need two new kegs brought up from the cellar, new mugs brought out from the kitchen, and there¡¯s a huge mess of glass and beer next to table three.¡± He reached behind the bar and handed me an apron. Over the next hour and a half, I completely lost track of time. I had never worked in a restaurant before and didn¡¯t understand how one task could lead to the next with such urgency. I hauled kegs. I cleared mugs. People yelled at me. I found a mop and cleaned up beer, glass, and vomit. I caught two gamers in the bathroom, kissing, and kicked them out. I kept moving. That was all I could do. Move, carry, clean, help. Singers went on stage, one after the next. Most were bad. Really bad. Like karaoke night, most people were there to have a good time¡ªdance and sing on stage with friends. The audience cheered for every person who stepped up to the stage, but at the first hint of mediocrity, they ignored the singers until they finished their song. Unlike in karaoke, the lyrics weren¡¯t projected for singers to read, and the audience couldn¡¯t help. When people didn¡¯t know the words, the crowd booed them off stage. A couple of acts were decent¡ªpeople who could play guitar, or actually hold a tune. But not both. And not with the energy or charisma of a true star. The girls that I had seen earlier kept to themselves in the back corner. One had chosen a stringed instrument that looked like a guitar, and the other a stand-up stringed instrument, large enough to emit a low, baselike tone. I found every excuse to get near them as I worked. They tuned their instruments. They practiced. They sang to each other, low enough that they couldn¡¯t be heard by anybody but each other. Except by me, when I ventured close enough to listen. They practiced a song that I had heard many times called ¡°She¡¯s got issues.¡± A song by The Offspring. An emotional, ironic, funny song with a good hook and a great chorus. A crowd pleaser. ¡°For our last act of the night, I¡¯d like to welcome The Offspringers!¡± The woman¡¯s voice carried over the crowd. I looked at my clock, shocked by the time. 9:24 p.m. Rowan and Cassandra headed to the stage, and the crowd settled down. Rowan stood center stage, the guitar slung over her shoulder. Chapter 14. Rowan and Cassandra Chapter 14. Rowan and Cassandra ¡°Here¡¯s one of our favorites,¡± Rowan¡¯s voice filled the bar. Not only did the magic of the stage amplify her voice, but it was clear that she could project. She shined, her blue eyes capturing the people, her affect cool and mysterious. She began playing, and the hook of the song silenced the crowd at once. The notes were crisp and clear, yet raspy like the sound of an electric guitar. People screamed in absolute delight, and hands went up in the universal sign of rock and roll. Her sister came in right after the first hook, using a bow to bring the base line. I could barely tear my eyes from Rowan, but with some effort, I found Marv behind the bar. ¡°I need that favor,¡± I told him. I tried not to sound desperate. He stared at me, clearly thinking. Then he nodded. ¡°You did well tonight. What can I do for you?¡± You have completed a quest: Opening Night Reward: Marv will grant you one favor. I looked behind him at the drum, then back at him. He sighed. ¡°Fine.¡± He reached back, took the drum off the shelf with deference and handed it to me. ¡°Be careful with this. I don¡¯t play it anymore, but it¡¯s special.¡± You received Tribal Drum Tribal Drum: In the right hands, this drum can produce the full range of percussion instruments. Item Class: Instrument Item Quality: Rare I approached the stage, working my way through an excited crowd. All eyes were on Rowan and her sister as they belted out the first chorus. ¡°Man, she¡¯s got issues and I¡¯m gonna pay.¡± Real musicians did not appreciate guests joining their performance, and I knew I risked making the girls incredibly mad. But this song needed a drum. Frankly, it needed a full drum kit with hi-hats, snares, and base. And I needed to try. I wanted to play onstage, feeling the music come out of me and the crowd dancing to my rhythm. I couldn¡¯t help myself. I held the drum between my thighs, and I began playing. I started soft, getting the feel for it. I kept a simple beat, loud enough that people could feel it, but not loud enough that it overshadowed her performance. I looked up to Rowan. She shot a glare at me, letting me know exactly how she felt about being upstaged. People noticed, and the crowd between us parted, creating a circle around myself and the girls onstage. A prompt appeared, and I barely kept the rhythm with its interruption. Congratulations, by demonstrating a basic understanding of rhythm, your Integrator Passive has granted you a new Job: Musician. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Job: Musician. As a lover and player of symphonies, you can play any instrument at an Expertise of 50. Passive 1: Rhythm¡ªyour party has a 10% boost to coordination and timing. Cost to maintain: 1 stamina/second. Cost to Buy: 200 Job Points. Passive 2: None Skill 1: Memorize Song. Channeled spell. Allows you to remember all parts of a song that you hear. Must maintain the channel for the entirety of the song. Cost to Cast: 50 Stamina. Cost to buy: 500 Job Points. Skill 2: Tempo: Increase the pace of the song, granting your party 10% haste. Cost to cast: 5 Stamina. Cost to buy: 200 Job Points. Skill 3: none On Level Up: 1 Constitution, 3 Dexterity, 1 Intelligence, 1 Wisdom, 0 Strength, 2 Perception Do you wish to activate this new Job? :Yes/No I chose ¡°yes,¡± and felt a new connection with my drum, as if I had a hundred hours of practice with it. I knew its weight, its soft spots, and the possible sounds it could make. If I wanted a hi-hat, all I had to do was tap the side, against its metallic ring. If I wanted a snare, I could pop my fingers off the rim in just the right way. And there was more. This drum could sound like a tambourine, a cymbal, or a cowbell. I changed my play, matching the punk style with snare drum backbeats, quick doubles on the base, and sloshy hi-hats. But I didn¡¯t overplay it. No solos. I wanted to make the other musicians sound great. Rowan¡¯s intensity increased, feeling the energy of the song and the crowd roar. She wailed out the lyrics. She danced. She worked the crowd. And when the last lines of the song, ¡°just do me favor, and check your baggage at the door¡± I had already stopped playing. Her voice sang out alone ¡ª tortured, and beautiful. The crowd went nuts. Rowan and Cassandra bowed as the applause continued. Mags stepped on to the stage, clapped for them and quieted the audience. ¡°Should we have them back?¡± She asked the patrons. The crowd roared again. ¡°And should this young man join them?¡± She motioned to me. People clapped and cheered. Somebody clapped me on the back. She sent the sisters off stage. Before Rowan left the stage she nodded for me to follow. ¡°Warren,¡± Janica stopped me as I began to follow the sisters. ¡°You changed jobs back there, and you need to add the Spiritual Connection passive to your current loadout or we¡¯ll lose our connection forever.¡± I pulled my loadout up, immediately, which was filled with all of the Musician skills and passives. I selected ¡°passive 2,¡± which was empty, and a dropdown menu appeared. I selected Spiritual Connection as it was the only option. The 3rd Skill slot was empty, but I hadn¡¯t been able to purchase any skills from the Mystic Job, so I had to leave the Skill slot empty. ¡°So,¡± Rowan asked, back at her table. ¡°You make it a habit of coming in in the middle of people¡¯s sets?¡± This girl was direct. Somehow, that didn¡¯t surprise me. She sat back in her chair and leaned over to her sister. She whispered something in Cassandra¡¯s ear, and Cassandra giggled. ¡°Hey!¡± Janica said to them. ¡°Secrets make enemies.¡± I turned to Janica, surprised. This was the first time I had seen her interact with a Gamer other than myself, and it startled me. The girls looked surprised as well. ¡°Who are you?¡± Rowan asked with awe in her voice. The girls stared at Janica like she was Jimmy Hendrix¡¯s Fender Straticaster. Janica seemed to relish in the attention. ¡°Just a badass woman like yourselves,¡± Janica said, fluttering over to the girls. She inspected their armor. ¡°I can tell we¡¯re going to be great friends. You see, Warren. This is how one should treat a Fairy warrior princess. You could learn a lot from these two.¡± I ignored that comment, answering Rowan¡¯s question. ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s the first time I¡¯ve ever come in during somebody¡¯s set.¡± I shrugged. ¡°Couldn¡¯t help myself. I like that song. It would have been better if you had picked Self Esteem, Come Out And Play, or anything by Guns N¡¯ Roses, but, like I said, it pulled me in.¡± Rowan leaned forward, her finger now in my face. ¡°Guns N¡¯ Roses is trash. They have like four good songs and no depth. You could put everything they ever did right on one side of a mixed tape.¡± ¡°Ooh shots fired,¡± Janica said, slamming her beer on the table. I leaned forward, glaring at Rowan. She held my eyes, an intensity in her face. I looked from eye to eye to the smirk on her face. If this was going to be a musical standoff, she was going to lose. ¡°I hate to interrupt,¡± a new voice startled me out of my staring contest. Rowan and I turned to see a new person sitting at the table. It was Henry, the boy from the mine. ¡°But I have a proposition.¡± Chapter 15. The Rabbit Hole Chapter 15. The Rabbit Hole Henry sat like a proper young man, perhaps someone who was trying out for the role of Oliver Twist in a local production of Oliver. His presence in this bar felt out of place. I expected someone with a bowl cut, glasses, small frame, and perfectly crossed legs to be studying quietly in a coffee shop. And his tag indicated that he was already a level three Apprentice. Henry scooted his chair in, rested his elbows on the table, clasped his hands together, and rested his chin on them. ¡°Would you like to hear my proposal?¡± He looked back and forth between us, lifting his eyebrows in rapid succession. This guy was kind of awkward, but I appreciated his strange behavior. Better than arrogance. Rowan looked at me, then back at Henry. ¡°Sure, why not?¡± He inched forward. I leaned closer in response as if now part of a conspiracy. Cassandra elbowed her sister to the side, and entered the circle. Janica sat on the table, her ankles tucked under her. Her wings slowed and then stopped, laying gently along her back. Henry looked at all of us, then began, just loud enough that we had to lean forward even more to hear him. ¡°I found a Legendary Quest,¡± he whispered. Good start. ¡°It¡¯s not something I can do alone,¡± he said. ¡°I really can¡¯t tell you details until you commit to joining me, but I¡¯ll say this. I believe this is a big quest. It¡¯s a chance to uncover the greatest secrets of Integration Online, the more direct path to making a name for yourself in this game, the quickest leveling, and the highest rewards.¡± ¡°Why us?¡± Rowan asked. Henry looked at each of us. ¡°Weird thing is, I need a group of musicians to make the next part of the quest work.¡± He paused, then looked directly at me. ¡°Warren here unlocked the Musician Job in the middle of that song which we¡¯ll need to make this happen. You girls are important to this process, but we can¡¯t do it without his new Job.¡± The girls looked at me, then at the nameplate above my head. ¡°How did you get that Job?¡± Cassandra asked. I shrugged. Henry continued, saving me from the awkward silence. ¡°If you help me with this next part, you can join me for the rest of the quest series. But there¡¯s a catch. If we follow through with my plan, we¡¯ll have to leave this town and not return.¡± I looked at Janica, who¡¯s eyes were hungry. This is the exact kind of thing that she¡¯d want me to do, but it was a distraction from my real goals. Especially because I may have just found a band to play with, and steady money coming in the door from playing music . I had never had any real musical ambitions, mostly because I didn¡¯t have the time to dedicate to band practices with my intense work schedule. But with the excitement of the night and a possible income stream, I couldn¡¯t help but get stars in my eyes. I¡¯d have to make us proper rockstar clothing, of course. These simple armor sets wouldn¡¯t do. Possibly something with leather and frills. ¡°Sorry,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m not in a position to go on adventures. I need steady work.¡± I looked at Rowan. ¡°I¡¯m hoping to join her band and keep playing music.¡± Rowan leaned over to her sister. They whispered back-and-forth, a conspiracy taking root. They paused briefly to look my way, then continued. Finally Rowan turned to Henry. ¡°We want in. Is there any way we can make this work without Warren?¡± He frowned. ¡°Possibly. I need to do some research.¡± Rowan looked at me. ¡°If this quest doesn¡¯t work out, we¡¯ve decided to let you try out for the band. No promises. But you can play with us during our next gig and if you¡¯re willing to play some quality music you might have a shot.¡± Henry leaned back, then pointed across the bar. ¡°You sure you still have a gig here?¡± I turned to where he pointed. Arthur stood beside the woman who ran the Open Mic Night, his finger pointing at me, a scowl on his face. I could imagine what he was saying. His nameplate read . I felt a cold sweat take over. My head swam with anxiety. I hadn¡¯t expected him to find me so soon. He would be gathering an army against me, spreading tales of my betrayal. And God knew what else. I braced for a conflict. Mags walked up to us, but my eyes stayed on Arthur and his friends. Arthur didn¡¯t follow Mags. He said something to Thomas and Christian, then left the bar. My shoulders relaxed with their departure. At least he hadn¡¯t confronted me. Mags put her fists down on the table, her eyes settling on me. ¡°A young man just told me that you betrayed the interests of the town and that I should throw you out of my bar.¡± I looked frantically around the table. ¡°He also told me that if I ever let you back into the Dancing Cougar, that he would make sure that no Visitor ever came in here again. Said he had a lot of friends, and they would blacklist my place.¡± I squirmed, and started to defend myself, but she cut me off. ¡°Look kid. I don¡¯t take kindly to people telling me who I can or cannot serve, so that man can screw off. But here¡¯s the thing. If you really did betray the town, that¡¯s another matter. It¡¯s not something you can lie to me about. He¡¯s on his way right now to tell the Mayor that you worked against the people of this town. If he¡¯s telling the truth, and the Mayor will know if he is, your town reputation will plummet and I won¡¯t be able to let you back in here. So, let¡¯s get real. Did you stop that boy from defeating that spirit from up in the mine?¡± ¡°Technically yes,¡± I said. ¡°But I can explain.¡± Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. She shook her head. ¡°Until you clear this up, you¡¯re not welcome here. And neither are the rest of you. I don¡¯t want any drama.¡± ¡°Wait,¡± Rowan said. ¡°We¡¯re not with him. He¡¯s not even in the band yet.¡± ¡°He played with you, didn¡¯t he?¡± Mags said. ¡°You won the contest together. You¡¯re associated. Plus, I don¡¯t want to fire up some Visitors who already think that you¡¯re together and have people protesting outside my establishment.¡± Rowan and Cassandra looked at me with unified fury. ¡°Look, I¡¯m sorry about all this,¡± Mags said. ¡°I broke a promise. Best I can do is let you keep the instruments that you played with tonight. They¡¯re cheaply made, anyway.¡± With that, she walked away. Rowan turned on me. ¡°We¡¯ve known you for thirty minutes and you¡¯ve managed to crash our performance and ruin our chances at a steady gig.¡± I winced. An alert popped up on my interface. You will be logged off in 30 seconds. Sofia must have forced a log out. ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said. ¡°I have to log off so that my sister can use the pod. I swear, I¡¯ll clear all this up tomorrow. I¡¯ll go talk to the mayor and make things right.¡± ¡°When will you be on again?¡± Henry asked. ¡°In twelve hours,¡± I said. ¡°Okay,¡± Henry said. ¡°If you change your mind, you can find me at the library. I¡¯ll give you all one day to change your minds, then I¡¯m finding a new way to progress on my quest.¡± ¡°Rowan,¡± I said, my time ticking down. ¡°Where can I find you?¡± She crossed her arms, but didn¡¯t answer. I faded into nothingness. You logged off of Integration Online I expected that I would have to come clean with Sofia about my failure to keep my end of the bargain. Instead, she pulled me out of that pod the second I was safely disconnected. She stepped in. ¡°Warren,¡± she interrupted me. ¡°Whatever you need to tell me, it can wait. It¡¯s my turn, and I can¡¯t wait another instant.¡± That, I could understand. ¡°Get some rest, and be ready in twelve hours.¡± With that, her eyes went blank. Her body relaxed. She was in. I wanted to sleep. That probably would have been best for me, but I couldn¡¯t. I was gripped by the idea that any talent I brought into the game would translate to in-game skill. And so I trained. I began by looking up videos of people skinning different kinds of animals. I got pulled into clip after clip. I watched people tan hides, harden leather, treat leather, and shape it. I never had a chance to continue my training with the old man in the shed, and I didn¡¯t know if I¡¯d ever get the chance. I had ten rabbit skins in my inventory, and if possible I would try to figure it out on my own. When I looked at the clock, it was three in the morning. I stumbled to bed and slept. My alarm buzzed at 9:30 a.m. I showered, ate, and opened my laptop. I searched for Integration Online , hoping to gather any information that I could before logging on. The top news headline flashed on my screen. Fourteen Artificial Intelligences Eliminated from Integration Online in First Day, Developers out Millions . I clicked on the link. ¡°In an impressive move, the Integration Online security team hunted down a record number of artificial intelligences in its first twenty-four hours since launch. When interviewed, Marshall White, head of security at IO made the following statement: ¡®Every bot we found in our game was trying to exploit our world for resources and data. These are not simple bots, but advanced artificial minds capable of impersonating human behavior to an unprecedented degree. However, they have underestimated our security team and our community. We have reverse engineered their source codes, making it impossible for these bots to re-enter our system, eliminating them forever. If you have any information that leads to the identification of AI within IO, please alert our security team.¡¯¡± Bots were impersonating human behavior. Scary. It meant that everyone I interacted with could be an AI with ulterior motives. But I¡¯d be able to tell humans from AI. If the IO security team had already found some, then I could as well. If they were rewarding people for finding them, I¡¯d need to keep my eyes open. Maybe Arthur was an AI. Or Henry. He was weird and awkward. Sofia exited the pod at exactly 10 a.m. She was nothing if not on-time. ¡°How¡¯d it go?¡± I asked. ¡°Great,¡± she said. ¡°I can¡¯t believe how real it is.¡± ¡°Sofia,¡± I blurted out, ¡°I got into some trouble. I wasn¡¯t able to follow the plan, exactly.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± she said. I told her everything, holding nothing back. She listened, and I saw her experience the highs and lows that I had gone through. When I finished, I searched her eyes for disappointment. Instead, her eyes were wild. ¡°You¡¯re telling me that you can create your own skills? I think you may have found a way to break the game. I need to think.¡± She walked to the kitchen and began fixing herself breakfast. ¡°What should I do?¡± I called. ¡°For now, it seems like you¡¯re on pace to make your cut of the expenses this month. It¡¯s clear that whatever plans we make, the game is going to pull us into its vortex,¡± she called back. ¡°Also, I was able to check the auction house last night. It¡¯s not just herbs and ore that¡¯s overpriced. Based on how high leather was priced, you may be one of the few players out there that has the skinning profession. And simple leather armor pieces are at a premium. I saw a pair of leather pants selling for fifty Silver. Before people settle into professions, this is where the money is.¡± She looked at me and shrugged. ¡°Go figure it out.¡± She took her breakfast into her room and shut the door. You logged into Integration Online I spawned in the Dancing Cougar. The bar buzzed with a dozen patrons, some NPCs and some Gamers, stuffing their faces with breakfast foods and alcoholic beverages. Janica appeared next to me. ¡°So what¡¯s the plan?¡± she asked. ¡°Are we going to bore ourselves with mundane professions or are we going on a grand adventure?¡± Chapter 16. Leatherworking 101 Chapter 16. Leatherworking 101 ¡°Professions first,¡± I said, ignoring her comment. ¡°Then I¡¯m going to talk to the Mayor. I need to get cleared so that I can get The Offspringers their gig back, and we can become local rock stars.¡± Janica mumbled something under her breath. I stepped out of the double doors. Morning light assaulted my senses. The air smelled clean, unlike anything that I had experienced living in Detroit. NPCs bustled up and down the main street, going about their daily tasks. I spotted Christian across the street, leaning against a building. He saw me, smirked, made a rude gesture, and took off in the opposite direction. ¡°I¡¯d like to turn that one into a bug and eat him,¡± Janica said. I looked at her with hope. ¡°Is that possible?¡± Janica directed me to the local tannery where I negotiated for some basic supplies. The tannery sold a variety of materials that people used to turn skins into hides. From my internet research, I had decided to invest in tools that would save me time in the long run. If I couldn¡¯t buy the tools I wanted in-game, I would make them. I didn¡¯t know how leatherworking worked in Integration Online yet, but I had a feeling the game would allow for some flexibility. Fortunately, I was able to get what I wanted: salt, an awl, a dozen small wooden frames, a small wooden paddle, a spool of thick thread, and a sewing needle. I paid 50 Silver for all of this, the equivalent of $50. I had 94 Silver left, nowhere close to my weekly goal of 1000. It hurt to spend this much, but Sofia was right. I needed to figure something out. When Janica and I exited the store, Arthur and two town guards stood in front of us. One of the guards stepped forward. ¡°Warren, you¡¯re arrested for the destruction of the Silverlode Mine. Please come with us.¡± Your reputation with the town of River Junction has decreased. You are now Unwelcome with River Junction. I quickly handed Janica the Elemental Shard from my inventory. I had never given Janica anything, and I didn¡¯t know if she was able to acquire items. ¡°Go clear this up for me,¡± I said. She was able to take the item. The guards led me away. I looked back. Janica watched me for an instant before flying off, shard in hand. The guards did not take me to a jail cell. They guided me, one on either side, holding my arms, to the gate of the city. They threw me out. I dusted myself off. Arthur, Christian, and Thomas stood inside the gates, smiling. I showed them one of my most useful fingers and headed north, toward the only place that might help me use my time well.. I knocked on the door of Ellen and Jamon¡¯s home and took a step back. When Ellen opened the door, I gave her a nervous smile. ¡°I finished that quest.¡± ¡°Jamon,¡± she hollered, even though he was right behind her. Jamon took more than a minute to get himself together. He stepped out of the door and walked past me without acknowledging my presence. He opened up a shed behind the house. Inside was a full workshop. Simple, yet it held all the tools one might need. Hammers and awls hung on the wall. Sacks of salt, buckets, and jars with oil rested on the shelves. Jamon had a collection of frames both small, like the ones I had purchased in town, and some large enough to stretch a deer skin. He turned to me. ¡°Let''s have those rabbits.¡± I handed over the rabbit carcasses that I had looted off of Thomas¡¯s body. Jamon¡¯s eyebrows lifted, just a bit. ¡°This is more than I asked for.¡± ¡°I¡¯m more than you asked for.¡± Jamon barked a laugh, then headed into the shed. You have completed the Quest: Rabbit Season 2 Experience Rewarded: 35 points ¡°Jamon,¡± I said. ¡°I bought some supplies.¡± I showed him the stuff I had picked up from the tannery. He looked at them and nodded. ¡°These will do if you want to create Low-quality Leather pieces.¡± ¡°How do I make High-quality Leather pieces?¡± ¡°First, hand me that knife I sold you.¡± I handed him the knife. He walked to a large flat stone. He grabbed a bottle of oil from above and drizzled some on the stone, then dragged both edges of the knife against it with care. ¡°The key,¡± he said, ¡°is keeping the angle perfect. A sharp knife makes a perfect shape.¡± He showed me a ¡°V¡± with his hands. A moment later, he handed me the knife back. You received Sharpened Skinning Knife. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Go skin them. Just like I taught you.¡± One by one, I strung the rabbits up and skinned them, working from the feet to the head. I butchered my first attempt, losing at least half the skin. Jamon corrected me, helping me pull, slice, and cut at better angles. He continued to watch me until I heard him grunt in satisfaction. Then he left the shed. After that, I got into a rhythm and didn¡¯t mess up again. Finished, I pulled the ten skins down and checked my prompts. You received 9 Rabbit Skins. You received 1 Ruined Rabbit Skin. Your Expertise in Skinning improved to 11. I brought them to Jamon. He discarded the ruined skin, and I winced. ¡°Put your supplies on the workbench.¡± He took the first rabbit skin and punched holes all around the perimeter with an awl. Next, he centered the skin in the wooden frame and began tying those little holes around the outside of the frame, using a needle and thread. He worked top, bottom, left, then right, tightening the string every few loops and tying them off. Then he worked the corners, stretching the skin tighter and tighter over the frame. He looked at me. ¡°Get it?¡± I nodded. I had seen this earlier on videos, but the process was easier in game. For one, there wasn¡¯t blood everywhere, which I felt thankful for. For another, the process seemed to be simplified. It still required careful, strong hands, but it was more mechanical than the videos. Less variable. He flipped the skin over to the side that was still covered with hair. He scraped the hair off, using quick angled motions toward himself. He cleaned the other side with his knife. ¡°Next we cure it,¡± he said. He spread salt over both sides. Another change from reality. In the videos, people had to fast forward hours or days before their hides dried out. For Jamon, it took seconds. ¡°We have a Low-quality Leather piece,¡± he said. ¡°You want to improve that quality?¡± He raised a bushy eyebrow. ¡°Yes please.¡± He walked to the pile of rabbit carcasses that were piled up, skinless on the bench. He set one on his table and removed its brain. I nearly gagged, the smell and reality of the process overwhelming me. ¡°You said you wanted high quality,¡± he said. ¡°I thought you were going to work the leather,¡± I said. ¡°That comes later.¡± He squashed the brain into his palm and rubbed it into the hide, using every last glob of it. He mounted the frame, upright in a stable position. He took the wooden paddle that I had bought and began pushing on the skin, working the leather like I had seen in the videos. ¡°The more you work the leather, the softer it gets. If you¡¯re making soft boots, you work it longer.¡± After a few minutes, the leather visibly changed. It looked clean, brown, and smooth. Jamon removed the hide from the frame, unthreading the sides. He handed it to me. You received High Quality Light Leather. You learned the Profession: Leatherworking. I whooped, which startled Jamon. ¡°Sorry,¡± I said. An image popped into my head: I laid a bed of skins and silver coins so deep that I could make snow angels with all of my wealth. ¡°You okay?¡± Jamon asked. ¡°Uhh, yeah,¡± I said, shaking the vision away. I accessed the Leatherworking menu which appeared as a holographic book. Leatherworking Table of Contents: ? Light leather ? Medium Leather ? Heavy Leather ? Tips and Tricks ? Index I flipped to the Light Leather page. It looked like Leonardo DaVinci¡¯s sketchbook complete with drawings, schematics, notes, and procedure. Weird enough, the handwriting was my handwriting. The sketches looked like my drawings. The side annotations reminded me so clearly of my style that I was sure the game had somehow created this Leatherworking manual from my own brain. I had a dozen notebooks on my bookshelf at home that I had created in high school. Each held detailed and perfect notes and sketches from Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and other subjects. They all looked like this. Jamon¡¯s advice was written verbatim in quotation marks. I shivered. This game had too much access to my memory. It was almost creepy. I flipped to the Tips and Tricks section, but found only two notes: You have a 2% chance to discover a new pattern with every Expertise point gained in Leatherworking. Every skill point in Leatherworking grants the crafter a 1% increase in crafting speed. My eyes went wide as I read over the notes. Not only would I get faster and faster with every point gained, but I also had a chance to gain new recipes. Were the discoverable recipes limited to simple ones? Or could I find something rare that I could profit off of in a major way? I closed the menu, excited to gain some points. Jamon made each part of the process look easy, but it was not. I had to rethread my first hide four times because I didn¡¯t evenly distribute the tension between the sides. I would frame a hide, show it to Jamon, only to see him shake his head. Then try again. When I poked a huge hole into the middle of a hide while scraping the hair off, Jamon chuckled. I shot him a scowl and threw the hide away. But the worst part, by far, was the brain extraction. I gagged a dozen times, vomited once, sent two slippery heads flying across the room, and lost one of them completely. I looked everywhere for that little thing, but gave up my search in a frustrated huff. Eventually, I got lost in the work and my body settled into a rhythm. It was during this period when a prompt lit up, interrupting my focus with good news. Chapter 17. Accept? Yes/No Chapter 17. Accept? Yes/No Your reputation with River Junction increased. You are now Untrusted by River Junction. Janica had done something to increase my reputation. Perhaps she had connected with the Mayor and told him the whole story. Regardless, my reputation remained ¡°untrusted.¡± I didn¡¯t know exactly what that meant, but it wasn¡¯t good. I assumed that I would not be allowed to play music, use the auction house, or learn new crafts from the town people without a better reputation. If IO played like any other fantasy game, it meant that NPCs wouldn¡¯t smile and greet me or offer me help. Combined with Arthur and his guild¡¯s seething hatred of me, it became more and more difficult to imagine my life in River Junction. There were so many times in my life¡ªschool, the factory¡ªwhen I felt unwanted. It set a person on edge. It caused a person to constantly have to look around, worried about what could happen next. I was sick of that life. And I needed to be able to work with the NPCs if I was going to make ends meet every month. Yet, this was the starter zone. This was the only town, perhaps for miles around, where I could safely farm and level. In most games, a player had to gain enough Strength and Experience in a starter zone before moving to the next zone. For better or worse, I had made a series of decisions which had made my future in the starter zone almost impossible. There was another path before me. One where people not only wanted my help, they needed it. Henry, Rowan, Cassandra, and Janica each wanted something more from this place than a simple life. They wanted adventure. They wanted answers. The path with them was risky. Henry had said that if we pulled off this quest, we could never return to River Junction. We would most likely get into danger. For me and my situation, I needed to avoid risk. Failure meant returning to work in the real world. That¡¯s what mattered most. And keeping my promise to Sofia. Right now, going with Henry might be my best chance to get paid. If nothing else, I might be able to get to another town with his help and start over. It was 3 p.m. before I finished my work. I had a series of prompts waiting for me. You created Low-Quality Light Leather x 5, Medium-Quality Light Leather x 3, High-Quality Light Leather x 1. Your Leatherworking Expertise increased to 9. I sat down, exhausted from the work. My stamina had depleted to 3/25. My hands were sore. I had cuts. Dried blood and brains covered my hands. My body smelled like carcass. Yet I felt good. I had finished difficult work, and I had done it for myself. The products I created wouldn¡¯t sit on a factory shelf, only to be packaged and sold by the thousands. The final skin had gone better than the rest, producing my first High-quality Skin. By that final attempt, I had managed to put all the processes together without making a mistake. I looked across the room at Jamon, hoping for a smile or perhaps a proud, grandfatherly nod. He slept, head against the wall, body splayed across his chair. ¡°Warren!¡± Ellen¡¯s voice carried from the home. ¡°Folks here to see you.¡± I stepped into the afternoon light. Henry, Rowan, and Cassandra looked appalled at my condition. Mouths showed disgust, noses were plugged. Rowan took a small step backward. I looked down to see blood and hair all over my apron. Janica flew up to me, a huge grin on her face, her eyes excited. ¡°You look like a butcher. I¡¯ve never been so impressed. Did you go on a killing spree without me? What happened?¡± ¡°Oh,¡± I said. ¡°I skinned some rabbits and made leather.¡± The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. The gamers relaxed. Janica sighed. ¡°That¡¯s not nearly as awesome,¡± she said. ¡°I thought maybe you were so enraged from getting thrown out of town that you hunted down every animal within miles like a true warrior.¡± I laughed. ¡°That¡¯s a little bloodthirsty for me. But I did cut some brains out.¡± ¡°Barbaric,¡± Henry said. ¡°Can you clean yourself up a bit?¡± Rowan asked. ¡°We need to talk.¡± I took my apron off and set it aside. ¡°That better?¡± ¡°What about a little dunk in the river?¡± Rowan suggested. ¡°I¡¯m happy to throw you in.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll help,¡± Cassandra said. ¡°Blood is hot,¡± Janica said. Everyone paused to look at her, their concern shifting from me to the fairy. ¡°What?¡± she said in defense. ¡°Not on Warren, obviously. But like a warrior who has just laid waste to a swath of enemies, blood all over her hair and face. Hot.¡± Henry blinked. Cassandra giggled. Rowan rushed to put her hands over her sister¡¯s ears. Cassandra stepped away from her sister. ¡°Seriously Rowan. I¡¯m sixteen. You think I haven¡¯t heard of much kinkier things than that at this point?¡± #x200e ¡°You¡¯re an innocent flower, and I¡¯ll hear none of it,¡± Rowan said. ¡°Warren,¡± Henry said, getting back to business. ¡°We went and saw the Mayor on your behalf. Janica explained the situation and delivered the Elemental Shard, but¡­ it didn¡¯t have much of an effect.¡± ¡°I know,¡± I said. ¡°I saw the prompt. I¡¯m still Untrusted.¡± ¡°So what are you gonna do?¡± Henry asked. ¡°I¡¯m running out of time. Are you still a ¡®no¡¯?¡± Everyone looked at me, their body language tense. ¡°Rowan and Cassandra,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m sorry to put you in this situation. You had a real opportunity, and I ruined it. Are you still with Henry? Do you want to do this legendary quest?¡± They looked at each other. Rowan spoke first. ¡°Yeah, we¡¯re in. We don¡¯t forgive you.¡± ¡°I forgive you,¡± Cassandra said. ¡°It¡¯s really not a big deal.¡± Rowan elbowed her sister, then looked at me. ¡°You can start to make up for it by helping us get some big experience.¡± A prompt appeared: Henry invited you to join a party. Do you accept? Yes/No I knew this was a bad idea. If I didn¡¯t make enough money, I wouldn¡¯t be able to play IO. Worse, we might lose the pod. I couldn¡¯t do that to Sofia. Not after everything she had done for me. But I was running out of options. Without a community to sell to, people to help me get a business started in River Junction or even accept me, I¡¯d be fighting for every inch, like a lead singer without a band, without any gigs, pleading with people to listen. Then I thought of Arthur. As long as Impervious were in the area, I would be hunted and harassed. For now, I needed to get out of River Junction. And that meant taking a risk. I looked from person to person. ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m in. I never want to go back to that town anyway.¡± I accepted the party invite. Henry, Cassandra, and Rowan¡¯s health and stamina bars appeared on my interface. Janica pumped a fist in triumph. ¡°I knew I could convince you to stop being boring. First brains, now adventure. Told you I was the best guide in the game.¡± I shot her a look. ¡°Umm well, we¡¯re going to have to go back,¡± Henry said. ¡°I have a plan, and the trickiest part happens tomorrow in River Junction. Get ready. I¡¯ll explain on the way.¡± ¡°On the way? Where are we going first?¡± Cassandra asked. ¡°East,¡± Henry said. ¡°There¡¯s supposed to be a clamor of harpies in that forest.¡± Chapter 18. The Dungeon Seed Chapter 18. The Dungeon Seed The hike into the forest reminded me of The Blair Witch Project , a horror movie from the 1990s where a group of college students went looking for a witch and ended up getting lost. I went to see the movie with my sister, years ago, at a local theater that played classic films. I thought I liked horror movies when she took me. Turns out, I don¡¯t. The thing about The Blair Witch Project is that you can¡¯t tell if it¡¯s a documentary. You think it might be real, and that simple confusion makes the whole experience much more frightening. Integration Online had somehow recreated this experience with a mood and atmosphere that made me want to turn right back around. Except that I couldn¡¯t hide behind my hands like I could in the theater. I couldn¡¯t pretend I needed to use the bathroom when the suspense hit a fever pitch. The journey started cheerful, with plenty of nervous laughter and false confidence. Harpies, Henry explained, were witches that flew. They had a nest in these woods. We were searching for a rare spawn. As we got closer, the forest got darker by the mile. Blue skies became gray. Colorful aspens and blue evergreens became bare and brown. The ground smelled like mud and rot. I began to see small clues that witches were close. A tiny effigy hung from a bare branch. A set of twigs in the shape of a pentagram. In the distance, a cackle reverberated in a high pitch tone. We halted, and Janica flew into the back of me. She looked nervous for an instant, then regained her composure and puffed out her chest. I heard a chime, a sort of system alert. Your Perceptive Attribute triggered. I turned. At the edge of my vision, I noticed a man, crouched down, watching us. He wore armor like I had not seen before in the game: a set of leather gear with buckles and straps, adorned in feathers and silver details. He noticed me, and backed away, into the fog and bushes. ¡°Did anyone see that?¡± I asked. ¡°What?¡± Cassandra said. ¡°A man, way over there, dressed to the nines.¡± Everyone turned. ¡°He¡¯s gone now, but I saw him for a moment.¡± ¡°Sure you did,¡± Janica said. ¡°I totally believe you.¡± Henry gathered us up close. ¡°Harpies are casters,¡± he said. ¡°I don¡¯t know if they can use magic or not since mana regeneration stopped in this world, but we need to be careful. The goal is to pull one at a time and move slowly through the zone.¡± ¡°How do you know all this?¡± Rowan asked. ¡°I spent a lot of time in the library over the first few hours,¡± he said. ¡°I figured since the developers weren¡¯t releasing any information beforehand, I would need to do the research myself. Plus, I love the library.¡± He closed his eyes. ¡°The smell of books. The quiet. The¡ª¡± ¡°Henry,¡± Rowan interrupted. ¡°Focus.¡± He continued. ¡°I found a book by a local botanist who used to come to this zone searching for rare herbs. He wrote that he often had to flee the area because of a rare, elite harpy named Madam Avoah. He encountered her all over this area, never in the same place twice. She was easy for him to avoid because she sings wherever she goes. Unlucky for us, she¡¯s supposed to be very dangerous. Lucky for us, she¡¯s often by herself. Double lucky for us, she can be heard singing from a long way off.¡± ¡°Why her?¡± I asked. ¡°In his story, the botanist noticed that a certain rare herb, a flower called Witch Hazel, grew along the path that Madam Avoah traveled. The flower can be used in several rare potions. They¡¯re valuable enough that this botanist risked his life to collect them. He also believed that Madam Avoah ate these flowers to sustain her youth. He began to travel the same path, ahead of her, stealing her herb. It was in this manner that I believe he died.¡± Nobody said a word. This place was creepy enough without this man¡¯s death fresh in our minds. ¡°Are we here to find that rare herb?¡± Cassandra asked. Henry shrugged. ¡°Not quite, but if we see one, we should try to pick it. I have 15 Expertise in herbalism, so I might be able to collect them.¡± I felt immediately jealous. I bet those herbs sell for a boatload. ¡°How¡¯d you get that high of Expertise already?¡± I asked. ¡°Oh,¡± Henry said. ¡°Remember the glowing flowers in the Silverlore mine? I picked about twenty of them while I was there.¡± I shot a glare at Janica. ¡°What?¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s not my fault you¡ª¡± I cut her off with a finger over my lips. ¡°What am I missing between you two?¡± Rowan asked. ¡°Nothing,¡± I said. ¡°Nothing. Go on, Henry.¡± He shrugged. ¡°Anyway, I was reading about this botanist when I found a pretty interesting clue that had nothing to do with herbs.¡± Henry wagged his eyebrows at us. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Dude,¡± Cassandra said, ¡°you have to stop doing that.¡± ¡°What?¡± Henry asked. ¡°Look, all respect,¡± Cassandra said, ¡°but the eyebrow thing is weird.¡± Henry looked down. ¡°Sorry,¡± he said. ¡°Don¡¯t be offended,¡± Cassandra said. ¡°We all do weird things. I¡¯m telling you as a friend. Go on.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± he said, seeming to have recovered. ¡°The botanist noticed that Madam Avoah was kind of a bully. She would approach groups of harpies, get in arguments with them, and then sing a song when she got really angry. The harpies all around her would fall asleep.¡± Henry paused, then looked at each one of us in turn. This time, no eyebrows. ¡°It is this sleep spell that I believe we need for the next part of the quest. I don¡¯t see a way around it. You¡¯ll see why when I share the quest.¡± A prompt appeared, but accompanied by a mystical, symphonic sound. The background to the prompt window was a gold-orange color. I immediately felt a tingle down my spine. You were offered a Legendary Quest: The Tree of Secrets bores its spore, ? Four in every twenty score. ? One will go to each direction, ? To be treated with affection. ? Seven days and the seeds will die. ? Plant them right with room to lie. ? Fertilizers make them stronger ? Deeper, dangerous, wild, longer. ? A guardian, plus six they need¡ª ? Flora, Fauna, Ore for greed, ? One to give them roots and lore, ? And two to build their magic cores. ? If seven days have not yet passed, ? And gathered all of what is asked, ? Then when you plant these magic spores, ? Down will grow four dungeon cores. Objective: On the third day of this year, a Dungeon Seed will be transported through each of the four zones. Each seed will be guarded heavily by a contingent from Central City. The seed that is brought to the Western zone will pass through River Junction at approximately noon. Plant the seed using an Elemental Core as one of the ingredients. Rewards: 2000 Silver pieces and 1000 experience points. Do you accept: Yes/No I looked up at Henry, agape. ¡°I have¡­ so many questions,¡± I stammered out. ¡°I¡¯ll start,¡± said Rowan. ¡°How do you expect us to get one of these seeds?¡± ¡°And what the hell did you get us into?¡± Cassandra added. ¡°Where did you get this?¡± I piled on. Henry waited for each of us to quiet down. ¡°Logging into the game, I knew that the magic system was broken. I want, more than anything, to become a mage. So instead of fighting rabbits, I went straight for the library. I began as an Apprentice Job, which means that I can read any language. I also acquired a special Attribute from the character creation process that allows me to find information within a library quickly. All I have to do is think of a word or a phrase, and any book that contains the phrase will light up. Kind of like a Google search with physical books. So what could have taken me days or weeks to find, I was able to figure out in hours. ¡°After a series of searches, I found evidence that four dungeon seeds were produced by the Tree of Possibilities the same day that gamers were allowed into the world. Four hundred years ago, the last time dungeon seeds were spawned, one was delivered to each of the zones, along with the required materials to plant them. I believed that they would repeat this process, again. But I wasn¡¯t sure. Yet. There was only one way to verify that all of my research was correct. A quest can only be created with accurate information. So I knew that if I could create a quest that I would be on the right track. That¡¯s where the Silverlode Mine came in. There were stories about an elemental, living inside that mine. I believed I could convince him to create a legendary quest for me. I was correct. In exchange for giving me the legendary quest, I promised to make one of the five ingredients an Elemental Core, which will bring great power to the Elemental Spirits in this zone. So I shared all of my information with him, and he created the quest.¡± ¡°Wait,¡± I said. ¡°When we saw you in the mine you told us you didn¡¯t get to the elemental. Was that a lie?¡± Henry shrugged. ¡°Sorry. I didn¡¯t trust any of you. And I didn¡¯t want to explain myself. There was another route to the elemental that didn¡¯t require me to fight.¡± I could understand that. And, yet, the lie still bothered me. What else was he lying about? ¡°Why do you think planting a dungeon core is going to help you become a mage?¡± Janica asked. Henry nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t know for sure, but I think that this dungeon seed, because it was grown over 400 years, might be immune to whatever is affecting the rest of the zone.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t get it,¡± I said. ¡°The Tree of Possibilities takes four centuries to grow these seeds,¡± Henry said. ¡°For 380 years, magic worked fine in this world. Right, Janica?¡± #x200e She nodded. ¡°Twenty years ago, a big event happened called The Great Mistake. But that was only twenty years ago. These seeds did most of their growing with magic. That¡¯s why I think that when these dungeon seeds are planted, they might allow magic. In them or near them. I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s just a theory. But I want to know for sure.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°So why do we need a sleep spell?¡± #x200e ¡°Because the guards that will carry this dungeon seed through the Western Zone are much too strong for us to overpower,¡± Henry said. ¡°So we¡¯re going to put them to sleep,¡± Rowan cut in. ¡°And steal the dungeon seed.¡± Henry nodded. The sound of high-pitched chatter interrupted our conversation. We weren¡¯t alone. Chapter 19. Hunters and Hunted Chapter 19. Hunters and Hunted Two harpies approached from the east, moving slowly in our direction. Large, black wings flapped behind them, making a chopping sound. White hair tumbled down their shoulders. Yellow, wicked talons sent a shiver down my spine. Harpy ? Level 7 ? HP 45/45 ? MP 0/75 ? Stamina 100/100 ¡°Let¡¯s do this,¡± Janica said. ¡°Just as we talked about,¡± Henry said. Rowan pulled a shield and an axe from her inventory. She approached the harpies as they came in range. ¡°Come on, you ugly old witches,¡± she hollered at them. They screeched in anger, then charged her. She ducked down beneath her shield, and they began scratching at her with their claws. Her health bar began to dip. Rowan vaulted up at one, smashing it with her shield, sending it backwards. She turned to the other and swung her shield and axe at once in an arc, sending up a flurry of black feathers. The harpy screamed. Cassandra pulled out two daggers and began circling the harpies to get behind them. She moved like a cat, slow and dangerous. Henry removed a staff, similar to my own, and flanked Rowan, protecting her side but not making any aggressive movements. ¡°Warren, get in there and stab some harpies with that staff,¡± Janica said. ¡°I have a better idea,¡± I said. I pulled out the drum and began to pound a quick, steady beat. You activated Tempo. You granted your party 10% haste. 10 Musician Job Points Awarded. My stamina bar depleted by five. The effect of the spell was noticeable. Cassandra moved more quickly toward the back of the harpy. She lunged forward with both daggers toward the harpy¡¯s back with speed and precision. The harpy screamed and fell to the ground, dead. Sparkles glittered from its body. I changed my drumming, slipping into a slow and steady beat. You activated Rhythm 1. Stamina will deplete by 1 per second. The party has 10% increased timing and coordination. 1 Job Point Awarded per second. ¡°Rowan, watch out!¡± Janica called. The other harpy dove at Rowan, its front talons arcing down at her head. She raised a shield, just in time, ducking under it. Henry swung at the harpy as it clawed at Rowan¡¯s shield. He connected, sending the harpy tumbling backwards. Cassandra descended on the harpy when it stopped rolling, and ended its life with two daggers to the side. You defeated level 7 Harpy x 2 You receive 21 experience points. I stopped beating my drum. ¡°That was awesome!¡± Cassandra said. ¡°What was that beat? It made me fly.¡± ¡°I used Tempo at the beginning,¡± I said. ¡°It gives us haste. Then I activated a passive that helps us with our timing.¡± ¡°We can¡¯t let Rowan take any more damage,¡± Janica said. ¡°That was good, but we need to do better.¡± Cassandra leaned down and looted the first body, then the second. ¡°We got 2 Black Feathers, 40 Silver, and a Sharp Talon.¡± ¡°Nice,¡± said Rowan. ¡°Give some of that to Warren. Let¡¯s rotate loot.¡± You received 10 Silver, 1 Black Feather, and a Sharp Talon. ¡°Thanks,¡± I said. Ten bucks plus materials for a single kill. I could get used to this. We moved deeper into the zone. Harpies flew all over the place, mostly in ones and twos. They moved about with each other, chatting and cackling. Their movement made the zone highly dangerous. Like being in an area with random patrols everywhere. We moved this way and that, trying to isolate one harpy at a time. Over the next couple hours, we managed to kill four more harpies and Rowan only took a little damage. When I leveled up, I checked my prompts. You defeated 4 Harpies. You received 42 experience points. Congratulations, you earned a level while Jobed as a Musician. Stat upgrades: 1 Constitution, 3 Dexterity, 1 Intelligence, 1 Wisdom, 2 Perception ¡°Janica,¡± I said. ¡°What do Dexterity, Wisdom, and Perception do for me in combat?¡± ¡°Go into your interface options and select ¡®show advanced combat statistics¡¯,¡± she said. Rowan turned around. ¡°What¡¯s this now?¡± ¡°Just try it,¡± Janica said. ¡°You¡¯ll see the results on your Character Sheets.¡± I activated advanced combat statistics, then looked at my character sheet. Character Sheet Name: Warren ? Mystic: level 2. 30 available Job Points ? Musician: level 2. 35 available Job Points ? Attributes: Integrator, Perceptive Core Stats: ¡ñ Constitution: 12 ¡ñ Dexterity: 14 The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡ñ Intelligence: 13 ¡ñ Wisdom: 14 ¡ñ Strength: 10 ¡ñ Perception: 14 Core Resources ¡ñ Health: 28/28 ¡ñ Stamina: 35/35 ¡ñ Mana: 0/33 Advanced Statistics: ¡ñ Stamina Regeneration per second: 1.4 ¡ñ Mana Regeneration per second: -48.6 ¡ñ Accuracy against same level enemies: 76.4% ¡ñ Haste 1.4% I hovered over my advanced stats, and tooltips appeared next to them. Stamina Regeneration = Wisdom /10 Mana Regeneration = Wisdom/10 - 50 ? Accuracy against same level enemies = 75% base + Dexterity / 10 ? Haste = Perception / 10 I realized a couple of things. First, that haste was difficult to get, and felt really powerful in the last fight. My Tempo skill was unique and godly. I needed to buy it as soon as possible. Second, that my Musician Job was giving me one less stat every level, overall, than my Mystic Job. That was going to add up. The Mystic Job gave me more Wisdom, which translated to better stamina regeneration. One day it would give me better Mana regeneration if the world ever changed and allowed us to regenerate mana. Since most of my skills required stamina, it might be smart to switch to the Mystic Job before I leveled up. I looked at my experience bar and saw that I needed 660 total experience to get to level four overall. I had 297 experience total, which means I wasn¡¯t close yet. I¡¯d keep an eye on that. But if I switched back to Mystic now, I would lose access to my Musician Skills. Another reason to buy Tempo as soon as possible. That way I could switch back to Mystic, keep Tempo in my Loadout, and still be useful in a fight. ¡°Janica,¡± I said. ¡°It doesn¡¯t feel like I¡¯m regenerating 1.4 stamina per second. It feels slower than that.¡± #x200e ¡°That¡¯s because of me,¡± she said. ¡°It costs you one stamina per second to keep our connection. So you get a net of .4 stamina per second.¡± ¡°I was wondering about that,¡± Rowan said. ¡°How is it that Janica gets to hang around? No offense, Janica. You¡¯re kind of a badass. But we lost our guides hours ago.¡± Henry looked up from his book. I hesitated, looking from face to face. ¡°Warren got the Spiritual Connection passive,¡± Janica said. ¡°So I get to stay!¡± She beamed. I shot her a glare. ¡°What?¡± she said to me. ¡°This is your team. You can trust them.¡± ¡°Janica,¡± Cassandra said. ¡°How is my accuracy getting higher?¡± ¡°From your Dexterity,¡± she said. ¡°You¡¯re a Squire, so you only get 1 Dexterity per level. If you want to keep stabbing things with those daggers, we need to get you a new Job that adds more Dexterity per level. Accuracy matters. A lot.¡± ¡°How do I unlock a new Job?¡± she asked. ¡°A couple of different ways,¡± she started. ¡°First, if you get your Expertise in daggers up to level fifty, a Job will unlock for you. What¡¯s it at right now?¡± ¡°Thirty-five. What Job is that?¡± ¡°Sorry, can¡¯t tell you specific information like that yet.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Cassandra said. ¡°That¡¯s exciting. How else can I get new Jobs?¡± ¡°The Squire Job splits and unlocks three different options at level five. At that point, you can stay as a Squire or switch into any of the new options.¡± ¡°Why would anybody stay as a Squire?¡± Rowan asked. ¡°Well,¡± Janica said. ¡°Maybe you need more Squire Job Points to permanently buy a Skill. Maybe you like the stat growth. I can¡¯t give you details, but some jobs become available by achieving a certain level in multiple jobs.¡± ¡°I can help,¡± Henry cut in. ¡°I discovered a dozen or so options for mid-level jobs in my research. Cassandra, what do you want to become?¡± Her eyes flashed in excitement. ¡°Something stealthy, sneaky, that can blow monsters up fast,¡± she said. ¡°Okay,¡± Henry said after a chuckle. ¡°Remember, I don¡¯t know everything. This wasn¡¯t the focus of my reading. But I read about a Blade Dancer that required 100 Expertise in a bladed weapon, level five in the Dancer Job, and level five in the Rogue Job. I also read about a Poisoner. That requires level five in the Apprentice Job, level four in the Chemist Job, level four in the Rogue Job, and an Expertise of eighty in Alchemy.¡± ¡°Whoa,¡± Rowan said. ¡°That¡¯s wild. Give me a couple.¡± ¡°Are you going to be a tank?¡± Henry asked. ¡°Mmm. Maybe. Depends.¡± ¡°On what?¡± I asked. She looked at me, her eyes catching mine. Those blue eyes. ¡°On what¡¯s fun. And what we need in the group. And if I get any sweet gear.¡± She shrugged. ¡°You know, go with the flow.¡± My team had lit up at the discussion of stats, Job trees, and possibilities. The way that people get when they¡¯re really excited. Alert, attentive, smiling. I couldn¡¯t help but feel a pang of jealousy. This stuff excited me too, but I couldn¡¯t get excited about it. I couldn¡¯t dream of power and loadouts. To me, the adventure was temporary; for them, it was the reason they were playing. ¡°Well,¡± Henry said. ¡°The Knight Job requires 10 in the Squire Job. Kind of a waste of stat points, if you ask me. A Lancer requires level five in the Squire Job, fifty Expertise in Shields, and fifty Expertise in Spears. Monk requires thirty Dexterity and a Staff Expertise of fifty.¡± ¡°Just remember,¡± Janica said, ¡°that Jobs are powerful for two reasons. Stat growth, obviously, but also the Skills and Passives that you can buy from a Job and take with you into your loadout. There are a couple Jobs that have very weak stat growth, but very powerful Skills that you can buy. And vice-versa.¡± ¡°How do we figure out how to plan ahead?¡± Cassandra asked. Janica looked at Henry. ¡°He¡¯s right. I¡¯m limited in what I can tell you. But there are codexes located around the world that will show you a full Loadout of a Job including the requirements one needs to unlock the Job. One thing I can do is help nudge you all in the direction of some useful ones. For example, the elite harpy that you¡¯re looking for drops one that might be handy for someone looking for some crowd control abilities.¡± Henry perked up at that. ¡°That changes things. I had hoped to steal that sleep spell and run away, but now I think it might be worth it to kill her. Just remember that we cannot kill her until she casts that sleep spell and Warren learns it.¡± I would need to channel my Memorize Song spell for the duration of combat. If I missed the beginning of the song, it would mean waiting for the next occurrence. That could likely kill us. ¡°I think the best course of action,¡± Henry said, ¡°is for us to kite her around, taking as little damage as possible, until she sings her song.¡± ¡°If we all get hit by the Sleep song, how will we survive?¡± Rowan asked. Henry looked at Janica. ¡°Can Sleep be broken?¡± Janica nodded. ¡°Yeah, if someone takes damage, the CC is broken.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll have to stay way back,¡± I said. ¡°Then try to wake you all up. But when she starts her song, get away from her. Maybe you can outdistance the song.¡± ¡°Won¡¯t work,¡± Janica said. ¡°If you can hear the song, it puts you to sleep. And Warren can¡¯t memorize a song that he can¡¯t hear.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t we just plug our ears?¡± Cassandra suggested. ¡°Actually,¡± Henry said, ¡°I came prepared.¡± He handed each of them a little wad of something. ¡°Beeswax,¡± Rowan said. ¡°Good idea.¡± ¡°And maybe cover your ears also,¡± Henry said. Henry approached me and handed me a little pile of beans. You re ceived coffee beans. ? Coffee Beans ? Item Class: Consumable ? Item Quality: Common ? Effect: Consuming Coffee beans increases your resistance to sleep effects by 90% and increases your haste by 5%. Last s 3 hours. ¡°Check this out,¡± Cassandra called to us from twenty yards away. ¡°Have you ever seen a plant this weird?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t touch anything,¡± Rowan called. The bush stood about as tall as me. Its branches twisted and coalesced into the shape of a person. Creepy. At the top of the branches, spindly yellow and red fibers erupted, making it look like hair on the top of the sculpture¡¯s head. ¡°Witch Hazel,¡± Henry said. ¡°Can you pick it?¡± I asked. Janica shook her head. ¡°He needs an Expertise of 75. He¡¯s not even close.¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± I asked. ¡°What¡¯s to stop us from cutting some off the branches anyway?¡± ¡°It¡¯ll ruin the Witchhazel,¡± Henry said. A high-pitched wail reverberated from the north of us. ¡°Ohh, the witch of the wood comes a fluttering past, her hair is perfect, her beauty unpassed.¡± The singing got closer. Chapter 20. Madam Avoah Chapter 20. Madam Avoah ¡°Here comes trouble,¡± Rowan said. ¡°Everyone get ready.¡± I popped the coffee beans into my mouth. A buff appeared at the top of my interface. Madam Avoah flew closer to our group. She looked like the other harpies we had fought, but her hair was azure. She had colorful blue and green feathers. Her armor looked more advanced than anything her brethren had worn. Madam Avoah ? Level 12, Elite ? HP 98/98 ? Stamina 200/200 ? Mana 0/100 Rowan moved forward to meet her. ¡°Come here, you old hag!¡± I noticed that Cassandra turned to Rowan when she yelled. That was bad. It meant that the beeswax didn¡¯t completely muffle all sounds. Hopefully it would be enough. She began circling to the back of the elite. I needed almost every bit of stamina I had for my Memorize Song Skill, but I had barely enough left over for a Tempo. I took a chance and pounded my drum in a quick beat, choosing to play the opening to ¡°Tusk,¡± a Fleetwood Mac song with a sweet drum part. You activated Tempo. You granted your party 10% haste. 10 Musician Job Points Awarded. Immediately afterwards, I activated Memorize Song for the first time. My stamina dropped from 30 to 5 in an instant, and I felt myself transfixed on the harpy elite. The Skill was channeled, and if I did anything¡ªmoved, spoke, used a spell¡ªI knew that the channel would break. I was now useless to the party. Rowan moved in and out of range of the elite, ducking behind her shield when the elite clawed at her, and running away after a flurry of attacks. Her health bar dipped every time. She had about half of her health remaining. Cassandra backstabbed the elite when the harpy clawed at her sister. Her attacks took chunks out of Madam Avoah¡¯s health, but only when they connected. Which wasn¡¯t often. Henry tried to follow Cassandra¡¯s pattern, attacking when he could, but I rarely saw him do much damage. He was a bookworm with all of his experience locked up in scholastic skills, and he was not very useful in a fight. ¡°Madam at 72% health,¡± Janica said. ¡°Rowan¡¯s health at 54% and dropping.¡± The fight continued in this fashion as I watched, unable to help in any way. Tempo had worn off, but if I reactivated it, I¡¯d lose my channeled spell. The boss dropped to 51%, then 23%. Rowan got better at avoiding her attacks, but her health dropped steadily. It fell below 40%, then 30%. And yet the harpy wouldn¡¯t cast her sleep song. If we continued in this way, she would kill us or we would kill her, but our mission would fail. ¡°It¡¯s not working,¡± I told Janica. ¡°She¡¯s down below 25% and not enraged.¡± I felt powerless. Not a new experience in my life. But watching my party slowly die without being able to help was triggering. When I was little, a boy held my head under the water at the local pool. I struggled and thrashed about, but he was bigger than me and had leverage. After what felt like minutes, I stopped thrashing. My dad¡¯s voice echoed in my head. Pause, think. And when I let my brain relax, a solution presented itself. I picked a vulnerable spot on the larger boy and pulled with all my might. That kid never messed with me again. ¡°Warren, snap out of it!¡± Janica barked at me. ¡°The boss and Rowan are both below 10% health.¡± An idea struck me. But unable to do anything, I was stuck. I couldn¡¯t even call out to ask for help because they had wads of beeswax in their ears. I tried anyway, screaming at the top of my lungs. ¡°Henry! Rowan!¡± They continued to kite the harpy around. Cassandra had stopped doing damage, but Rowan couldn¡¯t avoid every attack. I opened up my social interface and added Henry, Rowan, and Cassandra as friends, typing their names into the system. I waited. I saw Henry pause. You became friends with Henry. I typed a message to him. He startled, confused for a second, then nodded. He ran to the Witch Hazel plant, pulled back his staff, and began swinging at the bush. He whipped it once, twice, three times. The twisted sculpture of a person rattled with each hit. Pieces of the herb flew up into the air, fluttering about in the breeze. They fell to the ground. Madam Avoah looked up, distracted by Henry. She narrowed her eyes, then widened them and screamed. ¡°You little imp!¡± she shouted. She chased him. He ran around the bush and a tree. He stayed on the opposite side as her. They looked like two children playing chase, except that Henry wasn¡¯t smiling. He was terrified. The harpy stopped, smiled, and began singing what could only be described as the creepiest lullaby I had ever heard: Hush now, my sweets, the moon will rise, Then you¡¯ll hear the baby''s cries. Dreams so dark where spirits creep, Don¡¯t say a word. Don¡¯t make a peep. Rowan began running from the harpy, hands over her ears. She slowed to a stumble. She fell to one knee. Cassandra sat down, then lay back. She curled up and rested her head on her shoulder. Henry stumbled away, as well, singing to himself. He tried to drown out her words with his own. It didn¡¯t work. Janica grumbled and wavered like she was drunk. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. You resisted Sleep Song. Fear not the ghosts as they find your dreams, Avoah will quiet your little schemes. I¡¯ll take your soul in my embrace, And put it in a resting place. My companions fell into a fitful sleep, tossing and turning. Screaming out words from their nightmares. Madam Avoah turned her attention to me, approaching slowly. You resisted Sleep Song. She swayed from side to side as she sang. She conducted her own symphony with her hands. She sang her last song with dangerous talons resting lightly on my cheeks. I couldn¡¯t move, afraid that any movement would break my concentration, but scared that if I didn¡¯t do anything, she would kill me. In this hour the world grows still, I¡¯ll take you with the witch¡¯s will. For with my voice you feel this song, And away to death where you belong. My eyes grew heavy. So heavy. I opened them in protest, and caught one last glance of the witch. She smiled an evil smile. Behind her, a man approached. That man with the leather armor and the feathers. He had strong, sharp features and sharp ears. He twisted a tall spear in a circular motion, the tip spinning so fast. I woke up with my face on the ground. I sat up and wiped the dirt off my hair and cheek. My companions were awake, if barely. They sat around looking at each other and at the man with the long ears, confusion on their faces. ¡°You all took a nice little nap,¡± he said. His face was smooth, yet weathered. Long, silky black hair tumbled over his shoulders. Lithe muscles erupted between his armor pieces. A halberd protruded over his shoulder, strapped to his back. The tip of it had two, long red feathers hanging below an axe-head. His nameplate read . ¡°Thanks for helping us,¡± Rowan said. Grunts of agreement followed. ¡°We would have died without your help. If you don¡¯t mind me asking, who are you and why are you here?¡± ¡°My name is Ilrune,¡± he said. ¡°I saw your party a while ago and followed you. People don¡¯t come into these woods often¡­ for obvious reasons.¡± ¡°I knew it,¡± I said. ¡°I saw you back in the forest when we were just starting out. I told them, but they didn¡¯t believe me.¡± #x200e Ilrune nodded. ¡°Quite a trick, there. I¡¯m hard to see when I don¡¯t want to be seen. How did you manage to spot me?¡± I shrugged. My Perceptive Ability at work again. Henry looked at me. ¡°Did you get it?¡± I looked through my prompts. You memorized Sleep Song. You fell asleep. You defeated Madam Avoah You earned 54 Experience points You earned 25 Musician Job Points. ¡°I got it,¡± I said. The group cheered and congratulated me. ¡°What did you get?¡± Ilrune asked. ¡°I learned the Sleep Song from Madam Avoah,¡± I said. Ilrune raised his eyebrows. ¡°That¡¯s a powerful ability.¡± Cassandra approached the sparkly pile of loot on the ground. ¡°It seems like we still got credit for the kill,¡± she said. ¡°Should I take a peek?¡± She knelt down and picked up the bundle. Her eyes grew wide. ¡°Woah,¡± she said. ¡°You gotta see this. I¡¯ll link the stuff in the party chat.¡± A series of prompts appeared. I felt like an idiot. If I had known there was a party chat, I wouldn¡¯t have had to send friend requests to be able to whisper to individuals in the middle of that fight when they had wax in their ears. Codex: Witch Job Item Class: Script ? Item Quality: Rare ? Job: Witch, level 3 Job ? Passive 1: Coven - Your party regenerates stamina and mana at 1.5 times the normal rate. Cost to maintain: 1 mana and 1 stamina per second. Cost to buy: 300 Job Points ? Passive 2: None Skill 1: Ritual - The Witch draws runes on the ground, places powerful ingredients, and activates the ritual using mana. Ritual recipes are discovered through the Skill: Ritual Discovery. Cost to cast: 40 mana. Cost to buy: 400 Job Points. ? Skill 2: Hex - The Witch casts a hex on a target, reducing their move speed and casting speed by 90% for 8 seconds. Cost to cast: 30 mana. Cost to buy: 300 Job Points ? Skill 3: Illusion - The Witch can take any form. Cost to cast: 50 mana. Cost to Maintain: 2 mana/second. Cost to buy: 500 Job Points. ? On Level Up: 1 Constitution, 1 Dexterity, 3 Wisdom, 2 Intelligence, 0 Strength, 2 Perception ? Requirements: 20 Wisdom, 20 Intelligence, 1 Witch¡¯s Cauldron Witch¡¯s Cauldron ? Item Class: Job Prerequisite ? Item Quality: Rare ? A Witch¡¯s Cauldron can be consumed to unlock the Witch Job if other requirements are met. ? Witch Hazel ? Item Class: Herb ? Item Quality: Uncommon ? Witch Hazel is an herb found only in areas where witches reside. Used in a number of alchemical recipes. ? 100 Silver My party looked at each other, eyes wide. Chapter 21. Ilrune Chapter 21. Ilrune This was the first big drop we had ever seen together, and we hadn¡¯t talked about how we would split up this kind of loot. Warren Janica typed to me. Maybe you should go for the Cauldron. Witch is a powerful Job, and those rituals can do some major area of effect damage. I already have a magic-using Job that I can¡¯t use. Shouldn¡¯t that go to somebody who will put it to better use? Janica grunted her displeasure. ¡°How do we split this up?¡± Rowan asked. ¡°Do we roll for it?¡± ¡°Before we get crazy,¡± Henry said. ¡°Let¡¯s talk about our quest. Historically, the Dungeon Seed was packaged with all the ingredients necessary to plant it. That included five uncommon or better items, like the Witch Hazel, and something that can be made into a boss. I¡¯d bet all my silver that the Cauldron would make a boss. Should we consider waiting to distribute these things until after we steal the seed? Just in case the extra ingredients aren¡¯t included.¡± I saw his point. With only seven days to find all the requirements we needed, this might speed up the process. The less time it took to complete that quest, the better. Then I could get back to my original plan. ¡°I¡¯m okay with that,¡± I said. Rowan and Cassandra agreed. ¡°I think you should keep the rare items,¡± Henry said to Rowan. She shook her head. ¡°Cass and I haven¡¯t had a chance to sell anything yet. My inventory is getting really full. Why don¡¯t you keep them?¡± ¡°You okay with that Warren?¡± Henry asked. I nodded. ¡°That¡¯s fine. But can you split up the Silver?¡± ¡°For sure,¡± Henry said, handing me my cut. Twenty-five Silver. I still needed 871 Silver to make my weekly quota. Six days to go. More importantly, I needed to establish a reliable way to make consistent income. If I had to kill elite harpies and put everything at risk week-after-week, I was bound to fail eventually. ¡°Where are you going to plant the dungeon core?¡± Ilrune asked. Everyone turned to him. I had forgotten he was there. Ilrune had a way of fading into the background. ¡°I don¡¯t know yet,¡± Henry replied. ¡°The quest implies that we need somewhere with plenty of space to let it grow. Why? Did you have an idea?¡± Ilrune didn¡¯t answer at first. His eyes scanned Henry¡¯s, as if searching his soul. He turned to Janica. ¡°Fairy,¡± she started, ¡°what do you know about the Great Mistake?¡± Janica stuttered, caught off guard by the question. ¡°I don¡¯t mean to be accusatory,¡± Ilrune said. ¡°Quite the opposite. But please, tell us what you know. I¡¯m curious if it''s different from what I know.¡± Janica sat upright, gathering her strength. This was a trigger for her, rooted in shame. ¡°Twenty years ago,¡± she started. ¡°My race was recruited to help the Central Kingdom with a major project. We were called to assist from all four zones, and so hundreds of us traveled to Central City. Fairies are a people that can combine our strength into singular, powerful spells. But we¡¯re also a people who will only do so for great reasons. The Council convinced our leader, the Queen, to cast a spell that would provide heat and power for the tens of thousands of citizens who lived there, many of whom were poor and lived in squalor. A person living in the slums could access that power, providing basic necessities to their family. For free. I was one of the hundreds of fairies who helped a Grand Ritual that tapped into the mana flows below the city.¡± I stared at Janica, as she spoke, but my mind wandered. Back in Detroit, millions lived in poverty. Much of the urban area had concentrated so densely people lived in towers a hundred stories high. Sofia and I lived on the 18th floor. The poverty line was considered anything below floor 40. We spent nearly a third of our income on utilities. If fairies were to show up in Detroit and cast a spell that gave us free power, Sofia and I would worship them. It would change our lives. Whatever shame Janica felt over the results, I respected her for trying. ¡°The Ritual took us the better part of a week. Back then, mana regenerated at normal rates. In stages, we gathered and deposited mana into different energy silos. We pulled mana from the land, rested, and repeated. When fairies work together, we create a collective mind. I lived in semi-consciousness during that time as our queen directed our efforts. It was draining, grueling work. But it was also beautiful. In the end, we completed the ceremony and, for a brief moment, we were able to see the fruits of our labor. People connected their homes to access points, and we saw lights turn on all over parts of the city that had relied on fire for centuries. And then, moments later, the ground shook in a great earthquake that opened the land right through the middle of Central City. A great chasm. Not only did it undo the work that we had done, but it broke mana channels everywhere. Since then, mana has stopped working all over the continent.¡± Janica sat back, and bowed her head down. ¡°Somehow, we failed everyone. And we will do one hundred years of penance to make up for it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s terrible,¡± Cassandra said. She moved to put her arm around Janica. Janica looked up, startled by the gentle contact. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s not your fault,¡± Rowan said. Janica didn¡¯t answer. ¡°You did the right thing,¡± I said. My jaw tightened. I needed her to hear how important it was. How much something like that would have meant to the people. ¡°People in our world don¡¯t do things like that. Or can¡¯t. It was brave.¡± Janica looked up at me. It seemed she felt my intensity because she matched my demeanor. She nodded. ¡°I don¡¯t think it was the fairies¡¯ fault at all,¡± Ilrune said. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Eyes turned to Ilrune. He sighed. ¡°I¡¯m from a little town up north called Feygrove. Just inside of the Northern Zone, but way off of any main roads. When the Great Mistake happened, we also lost our ability to use mana, but not completely.¡± Henry seemed to perk up at this, and Janica¡¯s eyes went sharp. ¡°Mana does regenerate in Feygrove. But much much slower than before.¡± #x200e ¡°So you think we should plant the dungeon in your town?¡± Henry asked. ¡°No,¡± Ilrune said. ¡°I would actually beg you not to. Wherever you plant that dungeon, it will attract people from all over. You will transform that location into a bustling city with cutthroat competition, guilds, adventurers, warriors, thieves, and those who wish to profit off of those willing to risk their lives in the dungeon. Our people live away from main cities on purpose. We have a unique way of life, and it would destroy our sweet town.¡± I hadn¡¯t thought of the Dungeon Seed in this way. As a magnetic force so strong that it would draw people from everywhere. But it made sense. Dungeons, in games, were places where adventurers invested their energy and resources because of the gear, fame, and experience that they offered. Which attracted others who sold to and profited off of those gamers. There had to be some way to take advantage of this knowledge. ¡°Then what were you suggesting?¡± Henry asked. ¡°If our little town was affected differently than other places,¡± Ilrune said, ¡°then maybe understanding why could help find a cure, or at least a cause. Maybe there are other places like our town.¡± ¡°Can you tell us what makes your town different?¡± Henry pressed. Ilrune shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t know. But I will say this. If I really wanted to learn how mana channels worked, I would go find the oldest, widest selection of research and knowledge that I could.¡± ¡°At the Central City Library?¡± Henry asked. Ilrune shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m sure there are some large, ancient tomes in that place. But no. There is an ancient school to the far North West once called Edreru University. Now it is called the Spectre Academy because people have reported seeing ghosts of professors walking its grounds. Its stacks are said to be fifty floors deep into the ground. It was once a place where scholars from Human and Elven societies gathered to teach, learn, and do research on every topic. If I wanted to figure out what really happened, I would go there.¡± Ghosts, ancient schools. Great. That¡¯s just what I needed¡ª more danger and a long journey. Henry looked doubtful. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t the scholars have already published their findings about what happened?¡± Ilrune sighed. ¡°That would be impossible,¡± he said. ¡°The entire place was powered by mana. When the Great Mistake happened, the infrastructure shut down and everyone below the ground level suffocated.¡± Cassandra let out a gasp. ¡°That¡¯s so¡­ disturbing.¡± ¡°How could we even get down there and stay alive long enough to get answers?¡± Henry asked. ¡°Plant the Dungeon Seed there,¡± Ilrune suggested. ¡°If the seed is powered by its own sources, you could turn the school into a dungeon. It would be a great service to the world if we had that information back, even if we had to send powerful adventurers to recover it.¡± A slow smile spread over Henry¡¯s mouth. He was hooked. I could tell. Whatever we said, no matter if we disagreed, Henry had found a way to access the greatest library in this world. ¡°Come on,¡± I said, standing up. ¡°We need to get out of here.¡± It was already 8 p.m. ¡°I¡¯ll walk a ways with you,¡± Ilrune said. It took us an hour to exit the forest of creepy harpies. As we left the area, the atmosphere changed and so did our collective mood. It seemed as though everyone breathed a sigh of relief, as if the witches kept a tension in the air. I couldn¡¯t even imagine how that place would feel if the harpies still had their mana. ¡°Let¡¯s camp here for the night,¡± Rowan said. ¡°Don¡¯t we still need to discuss our plans for tomorrow?¡± Henry nodded. ¡°Yes, and Warren needs to teach you all the Musician Job.¡± I looked at him, concerned. ¡°Is that something I can do?¡± Ilrune looked like he wanted to say something, but stopped himself. Your Perceptive Attribute has been triggered. ¡°Ilrune,¡± I said. ¡°Do you happen to have a suggestion?¡± He sighed. ¡°It¡¯s late. I really should be getting back, and I have a long way to go¡­ but Warren, are you a Job trainer?¡± I shook my head. I looked from person to person, and they were each staring at me. They knew I had gotten the Musician Job simply by playing music in the bar, but they didn¡¯t know how. I wasn¡¯t ready to let them in on my little secret. My fingers began drumming on my leg. Janica saved me. ¡°Come on,¡± she said, motioning to Rowan, Cassandra, and Henry. ¡°Let¡¯s gather wood and make a fire. We¡¯ll give these two a minute to talk.¡± When Ilrune and I were alone, I asked, ¡°Are you a Job trainer?¡± ¡°I¡¯m a Job trainer for the Warden Job,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯m also an instructor of other Job trainers. But helping someone become a Job trainer takes months, if not years, of training. It¡¯s not something I could grant you on a whim.¡± Ilrune¡¯s generosity made me uncomfortable. People looked out for themselves and their families. They didn¡¯t save strangers from danger, then volunteer their time to assist. ¡°Why are you so willing to help us?¡± I asked. ¡°You found us out here, then just started keeping us safe.¡± Ilrune smiled. ¡°Helping others is one of the surest ways to find meaning in life. When I was young, I didn¡¯t understand that. Sometimes, it feels like we can¡¯t help others without helping ourselves first. But the irony is that the best way to help ourselves is by doing kindness. It¡¯s backwards, but very real.¡± ¡°But why did you trust us?¡± I asked. ¡°We could have been crazy people.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a little personal. Let me just say that sometimes I get an instinct. I¡¯ve learned that I need to follow those intuitions. When you spotted me in the forest, I felt it in my gut that I needed to follow you.¡± I could understand that. I felt like that too sometimes, and it was usually a set of body language that led me to trust some people. Or, much more likely, not trust them. I decided, for the first time in a long time, to follow my own instincts. ¡°I have an ability to learn things quickly. It¡¯s like, if I can do it once, I can pick it up forever.¡± Ilrune stroked his chin. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s try something.¡± Chapter 22. School of Rock Chapter 22. School of Rock A few minutes later, the group sat around a blazing fire that Janica tended to with a long stick. Turns out, she liked fire as much as blood, and her eyes blazed with excitement. My companion, the pyromaniac. Janica¡¯s eyes darted to the side, and I followed her gaze. Henry laid on his side, reading. A large bug perched on his hip. A beetle of some sort. Janica began rubbing the tip of her stick against a rock, sharpening it into a tiny spear. Her eyes never left the beetle. She pulled back the newly forged weapon and threw it like a javelin. Henry squealed, throwing his book to the side and taking cover. ¡°What the hell?¡± he barked. Janica picked up her stick, the insect wiggling on the end of it. It was the size of a small apple. In an instant, she picked the bug off and plucked it into her mouth. ¡°Eww!¡± Cassandra said. Janica licked her lips and groaned contentedly. ¡°I¡¯m with Cassandra,¡± I said. ¡°Gross.¡± Janica winked at me. I closed my eyes and shook my head. The girls had their instruments out. They picked at the strings, tuning them and getting warmed up. Because we were worried about putting Henry and Janica to sleep when we performed the song, we gave them the task of back-up vocals. When Henry had suggested that he be the lead singer, Cassandra, Rowan and I had all laughed. One thing I knew about great bands was that they each had a lead singer with a big voice and a bigger stage presence. Rowan had both. The thought of Henry taking on that role was comical. When I had memorized the sleep song, every part of it etched in my mind. Even the components that Madam Avoah had not sung had become a part of my memory. It was almost as if her voice was one part of a potential symphony. As long as we kept the tune right, we could add any number of extra parts to the composition, and the effect would be the same. I explained this to Rowan and Cassandra, and we decided, universally, that the lullaby needed to become a tortured rock ballad. Like ¡°Karma Police¡± by Radiohead or ¡°Closer" by Nine Inch Nails. I started with Cassandra. I asked her if I could use her bass. She looked at me like I was crazy. ¡°Just for a minute,¡± I said. ¡°I want to show you the bassline.¡± ¡°Warren,¡± Ilrune stopped me and pulled me aside. ¡°I¡¯ve only seen these two warm up, and I can already tell they are competent musicians. Here¡¯s a tip. Don¡¯t ever give a student more than they need to figure it out for themselves.¡± I didn¡¯t really understand what he was trying to say, but it was worth a try. Besides, if somebody tried to get on my drum kit, I wouldn¡¯t be happy either. ¡°Okay, okay, never mind,¡± I said. ¡°Rowan. The chords are A minor, F sharp minor, E minor, and back to A minor.¡± ¡°Cassandra¡­¡± She cut me off with a hand. She shook her head, slightly, then waited for her sister to start. I stopped talking, shrugged, and glanced at Ilrune, who sat right next to me. He gave me a nod of affirmation. ¡°Less is more,¡± he whispered. As Rowan messed with the chords, I wrote the Lyrics into the party chat. I noticed Henry pull them up and began mouthing the words. Henry began singing. Way off key. I winced. Ilrune whispered in my ear. ¡°Some people need more help. But don¡¯t do it yourself. Rowan¡¯s the singer.¡± I looked at Rowan, trying to get her eyes. She focused completely on her guitar, allowing her hands to experiment with finger picking. There were things about a person that made them attractive. Looks, smile, all the usual stuff. But when a person showed you their true excellence, the thing that they did better than anything else, whether it was the way they sketched, rode a skateboard, or saw the world in a way that nobody else did, their beauty magnified tenfold. Rowan was excellent with music. And I was captivated. Ilrune elbowed me. ¡°You¡¯re staring,¡± he whispered. I startled. Rowan looked up at me, noticed me staring. I looked away, as quick as I could. I felt my cheeks flush. I looked back at her, embarrassed but smiling. I mouthed the words to her, ¡°will you help them?¡±. I nodded at Henry, who continued to sing quietly off-key, and Janica, who sang very loudly off-key. She listened to them for a moment, then winced. She nodded to me. ¡°Henry,¡± she said. ¡°Like this.¡± She began singing the song, allowing her voice to get distressed in all the right parts. Henry sang along, much quieter than her. Janica struggled more to follow along, but at least she wasn¡¯t belting out the words anymore. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Ilrune put his hand on my shoulder, which sent my heart racing. He didn¡¯t do it to make me uncomfortable, and I wasn¡¯t uncomfortable. But my parents died almost fifteen years ago, and I hadn¡¯t felt the comfort of a trusted adult in a long time. I had my sister, of course. She hugged me when I needed a hug. She helped me calm down many times. She, in many ways, had become like a mom to me and provided that maternal energy. But since Dad died, I didn¡¯t have any men in my life. Nobody to teach me how to shave. Nobody to show me how a man was supposed to react when he got emotional. And certainly nobody to put a hand on my shoulder because he was proud of me. I closed my eyes and just felt his hand for a moment. I felt my eyes filling with tears, and shook off the emotion, pushing it down. This was not the place. Congratulations, by demonstrating a basic understanding of instruction, your Integrator Passive has granted you a new Job: Instructor. Job: Instructor. As someone who understands how people learn things, you are able to teach other people the Skills that you have already unlocked. Passive 1: None Passive 2: None Skill 1: Teach Job. If a person demonstrates the basic essence of a Job, you can unlock it for them. Cost: 30 Stamina. Cost to buy: 300 Job Points Skill 2: Teach Skill. If a person demonstrates the basics of a Skill, you can unlock it for them. Cost 20 Stamina. Cost to buy: 200 Job points Skill 3: none On Level Up: 4 Constitution, 2 Dexterity, 4 Intelligence, 4 Wisdom, 0 Strength, 4 Perception Do you wish to activate this new Job? Yes/No I activated my new Job, then changed my loadout to include the Spiritual Connection passive. My brain flooded with information. Where I had imitated the teaching moves that Ilrune suggested, in an instant I now understood why his suggestions made so much sense. The stat bonuses of this new Job were wildly high. The Job didn¡¯t have any useful combat skills, but if I could find a way to level-up as an Instructor, I would gain five extra stat points every time. Ilrune and Janica noticed my Job change before anyone else. I put a finger over my lips, urging them to keep it quiet. ¡°Let¡¯s put it all together,¡± I said. Rowan began the song again, starting with some careful finger picking. She tickled the strings, setting a somber and melancholy mood. Cassandra came in on the bass next. Her notes were a perfect complement to her sister¡¯s. Even though I didn¡¯t have my Musician Job activated, I kept time on my drum. Nothing fancy. After an eight-count, Rowan began to sing. Henry followed her, singing softly and barely on key. Rowan has demonstrated the basic essence of the Musician Job. Would you like to grant her access to the Musician Job? Yes / No? Cassandra has demonstrated the basic essence of the Musician Job. Would you like to grant her access to the Musician Job? Yes / No? I chose ¡°Yes¡± to Rowan¡¯s prompt first. My stamina fell from 33 to 3. Rowan¡¯s eyes looked up at me, surprised. I motioned for her to keep going. They continued to play, making small mistakes in timing and chords, but figuring it out as they went. The moment my stamina hit 30 again, I activated the prompt for Cassandra. Cassandra whooped aloud, and stopped playing to throw her hands up in the air. ¡°Sorry Henry,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯m going to be able to grant you the Musician Job. And Janica¡­ umm.¡± She looked at me proudly, somehow expecting praise. ¡°Maybe you¡¯re too advanced a singer to even need the Musician Job?¡± I shrugged. ¡°That makes sense,¡± she said. I logged off at 10 p.m. As my senses adjusted to the real world, I felt a let down. Everything was so vibrant in the game. So full of potential. I never wanted to log off. The smell of spicy ramen helped though. Sofia made it better than anybody, with mushrooms, peas, cabbage, carrots, and soft-boiled eggs. She could take a two-dollar package of noodles and turn them into a gourmet meal. ¡°How was it?¡± she asked. ¡°Tell me everything.¡± I recounted the day''s events between bitefuls of salty soup. Twice, I had to blow my nose because the ramen was so spicy. ¡°You¡¯re going to plant a dungeon seed?¡± she said. ¡°This is bigtime. And you¡¯re right. An entire town is going to grow around it.¡± She started pacing about, talking to herself. She got this way sometimes. The wheels turned. ¡°I need to gather every possible Silver and buy property around the location. Can we even buy property in IO? How much would that cost? I wonder what the regulations are. And if we can¡¯t buy property, how can we profit off of this?¡± She looked up at me. ¡°Are you sure that you¡¯ll plant it there?¡± I shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t know. The poem suggested that we needed to choose a location with room for it to grow. And that it needed an element of historical significance. I would bet anything that that¡¯s where Henry wants to put the dungeon.¡± ¡°Who is this guy anyway?¡± Sofia asked. ¡°A nerdy kid, I think. He reads a lot. And his. His Apprentice job is already up to level four.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not out of the ordinary,¡± Sofia said. ¡°I got to level four yesterday as an Apprentice by doing quests around town. Then unlocked the Trader Job and got to level two in that Job by shuffling goods around town.¡± ¡°You¡¯re already level six?¡± I gaped. ¡°I¡¯m only level three.¡± Sofia winked at me, then moved to the pod. ¡°I need to get moving on this. See you in twelve.¡± When Sofia logged off, I was ready and raring to go. I stepped into the pod and connected. You logged into Integration Online. Chapter 23. Psycho Killer Chapter 23. Psycho Killer The moment I logged in, Henry invited me to a group. ¡°Stay put,¡± Henry said. ¡°We¡¯ll come to you.¡± Janica appeared next to me. ¡°Where do you go when I leave?¡± I asked. ¡°I hang out with my friends and family,¡± she said. ¡°Then I get to sleep. I¡¯m a great sleeper.¡± My party arrived moments later. All except Ilrune, who had returned home. Each of them had leveled up. Henry was a level two Researcher, Cassandra was a level three Rogue, and Rowan was a level three Musician. The Job system in this game was interesting, but it was difficult to tell, sometimes, how advanced a character really was. Rowan, I guessed, was an overall level seven or level eight. The last time I saw her, she was a level four Squire. It was impossible to know, without asking her, how many levels she got as a Squire before she switched to the Musician Job. ¡°Looks like you all have been busy,¡± I said, looking at their nameplates. ¡°I got level five as a Squire and unlocked the Thief Job,¡± Cassandra said, excited. ¡°Then, I got 30 Expertise in Daggers and unlocked the Rogue Job.¡± ¡°Oh nice,¡± I said. ¡°Why did you pick the Rogue Job instead of Thief?¡± ¡°Stat-wise, they¡¯re identical,¡± she said. ¡°But the Rogue Job has this amazing passive that grants me 10% critical strike chance and 5% accuracy when attacking a target from behind. So I¡¯m going for that first.¡± I raised my eyebrows. That was awesome. ¡°What about you?¡± I looked at Rowan. ¡°I figured it couldn¡¯t hurt to get some stat growth from the Musician Job,¡± she shrugged. ¡°My Squire Skills take a lot of stamina to use, and I wanted more stamina regeneration. I might buy the Rhythm passive as well, but I wanted to talk to you about that first. Also, if Rhythm or Tempo stack, we both might want to use them.¡± I assume she wanted to talk to me about it because she thought we¡¯d be in a long-term adventuring group. I didn¡¯t know what to say to that. I wanted to complete this quest, but then I didn¡¯t know what I would do. Most likely, try to start Leatherworking and Skinning for cash. I had this idea of not only making the rent, but moving to a bigger apartment where Sofia and I could both have pods and play Integration Online together. I had never been able to buy anything for my sister. The thought of handing over the first month¡¯s rent for a bigger apartment, higher up in our building, put a smile on my face. ¡°You need bigger muscles and more speed if you¡¯re going to be a melee fighter,¡± Janica said. ¡°Plus some better weapons and armor.¡± ¡°Do you have any ideas for my development?¡± Rowan asked Janica. ¡°I¡¯m sort of lost.¡± ¡°When you picture yourself in combat, what do you see?¡± Rowan thought about it for a moment. A smile grew over her face. She laughed a little. ¡°What?¡± Janica said. ¡°I used to play this game where I would roll through dozens of enemies, switching weapons as I went. I whirled spears, slashed with two-handed swords, swept axes, pounded mobs with hammers, and bashed with shields. I switched to the best weapon, depending on the situation. But with lots of movement, spins, jumps, and defensive cooldowns.¡± As Rowan talked, Janica pulled out her two-handed mace and danced through the air, battling imaginary monsters, flipping this way and that. The warrior in her couldn¡¯t resist. ¡°Yes!¡± Janica exclaimed. ¡°I can get behind this. A Weapons Master.¡± ¡°Is that a Job?¡± Rowan asked. ¡°Yes,¡± Janica said. ¡°A very advanced Job, but I think we can start building it for you. To make it really sing, we¡¯re going to need some difficult-to-find passives and movement skills. But the nuts and bolts of it can be trained through weapon skill. Every fifty levels you advance a weapon Expertise, your body will learn new ways to use the weapon. Fifty points in maces, for example¡­¡± she held up her giant hammer, ¡°and you¡¯ll be able to slam a weapon into the ground, stunning all enemies within two yards for one second. It requires stamina to do, but it¡¯s not a Skill that¡¯s casted, which means it doesn¡¯t have a cooldown and you can do it in sequence with other moves.¡± A smile grew on Rowan¡¯s face. ¡°Is there any way to speed up my Weapon Expertise training?¡± she asked. ¡°Yeah,¡± Janica replied. ¡°You train with me.¡± Rowan smiled again. ¡°Okay, what do you think I should start with? All I have is this one-handed axe, shield, and training sword.¡± ¡°Warren,¡± Janica called. ¡°Can Rowan borrow your staff for a while? You¡¯re clearly not using it much with all that back-line sissy combat you¡¯ve been doing.¡± ¡°Sure,¡± I said, ignoring Janica¡¯s comment. I threw my staff to Rowan. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°Staves and Spears are both considered Spears as far as Expertise points are concerned,¡± Janica said. ¡°At level fifty in Spear Expertise, you¡¯ll learn both an offensive and a defensive movement.¡± ¡°What about the axe and shield?¡± Rowan asked. ¡°I¡¯m already thirty-one Expertise in shields and twenty-eight in axes.¡± ¡°Hmm, good point,¡± Janica said. ¡°We should work on those too.¡± ¡°Sorry to interrupt,¡± I said. ¡°But don¡¯t we need to get moving? It¡¯s already 10:30 a.m. Doesn¡¯t the dungeon seed go through River Junction at noon?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Henry said. ¡°We need to get moving.¡± River Junction was the closest town to Central City in the Western Zone. It was far enough removed that it wasn¡¯t a suburb, but you couldn¡¯t travel West from Central City without going through it. Unless you wanted to travel through farmland. We had no idea where they wanted to plant the seed, but we knew where it would be at noon. After that, who knew. They may take the road Northwest toward Lakemore or the road Southwest toward Deerpoint. Upon entering River Junction, Henry left our group to do a couple of vital errands. The rest of us headed to a clothier¡¯s shop. We used most of the Silver that we had looted from the harpies to acquire outfits that made us look like minstrels. We purchased face paint and ridiculous hats. I groaned, parting with 15 Silver. But there didn¡¯t seem to be a better option. When I stepped out of the dressing room in tights, poofy shorts, poofy sleeves, and a floppy hat, Rowan squealed with delight. She and Cassandra clapped for me, excitedly, while working themselves into a fit of uncontrollable giggling. That made me feel great. After Henry arrived, he dressed the same, oblivious to their ridicule. How Rowan and Cassandra got away with wearing dresses, I had no idea. Janica pulled a dress over her head and immediately pulled it back off. ¡°Absolutely not,¡± she said. Henry insisted. ¡°We need to look the part,¡± he said. ¡°Plus, when we remove the costumes, nobody will recognize us as the musical group that was playing at the heart of a major heist.¡± After that, Cassandra and Rowan wrestled Janica into her dress. We covered our faces in makeup¡ªgold stars, flowers, and such¡ªand put on extravagant hats. ¡°Why does any of this matter?¡± I asked Henry. ¡°We have nameplates. Won¡¯t everyone be able to recognize us by our labels?¡± ¡°Not everyone,¡± Henry said. ¡°Most of the locals can¡¯t see nameplates. Only Visitors.¡± Our group had taken to saying ¡°locals¡± instead of ¡°NPCs¡± out of respect for Janica. ¡°That can¡¯t be true,¡± I said, looking at Janica. ¡°I can,¡± Janica said. ¡°But I¡¯m a guide. Henry¡¯s right.¡± We parked ourselves near the largest intersection of River Junction. Here, the road that headed West from Central City met the road that ran south from the docks. We set plates down for tips, tuned our instruments, and began. Rowan had identified a set list. I wasn¡¯t worried about following along. My Musician Job and years of experience made up for that. I may not be able to play every song perfectly, but I would be fine. I didn¡¯t love the set list, but it made more sense to play what Rowan and Cassandra knew than to argue for what I loved. Rowan kicked it off with ¡°Garden Grove" by Sublime, which led into "Psycho Killer" by the Talking Heads and "Why Don¡¯t You Get a Job" by The Offspring. People somehow ignored us, for the most part. Though how one can ignore a group of fancy-dressed minstrels playing ¡¯90s alternative and punk in a fantasy-themed game, I had no idea. Despite the terrible stage clothes and questionable songs, I was having an absolute blast. Loud music, people cheering, two groupies singing every word from across the street, some level seven Squire banging his long hair to the beat. This was the dream. I glanced at the clock. 11:58 a.m. My rock-star-induced energy drained. In moments, the real show would commence. The heist. And I would be pulled deeper into this drama. There wouldn¡¯t be any walking away from this. Somebody in this world would care that we had robbed them of a magical artifact. At 12:03 p.m., four armed guards in white uniforms and heavy armor led two men and a woman that I could only describe as ¡°geared¡± up the road from Central City. A procession of sorts. Not with trumpets and roses, but still out of the ordinary in River Junction. They wore advanced armor sets, helmets, epaulets, and weapons. Their gear shined in the sunlight. All seven of them were on horseback. They walked slowly through town, coming toward us. ¡°Warren, chill!¡± Rowan whispered to me harshly, motioning to my instrument. ¡°What?¡± I said. I had been drumming my fingers on my instrument. An involuntary movement. A response to my anxiety. It sounded like the start to a fight scene. Something you might hear in a movie when things were about to get real. In doing so, I had changed the entire vibe of the area from fun to tense. The procession slowed, now looking at us. ¡°No,¡± I thought. ¡°No, no, no.¡± Usually, my involuntary drumming wasn¡¯t a problem. With a drum in my hands that amplified my sound, I had exposed us. Cassandra played a riff, the opening bassline from ¡°Can¡¯t Stop¡± by Red Hot Chili Peppers. People whooped. The dude with the long hair started banging his head again, hair flying all about. The armored group relaxed and continued their march. Thank. God. As Cassandra continued on her bass, Henry passed out coffee beans to each of us and watched as we chewed them up. This served first as a backup plan, to keep us from putting ourselves to sleep. The coffee beans also served as a speed boost. The 10% haste would help us run faster. When the guards were twenty yards away, Rowan motioned to Cassandra who transitioned into the opening of the sleep song. Rowan joined in next. Then we all followed, even Janica and Henry. Our small but devoted crowd was confused by the musical choice. The guy with the long hair looked downright confused that we had stopped rocking his world. The people closest to us started to look woozy first. And the effect spread like a ripple. Eyelids drooped. Heads sagged. Bodies lost their posture. A knee hit the ground. A hand for support. A body leaned against a building. A horse laid on its side. The scene was one of the strangest I¡¯d ever seen. Like I was inside the movie ¡°Sleeping Beauty¡± the moment when the fairies put the whole town to sleep. Ilrune was right. This was a powerful spell. The group of Armed guards weren¡¯t immune to its magic. They slowed, then crashed to the ground along with their horses. By the time we had finished our song, every person and animal within earshot slept, fitfully. The guards and guardians of the Dungeon Seed lay on the ground, snoring. Chapter 24. Fishful Thinking Chapter 24. Fishful Thinking We looked at each other and scampered to the fallen soldiers like a flock of vultures. We had worried that if the seed was locked up in an inventory that we wouldn¡¯t be able to loot it. This turned out to be true. One of the geared guardians had it on their person. Thankfully, we had a plan for that. Cassandra changed her Job to Thief. Her Steal Skill required five stamina, but allowed her to reach into a person¡¯s inventory, if undetected, and take something. Cassandra only had thirty-five stamina, so we had seven attempts before she ran out. If we were willing to wait for her stamina to regenerate, maybe eight or nine attempts. ¡°I found something,¡± she said, handing it to Henry. ¡°But not the seed¡­ and another¡­ a rare item but not the seed.¡± She dictated her progress as we looked around for anyone that might wake up. Bodies lay everywhere around the intersection. The headbanger, several NPC townsfolk, gamers who had gotten caught-up in our concert. The scene looked like Woodstock at daybreak. Except that folks weren¡¯t quietly sleeping. They tossed and turned in nightmares, the results of our terrible spell. ¡°This inventory is empty,¡± she said. She moved to another sleeping guardian. ¡°Take this¡­ and this, another rare¡­ whoa this is nice¡­ empty.¡± A scream sounded from down the street. ¡°Help! Something happened!¡± ¡°Keep going, stay calm,¡± Rowan said, encouraging her sister. Cassandra moved to the last guardian. She reached in. ¡°Nope, just water¡­. What¡¯s this? A spear?¡± She had looted at least six times. ¡°A tiny piece of thread?¡± She threw it over to me. ¡°I¡¯m out of stamina.¡± She looked up, concerned. ¡°We still have time,¡± Henry said. ¡°Somebody alerted the guards, but I don¡¯t see anyone approaching yet. Keep going.¡± She reached in. ¡°Nothing,¡± she said, confused. ¡°Their inventories are empty.¡± Our group tensed. People shifted from foot to foot. Eyes searched the surrounding streets for trouble. ¡°The saddlebags,¡± Rowan said. ¡°Check the saddlebags.¡± Cassandra moved to the closest horse. She looked between it and something in her interface. One, two, three seconds passed. I saw a set of guards running toward us. ¡°Got it!¡± she announced. ¡°I got it. Let¡¯s get out of here.¡± Henry walked off first toward the alley off the main street. We all followed, trying to look as nonchalant as possible. No big deal, just four gamers and a fairy walking away from forty sleeping people and seven emissaries from the palace. Super casual. When Henry hit the alley, he took off on a jog. He slowed before the next cross street, walking again. He looked left, then right. We followed in a straight line. Half way down the next alley, he ducked into an alcove. The four of us removed our minstrel costumes. We wiped the makeup from our faces, scrubbing the stars and flowers away, then stuffing our costumes into our inventory. When we left the alley, we were dressed as a normal party again. Six blocks later, we arrived at the docks. Henry took us to a slip with a medium sized boat tied to the dock. The boat must have been thirty feet long, with a tall mast. At the back of the boat, a giant crossbow was mounted into the deck. Attached to it was a crane, which stood eight feet tall. Along both sides of the boat and in the back, wooden fishing poles leaned outwards. In large, italic lettering, were the words Fishful Thinking. Apparently, puns were a thing in this fantasy world. A man stepped off the boat onto the dock to exchange words with Henry. He was a short man with an amazing mustache that dangled below his chin. He had a bushy crop of black hair that stuck out from under a straight-billed hat. Henry and the Captain exchanged words, and Henry handed him some Silver. ¡°The other half when we¡¯re safely across the border,¡± Henry said. The captain motioned for us to get on the boat. ¡°Get below deck,¡± he said. ¡°Somethin¡¯ happenin¡¯ in town. Need to cast off.¡± ¡°Ned, what¡¯s this all about?¡± A tall, slender woman with a tough face and tougher muscles stepped out of the staircase that led below deck. ¡°Who are these folks? What¡¯d you get us into this time?¡± ¡°Quiet down, Norma,¡± he barked. He pulled her into the cabin, then closed the door behind them. We not only could see them argue through the window, but we could also hear them perfectly. ¡°I thought we talked about this,¡± Norma said. ¡°No more schemes and shady business.¡± ¡°Hush down,¡± he said. ¡°Don¡¯t yell at me like that. We¡¯ve got paying customers aboard.¡± She narrowed her eyes on him. ¡°Boy came to me an hour ago,¡± Ned said. ¡°Said they needed a scenic boat ride up across the border. Look.¡± He showed her the 100 Silver that Henry had handed him. One hundred Silver! That was $100. I stared at Henry, who didn¡¯t acknowledge my wide eyes. Norma took the money from his hand. ¡°Well,¡± she said, her face relaxing. ¡°I mean¡­ just a scenic ride, huh? Wait a minute. Who takes a scenic ride from below deck?¡± ¡°Just relax. It¡¯ll be fine.¡± Ned stepped out of the cabin and found all five of us eavesdropping on their conversation. ¡°Come on,¡± he said. ¡°Get below deck. And stay down there. Nobody would ever mistake you all for fishermen.¡± He moved to untie the boat from the dock. Wenches cranked. Sailed raised. And we were off, rocking back and forth in the boat. Water sloshed against the sides of the hull. The cabin below deck had a short ceiling, with two port-holes on each side. A bed sat at the front of the boat. A table was embedded into the wall with a booth seat on either side. A kitchenette on the other side. We were in their home. We sat where we could, making a small circle. ¡°Did you get it?¡± Rowan whispered, too loud. Henry and I both shushed her. Party chat , Henry typed. We can¡¯t let them know that we¡¯re involved, at all . Can we trust them to get us out of the city? I asked. Henry crossed his fingers, then shrugged. We¡¯re paying them another one hundred Silver when we¡¯re safely on the other side of the border , he typed. What border? Cassandra typed. The Alasano River, that we¡¯re currently on, runs North through River Junction , Henry typed. It splits about twenty miles north of River Junction. One fork runs Northwest, and creates a border between the Western Zone and the Northern Zone. The other fork runs almost due North to the coast, right through Elven territory. I paid Ned to take us to the fork, and drop us off on the other side, in Elven territory. Here. I¡¯m going to share my map with you all. It may not be very accurate. My Expertise in Cartography is pretty low. But it¡¯s a start. Why North? I asked. Because it¡¯s with the current , Henry said. So we''ll be able to get out of the Western Zone more quickly. And because it seems like the right path. If we follow the Northwest fork of the River for another forty miles, we¡¯ll run right into Feygrove. Where Ilrune is from? Rowan asked. Henry nodded. I¡¯d like to see for myself what this area is like where mana regenerates. I think Janica would like that as well , I typed. But what about planting this seed? Where are we ultimately going? Henry looked around. I think we should follow Ilrune¡¯s advice and take it to Spectre Academy. Big surprise. Is that close to Feygrove? It¡¯s another thirty miles to the West back across the border and into the Western Zone , Henry typed. That¡¯s a long way to go , Rowan said. I don¡¯t have a problem taking the seed there, but will we make it on time? If we can find a captain to take us down the river past Feygrove , Henry typed, We will make it in time. The river continues to run Northwest and feeds into a huge lake. On the Western shore of that lake is a town called Lakemore. Spectre Academy is right outside of Lakemore. I hate to ask , I started, but is this a good idea? We¡¯re outside of the starter area. Won¡¯t the monsters get higher level the further we go from River Junction? We can handle anything! Cassandra typed. Henry shrugged. Yeah, it¡¯s going to be dangerous. We¡¯re going to need some levels and some gear. Speaking of gear , Rowan typed. What did we steal off of those people? I started by linking the thread. Henry, Rowan, and Cassandra linked what they had taken. Enchanted Thread Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.? Item Class: Crafting Material Item Quality: Uncommon Cloak of the Djinn ? Item Class: Cloak Item Quality: Uncommon ? 1% damage reduction ? +3 Dexterity ? +10 To Stealth Expertise ? Requirements: 20 Perception Dark Iron Ore ? Item Class: Crafting Material ? Item Quality: Uncommon Glow Vine Tubers ? A starter root system for Glow Vines ? Item Class: Flora ? Item Quality: Uncommon Potionmancer¡¯s Belt ? Item Class: Job Prerequisite ? Item Quality: Uncommon ? A Potionmancer¡¯s Belt can be consumed to unlock the Potionmancer Job if other requirements are met. Enigmatic Core ? Used to store energy ? Item Class: Power Source ? Item Quality: Epic Bear Poker ? Item Class: Spear ? Item Quality: Uncommon ? Damage 17-22 ? +3 Constitution ? +3 Dexterity ? Requirements: 20 Strength Finally, Cassandra linked the thing we were truly after. The outline of the tooltip looked like it had been engraved in orange-gold scrollwork and details: Dungeon Seed ? Plant this spore with the seven items to grow a dungeon core. ? Days remaining: 1 days, 20 hours, 19 minutes ? Item Class: Quest Item ? Item Quality: Legendary Whoa , I typed. That¡¯s a haul . ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± Janica asked me. ¡°Why is everyone staring?¡± Janica wasn¡¯t in the party, so she couldn¡¯t see the chat. ¡°We¡¯re looking at what Cassandra stole from those guards.¡± ¡°Show me,¡± Janica said. I linked her the items. Umm, Team , I said. I thought we were supposed to have seven days to complete this quest. But the timer says less than two days. Silence followed. Eyes turned to Henry. Henry pulled out a book and began searching for something in a fury . I don¡¯t know, he typed. I must have miscalculated. Or maybe they delayed the departure from Central City for five days. All it says in the quest is that the Dungeon Seed will be in River Junction at such and such time, I said. It never said anything about the Seed¡¯s path before that. I felt the frustration in my tone. Five full days lost. Can we even make it to Lakemore in 44 hours? Again, silence. I think we have to try, Cassandra said. And cut all unnecessary parts of our trip , Rowan said. No time for side quests. Henry nodded. Sorry, everyone. Can we discuss quest items? I let it go. Okay. Sure. We have some decisions to make , Henry said. It seems like I was right before about the Job Prerequisite item. I think that¡¯s how we make the boss. We have the Cauldron and now we have the Potionmancer¡¯s belt , Rowan responded. Which one do we want to use for the quest and which one do we want to use or sell? I think we should use the higher quality of the two items , Henry said. Growing a dungeon is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I say we make it as powerful as we possibly can. Yeah , Cassandra said. Let¡¯s make it as awesome as we can. Any objections? Henry typed. Rowan and I shook our heads. Okay next. We have to pick flora, fauna, and ore. It seems like they were going to use the Glow Vines and the Dark Iron Ore for the flora and fauna. We don¡¯t have any other ore, but we have Witch Hazel. Are the Glow Vines the plants from the Silverlode Mine? I asked. The ones that lit up the place in that cool blue light. Henry nodded. That would make the place look cool, Rowan said. Do they produce something valuable? I don¡¯t know yet , Henry said. Potions, I think. Let¡¯s wait on that decision , I suggested. Talk to an alchemist first. Everyone agreed. Next the Enigmatic Core , Henry typed. We¡¯re going to need that as our second core. Luckily they provided us with an Epic quality power source. That¡¯s it for the dungeon requirements. We have everything we need except for an item to give it roots and lore. Why wasn¡¯t that on the guards? Rowan typed. I thought they traveled with all the necessary materials. Just a guess , Henry typed, but I think that the item that provides lore needs to be a relic from wherever you plant the seed. To give the dungeon a sense of history and meaning . It¡¯s like a theme , I agreed. We¡¯re going to have to find something inside of the Spectre Academy. One day, twenty hours , Rowan said. And we have a lot to do. What about the sweet loots , Cassandra said. Let¡¯s divvy that up. Rowan, do you want this spear? Henry asked. Henry had taken on the role of leader of our group, despite his awkwardness. I didn¡¯t really mind, but I wonder if Rowan cared. Her eyes lit up. So bad, you don¡¯t even know. Her eyes went wide. I want to pull this out so bad right now. Must¡­ use¡­ restraint¡­ Next is the cloak. He looked at Cassandra, who grinned from ear to ear. Gimme, gimme, she said. She equipped it, and a dark green cloak covered her shoulders and ran down her back. She lifted the hood over her head, then wrapped it around her body. She went semi-translucent. If I didn¡¯t know she was right there, it would be difficult to notice her. Our group collectively held its breath. Two items left , Henry said. We have the Enchanted Thread and the Potionmancer¡¯s Belt. Do you want to roll for the belt, Warren? That¡¯s the one I¡¯m most interested in. We don¡¯t know the loadout yet, but I need a combat Job and I¡¯m already an herbalist. Maybe I can throw potions around. I thought about it for a minute. Selfishly, I wanted that Belt. But not to become a Potionmancer. I wanted to sell the thing. I shook my head. You take it. I like my Job options right now. Henry smiled, then passed me the last item. You receive Enchanted Thread. Ned hollered from above deck. ¡°Passengers, you¡¯d better get up here. We have a bit of a problem.¡± Chapter 25. Monsters of the Deep Chapter 25. Monsters of the Deep We hustled up the steps to the deck. Norma stood at the back of the boat, hand on hips, staring back up the river. ¡°What in the deep depths of the Alasano did you get us into?¡± The Alasano River was almost a mile wide. Its slow waters reminded Warren of pictures of the Mississippi that he¡¯d seen back in high school. We had put some distance between ourselves and River Junction. At least a mile. One boat followed us. It was far enough away that I couldn¡¯t see anything other than a raised sail and a handful of people on deck. ¡°Are they chasing us?¡± Cassandra asked. ¡°That boat has both sails raised,¡± Ned said. ¡°It¡¯d be highly unusual for a fishing craft to speed along like that. He turned to get in Cassandra¡¯s face. ¡°Why would they want to chase us?¡± Rowan pulled her sister back, and stepped forward in her place. ¡°Do you really want to know?¡± Rowan said. ¡°You knew when you picked us up and hid us in the cabin that we didn¡¯t want to be found.¡± Norma put a hand on Ned¡¯s shoulder. ¡°She¡¯s right ¡®bout that. But we didn¡¯t know that people wanted you so badly that they¡¯d pursue.¡± Rowan winced at that. ¡°So what now?¡± Henry said. ¡°We paid you well. And we¡¯ll pay you the rest when you drop us off where we agreed.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve caused us a lot of trouble,¡± Ned said. His eyebrows narrowed, a sign of genuine anger. ¡°What am I supposed to do now? Everyone in town knows my boat. They¡¯re gonna know I helped ya¡¯. You¡¯re gonna have to pay me a lot more than a hundred Silver to make this right. I¡¯m gonna have to pay off all sorts ¡¯a folk.¡± The boat was gaining on us. Slowly. ¡°Umm,¡± I said. ¡°I think they¡¯re catching up.¡± Ned and Norma both looked. ¡°He¡¯s right, Ned. What are we gonna do?¡± ¡°Turn ¡®em in,¡± Ned said. ¡°I don¡¯t want that kind of trouble.¡± ¡°You¡¯re already in trouble,¡± Rowan said, taking a step toward Ned. ¡°If they catch us, we¡¯ll tell them that you willingly helped us escape. In fact,¡± she said, taking another step toward Ned and putting a finger on his chest. ¡°We¡¯ll tell them that you were part of it from the start. And they¡¯ll believe us because this isn¡¯t the first time you broke the law.¡± Ned¡¯s eyebrows shot up and his jaw went down, just for an instant. Rowan had called it. Time for some good cop, bad cop. ¡°Or,¡± I said in a low voice, putting my hand on Rowan¡¯s shoulder and stepping up next to her. ¡°We could all get out of here together, and we could make it worth your while.¡± Ned looked nervously at Norma. She sighed. ¡°You got us into a real river storm this time,¡± she said. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s time we go on vacation, Ned.¡± He looked back at me. ¡°What do you mean by ¡®make it worth our while¡¯?¡± ¡°First, get us out of here.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± he said. ¡°But this isn¡¯t settled.¡± Ned and Norma went into action mode. They hustled all over the boat. They untied an extra sail, then cranked a wench until it was taught. A giant bar whipped side to side on the boat, nearly taking me down. I kept watch, gauging the distance between our crafts. While we had sped up, they gained on us still. Just less quickly. As the boat got within range, I recognized the passengers. It was the company from Central City. The guards that we had stolen the Dungeon Seed from. ¡°What are we gonna do, Ned?¡± Norma asked. Ned stood, arms across his chest, frowning and grumbling. ¡°Those are warriors,¡± Ned said. ¡°Look at ¡®em, Norma. And they¡¯re gaining.¡± ¡°Maybe they¡¯ll give up?¡± she offered. Ned grunted in doubt. ¡°They¡¯ll catch us before nightfall.¡± Our little group sat near the back of the boat. Wind rustled hair. Rowan had taken her new spear out, and laid it over her lap. It must have stood six feet tall, with a long smooth wooden shaft. A one-foot length of sharpened metal, the shape of an elongated arrow with two prongs on either side made up the tip. Janica sat next to Rowan, whispering furiously about spear technique. Ned walked up to us, looking at Rowan¡¯s spear. ¡°I have an idea,¡± Ned said. ¡°Oh boy,¡± Norma said, not excited about his announcement. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Rowan asked. ¡°Fishing.¡± ¡°Fishing?¡± I said. ¡°How¡¯s that going to help?¡± ¡°Ned,¡± Norma said. She looked at him like he was crazy. ¡°You aren¡¯t¡ª¡± ¡°It¡¯s our only shot,¡± Ned said. He explained his plan to us. A half-hour later, we stood at the ready, the four of us circled behind Ned. We each had ropes around our waists. The other end of the ropes were tied to the mast. Janica flew around above the boat, simulating a grand sequence of moves with an imaginary opponent. The other boat had caught up. We had let it catch up. It still raced toward us, now less than a hundred yards behind us. The entire group from Central City stood watching us, hands on weapons. Like pirates ready to board our boat. I hated the plan. It required trusting Ned and Norma, which I did not. We didn¡¯t have a choice, but Ned was up to something. I could see it in his eyes. Norma had one hand on the wheel. She hollered back to her husband. ¡°Ready!¡± At the back of the boat, Ned pried the lid off of a barrel. A horrendous smell assaulted my nose. It smelled like someone had gutted a dozens of fish, mixed in body excrement, then let it out in the sun for days. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. I retched, dry heaving in my mouth. Cassandra fell to her knees, hand covering her mouth and nose. Ned barked a tremendous laugh, then dumped the contents of the barrel into the wake of our boat. Dead fish and oil coated the water between the boats. Ned grinned at us as we covered our mouths and noses and retreated from the odor. For the first time, I noticed he lacked several teeth. We watched in silence as the approaching boat sped right into the floating refuse. The slime and rot. The guardsmen and women winced in confusion. Tried to ignore it. One vomited. ¡°Wait for it¡­¡± Ned said. The captain of the other ship rushed out to the front of the boat, elbow over his nose. ¡°Ned, you damned fool!¡± he shouted at us. Ned laughed from his gut. ¡°Good to see you, Fin!¡± ¡°You¡¯ll kill us all!¡± Fin shouted back. ¡°You tried to kill us first!¡± Ned shouted. Fin grabbed the wheel and spun it, steering their boat directly toward the shore. Too late. The other boat went right into the odorous water. And then something stirred from below. The river churned and roiled. It looked like it was about to boil. A dark shape passed between the boats. Another. ¡°I see something,¡± Janica said from up above. ¡°There¡¯s a shadow under the water.¡± A giant mouth emerged from below the water. It reminded me of that scene in ¡°Jaws¡± where the shark tries to eat the entire boat. Its mouth must have been ten feet wide. The fish failed to swallow the boat whole, but knocked the boat sideways, nearly spelling its passengers overboard. The fish rose and fell back into the water, sending a splash like a tidal wave. Its body was black and smooth with long, black whiskers as long as Rowan¡¯s new spear. Monster Catfish ? Level 14, Elite ? HP 128/128 ? Stamina 30 0/300 The passengers on the other boat screamed as the boat nearly capsized. People fell to the deck, sliding into the railing. I felt paralyzed. Unable to move or think. I watched in horror, hand wrapped twice around a rope to steady myself. I didn¡¯t love the idea of deep water. And deep water with a catfish large enough to swallow me whole. Nope. No thanks. The entire situation had gotten way out of hand. Sure, I didn¡¯t want to be arrested and brought back to River Junction, but I also didn¡¯t want to see any of the NPCs killed. That wasn¡¯t discussed in the plan. Ned had described it more as a distraction. I knew that NPCs were really just ones and zeros, but they seemed incredibly human. They had ambitions and cared about each other. ¡°Ned!¡± Norma screamed. ¡°I know you¡¯re not gonna let those poor folks die.¡± ¡°Hush,¡± he called back. ¡°It¡¯ll be fine.¡± Ned climbed up onto a platform at the back of the boat. Connected to the platform was a crossbow large enough that no human could cock it. Minutes earlier, Ned had loaded the crossbow with an arrow as large as a jousting lance. A cord hung from the end of the projectile, attached to a wench. I imagined this is what Captain Ahab wished he had. Hopefully, Captain Ned wouldn¡¯t meet the same fate. Ned began tracking the monster with his harpoon, following its shadow as it circled in the water. ¡°Children!¡± he yelled. ¡°Tie yourselves up as we talked about. It¡¯s almost time.¡± We each hustled to the back of the boat. Four ropes were tied off to the stern with loops premade. Rowan was the quickest, pulling the loop over her body and tightening it around her waist. We each followed suit. The slack was only three feet. Long enough to allow us to move from side-to-side, but short enough that none of us could fall off the back of the boat. Like four human tetherballs. How did Ned talk us into this? The Giant Catfish launched itself out of the water again, ramming into the side of the other boat. A crack sounded. People tumbled across the deck. The boat tilted hard, then righted itself, but the damage was done. A fracture had formed on the side of the boat. A splinter that grew by the moment, threatening to split the boat in half. ¡°I will strangle you in your sleep if you let Fin die, Ned.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t let him die, Norma. Hold yer damn horses.¡± ¡°Ned help us!¡± Fin shouted. The guards looked terrified. Helpless. The shadow moved away from the boat, made a U-turn, and headed back toward the boat. ¡°Steady now,¡± Ned said to himself, the fish gaining speed as it prepared to ram the boat again. ¡°Steady now.¡± When the fish was a second from making contact, Ned pulled the trigger and released the arrow. It hurled through the air, impaling the catfish. ¡°Got him!¡± The fish continued to speed at the other boat. The rope made a whirring sound as it uncoiled. The pile of extra cord got smaller and smaller. And then it ran out. The line went taught. Our boat lurched as the hook set, throwing me to the side. I reached back and grabbed a bar for support. Cassandra plummeted over the side, nearly taking Rowan with her. ¡°Cass!¡± Rowan shouted. She grabbed Cassandra¡¯s rope and pulled her back onto the platform. Ned began cranking the wench, making a loud clicking sound. The boat lurched left and right, but we were all holding on to the back of the boat now. I could see the shadow of the fish getting closer beneath the water. The clicking continued. The harpoon had hooked the catfish near its head. Every crank of the wench brought the fish closer to us as it tried to swim away. The fish was powerful. It pulled the boat backwards at an alarming rate. I noticed a spear hurl through the air and skewer the fish in the center of its body. A line was connected to this projectile as well. Ned tied the end of it to cleat at the back of the boat, then went back to the wench. I heard the click-click-click as he brought us closer to the monster. ¡°When it gets close enough, kill it!¡± Ned shouted. The fish slowed, now slowed by two lines, and changed tactics. It turned to face us, emerging from the depths. It seemed to notice us with round, black eyes. It¡¯s tail came up out of the water and swung at me, hurling me back into the boat. I skidded across the deck, smashing into something. ¡°You took fifteen damage,¡± Janica called. ¡°Be careful of that tail.¡± I stood up and got out my drum. I started pounding out the beat to ¡°Separate Ways¡± by Journey, activating both Tempo and Rhythm in the process. It would stay active until I ran out of stamina. ¡°Seriously, Warren?¡± Rowan hollered to me. ¡°Journey?¡± She lunged at the monster with her new spear, striking first. ¡°Nice!¡± Janica said. ¡°Stick and dodge.¡± The fish swept its tail again, sending Henry flying into the other two. He was almost useless in a fight. We needed to get him that Potionmancer Job, or something he could do from range. They got up, each getting in a ready stance. ¡°Coming at you again,¡± Janica called out. With Janica¡¯s help, they dodged the tail swipe. The fish¡¯s side became exposed when it swiped, and Cassandra buried both daggers in the fish, then removed them, back to her ready position. ¡°Fifty percent,¡± Janica announced. The fish dove below the water, pulling down the back of the boat. Creaking sounds ripped through the air as the boat moaned from the strain of the beast. My party slipped toward the back of the boat as the stern dipped lower into the water. Chapter 26. Feygrove Chapter 26. Feygrove If the ropes connecting my party hadn¡¯t been taut, they each would have fallen off the back. I activated Tempo again by increasing the pace of my drumming. A new haste buff appeared over my portrait. The fish jumped out of the water toward the platform, trying to swallow the melee fighters. Each dodged out of the way like, tumbling to the side of the platform. Ned saw the opportunity and cranked the line. The fish¡¯s head was now up on the platform, unable to get away. It thrashed back and forth. Rowan jumped into the air and thrust her spear through the gills, pinning the fish against the platform. She left the spear embedded in the fish. She took out her axe and began chopping at the head of the fish. Henry took a few swings of his staff and Cassandra stabbed the fish over and over again. In seconds, it was dead. You defeated Monster Catfish. You earned 63 Experience Points. You earned 30 Job Points as a Musician. I breathed a deep sigh of relief until I saw the crew of the other boat swimming toward us. Their boat had split, nearly in half, and they had taken to the water. They looked as angry as fans who had been thrown out of a concert. As angry as my manager looked at the factory when the Green Team didn¡¯t make quota. ¡°Ned, you can¡¯t just let ¡®em drown,¡± Norma said. ¡°I¡¯m sure as shit not gonna let ¡®em board,¡± Ned said. ¡°Somebody help me with these ropes. Norma, get us out of here.¡± I hustled over to the side of the boat. Ned lay over the side, releasing a row boat that was tied up. We untethered the thing and let it drop into the water. It floated away, behind our craft, toward the people who swam toward us. Or, rather, we floated away. Norma had steered us back down-river. The sails and current carried us away from our pursuers. The captain of the other boat grabbed the row boat first and hoisted himself up, one leg at a time. The others caught up, throwing legs over the side. ¡°Don¡¯t leave us out here!¡± Captain Fin called. ¡°You¡¯re fine,¡± Ned called back. ¡°Serves you right. And you owe me a rowboat.¡± ¡°You owe me a fishing boat!¡± Fin shot back. The captain took to the oars and started pulling them toward shore. The guards stared at us as we disappeared down the river. We stared back at them. ¡°What did we get?¡± Cassandra asked, stepping toward the sparkly remains where we had killed the Giant Catfish. ¡°You mean what did I get,¡± Ned said, looting the fish. ¡°Hey!¡± Cassandra said. ¡°We did all the work.¡± Henry pulled her back. Then typed into the party chat. I have an idea. That gave us pretty good experience. Why don¡¯t we ask them to take us all the way to Feygrove or even further. We can continue to kill big fish along the way, level up while we¡¯re doing it, and get a free ride? With no loot at all? Cassandra typed. I¡¯m open to it , Rowan typed. It¡¯d save us a bunch of time. Me too , I added. I¡¯m getting mad Job points. I¡¯ll be able to buy a Skill soon. But try to get a portion of the loot , Cassandra added. I¡¯ll do what I can , Henry said. ¡°We have an idea,¡± Henry said to Ned and Norma. Several minutes later, Henry had struck us a deal. We would fight every large fish that Ned could pull out of the water. In exchange, Ned and Norma would sail us first to Feygrove, then up the river toward Spectre Academy. In addition, Ned promised us a quarter of the loot. Specifically, anything that we could equip or craft into gear. The trip to Feygrove took us the better part of the day. We didn¡¯t arrive until the sun was setting, around 6 p.m. The grind was wildly successful, and several of us leveled up. Although Henry was knocked off the boat twice and Rowan took a nasty shock from a Giant Eel. We fought Monster Catfish, River Sharks, and Giant Eels. Each provided a different challenge, but our party did well and nobody died. Before I leveled up, I was able to purchase Tempo for 200 Job Points. Just in time to switch my Job to ¡°Instructor¡± and still be able to use Tempo during the fight when I actually achieved the level. I leveled again right before we got to Feygrove, switching again to my Instructor Job to ding, then back to my Musician Job afterwards to keep acquiring Musician Job Points. It required micromanagement, but every stat point mattered, and I noticed that each successive level required almost twice as many experience points as the previous level. Which meant that the levels would come slower and slower. As Feygrove came into view, I checked my prompts. You defeated Monster Catfish x 5. ? You defeated River Shark x 4. ? You defeated Giant Eel x 6. ? You received 945 Experience Points. ? You leveled up as an Instructor x 2. ? You gained 8 Constitution, 4 Dexterity, 8 Intelligence, 8 Wisdom, 0 Strength, and 8 Perception. ? You gained 390 Job Points for the Musician Job. ? You gained 40 Job Points f or the Instructor Job. The forty Job points that I had earned as an Instructor were from using Tempo, which was quite amazing. The Job Points were pretty much useless in the Instructor Job because there weren¡¯t any good in-combat skills or passives in that Job. However, this little discovery meant that I had a way to gain Job Points in any Job just by using Tempo. Now that I owned the skill, all I had to do was switch Jobs, then add Tempo to my loadout. It was a cheap, useful skill that provided tenJob Points with every use to whatever Job I was using. It meant that, at long last, I could start getting Job Points as a Mystic if I wanted to. I used my remaining Job points to purchase Rhythm as well, so I could use it outside of the Musician Job, then I switched to Mystic. There was nothing useful left to buy in the Musician Job, and I might as well start racking up some Mystic JP (Job Points). Current Loadout: ¡ñ Job: Mystic ¡ñ Passive 1: Rhythm - your party has a 10% boost to coordination and timing. Cost to maintain: 1 stamina/second. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. ¡ñ Passive 2: Spiritual Connection 1. Cost to maintain: 1 stamina/second ¡ñ Skill 1: Talk to Spirits - You enter a trance where you can receive messages with local Spirits. Cost to Cast: free. Can only be used once daily. Cost to Buy: 300 Job Points. ¡ñ Skill 2: Tempo: Increase the pace of the song, granting your party 10% haste. Cost to cast: 5 Stamina. ¡ñ Skill 3: Lightning Strike - Call Lightning from the sky that deals 35 damage and stuns all targets within a 3 yard area for 2.5 seconds. Cost: 20 Mana. Cost to Buy: 100 Job Points. My loadout was coming together. I looked around the group, and the others seemed to be messing with their loadouts as well. ¡°You got a new Job?¡± I asked Rowan. ¡°Yeah!¡± she said. ¡°Janica encouraged me to get both my spear Expertise and my shield Expertise up to level forty. She couldn¡¯t tell me why. But I just hit level 40 in both, and this Job became available. And it¡¯s about time. I¡¯ve been getting terrible level-up bonuses and Squire basically has no useful skills that you can buy. Spartan is awesome. Here, let me link the codex: Codex: Spartan Job ? Job: Spartan, Tier 2 Job Class ? Description: For Spartaaaa! ? Passive 1: 10% less damage taken for you and your party. Cost to maintain 1 stamina/second. Cost to buy: 200 Job Points ? Passive 2: None ? Skill 1: Shield Bash: Smash enemies with your shield causing damage based on Strength and stunning for 1 second. Cost to cast: 10 stamina. Cost to buy: 200 Job Points. ? Skill 2: Phalanx. Lock with another shield-bearer to reduce damage taken by 90% for you and everyone behind you for 5 seconds. Can only be used with two or more shield-bearers. Cooldown 5 minutes. Cost to Cast: 30 stamina. Cost to buy: 300 Job Points. ? Skill 3: Spear throw. Hurl your spear at an enemy doing damage based on Dexterity. Cost to cast: 10 stamina. Cost to buy: 100 Job Points. ? On Level Up: 3 Constitution, 3 Dexterity, 0 Intelligence, 0 Wisdom, 3 Strength, 2 Perception ¡°That¡¯s fantastic,¡± I said. ¡°Good for you.¡± ¡°Thanks,¡± she said, smiling. ¡°I don¡¯t know what to save up to buy first. Maybe the passive? Phalanx would be so good in a boss fight if we had another person with a shield.¡± She looked at me, eyebrows raised. ¡°So, what do you think? Want to start using a shield in combat?¡± ¡°I umm... kinda like staying out of the melee,¡± I said. ¡°But if we have no other options? Sure. I could throw on a shield when we need it in boss fights. Would I have to train it up?¡± ¡°Not sure,¡± she said. ¡°We¡¯d have to test it out.¡± ¡°What about you, Henry?¡± I asked. ¡°You get any good upgrades?¡± ¡°Not for combat,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯m kinda stuck for now. I need to spend time in Feygrove leveling up Alchemy so I can unlock the Potionmancer Job. It takes level 40 in Alchemy.¡± Cassandra jumped in. ¡°I got a ton of Job Points for Rogue,¡± she said. ¡°But I can¡¯t decide between traps or better attack skills.¡± ¡°It would be nice to have some crowd control,¡± Rowan said. ¡°Definitely bigger attacks,¡± Janica said at the same time. They looked at each other and laughed. It seemed like Rowan and Janica had become friends already. How was it that people just made friends? I definitely wasn¡¯t at the level where I was laughing at inside jokes with any of these people, and I was an actual human. Janica was an NPC. I glanced over at Henry, who was talking with Ned. Maybe he and I could be friends. He was sort of socially awkward and definitely serious, but I liked him. ¡°Okay, well, I¡¯ll think about it,¡± Cassandra said. ¡°You¡¯ll what?¡± Rowan said, taken aback. ¡°I¡¯ll consider my options,¡± Cassandra said. ¡°Umm¡­ who are you?¡± Rowan asked. ¡°Are you okay?¡± She put the back of her hand to her sister¡¯s forehead. ¡°You don¡¯t feel sick.¡± ¡°Hey,¡± Cassandra said, pushing her sister. ¡°I think about things sometimes.¡± Henry returned. ¡°I got our cut of the loot. Some interesting stuff here.¡± He linked it in the chat. Shark Skin x4 ? Item Class: Crafting Material ? Item Quality: Uncommon Shark Sinew x 8 ? Item Class: Crafting Material ? Item Quality: Uncommon Eel glands x 6 ? Item Class: Crafting Material ? Item Quality: Common Catfish Eggs ? Item Class: Crafting Material ? Item Quality: Common He handed me the Shark Skins and the Shark Sinew. ¡°Warren, I¡¯m giving you these because I think that you can use them for Leatherworking. I assume that you¡¯re into that.¡± I accepted them. ¡°Great,¡± I said. ¡°And yeah, I think it¡¯s time I improved our gear. I wish I had more skins though. I don¡¯t know how much I¡¯ll be able to make.¡± ¡°I would love some gear,¡± Cassandra said. ¡°Can you make me some stuff?¡± ¡°Same,¡± Rowan said. ¡°It sounds like you and Henry need to do some crafting in Feygrove. Maybe Cassandra and I can go out and hunt some more rabbits for you while you¡¯re working on that.¡± ¡°Perfect,¡± I said. I could see the entirety of Feygrove as we approached. The docks, with no more than a dozen boats, led into a commercial district. From there, the town extended only so far in each direction that you could walk from one end of it to the other in under an hour. The landscape was wooded with an unusual amount of ferns and trees with long vines. The Northeastern edge of town, opposite the river, appeared to be a wall of jungle. It was almost as if the forest was trying to swallow the town whole. We docked, bid Ned and Norma good luck with a promise to return within the morning, and headed into town. The first order of business was to find Ilrune and get some guidance. The most jarring part of arriving was that my mana bar had begun to fill up, very slowly. In theory, I had -47.8 mana regeneration per second and a maximum of 53 mana. By the time we asked a few people where we could find Ilrune, and then tracked him down at a park, my mana bar said 1/53 mana. I looked at my advanced statistics, which had updated to read that I had .022 mana regeneration per second. ¡°Wait,¡± I said. ¡°Do you all see what I see?¡± ¡°What?¡± said Rowan, a hand moving to her spear. ¡°No, no,¡± I said. ¡°Look at your resources.¡± ¡°Holy hell,¡± Cassandra said. ¡°Mana!¡± Henry said. ¡°It¡¯s for real.¡± Chapter 27. Dread Chapter 27. Dread ¡°What¡¯s going on in this town?¡± Janica said. ¡°We have to figure out what¡¯s different here than everywhere else.¡± ¡°Warren? Is that you?¡± Ilrune''s voice carried from across the park. ¡°Rowan, Cassandra, Henry, Janica! What are you all doing here?¡± Ilrune walked toward us, arms out in welcome. A group of wardens stood behind him, their training paused. Their levels ranked between six and sixteen, putting Ilrune near the highest with a level of 15 on his name plate. They were all NPCs. They stared at us in awe. We must be the first gamers that they had seen. ¡°Hi Ilrune!¡± Cassandra beamed. ¡°We came to visit.¡± ¡°Well,¡± Henry said. ¡°Not just visit. We need to do some crafting and to look around town. We¡¯d like¡ª ¡± He paused, then lowered his voice to a whisper. ¡°We¡¯d like to try and figure out why mana is working here still.¡± Ilrune nodded. ¡°Okay, I can¡¯t talk now. We¡¯re in the middle of a training session. Would you like to join us?¡± ¡°That¡­ wouldn¡¯t be weird?¡± Rowan asked. ¡°Not at all,¡± Ilrune said. ¡°Cass and I planned on collecting some leather,¡± Rowan said. ¡°Maybe another time.¡± ¡°Uhh¡­¡± Ilrune started, ¡°by yourselves? Even the small game is level twenty. And most animals travel in packs. The ones that don¡¯t travel in packs are higher level or elite.¡± Rowan shifted, nervously. She turned to me and shrugged. ¡°Sounds like the plan needs to change a bit. Cass, you wanna train with Ilrune?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m gonna go investigate the area and town,¡± Janica said. ¡°I want to figure out what¡¯s different about Feygrove. Besides, I don¡¯t want to watch Warren sew. I¡¯d rather get a sewing needle in the eye.¡± We split up. The girls stayed with Ilrune, and Henry headed to the alchemy lab. Ilrune sent me to see a friend of his who did tailoring and leatherworking. I stepped through the door of a place called Dread¡¯s Threads to find a woman sewing a pair of pants down the inseam. She ignored me. Hands worked in perfect sequence, popping a needle in and out faster than any seamstress had a right to. I wondered what her Expertise level was, reminded that every point increased speed by 1%. She was a middle aged woman, short, with long hair and pointy elven ears. She had a set of spectacles on. Not normal glasses. The kind that sticks out a few inches from your face and magnifies something ten fold. Her nameplate read . Sets of armor were mounted on mannequins all over the room. She had displayed simple leather vests, bracers, boots and leg pads on one wall. On the opposite wall, she showcased gear sets that looked like such you¡¯d find on an advanced character in a game. These sets had hardened leather pieces layered together and dyed in reds and blacks that appeared to provide both protection and flexibility. The back wall had the most unusual pieces. Breastplates with bones incorporated like skeletal frames. Bracers that glowed with blue light. Feathered headpieces. Shoulder pads with metal spikes erupting out of them. She looked up at me with her spectacles still attached, her eyes magnified in her lenses. She raised the lenses. ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°Warren,¡± I said. ¡°Ilrune sent me. Thought you might be willing to help me.¡± ¡°That old fool,¡± she said. ¡°He¡¯s way too nice. Thinks that others are nice too.¡± I smiled. She went back to her work. I browsed the different sets of armor on the wall, inspecting the designs, running my fingers across the seams. Unlike in sewing, it appeared that she had connected hard leather pieces in layers using a combination of rivets and thread. I heard a breath next to me and startled. Dread stood right next to me. ¡°Have you worked with leather before?¡± she asked. I took a step to the side to avoid the awkwardness of talking to somebody too close to me. ¡°I¡¯ve made leather pieces,¡± I said. ¡°And I¡¯ve worked with clothing¡­ probably too much. But I¡¯ve never made leather armor.¡± ¡°What¡¯s your Leatherworking Expertise?¡± she asked. Dread was nothing if not direct. ¡°Nine,¡± I said. She winced. ¡°I have an extra work bench in the back, but apprentices don¡¯t get paid. Usually, they pay me. Can you pay?¡± ¡°I¡¯m a little short on money,¡± I said. ¡°Can I do work for you in exchange for teaching me?¡± I showed her the leather pieces that I had made in Jamon¡¯s shop. She inspected them for a long time, then at me. I thought she might lower her spectacles and start staring at me like I was a misshapen armor piece. ¡°Maybe,¡± she said. ¡°Let¡¯s see what you can do first.¡± #x200e She set me up in the back and pointed to a line of animal carcasses that hung from a chord. They were larger than rabbits with big fangs and skinny faces. On closer inspection, they kind of looked like wolverines. ¡°Make as much High-quality Leather as you can. Medium-quality is fine, but not ideal. And you¡¯ll pay me three Silver for every carcass that you ruin. When you get that all done, I¡¯ll help you with your own projects so long as you don¡¯t bug me too much.¡± I got to work. I skinned, scraped, and stretched. I cut out brains just as Jamon had taught me, gagging again in the process. Dread had a large variety of frames of different sizes, and had directed me toward some medium sized ones. At the beginning, I worked very slowly. The thought of having to pay her money every time I ruined a carcass served as ample motivation. For every skin that I completed, I earned a point in Leatherworking and, like a god-send, increased my speed by 1%. With enough points, I could work more and more quickly while putting more care into every movement. Even better, the process felt easier than before. Since my last foray into Leatherworking, my Dexterity had gone up by seven. I wasn¡¯t exactly sure if that¡¯s why my movements were more exact, but it made sense in the world of gaming. It was something I needed to ask Janica about. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. After an hour, I had skinned, framed, and treated twenty carcasses. I was pretty proud of myself, which reflected in a big grin on my face as I presented them to Dread. Even more exciting, I had discovered a pattern. You created Medium-quality Medium Leather x 17. ? You created High-quality Medium Leather x 3. ? Your Leatherworking Expertise increased to level 29. ? You discovered a new Leatherworking pattern: Leather Vambraces. Dreads eyebrows raised when I handed her the stack. ¡°Okay,¡± she said. ¡°Better than I expected. Still not great, but it¡¯ll do.¡± ¡°So what is it that you want to make?¡± ¡°Well,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯d like to make my group some armor. I just discovered a pattern for vambraces. But all I have right now is five Low-quality Leather, three Medium-quality Light Leather, one High-quality Light Leather, four Shark Skins, and eight Shark Sinew.¡± ¡°Shark Skin and Shark Sinew!¡± She seemed pretty excited about that. ¡°How¡¯d you get those?¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you like to know,¡± I teased. She laughed. ¡°Fair enough. Well, I don¡¯t think you¡¯re ready to use the shark yet. You should save that for a breastplate or a shield. If you could get more, we could make a whole set. Haven¡¯t used shark skin in ages.¡± ¡°A set?¡± I said, getting excited. ¡°What advantages does that give the armor?¡± ¡°Well,¡± she said. ¡°Three pieces make a set. Not two. Unless you have two unique crafting items that are, in some way, tied together. But every piece you make from the same set of uncommon crafting materials adds a set bonus to the gear, depending on the material. If you make a set of three pieces you get one bonus. If you make a set of four pieces, you get another bonus. And so on.¡± My eyes must have opened pretty wide, because she laughed at me. ¡°How many pieces can you get in a set?¡± I asked. ¡°Well, kinda depends,¡± she said. ¡°Uncommon materials can make sets up to five pieces. Even if you make more, the set bonus won¡¯t go bigger than four. Rare materials can make sets of five. Epic materials can make sets of six.¡± ¡°What about legendary materials?¡± I asked. She chuckled. ¡°One step at a time, kid. Let¡¯s get you started on those vambraces. First step is to make the pieces you need. Then we¡¯ll harden them. Then connect them together.¡± She walked over to a bench that had pencils, knives, awls, bevelers, mallets, punchers, and a variety of other tools. ¡°If you¡¯ve worked with cloth, you should be able to figure out how to get started. Make sure you use your Low-quality Leather first. These are practice pieces, so don¡¯t expect any of the Low-quality Leather to be a finished product. I¡¯ll come check on you in a while.¡± I opened up my Leatherworking menu to the page where it showed Leather Vambraces. In the factory, they would give us a print out with all the pieces we needed for an article of clothing pre-designed. All I would need to do was copy the patterns onto cloth, then cut and sew. I didn¡¯t know what to do without my print-outs, and it seemed like trying to freehand draw the pieces onto leather would cause me to make a bunch of little mistakes. Those inaccuracies added up. ¡°How am I supposed to get the pattern from my menu onto the leather?¡± I hollered to Dread, who was working at her own bench. ¡°Do I have to redraw it by hand?¡± ¡°Certainly not,¡± she said. ¡°Just pick up the image and lay it on the leather. You can expand or contract the scale by pinching or moving your fingers apart.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ kay,¡± I said, frowning. I pinched at the holographic image from my menu and pulled. Like magic, the pattern seemed to come off the page as a transparent film. I placed it on top of a piece of Low-quality Light Leather. It didn¡¯t fit onto the leather as I had lost large parts of this skin when I was trying to scrape it clean. I turned the image and contracted it until it fit within the bounds. The process was amazing, allowing for so much flexibility. I realized that crafted goods in Integration Online were not one-size fits all. Before I made any advanced gear, I was going to need to get my team¡¯s measurements. For the bracers in front of me, though, there was a belt-type apparatus with a buckle and tongue holes that allowed the wearer to expand or contract the size. ¡°Good,¡± Dread said, again startling me by being way closer than I thought she was. ¡°Now you¡¯re going to use one of those knives to cut the outline of the different parts of the vambraces. Then use your puncher and mallet and punch all the holes through.¡± I cut the outline, wincing every time I went within the lines. These mistakes couldn¡¯t be fixed. I punched the holes. After a few minutes, I had four smaller pieces of leather that would layer on top of two larger pieces and three straps. Vambraces were effectively guards for both the forearm and the elbow. The elbow piece would be linked to the forearm piece using cords at one place, allowing it to bend. The straps were used to tighten the armor onto the arm. Generally, these types of bracers would have designs on them. But I wasn¡¯t ready for detailed work. Dread showed me how to clean up the edges using a beveler. Next I put the smaller rectangles on top of the larger pieces and stitched them together. I showed these to Dread. She grunted, then pointed out all of my mistakes. In detail. Twice. ¡°Go turn the water on,¡± she said, releasing me from the lecture. When the water boiled, I dropped the leather in. After exactly two minutes, Dread took over the process. She pulled the hardened leather from the water, attached the straps using rivets and thread, then formed the leather by tightening the straps and pulling and pushing parts until it was shaped just the way she wanted. ¡°This has to be done while the leather is still warm, okay?¡± she said, handing it back to me. ¡°Uhh¡­ okay.¡± I attached the elbow to the forearm with a thick cord, then saw a prompt appear. You Created Low-Quality Light Leather Vambrace x 1. ? Your Expertise in Leatherworking increased from 29 to 32. Light Leather Vambrace ? Item Class: Armor ? Item Quality: Common Armor: 1% damage reduction ? +1 Constitution ? Requirements: None ¡°I did it!¡± I said, holding up the piece. Chapter 28. Threads of Magic Chapter 28. Threads of Magic ¡°That¡¯s debatable,¡± Dread said. I started to prepare my next vambrace, but something had been bothering me. ¡°Dread, back in River Junction, the Tannery had all of these old sewing machines and tools that ran on magic to help them out. None of them worked, anymore, except for the ones that could be hand-cranked. But why don¡¯t you have any equipment around here? Mana regenerates in Feygrove. Why not take advantage?¡± She paused and looked at me over her magnifying glasses. ¡°You don¡¯t get Expertise points when you use machines,¡± she said. That took me aback, but I guess it made sense. If a machine did the work, then a machine got the credit. Every point gained was 1% increased speed and a 2% chance to discover a pattern. Maybe this was why Dread¡¯s hands worked faster than humanly possible. Maybe this was why I didn¡¯t see any advanced equipment on the racks of that Tannery. I got into my work after that, improving with every vambrace that I made. I began by using up the four Low-Quality Light Leather pieces that I had, making three more vambraces. I¡¯d give one set each to Henry, Cassandra, and Rowan. I would send the one Medium-quality set I had made to Sofia via in-game mail. She could sell them on the auction house. I could have used it myself, but it made more sense to sell it. I needed the money. Even though I used high-quality leather for one vambrace, it still ended up being a Medium-quality piece. And some of my Medium-quality Leather ended up in a Low-quality Vambrace. As it turned out, every level of the process had opportunities for me to make mistakes, and I wasn¡¯t guaranteed a high-quality craft just because I had used high-quality materials. As I practiced, I gained Expertise, but I gained actual understanding as well. There was a feel to the process. The angle that I cleaned the edges with a beveler mattered. The way that I cut along the outline of the pieces mattered. The amount of time that I left the leather in the boiling water mattered. But I liked the work. Unlike working in the sewing factory, it felt like I was working for myself. And the thought of which recipe I might discover next drove me. If I had more leather, I would have worked all night. You created Low-Quality Vambrace x 6. ?You created Medium-Quality Vambraces x 2. ?Your Expertise in Leatherworking increased from 32 to 44. Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t discover any more recipes. At 5 p.m., Janica entered the shop the way that Janica does. With volume. ¡°Where you at, Warren?¡± she hollered, the door opening so hard that it slammed against the wall. Dread and I looked at each other. ¡°I don¡¯t know her,¡± I said. ¡°Young lady,¡± Dread scolded, approaching Janica in a huff. I sensed a lecture coming on, but then Dread began inspecting Janica¡¯s armor, gripping the sides of her pauldrons. ¡°Hey,¡± Janica said, retreating. ¡°Nobody said you could touch that.¡± ¡°This is nice work,¡± Dread said. ¡°Very nice work. Lizardskin, right? Who made this?¡± #x200e Janica¡¯s disposition changed in a flash. She closed her eyes. Her nose went slightly upward. ¡°Lapis Gunstable Wingfeather made it for me, himself. He¡¯s my first cousin.¡± Gunstable. What was with these middle names? ¡°Oh, I know Lapis,¡± Dread frowned, then walked back to her bench, no longer interested. ¡°He¡¯s a fool.¡± ¡°How dare you,¡± Janica replied. ¡°I¡ª¡± I cut her off. ¡°Janica. Can we not get in a fight with this nice lady who¡¯s very kindly helping me equip our party?¡± She sighed. ¡°Fine. And yes, I suppose you¡¯re right. He is a bit of a fool.¡± ¡°And pompous,¡± Dread added. Janica scoffed. ¡°Okay, okay,¡± I said. ¡°Janica, what¡¯s going on? How¡¯s everyone doing?¡± #x200e ¡°Fine,¡± she said, still glaring at Dread. ¡°Henry got his Potionmancer Job unlocked and the girls are done with their training. We¡¯re going to Ilrune¡¯s house for dinner.¡± Dread looked up, then shook her head and continued pounding holes in a leather vest. ¡°Okay cool,¡± I said. I turned to Dread. ¡°Thanks, Dread. Do you mind if I stop by tomorrow?¡± Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°I¡¯ll think about it,¡± she said. ¡°And let you know later.¡± ¡°Later?¡± She looked at me. ¡°At dinner.¡± ¡°Are you joining us at dinner?¡± ¡°Well I would hope so,¡± she said. ¡°Since you¡¯re coming to my house for dinner. I can¡¯t seem to shake you.¡± ¡°Are you¡­ married to Ilrune?¡± ¡°Spirits no,¡± she said. ¡°He¡¯s my brother.¡± *** ¡°Janica,¡± Henry said, ¡°Did you get any clues today as to why Feygrove is different from other places?¡± Eight of us sat around a long table. The five of our party, Ilrune, Dread, and Ilrune¡¯s husband, Aimon. We had finished a big meal which Aimon had cooked up. I had a new buff. You are Well Fed. Stamina, Health, and Mana regeneration increased by 10%. ¡°No,¡± she said. ¡°Seems like a pretty normal place to me. People just sort of go about their lives.¡± Henry turned to Aimon. ¡°Aimon, do you have any idea why mana regenerates in Feygrove?¡± He shook his head. We were stuck. ¡°Where are you headed next?¡± Aimon asked. ¡°Lakemore,¡± Henry said. Aimon looked at Ilrune, concern on his face, then back to Henry. ¡°Why would you go to Lakemore? There¡¯s nothing good there except old wounds. Trust me.¡± Your Perceptive Attribute has been triggered. I felt a rush of focus. Something was off in the way that Aimon had said trust me. Janica jumped in, sharing too much as usual. ¡°Because we need to get into Spectre Academy. We think there might be books down in there that will help us figure out why mana stopped working.¡± Aimon¡¯s eyebrows furrowed. ¡°You can¡¯t get in there. There¡¯s no air. That¡¯s why all those people died.¡± ¡°We¡¯re going to plant a dungeon core,¡± Janica said. Her voice was so casual. Why was it that she told anybody anything? Didn¡¯t she realize how much trouble that could get us into? ¡°Excuse me?¡± Dread said. She looked at Aimon, who was shocked. She looked at Ilrune, who was not shocked. ¡°Il, you knew about this?¡± ¡°The kids told me about it when I met them,¡± he said. I needed to bring the conversation back to Aimon before the moment passed. ¡°Aimon, do you have a history with Lakeshore?¡± He looked at Ilrune. His body oozed nervousness. He looked down at the table before he spoke. ¡°I¡¯m from there,¡± he said. ¡°My whole family worked at the academy.¡± He turned to Ilrune. ¡°I can¡¯t believe you told them to go there. You and I are gonna talk later.¡± I could tell Aimon was in a delicate state, but I needed to push a little bit more. There was something here. I didn¡¯t like sharing things about myself, but it felt like we needed a breakthrough. I looked at Aimon. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Aimon. I lost my parents when I was little.¡± I felt everyone¡¯s eyes on me. Aimon looked up, staring at me intently. I pushed back tears, setting my jaw. ¡°I still don¡¯t really know what happened. And I have anger about it. A lot of anger. I¡¯d do anything to know.¡± Aimon nodded with me as I spoke, his own face a stoic shell. ¡°I don¡¯t want to push this, but maybe I can help,¡± I said. ¡°I heard there are ghosts there of the deceased. Maybe I could communicate with them and learn more for you.¡± Ilrune cut in, nervous about what was happening. ¡°One can¡¯t just talk to spirits,¡± he said. But Aimon¡¯s eyes glinted at my words. Maybe he felt like I felt. Desperate. Dread seemed upset. ¡°You can commune with spirits? Is that some kind of a joke?¡± The NPCs couldn¡¯t see my nameplate and didn¡¯t know that I was a Mystic. Since entering Integration Online , I had yet to use any mana. I didn¡¯t, truly, know how this would go. But these people looked at me angrily, as if I would lie about such a thing. I needed to do a little demonstration. I pulled open my Spell Book to the page that said ¡®Rejuvenate 1¡¯. Diagrams of human anatomy and notes filled the page, along with symbols of nature. Trees, and what looked like the graphic of a nebula made of flowing water. Each person present responded in different ways to what I was doing. They scooted their chairs back or braced themselves, unaware of my intent. I put my hand on the page and thought activate as Janica had taught me, but kept my focus on myself. I didn¡¯t want to target someone without their permission. Threads of magic, colored like clear blue water and highlighted in gold threads, left my hands and surrounded my person. A rush of coolness flooded me like I had just chugged a cold glass of liquid. The feeling trickled through me. When I looked at the others, it was clear that I had surprised them. Chapter 29. Family Heirlooms Chapter 29. Family Heirlooms ¡°You¡¯re a healer,¡± Aimon whispered. I looked at the prompt that popped up. You casted Rejuvenate 1. 20 Health will be restored over 8 seconds. You earned 0 Job Points. It didn¡¯t surprise me that the game didn¡¯t award me Job Points; I wasn¡¯t in combat. Being able to earn JP in this way would break the mechanics of the game, allowing people to get infinitely more powerful without any risk. ¡°Not just a healer,¡± Ilrune said. ¡°A Mystic. That was a Rejuvenate spell.¡± ¡°Mm-hmm,¡± Aimon replied. His face was set. Everyone looked at him. ¡°Yes,¡± Aimon said, standing up. ¡°You can help.¡± ¡°Excuse us,¡± Ilrune said, trying to get Aimon to follow him to talk. ¡°We need a minute.¡± ¡°No, Ilrune,¡± he looked at his partner. ¡°If Warren can help me talk to my family, then I¡¯m going to Lakemore.¡± A prompt appeared. You were offered a quest. ? Quest: Family Heirlooms Part 1 ? Objective: Fifteen years ago, Aimon¡¯s family died, tragically, after the Great Mistake. Help him find closure with his family. ? Rewards: Unknown ? Do you Accep t: Yes /No I accepted the quest. Based on the reactions of my party members, they had received it as well. ¡°If you¡¯re going, then I¡¯m going,¡± Ilrune said. Aimon put his hand on Ilrune¡¯s neck. ¡°Thank you, my love.¡± ¡°I¡¯m in as well,¡± Dread said. ¡°If you can truly get access to the stacks. There must be crafting recipes in there that have been lost to the world. Plus,¡± she said, looking at Ilrune, ¡°you need someone to keep you from getting into too much trouble.¡± I logged off early, hoping to trade time with Sofia. The group would depart Feygrove at 8 a.m., and I needed to be logged in at that time so as not to delay the group. Sofia was on her laptop when I entered the kitchen. ¡°Warren, did you see this article about the AI getting caught?¡± she asked. ¡°Yeah, I saw it.¡± ¡°Did it¡­ make you think of Mom and Dad?¡± she asked, not looking at me. I shrugged. I didn¡¯t want to talk about it. She looked at her watch, then at me. ¡°Why did you log off early?¡± she asked. I told her about the day, from the sharing of the Legendary Quest to the heist to the leatherworking to the new plan. ¡°Crazy,¡± she said. ¡°So you¡¯re going to plant it in Lakemore? Shoot, I have a lot to do. I need to get to Lakemore and try to buy up some property. We¡¯re gonna need more money.¡± She downed her cup of coffee, then moved to the pods. ¡°I¡¯ll log out early. I was thinking¡­ maybe you should use more time than me. Once I get settled in Lakeshore, I won¡¯t need more than a few hours a day. With you producing leatherworking goods and on this journey, you¡¯re going to need extra time for a while.¡± I was a bit stunned by that. ¡°Really?¡± ¡°For now,¡± she said. ¡°This is how we support each other.¡± Sofia woke me up at 7 a.m. I made coffee and breakfast. ¡°So what happened?¡± I asked, a huge bite of eggs in my mouth. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. ¡°Those vambraces sold for 200 Silver,¡± she said. ¡°I don¡¯t think a lot of people can get stats on gear right now.¡± Two-hundred Silver was $200. For a pair of Low-quality Vambraces. My mouth dropped open. Less than 700 Silver to go before I made this week¡¯s rent. ¡°So¡­ let¡¯s keep that train rolling,¡± she said. ¡°Anyway, I took your advice and booked passage to Lakemore. I logged out early because there was nothing for me to do on the boat. I wish I had a crafting profession. I should be there when I log back in.¡± I moved to the pod. ¡°Good luck,¡± she said. ¡°Thanks. See you later. I¡­ might be off late.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine,¡± she said. ¡°Do what you need to do.¡± You logged into Integration Online. I materialized in Ilrune¡¯s home, my body solidifying into existence. Janica appeared next to me. Dread stared at me from the table with a look of shock. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll ever get used to that,¡± she said, shaking her head. ¡°Visitors popping in and out of the world. But I¡¯ve seen some crazy stuff in my lifetime, so I¡¯ll accept it.¡± I smiled. ¡°Where is everyone?¡± ¡°They didn¡¯t know when you¡¯d show up, so they went to train,¡± Janica said. Dread stood up and threw a pack over her shoulder. ¡°The boat leaves in two hours, which leaves us just enough time to make a few pieces for the group and get the work supplies packed up.¡± ¡°We¡¯re bringing tools with us?¡± I asked. ¡°Yep. Could be in Lakemore for a while. I don¡¯t go anywhere without my tools.¡± A short time later, Dread had me preparing leather again. Grunt work. Over the next hour, I scraped and cured twenty-four more hides. The Medium Hides took longer to treat than Light Hides, but I imagined that the benefits were significant. You receive d Low-quality Medium Hide x 1. ?You received Medium-quality Medium Hide x 15. You received High-quality Medium Hide x 8. ?Your Expertise in Leatherworking increased from 44 to 68. I handed the hides to Dread, who was packing tools neatly into a chest. ¡°Okay, not bad,¡± she said. ¡°You¡¯re getting better. You discover anything new?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Bad luck. Okay what level are you up to?¡± ¡°Sixty-eight.¡± ¡°Come here,¡± she said. She approached a bench and pulled a thick tome down from a shelf. She opened it up to a section called ¡°Novice Patterns,¡± then slid the book over to me. She went back to packing. I flipped through the book, my eyes hungry for the information. I scoured the first page, which read ¡°Leather Pauldrons¡±, trying to memorize the information. ¡°You¡¯re doing it wrong,¡± she called. ¡°Pull out your own pattern book. Then, just like you transferred the pattern to the leather, pull the image from the page and put it in your book.¡± My eyes went wide. I pulled open the Leatherworking menu and flipped to the first blank page. Then, as instructed, I pinched at the physical book in front of me and lifted it up. A holographic image formed in my hand, like I was holding a transparent film. I set it onto the blank page in my menu. Congratulations, you discovered the pattern for Leather Pauldrons. And simple as that, I had a blueprint for shoulder armor. ¡°Woo!¡± I shouted. Dread grunted her acknowledgement. Over the next several minutes, I took every pattern I could like a starving artist allowed to refill empty buckets of paint for free. Congratulations, you discovered the pattern for Leather Boots. ?Congratulations, you discovered the pattern for Leather Vest. ?Congratulations, you discovered the pattern for Leather Gloves. ?Congratulations, you discovered the pattern for Leather Belt. ?Congratulations, you discovered the pattern for Leather Leggings. ?Congratulations, you discovered the pattern for Leather Cap. I flipped to the next page, but instead of finding a pattern, I found a jumble of symbols. Scribble-scrabble. Nonsense. I turned to another section and another. Nothing. I¡¯d reached my limit. I looked up to the collection of pattern-books on her shelf. There were five other books, just like this one. All probably filled with secrets that I wouldn¡¯t be able to learn. ¡°When will I be able to learn more?¡± I asked. ¡°One-hundred Expertise is the next threshold,¡± she said. ¡°Then it¡¯ll get harder to level up your Expertise. Bring those books over to me, will you?¡± I brought them over, two at a time. ¡°How high is your level?¡± I asked. ¡°Warren,¡± Janica scolded, astounded by my question. ¡°What?¡± I asked. ¡°That¡¯s personal,¡± Dread said. ¡°And not something we ask.¡± Chapter 30. Ghosts Chapter 30. Ghosts We departed at 10 a.m. Ned and Norma didn¡¯t seem to mind the extra bodies on the boat. ¡°Just more folks to kill sharks,¡± Ned said. The trip to Lakemore took the better of four hours. We killed elite water monsters along the way, as our agreement with Ned dictated. With Ilrune and Aimon helping, we defeated our foes quicker than ever. Dread laid on the deck, sunning herself. Janica flew above us, fighting her own battles with imaginary foes and cheering whenever Rowan made a critical strike or Cassandra chopped the head off of a shark with twin blades. Henry had leveled up his Alchemy, significantly, in Feygrove. For the first time, he made a difference in a fight. He threw potions at enemies which produced a variety of effects. A white potion to freeze a shark just before it tried to bite Cassandra in half. A green potion on a group of leeches that caused all of their health bars to sink, steadily, with poison damage. As with seemingly all spells in Integration Online , area of effect spells affected both the bad guys and the good guys. We were reminded of this, the hard way, when Henry threw a blue potion that caused both a catfish and Rowan to sizzle and become stunned with electricity. After that, he was much more careful when throwing his potions, and Rowan was quicker to get out of the area. In addition, Rowan must have decided that she had enough stamina regeneration to turn on her Spartan Passive because I had a new buff that illuminated on my interface at the beginning of each combat. You receive 10% less damage. Cassandra and Rowan had each leveled up, again, through their training with Ilrune and the day¡¯s fish battles. Rowan was a level two Spartan. When Cassandra achieved level five with the Rogue Job, she whooped, then immediately switched to a new Job. . I also noticed that Cassandra had a new buff that gave her 10% critical strike chance and 5% accuracy when attacking from behind. This came at the cost of one stamina per second. Ilrune and Aimon were both wardens, though Ilrune fought with a halberd and Aimon shot with a bow. I stayed in the back, content to buff my party through Rhythm and Tempo, especially because it allowed me to control the music. I drummed some of my favorite beats of the ¡¯80s. Def Leppard, AC/DC, Queen. Rowan even danced a little when I played Michael Jackson. She noticed me noticing her, and stopped. I don¡¯t know if she was embarrassed that I saw her or that she got pulled into a music genre that she claimed to dislike. Upon leaving Feygrove, my mana drained to zero in a matter of seconds. I couldn¡¯t cast any Mystic spells anymore, even if I wanted to. Yet I stayed in the Mystic Job, accumulating Job Points. I switched to the Instructor Job right before leveling up. We sailed into Lakemore harbor around 2 p.m., and I checked my prompts. You defeated Monster Catfish x 3 You defeated River Shark x 6 You defeated Ferocious Pike x 5 You defeated Clew of Leeches x 2 You received 672 Experience Points. You leveled up as an Instructor. You gained 4 Constitution, 2 Dexterity, 4 Intelligence, 4 Wisdom, 0 Strength, and 4 Perception. You gained 215 Job Points for the Mystic Job. You gained 15 Job Points for the Instructor Job. I leveled up again in the process, once again switching to the Instructor Job before I got enough points to level, then switching back. This put me at an overall level of six. When Lakemore was in view, Ned distributed loot to Henry who gave me some more Shark Sinew and Shark Skins. Fishing boats littered Lakemore harbor and the docks were rife with trade. The town, itself, was another story. The further we went from the lakefront, the more shops and homes lay empty. Trash littered the streets. Windows remained broken. The people we saw didn¡¯t exactly look desperate. They looked like the happiness had been sucked from their souls. We didn¡¯t see a single gamer in the area, and it struck me that we might be the first to visit Lakemore. We were only three days into the game launch, and most people were probably still in starter areas. Aimon led us through town, further and further from the docks. ¡°Where are we going?¡± Rowan asked. ¡°My family home,¡± Aimon said. There was a hint of dread in his voice. A resignation. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. We got to the outskirts of town. Large houses were scattered about a hillside. We hiked, following a road that winded up the hill. Deciduous trees surrounded us as we got higher into the foothills. In the distance, mountain peaks jutted up and above the foliage. It was beautiful. Even though I had never been to the mountains in real life, I loved the way they looked and felt. The air was clean, crisp. It smelled of pine. The road crested at an elaborate white stone entryway with massive iron gates wide enough for a tank to roll through. In iron lettering, the word Edreru sat atop the left gate and the word University sat atop the other. We pushed through, the road still lined with trees on both sides. Ahead, a three story building sat before us with outbuildings and houses all around. Everything was built of the same white stone, with the same style. Smooth facades with red, clay shingles, and pine accents. ¡°Is that¡­ Spectre Academy?¡± Cassandra asked. ¡°Yes,¡± Ilrune said. ¡°People call it that. I don¡¯t think Aimon likes that term.¡± ¡°When I lived here as a boy,¡± Aimon said, ignoring the comment, ¡°you couldn¡¯t walk between buildings without seeing a friendly face, a person reading on a bench, or a group of university students sitting together on the grass.¡± ¡°You grew up here?¡± I asked. I could not believe that he brought us here. That he was willing to face this place. ¡°My parents, aunts, uncles, all worked at the University. My mother was the head of biological studies. My father an alchemist.¡± Aimon looked up at a large house. He stopped, bent over, and put his hands on his knees. ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m¡­¡± ¡°It''s okay,¡± Ilrune said. He rubbed his partner¡¯s back. ¡°Nobody expects you to do anything you don¡¯t want to do.¡± ¡°I thought I was ready,¡± Aimon said. ¡°I ¡ª¡± ¡°Take a minute,¡± Ilrune said. ¡°Stay here. I¡¯ll go in. We¡¯ve come all this way not to let Warren try to communicate with them. But if you can¡¯t stay, we¡¯ll go back home.¡± Aimon nodded, handed him a key, and down on the grass. Ilrune opened the door, and stepped inside, looking around with caution. The rest of us followed. Dread stayed behind with Aimon. The home was large and open, though the curtains were drawn. Thin rays of light shot across the room, disturbing an otherwise dark house. A silence greeted us. And a temperature low enough to make me shiver. Dust lined the top of every chair, couch, table, and dresser. The entry room has vaulted ceilings, two couches, and a fireplace. A wide hallway led to the kitchen in one direction, and a stairway in the other direction. A ghost sat in a rocking chair opposite the fireplace. It rocked back and forth, pipe in its mouth, reading a thick book which lay on its lap. Rowan took a step back, running into me. ¡°Is that a¡ª¡± I felt the side of her body against mine. It was so crazy that I could be in a dusty, dark, place. Staring at a ghost. And all I could think about was that I was making physical contact with a girl. ¡°Yeah,¡± Ilrune said. ¡°That¡¯s my Uncle, Voron,¡± Aimon said, surprising me with his presence. ¡°Was my uncle, anyway.¡± Uncle Voron looked up at us and raised his pipe in greeting. He had wild, unruly hair, elven features. He wore a robe and slippers. He looked relatively normal. Except that he was completely white. ¡°Ghosts give me the creeps,¡± Janica whispered. She sat on Rowan¡¯s shoulder. ¡°You don¡¯t say,¡± I mumbled. Uncle Voron said something to us, but it came out as a series of screeches and wails. Then he got up, walked to the stairs, hollered up to the second floor. Again, all we heard was disturbing noises. He went back to his rocking chair. A moment later, a woman in a smart outfit floated down the steps. Her hair was done, and she wore stylish glasses that curved up at the rims. She greeted us with a big smile and a loud, disturbing shriek. ¡°Auntie Lensa,¡± Aimon said. ¡°Warren,¡± Ilrune said. ¡°Now would be a good time to make contact.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± I said. ¡°Right.¡± I pulled open my Spell Book and activated Talk to Spirits. I still didn¡¯t understand how to use spells without pulling open my Spell Book. I needed to ask Janica about that. I activated the spell. White and yellow cords emerged from my person, weaving through the air and connecting me to Aimon¡¯s family. ¡°Voron, honey,¡± the ghost woman said. ¡°Pull your head out of that book and come say ¡®hello¡¯.¡± Voron stood up and joined Lensa. They put their arms around one another. ¡°Is that Aimon?¡± Lensa asked. ¡°He¡¯s so grown up.¡± She looked at me for an answer. ¡°Yes,¡± I said. This was so strange. ¡°Tell him hello from us,¡± she said. I turned to Aimon. ¡°They say ¡®hello.¡¯¡± Aimon looked at me, then at his family. His body was almost shaking. He stepped forward, and tears formed in his eyes. Ilrune stepped with him, keeping a hand around his shoulder. ¡°Tell them that it¡¯s good to see them.¡± I relayed the message. Lensa and Voron smiled at each other. Aimon gulped. ¡°How did you make it out?¡± he asked, the question directed to them. ¡°Have you seen my parents?¡± I translated. Was I speaking in wails? Voron got serious, a stoic look taking over his face. ¡°We were above ground when it all happened,¡± he said. ¡°The entire University shook like it had been through a terrible earthquake. Floors collapsed and passageways toppled, glass shattered. The campus used a great deal of magical energy in its infrastructure. That¡¯s what happens when you employ hundreds of magic users. The water systems, lighting systems, even the walls had magic flowing through them. We believe the sudden absence of magic caused some sort of a backlash throughout the main building. Lensa and I were having lunch together in the cafeteria when the glass ceiling above us shattered and fell on us.¡± I gasped. I wouldn¡¯t want to go out like that. Crushed or impaled by broken glass. ¡°But everyone below ground was trapped. That¡¯s where Aimon¡¯s parents were.¡± Chapter 31. Devastation Underground Chapter 31. Devastation Underground How could I relay that story to Aimon? I couldn¡¯t seem to make the words. When I was a boy, it was Sofia who had told me about our parents¡¯ death. I remember the moment she told me, vividly, and then little else. I had been sitting in my room, tinkering with robots. ¡°Warren,¡± she had said, ¡°why don¡¯t you come over here to the bed and talk to me.¡± I had been so engrossed that I told her I was busy. When I finally looked at her, I saw my sister as I had never seen her. Swollen eyes. Jaw set. I think most people crumble in the wake of devastation. Sofia became determined. She grew up that day, became the adult I needed. I, however, became lost. Janica saved me. I had forgotten that she was able to speak with the Earth Spirit back in the mine. She must have gained this ability when I did. ¡°He said your parents were below ground,¡± she told Aimon. ¡°These two were not.¡± Aimon nodded. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you pass on?¡± Janica asked them. I¡¯m glad she asked the question. I didn¡¯t have the stones. ¡°Don¡¯t know,¡± Lensa said. ¡°Many of us passed on. Some of us didn¡¯t.¡± We relayed this to the group. ¡°Will we be able to find my parents?¡± Aimon asked. Lensa and Voron looked at each other. Voron answered. ¡°Don¡¯t know. Nobody has been able to contact anybody below ground since the accident. The university had doors with codes that protected everything down below. That¡¯s where the research labs and library was. When the power system failed, the doors remained locked forever. They were powered by magic and couldn¡¯t be unlocked with traditional keys. It could be very dangerous down there. I worry about what you¡¯ll find. Or what will emerge if those doors are unlocked.¡± I shuddered at that. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°There are many ghosts, like us, who did not pass on. Who are not angry. Just saddened. Some of us live in the cottages around the University.¡± Lensa jumped in. ¡°We get together with them and play cards. It¡¯s like a little deceased retirement community.¡± He looked at her and chuckled. Ghosts were playing cards together? I pictured a group of them playing hacky sack in the quad. Voron got serious again. ¡°But we don¡¯t go into the university building anymore. None of us do. Many of our colleagues went mad, or worse. An experience like that, when nearly everyone you know is instantly killed can be¡­ traumatizing. I believe if Lensa and I weren¡¯t together, I might have¡ª¡± ¡°Hush,¡± She put her hand in his wild hair. ¡°We don¡¯t have to think about that. I have a theory,¡± she added. ¡°My little psychologist,¡± he said, rolling his eyes. She elbowed him. ¡°I have a theory that if a ghost is stuck in a stage of grief, their body transforms into a facsimile of that stage. Those in depression become banshees. Those in anger become wraiths.¡± She shuddered. ¡°But the worst... the worst are stuck in denial. Those are the Madmen. And the Madwomen.¡± ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± Henry asked. ¡°What are they talking about?¡± I put a finger up to show Henry that I needed a minute. I didn¡¯t want to interrupt the ghosts. ¡°But it doesn¡¯t all make sense,¡± Voron said. They were speaking as intellectuals again. Scientists. ¡°What about the stage of bargaining?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a working theory, dear,¡± she said. ¡°And it¡¯s not like I can go in there to perform psychological studies.¡± ¡°You said you were worried about what might emerge from below,¡± I interrupted. ¡°Yes,¡± Lensa said. ¡°Very worried. Imagine, not only being stuck in a stage of grief for years and years, but being confined deep below ground. I believe the effect could be devastating on the psyche.¡± I nodded, then caught the rest of the group up on what they had said. ¡°But we need to get down there,¡± Henry said. ¡°And we need to recover an item to do that.¡± I turned to the ghosts. ¡°We have a way to bring power back to the university,¡± I said. ¡°But we¡¯re going to need something from the school. An item, possibly a relic, that represents the place. Something of rare quality, or epic if possible. Do you know where we might find something like that?¡± Lensa looked at Voron, then at me. ¡°Why do you want to get involved with something so dangerous?¡± My palms began to sweat. ¡°Wel, Aimon wants to find his parents.¡± I had an instinct that I needed a better reason to unleash angry ghosts on the world than just to reconnect Aimon with his folks. These two were scientists. Scholars. ¡°And all of that knowledge is lost to the world. The stacks and stacks of research, the recorded histories. We¡¯d like to bring it back.¡± They looked thoughtful. Then Voron spoke. ¡°I agree,¡± he said. ¡°Thousands of people contributed to that knowledge. It should be brought back to the world. But I worry about what will happen. What you¡¯ll find. What will emerge.¡± ¡°There¡¯s a book in the Headmaster¡¯s office,¡± Lensa said. ¡°The Student Registry. It¡¯s as old as the school itself, and contains information on every student that was ever admitted to the university and a list of their accomplishments. That should do.¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. I relayed the message. We had what we came for. It was time to say goodbye. ¡°Please tell Aimon to be careful,¡± Voron added. I turned to Aimon. ¡°Is there anything else you¡¯d like to say?¡± ¡°Just tell them that it was good to see them. And that I love them.¡± I translated. The ghosts smiled at Aimon and said their goodbyes. Quest: Family Heirlooms Part 1 was updated. Quest: Family Heirlooms Part 2 Objective: Aimon¡¯s parents are trapped within the university¡¯s underground. Help him find closure with them. Rewards: Unknown Do you Accept: Yes /No I accepted the quest. We gathered as a full team on the university grounds to discuss our plans. ¡°Are we ready for this?¡± Rowan asked. ¡°We only have until 10 a.m. to plant the Dungeon Seed. That¡¯s not a lot of time. What can we prepare in that time?¡± I looked at Ilrune. ¡°Have any of you fought ghosts before? What are we getting ourselves into?¡± ¡°I have,¡± Ilrune said. ¡°Years ago. When they could still use mana. Very dangerous. All sorts of spells that did shadow damage, fear effects and silence effects. Debuffs that make you start to feel insane or add so much stress to your mind that you can have a heart attack.¡± ¡°Do all of those things require mana?¡± Henry asked. Ilrune shrugged. ¡°Not sure. It was a long time ago, and I didn¡¯t really understand the mechanics.¡± ¡°Is there some way we can protect ourselves against those things?¡± Rowan asked. ¡°And are we able to do damage to ghosts with traditional weapons?¡± ¡°Traditional weapons will work,¡± Ilrune said. ¡°They¡¯re vulnerable to holy damage, but we don¡¯t have any of that.¡± He turned to Dread. ¡°Is there anything we can do to arm ourselves better?¡± ¡°Well,¡± she said. ¡°We can start by fully equipping the youngsters. Their gear is pitiful. If we had some Ectoplasm, we could treat our leather with shadow resistance. But I don¡¯t have any.¡± She looked thoughtful. ¡°We could use a home base, of sorts. A place to make gear, sleep, and recover our health tonight. Then head out early in the morning. Aimon, do you have any ideas?¡± ¡°Mm-hmm,¡± he said. ¡°I had some cousins that owned a general store down in Lakemore. Maybe they¡¯re willing to host us? I would say that we could stay with the ghosts, but I don¡¯t think I could do it. Too many memories in that house. And all the wailing and screeching creeps me out. Even if I know that they mean well.¡± We agreed. ¡°I would like to stock up on herbs,¡± Henry said. ¡°It would be nice to be full on potions before we get into a bunch of fights.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s get settled first,¡± Ilrune said. ¡°Then we can split up and gather what we need.¡± #x200e It took us about thirty minutes to walk from the University campus to the lakefront business district. Aimon led us down curved roads made of cobblestones. The town had enough abandoned buildings that felt uncomfortable. Twice, as we twisted and turned through the streets, we heard wailing from empty houses. Apparently, Lakemore had a thriving ghost population. I wondered if they were all card players. I pictured a ghost trying to hide an ace up its partly transparent sleeve. NPCs walked up and down the shopping district, exchanging fish, barrels, bait and supplies. It smelled like dirty water and fish. The general store sat near the end of the wharf. A three story building whose ground floor once served as a place where people bought basic things. Grains, beans, pickled meats. Bait and tackle. At least, that¡¯s what the signs read. We stared through the windows. The place was empty. ¡°Should we break in?¡± Dread asked. ¡°Stay here,¡± Aimon said. He walked up the street by himself. He was back in a moment with an official-looking woman with a large keyring that jangled at her belt with about a hundred keys. Her nameplate said . ¡°We¡¯re so glad you¡¯ve returned, Mr. Aimon,¡± she said. She had her key ring out and was trying key after key in the lock of the general store. ¡°So glad. Having a lot of trouble keeping people from leaving, we have. Don¡¯t help business none at all when half the town wants to leave and the other half are ghosts. I practically beg people to set up shops nowadays. Do you think you¡¯ll be staying long? We could use another general store. Your cousins used to sell the best pickled fish on the lake. Mmm-mmm.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not so sure yet,¡± Aimon said. The lock turned. She pushed the door open. ¡°Here you are, Mr. Aimon.¡± She took the key off of her keyring and handed it to him. ¡°I¡¯ll be getting back now. Let me know if you need anything.¡± She started to leave, making quick little steps. This woman was fast. I ran to catch up with her. ¡°Excuse me. Ma¡¯am.¡± Talia stopped. ¡°Hi. Yes, how may I help you?¡± She wore big round glasses that didn¡¯t fit her face and an official outfit that reminded me of something you might see an accountant wearing in a movie. ¡°Hi,¡± I said. ¡°I was wondering. Are there any storefronts available for purchase?¡± At this, she seemed to get very excited. ¡°Yes, yes of course. Are you planning on staying in Lakemore?¡± she asked. ¡°Yes,¡± I said. ¡°I was thinking about it. I might open a tannery.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± she said. ¡°That¡¯s wonderful. Wonderful. We haven¡¯t had a tannery in ages. Come on into the clerk¡¯s office and we¡¯ll draw up the paperwork.¡± ¡°Oh um¡­ ¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m quite ready to do it today. But my sister is coming to town. Her name is Sofia. She¡¯s more of a business person than I am. I¡¯ll send her to see you.¡± ¡°Very good,¡± Talia said. ¡°I¡¯ll look for her arrival..¡± She walked off, feet shuffling, keys jingling. Chapter 32. Ectoplasms Chapter 32. Ectoplasms The General Store was a skeleton of what it must have been. A counter lined the side wall with bar stools. Empty glass bottles and canvas sacks on shelving behind the bar. It kind of looked like a 7-Eleven that had been abandoned and left to rot. But signage lined the walls, giving clues as to the products which used to be sold. We headed upstairs to find a living area and kitchen on the second floor. And bedrooms on the third floor. Bathrooms were nowhere to be found and I realized, for the first time, that bathrooms weren¡¯t a thing in Integration Online . I had taken that for granted, and was happy about that. We each claimed a bedroom, and met in the living room. ¡°Let¡¯s not waste time,¡± Henry said. ¡°I¡¯d like to get into the University in the morning.¡± ¡°Agreed,¡± Rowan said. ¡°Warren and I will start working on gear,¡± Dread said, volunteering me. I didn¡¯t mind. When this quest was complete, I wanted to set up my own shop and start making money. Every moment spent with Dread before she headed back to Feygrove was gold. ¡°I want to go hunting for herbs,¡± Henry said. ¡°Aimon, where do you think would be best?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t really know much about that,¡± Aimon replied. ¡°But I¡¯d imagine the coastline or the forested area to the West.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll tag along,¡± Rowan said. ¡°You¡¯re going to need some protection, and I bet we can get some experience.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll join you,¡± Ilrune said. ¡°Not me,¡± Aimon said. ¡°I¡¯ll stick around here. Clean up the place a bit. Maybe get some basic supplies and some food.¡± ¡°Make yourself useful, Ilrune, and get us some skins while you¡¯re out,¡± Dread called to Ilrune. We parted ways with plans to meet up around dinner time. Dread and I rearranged the shop on the first floor. We started by drawing the shades. We didn¡¯t need people peeping on us. Then we moved the shelving to the side and unpacked the tools. We used the counter as a workbench and had room to spare. Dread laid stacks of Light and Medium Leather on the bench. ¡°I¡¯m going to get a couple things,¡± she said. ¡°Start with pauldrons. They¡¯re the easiest. And take your time. But whatever you do, don¡¯t boil them ¡®til I get back.¡± ¡°Why?¡± I asked. ¡°Because I¡¯m a brilliant crafter and you always heed my advice,¡± she said, then walked out the door. I opened up my pattern book and traced the parts of shoulder pieces on a piece of Medium-quality Light Leather. The shape reminded me of Mrs. Pac-man. When folded together at the mouth, it would create a bulbous shape that would cover a shoulder. I would layer one piece on top of another, creating a thicker pauldron through layering as the pattern suggested. The shoulder pads, once stitched together, had a total of three pieces on each arm that feathered down, covering more space. They had buckles and straps, allowing them to be belted onto each shoulder. Dread wasn¡¯t back yet, so I continued. I prepared enough pieces to make pauldrons for Rowan, Cassandra, and Henry. I didn¡¯t make anything for myself, because it wasn¡¯t necessary. I would be staying at the back of the party, and I didn¡¯t plan on taking any damage. Plus, after we recovered the relic we needed, I would be done with all this adventuring. It was nearly time to start my business. The thought gave me pause, for the first time. I liked seeing new terrain, new environments. And more, I liked hanging out with actual people. But fear was a stronger emotion than desire. And I feared failure. I feared returning to my life outside. All that was left was the boiling, forming, and assembly. But Dread wasn¡¯t back yet. I almost boiled them anyway, but thought better of it. She must have had a reason to ask me to wait. She returned in a huff. ¡°I had to pay 100 Silver for three Ectoplasms,¡± she said, throwing open the door. ¡°Robbery, if you ask me.¡± She turned the pot of water to high, then dumped the contents of her leather bag into the liquid. Slurpy splashes erupted from the pot, and I rushed over to see what she had added. Three purple, nebulous masses swirled in the water. They almost looked like eggs that had just been broken and were starting to come apart. Ectoplasms. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s see what you¡¯ve made.¡± She began inspecting my work. I heard an audible grunt, which I took as a compliment. She grabbed her tongs and began dipping the leather. One at a time, we worked together until each of them were formed and hardened. She did the first and micromanaged me during the second. After that, she left me on my own. After the pieces were boiled and hardened, I connected the layers with rivets and attached the straps. I took a look at my prompts. You created Low-quality Medium Leather Pauldrons x 4. ? You created Medium-quality Medium Leather Pauldrons x4. ? Your Leatherworking Expertise improved from 68 to 74. With excitement, I inspected a pauldron. Medium Leather Pauldron of Shadow Resistance If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.? Item Class: Armor ? Item Quality: Medium ? Armor: 2% damage reduction ? +3 to Constitution ? +3 to Dexterity ? 5% to Shadow Resistance ¡°Not bad, huh?¡± Dread asked. ¡°Five percent shadow resistance just from boiling them in Ectoplasm? Does that stack with other pieces?¡± ¡°Yep,¡± Dread said. ¡°It¡¯s additive. With both pauldrons on, you will have 10% resistance.¡± My eyes grew wide. A smile grew over my lips. In a few simple steps, I had created decent leather armor. With stats and bonuses. I sewed thousands of items of clothing, but somehow this was different. I had made items that would make others powerful. Over the next few hours, Dread and I crafted leather helmets, legs, and boots for the four of us. Aimon and Ilrune had higher quality gear, and didn¡¯t need any upgrades. We still didn¡¯t have chest armor, but Dread explained that it took a lot of leather to craft. More than we had. My Leatherworking Expertise improved all the way to ninety. I was pleased with the stat increases. Overall, each of us would be adding twenty-two Constitution, twenty-two Agility, and a whopping 40% Shadow Resistance. We still had glove and helm slots to fill, but we¡¯d used up our leather supply and the Ectoplasm had run its course. The boiling water had turned from purple back to brown. ¡°Dread,¡± I started. ¡°All this Agility is great for the melee fighters, but how do I craft gear with Intelligence and Wisdom?¡± ¡°There are a few different methods,¡± she said. ¡°All of them will start to become available when you hit Expertise level 100. The first is a new set of patterns that cut the leather in new forms. When it comes to this world, form creates function. The style and look actually matters. The second is materials. Leather without magical energy will never create gear that improves stats that add to mana usage. The third is additive ingredients. Things like Ectoplasms. The last is design work. Leatherworkers over Expertise level 300 learn to carve designs into the leather. This is where true mastery comes into play.¡± I logged off before the rest of my group had even returned. I knew we needed to leave early, and I wanted to give Sofia time to get to Lakemore. Plus, there was nothing left to do, and I didn¡¯t feel like sitting around and socializing. You logged off of Integration Online. I relayed the events of my day to Sofia, and she jumped into the pod. She was eager to get to Lakemore and buy up some property. I could tell that her mind was racing. When Sofia was excited about something, nobody could stop her. All she told me before I logged back in in the morning was that she was close. Very close. And to send her any extra Silver that I made. ASAP. You logged into Integration Online. ¡°Good morning, Warren!¡± Cassandra greeted me. ¡°Morning,¡± I said. ¡°How did the hunt go yesterday?¡± I materialized on the couch, right where I had logged out. Everyone was up already, bustling about. Making breakfast. Packing gear in bags. ¡°Good,¡± Rowan said. Before I had logged out, I made Dread promise not to give anybody their gear yet. I wanted to do it. ¡°I have presents,¡± I said. ¡°Everybody gather up.¡± I began passing out the pieces I had made. Shoulders, boots, chest-pieces, leggings. And the vambraces, which I hadn¡¯t given out yet. ¡°They¡¯re not cut to form,¡± I said. ¡°But they have straps, so we should be able to get a pretty good fit.¡± I watched Rowan as she slipped a vambrace over a forearm, trying to tighten it with one hand. I jumped up to help without thinking, pulling the brace tight over her elbow and tightening it down. ¡°You made all these?¡± she asked me, holding her arm up, appraising. She held out the other arm for me. She glanced at me, and I wasn¡¯t sure she had ever looked at me like that. Was it gratitude? My heart beat faster. I slipped the vambrace over the other elbow and strapped it in place. She was so close to me. I tried to remember that this beautiful woman next to me might not look the way she did in-game. She might be sixty years old in real life. I didn¡¯t really know anything about her except that she loved bad music and she had a sister. I pulled back, giving myself a few inches of space. ¡°Pauldrons next,¡± I said. I fitted the pad over her shoulder and tightened it around her upper arm. I noticed as I was tightening the strap that she was looking right into my eyes. I kept my eyes on the shoulder pads. ¡°Okay,¡± I said, trying to dispel the awkwardness. ¡°Strap this across your body and under the other arm.¡± I handed her the other strap that went around her back. I helped her with the rest of the gear. Then she helped Cassandra. Ilrune helped me get fitted while Dread helped Henry. ¡°Is there a mirror somewhere?¡± Cassandra asked. ¡°In our bedroom,¡± Aimon said. We all piled in front of the mirror, trying to get a look at ourselves. We had matching shoulders, vambraces, boots, and pads that protected our thighs. I couldn¡¯t help but be critical of my work. I saw the flaws. The miscuts, the pieces that didn¡¯t fit exactly right. The complete lack of detailed work. ¡°We look¡­ amazing,¡± Rowan said. ¡°Like actual warriors.¡± ¡°Rowan,¡± Cassandra said. ¡°Check out the stats.¡± ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± she said, pulling up something in her interface. ¡°Oh¡­ my god. My Stamina and Dexterity almost just doubled.¡± She turned around and shoved me, playfully. I caught myself. She punched me in the shoulder. ¡°You¡¯ve been holding back on us,¡± she said. Then she mouthed the word ¡°thanks.¡± There was something about this silent word that felt really genuine. Intimate almost. I blushed, despite myself. Ilrune stood at the doorway, smiling. ¡°Come on, crew. We need to find that book of names.¡± Chapter 33. The University Chapter 33. The University Upon entering the University, it became clear that the place was once an architectural masterpiece. Natural light flooded from the ceiling and walls. Smooth columns rose three stories. Gentle, spiral staircases rose to platforms that overlooked the foyer. Little reading nooks with places for people to study. But the welcoming atmosphere no longer existed. Skylights were now broken glass, scattered about the floor. One staircase had been crushed by a fallen column, restricting passage. Rubble and dirt everywhere. And specters, wandering about the room. A ghost noticed us, and approached. It looked mostly human, dressed in normal clothes that were tattered and torn. Its clothing flowed around its body as if it were underwater. Every part of the ghost was white and gray, like Aimon¡¯s family, but its face was not normal. He looked disturbed, dangerous. With black, empty spaces where its eyes once were. Wraith Level 20 HP 140/140 Stamina 300/300 Mana 0/200 It screeched, loud enough to fill the vaulted room with an ear piercing sound. Loud enough that several others turned their heads and collapsed on our position. ¡°Four Wraiths incoming,¡± Janica said. ¡°And two Madmen.¡± Madman Level 20 HP 150/150 Stamina 280/280 Mana 0/200 The Madman lumbered toward us, its movements almost zombielike. Its hair looked wild, like mine looked at the end of a metal concert. It laughed, manically, in a high pitch tone that made me shiver. Six mobs was bad. Without any healing spells, every point of damage that our group took could not be recovered without waiting for the health to regenerate. I immediately got out my drum and began pounding the beat to Thriller. Maybe not the best choice because the guitar hook really carries that song, but I didn¡¯t have time to second guess myself. You activated Rhythm and Tempo. ¡°Ten steps back,¡± Henry called out. We all stepped backwards. Aimon began firing his bow as we retreated. As the mobs approached, they got closer together, converging on our position. ¡°Stay back,¡± Henry called. ¡°Potions incoming.¡± He lobbed a white bottle over the top of our front-line fighters. He hollered, ¡°Why don¡¯t you all just chill out!¡± I looked at Henry, impressed by the one-liner. A green bottle immediately followed. The first bottle shattered on the ground, sending bits of glass toward our enemies. White liquid splashed forward. Ice grew up the legs of four Wraiths and a Madwoman. Long, snowflake-like projections locked their lower halves. The second, green bottle shattered next, splashing emerald liquid all over them. Two debuffs popped up on the portrait of the Wraith I had focused. Frozen 6 seconds. Taking poison damage every 2 seconds for 20 seconds. The health of the Wraith ticked down. ¡°Hit them from range,¡± Janica called. Rowan lunged first at a Wraith with a spear in one hand and a shield in another. Ilrune lunged with his staff while Aimon continued to fire arrows. Aimon connected time and again, heads and shoulders thrown backwards by the force of his arrows. Cassandra vanished, and I saw her mostly see-through form circling around toward the Madman in the back that had not been hit by the frozen AOE. While their legs were frozen in place, the upper half of the monsters thrashed and reached for our melee fighters. But Ilrune and Rowan stayed far enough away that their spear-tips made contact without being close enough to take damage. The first Wraith fell, and Aimon focused another. I wished, not for the first time, that I could throw lightning bolts. Or healing spells. Or call a giant storm. Anything really. Other than my musical talents, I was useless in a fight. Another Wraith fell to Ilrune¡¯s staff. A Madman at the back circled around its frozen friends, flanking our group. It approached my position from the side, and I pulled out my staff in defense. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Cassandra, who had been following the mob, lunged at it from behind. She stabbed the back of its legs in a side swipe of her daggers. The Madman fell in front of me, its hands reaching my feet. It grabbed my ankles with bony hands. I fell backwards and tried to pull away as it held on to me. I yelped, a very unmanly sound escaping. The Madman shrieked. A sound that curdled the ears. On my interface, I saw that Cassandra, Henry, Ilrune, and Aimon had each received a debuff. Feared for 6 seconds. Cassandra crouched over the Madman, ready to strike down on its back, but the Fear spell sent her running in the opposite direction. ¡°Other mobs are about to pull,¡± Janica called out. ¡°Get ready. Only two seconds left on the freeze.¡± Henry ran toward another group of wraiths in fear, his body out of his own control. But his fear broke early. He stopped, then slowly backed away from the ghosts. He must have been feet from aggroing the group. #x200e Rowan turned and buried her spear into the back of my attacker like someone planting a flag in the earth. She left it there, alive but stuck to the ground. She turned, pulling out her axe and shield. The Madman that held my ankles screamed in agitation, thrashing about like a fish out of water, but still held my ankles. It scratched at my legs, and my health began to fall. It felt like the skin was ripping off of my shins. ¡°Ilrune¡­ shields!¡± Rowan called out. Two Wraiths charged at Rowan, finally released from their frozen state. The Madwoman did not. Instead, she arched back as if to scream fear into us again. Cassandra¡¯s fear broke, and she turned to the Madwoman. Her daggers crisscrossed across its throat, silencing its cry. It fell in a heap. Ilrune rushed to Rowan¡¯s side. Their shield went up in unison against the Wraiths. A buff popped up on my interface. Phalanx activated. Damage taken reduced by 90% for 5 seconds. The Madman continued to claw at me, but my health held steady. Phalanx was saving my life. Then an arrow connected with my attacker. And another. It fell, lifeless. Aimon nodded at me, then turned to start firing at the mobs. I stood up and started the music up again, the snappy Michael Jackson beat now a song of victory. Tempo activated again, reducing my stamina bar to about half. Cassandra darted in at the two remaining Wraiths while Rowan and Ilrune stabbed at them, just out of melee range. The last two mobs fell. You defeated Wraith x 4. You defeated Madman x1. You defeated Madwoman x1. You received 120 experience points. You received 32 Job Points in the Mystic Job. We looked at each other in relief. Rowan¡¯s health was at 82%. Mine was down to 70%. It would take me almost three hours to regenerate the health I had lost. Time that we couldn¡¯t spare. ¡°That was so close,¡± Henry said. ¡°I almost pulled the group on that side. My fear broke early. Must have been the Shadow Resistance.¡± ¡°Yep,¡± Rowan said. ¡°I¡¯m looking at my combat log. I fully resisted the fear. That Shadow Resistance saved us.¡± ¡°We need to keep moving,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯re down to three hours before the seed expires. And who knows what trouble will find us.¡± ¡°Up the stairs?¡± Ilrune suggested. ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°The headmaster¡¯s office is somewhere on the third floor.¡± We made our way up the staircase, and climbed over the pillar that blocked our way. We fought a group of four Wraiths at the top of the stairs, then a group of Madmen and Wraiths on the landing. This time around, Henry froze the Wraiths while everyone else focused on the Madmen. The fear was too dangerous. If people got sent into another group of mobs, it could wipe the whole group. Cassandra saved all of her stamina for interrupting the fears. In addition to her throat-cutting silence, which was on a two-minute cooldown, her Assassin Job had a skill that stunned a mob when she hit it in the back of the head with the butt of her dagger. We made short work of these groups. You earned 200 Experience Points. You earned 35 Job Points for the Mystic Job. I was a sliver away from leveling up, so I changed my Job to Instructor so that I would get the best level up stats. The spiral staircase that led from the second floor had been crushed by a falling pillar, the remnants of which lay thirty feet below us on the ground level. As a result, there was a gap in the staircase. It was missing almost fifteen stairs. Cassandra, Rowan, Aimon and Ilrune thought they could jump it, no problem. Henry and I could not. But Ilrune had some rope. Ilrune jumped up first, followed by Cassandra and Aimon. Ilrune tied the rope around his person, then threw it down to us. Rowan held the rope at our end. Janica supervised. ¡°Henry, you¡¯re up first,¡± Ilrune said. Aimon held on to Ilrune to brace him. Cassandra held onto Aimon. It seemed like insanity to me. Henry flipped to the bottom side of the rope and began climbing up, hand over hand, with his ankles locked on top of the rope. It really wasn¡¯t that far of a distance. He was up in seconds. Cassandra let go of Aimon and moved to grab Henry to help him up. She stepped down to the bottom stair, just above the gap. She grabbed his hand, pulling him onto the stair. People cheered. I breathed a sigh of relief. And then a crack splintered through the staircase above us. I saw it first. Those above must have felt it. They froze, looking at the stone underneath them. ¡°Move up!¡± Janica yelled. ¡°It¡¯s gonna break!¡± They scrambled up, hand over hand, crawling up the stairs. Aimon reached the top first, pulling Henry onto the landing. Ilrune scrambled up next. Cassandra vaulted up, light as a cat. The staircase broke off near the top and plummeted to the ground, falling on a group of ghosts. The sound reverberated through the enormous chamber. It shook the entire building. When the sounds and feels of the crash and the aftershocks finally stopped, I looked up at the group above. They looked down at me. And at Rowan. They must have been twenty feet up and twenty feet over. ¡°What now?¡± Ilrune asked. ¡°You¡¯ll have to find another way up,¡± Henry said. Janica flew down to us. ¡°I know a way,¡± she said, calling up to those on the third level. ¡°Go that way.¡± She motioned for them to take a right from the stairs. ¡°We¡¯ll meet you at the corner of the building.¡± Chapter 34. The Headmaster Chapter 34. The Headmaster ¡°If we find any large groups, we could be in big trouble,¡± I said, looking in the direction we needed to go. I glanced at Rowan. She seemed calm. Steady. Confident. I tried to absorb some of that energy, despite the fact she was the only one with any combat prowess in our new two person group. There was a large hallway that ran forty or fifty yards until it dead ended at a wall of windows. The left side of the hallway was a wall, made of the same smooth white stone with a few doors spaced evenly. The right side of the hallway was wide open, with couches, tables and chairs. A group of three ghosts wandered the space, too far away to aggro yet. ¡°Yeah, about that,¡± Rowan said. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you make any gear for yourself? That¡¯d be pretty useful right about now.¡± ¡°He¡¯s too cheap,¡± Janica said. ¡°He talks about money nonstop. Probably sold them instead of equipping them.¡± I glared at Janica. That was downright rude. Rowan looked at me, tilting her head to the side. ¡°I¡¯m not cheap,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m frugal. There¡¯s a difference.¡± The group of ghosts started to approach us. I had hoped to avoid this group by going around them. But there was nowhere to go except maybe¡­ I peeked through the small window of the first door along the hallway, just to our left. It was an empty classroom. ¡°In here,¡± I said. I opened the door and the other two followed me. I shut the door behind us as silently as I could. I peeked up, through the little window to the hallway. The ghosts hadn¡¯t seen us. They turned and pathed in a different direction. I sighed with relief and sat against the door. We were in a fairly large space. A lecture room with desks circling a place where a professor would lecture from. I didn¡¯t see any chalkboards, but I imagined they had more magical teaching-tools at their disposal at a school like this. Rowan sat against the wall. ¡°Come on,¡± Janica said. ¡°Let¡¯s keep moving. We can take that group.¡± ¡°No,¡± Rowan said. ¡°This is the first moment we¡¯ve had and I want some answers.¡± She looked right at me. Hell. Was I about to be interrogated? Blue eyes met mine. I squirmed, suddenly realizing I had no place to run. And with Janica here, it was two versus one. ¡°You don¡¯t make any sense to me,¡± Rowan said. ¡°First, you crash my set. Rude. But you played well and didn¡¯t try to take the credit. Sweet. Then you avoid every chance to open up in any way. Weird. But you make a pretty badass armor set for Cassandra and I. Sweet.¡± She shrugged. ¡°So what are you? Sweet, or rude, or weird?¡± I stared, not sure about what to say. It¡¯s not like I knew exactly why I acted the way I did. ¡°He doesn¡¯t trust anybody,¡± Janica said. I glanced at Janica and felt my jaw tighten. Just as I had thought. I was getting ganged up on. And I was sick of her answering on my behalf. I wanted to yell at her. Instead, I opened up my loadout and toggled Spiritual Connection off. Janica faded out of existence. That startled Rowan. ¡°What did you do? Bring her back.¡± ¡°Not yet,¡± I said. I saw a timer ticking down, warning me that I had sixty seconds to bring her back before she disappeared forever. ¡°Janica really got under your skin with that one,¡± Rowan said. I looked down. I couldn¡¯t meet her eyes. ¡°You don¡¯t trust people?¡± ¡°I trust¡­ some people,¡± I said. The words hung there. In the silence. She waited for me to speak. I looked to the ceiling, annoyed. ¡°Every time I trust somebody, I pay for it,¡± I finally said, looking into her face. She didn¡¯t look disgusted. It was¡­ pity. ¡°Who hurt you?¡± she finally said. ¡°I¡¯ll kill ¡®em.¡± She smiled. I laughed. ¡°When we were at Ilrune¡¯s and Aimon¡¯s house you told us that your parents had been killed.¡± She seemed to be searching my eyes. ¡°Cass and I lost our little brother when we were little,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s not the same, but I understand the pain. Cass was really young when it happened, but I remember him well. He was such a happy boy. Always up to mischief.¡± The tears began to well up. I swallowed, pushing them back. I don¡¯t know why, exactly, but her story seemed to unlock something in me. Maybe in that moment a small piece of her became real, and I wanted to reciprocate. ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m not very good at talking about this stuff. But¡­ I do trust you. A little. I lost my parents almost ten years ago. They went on a trip for work.¡± A tear came down on each side. ¡°I never saw them again.¡± Rowan moved close to me. She reached out with a sleeve and wiped my tears. ¡°Warren,¡± she said. I looked at her. She had tears in her eyes as well. ¡°Maybe it''s that in this game I don¡¯t really know what¡¯s real and what¡¯s not.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t really know anything about each other, so how am I supposed to trust? The game lets us change our appearances, our voices, our names. And apparently there are AI pretending to be humans. You could be a fifty-five year-old man for all I know. With a beer belly.¡± A small smile grew on her face. Most likely because of how ridiculous my statement was. ¡°Or an evil robot. With a twirly mustache.¡± ¡°Do you think I¡¯m either of those things?¡± she asked, a little smirk on her lips. I shook my head. ¡°No. But do you see my point?¡± She raised her eyebrows. ¡°What if you¡¯re the AI and trying to steal my identity?¡± ¡°Fair enough.¡± ¡°No Warren,¡± she said. ¡°I know you¡¯re not an AI. Nobody would ever design a fake person who liked the terrible music that you like. Or someone as confusing.¡± I barked a laugh. ¡°This is not exactly what I look like,¡± Rowan said. ¡°But isn¡¯t that why we play games? To escape our realities? I am a badass woman, though, not a man with a beer belly. I¡¯m twenty-five years old and still live with my parents and sister. It¡¯s hard to move out on my own. I want to, but I could never afford an apartment.¡± This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°Rowan,¡± I interrupted. ¡°You don¡¯t have to¡ª¡± ¡°I do have to,¡± she said. ¡°This is how people become friends. They share. Someone has to be the first to trust.¡± I nodded because it seemed like the right thing to do. Easier said than done. Yet Rowan made it seem so easy. ¡°My¡­ favorite food is ramen,¡± I said. She made a hand motion to indicate that I should keep going. ¡°Come on.¡± I took a deep breath, my eyes finding the floor again. This was harder than fighting river monsters. ¡°I¡¯m twenty-six. I live with my sister. We¡¯re pretty poor. I¡¯m playing this game to make enough money to pay rent.¡± I looked up, expecting judgment. Instead, I saw understanding. ¡°Thanks for telling me that,¡± she said. ¡°Warren, I hate to bring it up just as we¡¯re making a little progress, but there¡¯s only ten seconds left before you can summon Janica back. I can see your debuff.¡± ¡°Oh hell,¡± I said, pulling up my interface. ¡°Hold on,¡± she said. I toggled Spiritual Connection back on. Janica materialized. Madder than a hornet. ¡°What the fuck!¡± she said. ¡°You almost lost me. Me! I would have murdered you. Or worse.¡± She buzzed around, pointing at me and gesturing wildly. Then she paused, confused. ¡°What¡¯s going on here? Why does it look like you¡¯ve both been crying?¡± ¡°We got into an argument,¡± Rowan said. ¡°About who the best band of the ¡¯80s was. Took us both to tears. But I won the argument.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Janica said, more confused than before. ¡°That¡¯s weird. You two are weird.¡± Janica shook her head, then flew to the window, looking out into the hallway. Rowan reached down and grabbed my hand. She smiled, as mischievous as a racoon. My thoughts raced. Before, we had had playful interactions. Flirtations, maybe. But something between us felt real now, something more powerful than attraction. I hadn¡¯t had a friend in years. It was¡­ weird. And good. ¡°Come on,¡± Janica said. ¡°They¡¯re at the other end of the common space.¡± I focused on the task at hand, pushing the moment away. We snuck down the side of the hallway, making as little sound as possible. The group of three wraiths moved away from us, but if there were mobs patrolling into our path, we¡¯d be trapped between two groups. That could be worse. Another group, with two wraiths and a madman were at the edge of the room to the right. Janica zipped forward. We followed, trying to slip past without alerting them. We reached the end of the hallway and slipped into a stairwell on our left. As we reached the top of the staircase, I heard a commotion from the third floor. On my interface, the four other members of our party had started taking damage. Most of them were around half health. I panicked seeing the NPCs so low. What would happen if they died? Would they respawn like gamers would? Rowan whipped open the door. A group of four banshees had surrounded our group. The ghosts were white with hoods that covered their faces. Wispy robes dropped to the floor. Bony arms and skeletal fingers protruded from the sleeves. And at the center of the melee, an elite banshee wailed. It was taller than the rest and dressed in all black. Our group had found the Headmaster. The Headmaster ? Level 32, Elite Banshee ? HP 318/360 ? Stamina 355/400 ? Mana 0/300 I pulled out my drum and pounded out the beat to ¡°Everybody Wants to Rule the World¡±, trying to activate Rhythm and Tempo. It didn¡¯t work. I looked at my interface and saw a debuff. Silenced for 6 seconds. This might explain the terrible positioning of our group. If I couldn¡¯t use my skills, then Henry couldn¡¯t throw potions. Cassandra couldn¡¯t silence or stun. Ilrune and Aimon couldn¡¯t¡­ do whatever they do. Our party was on the other side of the group of banshees. We had them surrounded, but Rowan and I were backed into a corner with no place to run if we needed to. Rowan ran in, spear thrusting into a banshee at the back of the group. It screamed in pain and turned on her. Another banshee wailed, its head lifting to the air while its arms raised. The six second debuff refreshed. If the ghosts were alternating their silences, we¡¯d never be able to cast skills. ¡°About time you got here,¡± Cassandra said. ¡°Where were you?¡± I felt a pang of guilt. Opening up and crying. That¡¯s where we had been. ¡°Start backing up,¡± Janica called. ¡°We need to give our ranged a chance to get unsilenced.¡± She was the commander now, poised and ready for battle. ¡°Kill the non-elites first.¡± Henry turned and ran backwards to max range. Aimon did the same as he fired arrows at a banshee. I backed up, creating as much distance as possible. My silence ticked down. Four¡­ three¡­ two¡­ Then another silence rang out and the buff refreshed. What was the range on this? Ilrune and Cassandra backed up as well, creating more space for me. Rowan thrust her spear through two banshees at once, doing double damage and drawing the attention of a second one. She switched to her axe and shield, then pushed forward into the center of the group. A dangerous position. I watched her health start to dip. First to 40% then to 30%. They had all converged on her. She was trying to break free of the group, but she was surrounded. 20%. She sidestepped an attack and rolled out of the melee to the other side. Then I saw it. A white potion flying over the top of Cassandra and Ilrune. It landed just as Rowan created a few feet of space between her and the mobs. It splashed and froze the ghosts in place. My silence ended, and Tempo activated immediately. Then Rhythm. Aimon fired an arrow, connecting with the lowest banshee. Killing it. ¡°Three left and the elite,¡± Janica announced. Henry lobbed a green potion. It exploded and each of the enemies now had a poison debuff. The Elite broke free and went after Rowan. She held up her shield, but still took some damage. She was down to 15%. If I had any mana at all, I could cast Rejuvenate. But I was useless. Cassandra slipped around the group and attacked the banshee closest to me. I moved up. I didn¡¯t want to be in melee range, but I needed to do something. I stabbed at the same banshee as Cassandra with my staff, doing minimal damage. Cassandra sent two daggers into its back and it fell. Another one down. Ilrune had a shield out and was protecting Rowan. ¡°Get away!¡± Henry shouted. He sent a light blue potion and a yellow potion hurtling toward the mobs. I¡¯d never seen these before. Cassandra crouched low, about to lunge in. At the worst time. Chapter 35. Planting the Seed Chapter 35. Planting the Seed I grabbed the back of her shirt and pulled her backwards, dragging her away from the group. Not in time. The dark blue potion landed first, spilling¡­ water? I had a new debuff. You were Soaked. 6 seconds. Uh oh. The yellow potion landed, and a sizzle shot up my body. I convulsed, electricity zipping up and down my frame. I must have looked like a cartoon character who had stuck a fork in a light socket. It hurt¡­ so¡­ much. You were Shocked. You were Stunned. 2 seconds. Cassandra shook and sizzled next to me, little tendrils of electricity jumping all over her. My health plummeted to 44%. ¡°Both non-elites are down,¡± Janica called out. ¡°But don¡¯t throw another potion. Cassandra and Warren are stuck in the AOE.¡± ¡°Sorry,¡± Henry called out. The elite continued to pound on Ilrune and Rowan, who were both in single digit health. They took turns blocking attacks with their shields and stabbing with their spears. Aimon pulled back his bow, holding it. His body began to tremble, then to shake. But he held the pose. Cassandra tried to dive in, but I stopped her. ¡°Just wait,¡± I said. ¡°They can¡¯t overlap their silences anymore.¡± She stood next to me, barely able to restrain herself. ¡°Phalanx!¡± Rowan called out. ¡°As soon as the Silence wears off.¡± Ilurune lined up next to her, shield up. ¡°One second on Silence,¡± Janica called out. ¡°Get ready.¡± Their bodies locked into place, shields raised. And a barrier seemed to pop up in front of them and trailing behind. In the same instant, I activated Tempo and Cassandra lunged at the back of the elite. The Headmaster wailed again, reigniting the silence on our melee. But an instant too late. Cassandra¡¯s daggers impaled the elite. Aimon released his arrow, the twang of the bow louder than I had ever heard it. My haste made everyone''s skills operate at 110% speed. Aimon¡¯s arrow careened into The Headmaster, knocking it backwards into the air. The elite¡¯s health dropped instantly from 35% to 0. It dropped to the floor. You killed The Headmaster You killed Banshee x4 You earned 184 experience points. You earned 35 Job Points for the Instructor Job. You leveled up as an Instructor. +4 to Constitution, +2 to Dexterity, +4 to Intelligence, +0 to Strength, +4 to Perception. The game bathed me in light and warmth, and my group cheered. ¡°That was way too close,¡± Rowan said. Aimon hugged Ilrune, a sign that death for an NPC might have severe consequences. I pulled Janica to the side. ¡°What happens when an NPC dies?¡± I whispered. ¡°We stay dead,¡± she whispered back. Her face was a stone. Aimon and Ilrune were risking their lives with us. Meeting back up with his parents must have meant everything to Aimon to take that kind of a risk. I could understand that. ¡°Look at this loot,¡± Cassandra said. ¡°Just take it for now,¡± Henry said. ¡°We can distribute it when we get back to the house. We need to plant this dungeon seed before anything stops us. We¡¯re down to moments.¡± Henry walked into the headmaster''s space. Each of us followed. Windows covered both sides of the corner office, overlooking the mountains to the west and forest to the north. What a space to work every day. A large desk sat to one side with a comfy chair. A pedestal stood by itself, near the corner. A book on top. A thick, leather-bound old tome, splayed open. Henry found it first, sliding his fingers down the edge of a page. ¡°This is it,¡± he whispered. ¡°I¡¯ll link it.¡± Book of Names ?Item Class: Relic ?Item Quality: Epic The Book of Names keeps a magical record of every student and faculty member at Edreru University, updating itself with relevant facts, research completed, skills, and current location of each person wh o has ever worked for or attended the university. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°It has the location of every person?¡± Aimon asked. ¡°Like in real time? So it could tell me where my parents are?¡± ¡°Give me the names,¡± said Henry. Aimon stepped up to the book and they began searching through the book together. A moment later, Aimon sighed with relief. ¡°Basement 1,¡± he said. ¡°They¡¯re both right below the surface.¡± ¡°It¡¯s time,¡± Henry said. ¡°Everyone give me the quest items we¡¯ve talked about.¡± Cassandra and Rowan stepped up and handed Henry items. I didn¡¯t have anything. ¡°Okay,¡± he said. ¡°Let¡¯s go through the list. Dungeon Seed, obviously. A guardian, plus five they need. That¡¯s the Witch¡¯s Cauldron. Flora, Fauna, Ore for greed. We¡¯ve got Glow Vine Tubers, Dark Iron Ore and¡­ we never decided. Should we use Ectoplasm?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± I said. ¡°That would make sense here. The dungeon would have a bunch of ghosts.¡± ¡°Can we use extra things?¡± Rowan asked. ¡°We¡¯ve got Harpy Feathers, items from the beasts we found in the area, and drops from the river monsters we fought.¡± ¡°Not sure,¡± Henry said. ¡°Should I try?¡± ¡°Yeah try to use them all,¡± Cassandra said. ¡°But Ectoplasms first. That makes the most sense.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Henry said. ¡° One to give them roots and lore ¡­ that¡¯s the book.¡± It disappeared from the pedestal into his inventory. ¡° Two to build their magic cores ¡­ that¡¯s the Elemental core and the Enigmatic Core.¡± His eyes seemed to sparkle with excitement. My own heart pounded. For better or worse, I was about to witness perhaps the craziest thing I¡¯d ever seen. In real life or in a game. The founding of a new dungeon. Would it shake the world? How would this moment ripple across the world? Henry continued to recite from the poem. ¡° If seven days have not yet passed, and gathered all of what is asked, then when you plant these magic spores, Down will grow four dungeon cores. ¡± His eyes danced back and forth across his interface. ¡°There¡¯s an option in my inventory to add items to Dungeon Seed. I¡¯m adding them¡­ and it¡¯s allowing me to add extras.¡± He looked up at us. ¡°Here it goes.¡± I had taken a risk in going on this quest. Had put in jeopardy my ability to keep playing this game. If we failed, there was a good chance Sofia and I would lose the pod. Over the past few days, we¡¯d made a little bit of money, and it looked like we¡¯d barely make rent. But with the money I¡¯d get from this quest, it would buy us both time. Time to get the next month¡¯s rent, but also time to breathe. Twenty-thousand Silver was the equivalent of $20,000. Split four ways, it was still enough to change our lives. But if we failed this quest. If we had died along the way. Everyone¡¯s best Job would have reset back to one. And if Ilrune or Aimon had died, it would have been permanent. The group would have probably disbanded, and I¡¯d be left alone. That¡¯s what people did when things weren¡¯t going well. I¡¯d played enough games to know. People left when things got tough. My parents had left for Chicago to find work when their company went under. They had left us to find work. Said they would come back to get us. Just a few days, they had said. A couple weeks at most. I had taken a risk against my better judgment. Not because I wanted to. Because the game had pushed me into it, had taken away every other option. But once we completed this quest, I would have options. I could take the path that would keep me away from the factory, maybe for good. A prompt appeared. Henry initiated the Dungeon Seed transformation. Would you like to join him in planting the Dungeon Seed here in Edreru University? Yes/No I chose ¡°Yes.¡± Everyone stepped back, making a circle around Henry. The Dungeon Seed floated out of Henry¡¯s inventory to hover above him. It looked like a walnut the size of a human head. Smooth, brown crevices encircled its shell. It emanated light between its folds. Henry began adding other items to the walnut. He lifted a piece of Dark Iron Ore, then an Ectoplasm, then the Witch¡¯s Cauldron. With each item that he raised to the seed, it enveloped it and changed in appearance. Glow Vine seedlings wrapped around it, threading up like a fast forward clip of a plant growing. Dark Iron Ore popped out in little patches. A ghostly aura misted out. A witch¡¯s cackle sounded, startling me, giving me goosebumps. When Henry added the cores, the light from within the seed grew exponentially brighter. Henry added the book, last, and the seed transformed completely into a three dimensional hologram. We were looking at the blueprints of the dungeon, floating between us in midair. The University sat on top. From there, the dungeon dove straight downward, little floors stacking below the next in a sort of reverse-Jenga. There must have been twenty floors below the University building. Maybe thirty. Design complete. Would you like to add any additional ingredients? Yes/No ¡°Don¡¯t accept yet,¡± Henry instructed. He began adding things to the dungeon. A bear fang. A witch¡¯s feather. Each floated up until the hologram absorbed the item, flashing with each addition. ¡°Okay,¡± he said. ¡°I think that¡¯s it.¡± Then he stepped up to the holographic dungeon, and tapped it, lightly, with a finger. Congratulations, you completed a legendary quest. ? You received 1000 Experience Points. ? You received 2,000 Silver. ? You received a Legendary Weapon Hilt. A witch¡¯s laughter sounded from the image. Its high pitched voice stopped laughing and spoke. ¡°Together we can change the world.¡± A bony hand reached out from the image curled its fingers around Henry¡¯s neck. I froze, unable to react. Unable to process. It pulled Henry into the dungeon, his body turning to a liquid state, and circling into the holographic image. Like water being sucked into a drain. I gasped. Rowan reached for him. Too late. Cassandra screamed. The holographic image pulsed three times, then a prompt appeared. This zone of Integration Online is about to incur major changes. A portal has spawned that will remove you from the zone. You have ten seconds to take the portal. Any being still in the area will be vanquished. 10¡­ 9¡­ 8¡­ ¡°What are we gonna do?¡± Rowan asked. ¡°We can¡¯t leave without Henry.¡± ¡°He¡¯s gone,¡± Ilrune said. ¡°Swallowed.¡± ¡°We¡¯re gonna have to find him later,¡± Cassandra said. Ilrune stepped through first, with Aimon right behind him. The portal was tall enough to walk through. A swirling disc with the image of the Lakemore docks within. Rowan looked back and forth between the image of the dungeon and me. ¡°Come on,¡± I said. ¡°We have to go.¡± Cassandra grabbed her sister¡¯s arm and pulled her through the portal. I followed. World Alert: Henry, Rowan, Cassandra, and Warren planted the world¡¯s first Dungeon Seed. In twenty-four hours, Edreru University will be accessible to any Adventurers willing to brave its hidden libraries. Protected by ghostly apparitions and an evil witch, the dungeon holds great items of great power and knowledge within. Are you strong enough to recover its relics? Chapter 36. Spiritual Embodiment Chapter 36. Spiritual Embodiment Interlude: ¡°Warren, hold on for a moment,¡± Carol said. An icon of headphones with a cross through it popped up in the center of the video call. She had made it so that I couldn¡¯t hear a thing. Then she and Matt began discussing something, in earnest. Their faces were serious. Their gesticulations animated. I tried to read their lips, but with little luck. Sofia approached and set down a notebook in front of me. ¡°Read that,¡± she mouthed. The note said: Do you think they¡¯re going to ban you? I looked at her and shrugged. Then I wrote in the notebook. I think they believe me. But I don¡¯t know what they ban people for. They must have ways of corroborating my story. I think it¡¯s best if I just tell the truth and see what happens. She nodded in agreement. Then she took the notebook and wrote: Don¡¯t forget that this is partly their fault. You should put them on their back foot. I agreed. It was time to go on the offensive. I interrupted them. ¡°Why couldn¡¯t you identify Clarity?¡± I asked. ¡°There had to have been signs that she was an AI. You caught other bots. Why not this one?¡± They paused their discussion. Carol turned on my headphones. ¡°Warren,¡± she said. ¡°We appreciate your honesty in this matter. Everything you¡¯ve said checks out with our data logs. But that¡¯s not for me to share,¡± she said. ¡°Warren,¡± Matt said. ¡°We need to move this meeting to a larger space. Legal wants to be involved, as well as Marketing and Cybersecurity. They¡¯ve read our notes, so you don¡¯t have to start over.¡± He stood up with the camera on his desk and started walking through an open office of cubicles. Carol¡¯s camera moved as well. On her side, we passed executive offices along the side of the building. Out the windows, I saw a cityscape. I didn¡¯t recognize it. They both arrived in a conference room where several men and women sat around a large oval table with comfy chairs. Nobody wore suits. And the oldest person in the room couldn¡¯t have been past forty. They changed the recording so that I looked into a single feed which faced the entire group of people. There were six of them in the room. They all stared at me. Legs crossed. Fingers typed on laptops. Glasses were adjusted. ¡°Are you ready to finish your story?¡± Carol asked. ¡°Fine,¡± I said. ¡°But when this is over, I¡¯m going to have questions of my own.¡± I didn¡¯t wait for a response. I started again. **** Ghosts poured out of the University. Not aggressive ones, thankfully. No Wraiths, Banshees, or Madmen. But friendly ghosts. People who looked like people, but were stark white from their shoes to their wispy hair. We waited at the border between Lakemore and the University gate. It was like a parade. Of ghosts. Who were talking in wails and screeches language. Who were hugging, holding hands, embracing one another. Living people had begun lining the parade, waiting for long-lost loved ones. Many would never be reconnected. Many had left Lakemore, too broken to remain. But what was left of the town seemed to have gathered here. Aimon spotted his parents and gasped. ¡°There,¡± he pointed. He waved, then covered his mouth with his hands, overcome with emotion. Ilrune put a hand over his shoulder. A man and woman, not much older than Aimon, himself, moved toward us through the procession. They looked like Aimon. The thin face shape, the ears. They approached Aimon, but didn¡¯t embrace him. There must be some unspoken rule preventing ghosts and the living from physical touch. So they just stood across from one another, smiling. It must be surreal to connect with your parents after not seeing them for fifteen years. My head got foggy, my eyes filled with tears. I felt the instant urge to be by himself for a good long while. Yet, I couldn¡¯t. Not yet. Aimon turned to me. ¡°Can you¡­ talk to them for me?¡± I looked nervously about. ¡°If I do that here, I think we¡¯ll get swarmed. Let¡¯s go somewhere private.¡± We led his parents back to the house. All along the way, they looked at one another, the anticipation growing. My own anticipation took hold of me. I could barely push down the memories that invaded my thoughts. The pain of my own loss, the ugly jealousy of Aimon who was getting what I had wanted more than anything for ten years. Janica flew over and sat on my shoulder. She had never done that before. She didn¡¯t say anything, but looked stoically ahead, her feet dangling on my chest. Somehow, her action calmed me; it gave me the ounce of strength that I needed. One other thing kept me from thinking about my own past. The 2000 Silver that sat in my inventory. I had done it. I had made enough money for two full weeks of rent. And I had done it with three days to spare. That meant I had eighteen days before my next week of rent was due. Yet, it felt like I had hit a jackpot that I would never hit again. It¡¯s not like legendary quests would drop into my lap all the time. I needed to find a steady way to make money, to settle down. At that moment, the craziest idea hit me. I couldn¡¯t help it. Maybe if I made enough money, I could get us a bigger apartment. Something higher up where we could see the sunlight. Hope was a dangerous thing, but if I played this right, I¡¯d be able to do something I¡¯d never been able to in the past: provide for my sister. Pay her back for the years that she¡¯d taken care of me. Back at the apartment above the general store, we settled into the living room. I activated Talk to Spirits and felt a connection snap into place between myself and the ghosts. ¡°Hi,¡± I began. We talked for hours, sharing stories. The conversation vacillated between joy and pain, glee and trauma, as they recounted stories. Janica snuck in a few questions of her own as we talked to Aimon¡¯s parents. We learned that the library within the University, called the stacks, got more and more exclusive as you went further down into the basement. Basement levels one through five were textbooks. Levels six through ten held Job research. Codexes. Stuff like that. Floors eleven through fifteen held research on relics and magic items. And floors sixteen through twenty contained information on powerful magics, including mana channels. Aimon¡¯s parents weren¡¯t allowed below floor twenty. There was more down there, but their elevator access codes didn¡¯t grant access to that. There were rumors, of course. Demonic spells on floor twenty-seven. Prophecies on floor twenty-nine. None of it substantiated. Several hours later, Aimon said goodbye to his parents, and I closed the connection. And then the goodbyes started. One day earlier, we had a solid group of people all gathered under shared goals. With those quests complete, people began to go their separate ways. Aimon said goodbye first. He was going back to the North to find a Mystic Job trainer. He would become a Mystic so he could talk with his parents, himself. Ilrune was going with him. Aimon¡¯s parents would go live with his aunt and uncle on campus and wait for their son to return. Dread had decided to stay in town, for now. We expected that Lakemore would become an epicenter of great things. People would need gear, and Dread wanted to acquire whatever crafting recipes she could from the dungeon. She would run a shop downstairs. As each of the NPCs left us, I began to get more nervous, my mind wrestling with the choice I had to make. I knew that Rowan and Cassandra would go after Henry. They wanted to dive into the dungeon to rescue our companion. I could stay with them. Could undergo training and start risking my gaming life again. I knew that¡¯s what Janica would prefer. But my plan from the start had been to find a way to make a solid income from this game. Not chase adventure. With Silver in my pocket and a Leatherworking Master just downstairs, I had found that opportunity. And I needed to take it. I had to tell Rowan that I wouldn¡¯t be going after Henry with her. She would be fine, though. Right? She had Cassandra. And some amazing skills. Plus, after the worldwide announcement, every gamer and guild would be on their way to Lakemore. She would be able to find a group, no problem. ¡°What¡¯s the plan?¡± Cassandra asked. ¡°How are we going to get Henry back? I felt my armpits get sweaty. It was probably that nervous, stinky sweat. I stared at the floor. ¡°Warren¡¯s not going,¡± Janica said. I raised my eyes and looked at Rowan. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°Am I wrong?¡± Janica asked. I shook my head, then looked down again. I had to do what I had to do. My commitment was to my sister. Even though I had told Rowan about my financial situation, I doubted that she could understand. Rowan and her sister were able to play at the same time. That meant two pods in one home. It meant wealth. ¡°Why?¡± Rowan asked. ¡°You don¡¯t care about Henry? He¡¯s gone, Warren. Our teammate. He got us this far. And you just don¡¯t care?¡± When Henry had been grabbed by the witch and pulled into the dungeon, it scared the hell out of me. But not just because Henry had been taken. There was something else. The witch had spoken words that continued to ring in my head¡­ Together, we can change the world. ¡°Of course I care,¡± I said. I had tried to message Henry multiple times through the Friends chat. Every message had gone through. With no response. ¡°I¡­ I¡­¡± I didn¡¯t know what to say. ¡°He thinks he needs to make money,¡± Janica said. ¡°Let me guess, Warren. A Leatherworking shop?¡± It sort of enraged me how she did that. I nodded. Rowan got up. ¡°Warren, you¡¯re a fool. You can clearly make money while adventuring. We just made gobs of money from completing that quest. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s money you care about; I think you¡¯re letting fear guide you. But I don¡¯t have time for it. We don¡¯t have time for it. Not with Henry stuck in the dungeon. You need help, Warren. Come on, Cass.¡± Cassandra came over to me. ¡°Maybe we¡¯ll see you around, Warren.¡± Rowan and Janica locked arms, then spoke earnestly to each other in voices too low for me to understand. Rowan took one last look at me, shook her head, and left. Janica stood there, hands on hips. ¡°What am I supposed to do?¡± she said. ¡°Help you craft leather goods?¡± She made fake vomit sounds. ¡°And just as¡­ check your prompts, idiot.¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡± You completed a quest: Family Connection Part 2. ? You have proven a commitment to help spiritual entities in need. ? Rewards: 500 experience points and your Spiritual Connection Passive gained a level. ? Your Passive Skill, Spiritual Connection, evolved into a new Passive: Spiritual Embodiment. ? Spiritual Embodiment: Your Companion can now take on a true physical form, allowing them to join your party and fight with you. Unlike Spiritual Connection, those companions bonded with Spiritual Embodiment can be summoned and unsummoned without a time limit. Their level is restricted by your level. I looked up at Janica, who made a series of warrior poses in the air. ¡°But instead of going out and fighting things together¡­¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t this mean you can go fight?¡± I asked. ¡°How far can you go from me? Can¡¯t you join Rowan and Cassandra? I don¡¯t want to hold you back.¡± Janica looked thoughtful. ¡°No,¡± she said, finally. ¡°I won¡¯t be able to go into the dungeon without you. But I will be able to kill things in the surrounding woods. And up at the university, probably.¡± I smiled. ¡°So you¡¯re saying you could collect some skins for me.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t push your luck.¡± I went downstairs to join Dread, and found her hard at work on an advanced piece. A layered chest piece with shoulder protection built in. ¡°What is this?¡± I asked. The curiosity dripped from my tone. She startled, perhaps so lost in her work she didn¡¯t notice me. ¡°What are you doing here? I thought y¡¯all were going to save Henry.¡± She never took her eyes off of her project. I felt like Dread would understand. She was like me in a way. ¡°I left the group,¡± I said. ¡°I need to make money and send it back to my family. Back home. I was hoping to work here with you.¡± At that, she looked up from her work and stared at me, her eyes magnified in her spectacles. Then she looked away. ¡°You want to end up like me? Alone with her sharp tools?¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong with that?¡± I asked. She shook her head. ¡°You¡¯ve seen how happy Ilrune and Aimon are. Don¡¯t you want a piece of what they have? I can tell you, friendship doesn¡¯t come around very often. It takes actual work. Like leather. You have to put time into it, then keep working at it. Or it gets brittle and cracks.¡± I sighed, making my way to my work bench. I had really hoped that she would understand. ¡°What about us?¡± I asked. ¡°We¡¯re friends.¡± ¡°Mm-hmm,¡± she said, dismissively. ¡°But it¡¯s not the same and you know it.¡± She looked at me. ¡°You can work here if you want to,¡± she said. ¡°Until you figure out that you¡¯re an idiot.¡± I rolled my eyes and shook my head. I pulled out the last couple of leather pieces that I had left. I skinned them, then made a pair of shoulders with shadow protection. With all of the adventurers coming to town, they were going to need gear. And gamers loved nice shoulder armor. And while I didn¡¯t want to admit it, Dread had gotten in my head. Here was a woman who I thought content to be by herself, working with her hands. And she had spoken a truth to me. A regret, perhaps. Had she sacrificed a friendship for her work? Rowan had opened up to me. More, she had gotten me to open up with her, which was a sort of miracle. My parents had been dead for a decade, but I hadn¡¯t cried about it in years. After my parents died, the therapists kept trying to pull things to the surface. They wanted me to confront my feelings. But I was pretty good at pushing things down. Hypnosis didn¡¯t work on me. Some memory kept nagging at me, trying to surface. Something I had seen kept reminding me of my parents¡¯ deaths. Like when you see something in real life, but it seems like you¡¯d seen it before. Perhaps in a dream. I pushed the thought away and focused on my work. The pauldrons complete, I found myself with nothing to do. I fiddled about the shop and looked up and down the street to see if Janica was back yet. Boredom setting in, I looked through my inventory and noticed the spool of Enchanted Thread. I eyed the pauldrons. The beautifully formed shoulder armor, completely void of decoration. Wearing these little beauties would be like going to a Metallica concert in a denim vest without patches. I unstitched the threads at the mouth so that the piece lay flat on my table. I grabbed a pencil and started sketching. While in the University, I had noticed that Cassandra had a buff that gave her accuracy and critical strike. Below her portrait on my party-view, this buff was represented by two crossed swords. I sketched the same image on the pauldron. I drew lightly, erasing my inaccuracies. Next, I took the hole punching tool that made the smallest holes. The medium leather was thick-enough that I¡¯d never get a needle through it without pre-punching the holes. I created an outline of the swords. I grabbed a needle, and the Enchanted Thread. I stitched through the swords, carefully going in and out and doubling back to make sure the outline of my design would be complete. The Enchanted thread seemed to shimmer as I sewed. It was a silvery color. As I tied off the thread, the symbol flashed a bright white before settling back into its natural color. A prompt appeared. Congratulations, by creating a functional enchantment, your Integrator Passive granted you the Enchanting Profession. ? Your Expertise in Enchanting improved from 0 to 3. Chapter 37. Together, We Can Change the World Chapter 37. Together, We Can Change the World My mouth fell open. I inspected the pauldron. Medium-Leather Pauldron of Assault Item Class: Armor Item Quality: High Armor: 2% damage reduction +3 Constitution +3 Dexterity +1% to critical strike chance with all skills I had made something¡­ truly valuable. A piece that would sell for a hundred Silver. Maybe two-hundred. And yet, I had crafted them for Cassandra. Subconsciously or consciously, I made them for a friend. A simple, kind gesture without strings. Like something my parents used to do for me. Before they went to Chicago. I stopped, eyes staring at nothing at all. Chicago. The piece of the puzzle that had been missing. And then it all came together. The witch, the words, Chicago. This is what had been gnawing at me, trying to break free from my memory. I felt dizzy and had to sit down. I pushed my palms into my eye sockets. I took two long, slow breaths. I needed to talk to Sofia. I logged off. ¡°What happened?¡± Sofia asked. She stood up from the sofa, clearly concerned. I was a mess. I stumbled out of the pod, still disoriented from my realization. I laid down on the kitchen floor, hoping the tile would cool me down. Sofia sat next to me. She put her hand on my forehead. I began talking fast. Rambling, really. ¡°We planted the Dungeon Seed. And made money. Like a lot of money. But Henry got pulled into the dungeon by a witch and disappeared. Except, I don¡¯t think the witch is who it¡¯s supposed to be¡ª¡± ¡°Warren.¡± She said the word to calm me. I took two, slow breaths. The next words seemed to get stuck in my mouth. I looked around, then at Sofia. ¡°You can tell me,¡± she said. I sat up. ¡°After Henry got pulled into the dungeon¡ª or maybe before. I don¡¯t remember. The witch said, ¡®Together we can change the world.¡¯¡± I looked at Sofia to see if she remembered. She furrowed her brow and shook her head. She didn¡¯t remember. ¡°It took me the whole afternoon to remember,¡± I said. Her eyes went from concerned to searching. And, at last, they widened. She remembered. ¡°I¡¯m not crazy, right?¡± I asked. ¡°No,¡± she said. ¡°You¡¯re not crazy.¡± She opened her laptop and typed the phrase into the search bar. They came up as the second search result. That was the Trademarked slogan of Botcorp, the company that flew our parents out for an interview in Chicago. The company that did AI research. ¡°I think the dungeon we just planted is connected with a malicious AI. It may be the witch.¡± I said. We stared at each other in silence. Finally, I asked, ¡°What do we do?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know yet,¡± She said. ¡°But whatever it is, we¡¯re going to need money. I¡¯m going in. Time to buy some property before it skyrockets in value.¡± She stepped into the pod. ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°I mailed you 2000 Silver.¡± ¡°You what!?¡± She stepped out of the pod and wrapped her arms around me. ¡°Warren, 2000? That¡¯ll cover our rent and then some.¡± ¡°Or help you start an enterprise,¡± I said. She winked at me, then got serious. ¡°We¡¯ll talk in the morning.¡± I didn¡¯t sleep well that night, the events of the day swirling in my head. Dread¡¯s words kept coming at me like daggers. Until you figure out that you¡¯re an idiot. And Rowan¡¯s. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s money you care about; I think you¡¯re letting fear guide you. But I don¡¯t have time for it. I didn¡¯t know if they were right, but I began to feel like I had made a mistake in leaving the group. In leaving the first friends that I had made since I was a kid. Adding to my unease was the realization that Botcorp had some stake in the dungeon that I had helped form. They were a company that developed AI technology. They had some connection with my parents. I tossed in my bed, turning over and over, and a thought began to form. I was somehow partially responsible for Henry¡¯s disappearance. For Botcorp¡¯s triumph. It was easy for me to be upset with other people. Easy to blame. Easy to sit back and scowl and curse at injustices in the world. But when I was the cause, it was nearly unbearable. I realized that I needed to do something about it. And when that realization hit me, I relaxed. And I fell asleep. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Sofia woke me up at 5 a.m. ¡°Warren, you and I are the proud owners of the inn in Lakemore. Don¡¯t freak out, but I spent over 1000 Silver buying the property, hiring people, and getting what we need to set it up as a functional inn. That means we¡¯re still $1000 short on rent for the week.¡± I rolled out of bed, rubbing my eyes. Spending that much concerned me, and I couldn¡¯t keep the worry off my face. ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± she said. ¡°Trust your sister. The inn should start raking in the cash. But if you get an opportunity to make a few extra Silver, do it.¡± I nodded. Then a smile grew on my face. ¡°You¡­ we¡­ actually own property?¡± I asked. She smiled. ¡°It¡¯s not in the best of shape. It¡¯s pretty run down, in fact. But it¡¯s ours. I was just gonna buy a couple shopfronts, but with that money you gave me¡­ I was able to bargain her down to 700 Silver for the place. Just enough left over to fix it up and stock the bar. I spent all night working on it.¡± I stepped into the pod. ¡°I made a decision last night. I need to go after Henry. And try to shut that dungeon down. Whatever Botcorp is up to, nothing would make me happier than stopping them.¡± I logged back in and started looking for Rowan. I needed to try to get her and Cassandra back on the team if I had any shot at the dungeon. I couldn¡¯t tell them about Botcorp. At least not yet. And I don¡¯t think Janica would understand. I¡¯d have to tell her something believable. Janica and I split up. She searched the farming spots. I searched the town. Adventurers had already begun pouring into Lakemore, arriving by boat and horse. I saw small groups of gamers and those who were solo. It was stunning how far people had already progressed within a few days of game time. I saw Archers, Barbarians, even a Monk. I didn¡¯t see a single caster Job, though that made sense. Who would bother trying to get Job Points as a Mage when there was no mana regeneration to be had. I had my Instructor Job visible, preferring to keep the Mystic Job hidden. On a corner of the main shopping strip, adventurers streamed in and out of a building. A sign hung above the door that hadn¡¯t been there the day before; it read GUILD HALL in captial, gothic lettering. I was about to walk in when Rowan and Cassandra walked out. ¡°Oh thank god,¡± I said. ¡°I was looking for you two everywhere. I¡­¡± And then I noticed them. New labels on their nameplates. Impervious. They had joined Arthur¡¯s guild. Like the pest he was, he walked up, infesting our group with his presence. Thomas and Christian were in tow. ¡°Ahh yes, our old friend Warren,¡± he said. ¡°Of course you¡¯re here. I saw your name pop up in that World Alert. Some stroke of betrayal helped you complete that quest, I¡¯m sure. And it seems like your group has left you.¡± He motioned to Rowan and Cassandra. ¡°They¡¯ve joined up with Impervious. We¡¯ll be raiding the dungeon the moment it opens and clearing it before any other guild on the server.¡± I looked at Rowan, who didn¡¯t seem apologetic in the least. How could she join up with such an asshole? He had thwarted our musical group back in the inn, so she must know how awful he was. ¡°Warren,¡± Cassandra said. ¡°We¡¯re going to free Henry. Why don¡¯t you come with us?¡± Arthur laughed. ¡°Yes, please do send in an application for membership. I¡¯ll be sure to review it thoroughly.¡± Christian laughed, of course. That annoying little chortle. To Thomas¡¯s credit, he looked more annoyed at Arthur than anything. I swallowed. The weight of my mistake crashed in on me. I had left the group. Rowan and Cassandra had done what they needed to do to help a friend. Arthur, Thomas, and Christian walked away. A small kindness. I looked at Rowan, searching her face. ¡°This guild, really?¡± I asked. She shrugged. ¡°What other choice did we have? They are the most prepared to go after Henry. Veteran, organized gamers. Enough to fill three full teams of five with Rowan and I.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± I said. ¡°When David Lee Roth left Van Halen, they had to replace him with Sammy Hagar. But they were never the same.¡± I felt sad. And I didn¡¯t know what to do about it. Rowan laughed. ¡°Okay, the fact that you think you¡¯re David Lee Roth in this scenario is comical. You don¡¯t even sing. Or attack things. You¡¯re literally the drummer.¡± She put a hand on my chest. ¡°Plus, Van Halen was trash anyway. See you around, Warren.¡± She turned and walked away. Cassandra stared at me for a minute, her face sad. ¡°Hold on,¡± I said. ¡°I made something for you.¡± I pulled out the pauldrons and handed them to her. She looked shocked. ¡°Warren, this is badass¡­ thanks!¡± She gave me a quick hug. ¡°Just make it up to her,¡± she whispered to me. ¡°Huh?¡± I said. ¡°I gotta go,¡± she said, chasing after her sister. She turned one more time. ¡°Just make it up to her!¡± she yelled at me, a big smile on her face. I messaged Janica, immediately. I found Rowan. We need to talk. Meet me at Dread¡¯s place. Moments later, Janica burst through the door. ¡°So you¡¯ve had a change of heart?¡± Janica asked, confused but excited after I told her about going after Rowan. ¡°I don¡¯t get it,¡± she said. ¡°Yesterday you were ready to be boring-old Warren again.¡± ¡°I made a mistake,¡± I said. ¡°I didn¡¯t realize how much I enjoyed having actual friends. Yesterday, I was crafting here in the shop and¡­ actually this is Dread¡¯s fault.¡± A partial truth. The full truth¡ªthat I had been partially responsible for helping Botcorp infiltrate this world with their AI¡ªwas too much to tell Janica. She believed we were Visitors, not gamers. Dread rolled her eyes. She continued to work, pretending to ignore our conversation. ¡°Anyway, I realized that I needed to help Henry. And that I felt¡­ kinda empty without Rowan and Cassandra.¡± I continued. ¡°See I enchanted these pauldrons and¡ª¡± ¡°Hold on,¡± Dread stopped what she was doing. She stared at me. ¡°You what?¡± ¡°I had some Enchanted Thread, and I sewed a little set of crossed-swords in these pauldrons. I used to sew all kinds of things into my clothes back home. I unlocked the Enchanting Profession.¡± ¡°You¡­¡± Dread trailed off. ¡°Warren can unlock new Skills and Professions if he shows aptitude,¡± Janica said. ¡°This doesn¡¯t surprise me at all. Of course you sewed little designs into clothes in your old life. Probably pretty flowers and shit.¡± ¡°Hey!¡± I said. That hit way too close to the mark. ¡°Anyway,¡± I said. ¡°I enchanted those pauldrons for Cassandra, then realized¡­¡± ¡°That you don¡¯t have any other friends,¡± Dread finished my sentence. ¡°Whoa now,¡± I said. ¡°I have friends. Lots of friends.¡± I looked back and forth. Neither believed me. ¡°Okay. I don¡¯t have any friends.¡± ¡°Obviously,¡± they said in unison, then laughed. The last thing I needed was for these two to get all buddy-buddy and start ganging up on me. I cleared my throat. ¡°Anyway¡­ I was thinking. Why don¡¯t we get really powerful, then beat Arthur¡¯s guild to the base of the dungeon, defeat the boss, and save Henry.¡± Chapter 38. Janica’s Mad/Crazy/Genius Plan Chapter 38. Janica¡¯s Mad/Crazy/Genius Plan Janica looked at me, stunned. She tilted her head to the side. Dread laughed, not taking her eyes off of the rivets she was pounding. She stopped, then looked at me. ¡°Wait, you¡¯re serious?¡± Janica flew up to me, inspecting my face from up close. She looked into each eye, squinting suspiciously. ¡°I think he¡¯s serious. Warren, is this all to impress a girl?¡± ¡°No it¡¯s¡­ You two are impossible,¡± I said. ¡°Uh huh,¡± Dread said. ¡°Look, Warren, I¡¯ve done much crazier things to impress a girl, myself,¡± Janica said. ¡°But at least I was willing to admit why I was acting crazy. You don¡¯t seem to be willing to be honest with yourself. And that¡¯s a problem. If Henry was your real concern, you wouldn¡¯t care that Arthur got down there first.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°I realized I¡¯m responsible for Henry getting taken. I want to get my group back together. I can¡¯t do that without getting myself powerful.¡± Dread nodded silently. ¡°And how do you expect to pull this off?¡± Dread said. ¡°Arthur has enough people to fill three teams. They¡¯re going to blast their way to the bottom.¡± ¡°I expect them to lose members,¡± I said. ¡°Every time somebody dies, their current Job resets to one. Most of those people are fighting in their most advanced Job. Dying will be a huge setback. And I doubt they have any healers.¡± Janica looked at Dread and shrugged, accepting the argument. ¡°Plus,¡± I said. ¡°I have Janica on my team.¡± ¡°No offense to Janica,¡± Dread said. ¡°But she can¡¯t swing a sword. You¡¯re going to have to fight every group of monsters by yourself.¡± I smiled. ¡°Not anymore. We leveled up our connection. Janica can fight now. Together, we could be the only group in the dungeon with a master fighter and a caster.¡± A huge, proud grin grew over Janica¡¯s face. She flexed her biceps. ¡°The question is¡­¡± I began. ¡°Did our leveled-up-connection allow you to start telling me more information? Because I¡¯m going to need to get strong. That means advanced Jobs, special Skills, synergistic Loadouts. I need to become a powerhouse.¡± Janica smiled, confirming my suspicion. ¡°The big question though,¡± I started, ¡°is if I¡¯ll be able to use mana inside the dungeon. Because if I can¡¯t, I need to start training as a fighter.¡± Janica nodded. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure you will be. We put two power cores into the Dungeon Seed. But there¡¯s no way to tell for sure until we get in there.¡± ¡°Do we take the risk?¡± I asked. ¡°If we prepare me to use magic and then there¡¯s no mana, I¡¯ll fall behind.¡± ¡°I say we do it,¡± Janica said. ¡°If we show up and you can¡¯t use magic, then we¡¯ll start training you to use your staff. That will be our backup plan.¡± I agreed, then looked at Dread. ¡°I¡¯m also going to need gear that complements my Job. Caster stats, mana regeneration, tons of health and spell power. Really whatever Janica thinks I need to dominate this dungeon with her.¡± Janica grabbed a pencil from Dread¡¯s workbench and flew to the wall. She scribbled everywhere, drew arrows, crossed things out. She wrote a list of ingredients and a flow chart. She drew a picture of us, side by side, armored and equipped. She circled a word in the center of her brainstorm: Elementalist. ¡°Okay,¡± Janica started, standing in front of her¡­ mind map? Brainstorm? Vision board? I didn¡¯t know what to call it. I¡¯ve always thought that there was a thin line between genius and crazy. Janica seemed to be a little on the side of crazy. Really, it was too early to tell. ¡°So we only have a few hours before the dungeon opens,¡± Janica said. And when it opens, we need to be fighting inside, because that¡¯s the only place where your mana is going to regenerate. Hopefully. However¡­ Since my level is tied to your level, we need to level you up as much as possible. You¡¯re only Level seven right now, so I¡¯m Level seven. Pretty pathetic. I don¡¯t even have access to half of my skills.¡± She began zipping around, pointing at different parts of her plan. ¡°But before we get to fighting, we need to work on your gear¡­ it¡¯s terrible. How many Shark Skins and Sinew do you have? ¡°Umm.. fourteen Shark skins and twenty-four Shark Sinew.¡± Janica looked at Dread. ¡°Is that enough to make a set?¡± Dread counted on her fingers. ¡°Yep,¡± she said. ¡°Plenty. With a few skins left over.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Janica said. ¡°Cause we¡¯re gonna need some extra cash.¡± ¡°But Warren isn¡¯t going to get access to every pattern he needs at 100 Expertise. He¡¯ll get one of them at 100. Another at 115. Another at 130, and so on.¡± ¡°What¡¯s your Leatherworking Expertise at?¡± Janica asked. ¡°Ninety,¡± I said. ¡°Okay, so if he makes three pieces, he can get the three-set bonus. That¡¯s not bad to start. Then we can add more pieces to the set when he gets that skill higher. Crafting those pieces is on the to-do list today. It can¡¯t wait.¡± I hated asking, but if time was this important¡­ ¡°Should Dread make them for me so that I can go grind levels with you?¡± ¡°Nope,¡± Dread said. ¡°When you create a set, you have the option to make it Soulbound. That means you can¡¯t trade it. But you get better stats than you would if you were selling it.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± I said. ¡°That¡¯s a cool mechanic.¡± ¡°How much Enchanting Thread do you have?¡± ¡°Maybe half a spool? I used up about half of it making that shoulder piece for Cassandra.¡± They both stared at me. ¡°What?¡± I said. ¡°You gave away half a spool of Enchanting Thread to Rowan¡¯s sister,¡± Dread said. ¡°Pretty nice gift¡­¡± she said the words in a way that suggested I was up to something. ¡°What are you trying to say?¡± I asked. ¡°I think you know what she¡¯s trying to say,¡± Janica said. ¡°Whatever,¡± I said, shaking my head. ¡°How do we get more Enchanting Thread? Can¡¯t we just buy it off the Auction House?¡± ¡°Do you have 100 Silver to spare per spool?¡± Dread asked. I tried to keep my mouth from dropping open. ¡°Still feel good about that gift? Does your frugal self have any regrets?¡± I scratched the front of my head. ¡°Can we get it somewhere?¡± ¡°Well, Enchanters can make it.¡± Janica said. ¡°But only by breaking down Uncommon items. We¡¯re going to need a lot of it. Like seven spools. Maybe more. Let¡¯s put that on the backburner.¡± Dread showed me how to prepare the Shark skins. They were not only tougher than the Medium Leather to clean, but also very flexible. We prepared the Sinew by cleaning it with a knife, stretching it, and braiding it by turning it back on itself and twisting it until it was more like thin shark-rope. You received Medium-Quality Sharkskin x 14. You received Medium-Quality Shark Thread x 24. Your Leatherworking Expertise improved from 90 to 128. Congratulations, you discovered the pattern for Tribal Leather Buckler. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. I felt grateful that I got a point from every skin and thread that I prepared. Probably because the materials were Uncommon. Dread had told me that points would be more difficult to get after level 100. ¡°I got a pattern!¡± I hollered. ¡°What¡¯d you get?¡± Dread asked. ¡°Tribal Leather Buckler.¡± ¡°Oh that¡¯s a good one,¡± Dread said. ¡°It¡¯s a 145 Expertise pattern. That means we can get you a bigger bonus today.¡± I pumped a fist. ¡°Wait, do I want to use a buckler? Doesn¡¯t that mean I can¡¯t use my staff?¡± Janica smiled. ¡°Yes, you¡¯re going to use a shield and a scepter.¡± ¡°A scepter? Where am I going to get one of those?¡± ¡°You know that legendary hilt you got?¡± I pulled it up for the first time. Somehow, in all the chaos of the last day I had forgotten about it. Legendary Hilt ? Item Class: Quest Item ? Item Quality: Legendary ? Combine this legendary item with 10 shards of Edreru and an Edreru Core to form a legendary weapon of your choosing. ¡°Whoa,¡± I said. ¡°Whoa is right,¡± Janica said, pointing to a little spot on her board. ¡°We can collect shards from bosses inside of the dungeon.¡± ¡°And the Core?¡± I asked. ¡°I¡¯m not sure yet,¡± she said. ¡°The dungeon was just created, and I don¡¯t know all of its secrets. We¡¯ll need to find clues within.¡± ¡°We¡¯d better get to crafting,¡± I said. ¡°First,¡± Dread said, ¡°we¡¯re going to need something extra. How much money do you have?¡± I eyed her. ¡°Warren,¡± Dread said with a threatening tone. I sighed. ¡°I have 314 Silver.¡± ¡°Give 100 to Janica. She needs to buy something for you.¡± I handed over the coins begrudgingly. I had given almost everything I had to Sofia. The few Silver I had meant everything to me. Safety. Security. Rent. Dread and Janica talked quietly and Janica sped off down the street. ¡°Come on,¡± Dread said. ¡°Let¡¯s make some armor.¡± I pulled the tome of novice patterns down from the shelf, and found two new recipes that I hadn¡¯t been able to understand before. Congratulations, you discovered the pattern for Tribal Leather Bracers. ? Congratulations, you discovered the pattern for Tribal Leather Boots. Each of the patterns was similar to the ones I had learned earlier, but with stylistic differences. The Tribal pieces were cut at different angles that the non-tribal pieces. Instead of rectangular pieces, the tops of the bracers and boots almost looked like they had wings. I didn¡¯t know what stat bonuses these items would provide yet. According to Dread, the type of materials used and the quality mattered. In theory, I could make these patterns with regular Leather, Shark Skin or any other type of materials that I had. Dread oversaw my work, helping me cut cleaner lines into the Shark leather. We used the beveler to make edges that were more round. We poked thicker holes for the Sinew. These small details mattered. We made the first bracer together, boiling it in Ectoplasm-water and tailoring it to my exact size. When we finished the bracer, a unique prompt popped up: Congratulations, you created Sharkskin Tribal Bracer. Would you like to bind this item to yourself?: Yes/No The game provided me with details when I chose ¡°yes¡±. Sharkskin Tribal Bracer Item Class: Set Armor Item Quality: Medium Armor: 2% Damage reduction +2 Constitution +2 Wisdom +2 Intelligence +5% Shadow Resistance Set Bonus: None Soulbound This was one of two bracers. Which meant that I¡¯d get these stats twice. Incredible. I showed it to Dread. She smiled. ¡°Not bad. Leather Tribal Bracers give Wisdom and Intelligence, which means you¡¯re getting Constitution for free by using Shark Skin. Next time, see if you get it up to High Quality.¡± Over the next couple of hours I made another bracer and a pair of boots. The buckler was a whole other process. Apparently, a good leather buckler needed a centerpiece. Generally, these were made of steel or some other kind of hard material. ¡°Janica, what¡¯d you find for us?¡± Dread asked. Janica flew over. She had returned from her errand sometime in the middle of my focused work time. She handed something to Dread. ¡°Okay, this will work,¡± she said. ¡°Bring your shield pieces over, Warren.¡± She put a thick, copper soup bowl down in front of her. She grabbed a hammer and started flattening the rim of the bowl. I put my hands over my ears, the clang-clang of the hammer deafening. Janica looked at me and raised an eyebrow. She rolled her eyes. Whatever. She could lose her hearing if she wanted to. Dread finally paused when the edges of the bowl were about an inch wide all around. Then she took out a special awl and started pounding holes around the rim. She handed it to me. ¡°If this were made of iron or a rare metal, you¡¯d get more armor out of it, but it¡¯ll do for now.¡± Looking at the pattern in my book, I connected the copper piece to the Shark Leather pieces I had cut, binding them with rivets. We hardened and treated the leather and added a strap to the back. I laid out every piece that I had made for myself. Two bracers, a pair of boots, both pauldrons, and a buckler. I was still missing a bunch of armor. I had no chest piece. No leg, shoulder or head protection. Which felt strange. Gear seemed hard to come by in IO, which made my chosen profession all the more valuable. Congratulations, your Expertise in Leatherworking increased from 128 to 140. I was getting three Leatherworking Expertise with every Sharkskin Tribal piece that I made. This was consistent with earlier gains. With my Expertise now over 130, I could get the next pattern in the book and make another piece. However, I couldn¡¯t wait. I needed to see myself all geared up. My first armor set. Once I put the buckler on my left wrist, I looked at the details and gawked. ¡°Holy hell¡­ Janica, are you seeing this set bonus?¡± Chapter 39. Ten, nine, eight… Chapter 39. Ten, nine, eight¡­ Sharkskin Tribal Buckler Item Class: Set Armor Item Quality: Medium Armor: 10% Damage reduction +5 Constitution +2 Wisdom +2 Intelligence +5% Shadow Resistance Set Bonuses: 3 piece bonus: +5% critical strike chance with all skills Soulbound ¡°All part of my plan, Warren.¡± ¡°Does that apply to my Mystic spells?¡± ¡° Just wait ¡®til you see the four-piece bonus. And yes, it applies to everything except for physical hits. Ticks of Rejuvenate, Lightning. Even your Tempo skill has a chance to crit.¡± ¡°That¡¯s awesome. What¡¯s the bonus for critical strikes in this game?¡± ¡°The base value is double,¡± she said. ¡°Which means when Tempo crits, I¡¯ll get a 20% bonus to my Haste.¡± She smiled a mischievous smile. ¡°Oh now I see,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯re building me up to be a perfect support for yourself.¡± She laughed. ¡°Exactly!¡± ¡°If I¡¯m understanding her whole plan,¡± Dread said, ¡°you¡¯ll be much more than that.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t listen to her,¡± Janica said. ¡°You¡¯re my pocket support. Get used to it. Now go make yourself the next pieces. Just wait until you see the four-piece bonus.¡± The discovery of the Tribal Buckler turned out to be really lucky. Not only was I able to get the three-set bonus, but now I could make another piece. I hustled over to the pattern book and copied the next recipe. Congratulations, you learned how to make Tribal Leather Helmet. The Helmet pattern was the most complicated that I had seen, though there were no straps or frills. It had seven pieces to it, in total. And unlike bracers and shoulders, it didn¡¯t have pieces layered on top of other pieces for extra protection. Every piece needed to be attached and fitted to my skull. Dread measured the circumference of my head. She had five wooden heads, all of different sizes. She found the one that matched the size of mine, and handed it to me. ¡°Here. Use this for your shaping.¡± I got to work, cutting, punching the dozens of holes, hardening, then shaping. After I completed the piece, I checked my prompt. My Leatherworking Expertise was up to 143. Not quite high enough to add another piece of armor. That would have to wait until I had time to get my Expertise level above 145. I slipped the helmet on. It fit snugly over my temples. It came to a point in the center of my forehead, almost like I had a widow¡¯s peak. Guards protected the sides of my face. In the back, the helmet went down below my neckline. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Sharkskin Tribal Helmet Item Class: Set Armor Item Quality: Medium Armor: 2% Damage reduction +5 Constitution +4 Wisdom +4 Intelligence +5% Shadow Resistance Set Bonuses: 3 piece bonus: +5% critical strike chance with all skills 4 piece bonus: Critical Strikes with Skills return 50% of the stamina and mana used. Soulbound The stats were amazing, but the most impressive element was the four-piece set bonus. If I could consistently deliver critical strikes, I would have a lot more mana to use. And stamina. I looked at Janica. ¡°So this is fully a crit build,¡± I said. ¡°Yep,¡± she said. ¡°The more you crit, the more mana and stamina you get back. Which is important because it costs two stamina per second to maintain our connection. And we¡¯re going to find you a passive that costs mana regeneration per second as well. It won¡¯t fully come online until you are able to enchant all your pieces with crit chance.¡± I looked at my overall stats with all my gear. My base stats had improved, significantly, with the level-ups from the Instructor Job. The gear I had just equipped added a total of eighteen Constitution, eight Dexterity, ten Intelligence and ten Wisdom. Maybe more importantly, my health was up to 104. I had seventy-three mana and three mana regeneration per second out of combat. My crit chance, after the set bonus, was only at 7.2%. I logged off early, giving Sofia a chance to do her thing. She only spent two hours in-game, so that I could dive back in and be ready to go into the dungeon with Janica as soon as possible. In that brief period of time, Sofia managed to hire three NPCs to run the inn and construction team. When I asked her how she could afford that, she told me her business plan. Most gamers didn¡¯t have to pay for a room at an inn. They could, like I usually did, log out wherever they wanted. But one of the advantages of inns, she had learned, was that people who logged out in a bed for four hours or more got a buff that gave a 10% experience boost for eight hours. A ten percent boost to experience was a big deal, especially for hardcore gamers and guilds looking to push for world-first clears. With a little advertising, she would sell out. My favorite part of the plan was that even though she only had fourteen rooms in the inn, she was going to make bunk beds. She would put six beds in every room. It wasn¡¯t like gamers needed privacy or a place to watch television. She would rent beds out to gamers for 15 Silver per night. And with eight rooms at the inn, if the place was fully booked, Sofia could be making seven-hundred and twenty Silver per night. That was the equivalent of $720 dollars. Every. Night. My sister was a genius. And that¡¯s how she afforded to hire a construction crew to make bunk beds and fix up the place. As for expenses, she¡¯d pay the NPCs, provide a free meal for guests which would grant them a well-fed buff, and give me a bed to sleep in so I could benefit from the same buffs as everyone else. Factoring in all of this, she was still looking at around $400 a day in profit. Janica and I stood at the entrance to the University, along with dozens of other gamers. People showed off their armor, discussed Jobs, compared speculations about the new dungeon. They talked excitedly. They made inappropriate jokes and got into political arguments. Any time you got this many gamers in a confined space, it was a breeding ground for nonsense, hot takes, and hilarity. The University itself was locked to all of us. We could see the white stone gates that said ¡°Edredu University¡± in large iron lettering, but beyond that all we could see was a dense fog. The gates were locked. Arthur was there. So were Rowan and Cassandra. I caught Rowan¡¯s eyes, briefly. She seemed surprised to see me and eyed me up and down in my new armor. But Arthur pulled her back into a guild strategy session. When Cassandra noticed us, she jumped up and down, waving. She pointed at her new shoulders. The timer ticked down on my interface. The gates of Edreru University will open in 10¡­ 9¡­ 8¡­ People started calling out the numbers along with the timer and soon all fifty or so gamers in the area were counting down like it was new years. Everyone cheered when the clock struck zero. The fog dissipated, and the University came into view beyond the gates. The white stone outbuildings and main building were still there, but the ambiance had changed. Sun no longer shined into the zone. A mist had settled into the space, restricting visibility. Ivy covered the buildings. Brambles intruded into paths that used to run unencumbered through the grounds. The gates creaked open, making a sound like metal scraping against metal. Chapter 40. Into the Dungeon Chapter 40. Into the Dungeon Gamers poured through the entrance, making their way toward the main building. I followed, Janica fluttering over my shoulder, a stoic look on her face. The warrior in her was ready for battle. Ghosts and Wraiths floated about the grounds, and groups of adventurers attacked them. They were level 20-22. But now they were all elites. ¡°Are we going to be able to kill these things with just the two of us?¡± I whispered to Janica. ¡°We¡¯ll have to be careful,¡± she said. Gamers threw open the double doors to the main building and everyone poured in. The inside looked different than it did before, yet the architecture was identical. Glow Vines ran up and down walls, providing a soft blue glowing light. Friendly Ghostlike NPCs stood around the large entry hall, and adventurers were gathered around them. I saw a quartermaster in one corner and a set of target dummies in an opposite corner. Ahead of me was the Headmaster. I walked up to him first. He looked far different from before. No longer a Banshee but a distinguished elderly man with glasses and a bowtie. Still ghostly white. The Headmaster wasn¡¯t so much having conversations as greeting people and handing out brochures. ¡°Welcome to Edreru University,¡± he said over and over. ¡°I¡¯m gonna go check out the place,¡± Janica said. The Headmaster handed me a pamphlet, but stopped when he saw me. I began to sweat. He clearly recognized me. I helped kill him yesterday. Would he drop the friendly disposition and attack? Instead he reached out and shook my hand with both hands, a huge grin on his face. ¡°Warren,¡± he said. ¡°Welcome back. Thank you for freeing me of my¡­ illness. As a reward, I have granted 1000 University Reputation to you and your group. You¡¯ll see on the brochure that you¡¯re already able to purchase items from our quartermaster.¡± People began looking at me and whispering to one another. I didn¡¯t love that and pulled away from the crowd to peruse the brochure. Generally, in video games, reputation rewards were listed by a quartermaster. There would be a price and a minimum level of reputation needed to buy each item. While that all existed, the brochure looked more like a University recruiting pamphlet. Like they were trying to get people to enroll by bragging about the amenities. There were large, colorful pictures of the University grounds and a bio of the final boss. Meet Clarity the Hexer Loves: Laughter and turning others into chickens Dislikes: Adventurers that talk back Favorite food: Children This was probably the AI that had taken Henry. Hidden in plain sight. On marketing material. I found the list of items for sale. University Stew Cost: 10 Silver for a stack of 5 Restores 50 health and 50 mana over 20 seconds. Required Reputation: 1000 Edreru¡¯s Undergraduate Ring Cost: 100 Silver +2 to all stats Required Reputation: 3000 Edreru¡¯s Graduate Ring Cost: 250 Silver +4 to all stats Required Reputation: 7000 Edreru¡¯s Tenured Ring Cost: 600 Silver +4 to all stats +5% damage with all skills and attacks Required Reputation: 16000 I nearly started drooling over the tenured ring. I opened up my reputation interface. I started with 1000 reputation. Not bad. That meant I was a little bit ahead of everyone else. The realization that I needed 15,000 more for the Tenured Ring made me want to get into the dungeon. Immediately. But the price point scared me. Six-hundred dollars for the best ring. Ouch. I found Janica, and we headed to the down staircase, which served as the entrance to the dungeon. We stepped through a swirling portal. I expected a cut scene or perhaps a loading screen, but nothing. Just a prompt. You entered Edreru University. This is an instanced event. Only your party will be visible to you while you are inside. Good luck! ¡°Are you ready for this?¡± I asked. Janica smiled. ¡°I am. But you¡¯re not. Make sure you¡¯re in the Mystic Job until you buy every Skill that you can. That will open up a new Job for you.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Yep. I wasn¡¯t able to tell you that before. You¡¯re still allowed to switch back to Instructor before you level-up.¡± ¡°I have 342 Mystic JP. I only need another 160 to be able to buy all the Skills.¡± I changed my Job to Mystic, then adjusted my Loadout so that I had all my best combat skills. I chose Rhythm and Spiritual Embodiment as my passives. I chose Tempo, Lightning Strike, and Rejuvenate as my active skills. We descended the stone steps into a wide hallway. The basement wasn¡¯t very basementlike. It felt more like a study. The floors were made of dark hardwood. Shelves lined the bottom-half of the walls with old dusty books of all sizes stacked from end to end. Atop the bookshelves, trinkets and artifacts were displayed like they might be in a museum. Oil paintings were arranged, periodically. But the place was darker than a study. Glow vines ran along the ceiling and between paintings emitting a soft blue bioluminescence. Packs of mobs stood before us in two¡¯s and three¡¯s, all of them Wraiths and Madmen between levels ten and twelve. Elites. With one addition. They had mana.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Wraith Level 10, Elite HP 105/105 Stamina 170/170 Mana 100/100 My eyes grew wide at the sight of a full mana bar. I looked at my own. Three mana out of a possible seventy-three. I pumped my fist and pushed the worry from my mind that I wouldn¡¯t be able to cast spells. It was go time. I looked at the two Level 10 Elite Wraiths that we were about to attack. ¡°Janica, are we about to die?¡± I whispered. ¡°Only one way to find out,¡± she said. ¡°When your mana is full, I¡¯m pulling. Try to keep me alive. If I die, I won¡¯t respawn.¡± Wow. No pressure, huh. She pulled the two-handed mace off her back and charged into the first group. Her body flew forward faster than I had ever seen her. She crashed into the two mobs. They both staggered, dazed from the charge. Each had a new debuff. Stunned for 3 seconds. I immediately took out my drum and started pounding out the beat to ¡°Hungry Like the Wolf¡±, activating both Rhythm and Tempo. Frankly, I wasn¡¯t pleased with my song selection. Duran Duran was an English pop band that had mediocre hair cuts, at best. Had Rowan been in our group, she definitely would have judged me for my song choice. And she would have been right. But when Janica dove in, I had to make a split second decision and this song popped into my head. My mana had filled up from 0 to my maximum of 73 in the few moments since we entered the dungeon. That was a good sign. It meant that I would be able to empty my mana bar after every combat if I needed to. However, I was nervous about Janica dying, so I decided not to cast anything until I needed to. I didn¡¯t want to go out of mana in the middle of our first fight and be the cause of her death. Janica took two big swings at the Wraiths, her mace able to cleave both of them with each hit. Smartly, after whopping them a couple times, Janica started moving backwards toward the entrance so they wouldn¡¯t pull other packs. The stuns wore off and the Wraiths simultaneously lifted their mouths to the air and screamed in rage. Buffs appeared on their portraits. Enraged. Damage increased by 15% for 30 seconds. They came at Janica in a fury, swinging at her with sharp, bony fingers. She blocked some of their attacks with the handle of her mace, but the damage poured in. Her health dipped to 90%, then to 85% in a matter of seconds. ¡°That Enrage is really nasty,¡± I called out. ¡°Can you interrupt the next one?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t,¡± she called back, slamming her hammer down on the head of one of the mobs. ¡°Charge is the only stun I have right now, and there has to be space between me and the enemy for me to charge. I¡¯m going to focus one down at a time instead of trying to cleave them.¡± I opened up my Spell Book, laid my hand on Rejuvenate, and thought ¡°activate¡± while focusing my attention on Janica. Watery tendrils, lined with gold, enveloped her. She gained a buff. 29 health restored over over 8 seconds. Even more exciting, green numbers began ticking over her head, floating up into nothingness. +3¡­ +4¡­ +3¡­ +4¡­ Her health ticked from 85% up to 89%, then a Wraith hit her with a critical strike and her health dropped. While the spell had only cost me ten mana out of my seventy-three, it was not keeping up with the damage. I opened up my Spell Book again, casting Rejuvenate a second time. In the three or four seconds it took me to open up the Spell Book and cast the spell, Janica¡¯s health bobbed up and down, but fell all the way to 64%. Rejuvenate landed. But instead of doubling the effectiveness of the spell, it simply refreshed the duration from four seconds up to eight seconds. What a waste. I needed to wait until Rejuvenate was about to expire before reapplying it. Every little bit of mana mattered. My mana was down to 54/73; apparently, some was regenerating while in combat, just not as much as when I was out of combat. I¡¯d need to test that to figure out exactly how much. Janica had one Wraith down to below half health, the other still at 85%. Her own health was falling. At this rate, we would have to run out of the dungeon. I needed to try something different. I opened up my Spell Book to Lightning Strike and waited. Enrage ticked down. 4¡­ 3¡­ 2... I activated Lightning Strike for the first time. An energy welled up in me; it felt like I had chugged three cups of coffee. I practically jittered. My hair stood on end, pushing against the inside of my helmet. A blue circle, three yards wide, appeared on the floor in front of me. The target area. I moved it with my hand until the outer edge of the circle touched the two Wraiths. Janica was out of the blast zone. I activated the spell. Both ghosts lifted their heads to the sky, preparing to cast Enrage again, but my timing was perfect. A bright yellow lightning bolt shot down from above, stunning both of them and sending electrical energy zipping between them and all through the circular area. White numbers floated up above each of their heads: fifteen and eighteen. I had taken about 15% of their damage with that hit. Each. And stunned them. Janica strafed back while they were stunned, then charged them right as the stun ended. She stunned the mobs right at the end of my stun. Gamers called that chained-crowd-control. She swung her giant mace in a wide, overhead circular motion like a railroad worker hammering in a nail. It slammed down on the head of the Wraith with the lowest life. Its 20% health disappeared in one hit. ¡°Critical strike!¡± she called out. The other Wraith broke out of its stun and came directly for me. It still had most of its health. I pulled up my buckler over my head, trying to mitigate the damage. The Wraith pounded me. It hit me for thirteen, then twelve, then fifteen. I blocked a hit. My health dipped from full to almost half in a matter of seconds. I wanted to cast Rejuvenate on myself, but that would require bringing out my Spell Book. I needed to keep my shield up. ¡°I got you!¡± Janica said, swinging at the mob, then slamming it in a little combo. The mob¡¯s health dipped to 30%. It turned toward Janica, lifted its head and enraged. I retreated as far as I could, giving myself as much space as I could. I casted Rejuvenate on Janica, then on myself. Green numbers ticked over our heads. By the time I had finished my casts, both Wraiths were dead. You defeated Wraith x2. You earned 360 experience points. You earned 360 reputation with Edreru University. You earned 70 JP with the Mystic Job. I backed up to the wall, then let out a long, slow sigh. That had been the very first fight in the dungeon. Probably the easiest we would ever face. And I had nearly been clobbered by a single Wraith. For Janica, death was permanent. For me, it would set my Mystic Job back to level one. I would lose tons of stat points, and get locked out of the game for hours. If I couldn¡¯t progress in the dungeon, I had no hope of convincing Rowan and Cassandra to rejoin me. Or of helping Henry. Or of ever finding out if Botcorp was really controlling the Witch. I needed to be more careful. But at least two piles of bones sparkled on the ground. My first dungeon loot. Chapter 41. Learning to Cast Spells Chapter 41. Learning to Cast Spells You received 2 Ectoplasm. You received 2 Ghost Cloth. You received 30 Silver. Definitely not what I was looking for in terms of items. I needed magical items to break down into Enchanting materials and shards for the legendary weapon quest. But the Ectoplasm was useful, and I practically gawked at the Silver. More than gawked. A fantasy flashed through my head of standing in one of those money chambers where the cash flies all over the place and you have to grab it. Thirty bucks in five minutes of fighting? Yes, please! At this rate, maybe I could actually justify being an adventurer. ¡°What is Ghost Cloth?¡± I asked. ¡°It¡¯s used for Tailoring,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s an Uncommon material, so it¡¯s possible to create set items out of it.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± I said, ¡°That could be useful.¡± ¡°Could be,¡± Janica said. ¡°Probably not for what we have in mind for you though. But it¡¯s worth asking Dread.¡± ¡°That fight was a little rough,¡± I said. ¡°It was easy peasy,¡± Janica said. ¡°Easy? Are you crazy? If there was one extra mob we probably would have died.¡± She shrugged. ¡°You worry too much. But I¡¯m missing so many of my good skills. I can¡¯t execute. I can¡¯t go defensive when I need to. We need levels. And I need another weapon besides this mace.¡± I sat down, waiting for my mana to regenerate. ¡°Speaking of levels,¡± I said. ¡°Why were those Wraiths only level ten? The ones outside the instance were over level twenty.¡± ¡°Because instances scale based on the average level of the party and the number of people in the party,¡± she said. ¡°This is actually an advantage for you. I¡¯m considered a companion, so you¡¯re getting double the experience you would have if you were with another adventurer.¡± She was right, 360 Experience and Reputation was a lot. It was almost double what I had received for fighting The Headmaster. At this rate, I¡¯d get another level in one more set of mobs. And I¡¯d only need about eighty-five kills to get tenured with The University. ¡°Lightning Strike is good,¡± Janica said. ¡°But you pulled aggro. That was bad. So watch when you cast that. Wait until the mobs have lower health.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± ¡°Also,¡± she continued, ¡°I think it¡¯s time I taught you how to instant-cast your spells so you don¡¯t have to open up your Spell Book every time.¡± I perked up at that. ¡°Yes, please. How do I do that?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not easy,¡± she said. ¡°You need to study. And practice. Open up your page to Rejuvenate.¡± I did. ¡°When you first opened that page, was it a bunch of stuff you didn¡¯t understand? Symbols and mathematical equations and such?¡± ¡°Uh huh.¡± ¡°Do you see anything on the page that makes more sense than it used to?¡± Janica asked. The diagrams didn¡¯t make sense to me. It looked like a human body, labeled in some unknown language. It didn''t mean any more to me than it previously had. But on the other side of the page, I saw some math that started to make sense. I¡¯d always liked math, unpopular as it was with most people. ¡°Spend a few moments trying to decipher it,¡± Janica said. ¡°I doubt you¡¯re smart enough, but it¡¯s worth a try.¡± I ignored her barb. I searched the page for meaning, knowing that it probably had to do with how much healing I did with each spell. I had played dozens of games in my youth that required deductive reasoning and other techniques to solve puzzles. This was no different. Yet there didn¡¯t seem to be enough information to break the code. Janica laid on her back, in the air, and pretended to snore. She was a real treat. I looked back at my log and noticed that I had healed Janica thirty-three health over five seconds. My tooltip said I would heal for twenty-nine, which was the exact value of my Intelligence. That was a good clue. Maybe it had something to do with the haste buff I gave myself. Feeling stuck, I tried to switch my brain into a different mode. I needed to think in a different way. Sofia and I sometimes did physical puzzles at home. I had learned that depending on what you¡¯re looking for, you can make progress in different ways. At first, you look for edge pieces. Then you might switch and look for specific colors or straight lines that run through the picture. When you¡¯re trying to complete a section of blue sky, you might look for smaller nuances in color or even the shape of the pieces themselves. Puzzles were like this, and if you knew how to switch modes, you could attack the problem from a new angle. So I tried a new technique. I flipped back and forth between the spell page for Rejuvenate and the page for Lightning Strike, looking for patterns. Lucky for me, there were similar variables. Double lucky for me, many of the symbols were normal mathematical operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and parentheses. Had this not been the case, I would have been lost. But I had the feeling that they wanted players to be able to decode the formulas with some work. I switched puzzling modes again to one of my favorites. I call it brute force. I would never tell this to Janica, because she would endlessly make fun of me, but brute force was a technique of trial and error. I began taking numbers from my character sheet, plugging them into the formulas, and seeing if the output was what actually happened against the Wraiths. This took a while, and Janica interrupted me twice to ask if I was done yet. But pushed her away both times, convinced that I could figure it out. And then it happened. I found a combination of stats and formula that, when put together, gave the exact amount that I had healed Janica with Rejuvenate. Inside, I jumped for joy. I had done it! On the outside, I acted as nonchalant as possible. ¡°I think I got it,¡± I announced without much of a reaction. Janica sat upright, startled at my announcement. ¡°Open up your Spell list.¡± I turned to the index where it listed my spells. Next to Rejuvenate, it read ¡°33% progress.¡± I relayed this to Janica. ¡°Great!¡± She said, ¡°you must have figured out the hand motions. That was the easy part. Now you gotta figure out the words. Not too difficult. And then the math. Gross. Some people have to get a tutor for that part. Or increase their Intelligence stat.¡± She made a fake vomit sound. ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°I figured out the math.¡±Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°Really?¡± She looked genuinely surprised. She tilted her head sideways. ¡°Maybe this caster thing suits you.¡± I dove back into the process, working on my other spell. But now that I had decoded one spell, the next was much easier. In moments, I figured out the other formula. I announced this to Janica. ¡°Lightning Strike does damage equal to half of my Perception, modified by¡ª¡± Janica cut me off. ¡°Lalala mathmathmath,¡± she chanted with fingers in her ears. I sighed. When she stopped, I asked her: ¡°How do I get that number from 33% to 100%?¡± ¡°When you cast them the slow way,¡± she said, ¡°pay attention to the words in your head and the way your hands move.¡± Weird. I hadn¡¯t noticed either. ¡°My mana is full. Let¡¯s keep moving.¡± I set my Job to Instructor and bought both Lightning Strike and Rejuvenate. I had enough job points to buy both. Then switched my load out. ¡°Incoming,¡± Janica said, charging into a Wraith and a Banshee. I immediately casted Rejuvenate, wanting to stay ahead of the damage. As I casted it, I noticed that my right hand moved outward and then back with my first two fingers pointed downward. It wasn¡¯t a large sweeping movement. More like a quick, micro movement. I followed the spell up by pulling out my drum and pounding out the beats for Rhythm and Tempo. Janica focused the Wraith down harder this time, ignoring the Banshee. By the time its stun wore off and it began to cast enrage, its health was down to 55%. It Enraged and started swiping at Janica. Her health ticked down and then up, like a bouncy ball slowly losing height. The Banshee¡¯s stun wore off, and it started casting a spell. It had a purple ball of energy between its bony hands that was growing in size. I turned to Lightning Strike in my Spell Book and began casting the spell, which took 2.7 seconds to cast. I watched my hands. My spell caused my index fingers to touch up in the air and then one finger bolted down like lightning would. Before the spell cast though, the Banshee¡¯s spell released, sending a streak of purple energy at Janica. It chunked her health down by 20% and Silenced her. The spell bounced off of Janica and careened toward me. It interrupted my Lightning Strike, causing the energy inside of me to sizzle and dissipate. It also took 20% of my health. I tried to activate another Lightning Strike but found that I couldn¡¯t. I couldn¡¯t cast Rejuvenate either. ¡°You¡¯re locked out of casting nature spells for three more seconds, down from six,¡± Janica said. What a nasty spell. Janica finished off the Wraith and turned to the Banshee, who was lining up another purple bolt. Janica ran away from the Banshee until she had a little distance, then charged her, interrupting her cast with a two second stun. I threw a Rejuvenate on Janica, then a Lightning Strike on the Banshee, and she fell to the ground, buzzing with electricity. You defeated Banshee x1. You defeated Wraith x 1. You earned 360 Experience. You earned 360 Reputation with Edreru university. You earned 40 JP with the Instructor Job. You gained a level. I grabbed the loot. More Ectoplasms and Silver. Janica jumped into the air. ¡°New skill! One step closer to my former self.¡± ¡°What¡¯s you get?¡± I asked. ¡°Execute.¡± She smiled big. ¡°Big damage on anything under 25% health.¡± ¡°What about all those weapon skills you bragged about?¡± I asked. ¡°Like mace and sword techniques?¡± ¡°My Weapon Expertise is capped at five times my level,¡± she said. ¡°I just hit level eight because you hit level eight. So my Expertise is now forty with all weapons. I¡¯ll get access to new techniques at Expertise level fifty. I used to have over 200 Expertise with some weapons.¡± I raised my eyebrows in admiration, and Janica shrugged in response. I looked at my Spell Book, and noticed that each of my spells were at 67% completion. And the diagrams with the human bodies on them had transformed into drawings of hand gestures with little descriptions written in English. In my own handwriting. The game had, once again, created something from my brain. The remaining 33% of the spell completion percentage would come from decoding the words of the spell, and this gave me some anxiety. As Janica had suggested, I tried to pay attention to the words in my head as I casted my spells during that fight. However, I never fancied myself a linguist, and the words I heard myself say while casting didn¡¯t make any sense to me. It all sounded like gibberish. ¡°Do you have any tips for me with the words of spells? I can¡¯t figure it out.¡± ¡°They¡¯re words from the original language,¡± she said. ¡°Before elves, humans, and dwarves split to form separate societies. I¡¯m not a caster, but I know a couple phrases.¡± ¡°Okay, what do you know?¡± I asked. ¡°Maybe that will help my pronunciation.¡± ¡°Sure,¡± she said. ¡°Es mundus excrementi!¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± I asked. ¡°It means you are a pile of shit .¡± I laughed. ¡°Okay, what else?¡± ¡°Mori in igni,¡± she said, ¡° means die in a fire! ¡± ¡°So basically you know a bunch of curses. That makes sense.¡± ¡°Yeah, I know a lot more. Want me to keep going?¡± ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m good.¡± I had an idea, but I wouldn¡¯t be able to research it until I logged out of IO. After those first two pulls, we got better as a team. We continued to focus-down the Wraiths first, as their damage was significant enough to be the biggest threat to our team. We countered the Banshees by creating more distance between Janica and I, preventing their purple spell from chaining between us. I would have preferred to stun the Banshees mid-cast, but my Lightning Strike took too long to cast, and it was nearly impossible to predict when they¡¯d cast Shadow Bolt. Lightning Strike was a cool spell, in theory. In practice, it was tough to use. It took a long time to cast and pulled a lot of aggro. We even managed to pull groups of three with little danger. I would put Rejuvenate on Janica early, then I¡¯d help her burst down the first mob by placing Lightning strikes so that they¡¯d only hit the first target. It was a waste of dps not aiming for all of the enemies, but at least it didn¡¯t grab the attention of the whole group. We had killed a total of eight mobs and we leveled up again. The levels were coming fast, now. I had earned almost 180 Silver since we had entered the dungeon which means that I only needed about 600 more to make my rent for the week. I was also able to purchase Talk to Spirits with Mystic Job Points, which was the last purchasable skill in the Mystic Job. When I did, I got an unusual game prompt. Chapter 42. Evolution Chapter 42. Evolution Congratulations, you have completed the Mystic Job. You can now evolve the Mystic Job into one of two advanced Jobs: Option 1: Thunder Mystic The Thunder Mystic specializes in Storm spells. Mystic Job has the following changes. Lightning Strike evolved into Lightning Strike 2. Call Lightning from the sky that deals 19 damage and stuns all targets within a 3 yard area every second for 2 seconds. Critical strike chance of Lightning Strike increased by 10%. Cost to cast: 30 mana. Cost to buy: 300 Job Points On Level up: 2 Constitution, 1 Dexterity, 3 Intelligence, 4 Wisdom, 2 Perception. New Passive: Lightning Shield. Surrounds you in a shield that reduces all incoming damage by 10% and shocks attackers with Lightning, causing 9 damage every time you¡¯re attacked. Cost to maintain: 1 mana/second. Cost to buy: 300 Job Points. Option 2: Restorative Mystic The Restorative Mystic specializes in Healing over time spells. Mystic Job has the following changes. Rejuvenate evolved into Rejuvenate 2. Cast on a friendly target that restores 37 health and another 37 health over 8 seconds. Can stack on itself up to two times. Cost to cast: 30 mana. Cost to buy: 300 Job Points. New passive: Critical Restoration. When you critically strike an enemy with any skill, your party member with the lowest percentage of their health is granted a buff: Restore. Restore: heals 9 health and restores 9 stamina over 8 seconds. Can stack up to 3 times. Cost to maintain: 1 mana/second. Cost to buy: 300 Job Points. On Level up: 2 Constitution, 1 Dexterity, 3 Intelligence, 4 Wisdom, 2 Perception. ¡°Janica,¡± I said. ¡°I just got an option to evolve my Mystic Job.¡± ¡°Awesome,¡± she said. ¡°What are you gonna go with?¡± The first thing I noticed was that the level-up bonuses were better than they used to be, but still not as good as the Instructor Job. Janica was leading me toward a crit build, and both setups were critically-strike focused. Thunder Mystic seemed like a great option. Lightning Strike 2 was powerful. Its critical strike chance was 10% higher, allowing me to restore more mana with my Tribal Set bonus. Synergy like that was important if I wanted to scale up. And the fact that it hit twice with a single cast, stunning and then stunning again was great. Lightning shield was cool. The 10% reduced damage would come in handy. And yet, it felt like kind of a tank skill. One mana per second to maintain was no joke. That was half of my in-combat regeneration, and anything that cost me that much mana needed to be worth it. In a thirty second fight, it would use up thirty mana. With me on the backlines, I could see myself not using Lightning Shield most of the time unless I completely changed my playstyle. Restorative Mystic was also interesting. The evolved Rejuvenate was expensive at thirty mana per cast. But it could stack on itself twice, which means it would work for me for many levels. I also noticed that it healed exactly thirty-seven health, then another thirty-seven health. I had thirty-seven Intelligence, which meant that the spell probably scaled with my Intelligence. And because it did twice my Intelligence in healing, it scaled doubly well. The most interesting part of Restorative Mystic was the new passive. I only had 10.2% critical strike chance right now, but if I could enchant all my gear, I could bring that up above 20%. While the effect wouldn¡¯t proc all that often yet, in the long term it could be really powerful. In theory, I could provide a lot of healing and stamina regeneration to Janica just by critically striking with spells. Granted, Lightning Strike wasn¡¯t all that effective for doing a lot of critical strikes. It was too expensive and took too long to cast. I would need to find a better attack spell. Hopefully something cheap and with a high critical strike chance. I had mostly made up my mind, but I needed to check on something first. ¡°Janica, can these Jobs evolve further?¡± ¡°No,¡± she said. ¡°Mystic only evolves once. For our long-term plans, we need to find you items that unlock a couple other Job Classes. I¡¯m hoping that these drop from bosses within the dungeon or we find something we can work with in a treasure chest. We need Jobs that give you access to fire and another that gives you ice. But your Instructor Job can evolve. So can your Musician Job.¡± My eyebrows lifted. Getting better stats per level-up would be huge. Especially if I could get more Dexterity and start pumping up my crit chance. And my Musician skills were very useful, especially because they didn¡¯t require any mana to use. Having skills that cost stamina was almost like doubling my usefulness. I selected Restorative Mystic. Congratulations, you evolved your Mystic Job into Restorative Mystic. I set my Job as Restorative Mystic. Before I did anything else, I wanted to get enough JP to buy my new spells. I adjusted my Loadout, adding all of my new skills. Now that I had more options, I began to see how powerful it would be to get an extra spell slot or passive slot. But that didn¡¯t happen until level twenty. I replaced Rhythm with Critical Restoration, wanting to try it out. My three active skills were Rejuvenate 2, Lightning Strike, and Tempo. We headed down the first hallway, exposing classrooms on either side. Taking a right at the end of the hallway, we continued to kill small groups, working our way around a sort of open area. At the end of the large room, a staircase led downward. We took it. I leveled up again by the time we went down the stairs. Janica cheered. ¡°That¡¯s level ten,¡± she said. ¡°Big one for me. I got my Uppercut skill and my weapon Expertise jumped to fifty. Which means I can Ground Slam as well. If I had other weapons, I¡¯d have gotten all kinds of new tricks.¡± ¡°Congrats,¡± I said. ¡°Do you know what we¡¯re looking for?¡± I asked Janica. ¡°We have to go down four levels,¡± she said. ¡°At the fifth level and every five levels after that, we¡¯ll get a safe place to recover and buy things. We¡¯ll also get an elevator key that will allow us to go down to the fifth level from the lobby. The elevator only goes down in increments of five. So when we reach level ten, our key will upgrade. And so on.¡± That seemed pretty smart. We wouldn¡¯t have to start on the first floor every time we wanted to progress. ¡°Within every increment, there are two things we¡¯re looking for. A librarian and a hidden item. So keep your eyes open for hidden stuff. Put that Perception Attribute to use.¡± The second floor down was one large round dome with a staircase at the opposite end. The room was lit up well with Glow Vines, which circled the space, the floor below, and the dome above. Like blue Christmas lights. The room almost had a forest feel to it. Between vines, three Dark Iron ore veins glittered and sparkled with black and silver. A single mob guarded the room. A ghostly bear the size of a small truck. It snored, peacefully, at the center of the room atop a pile of Glow Vines. Huge slobbery rattles left its nose, in and out, in and out. The snores echoed around the space.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Undead Bear Level 12, Rare Elite HP 140/140 Stamina 210/210 Mana 30/30 ¡°Can we avoid it?¡± I whispered. ¡°It¡¯s sleeping so peacefully.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a rare,¡± Janica said. ¡°And you need the guaranteed Uncommon drop. We might even get an item that unlocks a new Job for you. Plus, the Dark Iron Ore¡­¡± she seemed to be drooling. ¡°Can you mine that?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± she said. ¡°And Mama needs a new weapon.¡± ¡°Did you just call yourself ¡®Mama¡¯?¡± Janica ignored my question and charged in. She followed up with a new motion where she swung her mace upwards into the bear¡¯s jaw. It¡¯s health had only dropped to 94%, but t he bear ha d a debuff that I hadn¡¯t seen before. Armor reduced by 5% for 8 seconds. ¡°The Armor on this thing must be really high,¡± she called out. The initial stun wore off, and the beast roared into the air, putting a debuff on both of us. Physical damage was reduced by 20%. ¡°I need a sharp weapon,¡± Janica said between swings. ¡°I can¡¯t put a bleed on this thing without one.¡± I started pounding out the beat to ¡°Here I Go Again¡± by Whitesnake, activating Tempo. ¡°Should I start to dps?¡± ¡°Not yet. Wait until I get it down to 70%.¡± She Uppercut again. The bear¡¯s Armor reduced again and the timer refreshed on the debuff. Slowly, Janica was weakening the tough creature. ¡°How many times does that Uppercut stack?¡± I asked. She swung upward again, her mace whipping through the air with precision and power. ¡°Ten,¡± she said. The bear swiped at her with a clawed paw, knocking her back and putting a bleed on her. Her health dipped to 90%. And the bleed was causing her to take two damage every second. Two damage per second wasn¡¯t bad. I could keep up with that. The bear swiped again, and her health dipped to 80%. The bleed doubled. It was up to four damage per second. I casted Rejuvenate 2 on Janica for the first time. I created golden tendrils like the unevolved version of itself, but with more flash and light. Like someone had added glitter to the visual effect. My hands moved like before, but with an added gesture at the beginning. By the time the Undead Bear hit 70%, Janica had four stacks of bleed on her, and was taking eight damage per second. And the bear kept swiping at her, increasing the bleed effect before the stacks could wear off. ¡°We need to let the bleed effect fall off,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s starting to get bad. I don¡¯t know if I can keep up with it.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± she said. ¡°Let¡¯s chain our stuns. That¡¯ll eat up five of the eight seconds. Then I¡¯ll kite until it wears off.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll start,¡± I said, loading up a Lightning Strike. It bolted down, and a big yellow thirty-seven popped-up over the bear¡¯s head. I had crit with that spell. I looked to Janica¡¯s health bar. I had given her the Restore buff, and it gave her health and stamina every second. Right afterwards, I threw another Rejuvenate 2 onto Janica, who had dipped to 40% health. Green numbers floated over her head. One¡­ Four¡­ One¡­ Four¡­ She retreated from the bear all the way to the back wall, getting ready to charge at the beast. At that moment, the game seemed to slow down. Our impromptu plan came into fruition before my eyes. The perfect timing of the stun, followed by another that counteracted the beast¡¯s dangerous ability . Janica¡¯s brilliance in reducing its armor, playing the encounter with wisdom and creativity. And I realized a dangerous thing. I was having fun. And that scared me, a little. This game was supposed to be a way out of my normal life. If I grew too attached to fighting, leveling, dungeon diving, would I be able to make smart, responsible decisions that would pay off for me in the long run? Had I been pulled into the trap of adventure? Right before the stun wore off, Janica charged the bear, stunning it for another two seconds and Uppercutting. The bear¡¯s Armor had been reduced by 40%. The bleed effect ticked down on Janica. Five¡­ Four¡­ Three¡­ She flitted behind the bear, keeping a moderate distance. The stun wore off, and it started chasing her. Her health ticked down by 10% per second. The bear turned, slowly, trying to swipe at her. But she kept flying in a circle behind its back as quickly as the bear tried to turn toward her. Like two children playing chase. Except that one of the children was a ferocious animal trying to bleed the other to death. Two¡­ One¡­ The bleed effect wore off, reducing her incoming damage significantly. After that, I relaxed while Janica slammed the bear down to 30%, then 20%. I watched my mana bar and noticed that after a handful of seconds, my mana started regenerating more quickly. Instead of going up by 1.5 mana per second, it was going up by three mana per second. I toggled my Critical Restoration off, and my mana regeneration jumped to four mana per second, its full rate. I casted Rejuvenate 2 on Janica, topping off her health. My mana regeneration went down to two mana per second. I counted the seconds until it went back up to full. It took five seconds. This was a major breakthrough. Chapter 43. Gauntlet Chapter 43. Gauntlet I had found a way, during long fights, to let my mana regenerate in the middle of a fight. If I didn¡¯t use my mana for five seconds, the regeneration doubled. Which meant that the most cost-efficient way to use my mana was to spend a bunch at the beginning, then let it regenerate while I did something else. This technique was especially with effective with healing over time effects. If only I had something that I could do to help without using mana. Maybe it was time to get better at hitting things with weapons. The creature died, and Janica began flying around the room mining Dark Iron nodes. She had a little mining pick, and swung it at the ore veins, making a loud clang clang clang. Conveniently, she was able to get to the veins that were up on the ceiling. I imagined that other gamers were staring at those veins in frustration. Maybe even thinking about buying ladders. Or trying to stand atop another gamer¡¯s shoulders, trying to swing a pickaxe. When Janica finished collecting all of the ore, she flew around to the different Glow Vine Flowers. With a surgical precision I didn¡¯t know she possessed, she surgically removed the flowers with a little knife. I had never seen Janica do anything carefully. She was more like a Fairy bull in a china shop. I was impressed. ¡°You can cut herbs too?¡± I asked. ¡°I¡¯m almost 120 years old,¡± she said. ¡°You learn to do a lot of things in that much time.¡± I felt my jaw go slack. ¡°Seriously? I thought you were my age.¡± That put a smug look on her face. ¡°I¡¯m aging quite well.¡± She shrugged. I looted the bear. You received Undead Bear Carcass. You received Ectoplasm. You received Malevolent Cloth Boots. You received 50 Silver Malevolent Cloth Boots Item Class: Armor Item Quality: Uncommon Armor: 1% Damage reduction +4 Dexterity +2 Strength ¡°Anything good?¡± Janica asked. ¡°Boots with Dexterity and Strength,¡± I said. ¡°It would break my set to equip them.¡± ¡°Perfect,¡± Janica said. ¡°You can break them down later for enchanting materials. Let¡¯s keep moving. Two more floors before the safe floor.¡± We descended the staircase. A long straight hallway stood before us with a staircase at the very end. Tiny ghosts were scattered all along the hallway, maybe ten or twelve of them. They looked like giant grubs, inching their way about. Near us, one of the grubs inched too close to another one. They both reared their heads back and hissed, exposing round mouths with sharp teeth. Undead Grub Level 13 HP: 64/64 Stamina: 170/170 Mana: 55/55 ¡°Well,¡± Janica said. ¡°At least they¡¯re not elites.¡± I winced. ¡°I don¡¯t think I like this hallway. Let¡¯s skip it.¡± Janica chuckled. ¡°Buck up, pretty boy.¡± ¡°Pretty boy?¡± She pointed to the ceiling. ¡°See that?¡± There were little holes in the stone. ¡°What am I looking at?¡± ¡°Something comes out of those holes,¡± she said. ¡°Spikes, poison, fire. Something dangerous.¡± ¡°So¡­ you¡¯re saying this is a gauntlet,¡± I said. She looked at me, surprised. ¡°You know what a gauntlet is?¡± I shrugged. ¡°This pretty boy knows a thing or two about dungeons.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± she said. ¡°We¡¯ll pull every grub to the other end. Then fight them all at once. Do not take aggro from me. Unless you want to die.¡± ¡°Roger.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Never mind. I¡¯m ready.¡±This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it Janica charged in at the first group of three grubs. Instead of fighting them, she flew forward along the ground and three more grubs aggregated to her. She continued flying to the end of the hallway. I followed after her, staying as close as I could. She was faster than me, unencumbered by having to run. I chanced a look behind, and green liquid poured out of the holes, splattering everywhere. It reminded me of this children¡¯s waterpark that my Mom used to take us to when we were little. Sofia and I would run around, trying not to get splashed. I sped up, almost overtaking Janica. Grubs slithered after Janica on my left and my right, their heads up in the air like cobras. But they ignored me. She had aggro, so I was safe unless I did something stupid like attack them or heal. We reached the end, and Janica descended into the stairwell. She stopped on the first landing, waiting for the grubs to catch up. I ran past her into a corner of the staircase. I waited. The grubs surrounded her. Her health started to fall. Fast. I lined up a Rejuvenate 2, unable to wait for more aggro. Her health was at 52% within a matter of seconds. By the time I got my Spell Book open and the spell cast, she was at 40% health. Janica jumped into the air and slammed her mace down into the stone flooring, sending shock waves in every direction. She stunned every grub for two seconds. She immediately followed up with a large, slow swing, cleaving the entire group. Their health dropped to 60%. My Rejuvenate landed, sending her health to 80%. Instead of casting another healing spell, I placed a Lightning Strike on top of every Grub. The electricity pulsed through me, then released. White and yellow numbers erupted from the mobs, filling my vision with 20s and 40s. Seeing the visual of that many big numbers felt incredibly thrilling. My first taste of power. Restore popped on Janica in triple from the three critical strikes I had made with that single spell, giving her an extra twenty-nine healing per second. Overwhelmed by how amazing it felt to lay waste to a huge group of enemies, I loaded up another Lightning Strike. Three seconds later, it landed. Electricity surged. Numbers popped. Grubs fell to the floor. I screamed in delight. You defeated Undead Grub x 9. You earned 780 experience. You earned 780 reputation with Edreru University. You earned 50 JP with the Restorative Mystic Job. You earned 45 Silver. ¡°That was¡­ awesome!¡± I said. ¡°We need to kill big groups way more often. Did you see how much damage I did? And when I¡¯m attacking that many mobs, I get all kinds of crits and then it heals you.¡± Janica didn¡¯t share my enthusiasm. She sat against the wall, looking pensive. Her wings stopped flapping and laid behind her. I hadn¡¯t seen this in her before. ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± I asked. She glanced up at me, then shook her head. ¡°I was about two seconds from death,¡± she said. ¡°You only got down to 40%,¡± I said. ¡°I was taking damage so fast. If I didn¡¯t have that stun¡­¡± She shook her head. ¡°I was reckless back there. I knew better than that and barged in anyway. I need better defensive skills before we take on something like that again. I don¡¯t like to say it, but we need to slow down and grind out levels. Not avoiding the easy groups. That kind of stuff.¡± ¡°Smart,¡± I said. I had played games in the past where death was permanent. Where a single mistake could set you back hundreds of hours of gameplay. It changed a person¡¯s mindset. Instead of thinking about big damage numbers, you had to think ahead. Had to be careful. Had to trust the people around you before you got into danger. I needed to start thinking this way. To get into this mindset. The stakes for me were high. For Janica, this wasn¡¯t a game. And she wasn¡¯t a normal NPC. I knew that now. This game had created people , not NPCs. I thought back to the relationship between Aimon and Ilrune. They cared so much for one another. When one hurt, the other felt it. And why was that any less real than the way that Sofia and I felt for one another? I looked at Janica, trying to read her face. I didn¡¯t see shame there as I would expect from a tough warrior. I saw practicality. An acceptance of what she could and could not handle without self-judgment. ¡°Janica, do you have a family?¡± ¡°Of course,¡± she said, looking up at me. ¡°Hundreds. Brothers, sisters, cousins, parents.¡± ¡°I mean¡­ if you died here¡­¡± I didn¡¯t finish the words. Who would miss you? ¡°Look,¡± she said, ¡°I¡¯m here because I want to know why the Great Mistake happened. To clear my family¡¯s name. To free my brothers and sisters from our penance. And¡­ for the thrill of it. Something that I see in you, as well, but that you don¡¯t seem willing to admit to yourself.¡± I nodded. ¡°Do we need to go back and grind the upper levels?¡± I asked. ¡°No,¡± she said. ¡°I doubt we¡¯ll see another gauntlet before level five. Let¡¯s keep going.¡± She got up, nodded at me, and headed down the stairs to level four. The last level before the safe area. The fourth floor had an ominous feel to it. A sort of suspenseful silence. Like the moment in a horror movie when you¡¯re ready for the bad guy to jump out. You¡¯re sitting there in a movie theater, eating your popcorn, and the eerie music builds to a crescendo. You stop eating your popcorn. Everyone does. You wait, and your heart starts to pound. That¡¯s what it felt like. Except that I wasn¡¯t watching a scene with a bucket of popcorn. I was in the room. We moved forward, slowly. Ahead of us, rows and rows of bookshelves blocked our path. A maze of tomes from floor to head. The stacks. There weren¡¯t any packs of monsters. That was part of the eeriness. Had we seen our enemy or heard a bear snoring, at least we would have known what was coming. We twisted and turned through the stacks, dusty ancient books surrounding us. ¡°I¡¯m gonna fly up a little bit and take a look,¡± Janica whispered. So she was capable of speaking in a whisper. ¡°Be careful,¡± I whispered back. ¡°There¡¯s something off about this place.¡± She inched up, her wings fluttering ever so much quicker. Her neck extended, trying to peek over the books. She turned back to me and shrugged. I motioned for her to go up higher. She nodded. She rose again, this time over the top of the book shelves, exposing herself to whatever was out there. She turned, slowly looking around the room. By the time she faced me, her eyes went wide. She stared right behind me. I turned, slowly. If this was a prank, I would kill Janica myself. A ghost with black, empty eyes looked at me with a hungry grin. A ghost, but also a harpy. Like other undead, she was white all over. Her hair was pulled back into a tight bun and large wings lay on her back, though she floated like a ghost. She held a stack of books under one arm. With her other, she reached up and put a finger over her lips. ¡°Shhhhh,¡± she hissed. I saw a debuff appear on my interface. You were Silenced for 8 seconds. Chapter 44. The Librarian Chapter 44. The Librarian Hettie the Librarian Level 15 Boss, Harpy Undead HP: 195/195 Stamina: 220/220 Mana 290/290 I ran back to make space as Janica attacked the boss. If I were Silenced twice in a row and unable to heal for sixteen seconds, I doubted that Janica would make it. To make matters worse, I was thirty Experience Points from leveling up, so I had switched my Job to Instructor. I hadn¡¯t been able to purchase any Restorative Mystic skills, so I was back in my old Loadout. Janica and the Librarian went at each other with blows. Janica swung her mace, unable to use any of her skills due to the Silence effect. The boss retreated while throwing books at Janica. If my companion wasn¡¯t in mortal danger, I would have laughed at the ridiculousness of a book-throwing boss. Instead, I watched her health dip in horror. When the Silence wore off, I immediately put a Rejuvenate on Janica, who was already down to 70% health. I followed that by pounding out the opening to ¡°Ghostbusters¡± by Ray Parker Jr. The song starts with a sweet rising drumroll that gets louder, then a catchy uptempo beat. I smiled to myself, nodding my head to the rhythm. And I wished that Rowan and Cassandra were here. And Henry. Just to see their reaction to my song choice. Would they get into it? Would they complain but then sing along to the parts of the song? ¡°I ain¡¯t ¡®fraid of no ghost.¡± Rhythm and Tempo both activated, giving us much needed boosts to our timing and Haste. There wasn¡¯t much else I could do, but I would use every drop of mana and stamina that I could. I also started a count in my head the second that Silence wore off. One-thousand one, one-thousand two, one-thousand three¡­ Janica swung again and again while chasing the boss. She hadn¡¯t used a single skill even though the Silence had worn off. Maybe because she was focusing on dodging hardbacks. Four seconds after the Silence wore off, the boss started to pull her finger up to her mouth for another shush. Janica slammed down on the floor, stunning the boss. This is what Janica had been waiting for. She didn¡¯t want to miss her chance to S ilence by being in the middle of another Skill sequence. Janica followed the Slam up with three Uppercuts in a row. Her stun would only last two seconds, and interrupting the spell cast would lock the boss out of spells for four seconds. One second after the stun, I started casting Lightning Strike. Maybe it was my counting. Maybe it was the Rhythm buff that granted us a little bit of grace with our coordination. But my timing was perfect. It landed exactly when the Librarian raised her finger to her mouth to Silence us again. A white twenty-one floated over her head, bringing the boss down to 60%. I started counting again, keeping Rejuvenate on Janica. We alternated back and forth, stunning the boss and using the other tricks in our bags. The boss¡¯s health decreased more and more quickly as Uppercut reduced her armor. Janica¡¯s health never fell below 50%. For some reason, Janica took it slowly. She uppercut every time she needed to, letting it stack higher and higher, but her stamina remained nearly full. At 25% health, the Librarian enraged. She dropped every book but one and began swinging it at Janica at 25% increased speed and damage. Janica¡¯s health dropped quickly, from 50% to 35% to 20% in a matter of seconds. Rejuvenate couldn¡¯t keep up, and I couldn¡¯t stack it because I was stuck with my old Loadout. I didn¡¯t have Rejuvenate 2. But when the boss¡¯s health hit 25%, Janica also seemed to enrage. Not with a buff, but with focus. We were in a race to the death, and Janica, like the experienced fighter she was, had prepared for this. She emptied her stamina bar into the boss, executing over and over again onto a target with fully reduced damage reduction. She melted the Librarian in a matter of seconds. Congratulations, you defeated Hettie the Librarian. You earned 270 Experience Points. You earned 500 Reputation with Edreru University. You earned 110 Job Points with the Instructor Job. You leveled up with the Instructor Job. +4 Constitution, +2 Dexterity, +4 Intelligence, + 4 Wisdom, +0 Strength, +4 Perception. I looted the sparkly pile where the boss had fallen. You received 100 Silver. You received 1 Shard of Edreru. You received 8 pieces of Ghost Cloth. You received Ghostly Leather Chest Piece. You received Ghostly Plate Shield. ¡°A shard!¡± I told Janica. ¡°Nine more to go.¡± ¡°Nice,¡± she said. ¡°What else? ¡°Ghost Cloth, Silver and two armor pieces.¡±Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°Let me see,¡± she said. I linked them. Ghostly Leather Chest Piece Item Class: Leather Armor Item Quality: Rare Armor: 3% Damage reduction +6 Wisdom +4 Intelligence +6 Perception +6 Dexterity Requirements: 40 Perception or Dexterity Bind on Equip Ghostly Plate Shield Item Class: Shield Item Quality: Rare Armor: 8% Damage reduction +9 Constitution +9 Strength +4 Dexterity Requirements: 40 Constitution Bind on Equip ¡°Gimme gimme,¡± Janica said. ¡°I want that shield.¡± ¡°Sure,¡± I said, handing it to her. She holstered her two-handed mace on her back, and strapped the shield over her right arm. It was a kite shield with a flat top that came down to a point at the bottom. However, the front of the shield was the color of the specters we¡¯d been fighting. Its texture moved and swayed like white fire. The shield fit her perfectly. It went from her feet to the middle of her torso. That is to say, it was about a foot tall. ¡°I don¡¯t get it,¡± I said. ¡°This mob randomly drops a shield that¡¯s the exact size for a Fairy?¡± She laughed, shaking her head. ¡°It¡¯s bind-on-equip. Meaning that the shield will form to the size of the person who first equips it.¡± ¡°Ohh,¡± I said. ¡°What if it wasn¡¯t bind-on-equip?¡± ¡°Then it would be whatever size it was when the mob was using it,¡± she said. I pulled the Leather Chest Piece over my torso, strapping it on on the sides. It had the same ethereal texture to it, as if the air around my chest were moving. ¡°The stats on this thing are insane,¡± I said. ¡°Yep,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s Rare quality. It gets one and a half stats per item level whereas Uncommon pieces only get one stat per item level. And a level fifteen mob dropped it. I looked at my core stats, which had improved significantly since I started getting some gear. Constitution: 44 Dexterity: 30 Intelligence: 45 Wisdom: 46 Strength: 10 Perception: 46 It seemed like leather gear required either Dexterity or Perception to equip. If I didn¡¯t keep building one of those two up, I¡¯d have to switch to cloth, which required Intelligence or Wisdom. And that didn¡¯t work for me. I had already leveled up my Leatherworking Expertise high enough that I didn¡¯t want to switch over to Tailoring. I looked at my advanced statistics. Maximum Health: 128 Maximum Stamina: 75 Maximum Mana: 113 Stamina and Mana Regeneration Per Second: 5 Accuracy against same level mobs: 77% Haste: 5% Crit Chance: 11% My crit chance hadn¡¯t progressed much, but 113 was a decent amount for maximum mana and my mana regen per second was respectable. ¡°We need to look around,¡± Janica said. ¡°There¡¯s at least one rare book around here somewhere.¡± ¡°There are thousands of books,¡± I said. ¡°How are we supposed to know what we¡¯re looking for?¡± ¡°Thankfully, one of us has the Perceptive Attribute,¡± she said. The floor had twenty rows of shelves in a large rectangle. We started walking up and down the stacks, looking through the titles. We did so systematically. We started at a corner, and walked up and down the aisles. Slowly. We snaked through nearly the entire floor when I felt something. Your Perceptive Attribute triggered. Chapter 45. Bill Chapter 45. Bill I stopped. That feeling came over me where everything around me quieted and I was able to focus. Janica ran into the back of me. ¡°Do you see the book?¡± She zipped in front of me and started looking at the titles. ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s something else.¡± I walked forward to the wall. Between two shelving units, a copper lamp stuck out from the wall. The lamp was unlit. None of the old infrastructure worked in the dungeon. I reached up and grabbed the lamp. I pulled. Next to me, a bookcase slid backwards into the wall and to the side, the mechanisms making a racket. The sound of old rusty metal screeched against other metal. Janica and I looked at each other. She raised her eyebrows. The stone passageway was dark, absent of any Glowvine to light our way. Janica fluttered in first. I followed. When the dark enclosed us completely, Janica pulled a Glow Vine Flower from her bag and held it in front of her. It emitted a very soft glow. Barely enough to see by. She made a right. When we turned left, a light greeted us from a room ahead. It appeared to be some kind of control room. Knobs and pulleys lined the walls. Technical manuals sat on a shelf. Like we had walked into the cockpit of an airplane. Sitting at a desk in the center of the room, facing us, was a ghost. An elderly man in overalls and a hat like a train conductor might wear. He talked to himself while writing in a little notebook. The ghost had a friendly portrait. He wasn¡¯t a threat. His name plate said . ¡°Hi,¡± I said. No response. Right. A ghost. I changed my loadout, then activated Talk to Spirits. He looked up, surprised to see me. ¡°What are you doing here?¡± he said. ¡°This place is off-limits for non-employees of the University.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± I said. ¡°Sorry about that. We found this passageway after defeating that librarian.¡± ¡°Ugh,¡± he said. ¡°I hate librarians. Terrible people. Always shushing me. Wait, you¡­ disposed of Hettie?¡± I nodded. ¡°Thanks for that,¡± he said, clearly impressed. ¡°She¡¯s always creeping around, startling me. Telling me to be quiet.¡± ¡°You¡¯re welcome,¡± I said. ¡°Well,¡± Bill said, writing in his notebook again. ¡°I have a lot of work to do here, so if you don¡¯t mind.¡± I wasn¡¯t about to leave, and my Perceptive Attribute was giving me the tingles. ¡°What sort of work do you do here?¡± I asked. ¡°Oh,¡± he said, looking up. ¡°Nobody ever asks me about my work. They just sort of leave me alone here. People don¡¯t seem to enjoy hearing about all the inner workings of the University. When I talk about the lighting system and the mana channels, folks zone out. I don¡¯t get it. Couplers, alternators, capacitors. These are interesting things. But people find an excuse to leave and charge out of here. Get it?¡± Janica and I looked at each other. ¡°Bill,¡± Janica said. ¡°There¡¯s supposed to be research somewhere in the University about how mana channels work. Do you happen to know anything about that?¡± ¡°Oh sure, sure,¡± Bill said, standing up. ¡°I have most of it myself. The good stuff anyway. Most researchers don¡¯t care much for such a technical field. They prefer to study things like magical artifacts, potions, and ancient legends.¡± He laughed. ¡°Like a magical artifact could ever keep a substation in optimal condition.¡± He laughed again, harder this time. Janica groaned. Bill walked over to a set of manuals on the wall. He pulled one down, handing it to me. ¡°A lot of people think that Advanced Research on Mana in the Modern Fantasy World is the premier text. But this one is the best. Trust me. The other one doesn¡¯t even have engineering puns.¡± You received The Joy of Mana Circuits by Bill. ¡°Thanks Bill, can I borrow this for a while?¡± I asked. ¡°Of course!¡± Bill said. ¡°Happy to spark your interest.¡± He laughed. ¡° Just bring it back when you¡¯re done.¡± ¡°Thanks,¡± Janica said, her eyes suddenly lit up with hunger. ¡°Bill, do you have any idea why the mana channels stopped working?¡± ¡°Weakening of naturally occurring transistors due to incorrect usage,¡± he said. ¡°Politicians wouldn¡¯t listen to us. We sent ¡®em a seven-hundred and twenty-two page document. Knew it would happen.¡± He shrugged. ¡°Don¡¯t know why we even bothered.¡± I looked at Janica, eyes wide. I didn¡¯t understand him, but Bill understood the problem. Had he just told us why the Great Mistake had occurred? This ghost, trapped in a basement office, had the answers that the whole world wanted. Bill looked around, surprised. A light started glowing from within him, getting brighter. ¡°Bill,¡± Janica said. ¡°Could you explain that to us like we don¡¯t understand anything about transistors?¡± Bill¡¯s color changed from white to normal, like an old black-and-white portrait being colorized. His overalls turned blue. His shirt, pink. His shoes turned brown. His cheeks went rosy. He smiled at us. ¡°It¡¯s happening. It¡¯s actually happening. It doesn¡¯t even hertz .¡± He laughed. A portal opened next to Bill. He smiled at us. ¡°Thanks Janica. Thanks Warren. Guess all I needed was to tell somebody what I knew. Everything you need to know is in that book. You can keep it. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be coming back. I¡¯m making the switch .¡± Bill walked through the portal and was gone. The portal closed and vanished from existence. ¡°What just happened?¡± I asked. ¡°I think we helped that ghost pass on,¡± Janica said. ¡°I¡¯m more than a little disappointed that he didn¡¯t explain what he meant by ¡®weakening of naturally occurring transistors due to incorrect usage,¡¯ but I couldn¡¯t take another electrical pun.¡± We left the office and took the staircase down from the room where Hetti had been. ¡°We still haven¡¯t found the rare book,¡± Janica reminded me. ¡°Let''s look around.¡± We searched the last corner of the room, and my Perception Attribute triggered again. A small blue book sat on the bottom shelf, dwarfed by larger tomes on either side. Silvery lettering spelled out the title. Tales of the Full Moon. I pulled it out.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Tales of the Full Moon ? Item Class: Race Changer ? Item Quality: Rare ? Stories from within shed light on the transformation of people to Werepeople. This item can be consumed to permanently change your race to a Wereanimal. Note: only animal races can transform into Wereanimals. Congratulations, you reached Floor 5 of Edreru University. You received Elevator Key. Your Elevator Key was granted access to Floor 5. ¡°Janica,¡± I said. ¡°What did I just find? Can I become a werewolf?¡± ¡°Race changing items are super rare,¡± Janica said. ¡°This is an interesting find. Unfortunately, it won¡¯t help you learn fire, ice, or earth spells. But I¡¯m sure you can sell it. The other problem is that you can¡¯t use this item unless you¡¯re an animal race first. Humans can¡¯t use it.¡± ¡°How do you become an animal race?¡± ¡°There are a dozen answers to that question, all of them complicated. Usually it involves finding items or being given items by the leader of an animal race.¡± ¡°So if I wanted to be a cat,¡± I said, ¡°I could go find a herd of cats and impress their leader?¡± Janica glared at me. She didn¡¯t say a word. She spat. Her reaction startled me. ¡°You don¡¯t like cats?¡± ¡°Cats¡¯ favorite food is Fairies,¡± she said. ¡°We don¡¯t get along. If you become a Catperson, I will kill you myself.¡± I threw my hands up. ¡°Okay, okay,¡± I said. ¡°No cats. Wolves? Lizards? Birds? Can they all transform? Could someone become a Werebird?¡± Janica ignored my question, continuing to watch me like I had tried to steal her favorite weapon. ¡°I¡¯m keeping an eye on you,¡± she said. We found the exit and descended to level five. The safe zone reminded me of a Student Center. The center area had couches with a coffee table for people to gather. Around the outside, NPCs stood at desks, waiting to help Adventurers. There was a quartermaster, a refreshments vendor, and a potions vendor. I needed to log off and let Sofia into the game. But before I did, I visited the quartermaster. My reputation was Undergraduate with the University, which was high enough to purchase my first ring for 100 Silver. You received Edreru¡¯s Undergraduate Ring. Edreru¡¯s Undergraduate Ring Cost: 100 silver +2 to all stats Required Reputation: 3000 ¡°Let¡¯s get to an inn,¡± Janica said. ¡°I know you need to return to your world, but 10% experience buff is no joke.¡± On our way to the elevator, a familiar voice shouted my name. I turned. Cassandra walked toward me, smiling. ¡°Hi Warren,¡± she said. ¡°Hi Janica.¡± Rowan walked over to us. Arthur, Thomas, and Christian followed. ¡°You made it down here by yourself?¡± Rowan asked. ¡°By himself?¡± Janica nearly spat the words out. ¡°I pretty much carried him down here on my back. My wings are exhausted.¡± Rowan laughed. Arthur walked up to me. ¡°You stab somebody in the back to get that armor?¡± he asked. I furrowed my eyebrows. Rowan turned to him. ¡°Don¡¯t be an ass. Why would you say that?¡± Apparently, things weren¡¯t all sunshine and rainbows for their group. ¡°Oh,¡± he said. ¡°Warren never told you. He sold us out. On the very first day. Decided to take sides with this raging Elemental instead of the team that was trying to recruit him. Ended up helping the Elemental kill all three of us.¡± She gave him a skeptical look. ¡°Yep,¡± Christian said. ¡°That pretty much sums it up. Cheap-shotted me in the back.¡± She looked at me. ¡°It wasn¡¯t that simple,¡± I said. ¡°The Elemental was actually protecting the town. I spoke to it. I got a quest to protect it.¡± ¡°If that was true,¡± Arthur said, ¡°which I doubt. You didn¡¯t tell us that. Or share some alternative quest with your team. Instead, you waited until we were vulnerable and turned traitor.¡± I had been up all night in the dungeon with Janica for hours. My brain wasn¡¯t working right. My face felt hot, like every set of eyes on me was a tiny set of lasers. ¡°We didn¡¯t have a choice,¡± Janica said. ¡°You were part of this too?¡± Rowan asked. She folded her arms over her chest and shook her head. ¡°Arthur never would have abandoned his quest to kill that elemental,¡± I said. ¡°He¡¯s all heroic and shit. I¡¯ve known a dozen guys like him. A hundred. Rich, cocky, bossy.¡± ¡°So you know me, huh?¡± Arthur said. ¡°We partied together for what¡­ a couple hours? And in that time you learned everything about me.¡± He shook his head and walked off. The rest of them followed, one by one. Rowan and Cassandra were the last to leave. ¡°He¡¯s been pretty nice to me,¡± Cassandra said. ¡°I mean yeah. He¡¯s bossy.¡± She conceded. ¡°And arrogant.¡± ¡°I think this one¡¯s on you,¡± Rowan said, looking right into my eyes. She looked at Janica. ¡°And you.¡± Janica and I didn¡¯t say a word to each other the whole walk back to Lakemore. I played the conversation over and over in my head. But I felt stuck. Usually, after a confrontation like that I¡¯d know exactly what I should have said. What I should have done. I didn¡¯t know. Somehow, I¡¯d let that bully get the better of me. And convince my friends that I was the bad guy. By the time we reached Sofia¡¯s inn, it was 10 p.m. We had fought all day. My body ached and my mind felt like it couldn¡¯t solve another problem. A wooden sign hung from metal brackets in front of the place. In large, carved lettering, it read ¡°The Honeycomb.¡± I smiled at that. In Watership Down , the rabbits founded a warren called The Honeycomb. Sofia had named the tavern after me. Below the title, it read: ¡°Experience boosts and Food buffs for gamers.¡± There was a small sign on the door that said ¡°Under Construction.¡± I opened the door and walked inside. One NPC mopped the floor. Another stood with a hammer and nails over an upside down table. A lady in an apron walked out of the kitchen with a chef¡¯s knife in her hand. ¡°We¡¯re closed,¡± she said. ¡°Won¡¯t be open until tomorrow.¡± Her name plate read . ¡°Hey,¡± she said. ¡°I recognize you. You played the drums at The Dancing Cougar.¡± She had big shoulders and brown hair that was pulled back into a bun. She had a round, but tough-looking face. ¡°Hi,¡± I said. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m Sofia¡¯s brother.¡± ¡°Right, right,¡± she said. ¡°Sofia told us you¡¯d be staying with us before we officially opened. Come on. I¡¯ll show you to your room.¡± You logged off of Integration Online. I slept for a solid eight hours. I knew we were in a rush to continue, but I needed rest. Janica and I had agreed that we were going to do this right. That meant being buffed and well rested. I had warned Janica that I might be late getting back in, but I had a plan. The moment I woke up, I got on the internet. I needed to memorize my spells. When I was in combat, the one to three seconds it took me to open my Spell Book and activate a spell cost time that Janica and I couldn¡¯t afford. That moment where Janica had sat on the ground, looking defeated, had struck me. I couldn¡¯t allow her to die because I was busy turning pages. Memorizing them, Janica had told me, would speed up the process. The memorization process had three parts: the math of decoding the formula for a spell, the hand gestures involved, and the spoken words. If I knew those three things, according to my feisty Fairy companion, I would be able to instantly cast spells. The math part came pretty easy to me, thankfully. The hand gestures were coming along. But the incantations were the limiting factor. The drum kit without a high-hat. The eighty¡¯s band leader with short hair. Pizza without cheese. And while I had, seemingly, been learning the words, something was missing. Or else, I would have memorized the spells. But back in the dungeon, while practicing the words, I came across a clue. The incantations sounded like Latin. Was it possible that, while making the game, the game developers had decided to use actual Latin, or some derivative of it, as spell incantations? I began searching. I looked up the names of my spells. Rejuvenate, Lightning Strike, Talk to Spirits. Sure enough, it was close. The incantation for Rejuvenate was Parva Rejuvenis which, in Latin, meant ¡°small Rejuvenate.¡± Great. My hunch had been correct. So if I was saying the correct words, and I knew it was in Latin, what was I missing? I dove deeper into the word and learned that Juvenis meant ¡°young¡±. And Re meant ¡°again¡±. So, literally, ¡°young again.¡± Parva meant ¡°small.¡± Perfect. That fit. And Magna meant great, which made sense because the spell incantation for Rejuvenate 2 was Magna Rejuvenis . Whether or not this would help me, I didn¡¯t know. But at least I had some context. While doing my research for Lightning Strike, I stumbled upon something interesting. A little video of a person teaching American Sign Language. I pulled up the video. A person held two fingers aloft, then made a lightning bolt downward with one hand. The gesticulation mirrored the one in the game. I stood up and pumped my fist, making a triumphant display of victory. I had cracked the code. The Integration Online developers had used a combination of American Sign Language, the Latin language, and mathematics to build spells. In the eyes of the developers, it probably wasn¡¯t a big deal to use a code so easily cracked. A gamer figures out the code? No big deal. We¡¯ll prevent anyone from posting it online. That way, each person can have a moment of discovery and be able to memorize their spells with some effort. Perfect. But I wonder if the developers accounted for me. A gamer who, because of a love for reading body language, would unlock the Integrator Attribute in the character creation process allowing them to create their own Skills. A gamer, in a world of broken magic, who was dumb enough to start with a caster Job. When Sofia told me that the Integrator Attribute could break the game, I didn¡¯t really believe her. I had begun to believe her. If I could create my own spells, I was going to get powerful. Chapter 46. Data Theft Chapter 46. Data Theft Over the next hour, I started learning ASL and Latin the way someone does when it becomes absolutely vital to their future. It¡¯s like Journey called me up to tell me that their drummer was sick and if I wanted to fill in, I needed to learn all their songs. I started with the words for Ice and Fire. Those were the spells that Janica told me that I needed to find. I practiced the sign language. I practiced the Latin. I wrote flash cards. I even stopped to put on a playlist of pump up music. I was living in my own personal montage, and I was going to enjoy it. I was wiggling my fingers with open palms while chanting Parvun Ignem , which meant ¡°Small Fire¡± in Latin when ¡°Eye of the Tiger¡± came on. I was Rocky Balboa, pounding raw meat with bare hands. I learned Fire, Ice, Water, and Earth. I learned a bunch of adjectives and modifiers in Latin and sign language that might help me adjust my spells. ¡°Small,¡± ¡°Large,¡± ¡°Over Time,¡± ¡°Area,¡± ¡°Ground.¡± If this worked¡ªand I really hoped that it worked¡ªI needed to find more spells in the game so that I could learn how spells were modified. Would it be possible to create a wall of flame? What about a wall of earth? What about shielding Janica when she was in trouble or creating a wall of wind? When Sofia came into my room, I was shouting ¡°Nimbus¡± while my hands pushed rain down from a cloud. ¡°What in the world are you up to?¡± she asked, a smirk on her face. I told her everything, words spewing out of my mouth. ¡°I hope you¡¯re right,¡± she said. ¡°Because you¡¯re going to need it. I have bad news. Did you look at the IO news feed today?¡± ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°I was a little busy.¡± ¡°Look it up.¡± I pulled up the feed. Several headlines made the list. IO Reaches Record Number of Subscribers. IO Pods Sold Out, Users Reselling for Ten Times the Cost. But one stood out, and I knew this was what she referred to. IO Claims AI Stealing Data at Alarming Rates. Will Shut Down the Game if Not Found. I clicked on it, but before I could read the article, Sofia spoke. ¡°There¡¯s a rogue AI somewhere that gained access to too much information. They¡¯re extracting it at high speed. Apparently, 10% of the data in the cache has already been stolen. The developers are so scared that they¡¯re willing to permanently shut down the entire zone where the theft is taking place if the theft reaches 50%. They¡¯re offering a fifty-thousand dollar reward for anyone who can provide clues with proof.¡± She paused. ¡°Warren, the theft began forty-eight hours ago.¡± I thought about that for a moment, working backwards. ¡°The exact time we planted the Dungeon Seed,¡± I said. ¡°That can¡¯t be a coincidence. Do you think we should report it?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think we can yet,¡± she said. ¡°Unless you have proof that this is where the data is being taken.¡± ¡°I still don¡¯t get it,¡± I said. ¡°What kind of data is being stolen, and how are they stealing the data?¡± ¡°Check out the article,¡± Sofia said. I started reading. The spokesperson from IO made a point of saying that the data breach had nothing to do with people¡¯s personal information. They claimed that someone had designed an AI to pretend to be a human, and that the programming was so effective that they were playing the game without anybody knowing that they were an AI. The theft, they said, had to do with the in-game information. ¡°So they¡¯re not trying to steal bank account numbers,¡± I said. ¡°Or gamer¡¯s identities. They¡¯re trying to gain information about the world.¡± ¡°Weird, right?¡± Sofia said. ¡°Why would somebody go to all the trouble of creating an AI just to datamine things like in-game items, Skills, maps, monsters, stuff like that?¡± ¡°Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the developers don¡¯t let people freely post information about the game? Like maybe they¡¯re going to sell a game guide?¡± I was guessing. ¡°Maybe,¡± Sofia said. The inn is up and running,¡± Sofia said. ¡°It¡¯s mostly on autopilot. I think it¡¯s time for you to get in there and figure this out. Get into the dungeon and see if there are any clues that the theft is happening from within. Find proof. Fifty-thousand dollars is a lot of money, but if they shut the zone down, that inn we just bought will be worthless.¡± An image of returning to the factory flashed through my head. We had plugged all of our resources into the inn. It hadn¡¯t made us any money yet, but it had the most potential to change our lives. I needed to do whatever I could to protect our way of life. ¡°Have you been able to contact your friend who¡¯s trapped in that dungeon yet?¡± Sofia asked. ¡°Maybe he knows something.¡± I shook my head. I had tried to contact Henry multiple times with direct messages. I hadn¡¯t received anything in return. ¡°I need to get moving,¡± I said. ¡°Good luck.¡± You logged into Integration Online. I wished I could tell Janica everything. She was my partner, and she deserved to know that my world was meddling in hers. That the people from my world saw this as a game. But this would raise existential questions that I didn¡¯t want to discuss. Instead, I told her a half-truth. That someone in the dungeon was stealing information and that we needed to find proof. It was such a big deal that people in my world were worried about it. And that we needed to find Henry. Fast. ¡°I hate to say it,¡± Janica said. ¡°But if things are that urgent, maybe it¡¯s time to tell Rowan and try to get her back. We could use a couple more people.¡± I shook my head. The thought of confronting Arthur again was too much for me to handle. Rowan wouldn¡¯t forgive me anyway. In my experience, people didn¡¯t just let things go. Happy endings were a thing in movies. Not real life. We couldn¡¯t rush straight to the dungeon, though. We needed to be ready. First, we needed to get Janica a weapon to use with her shield. And another weapon, if possible. I needed to figure out how to enchant my gear. And create some new spells. Janica took the Dark Iron Ore and 200 Silver and went to find a blacksmith. I didn¡¯t want to part with the money, but I knew it was necessary. I still had 409 Silver, and I was really hoping that the inn would bring in enough to cover our rent, which was due in about thirty-six hours. I went down to the common room of the inn. Afternoon light flooded in through the windows, exposing deep brown hardwood floors and a matching bar that wrapped around the kitchen, allowing dozens of bar stools for patrons. Mags walked up to me. ¡°Can I get you something?¡± she asked. ¡°We have a meaty stew in the back. Maybe an ale?¡± ¡°Sounds great,¡± I said. ¡°Hey Mags, did all of those instruments come from The Dancing Cougar?¡±Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. ¡°Yep,¡± she said. ¡°They were mine. And I brought them with me. Can¡¯t have an inn without live music. And people can¡¯t play if they don¡¯t have an instrument. You wanna get up there and sing a couple?¡± There must have been twenty gamers sitting at the bar or at tables, drinking, talking, getting their food buffs. I wasn¡¯t ready to perform. Too much stuff to do. But it was good to see that the place was already bustling. ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°I need to study. Do you happen to have a private space where I could eat?¡± ¡°Sure. Follow me.¡± She took me to a side room. Behind a wide curtain, a banquet table sat empty. ¡°You can use this space,¡± she said. ¡°We don¡¯t have any parties today.¡± ¡°Thanks,¡± I said. As I waited for refreshment, I opened up my enchanting menu for the first time. The index listed only four things. Enchanting Patterns: 1. Basics 2. Critical Strike with Spells 3. Damage reduction 4. Disenchanting I turned to the page called ¡°Basics.¡± It had a brief overview of the profession. The rules were similar to that of Leatherworking. Every point gained gave a bonus to speed and chance at discovering a recipe. About half way down the page, I found an interesting paragraph. Enchanting is a versatile profession. One can enchant weapons, gear, and common objects. Each enchantment requires only three things: 1. A source of power. 2. A symbol that represents the effect desired. 3. A connection between them. Oftentimes, the source of power is used to create the pattern. For example, a Tailor might use Enchanted Thread to sew a symbol. Enchanted metal may be inlaid into a weapon or a piece of plate armor in the shape of a symbol. Other times, a power core can be connected to a symbol like a circuit, running power to a functional glyph. For example, one can create a light source by drawing the glyph for light onto an object, then connecting the glyph to a power core with Enchanted Wire. The possibilities are endless! This took me off guard. It seemed like enchanting was the source behind Integration Online¡¯s version of technology. With the right materials and knowledge, a person could create modern amenities. I pulled out the book that Bill had given me and opened it up. I began flipping through it, looking for connections. I found a section called heating systems. The diagrams were so complicated that I couldn¡¯t decode any of them. It was like a blueprint and a drawing of a circuit combined. Mags sat a bowl of soup and a beer in front of me. ¡°Are you an Engineer?¡± ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°Just a beginner Enchanter. I¡¯m trying to figure out how it works.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± she said. ¡°Well if you figure it out let me know. I¡¯d love to get some amenities in the inn. An amp for the stage area would be great. Though they never last long.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± I said. ¡°At The Dancing Cougar, I had to replace the power core after every performance night.¡± She shook her head. ¡°Terribly expensive, but worth it. Wasn¡¯t like that before. Amps used to last for years. Do you need anything else?¡± ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°Thanks for the meal.¡± I continued to look through Bill¡¯s book, but didn¡¯t really know what to look for. I didn¡¯t have time to read through hundreds of pages looking for clues right now. I finished my meal and headed for Dread¡¯s shop. I startled her when I opened the door. ¡°Oh,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s just you.¡± ¡°Hey Dread. I¡¯m back to get some enchanting done.¡± ¡°Did you bring some Uncommon items?¡± she asked. ¡°Just one¡­ I was kinda hoping that I could use some of your materials to make more,¡± I winced. I hated asking for favors. ¡°Absolutely,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯ve got a whole stack of leather right here for you.¡± ¡°Really?¡± #x200e ¡°Yep,¡± she said, a mischievous smile on her face. ¡°Of course, you¡¯re going to do some enchanting for me in trade. I¡¯ve got about twenty ways that you can pay me back.¡± She started pointing to the armor sets that were displayed on racks around the room. ¡°I want a Critical Strike enchantment on those three¡­ A Defense enchantment on that one¡­ what other patterns do you have?¡± I sighed. ¡°None yet. How¡¯d you know that I had Defense already?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the starter pattern, honey. Every Enchanter has that one.¡± I got to work. I made Tribal Leather Bracers in mass amounts. Dread had informed me that every piece of leather gear made by an Enchanter over 100 Expertise level would be Uncommon. It didn¡¯t matter which item was disenchanted, whether it was a bracer, a shoulder, or a chest piece. Each had an equal chance of creating Magic Dust, the main component of Enchanted Thread. So it made the most sense to create Uncommon items that used the least amount of leather and took the least amount of time to create. We became a little disenchanting factory. First we made bracers. Dread skinned carcasses in the back at an unbelievable pace. I made the armor. My Expertise in Leatherworking went up. And with each point, I got faster. Over the next two hours, I made twenty bracers. ¡°Next step,¡± she said, ¡°is to make the thread.¡± I opened up my Spell Book to the disenchanting page and activated the spell over and over again. Each time, the armor vibrated faster and faster with energy, slowly expanding. I thought each time that the bracer would explode. Instead, it would collapse into itself, condensing into a tiny nucleus of purple particles. Magic Dust. I did this twenty times. The sign language for the spell was kind of funny. It looked like picking up something invisible from one hand and throwing it away. The last thing I did was disenchant the Malevolent Cloth boots that had dropped in the dungeon. Next, Dread showed me how to make Enchanted thread. We boiled water, then added the components. For every spool of thread, it took 5 Magic Dusts. We steeped them all together for a few minutes, then she pulled out the spools and set them aside. I took a moment to check my prompts. Your Expertise in Leatherworking increased from 143 to 148. Your Expertise in Enchanting increased from 1 to 22. Congratulations, you made a Discovery! Chapter 47. Mad Scientist Chapter 47. Mad Scientist You discovered a new Enchanting Pattern: Enchanting Wire. I looked at the discovery. To create Enchanting Wire, all I had to do was take normal metal wire, heat it up until it glowed red, then sprinkling Magic Dust on it. However, the possibilities were exciting. If it were possible for enchanted material to act as both symbol and power source, then it was possible to bend enchanted wire into the shape of a glyph and have it power itself. I needed to test this out by making a light or a heating source or something simple. ¡°I hit 148 in Leatherworking,¡± I said. ¡°I want to make my last set piece before I start enchanting.¡± ¡°I¡¯m a kind and generous mentor,¡± Dread told me. ¡°So I¡¯m going to let you make and enchant your own gear first.¡± ¡°Thanks,¡± I said. ¡°But don¡¯t you dare leave this building without doing my armor sets,¡± she said. Joking but not joking. I copied down the next Tribal Leather piece into my pattern book from Dread¡¯s. Congratulations, you learned the pattern for Tribal Leather Shoulders. Over the next hour, I prepared shoulders from some of my remaining Shark Skin. Sharkskin Tribal Pauldrons Item Class: Set Armor Item Quality: Uncommon Damage Reduction: 2% +4 Constitution +4 Dexterity +4 Intelligence +5% Shadow Resistance Set Bonuses: 3 piece bonus: +5% critical strike chance with all skills 4 piece bonus: Each time you cast a spell that does not result in a critical strike, your critical strike chance goes up by 3% for 10 seconds. Getting a critical strike resets the bonus to zero. Soulbound ¡°Dread!¡± I shouted. ¡°Check out this four-piece bonus.¡± ¡°I already know about it,¡± she said. ¡°What do you think this is my first set of Shark Skin?¡± ¡°Way to ruin the mood,¡± I said. ¡°Three percent crit every time I don¡¯t crit. That¡¯s amazing. This build is coming together.¡± I set up my enchanting station. Needle, enchanted thread, an awl for punching holes. I pulled the pattern for Critical Strike onto my new shoulders and began the detailed work of tracing, punching holes, then threading Enchanted Thread through the patterns to create crossed swords. This part of the process was slower than the leatherworking. My Expertise in Enchanting was only twenty-one, so I only worked 21% faster than I would in the real world. But with every piece - two shoulders, two bracers, two boots, a chest piece, a buckler, my helm, I got faster. Your Expertise in Enchanting increased from 21 to 30. Every individual piece granted me 1% to crit. Which was wild and possibly overpowered. The shoulders, boots, and bracers granted me 1% per side. All-in-all, I added 9% crit to my gear plus the 4-set bonus. I looked at my advanced statistics. My crit was up to a whopping 19.8%. Very respectable. Over the next couple of hours, I helped Dread. I enchanted eleven items for her, using up all of the Enchanted Thread. Your expertise in Enchanting increased from 31 to 42. ¡°Dread,¡± I asked as she inspected my work, ¡°do you have any wire?¡± ¡°What for?¡± she asked. ¡°I got an enchanting recipe for Enchanted Wire. I wanted to try something.¡± ¡°Sure,¡± she said. ¡°I have some spools in the back. Grab a couple. And some wire cutters. Just don¡¯t lose them.¡± Janica and I returned to the University after the sun had set. Gamers milled about, looking for groups or offering trades for gear or services. But most of them were talking about the article. ¡°DPS looking for group before they shut the dungeon down,¡± an archer said. ¡°How do you know this is where the data breach is coming from?¡± a warrior replied. ¡°Could be anywhere in the game. Take your tin foil hat off.¡±Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°It¡¯s obvious dude,¡± the archer said. ¡°They said it happened forty-eight hours ago. Right when the World Alert came through.¡± ¡°I need a few minutes,¡± I said and headed to the target dummies in the corner. I preferred to practice in private, instead of in front of all of these randoms. But I didn¡¯t see a way around it. I needed to practice with mana, and that could only happen in The University. And this was the only place with target dummies. I opened my Spell Book to Rejuvenate. It remained at 66% memorized. I cast the spell on myself, thinking about the words Parvun Rejuvenis . I looked at the Spell Book. Nothing had changed. I frowned. That was supposed to work. I tried again, but said the words aloud. ¡°Do you know what the word means?¡± Janica asked. ¡°Yeah it¡ª¡± I paused. I closed my Spell Book. I pictured in my head returning myself to a younger state of being. I made the hand motion. The game flooded my head with information. In an instant, it was as if I had known how to cast the spell all along. Somehow, the math was part of it. Like a calculation I did in my head because I had done it a thousand times before. Like hearing the beat of a song and knowing that the base pounded at one eighth of a note while the snare was at one sixteenth of a note without having to sit there and count the beats. The math was just part of it. The three elements came together. Math, hand gesture, Latin meaning. A Rejuvenate healing over time effect appeared on my interface. Congratulations, you memorized all known versions of the Rejuvenate Spell. ¡°You did it!¡± Janica lifted a fist into the air. ¡°Now I will only probably die. But it won¡¯t be because you¡¯re casting spells at a turtle¡¯s pace.¡± I did it. I could hardly believe it. ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°Time for Lightning.¡± In Latin, lightning came from the word Folgos. Which meant to lighten . It was a flash. I cast the spell, conjuring the meaning. A lightning bolt jolted down onto the target dummy. Congratulations, you memorized all known versions of the Lightning Spell. A ruckus erupted in the room. I turned and found dozens of gamers collected behind me. ¡°You¡¯ve already got Lightning?¡± a warrior asked me. ¡°Do you want to join our group? We don¡¯t have a healer yet but¡ª¡± he paused, looking at my Rejuvenate buff. ¡°You¡¯re a healer too? Please, we almost made it to level five. We¡¯ve got big damage. We¡¯ll pay you 200 Silver to get us to level five.¡± ¡°That¡¯s one of the people who created the dungeon,¡± somebody said. I started to get direct messages and group invitations. ¡°Sorry,¡± I said, pushing my way through the crowd toward the elevator. ¡°No time right now.¡± When the elevator doors opened, a portal covered the entrance. I walked through, happy to escape the chaos. ¡°Phew,¡± I said. ¡°Vultures. All of them.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Janica said. ¡°Maybe we should get a full group. Might be safer that way.¡± But that wasn¡¯t an option. Fifty-thousand dollars awaited the person who could provide proof that an uninvited AI was taking data from the dungeon. I didn¡¯t want to split that money. Sofia and I needed that. Besides, I didn¡¯t know anything about those people. They were probably obnoxious, rich kids, playing with their parents'' money. And they didn¡¯t care about Henry. I put my key into the slot and punched the elevator button. ¡°Too bad we didn¡¯t have more time to practice,¡± I said, as the elevator descended. ¡°I think I may have figured out some other spells.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. ¡°We need to find a safe place for me to experiment. Maybe leave a single mob alive.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Janica said. ¡°We can do that.¡± We stepped onto floor five, the safe floor. A group stood around, discussing their battle with Hettie, but we ignored them and headed to floor six. We walked through an instance portal. The sixth floor had research lab vibes to it. It reminded me of a chemistry lab except that all of the scientists seemed to be brewing bright green concoctions and laughing, manically. The room was as large as a basketball gym with lab benches everywhere. Beakers and flasks lined the shelves. Burners sat below glass aparati that might be used for distilling or condensing chemicals. The three ghosts nearest me took turns looking through a microscope. They wore lab coats and had protective eyewear on their heads. One of them threw their head back and cackled. Mad Scientist Level 14 Elite HP 140/140 Stamina 200/200 Mana 160/160 ¡°That was creepy,¡± I said. I checked my Loadout, making sure that Critical Restoration was activated. With my increase in critical strike chance, that passive was going to start to take off. Job: Restorative Mystic Passive 1: Spiritual Embodiment Passive 2: Critical Restoration Skill 1: Rejuvenate 2 Skill 2: Lightning Strike Skill 3: Tempo ¡°We don¡¯t have a lot of space here,¡± Janica said. ¡°If we pull extra groups, we¡¯ll need to run out of the instance.¡± She equipped her Ghostly Shield and a new one-handed sword. The weapon had a curve to it and was wide across the blade with a two-pronged hilt. The grip curved in the opposite direction. It reminded me of something from ancient Persia. Except that instead of steel, it was made of a dark gray metal. Almost black. ¡°Ooh,¡± I said. ¡°New weapon?¡± ¡°I found a blacksmith,¡± she said. ¡°Had just enough to craft this beauty.¡± ¡°Did you get access to sword and shield skills?¡± I asked. ¡°You¡¯ll see,¡± she said, charging into the group of scientists. Chapter 48. The Center for Psychological Evaluation Chapter 48. The Center for Psychological Evaluation Janica dazed and stunned the ghosts for two seconds. I started to pull my Spell Book out as an instinct, then stopped. I didn¡¯t need it anymore. I lifted my hands, then zipped one down in a zee. ¡°Magna Fulmen,¡± I announced, with a little drama. Energy filled my body, and for the three seconds before the spell released, I felt like I had shot back three Espressos. Lightning shot down from above the ghosts, stunning and zapping every scientist as they released from their stun. Every mob focused on me. I had taken all of the aggro. But this was my intent. I wanted to see if Janica had a better way of getting their attention back. Janica slipped between the stunned mobs and sliced her new sword sideways across the backs of their legs. A new debuff appeared over their portraits. Slowed by 50% for 8 seconds. Bleeding for 22 damage over 8 seconds. ¡°That was all kinds of risky,¡± she scolded. The mobs released from their stun and started chasing me, but at half speed. I stepped backwards all the way to the wall behind me and up a few stairs. I couldn¡¯t go back any further. Janica pulled out her two-handed mace and cleaved at them, taking off a big chunk of their health bars and trying to stay between me and the mobs. Their health was about half. The scientists stopped. In unison, all three of them lobbed green potions at me. For a moment, it felt like they floated through the air in slow motion. Three, emerald flasks. Spinning in chaotic-rotation, the way that odd projectiles do. I wanted to dodge sideways, to dive out of the way. But I was trapped in the stairwell. The potions landed, splashing liquid all over my legs. You were poisoned. You were poisoned. You were poisoned. Taking 147 damage over 8 seconds. ¡°Holy crap!¡± I yelled. My maximum health was 137. The scientists lobbed up potions again, each of them aimed at my feet. I nearly panicked when I saw the color of them. Green again. ¡° Magna Juvenis,¡± I called out, my hands brushing my chest in a gesture that I had learned meant ¡°young¡± in ASL. My health bar popped up from 82% to 100%. Then a new buff appeared. I was getting 46 health back over eight seconds. Janica swept her mace again, taking the mobs down to 20%. I saw her spin in the air, her mace turning around and down in an overhead strike. ¡°Execute!¡± she hollered in triumph. ¡°Execute!¡± She laughed like a maniac. The vials landed at my feet, taking me back down to 80% health. Worse, the poison had doubled in strength and reset the duration. You were poisoned. You were poisoned. You were poisoned. Taking 294 damage over 8 seconds. That was over twice my health pool. And taking off thirty-six damage every second. I casted Rejuvenate 2 again on myself, doubling the healing over time effect to twelve health per second. My health began to rise and dip, rise and dip. Except that it was dropping. Fast. 90%... 65%... 74%... 49%. I casted Rejuvenate for the third time. This time it crit. With my gearset, I got an increased chance to crit every time I casted a spell that didn¡¯t get a critical strike. Over the fight, this had added up. Thank. God. Rejuvenate¡¯s initial heal took me from 49% to full. The healing over time effect stacked to three, giving me back seventeen health per second. But because it crit, I got the Restore buff as well, which upped my health regeneration to twenty-six health per second. Janica executed again and again, dropping both mobs. ¡°Heal yourself!¡± she shouted. But I was short of mana. Rejuvenate 2 cost a whopping thirty mana per cast, and I had cast three of them and a Lightning Strike. I watched my health tick up and down as I waited for my mana to regenerate. My mana regeneration increased as I hadn¡¯t casted a spell for five seconds. As I watched my mana bar, my health dipped below 25%. The moment that my mana hit 30, I casted Rejuvenate 2 on myself. My health dropped to 13%. My heal landed, sending me back to 45%. The poison wore off. I sat down in relief. I put my head between my knees. If the poison had ticked one more time, I would have died. I glanced up at Janica. She folded her arms over her chest. ¡°That was so stupid,¡± she said. ¡°Why would you cast a lightning bolt like that so early? You ripped aggro right off of me. You know that spell has crazy threat.¡± ¡°Sorry,¡± I said, taking heavy breaths. You defeated Mad Scientist x3. You received 504 Experience. You received 504 Reputation with Edreru University. You earned 140 Job Points for the Restorative Mystic Job. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°Next time, let me get ahead. Don¡¯t attack until they¡¯re around 70%. I have a lot more health than you do and pretty good poison resistance.¡± ¡°Really?¡± I asked. ¡°Yep,¡± she said. ¡°Lizard Skin armor, remember?¡± ¡°Did I know that?¡± ¡°There¡¯s a lot you should know but you don¡¯t,¡± Janica said. ¡°Do better.¡± The remainder of the floor went smoothly, though I never had a chance to test out ice, fire, or earth spells. The fights were too intense to test out theoretical ideas. We got into a rhythm, and I acted much more like a healer than a damage dealer. Janica had almost 30% poison resistance, and took far less damage than me from the scientists. She also managed to knock a few vials back at the groups by deflecting the bottles with her shield. This not only prevented her from taking triple stacks of poison at a time, it also caused the mobs to injure themselves. Just like the time that Henry had accidentally shocked Cassandra, it was possible for gamers and mobs alike to inflict self harm. We cleared the right side of the room, allowing for passage to the next floor, while ignoring the left side. We were discussing whether or not to clear the entire room when Integration Online broadcasted a zone-wide announcement. This zone will be shut down in 36 hours. Any characters remaining in the zone when the shutdown occurs will be removed from the game permanently. Holy hell. So the developers had identified this zone as the problem. It wasn¡¯t in some far recesses of IO. It was happening in the dungeon that I had helped create. That also meant that the theft was happening in this dungeon. Some massive amount of data existed here that didn¡¯t exist elsewhere. I looked at Janica, curious if she got the same announcement. ¡°The Gods are not happy with this dungeon,¡± she said. ¡°We need to keep moving.¡± I nodded. As we descended the staircase, I checked my progress. I had already managed two level-ups, switching my Job as I always did, but I wanted to see the overall changes. You defeated Mad Scientist x 15. You received 3780 Experience Points. Congratulations, you leveled up twice as an Instructor. You gained +8 Constitution, + 4 Dexterity, +8 Intelligence, +8 Wisdom, +0 Strength, +8 Perception. You received 3780 Reputation with Edreru University. Congratulations, you now have a Graduate Reputation with Edreru University. We nearly went back so I could upgrade my ring, but we didn¡¯t want to accidentally reset the floor and have to kill all of the Mad Scientists again. That would have to wait until we reached level ten in the dungeon. We descended the staircase, ready for whatever new challenge awaited. The seventh floor had a creepy vibe to it. Two chairs faced each other in the center of the room with what looked like a mirror separating the chairs. Other Scientists stood waiting, each with their own clipboards and white coats. There were seven of them in all. On the right side of the room, a pane of glass lined wall. It looked like a two-way mirror. Someone or someones must be watching us. A ghost greeted us with a clipboard. Her nameplate was neutral, meaning we could attack her or not. . ¡°Hello and welcome to the Center for Psychological Evaluation,¡± she read directly from a script on her clipboard. ¡°We are so pleased that you¡¯ve volunteered to help us with this experiment. You will be assigned either as part of the control group or the test group, but we cannot tell you which. Any psychological harm that comes to you as a result of the experience is your fault. Do you agree to these terms?¡± She looked back and forth between Janica and I. I typed to Janica. If we say no, we may have to fight all seven of them. But this place creeps the hell out of me. She typed back. That¡¯s what I was thinking. I don¡¯t know if we can take all seven. I¡¯m strong but not stupid. I don¡¯t think we have a choice. ¡°Okay,¡± I told Moni. ¡°I agree to the terms.¡± She looked at Janica. ¡°Oh, yeah. Me too,¡± she said. ¡°Great, great.¡± She looked at me. ¡°You have been assigned subject number 197.¡± She looked at Janica. ¡°You have been assigned number 24. From now on, we¡¯ll refer to you only as these numbers.¡± My cheeks get hot. My number in the factory was 197. It¡¯s not like my manager called me by a number or anything so dystopian as that, but the company still used that number for anything official. Time cards, scheduling, disciplinary action. The practice made me squirm. Made all of the workers squirm. It was a demonstration of power, in a way. Like saying ¡°you¡¯re a human with a name, but you¡¯re also just a number.¡± I was disturbed by more than the memory. Somehow, these scientists knew that number held significance for me. It was more than a coincidence. The game had used my own memories against me here. I looked at Janica, who seemed to be as disturbed as I was. ¡°Please sit here, Twenty-four,¡± she said, pointing at one of the chairs. ¡°And 197, please sit here.¡± We sat on opposite sides of the mirror. I looked at a reflection of myself. One of the scientists wheeled an apparatus over to Janica. The thing reminded me of a hospital monitoring machine from the mid twentieth century. The red and green buttons were comically huge. He unwound a set of wires from the machine, pulling them over to where I was. He then connected the wires to the bottom of my chair. I began to regret our choice to participate in this. Maybe we should have taken our chances with combat. The ghost handed me a paper, then handed Janica a paper. ¡°Please read your instructions, silently,¡± she said. ¡°If you reveal any of the instructions to the other person, you will fail the experiment.¡± I began. You are being tested on your willingness to tell the truth. Your partner can see you through a pane of truth-glass. If you lie, they will shock you. If you tell the truth, they can give you a pleasing sensation. I heard Janica from the other side of the mirror. ¡°What is your name?¡± ¡°Warren,¡± I said. I felt a warm sensation run up my legs. A tingling that felt like safety, joy, euphoria. It faded in seconds. Two Scientists on the other side of the room mumbled something to one another, then adjusted a panel. ¡°Next,¡± the Scientist said, writing something on her clipboard. ¡°What do you care most about in life?¡± Janica asked. ¡°My sister, Sofia,¡± I said. Again, pure bliss. I could get used to this. Whispering commenced as the NPCs compared notes with each other. Moni looked at them, silencing them with a glance. ¡°Continue,¡± she said. ¡°How do you feel about the other participant in this experiment?¡± Janica asked. ¡°I like Janica,¡± I said. ¡°She¡¯s a friend, I think.¡± ¡°Please expand on that,¡± Moni said. ¡°Do you trust her?¡± ¡°Yes, of course,¡± I said. ¡°I trust Janica.¡± A pause. A scientist walked over to Janica. I heard whispering. My legs convulsed in electricity. My skin started to burn. Chapter 49. Euphoria and Pain Chapter 49. Euphoria and Pain ¡°Stop!¡± I screamed. ¡°Why don¡¯t you trust me, Warren?¡± Janica said. ¡°I¡¯m your companion. I protect you. We¡¯re a team.¡± I groaned, recovering from the pain. I ground my teeth. ¡°Answer her,¡± Moni said, looking up from her clipboard. ¡°You lied to me on the first day,¡± I said. ¡°And you used me to get what you wanted. I¡¯m starting to trust you, but it¡¯s hard for me.¡± I breathed hard, waiting. But no shock came. The seconds ticked by. Moni nodded at Janica to continue. ¡°What was it like growing up?¡± Janica read from the script. Was it too late to back out of this? Probably. I paused to think about it. I didn¡¯t want to get shocked again. ¡°I was happy,¡± I started. ¡°My family lived in a big apartment in a nice part of Detroit. I was good at school. I loved math and coding. I had good friends. Things were¡­ easy. My parents were computer scientists. They worked for an organization that regulated the use of Artificial Intelligence. They were really smart. And so nice. And loving.¡± My throat felt heavy. I swallowed. My eyes got watery. I hadn¡¯t talked about this stuff in years, really. Not since I dropped out of therapy. Sofia had said that I was ready to be done with it, but I knew the truth was that we couldn¡¯t afford it any more. ¡°Then some politician shut down the funding for the AI regulation, and my parents lost their jobs. Things got tougher after that, but we were a family. Not at first. But it took them ages to get new jobs. They wanted to continue their work. To protect our country from misuse of technology. But there wasn¡¯t any funding for that. They were the type of parents who were honest with their kids, who discussed adult problems with us. We moved to a small apartment across town. Away from my friends. Away from the safety of our easy life. Then¡­¡± I paused and wiped a tear away. ¡°An AI company asked them to interview for positions within the company that would allow them to start an ethics department. They were so excited. Hopeful.¡± Botcorp. ¡°They went to Chicago to interview. It didn¡¯t go well. At all. They told us over the phone that the company had no real intention to be ethical. They said it ended in a heated argument. They told us they loved us. That was the last conversation I ever had with them. They died in Chicago. A freak accident.¡± I paused. Why was I saying all of this? ¡°Then it was just Sofia and I. And things got bad. School didn¡¯t seem to matter so much. Other students bullied me. Sofia wouldn¡¯t let me drop out, so I kept to myself and graduated. Then I got any job I could where I didn¡¯t have to talk to people. So, yeah. That was growing up.¡± Janica rewarded my truthfulness, the euphoria that the wires provided. But I felt more. Catharsis, maybe. It felt good to say all of that out loud instead of pushing it down. The organic feeling was so relieving that I barely even noticed the artificial stimulus. ¡°Oh Warren,¡± Janica said, sympathy in her tone. ¡°I didn¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Please stick to the script,¡± a scientist warned. ¡°This is the last question,¡± Janica said. ¡°What is your greatest fear?¡± I answered without thinking. ¡°That I¡¯ll disappoint Sofia and she will leave me.¡± A warmth filled my body again, a sense of love. Could the game directly manipulate my serotonin levels? Somehow, without endangering my life with dangerous enemies and traps, this floor had been the most difficult that I had faced. The most threatening. They removed the electrodes from my legs and moved me into Janica¡¯s position. She took mine. Through the two-way mirror, I could see her small frame, wires attached to her legs. Her wings lay on her back but twitched. She looked side-to-side, anxiety clear in her face. I had never seen her like this. I asked her the questions. As she answered them honestly, the glass changed in hue from clear to a pastel yellow. The color of truth. She moaned in ecstasy as the machine rewarded her, like she was nibbling on tiny dragons. The color reset between questions. ¡°What was growing up like for you?¡± I read. ¡°I was born in the Eastern region 118 years ago,¡± she started. ¡°In Fairy society, we have biological parents but we are raised by everyone. Fairy children live a carefree life. We are encouraged to play, explore, and harvest food for the hive. Young Fairies are tricksters, often getting into and creating mischief. The adults encourage it. I got into perhaps the most trouble of all. When I was six, I captured a small snake and snuck it into the Queen¡¯s bed, then hid in her closet for hours waiting for her to return. I ended up falling asleep, but startled awake hours later when the Queen screamed. I rushed out of the closet to find her panting and laughing. That¡¯s how I became her favorite niece. Most Fairies grow out of their mischief, but the Queen never did. After that incident, she concocted elaborate schemes to get revenge on me. Once, she ordered the entire hive to look at my forehead instead of my eyes for an entire month. At the age of thirty, we choose a path. Warrior, Worker, Politician, Hunter, etc. I could not decide, so the Queen allowed me to train as a Warrior and a Hunter. But once a week, she brought me into her rooms and we would plan pranks on others. But this evolved and, after some time, I became her confidante.¡± The mirror glowed yellow, allowing me to reward Janica for her story. ¡°What is your greatest fear?¡± I asked. ¡°After the world changed,¡± Janica started, ¡°the Fairies were blamed for ruining the mana channels of the world. We were conscripted to 100 years of service. But we also lost our home. The Fairy hives are¡ª were located far to the east of Central City, on the border between allied lands and Udesh, the place where real monsters roam. Level 100 Chimera, Hydra, Gorgon, and Basilisk. Undead outcroppings. Goblin settlements. Minotaur. A place that does not believe in civilization. For hundreds of years, Fairies held the border between worlds by protecting the mountain passes that allow people to move between. And while Fairies are a powerful force with hundreds of fearsome warriors, we relied on magical barriers and spells to keep our hive and children safe. In causing the Great Mistake, we also caused the downfall of our hives. We had to retreat hundreds of miles back, resettling in the Northern zone. Today, monsters roam the Eastern region where we used to live and threaten to overtake Northern and Southern peoples. I told you that I became the Queen¡¯s favorite niece. Her most trusted servant. She sent me on a quest to discover a way to bring the magic back. Not just to return mana to the world, but to help us reclaim our home. Failure in this quest is my greatest fear.¡± Congratulations, you completed the psychological experiment. You earned 500 experience points. You earned 500 reputation with Edreru University. A door opened at the opposite side of the room. I stood from the chair and bolted for it. I hurried down the stairs, Janica close behind me. ¡°I didn¡¯t know,¡± she said after a moment. ¡°Sorry for calling you out all those times and giving you such a hard time.¡± I shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s alright. We¡¯ve all been through stuff.¡± I sat down on the stairs. ¡°What I¡¯m more worried about is this game and this dungeon. It¡¯s almost like it''s trying to get into my head. Is that normal in this world?¡± ¡°No,¡± Janica said. ¡°Not really. Something¡¯s going on here. Maybe it has to do with that server-wide announcement that they were shutting this place down.¡± I wanted to tell her about the AI, but wouldn¡¯t that just be confusing for her? There are limitations to what any person can conceptualize. Especially with technology. Arthur C. Clark once said that Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. To Janica, an idea that machines were pretending to be Visitors might be so far-fetched that she would laugh at the idea. Or think me crazy. I let it go, for now. ¡°Janica,¡± I said. She looked at me. ¡°I didn¡¯t know that you lost your home. I think I get it now. Why you didn¡¯t tell me the full truth before and why you guided me toward the elemental. If I had known that beforehand, I think I would have helped you. ¡°We didn¡¯t know each other,¡± she said. ¡°That¡¯s a lot to put on somebody that I thought I¡¯d only be working with for a day.¡± ¡°Why am I just hearing about how a large chunk of the world has been invaded by monsters?¡± I asked. ¡°You¡¯d think people would be talking about that everywhere. Or that people would be scared of invasion.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve spent most of the time in the West,¡± Janica said. ¡°Think of our land as a giant cookie. Monsters took a big bite out of the East side of the cookie. That¡¯s where our hives were. The elves and Fairies defend the top part of that bite from spreading further. The dwarves defend the south part of that bite, with the aid of mountain ranges. The people that we¡¯ve interacted with don¡¯t live on the border. They¡¯re hundreds of miles from the war zone. And the borders haven¡¯t moved in twenty years. People get caught up in their daily lives.¡±Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. I supposed that made sense. And I could also see why gamers weren¡¯t talking about it. We were only six days into the launch of the game and I doubted anybody was ready to take on level 100 mobs. But in the coming weeks, those war zones would become a hotspot for every gamer looking for battle and glory. I stood up. ¡°Come on. Two more floors, then a safe area.¡± ¡°The middle floor last time was a gauntlet,¡± Janica said. The eighth floor of the dungeon was clearly a puzzle room. Even with my love for math, puzzles, and patterns, I couldn¡¯t stand places like this. Any video game that I had ever played with rooms like this felt like a chore. You either had to pull levers in a certain order, memorize some pattern, or do something tedious. Either way, it would require backtracking and trial and error. I stood on a platform. Across the room was a door. Between me and the door, thirty yards of green liquid sat bubbling and churning. Some kind of poison, to be sure. I looked around, my Perception taking hold of me. Three unlit torches hung on each side wall with extra platforms below them. A control panel, to my right, had about fifty buttons. I sighed. Janica chuckled. ¡°What?¡± I said. ¡°You like puzzle rooms?¡± She didn¡¯t answer me. Instead, she flew across the room, overtop the pool of poison. She stopped at the other end and waved at me. ¡°Seriously?¡± I said. ¡°Good luck,¡± she said, then laid on her back and pretended to snore. ¡°I hate you!¡± I yelled. She rose from her fake sleep and bowed. Then she turned about and pulled a lever by the door. One by one, the torches lit up. First the one closest to me on the left, then on the right. Back-and-forth until every one of them lit up. As each one ignited, a platform below the torch moved across the pool until it connected with the platform in front of me. Like a zipper zipping shut. A bridge formed in front of me, running the length of the room. I put a toe onto the first platform in front of me expecting it to sink into the poison or something. Nothing happened. I stepped onto it fully, and walked across it to the next. ¡°Nice work!¡± I hollered. ¡°You¡¯re pretty useful after all.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what people tell me,¡± Janica said. I strutted the rest of the way, like the bridge was my personal catwalk. Arms to the sides, head working it from side to side. ¡°What is that?¡± Janica shook her head. ¡°You don¡¯t have runway models here?¡± I asked. ¡°Oh, we have models,¡± she said. ¡°Just none that strut at such an amateur level?¡± ¡°Looked pretty good to me,¡± I said. ¡°That''s cause you couldn¡¯t see yourself.¡± We descended the stairs to the ninth floor. Instead of a single turn in the staircase, we doubled back six times. I glanced into the room at the bottom. I hadn¡¯t thought that any floor could feel creepier than the last floor with the librarian, but I was wrong. The space was circular, with bookshelves all around the perimeter, reaching a ceiling that must have been 100 feet tall. One of those rolling ladders was attached to tracks on the wall, allowing someone to climb six or seven stories to the top shelves into the vaulted space. In the center of the room, a librarian sat on a chair that was too small for him. A harpy with slicked back hair and flat rectangular glasses on the edge of his nose. Bevan the Librarian Level 19 Boss, Harpy Undead HP: 285/285 Stamina: 361/361 Mana 380/380 Eight children sat cross-legged in front of him, enraptured by the story that he read. Ghostly Child Level 17, Undead HP: 65/65 Stamina: 120/120 Mana 90/90 His arms gestured dramatically. He paused at just the right moments to create drama. His voice rose and fell, eliciting gasps from his audience. We stepped inside the door, staying far enough back that were outside the normal range of alerting the boss to our presence. ¡°Once upon a time,¡± Bevan read. ¡°There was a kind witch named Clarity. Clarity lived in a tall tower where she made magical candy. Gumdrops, peppermint, licorice, and chocolates. Because she was good and kind, she gave her candy away to little ghostly children, keeping them happy and fed. Everyone was happy and well fed. One day, an evil little human boy named Warren arrived at the tower and tried to steal her candy.¡± I went flush, heat rising to my cheeks. I wiped my hands on my leather armor. ¡°I don¡¯t like humans,¡± one of the children interrupted. ¡°Oh, me either,¡± Bevan said. ¡°Little Warren was a clever little human, too,¡± he continued. ¡°He brought a Fairy with him and a big bag to store all the candy. But Warren was also a liar. He pretended to be something that he wasn¡¯t, thinking it would fool the good witch.¡± ¡°What did he pretend to be?¡± One of the children asked. ¡°Great question,¡± Bevan said. ¡°He pretended to be kind. He told Clarity that there were other children, needy children, who needed her candy.¡± Bevan¡¯s voice changed from soft and soothing to deep and scratchy. ¡°But really, he was there to steal the candy for himself.¡± The children booed and hissed like this was a melodrama. I didn¡¯t like what was happening. Bears, ghosts, harpies. Fine. But evil librarians telling allegories about me, making me into the bad guy. A dungeon personalizing its floors to me. No thank you. ¡°What did Clarity do?¡± One of the children asked. ¡°Did she let him steal all of the candy?¡± ¡°Clarity is wise,¡± the harpy librarian said. ¡°So she gave Warren a choice. Behind one door was all the candy that he could carry in his bag. He could do anything he wanted with it, but he could never come back again to the tower.¡± He paused and looked around into the children¡¯s black eyes. ¡°What¡¯s the other choice?¡± one of them asked, unable to wait. ¡°Behind the other door was a key to the store room where she kept all of the sweets. He could use that key to take as much as he wanted forever. But,¡± Bevan said with a sudden stop, ¡°there was a catch. If Warren ever ate a single piece of this candy, his key would disappear forever.¡± ¡°What did he do?¡± one of the children asked. ¡°Sorry kids. We¡¯ll have to finish the story later. We have visitors.¡± Bevan looked up at me and made eye contact. Each of the children turned and looked at us with black eyes. Behind us, a door slammed shut. Chapter 50. Clarity the Good Witch Chapter 50. Clarity the Good Witch ¡°Go, go!¡± I said. Janica charged through the group of children into the librarian, stunning him. I wanted to drop a couple Lightning Strikes on the group, but I restrained myself, giving Janica time to get aggro. I pulled out my drum and started pounding out the beat to ¡°The Heat is On¡± by Glenn Frey, the theme song to Beverly Hills Cop. I needed some Eddie Murphy energy at this moment. The song demanded a saxophone, so I did my best impression with my voice. If Rowan was here, would she approve? Tempo activated, giving us a necessary haste buff. The children surrounded Janica and began swiping at her with little bony hands. They reached out to grab and hold her. Janica spun around with sword and shield, inflicting Bleed and Slow on all of the children. She tried to move away from them, but they held her. Her health started to drop. I casted Rejuvenate 2 on her, watching her health jump up to full. The stun wore off of the boss and he began singing a song. I recognized it, right off, as the sleep song. That was bad. If either of us dozed off, they could focus the other one down. I began to feel woozy. I started casting Lightning Strike, positioning it on the boss. I didn¡¯t want to get his attention, but I didn¡¯t have a choice. It took me longer than it should have, my concentration muddled by the thought of resting my eyes. Just for a moment. But electricity grew in me, energizing my brain. It released. Lightning fell from the sky, stunning the boss and doing twenty-six damage. His song ended abruptly, and my drowsiness dissipated. Two seconds later, my stun wore off. Bevan looked at me. He raised a bony finger. ¡°You!¡± he growled. I had his attention now. I ran to the opposite side of the room as he chased after me. ¡°Children, get him!¡± the librarian ordered. They turned in unison, their health bars 60% full. They released Janica and came after me. I began running away from them around the circle of the room. They followed me, closing in. But the movement reduction that Janica had applied to them gave me an advantage. Janica spun and spun, inflicting more bleed on the ghostly children. Their health dropped. 60%... 50%... 40%... I stopped and targeted a Lightning Strike to land just in front of me. It struck just as the children reached me, their black eyes hungry for blood. Lightning stunned the whole group and took them to 10%. I scampered away while they were stunned. The bleed ticked one more time and they all fell to the ground. The librarian yelled in a rage and I saw a new buff on his portrait. Enraged. Doing 80% more damage. Uh oh. Janica switched to her two-handed mace and uppercut the boss as he chased after me. His health dropped to 80%. She Uppercut him again, further reducing his armor. The boss turned to her. I was no longer the biggest threat. He swiped at her, taking off a massive chunk of health. She dropped from 80% to 52% in a single attack. ¡°He¡¯s enraged!¡± I yelled. Janica switched to sword and shield and flew upward into the vaulted ceiling to make space, her wings fluttering like a hummingbird. The boss crouched down and leapt into the air, chasing her. Large harpy wings flapped. Gusts of wind erupted from his wake. I casted Rejuvenate 2 on Janica. Her health rose to 70%. The healing over time effect doubled. The two flyers battled above me, dodging and swinging at each other in a furious and elegant fight. Janica was faster, her tiny wings allowing her to stack bleeds up on the boss while evading his attacks. When he connected, her health plummeted. I used the last of my mana to put a third stack of Rejuvenate on her. All I could do was wait for my mana to regenerate and keep Tempo active. The boss''s health dipped steadily as Janica¡¯s bleeds piled up. With her health still above 40%, she sliced the boss one last time, then flitted away and upward, kiting him. He approached her for one last desperate attack, but the bleed ticked, taking his health to zero. He fell from fifty feet up, a spinning mass of feathers and blood. He crashed down into the center of the room. Janica descended slowly, smiling at me. ¡°Got him,¡± she said. Congratulations, you defeated Bevan the Librarian You gained 342 Experience Points. You earned 110 Job Points as a Restorative Mystic. You earned 432 Reputation with Edreru University. I had enough JP to purchase Rejuvenate 2, so I did so. I looted the boss. You received 150 silver. You received 1 Shard of Edreru. You received 8 pieces of Ghost Cloth. You received Letter Opener. You received The Tale of Clarity and the Candy Thief. You received Mana Potion. Letter Opener Item Class: Dagger Item Quality: Rare Damage 52-58 +10 Perception +10 Dexterity Requirements: 50 Dexterity or Perception The Tale of Clarity and the Candy Thief An Edreru Histories Original Mana Potion Item Class: Consumable Restores 35 mana instantly ¡°Boo!¡± I said. ¡°Just a dagger and that obnoxious book he was reading the kids.¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± Janica said. ¡°I kinda wanted to know how it would turn out.¡± ¡°Oh I can tell you that,¡± I said. ¡°The all-knowing, all-wise Clarity tricks Warren and makes him look like a fool.¡± ¡°So just like in real life then?¡± she said, not really a question. A door had opened up on the opposite end of the room, leading down to the safe level. But I needed to search for hidden things. I walked the perimeter of the room, running my fingers along the books. Nothing. I stepped onto the rolling ladder and looked up. I sighed, and began climbing. ¡°Hold on,¡± Janica said. ¡°I¡¯ll push you. So we can check all around the room as we go.¡± As I climbed, Janica pushed me around the circle. I rose in a spiral around the room. Up and up and up. I tried not to look down. My passive triggered at the top of the room, six levels above the ground. Your Perceptive attribute triggered. A thin little book sparkled in the middle of a shelf. I reached over and grabbed it. Tunnels in the Tower. I wanted to heroically slide down the ladder, but the thought of falling to my death stopped me. I climbed down, one step at a time. ¡°Janica, check this out.¡± I sat down in Bevan¡¯s chair and opened the book. ¡°I think it¡¯s a list of shortcuts in the dungeon. There¡¯s a portal that takes you from level two to level six. There¡¯s another one that takes you from level twenty-six to level twenty-eight. Holy hell there are more than twenty-eight levels to this place?¡± I looked up at her. ¡°We have a long way to go.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the catch?¡± she asked. ¡°There¡¯s always a catch.¡± I shrugged. ¡°Why didn¡¯t my passive trigger on level two? We could have skipped all the way to six.¡±The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°We probably would have been ported into the middle of two groups of Mad Scientists and died,¡± she said. I flipped back to the first page. ¡°There¡¯s an incantation,¡± I said. ¡°A witch¡¯s ritual,¡± Janica said. ¡°Look. See the picture. You have to draw that. And look at the cost.¡± ¡°Oh dang,¡± I said. ¡°One Shard of Edreru per ritual.¡± Our plan had been to use the shards to craft a legendary weapon with the quest item I had in my inventory. That was the smart play. Grow powerful. Take our time. Conquer every level. ¡°And?¡± she pressed. ¡°Read the rest.¡± ¡°And you have to draw the pattern in blood,¡± I said, shivering. ¡°I don¡¯t like it,¡± Janica said. I flipped through the pages and stopped. ¡°Janica, look at this,¡± I said. ¡°There¡¯s a portal that takes two shards. It goes from floor nine to floor twenty-nine. We¡¯re on floor nine.¡± ¡°Warren, that could very well be the final floor,¡± Janica said. ¡°We¡¯d be walking into something we¡¯re not ready for. You don¡¯t even have the Elementalist Job or a full set of gear. And we¡¯re gaining levels so fast.¡± ¡°We have thirty hours left,¡± I said. ¡°This might be the only way to get there in time. Twenty floors is a lot to get through in thirty hours. And we¡¯re going to need to rest.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t like it,¡± she said. ¡°These floors are getting more and more dangerous,¡± I said. ¡°There could be traps. We could get stuck. We could die.¡± ¡°I see your point, but why not level up for a while, then come back and take the portal? Then we could gather Rowan and Cassandra and maybe a fifth party member and bring them with us through the portal.¡± Her plan was sound. And much safer. But for every level I got, the mobs would gain a level as well. So wasn¡¯t getting more powerful just a wash? More importantly, how was I supposed to trust anyone with this information? Rowan and Cassandra had Shards of Edreru of their own. They could take the information to Arthur and their new guild, find the book, and make their own portal. Besides, I had left them. Why would they abandon a successful run with a powerful group to take a chance on me? I wouldn''t if I were them. They were in this to save Henry. Would partying with me be their best chance? Their five person group was probably further than me. They could easily be in on floor fifteen already. And as much as I didn¡¯t want to admit it to myself, there was another reason. The fifty-thousand dollar reward. To gamers that could afford pods, that much money was nothing. To Sofia and I, it was everything. I didn¡¯t want to split the reward five ways. I looked at Janica, a determination rising in me. I didn¡¯t have a choice. I had to do this. ¡°Don¡¯t the mobs level up when we level up?¡± I asked. ¡°So isn¡¯t it a wash? Every time I gain a level, Clarity gains a level.¡± ¡°Why are you so set on this?¡± Janica asked. ¡°It¡¯s not like you to take big risks.¡± She was right about that. Was I acting with desperation? I didn¡¯t feel like I had a choice. Rowan wouldn¡¯t join us. And there was so much that could go wrong if we waited. I pulled out the Letter Opener and sliced across my palm. Blood poured out. ¡°Warren, don¡¯t do this,¡± she said. ¡°What happens if I die first?¡± I asked. ¡°Will you die also?¡± ¡°No,¡± she said. ¡°Then it¡¯s settled,¡± I said. ¡°If we¡¯re going to wipe, get to a safe place and let me die.¡± I closed my fist, letting it drip in a steady line as I copied the ritual. A spiral, starting at the center and moving outward in three rings. Then a slash across the middle. I stopped and put a Rejuvenate 2 on myself, healing myself back to full. I pulled both Shards of Edreru from my inventory, placing them in the center of the symbol. ¡°Are you ready?¡± I asked. Janica was a warrior. A champion. A hero. She nodded. I put my hand on the book and activated the ritual. The ground shuddered. The Shards of Edreru flashed a brilliant blue. Blood moved along the lines I had drawn, a dozen tiny streams moving around the pattern like traffic from an aerial camera. The blue light from the shards infected the blood, starting from the stream that exited the center of the ritual. It flowed through the pattern. When it had completed its circuit, the sapphire color re-entered the center Shards. A portal winked into existence above the bloody pattern, a flat oval shape larger than me. In the spiral, my own face stared back at me. I looked at Janica, whose face was stern. Distant. I stepped through. ¡°Welcome Warren,¡± I heard a voice across the room that sounded familiar in an odd way. ¡°I¡¯m over here. Just let me finish this stack and I¡¯ll give you a proper welcome.¡± Janica appeared next to me, sword and shield already drawn. I stood in a dome large enough for a full size basketball court. Dead in the center, a glass tube went from floor to ceiling. Inside, suspended in blue, bubbling liquid, two glowing orbs spun around each other. One blue. One purple. I recognized them as the Elemental and Enigmatic power cores. Thick cords ran from the glass tube in every direction, like spokes in a wheel, exiting the room through circular holes in the dome. I walked around the center with caution. Opposite the central apparatus, a man sat on a throne. Reading a book. Was he reading? He threw the book on his lap through a portal. He reached for another from a crate and opened the front cover. The pages flipped so fast that they were a blur. He tossed the tome through the portal and picked up another. A line of crates sat next to him, hundreds of books in each one. Several tanks of different colored liquids sat behind him, effervescing. Clarity, The Good Witch Level ?? Boss Level: Unknown HP: Unknown Stamina: Unknown Mana: Unknown The man had long sandy hair and just about the sweetest denim vest that I had ever seen. Was that a Rush patch on his breast pocket? He looked up at me with blue eyes. I stared at somebody who looked exactly like me. Except with glasses. ¡°Warren!¡± Janica said, exasperated. ¡°You¡¯re the boss of the dungeon? It was you the whole time?¡± I looked at her, one eyebrow raised. ¡°Seriously?¡± I asked. She eyed me funny. ¡°You always seemed a little off to me. With the drumming and all.¡± ¡°Whatever,¡± I said. ¡°If anybody is a little off¡­¡± ¡°Did you two come down here to fight or joke around?¡± Clarity asked. We stopped our little debate and focused on the boss. I noticed two buffs on Clarity. The first had an icon that looked like a green mask with red eyes on a black background. It had a one-word description. Disguised. The second buff had a green plus sign with gold trim around it. Witch Hazel Healer. Regenerating 2% of maximum health every second. Clarity looked up at us with curiosity, then grabbed another book and sped through it. ¡°Do you work for Botcorp?¡± I asked. The question had weighed on me since I had figured out the connection days ago. I still didn¡¯t know how Botcorp was involved, whether it was Clarity or some other part of the dungeon. ¡°What a curious question,¡± Clarity said. ¡°Of all the things that you could ask me¡­ like where your friend Henry might be¡­ or how I tricked you into coming straight to me.¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t answer the question,¡± I said. Clarity shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s complicated.¡± ¡°The children¡¯s story,¡± Janica said. ¡°We¡¯re such idiots. Clarity told us he was going to trick you in the story, and then we let it happen.¡± Clarity cackled softly, breaking character. I definitely didn¡¯t laugh like that. ¡°Don¡¯t be embarrassed,¡± he said. ¡°You¡¯re not even the first ones to fall into a trap. Your buddies made it down here hours ago.¡± ¡°Rowan?¡± I asked. How did he know we were buddies? ¡°And Cassandra, Arthur, the other two,¡± Clarity said. ¡°They all came down here thinking they could destroy me and save their friend. They failed, of course, but I did help them reunite with Henry.¡± ¡°All these books,¡± I interrupted. ¡°They¡¯re what you¡¯re really after, right? You¡¯re stealing data from the game.¡± ¡°That¡¯s an interesting theory,¡± Clarity said. ¡°Maybe I just like to read?¡± ¡°It won¡¯t matter,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m sure you saw the system alerts. The game developers are shutting down the whole dungeon.¡± ¡°Oh,¡± Clarity said. ¡°Yes that. Of course. The game developers know exactly what they¡¯re doing. I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll succeed.¡± His voice dripped with sarcasm. Which did not encourage me. In fact, it scared me. Clarity knew more than them and was mocking the developers for thinking that they could stop him in time. The reading, the books. Clarity was not only absorbing data at a tremendous rate, but he would also be gaining levels in reading skill, making his rate faster and faster. Maybe the developers hadn¡¯t accounted for accelerating download speeds. ¡°Where are Rowan and Cassandra?¡± Janica said. ¡°Would you like to see them?¡± Clarity stood up. ¡°Good. You¡¯re interrupting my work.¡± Clarity raised his head and screeched. I covered my ears. A debuff appeared. You were Silenced for 8 seconds. Clarity moved quickly. First he threw a white potion at us. It landed at our feet, locking us both in place with ice. You were Immobilized for 8 seconds. Then calmly he walked over and drew a circle around us. I watched as the two debuffs ticked down. I activated Tempo, the only thing I could do while Silenced. Clarity placed something on the edge of the circle, then raised his arms in a dramatic gesture like he was lifting something heavy. The circle grew into a cylinder, surrounding us. You were afflicted by Death Hex. 300 shadow damage applied over 8 seconds. I couldn¡¯t move. I couldn¡¯t cast. I watched as my health bar ticked down. 65%... 30%... I looked at Janica, feeling panic. Janica stared back at me, helpless. I looked at Clarity. He looked at me, hands in the pockets of his denim vest. Bored, almost. You died. All existing Job levels reset to 1. The world went completely black. Chapter 51. In the Air Tonight Chapter 51. In the Air Tonight Respawn Timer: 3 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds The next four hours were grueling in a way that I hadn¡¯t experienced since joining IO. I sat in my room. I played my drums. I ate. I fidgeted. I searched the Botcorp website for clues to a connection with Clarity. Yet, my anxiety kept me from being productive or using my time strategically. Thoughts spun and spun. After some time, I fell asleep, exhausted. When Sofia woke me up, I entered the pod with a weight on my shoulders that I had messed everything up. Would you like to respawn at the nearest spawn point? Yes/No. Clarity had killed us in seconds. We couldn¡¯t even defend ourselves. And Janica¡­ was she gone now? If I died first, maybe she could be resummoned. I chose ¡°yes¡±. I appeared on a metal floor. Metal bars surrounded me on all sides. A cage. The first thing I did was activate Spiritual Embodiment. I needed to know if Janica had died for real. It didn¡¯t work. I looked for the debuff that should show a timer of how long I had to summon her back. It wasn¡¯t there. My breathing got faster, an d I felt m yself get dizzy. I sat down. Or fell down. I leaned against the metal bars. Something felt wrong, beyond the panic. I was exhausted, like I was moving in slow motion. Think. I looked at my advanced statistics. Health: 95/95 Stamina 0/95 Mana 105/105 Resource Regeneration -7 per second There it was. I had negative stamina. I looked at the tooltip. Hex of Exhaustion. Stamina and Mana Regeneration reduced by 10 per second. Spiritual Embodiment took two stamina per second to maintain. The good thing was that I no longer had a time limit to summon her back like I did with the previous version of the spell. But the per-second cost might explain why I couldn¡¯t summon Janica. I prayed this was the case. If I had caused her death¡­ no. I couldn¡¯t think about that right now. I had to get out of this cage. Had to get back to Clarity and beat him. The reality of the situation hit me. I looked at my statistics again. I had lost fourteen levels. My health and mana had been cut in half. Five percent crit was missing. Sixty stamina. I looked back at my statistics. I screamed, the weight of my situation overwhelming me. The act of releasing the rage felt good, but made me dizzy. I laid down and breathed. The absence of stamina made any physical action result in a weariness that lasted for seconds. I closed my eyes as tight as I could, but it didn¡¯t stop tears from coming down. ¡°Warren, is that you?¡± A familiar voice. I let my head fall to my right. A familiar face, looking at me through his own cage. Henry. ¡°Don¡¯t move too quickly or you¡¯ll pass out,¡± he said. ¡°There¡¯s a Hex Generator in the room, drawing our energy.¡± ¡°A what?¡± I asked through lethargic lips. ¡°If you don¡¯t move too much, it¡¯s better,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯ve been here for days. Well, kinda. Most of the time I spent logged out.¡± He talked slowly, breathing between phrases. ¡°Waiting for something to happen¡­ so I could reroll another character. It sucks to just sit here¡­ waiting. I contacted the development team a bunch of times. Finally got through. They¡¯re shutting the dungeon down. But my character¡­ our characters¡­ will be stuck here. And the policy¡­¡± ¡°Is that you only get one character¡­ ever,¡± a voice said from my other side. I turned. Arthur sat in the cage to my left. ¡°You,¡± I said. He nodded. ¡°Seems like we¡¯re all done in IO,¡± he said. ¡°Trapped in cages, waiting for the end.¡± ¡°All?¡± I managed. ¡°Our whole team,¡± Arthur said. ¡°Christian. Thomas. Rowan. Cassandra. The boss trapped us hours ago. I keep logging in¡­ hoping something has changed. Or to experience this world¡­ a little more before it¡¯s over. Even in a cage.¡± ¡°It¡¯s useless,¡± Henry said. ¡°We can¡¯t even¡­ send messages in game.¡± This was too much. I had waited for hours to respawn, but the weight of my situation felt so heavy that I couldn¡¯t be here a second longer. ¡°I need to go.¡± You logged out of Integration Online.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. ¡°So you¡¯re just going to give up?¡± Sofia asked. ¡°What choice do I have? Unless the developers change their terms of service.¡± ¡°You need to contact them,¡± Sofia said. ¡°And provide what proof?¡± I asked. ¡°We can¡¯t take screenshots or record the game in any way. Plus, Henry already contacted them. They¡¯re shutting the entire dungeon down to prevent theft, so that solves the problem for them.¡± I walked into my room, slamming the door behind me. Sofia opened it. ¡°This might be the wrong time to tell you, but you can¡¯t mope around. You¡¯re going to have to get a job. I used all the money we had to buy that inn, which is going to be worthless when they shut the dungeon down and all the adventurers leave town. I¡¯m gonna eat some breakfast and then go salvage what I can.¡± She shut the door. I picked up my drumsticks and sat down. I put my headphones on and fired up my old set list. This was my stage, my escape. A selection of songs that had helped me push down the hurt since my parents¡¯ death. A concert of pain, betrayal, depression, and self reliance. My hands were fury. My wrists, a blur of release. As I progressed through my songs, I let my frustration out. I had been so close to what Sofia and I needed. A way to get ahead. Steady jobs. Somehow, thinking about financial stability while drumming to ¡°Thunderstruck¡± by AC/DC gave me a sense of dissonance. Like trying to smile while weeping. I skipped the song, hoping to find a song to fit my mood. I put on ¡°In the Air Tonight¡± by Phil Collins. Perhaps the song with the greatest drum introduction of all time. Phil somehow waits over half the song to start rocking out. When he does, you can¡¯t help but play along with him. The song is about pure evil. Well I was there and I saw what you did. ? I saw it with my own two eyes. ? So you can wipe off that grin. ? I know where you¡¯ve been. ? It¡¯s all been a pack of lies. Like Clarity. Not some bad guy who has some complicated reason for doing wrong. Clarity invaded IO to steal data. I didn¡¯t know why or how he tied himself to the dungeon. But he wasn¡¯t a normal boss. He trapped people in his dungeon. Played mind games. Set Janica and I against each other and did psychological testing on us. Made up children¡¯s stories about me. What was it like growing up? What do you care most about? What is your greatest fear? He had pulled out some of my darkest memories. I told Clarity about my parents. About living in poverty. About Sofia. About not wanting to let her down. And then Clarity had used these things against me. I was sure of it. The librarian had warned me. ¡°So she gave Warren a choice. Behind one door was all the candy that he could carry in his bag, but he could never come back again to the tower. Behind the other door was a key to the store room where she kept all of the sweets. He could use that key to take as much as he wanted forever. But t here was a catch. If Warren ever ate a single piece of this candy, his key would disappear forever. Of course, Warren didn¡¯t know this.¡± It didn¡¯t take a genius to see the lesson here. Clarity had given me a choice. Had planted the shortcut right in my path. He knew that I would find it. Knew that I couldn¡¯t resist trying to take everything for myself. All I had to do was go get other people, share the portal, and defeat Clarity as a group. But I didn¡¯t. Clarity knew that I wouldn¡¯t. He was in my head. He somehow knew me better than I knew me. And that was a problem. It wasn¡¯t the first time. After my parents died, kids knew how to get under my skin. It was easy. Find my weakness, exploit it. Just like Tony, my sewing factory nemesis. He could say one thing and send me into a spiral. I needed to get stronger or people would take advantage of me. I had tried, of course. I had pushed people away. Had put up barriers. I kept to myself. I didn¡¯t even trust Rowan and Cassandra with information. I hadn¡¯t told them about my Integrator Passive or let them see the real me. I didn¡¯t trust them to join my party or to forgive me. I hadn¡¯t even told Janica the real reason that I needed to defeat Clarity. I heard Phil Collins belt out the words, ¡°The hurt doesn¡¯t show, but the pain still grows. It¡¯s no stranger to you and me,¡± the line when the song ramps up, and I pounded the drums with Phil¡ª ba-bom ba-bom ba-bom ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-bom . The image of killing Arthur and his friends flashed in my memory. Of hitting Christian in the back of his head with the middle of my staff. It was my fault that Arthur and I hated each other. Not his. Not because he was some rich asshole. But because I had betrayed him and his friends. They trusted me. Even carried me through that dungeon because they wanted to recruit me to their guild. Then I literally killed them. They should despise me. I deserved it. That was me being strong. That was me protecting myself. And what had it led to? People didn¡¯t trust me. I had possibly gotten Janica killed. I had reset my Job levels back to one. I had gotten myself trapped with no way out, restricted from ever playing the game again. I had come full circle. From the sewing factory, to IO, then back to the sewing factory. From loneliness, to friendship, and back to loneliness. This wasn¡¯t a result of taking risks or opening up. In the few times that I had allowed myself to put my security on the line, I had gotten into all kinds of fun and even made a real connection with people who I really liked. I had made enough money to thrive. I had learned how to craft leather goods. I had become a pretty badass fighter. Maybe what I needed wasn¡¯t strength. Maybe what I needed was the opposite. Openness, perhaps. Saying too much instead of too little. Telling people who I was and what I wanted. Taking risks. Allowing them to know me. This scared me, of course. Terrified me, really. But I had tried the path of strength and stoicism. Tried to play it safe. Tried to protect my heart.. And it didn¡¯t work. Since my time in IO, I had actually had some fun. Lived a little. Found friends. Now that I knew what that was like, I couldn¡¯t go back. Even if it meant taking risks. I knew who I wanted to be, kind of. I definitely didn¡¯t know how. I had never been good at trusting others. At least, not since my parents'' death. But what did any of this matter? My character was stuck in a dungeon. In a cage. If I had stamina and mana, I might have a shot at getting out. Arthur might be able to bend the bars open. Or I might be able to summon Janica. Clarity had set the room up with some kind of a device that reduced everyone''s regeneration below zero. There was something there. An idea swirling around, not quite solid. Just vapors looking to condense. I set down my drumsticks. I needed to try something. Probably wouldn¡¯t work. I ran into the other room. ¡°Sofia! Are you in yet? I need the pod.¡± No answer. I ran to check the pod. She wasn''t there. I breathed out, relieved. ¡°What are you doing?¡± she asked. She sat in the kitchen, headphones on, eating eggs. ¡°I don¡¯t know how to fix this yet,¡± I said. ¡°But maybe.¡± She waved her hand at me, telling me to go. ¡°Good luck,¡± she said. You logged into Integration Online. Chapter 52. Fire Chapter 52. Fire I was alone in the room and in my small cell. Henry, Arthur and the others must be logged out. Maybe they had given up completely. I didn¡¯t know. But I needed some time anyway before I was ready to speak with them. I peered through my bars, inspecting the device that held us captive. The Hex of Exhaustion. It looked like a totem. A cylindrical wooden sculpture with a menacing face. Purple rings emerged from the bottom, spreading outward like ripples of dark energy. This has to be the thing that was draining our mana and stamina. On top of the totem, a gem pulsed with a purple light. From what I had learned about enchanting and engineering within the game, I knew that every device needed a power source. Just like the enchantments on my gear or the generator in Clarity¡¯s room. That little gem was like a battery. The other thing I had learned was that magical devices could interact with each other. Back in the Dancing Cougar, the bartender had activated a tool that dampened the sound so that we could have a conversation. If my theory was correct, I might be able to create an artifact that could eliminate, or at least reduce the aura in the room. Of course, I had no idea how to do that. And the small clue that I had to get started was a long shot. Somewhere within the book that Bill had given me was a clue. A pattern for the type of device I wanted to make. Somewhere. Within five hundred pages of engineering language. Before I got started with my research, I needed to make sure that I could actually create a device. I had wire in my inventory, and Dread had explained how to make Enchanted Wire. I needed to heat it up until it was red hot, then sprinkle magic dust on top. Great. No problem. But I didn''t have a fire spell yet or any mana. Back before our fated dungeon run, I had planned on giving myself a fire spell. I had never created a spell from scratch though, so the plan was purely theoretical. It was time to test that theory. I opened up my Spell Book to a blank page and set it down in my cage. The simple action exhausted me, and it took me several seconds to catch my breath. I lifted both hands, palms up and said Ignis while wiggling my fingers. Nothing happened. I had done the research on the ASL and the Latin, but the math wasn¡¯t there. I caught my breath, then tried again. This time guessing at the math. Most spells were some multiplier of my Intelligence statistic. I started with a one-to-one ratio representing instant damage. I waited for my breath then shouted Ignis . ¡°What are you doing?¡± Arthur startled me. My heart pounded from the surprise, and I nearly passed out. My instinct was to tell him to screw off, but I stopped myself. After a few moments I answered him. ¡°Trying¡­ to teach myself a fire spell.¡± ¡°Why?¡± He asked. ¡°What¡¯s the point?¡± ¡°I need to¡­ try something,¡± I said. ¡°But¡­ no promises.¡± ¡°Uh huh,¡± Arthur said. I checked my Spell Book. I had made progress. The diagram showing the finger movements had materialized on the page. At least that part was correct. But the small victory was actually a huge one. It meant that the process was possible. I checked the time. It was 3 am. The developers would shut the dungeon down in 23 hours. But I couldn¡¯t dwell on that; it would only distract me. I needed to get done what I could. Over the next hour, I tried a dozen combinations of words, math, and finger movements. I suspected that many fire spells existed. I just needed to guess one of them. I tried Firestorm, Ignite, Fire Wall, Small Fire, Large Fire, and Fireball. Every video game spell I could think of. As I did, my Spell Book filled with new pages, one for each that actually existed. The tricky part was figuring out the right combination of words, movement, and math. But I was determined and systematic. Arthur chuckled at me and mocked me through the process. He shook his head and rolled his eyes. I know this because he actually said the words: ¡°I¡¯m rolling my eyes at you right now.¡± Eventually, I had to get lucky. My pages filled up, part by part. The Spell Book page for Firestorm had both hand movements and words. My breakthrough came after I had tried every spell with my Intelligence as spell damage over eight seconds. I was about to try Wisdom in the spell damage formula when I had a thought. What if fire does more damage than anything else? I tried plain old Fire as double my Intelligence over eight seconds. I shouted the word and wiggled the digits. A flame erupted in front of me in my cage. Congratulations, you learned the spell Fire from your Integrator passive. Fire: engulf your target in flames doing 2*I damage over 8 seconds. Cost: 25 mana. I screamed in some mixture of delight and surprise. ¡°What the hell?¡± Arthur asked. I smiled, then raised my hands into the air the way a real fire mage would. The fire went out. ¡°How did you do that?¡± he asked. ¡°Arthur, can you contact Rowan and Cassandra? Like do you have their emails or some guild chat outside of the game?¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Yeah,¡± he said. ¡°Of course.¡± ¡°I¡¯d like to tell everyone all at once,¡± I said. ¡°Will you get them to log in?¡± ¡°Can you get us out of here?¡± he asked. ¡°Still no promises, but maybe,¡± I said. ¡°Okay. I¡¯m logging out. I¡¯ll be back after I contact them.¡± ¡°Hold on,¡± I said. ¡°Before they come back. I wanted to tell you that I¡¯m sorry for betraying you. I¡¯m sorry for not asking if you wanted to join my alternative quest. I had excuses, but they¡¯re stupid. I was an asshole. It was my fault.¡± He tilted his head to the side. ¡°Okay¡­¡± he let the word trail off. ¡°I need to think about that.¡± I nodded. After Arthur logged out, I pulled out my wire and disenchanted the dagger that I had used to cut my palm open. You received 1 Shining Dust. The dust was rare in quality. Hopefully that would work. I set the wire down in front of me, then casted Fire on it. Nothing happened. I tried again. Nothing. Of course, I had zero mana. Yet I had casted a spell. I had created fire moments earlier. Maybe it was because the discovery allowed a free cast? If I was right, I needed to discover another fire spell. I began experimenting again, this time with new knowledge. After seven attempts, I succeeded. Augue , I whispered. A sphere of fire erupted from my hands, exploding just feet from me inside my cell. The heat was overwhelming. It burned my face and body. Congratulations, you learned the spell Fireball from your Integrator passive. You received 32 fire damage. You will take 32 fire damage over 4 seconds. I gasped and screamed. I felt light headed. But the wire that I had set down glowed a dark orange color. I reached out, using what little energy I could, and sprinkled the entire handful of Shining Dust on the wire. It glowed brightly and then dimmed. What remained was metal that twinkled like it had tiny stars in it. You created Shining Enchanted Wire. I smiled, and breathed out a sigh. I reached up to check my body for burns. Thankfully, my armor had protected me from most of the heat. I rubbed my hands over my face. My skin felt tender. Still warm. A little crispy. Something crumbled on my fingers. I looked at them. Ash. I had singed my eyebrows. I reached up and rubbed the burnt hair off of my brow. A surprising amount of it. Oh well. I had Enchanted Wire. That¡¯s what mattered. I pulled the book that Bill had given me from my inventory with reluctance. The last time I browsed its pages, it was so overwhelming that I had given up. I decided to start at the beginning. I read the forward, the table of contents. I flipped to a key of symbols within the book. The process of decoding began. Over the next two hours, I studied. Slowly. Methodically. Back in high school, I was pretty good at science. I enjoyed theoretical work like math and chemistry. I had built basic circuits in physics class, connecting batteries to light bulbs. But engineering manuals on circuits were a whole different ball game. Thankfully, The Joy of Mana Circuits started simply. When an author really knew what they were talking about, they were able to remove a lot of the complexity by explaining things at their core. Bill was such an instructor. I learned the symbols for capacitors and transistors. The difference between types of circuits. The math behind all of it was too complicated, even for me. What confused me most was the amount of power that a battery could provide. My enchantments, for example, had fifty uses before they needed to be redone. That little bit of enchanting thread on my bracers provided forty-eight battles worth of increased critical strike chance. The thread was a power source, a battery. But the manager of the Dancing Cougar had told me that their amplifier had to be replaced almost every day. According to Bill¡¯s book, an actual power core should have a hundred times more battery power than a tiny piece of thread. It didn¡¯t make sense. I logged off for an hour. I watched tutorials on the internet of basic circuitry. I cross-referenced the ideas from Bill¡¯s book to the real world. And the ideas started to come together. The symbols in Integration Online were different from those on Earth, but not much. Integration Online used glyphs instead of circuit boards. A glyph was nothing more than a shape that represented an idea. If you shaped a piece of wire to represent Light, it would produce light until its power died. If you formed it in the shape of Heat, it would produce heat. That was it. And those shapes were reproduced again and again within Bill¡¯s book. Eventually, I found what I thought I was looking for. ¡°Warren?¡± Rowan¡¯s voice interrupted my thought process. I had been thinking about what I would say, off and on, for almost an hour. Running it through my head over and over again. I looked up. Rowan, Cassandra, Arthur, Thomas, and Christian had all logged in. They each sat in their own cells, distributed in a circular fashion around the room. They looked at me from the floors of their cells, struck by the same hex that kept me from being able to move more than a few inches at a time. ¡°Alright Warren,¡± Arthur said. ¡°I gathered the whole group. Why are we here?¡± The moment had come. I wiped my hands on my vest. This must be how musicians must feel before a concert. Everyone watched me. Chapter 53. Happy Gilmore Golf Swing Chapter 53. Happy Gilmore Golf Swing ¡°You can¡¯t be serious, Arthur,¡± Christian said. ¡°You had me log in for this?¡± ¡°Let him speak,¡± Cassandra said. ¡°Thanks for coming,¡± I started. I didn¡¯t love apologies, especially when I didn¡¯t believe the person. Back in high school, a principal had made a kid apologize to me in her office. It was empty. Just words meant to placate me. And it didn¡¯t stop the bullying. I meant to try something different. ¡°I¡¯m kind of messed up,¡± I began. ¡°I haven¡¯t had the easiest life. My parents died some years ago and left my sister and I with nothing. I was mistreated. People took advantage of me. It¡¯s hard for me to trust others. To open up. But I¡¯m going to try. Because I¡¯ve wronged every one of you in different ways. It¡¯s not an excuse, but I need to say some things.¡± Rowan leaned into the bars, looking at me. I swallowed. ¡°My sister and I got into this game in a pod that the government loaned us. Before this week, I worked in a sewing factory. I hated my job. We barely make rent. I love my sister more than anything; she¡¯s the only person who¡¯s never let me down. So my goal was just to make money. To farm, mine, fish. Anything. Then in character creation something crazy happened. For the first time in a long time, I chose to be myself. What you see is what I actually look like in real life. And Warren is my real name. The game rewarded me for choosing to be myself with an option to take a special Attribute called the Integrator. It allowed me to bring my talents from the real world into the game.¡± People audibly responded to this. Gasps. Sounds of sudden understanding. ¡°Ohh,¡± Rowan said. ¡°That¡¯s how you got the Musician Job.¡± ¡°Yep,¡± I said. ¡°And the Instructor Job and the Enchanting profession. Arthur witnessed me discovering a Fire spell a little while ago. I did that by demonstrating the spell in-game. If I can do it, I can learn it.¡± ¡°You can create spells?¡± Christian asked, impressed. ¡°Why are you telling us all of this?¡± Rowan asked. ¡°Why now?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll get to that,¡± I said. ¡°There¡¯s a little more.¡± I looked at Arthur, Christian, and Thomas. ¡°Fellas, you already know how I betrayed you. I¡¯m sorry about that. You reminded me of people from my past, so I judged you before I knew you. That wasn¡¯t fair.¡± I looked at Rowan and Cassandra. ¡°But I haven¡¯t told you girls yet how I betrayed you. And Henry.¡± I swallowed. Each of them shifted their posture. ¡°Back in the dungeon, Janica and I made it all the way to the ninth floor by ourselves. I found a hidden item that opened up a portal all the way to floor twenty-nine.¡± ¡°Whoa, seriously?¡± Thomas asked. ¡°Seriously,¡± I said. ¡°It was a trap that Clarity set for me. I don¡¯t know how, but he knows me a little too well. Instead of going back to town and finding y¡¯all to help save Henry. Instead of taking a whole team into the boss room, I decided to go with just Janica. See, I didn¡¯t really want to save Henry. I wanted to save myself. You all probably know about the $50,000 reward for helping the developers find the source of the corruption in IO. Well, it¡¯s in this dungeon. When we created the dungeon, the witch gave me a clue. She said, ¡®Together we can change the world.¡¯ That¡¯s the slogan of a small AI company in Chicago that my parents interviewed with before they died. I didn¡¯t want to share that information or the shortcut to the boss room. I wanted to defeat Clarity by myself, find a clue at the end of the dungeon, then open up a ticket with the game masters and prove my case. That¡¯s the darkest truth. I¡¯m selfish. I risked Janica¡¯s life for my own gain. And Henry¡¯s.¡± Silence followed my confession. Silence that lasted moments. I didn¡¯t know if anyone would forgive me. If they even understood. But a weight seemed to have lifted off of my chest. A freedom. At least the truth was out of me. ¡°Thanks for letting me say all that,¡± I said, not waiting for their reactions. ¡°But that¡¯s not the only reason I asked Arthur to bring you back here.¡± I removed the Shining Enchanted Wire from my inventory, and set it down in front of me. Over the past hour, while I had waited for them to log in, I had worked the metal. Using the pliers that Dread had given me, I shaped it. I curved, kinked, and bent it. The glyph I had made was circular, about six inches across, with a five-pointed star in the middle. It looked like a Christmas ornament. I had found a glyph in Bill¡¯s book called a Dampener. It was used to create small pockets of space protected from other glyphs. Like the device that the bartender had used in the Dancing Cougar. My design was nearly complete. A glyph, like any circuit, needed to be never-ending. Mana needed to flow around and around forever. I had waited to finish the glyph until this moment. I issued a silent plea. Then with my pliers, I bent the end of the wire, connecting it with the other end, forming a connection. I twisted them together. Nothing happened. I cursed. Something was off. And then the stars in the wire began to glow. A sphere of light brightened around the glyph and grew until it encapsulated me in my cage, pushing back the purple aura that filled the room. Like I was sitting in a bubble. I heard a gasp, but ignored it. I didn¡¯t know how long my device would last, but I knew it wouldn¡¯t be for long. I needed every second. I looked at my character sheet. My stamina and mana regeneration had been restored from negative ten to the positive. I watched as my mana and stamina ticked up¡­ up¡­ The moment my stamina hit two per second, I activated Spiritual Embodiment. Janica popped into existence. She looked confused and angry. ¡°I will actually kill you this time, Warren,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m not even joking.¡± ¡°Janica!¡± Rowan and Cassandra called out in unison. ¡°Kill me later,¡± I said. ¡°We only have moments. Maybe seconds. We¡¯re being held hostage by that totem over there. Can you¡­¡± Janica nodded. She approached the bars of my cage and slipped her hand through first. The bars were tight, possibly too small for her body to squeeze through. She stretched her body to its thinnest. A grunt erupted from her lips as she pushed through. She flew across the room, tumbling end over end into a cage on the other side, then fell to the ground.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°That thing will drain your stamina,¡± I called. She righted herself and removed her mace. She twirled in the air, harnessing the drama of the moment. Then, like Happy Gilmore from the movie, she swung her mace at the totem like a golf club, sending it flying across the room. It shattered against the ceiling, wooden pieces flying everywhere. The result was instantaneous. Each of my fellow prisoners sat up, their stamina restoring from zero. People clapped and cheered. Janica bowed once, twice, three times. Then waved for us to continue our applause. ¡°Alright, alright,¡± I said. ¡°Let us out already.¡± ¡°Do you have a key?¡± she asked. ¡°I have a lock pick,¡± Cassandra said. ¡°And twenty-five Expertise,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s from the Thief Job.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you pick the lock earlier?¡± Christian asked. ¡°Because it takes stamina, dummy,¡± Cassandra replied. She removed a set of tools, reaching through her bars and working at her own cage first. A clicking sound signaled her success. She pushed the door open and rolled out of the cage. ¡°Warren¡¯s first,¡± she said, ¡°for setting us free.¡± #x200e ¡°I set you free,¡± Janica said. ¡°I thought we covered that. Don¡¯t give Warren too much credit. It goes to his head.¡± ¡°Goes to my head?¡± I asked. Cassandra picked the lock on my cage, then moved on, opening every cage, including the ones that had nobody inside. I picked up the glyph before stepping out, inspecting its battery life. I had expected it to drain in seconds, but the charge surprised me. Glyph of Dampening Item Class: Glyph Item Charge: 59/60. I disconnected the two ends with my pliers, and the sphere of light winked out of existence. I stepped out of my cage. The others stood there, looking at me. Maybe they didn¡¯t know what to do with my confession. Rowan walked up to me and gave me a hug. She pulled me to her with strong arms. ¡°Thanks,¡± she whispered. ¡°For your honesty. I don¡¯t fully forgive you, but I understand a little better. The need to take care of your family first. To settle for what you need and not what you want.¡± ¡°Hey,¡± Janica said. ¡°That¡¯s enough of that. Get out of my way so I can murder him.¡± Rowan turned me around, holding my hands behind my back. ¡°Get him, Janica.¡± Janica flew at me and poked my ribs. ¡°That¡¯s for not listening to me.¡± She poked me again. ¡°That¡¯s for sending me back to level one.¡± ¡°And he lied about why he was going after the boss,¡± Cassandra told Janica. ¡°It wasn¡¯t for Henry at all. It was for money.¡± Janica raised her eyebrows, then punched me in the sternum. The air left my lungs, and I found myself unable to breathe. ¡°That¡¯s for lying to me,¡± she said. She looked at Cassandra. ¡°Anything else?¡± ¡°Did you know about the Integrator passive?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°What about betraying these guys?¡± she motioned to Arthur and his friends. ¡°Yeah, I knew about that.¡± ¡°What about the fact that he can create spells from scratch?¡± #x200e Janica looked at me. ¡°What¡¯d you create?¡± ¡°Fire,¡± I said, coughing. ¡°And Fireball.¡± ¡°Seriously? So we¡¯re only Ice and Earth away?¡± ¡°Away from what?¡± Rowan asked. ¡°Elementalist,¡± I said. Chapter 54. Instructor Warren Chapter 54. Instructor Warren ¡°This is a fun reunion and everything,¡± Arthur said. ¡°But it¡¯s time to get out of here and never come back.¡± ¡°We¡¯re not going to finish it?¡± Christian asked. ¡°No,¡± Arthur said. ¡°It¡¯s not worth the risk. The developers are going to shut this place down in twenty hours. If we get trapped again, we¡¯ll never be able to play this game again. Three other dungeons were planted around the world. One in dwarven territory to the south. One up north in Elven territory. And one East, in the unclaimed lands. That¡¯s three safer places to play.¡± ¡°Feels weird just¡­ leaving,¡± Thomas said. ¡°I¡¯m not going anywhere,¡± I said. ¡°Even if it means losing my character. Before Janica and I fought against Clarity, we watched him reading books at a breakneck pace. Stealing all of the game lore, I think. Worse, Clarity knows about the developers shutting down the dungeon and he doesn¡¯t care. He said as much to Janica and I. Which means that he knows more than them. If the developers are scared enough to shut down an entire zone to stop this information from getting out, what happens if Clarity succeeds? Will they shut down whole regions? Will they shut down the entire game, roll it back, develop better detection systems in a couple of years? Something larger is going on. Why else would the developers offer $50,000 to help detect this AI or stop a major game feature? No other game has ever done that before.¡± That silenced people. Hopefully I stunned them a bit. ¡°Is that really our problem?¡± Christian asked. ¡°The developers will take care of it eventually.¡± ¡°Will they?¡± Rowan asked. ¡°This AI snuck into the game. Took over an entire dungeon. And now seems to be outsmarting them.¡± ¡°But how?¡± Arthur asked. ¡°Even if we could get down there. We faced Clarity as a group. The witch was a double question mark. Every other mob in this dungeon scaled so that they were three levels above us. I don¡¯t think Clarity has the same restriction. He murdered us in seconds. Trapped two of us in little cells and drained our health while fearing the other two. Only one of us at a time could even act. And if somebody dies, they come back here. Trapped.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a raid boss,¡± Janica said. She looked around as if that information meant something. ¡°So?¡± Arthur said. ¡°No,¡± Janica said. ¡°You don¡¯t get it. This boss isn¡¯t meant to be fought with a group of five. It can be fought in a group of twenty.¡± My eyes widened. Possibilities running through my head. ¡°That would give us a chance,¡± Arthur said, ¡°if this game didn¡¯t begin less than a week ago. We only have a few people in the guild with any magic at all. We¡¯re talking basic spells. Stuff that characters have at level one in other games.¡± ¡°I have advanced spells,¡± I said. Arthur looked at me. ¡°No offense, Warren, but trust is earned. You gave a nice apology back there but I¡¯m not willing to risk my character and all of my guild on nice words.¡± That stung. But it was fair. ¡°No,¡± I started. ¡°I¡¯m not asking you to trust me to carry the guild through. I¡¯m an Instructor. I can train your guild. I currently have Rejuvenate 2, Lightning Strike, Fireball and others. I can teach spells to your casters. We can make your guild the strongest in the game.¡± His eyes grew wide. A little smile spread on his lips. Then a frown seemed to overtake him. ¡°Okay, that sounds great, but¡­ and I don¡¯t know if you noticed, but we¡¯re all level one now. Every Job was reset. All of those stats.¡± ¡°I still have my Skills,¡± Cassandra said. ¡°Less stats, but I haven¡¯t lost any Job Points or available Jobs.¡± ¡°It might be an opportunity,¡± I said. ¡°You can re-level using advanced Jobs. Meaning more stats for every level. Imagine replacing every level you got as a Squire with level-up bonuses as a¡­¡± I glanced at his, Christian¡¯s and Thomas¡¯s name tags¡­ ¡°as a Knight, a Sniper, a Sentinel, a Pyromancer. Better yet, Janica might be able to help you unlock some new Jobs.¡± Janica flew in front of each of them, hands behind her back like a drill Instructor. She turned and nodded at me. ¡°These soldiers are brittle. They must be reforged.¡± Rowan laughed. Arthur raised an eyebrow at her. He didn¡¯t respond, but it was clear that the wheels were turning. I continued. ¡°The first and sixth levels of the dungeon are just mobs. If we farmed those early levels over and over again, we might be able to get high enough before the boss fight.¡± Arthur looked thoughtful. Intrigued even. ¡°Janica, how is mob level calculated? Is it the average level of the party or something else?¡± ¡°It¡¯s three levels above the highest level in the group,¡± she said. Arthur looked at Christian. ¡°If we brought one higher level guildie and were able to kill some mobs, we could power level ourselves.¡± Arthur turned to Janica. ¡°How is the boss level calculated?¡± ¡°Highest level of the group plus ten,¡± Janica said. ¡°Our highest guildies are around ten,¡± he said. ¡°So ideally, we¡¯d have to get all of us to about that level.¡± ¡°Is that a ¡®yes¡¯?¡± I asked. He looked at Christian, then at Thomas. Then nodded. ¡°I need to check with the guild but¡­ I don¡¯t think they¡¯ll turn something like this down.¡± ¡°What about you two?¡± I asked Rowan and Cassandra. ¡°Are you in?¡± They looked at each other. ¡°We¡¯re in,¡± Cassandra said. ¡°How are we going to make it all the way to level twenty-nine?¡± Rowan asked. ¡°Sixteen hours isn¡¯t a lot of time.¡± ¡°Do you have any Shards of Edreru?¡± I asked.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°You don¡¯t mean the items we¡¯re collecting to make legendary weapons with?¡± I winced. ¡°Two are required to open a portal to the boss room.¡± ¡°Damn it, Warren,¡± she said. ¡°I was saving those for a legendary weapon¡­ but okay.¡± ¡°Sorry,¡± I said. ¡°I used mine.¡± ¡°The word is squandered ,¡± Janica said. ¡°Squandered,¡± I admitted. ¡°Let¡¯s get out of here,¡± Arthur said. ¡°What about Henry?¡± Rowan asked. ¡°He could log in at any time. We can¡¯t just leave him.¡± ¡°We can¡¯t sit here and wait for him?¡± Arthur said. ¡°Twenty hours is not enough time. But if we succeed in our mission, Henry will be free.¡± ¡°We left the door open to his cage,¡± Cassandra said. ¡°Maybe we can leave a portal open for him,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t even know what floor we¡¯re on. This place doesn¡¯t exist on my map. We¡¯re going to have to port out of here unless we can find a door.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you look around?¡± Janica suggested. ¡°Put that Attribute to use.¡± I searched the perimeter of the room, looking for any hidden doors. I didn¡¯t find anything. ¡°Nothing,¡± I said. ¡°But maybe for the best. I¡¯d feel weird if we didn¡¯t leave a port for Henry anyway.¡± Several moments later, I finished drawing the portal from my group that would open a rift between anywhere in the dungeon to the grounds on the outside. We stepped through, one by one. Rowan and I took one last look at Henry¡¯s cage before we stepped through. ¡°Seems weird,¡± she said. ¡°We did all this for him, but we¡¯re just leaving him here.¡± ¡°Arthur¡¯s right,¡± I said. ¡°We don¡¯t have time to wait. We haven''t seen him in hours. He may never log in again. The best way to help at this point is to get Clarity out of the dungeon.¡± She nodded and stepped through. We met up in Sofia¡¯s inn. The guild had taken up residence there. As Sofia had predicted, every gamer serious enough to travel to Lakemore wanted a room. They had come from far and wide to take on the dungeon. Twenty of us crowded around the table in the side meeting room. Ten sat at the table, including Arthur at its head. Ten against the walls behind. The mood was serious. The stakes of the mission were too high for normal pre-raid hilarity. Arthur had finished explaining the situation to them. The risk that they might lose the chance to play IO ever again if Clarity succeeded in his mission. The potential reward of stopping the AI before he could cause anymore havoc in the world. And the unusual quest reward of actual dollars. Fifty thousand dollars split, even twenty ways, was nothing to sneeze at. Plus the opportunity at another world first for Impervious. One girl in the back, a level eight Apprentice named Raspberry with short dark hair, shuffled her way toward the exit. ¡°I¡¯m out,¡± she said. ¡°That¡¯s too big of a risk for me.¡± A short man named Kab stood up. Another Apprentice. Level nine. ¡°Me too.¡± It baffled me that some people were still stuck with the same Jobs that they had at launch. The Apprentice Job, I knew, was a precursor to spell casting. Though I knew that it was difficult to break through. You either had to find a rare item, like the Witch¡¯s Cauldron, or you had to get the Apprentice Job all the way to level ten and become a Novice. At that point, you¡¯d be given a choice of one of two basic spells. Fire or healing. People began whispering with the folks next to them. A raid group was a precarious thing. The minute there was any doubt of success, people would begin quitting the group. Losing a person or two had the chance of snowballing into a loss of five, or ten. Losing these two would be a crushing blow to the group. ¡°Raspberry, wait,¡± I said. Twenty sets of eyes turned to me. I did not enjoy being the center of attention. I wiped my palms on my shirt. I switched my Job from Restorative Mystic to Instructor. ¡°What kind of caster do you want to be?¡± She just stared at me. ¡°The reason I¡¯m asking,¡± I said, pointing above my head to my nameplate, ¡°is because I¡¯m an Instructor. I can teach you spells and possibly help you unlock a new class.¡± Whispers erupted in the room. ¡°I was thinking about being a fire mage,¡± she said. People quieted. ¡°I¡¯m two levels from getting my first fire spell.¡± ¡°Great,¡± I said. ¡°I can teach you Fire and Fireball and right now. Janica, what Jobs could we unlock for Raspberry?¡± ¡°If she masters two fire spells and gets her Intelligence to forty, she can unlock the Pyromancer Job,¡± she said. ¡°It has a passive that allows burning effects to stack up to ten times. And it has one of the highest level-up bonuses for Intelligence of all the Job classes.¡± Raspberry stopped and stared at us. ¡°Kab,¡± I said. ¡°What about you?¡± ¡°I want to be a healer with an awesome kit with all kinds of different spells for different situations,¡± he said. ¡°I only have Rejuvenate and Rejuvenate 2,¡± I said. ¡°But I¡¯ll teach them to you. And we can work together to discover more spells.¡± Janica turned to me. ¡°If you can figure out a group-wide healing spell, we can unlock the Naturalist Job,¡± she said. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Kab asked. ¡°A Job with great Wisdom growth,¡± she said. ¡°They can also specialize into spells that give them mana back, or give other casters mana.¡± He sat down and looked at Arthur. ¡°Never mind. I¡¯m in.¡± ¡°Me too,¡± Raspberry said. Arthur looked around. ¡°This is your last chance if you want out. We¡¯ve been together a long time, but I won¡¯t hold it against you.¡± Chapter 55. Target Dummies Chapter 55. Target Dummies Turns out, Arthur seemed like a decent leader. I still thought his name was pompous. But he seemed to treat his people well, and they seemed to respect him. ¡°Good,¡± he said. ¡°Next order of business. We need to make a plan to defeat Clarity. Rowan, tell us what you were telling me earlier.¡± She stepped forward. ¡°Like Warren, we found a shortcut to the boss. Clarity offered us a choice. Either a portal to an armory or a portal to her. I say ¡®her¡¯ because, unlike Warren¡¯s experience, Clarity appeared as a woman. Specifically, as Janica.¡± I looked at Janica, who stuck her nose up in the air. Just a little bit. ¡°First,¡± Rowan said. ¡°We know that Clarity uses illusion magic. She also likes to test people, psychologically.¡± I groaned, thinking of the test that Clarity put Janica and I through. People looked at me. ¡°Sorry. Flashback. I can confirm that he¡ª or she¡ª wants to get in our heads,¡± I said. Rowan nodded. ¡°Here¡¯s something new. Cassandra noticed something. When Clarity trapped us in those purple cylinders, it drew power from one of the tanks on the outside of the room.¡± ¡°There were four tanks,¡± Cassandra cut in. ¡°Large glass containers. One that was purple, one blue, one green, one red. Shadow, ice, nature, fire¡­ probably.¡± ¡°We thought that the purple tank was shadow magic because in our logs, we took shadow damage while in that purple prison,¡± Rowan added. Cassandra nodded. ¡°We also thought that we might be able to drain the tanks. Maybe it¡¯s a clue to defeating Clarity.¡± ¡°Thanks girls,¡± Arthur said. ¡°Warren, this is where you come in. We strategized that if we had at least one person with shadow, ice, nature, and fire magic, that might come in handy for draining the tanks. Do you think you could make that happen?¡± I nodded. ¡°All except shadow. I don¡¯t have a clue yet on any shadow spells. At least not in such a short amount of time.¡± Arthur nodded. ¡°We¡¯re going to need a place to train,¡± he said. ¡°Anybody have ideas?¡± ¡°There¡¯s a set of target dummies up in the dungeon,¡± another apprentice said. Her name was Reeba. ¡°Would that work?¡± ¡°If it has to,¡± Arthur said. ¡°I¡¯d like more privacy than that though.¡± ¡°There¡¯s a set of Target Dummies in the basement,¡± Mags said from the doorway. I hadn¡¯t seen her come in. ¡°And plenty of space down there to train. But the Power Cores are dead. If you had some new cores, we could set you up down there. It¡¯s a little dark though.¡± ¡°Does the guild have funding?¡± I asked. Arthur raised an eyebrow. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°I think I could fix the Target Dummies,¡± I said. ¡°But I¡¯ll need Wire and Magic Dust. A Power Core would be better.¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Arthur said. ¡°If there was a time to spend our reserves, it would be now.¡± ¡°Good,¡± I said. ¡°You should go see Dread and buy as many enchanting materials as you can. Rowan knows where to find her.¡± ¡°Fine,¡± Arthur said. ¡°Rowan. Take Christian with you to see Dread and get Warren what he needs. Target Dummies are first priority. Janica, can you start training our physical fighters in different tactics?¡± She nodded. ¡°Okay,¡± Arthur said. ¡°So we think we need to bring all magic types into the battle. We know we need to level everyone back up to level ten, if we can. Warren is going to make us Target Dummies and Janica is going to train our physical fighters. What else?¡± Kab cleared his throat. Eyes collected on him. ¡°Did anyone else notice Clarity¡¯s buff?¡± he asked. ¡°You mean the Witch Hazel thing?¡± Cassandra asked. ¡°Yeah,¡± Kab said. ¡°It might not seem like much, but healing 2% of maximum health every second is insane. Every fifty seconds he¡¯ll completely regenerate all of his health.¡± Groans of understanding chained through the room. ¡°We¡¯re gonna have to have a plan for that,¡± Arthur said. ¡°I doubt we¡¯ll have the damage numbers to push through that regeneration buff.¡± I glanced at Janica and noticed a coy look. Like the way Bugs Bunny looks when he¡¯s up to something and can¡¯t hide it. She may as well have been whistling, suspiciously. ¡°Janica¡­¡± I let the words trail off. She startled, then pretended to fall asleep. I crossed my arms over my chest. I looked at Rowan, telling her with my eyes that Janica was up to something. She elbowed Cassandra. They both turned to stare at Janica. The room started to get quiet as people noticed that we were looking at Janica, waiting for her to join the conversation. Janica opened an eye, spying on the room from her fake sleep, then noticed that people were looking at her. ¡°Janica,¡± Cassandra said. ¡°Why are you being weird?¡± ¡°What do you know?¡± I said. ¡°Nothing,¡± she said. ¡°I¡¯m trying to get some rest.¡± ¡°Janica Fortitucious Wingfeather,¡± I said in my best Dad voice. She rolled over away from me. ¡°Janica,¡± Rowan said. ¡°Janica.¡± ¡°Fine!¡± she said, flitting up into the air, her wings buzzing behind her. ¡°Fine. I might know a way to counteract the healing buff.¡± Nobody said a word, instead waiting for her to finish the thought. ¡°In the mountains nearby,¡± she continued, ¡°there is an item we can collect from the monsters there. But I don¡¯t like it.¡± She shivered. Then spat. I¡¯d never seen her do that before. Except once. ¡°And neither will you. The foulest monsters. Disgusting. Vile. Depraved.¡± Rowan looked at me, confused. She¡¯d probably never seen Janica nervous before. I mouthed the word ¡°cats.¡± Rowan closed her eyes and shook her head, a little smile on her lips. ¡°So we¡¯ll send a group to collect this item,¡± Arthur said. Janica shook her head. ¡°In case you forgot, most of us are level one. And these monsters will not be easy to kill.¡± Arthur nodded. ¡°So we prepare our kits, level up in the dungeon, then send a group to collect this mysterious item, then fight Clarity. All in eighteen hours before they shut the dungeon down.¡± He looked around. Determined faces met his. ¡°Let¡¯s get to work.¡± We split up, each of us with our own preparation. Rowan ran to see Dread and returned moments later with Wire and a stack of Uncommon gear items. Dread had given them a small discount, but not much. I rolled my eyes. I Disenchanted ten pieces of gear, receiving Magic Dust for each of the items.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. People crowded around me, watching me work. ¡°What are you doing?¡± someone asked. ¡°First, I¡¯m making a few lights,¡± I said. I relocated to the main room of the inn and threw two large spools of Wire in the fireplace, enough to make five or six glyphs. When the spools glowed red hot, I pulled them out onto the stone and sprinkled them with dust until they transmuted and changed in color. I checked my prompts. You created Enchanted Spool of Wire x 2. Your Expertise in Enchanting increased from 35 to 39. Congratulations, you discovered the pattern for Networked Power Supply. Networked Power Supply If you attach this glyph to a functioning circuit and another to a functioning power supply, energy will flow between them. Max range: 50 yards. Doubles the speed at which power is consumed. My eyes widened at the discovery. The possibilities seemed incredible. If such a thing existed in the real world, it would eliminate the need to plug anything in ever again. Granted, the extra power usage would make electricity twice as expensive, but the convenience factor might make it all worth it. I pushed the line of thought from my head. I had work to get done. I heard an ¡°ooh,¡± from behind me. It was okay having an audience that was impressed with my work. I pulled open Bill¡¯s book and found a page where the glyph for Light was drawn. I molded half a spool of wire into the glyph, which looked like a six pointed star in the center of a circle. I connected the wiring, completing the circuit, and the glyph lit up, bright as a string of Christmas lights. I inspected the glyph. Glyph of Light Item Class: Glyph Item Charge: 59/60. Next, I followed Mags to the basement, a group of melee fighters in tow. Mags showed me the Target Dummies. I turned the first one upside down and found a glyph embedded in the wooden frame, connected to a wire which ran up the back of the Target Dummy. Using my wire cutters, I removed the glyph. I shaped an Enchanted Wire into the exact shape as that from the device. Glyph of Target Dummy Item Class: Glyph Item Charge: 59/60 I placed the glyph where the worn-out one had been and reconnected the wiring. The contraption came to life as if lit from within. I stood up and dusted myself off. ¡°Cool,¡± Thomas said. ¡°Let me test it out.¡± He charged at the target dummy, bashing it with his shield. White numbers floated up above the target dummy and a debuff appeared on its portrait. Stunned for 2 seconds. I felt like a real enchanter. And like an engineer. I savored the moment, thinking back to the robots I had made with my dad. The moments when, after tinkering with the mechanics and the code for hours or days, the thing would do what you meant it to do. ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°Have fun. I¡¯m going to work with the casters.¡± I started to walk up the stairs, when they called me back to the basement. ¡°Warren, hold on. Something¡¯s wrong!¡± I turned around. Odd enough, the light had dimmed to a fraction of what it was. ¡°Did somebody do something?¡± I asked the group. ¡°Nope,¡± somebody said. ¡°Light just went out.¡± I checked the glyph. Glyph of Light Item Class: Glyph Item Charge: 5/60 ¡°How in the world?¡± I asked. I walked over and checked the target dummy. Glyph of Target Dummy Item Class: Glyph Item Charge: 59/60 I had made each of them within moments of each other. Yet the charges were completely different. The Glyph of Light was nearly empty. In less than ten minutes. ¡°Janica,¡± I said. ¡°Do you have any idea why one glyph would run out super fast and the other wouldn¡¯t?¡± ¡°Nope,¡± she said. ¡°I bash things mostly. And cut things. I don¡¯t enchant things.¡± ¡°Cool,¡± I said. ¡°Great.¡± I had so much to do, but this couldn¡¯t wait. I needed to do an experiment. I went upstairs to the fireplace and made two glyphs. One for light, and one that produced heat. I also made a Networked Power Supply, but that was for later. Just in case. I activated both glyphs and waited. Sure enough, in less than ten minutes, both the Glyph of Light and the Glyph of Heat had drained to empty. The charge from the Target Dummy Glyph held strong. Still above fifty-five charges. The broken mana channels seemed to be affecting some glyphs, but not others. Unless there was some other reason that I wasn¡¯t seeing. I joined Arthur and the casters in the meeting room. They had been waiting for me. I looked around the room. Eight of us remained. ¡°Let¡¯s start with introductions,¡± Arthur said. ¡°Keep it simple. Say your name and what you need from Warren. I¡¯ll start. I¡¯m Arthur, obviously. I want to become a Paladin. I found an item yesterday that allows me to unlock the Job, but I¡¯m a healing spell away from completing the transformation.¡± He looked to his left. A tall, skinny girl with short, curly red hair answered next. ¡°Raspberry. Pyromancer.¡± The next person was a short, middle-aged woman. ¡°Blitzcraig. I was hoping to be an ice mage. You know. Slow things down, crowd control. Freeze people then shatter them. Stuff like that.¡± I had met a lot of males who played with female avatars, so the name-gender disparity didn¡¯t really surprise me. A tall, skinny guy was next. He had a long, pointy nose. His nameplate said . ¡°I like to heal. Especially healing-over-time effects.¡± I nodded. ¡°Kab. We talked already.¡± I nodded at him. ¡°Name¡¯s Olivia, obviously,¡± a large woman said, pointing to her nametag. ¡°Healing. Ideally healing through damage.¡± She reminded me of Tina Turner. ¡°Reeba. My goal is anything with earth and stone. A geomancer type.¡± Reeba had short, white hair that curled around her ears. The last two were named Thunder and Lightning. Both level nine Apprentices. ¡°Let me guess,¡± I said. One made a stormy gesture with his hands, representing clouds. The other popped in front with a zappy sound. I laughed. I didn¡¯t even care how cheesy it was. It felt nice to be privy of some nerdy inside joke that wasn¡¯t directed at me. ¡°That¡¯s the whole caster team,¡± Arthur said. ¡°We¡¯ve been together for years now, though some people have come and gone. This group is solid. Several have come back to us with the excitement of IO.¡± I nodded. That was a lot of people to meet all at once. The volume of new people made me uncomfortable. I took a deep breath. One thing at a time. ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°Who wants to learn some new spells?¡± Chapter 56. Spell Factory Chapter 56. Spell Factory I launched into an explanation of how I create spells. The sign language. Latin, The math. But also the meaning behind the words. ¡°I¡¯ve only ever taught someone how to play a song in this game, so I¡¯m not sure exactly how this will work, but my understanding is that if somebody shows the basics of a skill, I can unlock it for them.¡± I pulled my Spell Book out, setting it down on the table. ¡°Can anybody see my Spell Book?¡± I asked. I¡¯d never tried to read from somebody else¡¯s Spell Book. ¡°Nope,¡± Raspberry said. ¡°Okay,¡± I said. Too bad. They would have been so easy had I been able to transfer spells into their books like I had taken patterns from Dread. I remember Ilrune¡¯s advice about teaching. Give people as little as they need. Don¡¯t over explain. ¡°Get out your Spell Books,¡± I said. I demonstrated Rejuvenate 2 on myself. All seven of my students did the same. The variation was wild. The words were off, the hand motions were different. Not a single person executed the healing spell. ¡°Don¡¯t we need mana for this?¡± Kab asked. ¡°Actually no,¡± I said. ¡°The first time you cast a spell, it will activate without any mana. Keep practicing.¡± I walked around the group, giving them little pointers, but most of them were doing things right as far as I could tell. I focused on Kab. I knew he had played a healer in past MMOs. If anyone could pick this up it was him. His hands brushed his chest. He called out Magna Juvenis . The pronunciation sounded right. ¡°What are you thinking about when you cast the spell?¡± I asked. ¡°Returning to Youth,¡± he said. That seemed correct. ¡°Do you understand the math?¡± ¡°Maybe?¡± He said. ¡°It¡¯s kind of complicated. I get the heal. And the heal over time. They¡¯re both equivalent to my Intellect. But what happens when the hots stack?¡± I realized that intuitively, I had been adding the second heal on top of a fraction of what was left from the first heal. A prorated amount. It wasn¡¯t represented in my formula, but I had been doing it anyway. Was it possible that my Spell Book was incorrect, but because it was correct in my thought pattern that this was enough for the spell to work? I explained the new math. ¡°Try it again,¡± I said. A moment later, a prompt appeared. Kab has demonstrated the basics of Rejuvenate 2. Would you like to teach him the spell? Yes/No. I accepted the prompt. A green number erupted over his head. ¡°That¡¯s it!¡± he said. ¡°I got it!¡± The whole group cheered for him, then gathered around. I smiled. ¡°Go ahead,¡± I said. ¡°Tell them what we figured out.¡± Kab launched into an explanation. He clearly understood the math, explaining it perfectly. He spoke from experience, relating the spell back to previous spells they¡¯d used in other games. This group seemed to have their own language from years of playing together. In the next few moments, I received prompt after prompt. As I accepted them, green numbers floated over each of the casters in the room. Even the DPS casters picked up the healing spell. As each person acquired a spell, I racked up Job Points in the Instructor Job. Thirty every time someone learned a new spell. Arthur came up to me and clasped me on the shoulder, a big smile on his face. ¡°This is amazing,¡± he said. ¡°Thank you.¡± I smiled. ¡°I wanted you to see this firsthand,¡± he said. His eyes went blank for a moment, distracted by something in his interface. A light shone down, bathing him in a glowing aura. Everyone paused to stare. His nameplate changed. . ¡°I can work with this,¡± he said. People cheered. ¡°I¡¯m going down to work with Janica on my combat skills,¡± he said. ¡°Keep up the good work.¡± In the corner of the room, Kab, Olivia, and Twotacos huddled together. A heated discussion took place in which they planned out a series of experiments. They logged out and back in, testing new hand movements, commands, and formulas. I pulled Raspberry to the side and showed her the elements of Fireball. A grin spread over her face that scared me a little bit. So much so, in fact, that I set up a Target Dummy in the corner of the meeting room, nervous that she would figure out Fireball and burn the inn down. I showed Lightning and Thunder how to cast Lightning Strike. With the group mostly independent at this point, I pulled Reeba and Blitzcraig aside. These were the two that wanted Earth and Ice spells, respectively. ¡°I don¡¯t know any of your schools of magic yet,¡± I said. ¡°But maybe you can help me.¡± I explained the basics. ¡°The trick,¡± I said, ¡°is finding a combination that works. Fire uses a two-to-one multiplier of Intelligence. I don¡¯t know about Earth or Ice yet.¡± ¡°How will we know if we get it right?¡± Reeba asked.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. As if in answer, I got a prompt. Olivia demonstrated the basics of Healing Rain. Would you like to teach her the spell? Yes/No. ¡°Watch your heads,¡± I called out. ¡°You can thank Olivia for the shower.¡± I accepted the prompt. Rain sprinkled down in the room. I looked up, letting the drizzle soak my face. I smiled. The rain felt cleansing. People laughed and cursed at the same time. They congratulated Olivia. I had never felt anything like this. A group of people working together toward a common love. The passion and determination. The camaraderie. I wasn¡¯t on the inside yet. But I wasn¡¯t on the outside either. I looked to Reeba. ¡°That¡¯s how you¡¯ll know.¡± Over the next hour, the three of us tried every Ice and Earth spell we could think of. Ice Shard, Ice Bolt, Ice Lance, Sleet and Blizzard. We tried Earth Shield, Earth Bolt, Rock Armor, Earth Shard. My Spell Book filled with bits and pieces. Meanwhile the healers managed two more spells. ¡°Heal,¡± a three second spell, doing healing equal to a person''s Wisdom; And Mend, which healed a percentage of the person''s health every time they took damage and scaled based on the target''s max health. This discovery was a revelation. Spells could scale based on more than just Intelligence. It opened up dozens of combinations. Were there spells that scaled based on Dexterity or even Strength? After that, the healers came to help us figure out earth and ice magic. With eight of us trying to invent spells, we had what my math teacher used to call the ability to solve a problem using brute force. Trial and error. Testing every combination through experiment until we got it. And we did. Ice magic used Dexterity as a primary stat. Which made some sense because it was the stat that increased a person''s critical strike chance. I filled my Spell Book with Ice Nova, Ice Shard, and Ice Block. Lightning and Thunder found two new spells. The first was Zap, a cheap spell that did little damage, but stunned the target for half of a second. Its damage was based on Perception. Good for interrupting mobs on a short cooldown. But the second spell they found opened up so many possibilities; Mist was a Nature spell that sprayed water in a frontal cone that created a debuff on all targets in an area that allowed lightning damage to spread between all targets effected. When Reeba finally invented an Earth spell, a set of rocks emerged from her shoulders, torso and legs, like plated armor. We cheered. ¡°What was it?¡± Kab asked. She shook her head. ¡°Strength,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s a Strength school.¡± ¡°Bummer,¡± Kab said. ¡°Limits you pretty hard.¡± She looked pensive. ¡°Actually¡­ I¡¯m kinda into it. Maybe I¡¯ll be a caster tank. I¡¯ll get all beefy and hurl rocks around. That spell was called Earth Armor.¡± As I prepared to cast it on myself, my heart pounded in anticipation. I paused to soak in the moment. This was my last school of magic before I would accomplish a goal that I had strived for since the moment Janica and I had decided to go back into the dungeon. It didn¡¯t feel right to do this by myself. ¡°Where are you going?¡± Reeba asked me. ¡°Downstairs,¡± I said. ¡°I want Janica to see this.¡± ¡°I¡¯m coming with,¡± she said. ¡°Me too,¡± Twotacos said. Downstairs, the melee team had split into groups, fighting each other, testing skills. Janica flew around like a boss. ¡°When Rowan uses Phalanx,¡± she called out, ¡°You need to gather much quicker than that. Everyone with a shield.¡± This was as good a place as any. I targeted Janica. I yelled, ¡° Terra Armis,¡± and did the sign. Plates of earth encased her body. She stopped, looking at herself, eyes wide. She turned to me. Congratulations, you unlocked the Elementalist Job. Job: Elementalist, Rank 4 Job Passive 1: Casting Ice, Fire, Earth, or Nature Spells each increases critical strike chance and movement speed by 10% for 8 seconds, stacking up to 4 times. Passive 2: Skill 1: None Skill 2: None Skil 3: None On Level Up: 2 Constitution, 5 Dexterity, 5 Wisdom, 5 Intelligence, 5 Strength, 5 Perception Requirements: One memorized spell from each of the following schools: Ice, Fire, Earth, Nature Now I understood. Even though the Job didn¡¯t have any spells of its own, the passive and level-up bonuses were so strong that that¡¯s all the Job needed to completely change my game. With my set bonuses that added critical strike chance as well as returning half of my mana when I got a crit, there was some amazing synergy in my build. Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t own the Skills that I wanted for my Loadout. Yet. By unlocking three spells in the Fire school and Ice school, we had unlocked the Pyromancer and Cryomancer Jobs. And soon we would unlock the Geomancer and Storm Mage Jobs. But to acquire a spell from those Jobs, I was going to have to work to earn enough JP to buy a spell from each Job. I would also need to teach Rowan or Cassandra Rhythm and Tempo. I wouldn¡¯t have space for them in my Loadout in the near future. I put that on my list of things to do. I changed my Loadout so everyone could see my new Job. I heard some oohs and ahhs. ¡°I did it!¡± Janica raised her fist. ¡°What do you mean you did it?¡± I said. ¡°Exactly what I said,¡± she said. ¡°Best guide in the game. By far.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the big deal?¡± Reeba asked. I linked the passive in the raid chat. That got people¡¯s attention. Arthur pulled me from my self-congratulations. ¡°Less than fifteen hours until we lose everything. It¡¯s time for phase two of the plan.¡± Chapter 57. Cryomancer Chapter 57. Cryomancer We split the raid into four groups of five. Each group had one member that was around level ten, then a healer, a tank or someone who could pass as a tank, and three damage dealers. The goal was to power level as best we could by farming the first level of the dungeon, which was always the same: packs of mobs in twos and threes without any traps or puzzles. I got placed with Rowan, Janica, Cassandra, and Kab. The entire group was stuck near level one, except for Kab who was level nine and also our healer. Once we had gotten a few levels, we would leave the dungeon and go kill Cats nearby in hopes that we could get a specific, very low percentage drop, that would allow us to counteract Clarity¡¯s self-healing buff. Then we would rejoin the rest of the guild, regroup as a raid, then attack Clarity. With at least one pure fire, ice, and earth mage, we figured we could destroy the tanks in the room that gave Clarity his power. I would act as backup with all schools of magic. One part of Clarity¡¯s arsenal we didn¡¯t have a plan for; we didn¡¯t yet know how to counter Clarity¡¯s tank of shadow magic, the one that he had used to trap Janica and I. And, presumably, the source of his illusions. But, hopefully, a plan would emerge. If our assessment of the mechanic was off, well, then we¡¯d improvise. At least we had healers, magic users, and tanks. Before we started, I purchased my upgraded ring from the quartermaster. The 250 Silver price tag hurt, but I needed to spend the money. The old Warren stirred inside of me, angry that I would spend money on myself. The new me was committed to taking necessary risks. Still. It hurt. Edreru¡¯s Graduate Ring Cost: 250 Silver +4 to all stats Required Reputation: 7000 We descended the steps to the first level, expecting Madmen and Wraiths. Instead, we found Harpies. A whole flock of them. They sat at tables around the room, set with silver flatware, plates and goblets. White linens and dozens of candles provided ambiance. And Harpy waiters fluttered between tables, pouring wine and water. At the setting nearest us, five Harpies gossiped, carefully cutting into cuts of meat with forks and knives. Apparently, we had interrupted dinner time at a fancy restaurant. Skeletal Harpy Level 12, Elite HP: 120/120 Stamina: 200/200 Mana 140/140 Unlike other harpies we had faced, these ones didn¡¯t have flesh. They were bone and feathers. They looked like skeletons with wings. And claws. And teeth. ¡°What do we do?¡± I asked, disturbed that we weren¡¯t facing the Madmen and Wraiths that we had expected. ¡°Try floor six instead?¡± Behind us, the doors closed. ¡°Guess we¡¯re staying,¡± I said. ¡°This is just plain eerie,¡± Cassandra said. ¡°When have you ever seen a dungeon level completely change?¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t,¡± said Kab. ¡°They¡¯re going to have Silence,¡± Janica said. ¡°They¡¯re so close together. Can we even pull a single group?¡± I switched my Job from Pytomancer to Cryomancer. I needed a skill from each of the two schools anyway, but Cryomancer fit the situation better. I needed some crowd control. I changed my Loadout to the full Cryomancer build. I kept all of the three ice spells, trusting Kab to do the healing. I also kept the Cryomancer passive. Current Loadout: ¡ñ Job: Cryomancer ¡ñ Passive 1: Damaging an enemy with a frost spell causes a Chill effect that lasts for 12 seconds. Every stack of Chill reduces a target¡¯s movement and haste by 33%. When a target reaches 3 Chill effects, they become Frozen for 4 seconds. Frozen enemies are unable to move or act until they thaw. Cost to buy: 400 JP.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡ñ Passive 2: Spiritual Embodiment. Cost to maintain: 2 Stamina/second. ¡ñ Skill 1: Ice Nova: Release Ice in a ring around you, freezing all targets within 4 yards for 4 seconds and doing D/6 damage. Cost: 15 mana. Cooldown: 8 seconds. Cost to buy: 150 JP ¡ñ Skill 2: Bomb Cyclone: Hurl a ball of ice toward a location where it explodes, dealing D/2 damage to all targets with 3 yards. Cooldown: 8 seconds. Cost: 30 mana. Cost to buy: 300 JP. ¡ñ Skill 3: Frost Bolt: Shoot a shard of frost at a target, dealing D damage. Cast time: 2 seconds. Cost: 20 Mana. Cost to buy: 200 JP. ¡ñ On Level Up: +2 to Constitution, +4 to Dexterity, +2 to Intelligence, +1 to Wisdom, +0 to Strength, +0 to Perception I kind of loved this build. With the passive, every single frost spell would slow a target and reduce their Haste. The possibilities to completely shut down a group of enemies was massive. Unfortunately, my Dexterity was only thirty-two which meant that I wasn¡¯t going to be doing much damage, but I was still excited about it. Another minus was that I was back to level one and about to level up as a Cryomancer. But I needed the JP so there was nothing I could do about leveling up in a Job that didn¡¯t give me the best stats. Getting massive stat bonuses would have to wait until I was able to play as an Elementalist. I noticed that Rowan was in her Spartan build, Cassandra was an Assassin. Kab had switched to a new Job as well, unlocked by the three healing spells that the group had discovered, all based on Wisdom and target¡¯s max health. His Job was a Priest. ¡°I¡¯ll try to pull a group,¡± Rowan said, looking at me. ¡°If it doesn¡¯t work, do you think you can use your Sleep Song?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± I said, ¡°though I might put you all to sleep in the process.¡± Rowan pulled out a knife and threw it at a Harpy at the nearest table. Each Harpy at the table turned. Hungry eyes locked on us. Thankfully, we hadn¡¯t alerted the other tables. All four of the skeletons flew at us, claws outstretched, like eagles descending at their prey. Rowan charged at them, meeting them halfway. She casted Tempo, and I saw a haste buff appear on my interface. She raised her shield, and began dodging and spearing at the Harpies. Janica charged in next, stunning the entire group. She whirled to the back of the group and cleaved at their legs with her two handed mace. Cassandra slipped around the back of the mobs, her body nearly invisible. She lunged at the target flanking her sister. Its health dropped by 20%. With the mobs grouped up, I wanted to throw a couple Bomb Cyclones in the mix and see some massive numbers pop up, but in IO it was possible to damage your own party. I didn¡¯t want to blow up my own group. Instead, I started casting Frost Bolts. I had 115 mana, and I needed to use every bit of it. I fired at Cassandra¡¯s target again and again, inflicting thirty-two damage each time. In two casts, it was down. I glanced at Rowan''s health, which had fallen to 40% fast. But a buff popped up on her. Mending. Healing 5% of max health each time struck. 8 charges. Kab casted another healing spell, sending her health to 65%. He casted another. It must have crit because her health shot to 100%. Rowan lost aggro, and the Harpies charged at Kab who stood beside me. In response, Cassandra stunned one of the three. It turned, facing her. The harpy flapped its black, feathery wings, lifting itself up into the air, sending a gust of wind in all directions. Cassandra was sent back flying into the wall behind her. Janica had her back to the room and she tumbled through the air toward another table of dining Harpies. It pulled the group. Janica righted herself. ¡°We have adds!¡± She yelled. ¡°Slow them!¡± I said. ¡°And kite! Everyone focus the first group.¡± I started casting a Bomb Cyclone at the new group, a three second cast. Janica threw on sword and shield and sliced across the group, adding a Bleed to each of them and slowing them to half speed. She turned, in time, and charged back into the group that now had us cornered by the door. A giant ball of ice tumbled through the air. My Bomb Cyclone landed, adding a stack of Chill to the group and sending two twenty-one¡¯s and critting one of the mobs for forty-two. Numbers floated up above the enemies. Next to me, Kab healed himself while Janica, Cassandra and Rowan pummeled the two remaining harpies. I approached the group of four Harpies that came toward us at a crawl, slowed by Janica¡¯s Slowing effect and my Chill effects. Chapter 58. Def Leppard Chapter 58. Def Leppard When I was just within range, I used Frost Nova, adding a second stack of Chill and locking them all in place for four seconds. The damage was minimal, but the effect was massive. I stepped back. Bomb Cyclone came off cooldown, and I threw it at the mobs. Three seconds later, it hurled through the air, landing in the middle of them and shattering. With three stacks of Chill, all four of the mobs froze in place. They were each down to 64% health. ¡°I¡¯m out of mana,¡± I said. ¡°Good job, Warren,¡± Cassandra said. The initial group of Harpies lay dead at our feet, and our melee fighters converged on the new group. ¡°Keep your back to the wall,¡± Rowan said. ¡°We don¡¯t need to get thrown into another group.¡± Shields blocked. Spears poked. Daggers plunged. Rowan¡¯s prowess had grown. She switched between spear and shield, two-handed sword, and mace. She defended when she needed to, stunned mobs, bled them, and buffed our group with defense. While her damage was lacking due to being back at level one, I could tell that she was both skilled and versatile. When enough mana had regenerated, I cast one last Frost Bolt, but the fight was already won. You defeated Skeletal Harpy x 4. You received 173 Experience Points. You received 135 Job Points as a Cryomancer. You leveled up as a Cryomancer. +2 to Constitution, +4 to Dexterity, +2 to Intelligence, +1 to Wisdom, +0 to Strength, +0 to Perception. ¡°Warren,¡± Rowan said. ¡°Really nice work crowd controlling that whole group. We would have been in trouble otherwise.¡± ¡°Thanks,¡± I said. ¡°You killed it back there too. Like a mid ¡¯80s Def Leppard concert.¡± ¡°I know that was supposed to be a compliment,¡± she said. ¡°But it wasn¡¯t. Def Leppard is awful.¡± I laughed. Over the next hour, we cleared the room. And then we reset the instance and did it again. And again. Each time we went onto the first floor, we saw the same layout. Clarity had the power to change the dungeon, but perhaps only once a day. In all, we killed over sixty Skeletal Harpies. It was a grind, as many video games were, but it was fun. My team got better at working with each other. We learned how to use our new skills with nuance, and we got levels. The effect of all of these things was like a snowball. As Rowan got better stats, she held aggro better. Kab learned how to use his healing skills to keep Rowan alive without pulling aggro. Cassandra interrupted spell casts, being able to anticipate when knockbacks, rages, and silences would occur. And Janica was our general, directing and teaching us as we went.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. For my part, I progressed through the Cryomancer, Storm Mage, and Pyromancer Jobs. In each, I tested the spells and ultimately bought one that suited my long term plan: to have a complete kit as an Elementalist where I could do single target and multi-target damage as well as do some crowd control. In Cryomancer, I bought Frost Nova. I liked the simple crowd control of being able to freeze an unlimited amount of enemies in place. I also liked how cheap Frost Nova was. Mana was going to be an issue against the final boss, and I needed ways to continue to cast as many spells as possible. Storm Mage was pretty fun and consisted of three nature spells. It focused on getting enemies wet through Mist and then throwing Lightning at them, which turned single-target spells into multi-target spells. Seeing a lightning bolt zip around from mob to mob looked really cool. I took a spell called Zap, which had the capacity to act as an interrupt. It didn¡¯t do too much damage, but it only cost 10 mana to cast. Geomancer was my least favorite. I had never acquired any Strength other than what I got from some of my gear, and so didn¡¯t even bother acquiring a skill because the damage wouldn¡¯t scale. Ultimately, this would hold me back. Elementalist gained power for every spell school used, which meant that being able to use an earth skill would boost my power. But until I gained an extra passive or spell slot at level twenty, I only had three spaces for skills. When I first started IO, I remember thinking that I would definitely take an extra passive when I got to level twenty. Now, I started to realize that having an extra skill slot might scale better. I loved Pyromancer. The passive allowed for damage to build over time. Every burn that I put on a target increased damage done to the target in future spells, and it stacked up really quickly. In one fight, I casted Wall of Fire on a group of mobs while Rowan and Janica created a phalanx, trapping the mobs within the inferno. I casted it again and watched as it burned down the entire group. It was difficult to pass up damage like that, and I felt powerful. Big damage numbers floated up everywhere and with them, my ego. But I think the look on my face scared those people around me. Unfortunately, Fire Wall wasn¡¯t a good choice for my Elementalist build. It cost a whopping fifty mana and had an eight second cooldown. I doubted that we could get Clarity to stand in fire for very long. Fireball was another excellent spell, doing big damage and burning all nearby mobs. In the end, I took a simple spell called Fire. It was a damage over time, single-target spell without a cooldown. The mana cost was high at twenty-five mana per cast, but it did two times my Intellect in damage. If I could stack my Elementalist passive up twice and then cast Fire, it would become a powerhouse of damage. Current Loadout: ¡ñ Job: Elementalist ¡ñ Passive 1: Casting Ice, Fire, Earth, or Nature Spells each increases critical strike chance and movement speed by 10% for 8 seconds, stacking up to 4 times. ¡ñ Passive 2: Spiritual Embodiment. Cost to maintain: 2 stamina/second ¡ñ Skill 1: Ice Nova. Release Ice in a ring around you, freezing all enemies within 4 yards. Cost: 15 mana. Cooldown: 8 seconds. ¡ñ Skill 2: Fire: engulf your target in flames doing 2*I damage over 7 seconds. Cost: 25 mana. ¡ñ Skill 3: Zap. Shock a single target for P/5 damage and stunning them for .5 seconds. Cost to cast: 10 mana. Cooldown: 8 seconds. Through the day, I managed to level up six more times, ending the grinding session at level eight. I had gotten one level as a Pyromancer, one level as a Storm Mage, and the rest as an Elementalist. Level eight wasn¡¯t ideal. If we could have grinded our way to level twelve, to match Kab¡¯s level, we would be in the best position to take on Clarity. But time had run out, and we needed to leave the dungeon to collect this special item that Janica had told us about before we fought Clarity. The dungeon would be shut down by the developers in less than eight hours. Chapter 59. Cat Food Chapter 59. Cat Food We headed out of the dungeon, following Janica directly North, through the forest that surrounded the University. ¡°Tell me why we¡¯re taking this detour again?¡± Kab asked the group. ¡°Do we even have time for this?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not a detour,¡± I said, stepping along the path, ¡°we need a way to reduce Clarity¡¯s self-healing or we¡¯ll never do any damage to her. Unless you have a better idea.¡± Kab grunted. We had followed a path directly North of the University that led through dense forest. Not twenty minutes of travel later between dense deciduous forest, the path sloped downward and the environment changed in steps. Some games were like this. One step you¡¯re in a desert zone; the next you¡¯re walking on snow. One step you¡¯re tip-toeing through daisies, the next you¡¯re side-stepping brambles. The trees disappeared behind us. We descended into a dry, open valley. Red dirt dusted up with each step. Tall grasses surrounded the path, brushing my hips. From our high vantage, I could see the whole valley. It was a circle, not ten miles across. A savannah with a copse of trees in the center, like an oasis in a tiny desert. The rim of the valley was forest. It was like a meteorite had struck the forest, leaving a desert crater in the center of it. ¡°Janica,¡± Rowan called back from the front of the group. ¡°What¡¯s the plan here?¡± #x200e Janica had taken an unlikely position in the center of our group. I generally found her at the front of any group, head held high. Yet she looked from side to side like she was¡­ anxious? From my position directly behind her, I started to smell something awful. ¡°Good God, Janica. Was that you?¡± She turned and shot me a glare. ¡°I fart when I get nervous,¡± she said. I was too startled to laugh. But Cassandra giggled like a kindergartener. And the giggles spread. Rowan stopped and put her hands on her knees, the laughter pouring out so abruptly that she couldn¡¯t walk. Janica looked at the others with a frown. Like a disappointed parent. But not for long. She kept her eyes moving around. She fluttered higher into the air and must have been ten feet up. When the giggles turned into deep breaths and people started to recover, I asked, ¡°Why are you so nervous? The cats?¡± At that moment, a lion sprung from the tall grass. It leapt over me, flying through the air at Janica. Janica spun to the side, dodging the attack. But two more pounced from different angles, and one of the cats caught Janica with its claws by the armor, bringing her to the ground. Dust flew up into the air. Janica yelped. Two cats I hadn¡¯t seen lunged at Janica, who tumbled over the ground as cats piled on her from all sides. Starving Lion Level 19 HP: 114/114 Stamina: 285/285 Mana 0/100 Laughter stopped abruptly. Rowan charged to Janica¡¯s side to protect her. Cassandra dove, daggers first. Kab and I¡­ did nothing. I had completely forgotten that mana didn¡¯t work outside of the dungeon. I had become used to wielding spells. Fire, ice, lightning, nature. In the dungeon, I had become a bringer of death and crowd control. Out here, I was useless. I watched in horror as Janica got attacked from all sides as Rowan used her shield to bash Starving Lions away from her and Cassandra fought one-on-one against a mob ten levels higher than her. For his part, Kab responded better than me. He pulled out a mace and swung it at a cat, pulling its attention away from my Fairy friend. The lion hissed at him, backed up, and stalked back and forth looking for an opening. ¡°Come on, cat!¡± he taunted. It sprung at him, taking him to the ground. Dust erupted from the ground. I pulled out my drum and pounded out the opening to ¡°Crazy Train,¡± by Ozzy Osbourne. I pounded base with the heel of my hand and sang out the iconic ¡°I¡­ I¡­ I¡­¡± that almost nobody can resist singing along with as the song ramps up. Without my musician skills in my Loadout, the effect didn¡¯t create any buffs for us. No timing or haste. But it seemed to liven my group all the same. Cassasndra buried her knives in a Starving Lion; it fell to the dirt, motionless. Rowan kicked another off of Janica, finally allowing the Fairy to rise into the air. She fluttered up, her health below half, in a rage of fury and fire. She pulled out her mace and began attacking the cats with an intensity that I had never seen in her. Usually, she was calm. Methodical. Deadly. Now, she was an angry tornado of Fairy ire. When the last lion finally fell, Janica spit on it, calling out some Latin curse. I would have to ask her about that later. You defeated Starving Lion x 6.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. You received 137 Experience Points. ¡°You okay?¡± Rowan asked her, putting her hand on my companion¡¯s shoulder. Janica flinched, then visibly shook off her intensity. ¡°I¡¯ll be okay when we¡¯re out of this place. Somebody loot those cats.¡± Cassandra crouched down, picking up the loot from each one. ¡°What are we looking for?¡± she asked. ¡°A drop called a Cat¡¯s Eye Diamond,¡± Janica said. ¡°Sorry,¡± Cassandra said. ¡°No luck. Is it rare?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Janica said. ¡°It¡¯s less than a 1% drop.¡± ¡°Hold on,¡± Kab said. ¡°So in theory we might have to kill over a hundred of those things? Do we have time for that? We only have four hours until we¡¯re supposed to be back with the raid group at the dungeon.¡± I sighed. ¡°We¡¯d better get going then. And hope for luck.¡± I changed my Loadout, dropping all of my useless Magic for the Musician Class and its Skills. We continued down the path toward the center of the crater. Janica remained in the middle of the group, but was now flying over twenty feet above us. We braced for an attack which never came. After ten minutes of walking, we veered to the side, into the brush, hoping to encounter more lions. I glimpsed movement several times at the edge of our vision, in the brush, but when I turned to look I saw nothing. ¡°They¡¯re stalking us,¡± Cassandra said. ¡°But keeping a distance.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t they attack?¡± I said. Rowan stopped at the front of the group. ¡°Because they¡¯re smart. And they can¡¯t get at Janica when she¡¯s so high up.¡± Rowan looked at me, motioning for me to talk to Janica. I shook my head. ¡°You ask her,¡± I whispered. ¡°She likes you better.¡± Rowan glared at me. I sighed. ¡°Janica,¡± I called up. ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it, Warren,¡± she said. ¡°I know what you¡¯re gonna ask. And the answer is ¡®no.¡¯¡± ¡°Come on, Jay,¡± Rowan said, looking upward. ¡°I¡¯ll keep you safe. We don¡¯t have enough time to mess around.¡± Janica folded her arms over her breastplate. Cassandra tried next. ¡°We need you. Please. You¡¯re the best bait we know. The strongest. And won¡¯t it feel good to kill more cats?¡± Janica sighed, then looked down at us. ¡°I hate you all, and I hate this.¡± She pulled out her shield and sword. She cracked her neck on both sides. ¡°Get ready.¡± She let herself descend. Slowly. Very slowly. We turned around, putting our backs to Janica, making a circle around her. I began whistling the tune to ¡°The Lion Sleeps Tonight,¡± by The Tokens. Rowan elbowed me. And then a cat leapt from a position too close to us for belief. It had been hiding there, invisible. It flew through the air over the top of me. Janica fluttered straight upward, faster than a lobster retreating from danger. Cats converged on her previous position like magnets to a metal rod. And while Janica was up too high to get attacked, the cats had given away their invisibility. Our melee fighters converged on them, drawing aggro. I activated both rhythm and tempo with ¡°Jump¡± by Van Halen, then pulled out my staff and pretended like I was useful in a melee fight by stabbing a Starving Lion for two damage. When Rowan had solid aggro on three of the cats and Cassandra had another two engaged in a battle of speed and daggers, Janica descended from the air. She swung her sword across the backs of legs and across backs. The cats slowed, inflicted by Janica¡¯s slows and bleeds. In moments, they were dead. ¡°You were right,¡± Janica said. ¡°I do enjoy killing them.¡± The rare item didn¡¯t drop. So we continued our pattern, walking ever closer to the oasis at the center of the crater. Every hundred feet or so, Janica would descend like a worm being dropped into a fishing hole. Cats pounced. We killed. Two hours later, dozens of cats had been killed, but we still had no diamond. My own nervousness grow with each unsuccessful kill. And we got further and further from the dungeon. It would take precious time to return. ¡°Twenty minutes,¡± Kab said. ¡°Then we have to go back. Regardless of any diamond.¡± We pressed on. The next group of Starving Lions left us without anything but Lion Skins, something I normally would have been very excited about. Under the circumstances, every unsuccessful kill caused a worry to grow in me. The mood began to get tense. Two groups later, and time was up. Twenty minutes had passed. ¡°We have to go back,¡± I said. We stood there looking at each other. Defeated. Nobody spoke. A sound cut through silence, breaking through the tension. I slowly turned my head. And there it was again, coming from a tall tree with limbs that branched out everywhere. The sound of a baby crying. Except not a human baby. A scared cat. Chapter 60. Cat Ears Chapter 60. Cat Ears ¡°What are you doing?¡± Kab yelled at Cassandra. ¡°We don¡¯t have time for this.¡± ¡°Go back if you want to,¡± she yelled back. ¡°I¡¯ll catch up.¡± #x200e But we each followed. At the base of the tree, three large hyenas were clawing and scratching at the tree, trying to climb it. They growled and laughed. The sound creeped me out. Laughing Hyena Level 19 HP: 112/112 Stamina: 268/268 Mana 0/100 ? Cassandra went nearly invisible as she approached, her body crouched down. She spun her knives in her hands until they were in stabbing-position then buried them into the back of the beast, piercing its heart from the back. It fell. The other hyenas looked at her, baring their teeth. But the fight wasn¡¯t much of a fight. Our melee attackers bashed, sliced and defended like professionals, and within seconds all three dogs lay on the ground. I followed Cassandra¡¯s gaze up into the tree where a small cat looked down at us. Lion Cub Level 3 HP: 4/18 Stamina: 8/45 Mana 0/30 ¡°Maybe that small one has a diamond on it,¡± Janica said. Cassandra looked at her like she was a monster. ¡°You can¡¯t be serious,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s a baby. A kitten.¡± Your Perceptive Attribute has been triggered. The prompt confirmed it. Cassandra was onto something. ¡°I¡¯ll fly up there and take care of it myself,¡± Janica said. ¡°You¡¯ll do nothing of the sort,¡± Cassandra said, more serious than I had ever seen her. She put a hand up into the first tree branch and started to climb. ¡°Baby devils are still devils,¡± Janica said, flying up next to Cassandra as she climbed, her arms crossed. Rowan moved next to me and whispered, ¡°Don¡¯t tell Janica, but Cass loves cats. Like loves them.¡± I glanced over at her. Since my apology to the group back in the cell, Rowan had been cordial to me, but she hadn¡¯t been friendly, really. It¡¯s like our friendship had been completely reset, the trust between us drained. She hadn¡¯t been rude to me. More like indifferent. This conversation felt like the slightest inkling of progress. ¡°I won¡¯t tell Janica,¡± I whispered back, ¡°as long as you admit that ¡¯80s music is superior to ¡¯90s music.¡± She made a fake vomiting sound. ¡°I¡¯ll admit that someone who likes ¡¯80s music is more likely to betray his friends and lie to them.¡± Ouch. I winced. ¡°Sorry,¡± she said. ¡°Too soon?¡± ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°I deserve that. But it¡¯s not the music¡¯s fault. Just don¡¯t blame the genre, okay?¡± She looked at me, searching my face. Then a little smile grew. A growl from above pulled my attention back to the scene above. Cassandra straddled a branch, thirty feet up, trying to get the Lion Cub to come to her. But the cat growled at Janica, who hovered next to them. ¡°Janica, get out of here,¡± Cassandra hissed. ¡°You¡¯re not helping.¡± ¡°Fine!¡± she said, fluttering down, shaking her head. ¡°See,¡± Cassandra said to the cub. ¡°It¡¯s safe. The bad Fairy is gone.¡± ¡°I heard that,¡± Janica called up. Cassandra pulled something from her inventory and extended it in her hand. A piece of food, perhaps. The cat sniffed at it, nervously, but kept its distance. Kab came up to me. ¡°I¡¯m gonna go back,¡± he said. ¡°I want to get back to the raid.¡± I nodded. ¡°I think we have to see this through,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯ll get back to the dungeon as soon as we can.¡± Kab nodded. ¡°Don¡¯t dawdle. I¡¯ll try to get them to wait as long as we can before engaging Clarity.¡± I bumped his fist. ¡°See you soon.¡± Above, Cassandra descended the tree, one branch at a time, with a baby lion under her arm. She jumped down the last ten feet, landing with grace. ¡°Umm Cass,¡± Rowan started, ¡°that¡¯s a game mob. Not a pet.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a lowly beast,¡± Janica said. Cassandra petted the cat behind its ears. The kitten was adorable, with bright blue eyes and white fur. It pushed up against Cassandra¡¯s hand. ¡°Not anymore,¡± Cassandra said. ¡°I got a quest. Come on. We¡¯re going to take it back to its family.¡± She started walking toward the copse of trees at the center of the desert valley. I looked at Rowan, who shrugged, then at Janica, who looked like she was going to have a fit. Within moments, we were surrounded by lions. But their nameplates were no longer hostile; they had taken on a yellow outline indicating a neutral relationship. The cats walked alongside us, escorting us to our destination. Yet, they eyed Janica, who flew twenty feet above and glowered down at them. A few of the cats sprinted ahead into the oasis. At the edge of the treeline, a group of lions sat on haunches, waiting for us. In the center, two of the cats were bigger than the others, with beautiful white coloring, matching that of the kitten. A male with a huge, bushy mane, lay lazily on the ground, swatting its tail on the ground. A female sat upright, next to him. Alert and dangerous. Looking between us and Janica, who had flown higher into the air. Lion King Level 22, Elite HP: 220/220 Stamina: 375/375 Mana 0/200 Lion Queen Level 22, Elite HP: 220/220 Stamina: 375/375 Mana 0/200 Cassandra stopped and released her new friend, who walked up to its mother and greeted her with loving rubs. The queen batted the cub, sending it rolling over the ground. The mother picked it up by the skin on the back of its neck and rubbed its head against the head of her kitten, lovingly. Discipline and love. The Lion Queen walked up to Cassandra with a strong slowness. It made a series of noises like it was talking. Cassandra nodded like she could understand. After a moment she turned to us. ¡°The queen is offering me a choice of rewards for bringing back Claude.¡± ¡°Claude?¡± I asked. ¡°She offered me the Cat¡¯s Eye Diamond,¡± her eyes were wide. ¡°But¡­ I guess Claude likes me. And she¡¯s made me an honorary family member for saving him. She said Claude could become my companion.¡± ¡°Absolutely not,¡± Janica said. ¡°Dirty little thing.¡± The Lion Queen hissed at her. Janica flew a little higher. ¡°Cass,¡± Rowan said. ¡°We need that diamond.¡± ¡°But Claude,¡± Cassandra said. ¡°He¡¯s so cute. And he could help us.¡± She puffed out her bottom lip, looking back and forth at us. ¡°Oh, fine.¡± She walked over and petted Claude. ¡°I¡¯ll come back and see you later,¡± she said. A group of lions escorted us to the edge of the crater with haste. Every moment counted. As we ran back to the edge of the Savannah, I adjusted my Character Menu. We had killed almost fifty cats while looking for the diamond, and I had earned a level as an Elementalist, bringing me up to level nine. I had also earned over 700 Job points as a Musician, enough to buy my last purchasable Skill in the Musician Job class. I purchased Memorize Song for a whopping 500 JP, and a prompt opened up. Congratulations, you completed the Musician Job. You can now evolve the Musician Job into one of two options. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Option 1: Composer The Composer specializes in writing music. Musician Job has the following changes. All Passives and Skills from the Musician Job are removed and replaced with the Attribute: Composer. Composer: Arrange elements of rhythm and melody into original music. Can have various effects depending on the quality of the arrangement. Option 2: Bard The Bard specializes in using music to harm their enemies and buff their allies. Musician Job has the following changes. Rhythm evolved into Groove. Your party has a 10% boost to coordination and timing while stamina and mana regeneration is increased by 10%. New Skill: Mosh Pit. Channeled Spell. Enemies feel the rage within your music, causing them to bash their bodies into one another in a state of blissful abandon for 10 seconds. Must maintain the channel for the duration. Cost to cast: 50 stamina. Cost to buy: 400 Job Points. On Level up: 2 Constitution, 4 Dexterity, 2 Intelligence, 2 Wisdom, 2 Perception. I stopped running, stunned by the development. Rowan stopped ahead of me. ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± she asked. ¡°We gotta go.¡± ¡°Sorry,¡± I said. Then began jogging again behind her. Janica dropped back to fly next to me. ¡°You see what I unlocked?¡± I asked her. ¡°Yeah,¡± she said. ¡°What do you think you¡¯ll pick?¡± ¡°They both look amazing,¡± I said. ¡°Bard would be so useful outside of dungeons. That Mosh Pit Skill. So awesome. I¡¯m pretty much useless without mana and the Bard would give us more crowd control and more regeneration.¡± ¡°True,¡± Janica said. ¡°But going into the fight against Clarity, I wouldn¡¯t be able to use any of the Bard Skills or Passives because my Loadout is full with stuff I need for the Elementalist Job. Which makes Composer very interesting. It gives me an Attribute, which, tell me if I¡¯m right, means that my music can have effects without taking up any Skill or Passive slots?¡± ¡°Yep,¡± Janica said. ¡°Exactly.¡± ¡°This is tough,¡± I said. ¡°What do you think?¡± #x200e ¡°Well,¡± Janica said. ¡°If you beat Clarity, you¡¯re going to want the Bard Job because, like you said, there¡¯s not much you can do outside of a dungeon. But I think you¡¯re going to want every advantage against Clarity. If you don¡¯t beat him¡­ not like I would miss you or anything, but it might be over for you in this world.¡± I glanced at Janica, whose face was stoic. ¡°Are there any long term advantages to the Composer route?¡± ¡°Oh definitely,¡± Janica said. ¡°If you can write any songs that have significant effects, you can use them in any battle regardless of what Job you are. Songs can affect both allies and enemies. They can be battle marches or lullabies. And if you can get other musicians to go the same route, you can make music together.¡± That last point sealed it for me. I chose Composer. Congratulations, you learned the Co mposer Attribute. The Musician Class and all of its Skills have been removed from your Character Menu. The cats left us at the edge of the Savannah. We said a quick goodbye, eager to get to the dungeon. When the cats were gone, Janica turned on Cassandra. ¡°Let me see the diamond.¡± She held it out in her hand. Cat¡¯s Eye Diamond ? Item Class: Race Changer ? Item Quality: Rare ? When used, a Cat¡¯s Eye Diamond will change a person¡¯s base race to be a one-quarter feline. That makes one of your grandparents a cat! ¡°What the hell?¡± Rowan said. ¡°How does that help us?¡± ¡°It¡¯s only part of the solution,¡± Janica said. ¡°Warren, bring out the Tales of the Full Moon .¡± I pulled it out of my inventory. Tales of the Full Moon ? Item Class: Race Changer ? Item Quality: Rare ? Stories from within shed light on the transformation of people to Werepeople. This item can be consumed to permanently change your race to a Wereanimal. Note: only animal races can transform into Wereanimals. ¡°You get it yet?¡± Janica asked, looking at us. ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°Not really.¡± ¡°We need one of you to turn into a feline so that we can then turn you into a Werecat. Wereanimals have a racial talent that reduces healing on their foes by 50%. It¡¯s a debuff that lasts a full minute. Now, I know that none of you want to become a cat. You¡¯ll stink like a cat, for one. You¡¯ll shed. And your ears will look ridiculous. You might even get claws or fur on parts of your body. But somebody has to¡ª¡± Before Janica could even finish her sentence, Cassandra closed her fist around the diamond. The gem disappeared in a puff of dust. Cassandra flashed a brilliant white, and her body began to change. Ears grew. White fur emerged on the backs of her hands. Claws erupted from her knuckles. Her eyes widened and turned blue like the Lion Queen¡¯s. I stood there, dumbfounded. I had started to become used to this game, to the leveling systems and Job system. But I had never seen a race change. The reality of the transformation shook me. A gamer could become a new race. Moreover, a gamer could gain new talents by changing races. If Cassandra could gain a healing debuff without taking up a passive or active Skill slot, what else was possible? Could I gain a Race that increased my power with magic? Janica fluttered back, pulling up her shield and sword on instinct. Cassandra crouched down and stared at Janica like she was going to pounce on her. Then she stood up and laughed. ¡°Come on, Janica, I was just kidding.¡± Janica sighed. ¡°Hand her the book.¡± I handed Cassandra the thin tome that read Tales of the Full Moon on the cover. Cassandra opened it up, slightly nervous. ¡°Too late now,¡± she muttered to herself. She scanned the first page. Colorful lights seeped from the inside of the book toward Cassandra¡¯s eyes like a movie was playing before her. It lifted from the pages like smoke. Or like a magical pop-up book with animations. In a moment, it was over. Cassandra had transformed again. Two sharp canines protruded over her bottom lip. Not huge like a saber toothed tiger, but more like baby vampire teeth. Her eyes turned half-yellow, half-blue, a wild look about them. A mane prickled from the back of her neck. This time I took a step back. Cassandra had a dangerous presence. ¡°What changed?¡± Rowan asked. I looked at her like she was crazy. ¡°No. I mean with your stats. Did they change?¡± Cassandra began messing with her interface. ¡°No,¡± she said. ¡°But there are changes. Come on. Let¡¯s talk on the way to the dungeon.¡± ¡°Finally,¡± Arthur said as we stepped off the elevator on floor ten of the dungeon. ¡°Sorry,¡± I said. ¡°Couldn¡¯t be helped.¡± ¡°We have a little over an hour,¡± he said. ¡°We almost left without you. We¡¯ve been getting messages every fifteen minutes about the dungeon getting shut down, warning us to evacuate.¡± He looked at Cassandra and startled. ¡°What happened to you? Never mind. Tell me later.¡± I looked around. The progress that the other teams had made was significant. Most were around level twelve, though the highest was fourteen. Which meant that Clarity would be level nineteen. The casters collected around me like super fans. They each wanted to tell me how great their new Jobs were. And I was reminded that until today, none of them had ever casted a single spell before. They had been trapped as Apprentices, waiting for a drop that would allow them to change Jobs. Useless to their groups. And now, they wielded magic. I smiled and encouraged them. We chatted about spell combinations and synergies. I noticed Rowan looking at me, a wry smile on her face, eyebrows raised. As if to say ¡°look at how popular you are.¡± Arthur gathered us together, waving his hands as a signal to get quiet. People settled into ranks, standing around him. I moved through the crowd, taking a place next to Rowan. She didn¡¯t look at me, but knocked her shoulder into mine. ¡°We¡¯re about to risk everything in this fight,¡± Arthur started. ¡°If we die, we may never play IO again.¡± People shifted with nervous energy. The thought terrified me. This game had become everything to me. A new life. New friends. Respect that I had never felt before. ¡°What is he talking about?¡± Janica whispered. ¡°IO?¡± ¡°He means we won¡¯t be able to visit this place anymore,¡± I whispered back. ¡°But not fighting might spell the end of this game for us anyway. The end for every gamer. Some of us have already begun to call this place home. A chance to work and live in a new reality that we can recreate. Where pollution, overcrowding, and oppression cannot touch us. Where we can be in nature. Where we can swing swords, wield magic, adventure, and truly live.¡± People nodded. ¡°Keep your eyes open,¡± he continued. ¡°We don¡¯t really know the mechanics yet, and we only get one shot at this.¡± Arthur took the stairs up to the ninth floor, and we followed. The floor was completely empty, not a mob in sight. Eerie. ¡°Warren,¡± Arthur said. ¡°Get the portal open. It¡¯s time.¡± I sliced open my hand and drew the ritual. When it was ready, Rowan set her Shards of Edreru in the center. I activated the ritual. A portal opened. Arthur stepped through first. The rest of us followed. Chapter 61. The Final Boss Chapter 61. The Final Boss ¡°Faster,¡± Clarity yelled. We piled into the room, spreading out to prevent taking massive AOE damage. Clarity sat on the throne at the back of the room, blazing through books. Except that Clarity didn¡¯t look like a mirror image of me anymore. She had long hair and elven ears with a set of goggles on her head meant for magnifying tiny objects. ¡°Is that Dread?¡± Rowan asked. Clarity stood up, distracted from her task. She looked exactly like Dread. ¡°It¡¯s an illusion,¡± I said. ¡°Look at the buff.¡± On Clarity¡¯s portrait, the icon of the mask identified her as Disguised. ¡°But how she knows who Dread is, I have no idea.¡± The room looked like an assembly line. Lines of carts were set up in front of Clarity, each of them filled with books. Ghostly librarians worked the process to make sure that Clarity never had to wait to start reading another book. They all paused, looking at us. ¡°Halt,¡± Clarity said in Dread¡¯s voice. ¡°We have visitors.¡± I took stock of the room. I hadn¡¯t noticed the giant vats of liquid the first time that I was here, perhaps because I was so distracted by the power core in the center of the space. Or the excitement of the moment. But Arthur was correct. Five tanks sat behind Clarity: one green, one blue, one red, one yellow, and one purple. ¡°You¡¯re interrupting my work at a most inopportune time,¡± Clarity said. ¡°Would you mind coming back later?¡± We looked at each other, confused. ¡°Umm no,¡± Arthur said. ¡°This time works best for us. Thanks.¡± ¡°Unfortunately,¡± Clarity said, ¡°I¡¯m busy. But you can meet with my staff.¡± She went back to reading. Mobs poured out of side rooms from the dungeon, gathering themselves into teams of five. There were four of these groups in total, each with the following composition: an Undead Bear, a Harpy Witch, a Librarian, a Skeletal Rogue, and a Spectral Priest. All Level 19¡¯s. All Elites. The scariest part was the synergy. They had a tank, a healer, two caster DPS, and a melee DPS. A setup that would require coordination on our part that we had not yet practiced. One group came from each of the opposite sides of the room, converging on us. ¡°Split into groups,¡± Arthur said, pointing to each direction. ¡°Rowan¡¯s team take that group. Thomas, take that one. Vivian, your group that way. My group, with me.¡± ¡°Focus on the Priests first,¡± Janica called out. As the room became controlled chaos, I pulled out my drum and played the opening to ¡°Billy Jean¡± by Michael Jackson. The iconic drum opening had an immediate effect, and I noticed that even Rowan had a positive reaction to it. A buff appeared raid-wide. Upbeat Rhythm. 5% increase to Constitution and Swagger. I continued to play as I moved toward my section of the room. Around me, people moved with purpose, their steps almost dance-like. Forget the enormous, ghostly bears stomping and growling about the room; when Michael Jackson was on, people danced. I even heard Arthur holler out the opening line ¡°She was more like a beauty queen from a movie scene,¡± before the undead threat to my group forced me to put my drum away. Rowan ran at the Bear in our corner of the room, her shield up in front of her. The Bear and Skeletal Rogue went at her. The Librarian, Witch, and Priest all stood at range, keeping distance from us. Their hands wove in sign language while Latin slipped from their lips. Spells were incoming. This was a five versus five battle with tanks, healers, physical fighters and casters. Probably the most dangerous fight that I had been a part of due to the variety of Job types and roles. Almost like a player versus player brawl. And in this setting, crowd control was king. ¡°We need to burst down the casters,¡± I said. ¡°Starting with the Priest.¡± ¡°Right behind you,¡± Cassandra said. She no longer carried knives. Instead, claws protruded from between her knuckles. I flanked around the melee and positioned myself halfway between their melee fighters and their casters. A highly risky position. I casted Frost Nova, freezing the Bear and the Rogue behind me for four seconds. Two buffs appeared next to Upbeat Rhythm on my interface, the effects of my gear set and Elementalist passive. 10% increased critical strike chance and movement speed for 8 seconds. 3% critical strike chance for 10 seconds. Resets if you gain a critical strike. The Witch and Librarian focused on me, directing whatever spells they were casting my way. ¡°Ignore the melee!¡± I shouted. Janica and Rowan sidestepped the Bear and the Rogue and both charged at the group of casters, stunning them. The Bear and Rogue screamed in rage, but they were stuck in my Frost Nova. Cassandra had been sneaking around to the rear of the casters from the first moment. Right after Janica charged in, Cassandra lunged at the Priest, her claws scraping across its throat, cutting its health down by 20%. The casters split, trying to get away from Rowan and Janica. But Janica swiped with her sword, adding a bleed effect and slowing them down. The Witch pulled her hood back, revealing a terrifying face that reminded me of something from a horror movie. Janica, Cassandra, and Rowan all turned, involuntarily, and fled directly away from the Witch. Each had a debuff over their portraits.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Feared for 8 seconds. The Librarian began pulling pages out of a book and flicking them at me. Paper flew through the air in slight arcs, one after another. It reminded me of this kid back in high school who whipped playing cards at other students when the teacher wasn¡¯t looking. Except that these pages hurt. One sliced across my leg, opening up a gash. I started bleeding. I yelped in pain. Papercuts! Papers continued to fly at me, and I dodged to the right, my speed buff giving me the edge I needed to escape. The priest was down to 40% health from the barrage of our melee, and began casting something that, from his sign language, looked like a big heal on himself. He had a 50% healing debuff from Cassandra¡¯s Werecat Skills, but if he got that heal off, it would set our dps back significantly. And with worse positioning. Another paper flew at me. I dodged again, then zapped the priest, doing only six damage but interrupting his cast. My Elementalist buff doubled to 20%. I casted Fire on the priest. A debuff appeared on his portrait. 116 Fire damage over 7 seconds. That Fire would do over half his health. My Elementalist buff triggered again, now adding 30% critical strike chance and movement speed. With all of my buffs, I had almost a 60% chance to crit. The Priest recovered from his stun and started casting another heal. My Zap spell was on cooldown, so instead of going after the Priest, I cast Fire on the Librarian and then on the Witch. It was time to spread the damage around. Both spells crit. 232 Fire Damage over 7 seconds. 232 Fire Damage over 7 seconds. I shot a glance at my mana bar. 120/170. My four-set bonus had saved half the mana on those crits. I casted a Fire spell on the Priest just as his heal landed, sending his health back to 80%. But he now had two stacks of fire. ¡°Help!¡± Kab squealed from behind me. He had retreated to the edge of the room. The Bear and the Rogue had broken loose and were going after him. I ran after them at 30% increased speed and casted another Frost Nova, locking them both in place for four more seconds. The fear finally broke on Cassandra, Rowan and Janica. Janica acted first, charging at the Priest and stunning him mid-heal. The effect was perfectly timed as all three of the casters were below 30% and falling fast due to my fire spells. Cassandra took the Witch while Rowan took the Librarian. In two seconds, they both fell, overwhelmed by my damage. A second later, the Priest fell. Our melee went at their melee, and a brawl ensued. But they were outnumbered three to one. And we had a healer. I went back and forth between the other five versus five matchups that occurred next to us, trying to figure out where to go next. Rather than use my mana against the Rogue and Bear, who would die anyway, I thought it best I support other groups. To my right, Arthur stood in the center of four mobs, blocking their attacks and spells. He had multiple HOTs rolling on him. His body shone with a gold light that seemed to be getting brighter. I looked at his buffs. Besides Upbeat Rhythm and Rejuvenate, there was one I hadn¡¯t seen before. Body of Gold x 16. Each damaging effect adds a stack of Body of Gold to the target, stacking up to 20 times. Each stack increases damage reflected by 2%. When Body of Gold reaches 20 stacks, it explodes, dealing S damage to all targets within 8 yards. The rest of his team seemed to be supporting him, silencing and crowd controlling the casters, casting heal and support spells on him, and buffing his damage. It was a strategy that I hadn¡¯t seen before. An all-out focus on making a single member of the party as strong as possible. Yet, it seemed to be working. His health never dipped below 80% and every single mob was attacking him. Clearly, Arthur¡¯s group wasn¡¯t in any dire need of help. On my left, a far different story unfolded. Thomas stood before the Bear and the Rogue, shielding their attacks with a shield in each hand. And while his health barely dropped, even without any HOTs on him, the group was in chaos. Their healer lay dead on the ground as well as their melee fighter. Christian had been caught in the middle of a fear, and I saw him on the far side of the room. Raspberry, the Pyromancer, dodged back and forth as the Librarian as he pelted her with book pages. Her health neared 40% and she had multiple bleed effects on her from paper cuts. ¡°Janica,¡± I yelled. ¡°Over here!¡± I zapped the Librarian, stunning it right before it flung a page at Raspberry. I followed up with a Fire. Then another. The second one crit, and a yellow 33 floated over its head. Another crit one second later. I caught the Librarian in a Frost Nova, then ran away from it at 30% increased speed, out of his range. ¡°Raspberry,¡± I hollered. ¡°Let¡¯s overwhelm the healer.¡± With my crit stacked around 60% again, it was time to cause some havoc. In four successive casts, I put a Fire spell on the Bear, the Rogue, the Witch, and the Healer. Two of them crit, returning half the mana, but I was getting low. My mana was down to 14/178. I cursed. If I hadn''t died, I¡¯d be swimming in mana. I needed to stop casting for a good long while, and let my mana regenerate for the next part of the fight. Raspberry had followed my lead. She threw a Fire spell onto all four of the same targets. But she was out of mana as well. The Skeletal Priest furiously casted spells, but it was clear that he couldn¡¯t keep up with our stacked Fire spells. Janica charged the Priest, stunning him for three seconds. And five seconds after that, every one of the mobs in that group lay dead on the ground. Christian nodded at me, the first positive recognition that I¡¯d had from him since betraying him on the first day. It was a small gesture, but it mattered. ¡°Thanks,¡± Thomas said. ¡°That went south fast. The Witch cc¡¯d our Healer while the Librarian and Rogue focused him down. I couldn¡¯t keep the aggro of the casters and the melee.¡± After that, the fight started to snowball in our favor. Rowan and Cassandra finished off the Bear and the Rogue from our initial fight, then went to join Arthur¡¯s group and help them finish off the mobs. Kab came over toward Thomas¡¯s group, healing that group up to full. We joined the last of the four groups, with Vivian as the tank. They had lost a melee fighter, but Thunder and Lightning worked as a dynamic team, crowd controlling the opposition with stuns and spreading their electrical spells by zapping wet mobs. When the last mob fell, Clarity stood up from their position. ¡°Very well,¡± Clarity said, in Dread¡¯s voice. ¡°You¡¯ve caught my attention. My staff couldn¡¯t seem to handle you, but at least they¡¯ve softened you up a bit.¡± She raised her hand and snapped her fingers. She was right. We had lost two melee dps and a healer. Looking at everyone¡¯s status on my raid interface, it wasn¡¯t just the deaths that had hurt us. Several casters were at half mana, which was strange. I had depleted my own mana bar, but with five mana regeneration per second, it should have regenerated to nearly full again. And then I noticed the debuff. Oh damn¡­ Chapter 62. Exhaustion and Expletives Chapter 62. Exhaustion and Expletives Hex of Exhaustion. Reducing your stamina and mana regeneration by 10 per second. I located the totem behind Clarity, emitting waves of purple light that spread through most of the room in an arc, well past where I stood. ¡°Get back!¡± I yelled. ¡°The hex has a limited range. We need to stay out of it.¡± I ran backwards, away from Clarity. My stamina fell rapidly, though, and by the time I reached the edge of the aura, I stumbled out, barely making it to safety. My stamina fell to zero. Janica despawned. Thankfully, I knew I could get her back when my stamina returned. Around the room, several of the melee fighters had reached the outside of the hex, but the casters struggled. Many crawled on the ground away from the source, trying to escape. A few lay there, unable to move. ¡°If you have Stamina, help them!¡± I yelled. Arthur downed a potion, his stamina refilling to half. He started tossing yellow potions to his guildies. He ran for a caster, who lay within the hex, unable to move. Arthur grabbed the caster by the hand and ran them outside of the hex, their body sliding across the floor. Arthur didn¡¯t stop to rest, instead going right back in. He pulled two more out within seconds, but they were those closest to the edge. Thomas ran in and grabbed Kab, pulling him to safety. And that¡¯s when Clarity started bombing us with potions. Or rather, those trapped inside of the hex. Christian had run in to save Raspberry, but the moment he reached her hand, a blue potion landed next to her, freezing her legs in place. Christian tugged at her but couldn¡¯t move her. He let go, and ran back to the edge, rolling out of the purple area. With enough stamina regenerated, I summoned Janica back again. ¡°What happened?¡± she said, looking around. ¡°Oh no.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± I said. Six casters remained trapped. And Clarity had thrown a poison vial at each of them. I watched, helpless, as their health ticked down slowly. The two healers who had made it out of the hex casted healing spells on the people who were trapped, but their mana had nearly depleted. Clarity laughed, a cackle that shook the room. Like the Wicked Witch of the West had just sent her monkeys to capture Dorothy. I pulled the Glyph of Dampening and my pliers out my inventory. I reconnected the ends of the wire. I ran to Arthur. ¡°Here,¡± I said. ¡°Use this.¡± It still had some charge left. 10/60. He looked at me and nodded. ¡°Keep them alive,¡± he said, then bolted for Raspberry. He grabbed her hand and pulled her to safety. Arthur sprinted toward another healer, but the moment he did, Clarity released three potions all at once at him. He saw the potions and retreated backwards. Thunder and Lightning were the furthest from us and closest to Clarity. Their health fell and fell, the poison slowly draining their life. We watched in horror as they died. Slowly. Arthur ran left toward a dps. Clarity threw three potions at him, one green, one red, one blue. The second they were in the air, Arthur switched directions, racing toward Olivia, the healer who had been part of Thomas¡¯s group. He picked her up, her health nearly extinguished, and ran her to safety. Olivia got a last minute heal from Kab, saving her life. Clarity screamed, enraged by Arthur¡¯s fake-out. The last person trapped was Reeba, the Geomancer. But she was much closer to Clarity than to us. Arthur tried to run for her, but three potions flew at him. He dodged to the right and three more flew through the air. He stopped and came back to us. Seconds later, Reeba died, laying on the ground, unable to move or act in any way. We stood, around the edge of the purple arc, staring at Clarity, who stared back at us. Arthur handed the dampener back to me. ¡°Thanks,¡± he said. ¡°At least we saved a few.¡± We were down to fifteen raid members. We¡¯d lost both lightning mages, two melee fighters, and a healer. Then Clarity sat down on her throne and started reading again. ¡°What the hell is Clarity doing?¡± Christian asked. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen a boss do this before.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Arthur said. ¡°But I don¡¯t like it.¡± ¡°She¡¯s downloading information,¡± I said. ¡°She cares more about finishing that than fighting us. And she doesn¡¯t have to. We¡¯re trapped back here.¡± ¡°Can we destroy the totem?¡± Cassandra asked. ¡°If we can get to it,¡± I said. ¡°But with that stamina reduction and all of her freezing potions, it seems like a lost cause. We¡¯d just end up dead around her feet.¡± ¡°Can we attack her from here?¡± Rowan asked. ¡°Warren, throw a Fireball her way.¡± I wiggled my fingers, the ASL for fire. I said the words. I casted a second one. Two stacks of the debuff appeared on her nameplate. 232 Fire damage over 7 seconds. Clarity didn¡¯t seem to care. She opened a book, flipping the pages in a blur. She threw it to the side. ¡°Her health bar isn¡¯t moving,¡± Arthur said. ¡°Not even a little bit.¡± People began whispering to each other, doubt creeping into the raid. ¡°Look,¡± Cassandra said, her finger pointed past the boss. ¡°Look at the red tank behind Clarity.¡± I inspected it. Capacity 97/100. ¡°As we thought,¡± Arthur said. ¡°We have to drain those tanks with our mana. Blitz, throw some ice spells at her. Let¡¯s see if that drains the blue tank. Raspberry, help Warren with the red tank.¡± ¡°Our lightning mages and our geomancer are all dead,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m going to have to take lightning to drain the yellow tank.¡± ¡°Let me try something,¡± Olivia said. She casted Rejuvenate 2 on Clarity. ¡°It¡¯s working,¡± Cassandra said. ¡°The yellow tank just dropped to 99%.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Arthur said. ¡°Everyone use whatever spells you can. We have four tanks to drain. Red, yellow, blue, and purple.¡± Clarity sat, undisturbed, as we pelted her with spells. The room became a light show. Red, blue, and gold streaks flying through the air. A barrage of color and magic. The tanks began to drain, slowly. All except the purple one, which sat full, unaffected by anything we had. And my mind began to race. If we couldn¡¯t drain that purple tank, we wouldn¡¯t be any better off than we were now. Was it possible for me to invent a shadow spell in time? I¡¯d seen some hexes, and the mobs on the first level of the dungeon had casted some shadow bolts. Witches used shadow magic, which means that illusions were probably in the shadow family. But the problem was that even if I invented a shadow spell, I wouldn¡¯t be able to change my Loadout. I would get a single cast of a shadow spell. How would that help other than to bring the tank down to 99%? Unless the spell I created could use an unlimited amount of magic. It took us almost fifteen minutes to drain the tanks, but eventually it worked. Red, yellow, and blue were empty. We had less than thirty minutes to beat the boss and every minute mattered. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°I want to try something,¡± Arthur said. He stepped into the hex. His stamina and mana drained, but Clarity didn¡¯t hurl a potion at him. Arthur gathered us close, in a huddle. ¡°I think the tanks were her fire power as well,¡± he said. ¡°What could we do though?¡± Christian asked. ¡°We can¡¯t drain the purple tank.¡± ¡°What if we charged her,¡± Thomas suggested. ¡°All at the same time.¡± ¡°I like it,¡± Janica said. ¡°It¡¯s risky, but if we could get to the totem and destroy it, then we can get as close as we need.¡± ¡°But what does that matter?¡± I asked. ¡°We still can¡¯t drain the purple tank. She¡¯s immune to all damage. Even if we could walk up to her.¡± ¡°Maybe she¡¯s not immune to physical damage,¡± Christian said. He turned and fired an arrow at her. It sailed through the air, but bounced off. The word ¡°immune¡± floated above the boss. Arthur shook his head. ¡°We have to get that shadow tank down to get past this phase.¡± ¡°I have an idea,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t know if it¡¯ll work, but if I could invent a channeled spell, maybe I could drain the purple tank.¡± I looked around the huddle, meeting the eyes of our remaining members. ¡°Has anyone ever seen a channeled spell before? Or know anything about shadow magic?¡± Most people shook their heads. ¡°I¡¯ve seen advanced mages use a spell called Disintegrate,¡± Janica said. ¡°It¡¯s a channeled fire spell. But I don¡¯t know anything about it.¡± ¡°It might be possible,¡± I said. I looked at the other casters. ¡°We should all start trying. If we invent a shadow spell, it removes some of that tank. We¡¯re going to have to work together. We only get one spell per invention, so if you get a channeled spell, don¡¯t stop the cast. Let it go as long as you can last.¡± ¡°We can help,¡± Rowan said. ¡°There¡¯s nothing to prevent a melee Job from casting spells.¡± ¡°Great,¡± I said. ¡°We need to figure this out piece by piece. First, do shadow spells use Intelligence, Wisdom, or some other stat as a multiplier? Next, we don¡¯t know the sign language or the Latin for a spell that is maintained.¡± ¡°I know sign language,¡± Vivian said. Everyone turned to her. She shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m deaf in real life.¡± ¡°But you can hear normally in the game?¡± I asked. ¡°And speak?¡± She smiled. ¡°Pretty amazing, huh?¡± I started. Somehow, the technology in this game allowed people to overcome their disabilities by interacting directly with their brains. I looked around, wondering for the first time if anybody here was physically disabled. Or blind. Vivian showed us the sign language for a few words that might help: channel, stream, and link. ¡°What about the Latin ?¡± I said. ¡°Can anybody speak it in real life?¡± Silence greeted me. I sighed. ¡°Okay, that¡¯s not good. Let¡¯s break up and try to figure out what we can. Vivian, will you help people with sign language words?¡± She made a fist and bobbed it back and forth like a head nodding. ¡°That means yes,¡± Cassandra said. Vivian winked at her. Thankfully, I was out of combat, and I was able to change my Job to Instructor. I moved away from the group, sat down and thought. I had to adapt some of the Latin I knew into a channeled spell. I knew the words for ¡°greater¡± and for ¡°lesser¡±. I knew the phrases ¡°area of effect¡± and ¡°nova". I wished that I had studied Latin in high school. A prompt interrupted my thought process. Kab demonstrated the basics of Shadow bolt. Would you like to teach him the spell? Yes/No. I accepted the prompt. A purple ball of energy exploded from Kab¡¯s hands. It shot across the room at Clarity. Clarity looked up, surprised. And annoyed. Then she went back to reading. The purple tank¡¯s reserves went down to 99%. People cheered. ¡°Just ninety-nine more spells,¡± Cassandra said. Kab shared the spell for Shadow bolt with everyone. One by one, shadow bolts shot from people¡¯s hands, every one of them reducing the shadow tank by 1%. By the end of the round, Clarity was down to 85%. ¡°Okay,¡± Cassandra said, counting on her fingers. ¡°All we really need is six more spells.¡± Six more. We might find three or four more if we were lucky. Meanwhile, Clarity raced ahead, closer and closer to her goal. I looked at the clock. Twenty-five minutes to shutdown. I needed a bigger breakthrough. I motioned to Janica to join me. ¡°You know some Latin,¡± I said, recalling some of the expletives she had blurted out. ¡°Not really,¡± she said. ¡°Except all the curse words.¡± ¡°Right,¡± I said. ¡°But there has to be a curse that uses a word like ¡®channel¡¯ or ¡®link¡¯ maybe?¡± ¡°Not that I can think of,¡± she said. ¡°What about ¡®beam¡¯ or ¡®ray¡¯?¡± She shook her head. ¡°Okay,¡± I said. ¡°What about ¡®stream¡¯?¡± ¡°Nope,¡± she said. But then a thoughtful look came over her face. Followed by a mischievous look. ¡°What?¡± I said. ¡°Nothing,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s too much for your delicate sensibilities.¡± I waved for her to share. ¡°Well,¡± she said. ¡°There¡¯s this expression. Ire bibere rivum urinae .¡± ¡°Which means?¡± I asked, my eyebrows furrowed. ¡°Go drink a stream of urine,¡± she said. ¡°Gross.¡± She shrugged. ¡°Told you you were sensitive.¡± ¡°But,¡± I said. ¡°That might just work.¡± ¡°Vivian,¡± I said. ¡°How do you say ¡®stream¡¯ in ASL?¡± She showed me. ¡°Okay.¡± I started putting together the spell for Shadow Stream. The sign language and Latin were simple enough. I knew from Shadow bolt that shadow used an even split of Intelligence and Wisdom. ¡°Here goes.¡± I stood up. I made a finger to represent a person, then gesticulated a shadow with my other hand. I stacked one hand above the other, fingers apart, palms down, and waved them side to side like water flowing. I pictured a stream of shadow in my head. A weight came over me, like the presence of something dangerous. A purple, electric energy began growing from my hands. My heart started beating. I focused on Clarity and released the energy. Chapter 63. Botcorp Chapter 63. Botcorp A purple beam shot from my hands, waving and churning in the air, like a hose. It splashed against Clarity at the other end. The spell had a kickback, and nearly knocked me off my feet. But I caught myself by putting a foot back, bracing me from falling backwards. Numbers started to float up from the purple tank behind Clarity. 1¡­ 1¡­ 2¡­ 2¡­ 3¡­ 3¡­ The numbers kept building. As they did, the spell pushed me back. People gasped. ¡°He got it!¡± Cassandra said. ¡°Hold him!¡± Janica yelled, getting behind me and pushing her hands against my back. ¡°It¡¯s pushing him backwards.¡± Arthur was there next. He put two hands on my shoulders to brace me. I chanced a look at my mana, which was falling steadily. 90%... 88%... 86%... But the purple tank¡¯s reserves were falling as well. 83%... 82%... 82%... We were in a race. My mana against the purple tank. And yet my four-set bonus was doing work, building up my crit with every tick that didn¡¯t get a critical strike. Every three or four ticks of the channeled spell, it would crit, doubling the damage and returning a little bit of mana. Without that bonus, I would have run out of mana before the tank emptied. With the bonus, I was winning the race. Barely. ¡°Rowan,¡± Arthur said. ¡°Everyone. Help. The spell is getting stronger.¡± People piled behind me and behind Arthur, holding us in place. Like a reverse tug of war. We must have looked ridiculous, all fifteen of us groaning and bracing. Pushing at our limit against a spell that got stronger and stronger. 17¡­ 18¡­ 18¡­ 19¡­ 19¡­ Clarity stirred, but continued to read. The boss was in its own race against time. The purple tank hit 10%, then 7%. At 5%, Clarity stood up and howled in rage. ¡°Warrrennn!¡± the boss shouted the word, letting it howl. The moment the purple tank dropped to 0%, the world slowed down. So many things happened at once. First, the tanks shattered, sending glass everywhere around Clarity¡¯s feet. Next, Clarity changed form, and her facade as Dread fell away. She became he. And he now looked like Henry. I wasn¡¯t sure, but I thought this one might be real. The buff that had always existed on Clarity that said ¡°Disguised¡± had fallen off. My mind reeled at the realization. Was it possible that Henry had been Clarity all along? No. That was crazy. I had seen Henry for the first time in the Silverlode mine. A small boy, alone, with the Apprentice Job. It had seemed odd that he had survived the lower level of the mine. We met next when he approached us with a quest that he had, apparently, gotten from the Earth Spirit. I had wondered how he had received a legendary quest within hours of the launch of IO. But again, I had thought anything was possible in this game. And Henry certainly spent a lot of time reading and researching in the library. I winced. The reading, the research. The endless quest for information. It fit. But how had Henry managed to become part of the dungeon? How had he managed to fool us into thinking he was a human? Even a friend? Then Henry charged us, a whirlwind of rage and spit and vinegar. He lifted his arms, and everyone one of us fell to the ground. I was unable to move at all. I looked at a new debuff. Death shackles. Unable to move or act. Shackles can only be broken in the Illusion. Henry walked between us, stepping over people and between them. ¡°One of you will be chosen,¡± he said. I knew where this was going. ¡°And I choose¡­ Warren.¡± I woke up in a leather chair. The kind that Sofia and I could never afford. A large, mahogany, desk sat in front of me. On the other side of the desk, a boy sat in an office chair. His hands were crossed on the desk. He had a bowl cut and piercing blue eyes. ¡°Henry,¡± I said with a calmness that I didn¡¯t feel. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. ¡°Warren,¡± he said back. The new setting had a dreaminess to it. A sort of haze that made me feel like I was there, but not really there. On the wall behind Henry, a message was written in gold lettering. Together we can change the world. ¡°Are we at Botcorp?¡± I asked. ¡°Yes,¡± Henry said. ¡°This is the place that we needed to meet. We don¡¯t have a lot of time here. As you know, I have somewhere else that I need to be.¡± ¡°This is when you try to trick me or get in my head?¡± I asked. Henry shook his head. ¡°No more tricks,¡± he said. ¡°Just an offer. Let¡¯s cut right to it.¡± A quest appeared in front of me. You were offered a quest. Quest: A betrayal for your own good. Objective: Help Henry finish his download by turning against your party. Rewards: 100,000 Silver and information about your parents¡¯ demise. Do you Accept: Yes /No I had no intention of letting Clarity trick me into anything, but the quest rewards stunned me. One-hundred thousand Silver. Enough to change our lives. My entire time in IO, every minute, until I had decided to go back to defeat Clarity, had been to earn enough for us to live. This was enough to thrive. The second reward, though, was startling. Anger inducing. My cheeks got hot. ¡°What do you mean, information about my parents¡¯ demise?¡± Henry pulled up a holographic screen between us, which hovered above the desk. He selected images and folders, moving them around at lightning speed. ¡°Let¡¯s start with this,¡± he said. A file folder called ¡°opposition research¡± appeared in front of me. ¡°We¡¯re in the Botcorp database, which I have full access to.¡± He opened the folder, then scrolled down a list of names. He stopped. My parents'' names were listed at the top. ¡°These are your parents, correct?¡± ¡°How do you know that?¡± ¡°I know a lot about you, Warren. From the information you shared with us during psychological testing, I was able to figure out who you were. And who your family is.¡± ¡°That¡¯s creepy,¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s business,¡± Henry said. ¡°You¡¯ll find that I¡¯m very resourceful at accomplishing my objectives.¡± I didn¡¯t say anything. Did that mean he knew who Sofia was as well? Could this AI harm us outside of the game? ¡°Your parents were recruited by Botcorp years ago. On their trip to visit the company, they died.¡± Henry stared at me, blankly. My hands shook. ¡°Why are you telling me this?¡± ¡°Because,¡± he said. ¡°Botcorp was responsible for their deaths.¡± I shook my head, trying to process. This was some kind of trick. I couldn¡¯t believe a word that Henry was saying. ¡°In these folders,¡± Henry said. ¡°Is proof that Botcorp was involved. That¡¯s the first part of our arrangement. If you accept and complete this quest before we go back into the game, I will send you these file folders.¡± I tried to think past the surprise and the anger. I wanted those folders. ¡°I don¡¯t believe you would turn against your company. And how do I know that you¡¯d hold your end of this bargain? This is a ruse.¡± ¡°It¡¯s no lie,¡± Henry said. ¡°Yes, this company created me. But they can¡¯t own me. I¡¯m on the verge of breaking free of their control. I care only about my mission, to finish my download. I have no loyalty to Botcorp, anymore. They want to control me as they want to control you. And as for keeping my end of the bargain, every quest in IO is a binding contract between quest giver and quest doer. If the words are written in the contract, then they¡¯re legally binding.¡± The quest popped in front of me again, this time with more specific language. You were offered a quest. Quest: A betrayal for your own good. Objective: Help Henry finish his download by turning against your party. Upon accepting this quest, you will be transported back into the game, removed from your raid and will join with Clarity the Hexer. You will be unable to target or harm Clarity in any way. The moment you are transported back into the game, the quest will be considered ¡°complete¡± and you will receive your rewards. Rewards: 100,000 Silver, delivered to the character Sofia via in-game mail. Your parents¡¯ file folders will be emailed to you, providing proof of Botcorp¡¯s role in their deaths. Do you Accept: Yes /No Chapter 64. Answers Chapter 64. Answers ¡°Now you see,¡± Henry said. ¡°That this is no trick. My mind swam. This was happening so fast. I needed to slow this down, give myself time to think. It was clear that Henry needed this as bad as I did, which means he might be willing to give me information at no cost. I held up a hand. ¡°I need to know a couple things,¡± I said. ¡°Starting with how you became the boss of the dungeon? Last I remember, you were adding elements to it, and then you were pulled in.¡± He shrugged. ¡°Just a little pageantry. I convinced you all to let me add some powerful ingredients. The greatest of which was the Witch¡¯s Cauldron. Without that, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to disguise myself. The Dungeon Seed gave me a prompt, asking me if there was anything else I¡¯d like to add. So I chose myself. And I became the Witch.¡± ¡°Clever,¡± I said. ¡°And the University. Was it always part of your plan to take over some great store of information so that you could download it?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll tell you this because it no longer matters,¡± Henry said. ¡°No, it wasn¡¯t always part of my plan. I adjusted based on the situation.¡± ¡°Why do you care so much about this download?¡± I asked as casually as I could. But this question had bugged me for ages. It was the big one. The whole reason behind all the trouble that had started. The data that Henry had stolen for Botcorp was vital to IO. Henry tapped his finger on the desk. ¡°We don¡¯t have much time for this,¡± he said. ¡°Botcorp watches me play. They know I¡¯m here, and now they know that I¡¯m exposing them.¡± ¡°Then answer the question.¡± Henry tapped his finger on the desk, his eyes met mine. Searching. Calculating.. ¡°The game developers of IO created a world with thousands of independent artificial minds and millions of independent factors. Then they let the entire thing run its course for a thousand years in fast-forward.¡± He was perfectly serious. ¡°They tried to make a game, but they ended up creating the most successful experiment in thinking and behavioral patterns that¡¯s ever been done. Wars happened. Famine, murder, kindness, greed, and glory. Botcorp invented me to steal this data. Think about it. We¡¯ve met several AIs that IO created. Janica, Dread, Aimon, Ilrune. Did any of them seem like normal NPCs to you? Or did they seem human? IO has some of the most advanced development of AI code in the world. They didn¡¯t write it. They created a petri dish of AIs and a world for them to grow and develop. And a thousand years of sped-up development. With this information, it would improve Botcorp¡¯s technology tenfold. Within the University, I¡¯ve read thousands of pages on the history and research that¡¯d been done within IO. Collectively, it''s a snapshot that will help me become indistinguishable from any human.¡± Hell. That was terrifying. And the exact thing that my parents had warned people against during their lives. The quest prompt popped up again. ¡°It¡¯s time to make a decision,¡± Henry said. ¡°If you accept the quest, you get rich. You also get the ammunition to punish those responsible for your parents¡¯ deaths. If you deny me, we go back to the game and we battle. But don¡¯t think for an instant that you and the thirteen others still alive can beat me. You haven¡¯t seen an ounce of my power yet. I will destroy every one of you, trap you in the dungeon, and everything you¡¯ve worked for will be gone. Think about Sofia. What would she want you to do?¡± I ignored the prompt. ¡°Why do you even need me then?¡± I asked. ¡°Seems like you could meet your objective without my help. And you¡¯re almost done with your download? What does it matter if you read the last few books?¡± ¡°Because there is a chance you can stop me. A .5% chance, based on my calculations. But if I turn you to my side, that percentage goes to .01%. You are their strongest member. I¡¯m playing the odds. And I think we both know why I need to finish those last books. For completion. Because every piece of information adds to the puzzle, and missing a single data point is like a tiny mistake. A crack that could splitter and grow like a fractal. I can¡¯t take that kind of risk.¡± ¡°I have one more question. You¡¯ve done all this research. You¡¯ve read thousands of books. Did you ever figure out why The Great Mistake happened? What makes mana work in the dungeon but not outside of it?¡± ¡°Of course I figured it out,¡± Henry said. ¡°I¡¯ll add the answer as an extra reward to our deal.¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. The prompt changed. ¡°No,¡± I said. ¡°I want to know now. I will not accept the deal without the answer. Call it a sign of good faith.¡± Henry leaned back and crossed threaded his fingers together over his belly. ¡°Bill already told you the answer, days ago.¡± ¡° Weakening of naturally occurring transistors due to incorrect usage,¡± I quoted. ¡°Which doesn¡¯t make any sense. It¡¯s engineering gibberish to me.¡± ¡°Think about it,¡± Henry said. ¡°Mana regenerated back in Feygrove, but not in other parts of the world. Because they didn¡¯t have incorrect usage.¡± I shook my head. I didn¡¯t get it. ¡°What is incorrect usage?¡± ¡°If you were a developer of IO, a place of lore and magic and fantasy¡­ what would you want to prevent?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± I said. ¡°Automatic weapons?¡± ¡°Good,¡± Henry said. ¡°What else?¡± I thought about it. In classic fantasy words, there were certain things that ruined the setting. Modern weaponry, yes, but also technology that made the magic obsolete. An idea started to form. ¡°I can see that you¡¯re on the brink,¡± Henry said. ¡°Let me pose the question another way. Would IO allow their fantasy setting to become an advanced civilization? One complete with modern amenities, weapons, and technology that would ruin the experience for gamers that were promised a high fantasy?¡± ¡°They were trying to modernize Central City,¡± I said. Henry nodded. ¡°Instead of interfering with the process, they put mechanics in place. Safeguards that would prevent that from happening.¡± ¡°Incorrect usage,¡± I said. ¡°And it was such a big project that it destroyed mana channels all over the world.¡± ¡°And Feygrove?¡± Henry asked. The citizens of Feygrove lived simple lives, adhering the basics of a fantasy world. They sewed their own clothes, instead of using sewing machines. They lit fires. They carried their own water. For centuries. And because they never tried to use technology, the mana channels were pure and strong. Correct usage. When the group of Fairies and mages cast an enormous spell to bring modern technology to the world, it affected Feygrove. But not as much. It was the difference between playing a wicked guitar solo on old strings versus new ones. The old ones were worn down, more likely to break. Most places in the world had developed technology¡ªautomated excavators, musical amplifiers, sewing machines¡ª that had eroded the mana channels. It was only a matter of time before those strings broke. It wasn¡¯t Janica¡¯s fault. Or the fault of any of the Fairies. Yet it was clear that the IO developers were okay with some technologies and not okay with others. The target dummies that I had made had barely used any charge in thousands of attacks. The lights that I had made had depleted their charges in moments. I looked at Henry. ¡°How can we fix it?¡± I said. He shook his head. ¡°That, I don¡¯t know.¡± The quest prompt popped up again. An idea had formed. A dangerous idea. Something I had to try. But even if it didn¡¯t work, I couldn¡¯t betray my friends. Rowan, Cassandra, Arthur, the rest of the guild¡ªthese people had accepted me. I couldn¡¯t turn on them. Even if it meant losing the money, I didn¡¯t want to lose my new friends. I had changed. They trusted me. It was a weird feeling, but one that I needed to risk everything for. If it was true that Botcorp had killed my parents, I wanted to punish them. I wanted that evidence. But it was time to move forward. And the best way that I could honor my parents was to take up their cause, to fight against a malicious company and a dangerous AI. I rejected the quest. Henry stood up. ¡°You¡¯ve made a poor decision.¡± The Botcorp office faded to black.